finally

Tecno has finally seen a future for the old modular dream

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Being able to update the phone without having to change it for a new one is the dream of many of us who love telephony. Throughout history there were several brands that tried it, such as Motorola: Project Ara to the commercial materialization of that format, the Moto Z and its Moto Mods. Currently, one of the manufacturers that has most opted for modularity It’s Fairphone. Now, Tecno has decided to skip what is established and take that dream one step further. Although with a difference from the original Ara: Tecno proposes a magnetic, not structural, modularity. Techno It is not a manufacturer that we know in Europe for its smartphones. Even so, it is one of the brands that the more it grows in share and distribution at a global level. Despite having a clear orientation towards accessible mobile phones, Tecno is characterized by being one of the most innovative and risky. Apart from those two adjectives, there is a third that occurred to me while holding the modular mobile: surprising. But can you still add more things? There are LEGO boxes that have fewer pieces than this mobile When I approached the Tecno stand, and saw all the phone pieces scattered on the table, I thought about the LEGOs I had when I was little and how I was combining the parts to make new figures. What Tecno brought to MWC is more or less the same, at least in essence. The base is an extremely thin phone that features a small camera module in the upper area. Tecno has provided all the components with a good number of magnets, it surely used up the store’s stock. Because everything comes together through magnetism. You can add a telephoto camera module by simply “gluing” this piece to the base lens, for example. Everything fits into place with magnets, just like the external battery module, microphone, speaker… Or the SLR camera accessory. When asked how many modules you can put on the phone at most, Tecno said: “Yes.” I have not put the parallel with LEGO at random: the phone supports a good number of pieces on top. Furthermore, there is another important point: The modules can also be combined without having the base telephone. And they work independently You can put a clip on the microphone and use it as a tie microphone. The same for the speaker, for example. Or use the stand to support the pieces outside the mobile. Everything is anchored by magnetism and in its place. With the drawback that it has to be placed correctly the first time, the system does not offer a visual guide to know how to build the LEGO. An idea that seems extravagant and yet works Modular mobile phones were already invented. And Tecno has come to give the concept a twist to take it to the extreme. Because the mobile works, the parts make sense, the entire concept transcends experimentation to become a product that could be viable. Wow, I could totally buy it. The pieces are solid and well thought out, it shows that Tecno has designed each component with precision. And maturity. Now, it’s not perfect, because the pieces can come apart somewhat easily. The magnetic anchor is strong, but it is still that: magnetic. If the camera gets caught in your pocket, it gets left behind. And if the modular phone falls to the ground… Instead of a phone you have a puzzle. Still far from being able to be bought It is beautiful, it is impressive and it appears solid beyond doubt due to the magnetic union between the pieces. Even so, it probably won’t see the light of day in the near future. Tecno is characterized by experiments, by trying to make smartphones show a different face. Many of their concepts end up as a hook to attract the real catalog, the one that really works. I thought that modular mobile phones, as designed by Motorola with Project Ara, would have no future. Tecno has shown me the opposite: apart from being feasible, with a little imagination you can achieve use cases that no one imagined before. That something like this is so refreshing says more about the current stagnation of the smartphone than about modular phones themselves. Images | Ivan Linares In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2026), we have tested them and here are their analyzes

China spent 10 billion on oil it did not need. With Hormuz blocked, the puzzle finally makes sense

