finding

Finding the cheapest gas station in your area is very simple thanks to this very powerful tool

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We have been very attentive to fuel prices for a few days. It is no wonder, since since the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran has exploded to the point of leaving the Strait of Hormuz in a compromised situation, oil has ended up skyrocketing and gas stations have already begun to notice the impact on their shelters. While the Government study what measures you can applyMany drivers go to those gas stations that have the cheapest fuel. And for this there are tools that the State itself offers. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge made it available to any citizen quite some time ago, the Geoportal from Gas Stations, a free tool that allows you to know the price of fuel at all service stations in the country, so you can filter by the cheapest one in your area. It also has another very useful function: knowing how much has the price changed at every gas station. We tell you all the details below. What is the Geoportal and why is it worth it? The Gas Station Geoportal is a web application of the Ministry that collects the prices of all service stations in Spainupdated every five minutes. What you see on the screen is practically the real price of the moment. The tool has been available for years, but in situations like the current one, or like the one that happened with the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, its use makes special sense. Currently there are gas stations in large cities and in the main corridors that They already exceed 1.70 euros/liter in gasoline or 1.80 in diesel, while others remain below average. With a 50 liter tank, choose carefully where to refuel can mean quite significant savings. How to find the cheapest gas station from the GeoPortal To enter the Geoportal, all you have to do is enter this link. There is also a free mobile application for Android and iOS. It is called Route-E, and it is developed by the Ministry itself. In addition to gas station prices, it includes information on charging points for electric vehicles. When you enter the website you will see a map of Spain with marked service stations. On the left are the filters. The process is simple: Select “Service Stations” as search type. Choose your province and town. The map will automatically center on that area. You can refine it even further with the zip code if you live in a large city. Choose the type of fuel. You will find everything from the usual ones (gasoline 95 E5, gasoline 98, diesel A) to alternative options such as natural gas, bioethanol or hydrogen. As soon as you select one, the map will show the price of each station along with its schedule and operator. Mark “Sale to the public”. This excludes gas stations belonging to agricultural cooperatives or closed groups that are not open to any driver. Check the list ordered by price. When you have clicked ‘Search’, just below the map the tool generates a list of stations. Filter by price and the cheapest ones in the area should appear first, and you can export the list in CSV or Excel format if you need it. As extra information: yes you hover over any station on the map, you will directly see its price, schedule, rating and operator without having to click. There is an additional filter: “Discount plans”. If you activate it, the search engine shows gas stations with current promotions, either because they belong to a specific chain or because they offer discounts to groups such as transporters, farmers or taxi drivers. Mobile Apps If you prefer not to use the Ministry’s website, there are several free applications for iOS and Android that offer a similar feature. At Xataka we already talked about them a while ago, among which are GasofApp, GasAll, Gasolineras or GasOnline, among others. They all draw on the same official data and allow you to locate the cheapest stations near your location in real time. In addition to all of them, there is also Ruta-E, which is the one we mentioned before, but the rest of the apps offer (in our opinion) much faster and easier navigation. How to see the price history of any gas station Knowing the current price is good, but if you are curious about how the price of a specific station has evolved over time, you can also do it from the Geoportal. For that, just enter this page and complete the form that appears on the screen. You have two options to check the evolution of prices: through the price history or through a timeline per gas station. To do this you must: Selectr the interval of time. You can choose between daily, weekly, monthly or yearly views, and set a start date and an end date for the period you want to analyze. Heegir data series. Below in the form will be where you can decide if you want to see the evolution of the average price of all of Spain, of an autonomous community, of a province, of a municipality or of a specific gas station. Select the fuel. The menu includes all available: 95 E5 gasoline, 98 gasoline, diesel A, diesel B, LPG, natural gas, hydrogen and many more. Choose the type of graph. You can view the data in a line or bar graph, depending on what is most comfortable for you. The result is a graph that shows the evolution of the price in the chosen period. With it you can see, for example, how much diesel cost at the gas station in your neighborhood before the situation with Iran became tense and how much it costs today. Cover image | Geoportal and engin akyurt In Xataka | Cuts are coming for the most used Cercanías line in Spain. The reason: more capacity and driverless trains

In South America there is a bird that camouflages itself as a piece of wood. And a young Uruguayan has insisted on finding him