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As the West panics over the possibility of the barrel break the $100 barrieran eerie calm reigns in Beijing. The Asian giant observes the crisis with the coldness of someone who has already done his homework. During the last few months, the world has been debating the excess oil supply, but the real winner of this war crisis is not firing missiles, but has been filling its storage tanks for years in the most absolute silence. World geopolitics has been blown up a few weeks before the expected summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. As reported Nikkei Asiathe coordinated airstrikes of the United States and Israel (dubbed “Operation Epic Fury“) have culminated in the assassination of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tehran’s response has been a rain of missiles and drones on American allies in the region. The immediate impact has been felt in the water. The Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 million barrels a day flow (20% of the world’s oil supply), is blocked de facto. As detailed Bloomberg, Rates to hire a supertanker on the route from the Middle East to China have skyrocketed by 600%, reaching $200,000 a day (or 525 Worldscale points for a Suezmax). Besides, France 24 points out that insurers They have increased war risk premiums between 25% and 50%. As reported cnnBrent crude oil jumped 6.5% in the early stages, touching $82, driven by fear of prolonged logistical disruptions. Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, warned the US chain that closing Hormuz would cause an immediate global energy crisis. China’s exposed vulnerability On paper, the Donald Trump administration’s offensive should be an absolute nightmare for Xi Jinping. As explained The TelegraphAmerican military adventurism is exposing the gigantic energy vulnerability of China, the largest oil importer in the world, which buys three-quarters of the crude oil it consumes abroad. Washington’s strategy seems clear: suffocate the “rebellious” suppliers that supply the Chinese industrial machinery at bargain prices. Earlier this year, the military capture of Nicolás Maduro has established what some analysts They already call the “Donroe Doctrine”. Trump has been explicit in his goal to control oil. If the United States manages to add Venezuelan production to that of Guyana and its own, it would de facto control 30% of the world’s reserves, according to JP Morgan. This movement cuts supply to China in the bud, evaporating imports that represented around 4% of its maritime purchases. according to data from Kpler collected by The Financial Review. However, Washington’s optimism collides with geology: the infrastructure is so in ruins that loading a supertanker today takes five days and the crude oil arrives so “dirty” that the Chinese and Indian refineries themselves have canceled orders, according to a Reuters investigation. Refloating this industry will cost 10 billion dollars annually for a decade, as Francisco Monaldi calculatesdirector of energy policy at Rice University. For its part, the current blow to Iran. From Chosun Daily details that China bought 80% of Iranian maritime exports last year (about 1.38 million barrels per day), which represents 13.4% of Beijing’s total maritime crude oil imports. As he points out Institute for Energy Research (IER) United States, cited by the same mediumChina has used the heavily sanctioned and cheap oil from these countries to cement its manufacturing competitiveness. Losing Iran and Venezuela would force Chinese refiners — especially the independent ones in Shandong, known as “teapots” — to look for much more expensive substitutes on the open market, threatening to import inflation and slow their economic growth. The master plan in execution If Western analysts expected to see China cornered, they were wrong. Beijing foresaw this scenario of isolation and has been executing a four-pronged master plan for years that today allows it to cushion the blow of Hormuz. While in 2025 the world feared a global oversupply, China dedicated itself to massive purchasing. Last year, China spent $10 billion buying an extra 150 million barrels that it didn’t immediately need, absorbing more than 90% of crude oil storage measurable globally. Supported by a new Energy Law that obliges the public and private sector to maintain reserves, Beijing today has strategic reserves equivalent to at least 96 days of imports, according to The Telegraph. Under the banner of national security, China is investing $80 billion annually in its state oil fields. In March 2025 they reached a production peak of 4.6 million barrels per day and they completed the drilling of the deepest oil well in Asia (10,910 meters). Its goal is not financial profitability, but pure autonomy. With Iran and Venezuela under fire, China has simply turned its head toward Russia and Saudi Arabia. According to oil price, Chinese refineries are absorbing record amounts of Russian crude oil (more than 2 million barrels per day in February 2026), taking advantage of the fact that India has given in to pressure from the US to stop buying from Moscow. Simultaneously, Saudi Arabia has cut the official price of its crude oil Arab Light to five-year lows to gain market share in Asia, which has led China to order between 56 and 57 million Saudi barrels by March. China’s definitive move is to abandon the oil board. As analyzed by Professor Hussein Dia in The ConversationChina’s massive commitment to electric vehicles (50% of new car sales last year) and renewable energy is a national security policy. How they collect in The Telegraph, The new five-year plan (2026-2030) seeks to peak oil consumption by accelerating the installation of solar and wind parks (430 gigawatts added last year alone). Unlike the ships in Hormuz, sunlight cannot be blocked by the US Fifth Fleet. The diplomacy of silence and the illusion of OPEC+ In the face of Khamenei’s assassination, the response of the Chinese Foreign Ministry has been one of calculated coldness. They condemned the act as “unacceptable” and a “violation of sovereignty,” but, as pointed out Chosun Dailythey carefully avoided directly mentioning Donald Trump. From Nikkei Asia explains this pragmatism: … Read more

I am a paddle tennis player and finally a smart watch brand has remembered me

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I have carried a paddle tennis racket in my hand since I was little. I am worse than hunger, I am not hiding, but I like this sport and I must admit that I look with envy at the fans of, for example, golf or the running. As a lover of smart watches, I have always seen from afar manufacturers launch specific models and functions for runners and golf players with cool metrics, interesting analyzes and specific functions: yes, 3D courses, yes, footfall analysis, yes, that niche data that only the pros care about… And meanwhile, the padel players we were still thereusing the “tennis” mode that tells us little or nothing or, if available, the “paddle” mode that also does not give information about performance in the match. That’s why, walking through the halls of the Mobile World Congress, I couldn’t help but stop at the Mibro stand. Because? Because their watches have a paddle mode, but a useful one with relevant information for players of this sport. Yes, we really exist. Padel mode in the Mibro GS Explorer S-Ti | Image: Xataka My what? Mibro, “your brother in sport”, as one of the company’s workers at the stand tells me with a laugh. Mibro is a company of Zhenshi Information Technology, a Chinese company founded in 2015 with financing from Xiaomi and Nokia. The company specializes in sports wearables and has found a way to increase its presence in the European market in paddle tennis. In fact, they openly recognize it: it is not that padel is gaining traction in China, it is that they know that it is important in Europe and they believe they have a way to differentiate themselves there. And what do they offer? The company has a catalog of watches with a rather high-mid-range price. The most expensive model is the Mibro GS Explorer Swhich costs 349.99 euros and is made of titanium (it is the one in the photos and I must admit that it feels scary, although I would change the strap, which looks very good, for a silicone one for sports). However, it has cheaper models, such as the GS Active2which remains below 100 euros. The operating system is Mibro Galaxy OS 2.0, a very fancy to call an RTOS system that is very reminiscent of Huawei’s HarmonyOS. An example of the metrics associated with paddle tennis | Image: Xataka But let’s talk about padel. The key to these watches, and the reason why they have caught my attention, is because of their paddle tennis analysis. For the uninitiated, in paddle tennis there are different shots: forehand, backhand, volleys, spikes, layups, lobs, drop shots, etc. Understanding well which shots you are doing the most and why can help you understand a match and discover your areas for improvement. For example: if you have lost a match in which you have made many layups (cut, high and deep shot to keep the net), you may have to work on the volley and the force you apply when hitting, because they have been constantly knocking you out of the net with lobs (high and deep balls). If you have made many lobs and few volleys, layups or shots, it is probably because they have managed to keep you down and have not let you go up to the net to attack. Analysis of forehands and backhands | Image: Xataka And that’s where Mibro comes in.. As they have shown us at the stand, the watch is capable of detecting the number and percentage of each of the shots we make in a match. The watch allows us to know how many backhands, drives, layups, spikes, forehand and backhand lobs and forehand and backhand drop shots we have made and, for example, manually cross-check them with our heart rate to see which points have put us in trouble. Example of analysis of blows | Image: Xataka Speed ​​of blows | Image: Xataka It also counts calories and, even more importantly, the speed of the strokes. Although it is easy to associate paddle tennis with strong and very loud hits, the truth is that playing slowly is usually much more effective against players… nervous, let’s say. A weak ball to the side wall will probably do more damage than a strong shot or volley, in the same way that a layup does not necessarily have to be very fast. Knowing that information that, until now, we could not know, can be useful to focus training or take action. To recognize hits, the device is based on a six-axis accelerometer and intelligent algorithms, as is already done in many other watches and many other sports. How does it work? Unfortunately, and although we always want a padel, we have not had the opportunity to pick up the racket and throw some balls in the halls of the MWC, but the fact that it exists is already progress. Counting layups and shots | Image: Xataka An ideal world. At the expense of testing the watch in a real match situation, a function that would make a lot of sense (even via AI) is to be able to cross-reference the heart rate with the shot you have made or with the duration of the points, as well as the number of shots. That would allow us to see at what level of intensity we start to make mistakes, what shots we make when we are tired (perhaps we abuse the shot or miss more layups). The higher the intensity, the more the technique is distorted, and that causes errors. That type of information, well interpreted, is valuable if you are looking to train and improve. Images | Xataka In Xataka | I have been playing paddle tennis for years and I think Playtomic is an absolutely brilliant invention

If you have 400,000 euros you can finally fulfill the dream of owning your own island. The problem is how to get to it.