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In the depths of the South American forests lives a bird that has inspired legends, myths and night terrors and is called the ‘ghost bird’, although his real name is urutaú. At first glance it is just a piece of wood that acts as an extension of the tree on which it perches like a chameleonbut behind this mimicry lies a biology that makes many scientists very curious to see it live even if it is really complicated. An ornithologist. The urutaú is not a bird that one finds by chance, but one must know how to look. Mauricio Silvera, a young Uruguayan amateur ornithologist who has been observing birds since he was five years old, knows this premise well, and according to a recent report from the BBCMauricio has turned observing this elusive species into a true passion. In popular culture, the melancholic song of the urutaú has fueled all kinds of folklore and rural legends in South America. However, for observers like Silvera, the true “magical power” of this species is not in the myths, but in its plumage and its peculiar way of ‘hiding’. A chameleon. It is no wonder, since we are not talking about it going slightly unnoticed, but rather its ability to imitate the bark of trees It is so perfect that sighting records on scientific platforms often require exhaustive photographic confirmation. And it is no wonder, because without this evidence it is difficult to convince the experts that they are not looking at a simple branch and a small irregularity that corresponds to this bird. How he does it. Disappearing in broad daylight is not something easy to achieve, but here science has different answers that go far beyond the simple color of their feathers. The key is in visual crypsis, where research shows that these birds not only have a plumage pattern that blends with the environment, but also make active decisions about where to perch in trees. And it is that a 2017 study on the choice of backgrounds showed that these birds carefully select the place where they rest to maximize the coincidence of patterns with their environment, which increases the survival rate against predators. And if they don’t see it, they can go completely missing. Modify your smell. Beyond the visual, researchers were able to see in a fascinating 2022 study that these birds have the ability to change your scent profiles in different seasons to prevent predators from being able to smell them. Echolocation. Unlike most birds, owls have developed this system, emitting acoustic signals to navigate in the darkness of Venezuelan and South American caves, similar to bats. Furthermore, their role in the ecosystem is vital, since research into the “secret life” of these birds reveals that they are formidable seed dispersers. They spend entire days in the trees regurgitating the seeds of the fruits they consume, acting as true foresters who maintain the ecological connectivity of Neotropical forests. A story of the search. As we see, it is not easy to find this bird and that is why Mauricio Silvera relates that finding it is “an adrenaline rush like in the chest of not knowing what to do: whether to scream, take the photo and tell someone.” Even this biology student makes a very comical simile when he sees that it is “almost like looking for Pokémon and seeing how many little birds you find and if you find the rarest one.” Your adventure always begins with a location or a photo that indicates that the bird may be present in a specific place. But due to its great ability to hide, it means that your trips do not always end with a photograph of this bird, much to your misfortune. Images | Wikipedia In Xataka | “Emergency room mentality”: the Dutch philosopher convinced that saving snails is saving ourselves

Madrid and Barcelona have built an entire social and business life with the AVE. They are finding out what happens when it fails