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If you like nature, spend hours listening to the birds singing and the rustling of the waves, in Welsh you have a unique opportunity. There, in the Dwyryd estuary, a private island with a charming Victorian mansion is for sale for about what it costs an apartment in the center of Madrid. For around £350,000 you can become the new owner of Ynys Gifftana seven-hectare tidal island with a history connecting it to the Stuart lineage. Of course, the offer has a trick. In a place in Wales… More specifically in the Dwyryd estuary, very close to Portmeirion (Gwynedd), hides a curious island that has just gone up for sale. What is ‘curious’ is not only because of its remote nature, its surroundings or the fact that on its entire surface, of 7.2 hectares, there is a single stone construction. What is really striking is its nature. Ynys Gifftan is a tidal islanda portion of land connected to the rest of North Wales by a spit of land that emerges at low tide and disappears at high tide. Hence, access is not easy and, depending on the time, it must be reached by boat or on foot. Landowner for €400,000. For a few weeks now, the island has added one more peculiarity. The real estate firm Carter Jonas inform that it is for sale for a “guide price” of 350,000 pounds, equivalent to 400,500 euros. The price attracts attention in Spain and even more so in the United Kingdom, where it is not far from what an average home costs. In fact, it is much less than what someone who wants to buy a house in the capital must spend. A few days ago the BBC I remembered that those 350,000 pounds exceed the average house price in the country by just 50,000. If we focus on London, the average price for the last year marks just over 600,000 pounds (£656,694), making getting the Welsh island considerably cheaper. A golden opportunity? More or less. Owning a quiet Welsh island for almost half the price of a house in London sounds good, but Ynys Gifftan has several handicaps that recognize the agency itself. To begin its construction, a country house built with stone is not going through its best moment. “It needs a comprehensive reform,” notes Carter Jonaswhich remembers that the house is divided into two floors and has several living rooms, bedrooms and pantry. Annex has a tool shed. Good landscape, bad services. The truth is that the island takes decades empty and those who embark on the adventure of repopulating it will have to face a series of challenges, beyond renovating the house: there is no electrical connection, the water network channeling dates back to the 80s and the current owners of the land do not guarantee that it is still active. In addition, the drainage system is private. As for the rest of the 17.7-acre (approximately 7.2 hectares) island, it is now partially covered by weeds, almost reaching the house itself. From Jonas they slip that part of the island could be dedicated to grazing. The great challenge. Ynys Gifftan has, however, another more important handicap that any buyer should be aware of. Its inhabitants cannot happily leave and enter the island. Not at least how they want and when they want. During high tide a boat is needed to access the island. When the tide goes out, the way in and out is different: with a short walk along the stretch of land that is exposed. With a walk you reach the continent and from there you can travel to Harlecha town of around 1,600 inhabitants where you will find basic services, such as shops, restaurants or pharmacies. Nature… and history. The future owner of Ynys Gifftan will be able to boast of having an unusual property. To start with its location, in the heart of Eryri National Park (Snowdonia). Second, for his story. Its name, “gift island” in Welsh, is said to be a nod to the island’s past, which was a gift from Queen Anne to Lord Harlech’s ancestors in the 19th century. XVIII. Images | Carter Jonas and Google Earth In Xataka | A century ago Denmark built an island to defend its capital. Now it is full of tourists and is sold for ten million

South Korea has had the most catastrophic birth rate in the world for years. And now it has finally managed to grow

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For a few years now, talking about demographics in South Korea has made it necessary to first take out a clinex package. Despite all his attempts (and there have been not a few) the country seemed condemned to suffer an uncontrollable ‘bleed’ of birth rates and see the seams of its economy tighten. It may sound exaggerated, but it is good to remember that he said goodbye to 2024 by declaring “super aged” and that there are academics who warn that the nation is emptying (literally). With that backdrop, Seoul has started 2026 with a positive fact: wins babies. And it also does so for the second consecutive year. The big question that arises now is… Are we facing a change in trend or just a mirage? The figure: 254,457. It is provisional data (the definitio will not arrive until the summer), but even so it has arrived like manna in a country accustomed to every piece of news about demographics involving a national drama. Last year South Korea registered 254,457 birthsa good balance no matter where you look at it. To begin with because it means 6.8% more that in 2024 and leaves the largest percentage increase since 2007; but those are only two of the possible readings. More babies per woman. Another interesting reading is the one that tells us about the “fertility rate”, the average number of babies that (at a statistical level) a woman is expected to have throughout her reproductive life. A few years ago that indicator plummeted to 0.72very far from the “replacement rate” (2.1 children per woman) that allows societies to remain stable. The data is still below that red line, but at least it has grown: in 2025 it passed from 0.75 to 0.8. Not only that. Reuters remember that the South Korean Government had optimistic estimates that suggested that this rate would grow to 0.75 in 2025 and 0.8 in 2026, which appears to be recovering positions faster than expected. In Seoul the trend is even more pronounced. There the indicator rose 8.9%, going from 0.53 to 0.63. The data is still very poor and they are far away to solve the problem that Korea has, but they suggest a change of cycle. Breaking the bad streak. That the birth rate is increasing in South Korea is news, but it is even more so if (as is the case) that growth is maintained for two years. In 2024 the country has already registered a positive fact (breaking up with eight exercises of consecutive falls) that now invites us to think about whether it has really found the right way to encourage its young people to have more offspring. Of course, the country has invested time, efforts and especially economic resources in that objective, in which it is played from the social sustainability and the march of his industry to issues as relevant as national defense. More weddings, more babies. 2025 has not only been a good year in maternity hospitals. It has also been for the wedding planners. Marriages increased by 8.1% in 2025, reinforcing the 14.8% rebound already recorded in 2024. This is good news because, in a conservative society like South Korea (the percentage of births outside of marriage It’s surprisingly low.), weddings are often considered an early indicator of a rebound in birth rates. Trend or mirage? That’s the million dollar question. That South Korea has been trying to activate its birth rate for years is undeniable, as is the fact that it has invested large resources in this effort and that they have been involved in the effort since the public institutions to the business world. However, there are other factors at play that suggest that the recent growth in the South Korean birth rate could be more circumstantial than structural. That is to say, in reality we would be facing a kind of demographic ‘mirage’. The hangover of the pandemic. When explaining the phenomenon, there are those who point to the influence of the pandemic. Not so much in the birth rate itself as in marriages. It is true that more South Koreans are getting tired and that this indicator will probably influence the birth rate in the coming years, but it is also true that many couples had to postpone their plans during the pandemic. “The number of marriages has increased for 21 consecutive months, from April 2024 to December last year, as couples who had delayed their marriages due to COVID-19 have tied the knot,” recognize Park Hyun-jung, director of the government office that analyzes population trends. He himself admits that today it is very difficult to establish a clear “correlation” between government policies and improved birth rates. A demographic with ‘echo’. There are those who point out, however, another factor that would be directly influencing South Korean demographics: history. The explanation I broke it down Rapahel Rashid recently in Guardian and provides an alternative theory. More babies have been born in the South Korea of ​​2024 or 2025 simply because the same thing already happened in the Korea of ​​30 years ago. To be more precise, more or less during the first half of the 1990s (1991-1995) there was a peak of around 3.6 million of babies who today enter their thirties and begin to become parents themselves. Reviewing history. We explain ourselves. Paradoxical as it may be, in the 1950s and 1960s Korea had a very different problem than today: a very high fertility rate which led authorities to launch family planning programs. The objective: guarantee the country’s recovery after the war. The message that was launched was very simple: have fewer children (two, one) and guarantee them a better life. It worked so well that by the early 1980s the fertility rate had fallen below the replacement margin and Seoul decided change course. By doing so, it favored the rebound that would now be heating up the birth rate. According to that theory, what we see today is actually a … Read more

We have been dreaming of stopping aging for centuries. The question is if we are finally achieving it: Crossover 1×37

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Myths such as that of the fountain of eternal youth have helped human beings through the ages. let’s dream of not aging and living forever. Reality is still cruel: Although life expectancy has increased, we age without seeming to slow it down. But there are those who argue that there may be. In this episode we have spoken with Dr. José Hernández, longevity expert and founder of a clinic specialized in Age Reversal, to understand what aging really is, why it is considered a disease today, and what technologies could allow us to go back biologically. In this debate we talk about information theory and epigenetic damage, cellular reprogramming, or how there are already large companies —and some billionaires— investing significantly in this. In fact, the most advanced science is accompanied by methods that seem much more effective not so much in slowing down aging but in ensuring that our physical condition is much better when this process affects us: Physical exercise is an absolute pillar of longevityassures this expert. Of course there are other factors that influence – diet and genetics, of course, do – but we are dealing with a question that has opened numerous avenues of research, some of which are promising. Who knows what can happen. On YouTube | Crossover In Xataka | Don’t tell me your age, tell me your grip strength: how simple gestures tell us how well we are aging

The world had been in love with US technology for 25 years. We are finally unhooking

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We have been living within a digital ecosystem designed in the United States for more than two decades. Big technology companies not only built the dominant social networks, but also built a network of services around them without real substitutes. From Europe we have been talking for years about technological sovereignty and a possible disengagement – even if it is partial. There are more and more proposals, but at the moment it is more of a wish than reality. Difficult, but not impossible. Become completely independent from American technology In software it is complicated, but feasible. Our colleague Jose told it just a few days ago, leaving aside giants like Google, WhatsAppAmazon, or Instagram. The changes made something very clear: the United States has taken over the great pillars of daily technological life: Internet searches Sending messages online shopping Social networks Email accounts Operating systems The dependence is total, and assuming it is uncomfortable. Countries like France have banned to its officials the use of American platforms such as Zoom and Teamsto promote a video conferencing platform developed in France and under the name Visio. The objective is clear: reduce dependence on foreign technology, minimize costs and achieve a communication standard under European legal control. The UpScrolled case. Behind him TikTok ownership changewhich went from being mainly in Chinese hands to being under the lap of large American companies, the use of social networks like Upscrolledan app founded by the Palestinian Issam Hijazi as a challenge to big technology companies. During the last week of January, Upscrolled was the most downloaded social network above Threads, WhatsApp and TikTok in the United States App Store. A paradigmatic case in which Americans themselves opt for alternatives outside their country. The Proton case. Although less recent, the proton case It is one of the most ambitious in the last five years. From being protagonists only for ProtonMail (end-to-end encryption by default, European jurisdiction and independence from the Big Tech model), to a whole suite with calendar, VPN and storage alternatives. According to the company, its apps already have more than 100 million users. Good number, but far from more than 100 thousand millions of users who have Google services. The distance remains enormous, and explains why technological disengagement continues to be, for the moment, more of a political and cultural gesture than an everyday reality. Prepared for the worst. At the end of January, the Wall Street Journal reported a scenario starring even more tension. The Greenland case has been the flame necessary to finish lighting the fuseand the main managers of European strategic sectors want to move both their systems and data to local centers. Thinking about a 100% European software ecosystem does not seem entirely realistic. But imagining a scenario in which the dependency is not complete sounds a little better. Image | Xataka In Xataka | We criticize the EU a lot with its obsession with regulating Big Tech. There are at least two examples that justify this obsession

Microsoft has finally realized what the community has been shouting at it for months: we don’t want so much AI

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The people are fed up with the avalanche of AI that has flooded Windows and Microsoft turned a deaf ear to the numerous community complaints. They have put AI even in Notepadwhich is saying something. Microsoft’s obsession has caused the Windows image to sufferbut finally it seems that they are listening to the users. We are still passing. One of the things Microsoft has been doing in its pro-AI crusade is add Copilot buttons everywhere. It’s in Paint, in Notepad and even they want to put it in file explorer. Although Microsoft has not commented, according to Windows Central fontsthe company is rethinking its AI strategy and one of the things that is under review are these buttons that they have been adding almost indiscriminately. Maybe they end up eliminating some or just being more selective from now on. Windows Recall. “It’s like having a photographic memory.” This is how Microsoft sold what aimed to be the PC+Copilot star feature. What followed were many doubts about your safety and so many criticisms that Microsoft had to delay the project for more than a year. Recall is already implemented, but according to Windows Central the company is not satisfied with how it is working and wants to correct course. How they will do it at the moment is unknown. There will still be AI. Microsoft still has a lot of AI features in the works and nothing indicates that they will stop, so if you were rubbing your hands at the idea of ​​a Windows 11 without AI, that is not the case. Some of the initiatives they have underway are: agentic functions which they announced in November of last year (to which The community flatly refused.by the way) and developer features like Windows ML or semantic search. The complaints have been heard. There will probably still be more AI features than the community would like, but it seems that Microsoft has heard the feedback and they are going to take their foot off the accelerator. The obsession with AI has not been the only reason for discontent, there have also been highly criticized decisions such as force to use an online account to upgrade to Windows 11 or the stability problems after updating. Despite everything, Windows 11 is advancing unstoppably and It is already on more than 1 billion devices. Image | Microsoft, edited In Xataka | I have decided to become independent from all US technology and embrace European technology. This is how I’m getting it

The change of Google’s search engine with AI was a mystery about its monetization. Finally it will be another subscription

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For months, the technology industry has been closely watching how Google resolves its particular dilemma: how to integrate artificial intelligence into its search engine without destroying the advertising business that supports its empire. The doubts are being cleared up little by little, and everything indicates that the company has already solved it: through AI Plusa subscription with a cost of 7.99 euros per month. Dilemma. The results of traditional search with blue links They generate billions in advertising, being one of the company’s most lucrative businesses and also one of the reasons why it is where it is. On the other side we have his foray into the AI ​​careera business in which they are burning money on infrastructure in the hope that it will be profitable in the long term. This last business also clashes with the traditional advertising system, with which Google also takes great advantage. Embracing the new potentially means burying what feeds you. The company is looking for a solution to this dilemma with Google AI Plus. What does the 8 euro subscription include? AI Plus has recently reached 35 new countriesamong them Spain. For €7.99 per month, users get enhanced access to Gemini 3 Prothe image generator Nano Banana Prothe research tool Deep Research200 GB of cloud storage and the possibility of using Gemini directly in Gmail, Docs, and other Google apps. Also includes 200 monthly credits for flow and Whiskthe company’s AI video creation platforms. Duel with OpenAI. The price is tight and even lower than the offer. ChatGPT Gowhich is found in Spain at a price of 9.99 euros per month. Both companies are fighting to attract users who want more than the free version, an opportunity to obtain more financing for their AI operations and, over time, attract even more customers who want to immerse themselves in more complete and higher-cost plans. Limitations to justify the price. The version of Gemini 3 Pro included in AI Plus has significant restrictions compared to the AI ​​Pro subscription of 22 euros per month. For example, the context window is drastically reduced from 1 million tokens to 128,000, which means that the model will “forget” information much sooner in long conversations or when analyzing long documents. Monthly credits for creation tools are also five times lower: 200 versus 1,000 in the Pro version. Google gives away AI to its storage customers. The company is adding all AI Plus features automatically to existing subscribers of Google One Premium (2 TB for 9.99 euros per month) at no additional cost. This avoids the absurd situation where paying more would result in having fewer features, but it also shows Google’s commitment to getting its users who pay for storage familiar with Gemini without them having to think twice. A change for the media. Google is building a monetization strategy around AI, and that affects the media. In this way, the media goes from being the user’s final destination to becoming data providers to train and feed AI responses. When Gemini responds directly instead of displaying blue links, traffic to the original sites evaporates, along with the advertising revenue they generated. The issue is somewhat tricky and it is still unknown how all the parties involved are going to agree. Subscriptions. Google is betting on a freemium model that allows it to make its investment in AI profitable without completely abandoning its traditional advertising business. The question is whether users will be willing to pay for something that until now they considered free. Unlike Netflix or Spotify, AI subscriptions They are still a relatively new concept to the general public. We will have to wait to find out if this tightrope walk balancing exercise by Google ends up convincing in the long term. In Xataka | The number of new apps coming to the App Store has skyrocketed. We have a culprit: “vibe coding”

Sanderson finally signs the Cosmere adaptations after years of fighting, and Apple gives him more control than George RR Martin has

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Brandon Sanderson has closed an unprecedented agreement with Apple TV to adapt the literary universe of Cosmere. The platform will develop films based on the ‘Mistborn’ saga and a series of ‘The Storm File’, the author’s two main franchises. The pact gives Sanderson a level of creative control higher than even that enjoyed by JK Rowling or George RR Martin with their respective adaptations: he will be the architect of the universe, he will produce, he will be consulted and he will have the power of approval over creative decisions. Several attempts. The announcement comes after years of deals that did not come together. In 2016, DMG Entertainment acquired the rights to the Cosmere for $270 million for three films, but the project never moved forward. own Sanderson recognized in December 2024, in your annual updatebeing “back at square one” after the collapse of negotiations for a film adaptation of ‘Mistborn’ that had reached very advanced stages of development. The project had taken five years of work, had a finished script and linked actors whose identities he could not reveal. Sanderson later detailed on Reddit that the plan contemplated a hybrid model: a first big-budget film followed by a television season covering the period between books one and two of the original trilogy. A second film would adapt the second book, followed by another transitional season. The main actors would have signed contracts for both film and television. An unusual success. The new agreement with Apple represents the culmination of the publishing phenomenon led by Sanderson: his books have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, a figure that includes both his solo works and his contributions to ‘The Wheel of Time’ by Robert Jordan, which he completed after his death in 2007. In 2022 he established the record for Most successful literary Kickstarter in history by raising 41.7 million to self-publish four secret novels written during the pandemic. But what is the Cosmere? The Cosmere is a shared universe that interconnects multiple fantasy sagas through a common cosmology and interlocking systems of magic. The model resembles Isaac Asimov’s approach with his universe of robots and foundations, although Sanderson planned the connections from the beginning to avoid the need to reconcile items later. The Cosmere encompasses different planets with distinct civilizations, histories and magical systems but based on a shared mythology: the being Adonalsium, whose power fragmented into sixteen shards distributed throughout the cosmos. The agreement. Apple closed the deal after a competitive process in which Sanderson met with most of the top studio executives in Hollywood. In this way, the company is left with a fictional universe that has similarities with another franchise it also owns, ‘Foundation’ (and, in part, with ‘Silo’), which allows it to compete in the field of fantasy and science fiction adaptations with Amazon (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time), HBO (Game of Thrones) and Netflix (The Witcher). It is not the first time that Apple has reached agreements with prestigious creators, such as Alfonso Cuarón (‘Disclaimer’) or Martin Scorsese (‘The Moon Killers’), but none had been given as much creative control as Sanderson. The challenges of the Cosmere. The technical and narrative complexity of the Cosmere poses notable obstacles. For example, magic systems: Allomancy in ‘Mistborn’ allows users to “burn” ingested metals to obtain supernatural abilities differentiated according to each metal. Sanderson expressed on Reddit his concern about a possible oversimplification that denaturalizes these systems, designed with coherent internal rules that structure entire plots. The length of the works is another problem: the books often easily exceed a thousand pages. For example, the five Stormlight Archive books add up to nearly two and a half million words, and Sanderson plans ten volumes in total. The expectation. The announcement made by the author on Reddit generated thousands of comments analyzing the implications of the level of creative control guaranteed to the author. The closest precedent to this model could be Peter Jackson with ‘The Lord of the Rings’, although in that case the author of the original work was absent. Meanwhile, Sanderson asks for patience: film development requires years of prior work, usually between two and three, before reaching the production phase. What is clear is that although Sanderson’s presence provides guarantees and Apple is potentially a great option for adaptation, the process is not going to be easy. In Xataka | Brandon Sanderson eviscerates the Cosmere, his narrative technique, which includes an Excel sheet, and the moment that made him a writer

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