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The Madrid-Barcelona high-speed line has collapsed. The trains do not arrive on time and no one pays their compensation, Adif has asked the companies to withdraw last-minute services, airlift prices have skyrocketed and there are companies working at half throttle because the goods do not arrive. A social and economic backbone of the country has been fractured. A Russian roulette. Taking a high-speed train between Madrid and Barcelona is, right now, Russian roulette if what you want is to arrive on time for an appointment. The link between the two most important cities in Spain has been broken via train and a round trip in the day is almost impossible. It is the result of a hasty revision of the train tracks, a direct consequence of the fateful Adamuz train accident (Córdoba) and the continuous warnings of the train drivers. Actions that have diluted the “high speed” concept between Madrid and Barcelona. What has happened? Since last January 18 An Iryo train derailed near Adamuz (Córdoba) and collided with another Renfe train that was traveling in the opposite direction, leaving 45 dead, Adif has been facing criticism about the track maintenance. In the case of Madrid-Barcelona, ​​the consequences were soon seen: speed limitations. Between confusing messages, Adif ended up imposing temporary speed restrictions at numerous points on the line, especially between Madrid and Zaragoza. Later, 300 km/h returned. But it didn’t last long because speed was reduced once again. The role of machinists. Since then, travelers between Madrid and Barcelona have been reporting severe delays, with trains taking more than four hours to reach their destination. As they explained to us Xataka From the SEMAF union, train drivers have the power to reduce speed if they consider it essential for the safety and comfort of travelers. They must notify the line controllers and put it in writing in a report. In addition, on each journey a document is filled out specifying the problems that have been found on the line. A train driver, who preferred to remain anonymous, corroborated this version to Xataka and made it clear that for months they have been traveling at a speed lower than the maximum speed allowed on the line and, especially, between Madrid and Zaragoza. Likewise, he pointed out that they have been complaining for months about the vibrations suffered by the trains but that they had not received a response until now. Adif’s role. Although unions and drivers claim to have been complaining about this situation for months, it was not until January when Adif appears to have taken more far-reaching measures. The road manager is doing an exhaustive review of the roads based on the continuous complaints from workers. These inspection and repair works, when necessary, are delaying travel times. The company has asked Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo to assume that trips will be extended to three hours (and they just pointed out that these travel times will extend until December) but has also asked them to eliminate the last services of the day to have more time for their performances. Collapsed by land and air. The result is a collapsed train line. The trains are not arriving on time nor in the three hours indicated by Adif (instead of the usual 150 minutes). And the problem for those passengers, who throw in the towel with punctuality, is that The companies are not responsible for compensation either. for delays, pointing out that they are the result of a problem beyond their control and that, therefore, they do not fall within the refund policies. At the same time, demand on flights has skyrocketed. Without the possibility of getting there and back within the day by train or for fear of doubling the usual travel time, travelers have turned to airlines. And the result is full flights and skyrocketing prices. After some bills will reach 300 euros, Iberia has reached its Air Bridge at 99 euros per trip. Vueling has also increased its frequencies. And the road alternative did not improve the situation either. Only in BlaBlaCar has an increase in demand of 130% been recorded, in data provided to The Newspapercompared to the previous year. Car rental companies do not seem to have been left behind either, since The Ombudsman has asked the CNMC to analyze whether illegalities have been incurred by skyrocketing prices for car rentals and plane tickets. And problems for companies. Companies in both cities have not only had to see meetings canceled or postponed these days. Some of them are having problems having their raw materials. In The Vanguard They include the case of some of them. Inovyn, in Martorell (Barcelona) had to send its 300 employees home earlier this week because they did not have the basic materials to produce plastic. “In normal situations we receive one train a day loaded with dichloromethane, a material with which we manufacture many of our compounds, but in the last ten days we have received only one train,” they explain to the newspaper. They explain that 18% of the goods that arrive at the port of Barcelona are sent to their destination by train. Those that use international gauges are stopped due to works in the Rubí tunnel and those that use the Iberian gauge circulate at night and in dribs and drabs. and in The Country They explain that the city’s port is becoming isolated, with an 80% drop in products coming from Germany, France or Poland by train. The road alternative is not working either. The AP-7 already there is enormous congestion since road tolls were lifted but, furthermore, there are not enough trucks to be a complete alternative given the volume of goods that move along the railways. Added to this are problems derived from the latest storms and the increase in traffic derived from a Rodalies service that has not been back to normal for more than ten days. Photo | Phil Richards In Xataka | Spain wants its AVE trains to travel at 350 … Read more

finding the winner has not been easy at all

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For many, choosing a phone with a camera that really delivers what it promises has never been so complicated. A few years ago the map was simple: the options were clear and each range had its well-defined place. Today that ground has moved. New players have entered, the level has been equalized above and It is no longer enough to look at the usual ones If what we are looking for is mobile photography at the highest level. This is even more noticeable when the focus is on the telephoto lens, one of the sections that most separates a “very good” mobile phone from a truly outstanding one. With so many alternatives on the table, the question arises: which one is worth buying? in a new Versus from Xataka We wanted to respond precisely to that. We have faced seven of the best zoom phones of the moment so that you don’t have to, and we have put them against the ropes in a battery of tests designed to see both the muscle of the hardware and the weight of the processing. As is usual in this format, where we have analyzed products and platforms with very different approaches (of the AirPods Max versus the Sony WH-1000XM6 to the iPhone Air vs. the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge), the system is clear: each round adds points and, in the end, only one takes first place. A zoom duel with very serious candidates Ana Boria has been in charge of leading this comparison, with a lineup of protagonists who have already says a lot about the moment that mobile photography is experiencing: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Xiaomi 15 Ultra, iPhone 17 Pro Max, Vivo X300 Pro, OPPO Find X9 Pro, Realme GT8 Pro and HONOR Magic8 Pro. The test starts with a relatively controlled scenario, daytime photos with good light and optical zoom, and then raises the level of demand as it progresses. the video we just published on our YouTube channel. “In the case of the colors of this garden, it is the Xiaomi, the VIVO and the OPPO that I like the least because of their saturated and bright, somewhat artificial processing. On the other hand, with this sunset, precisely that play of saturation in the colors makes my eyes go directly to those photos,” says Ana while comparing results and showing some of the images captured during the test days. Beyond the pure and simple zoom, there is a particularly revealing block: portrait-type shots without activating portrait mode. The idea is not to evaluate a software effect, but to check how telephoto lenses behave when asked the most difficult things, separate the subject from the background naturally. And there, as usually happens when the level is so high, it is not only important how close each mobile phone gets: it matters how it does it. A particularly interesting result appears in this section. which is detailed in the video. From here comes the most delicate territory: the digital zoom designed to maintain detail without turning the photo into a pixel puzzle. It’s the kind of promise we’ve all heard, but only some phones manage to keep. “If we talk about colors, it depends a lot on the photography whether we notice more or less differences between the seven phones,” explains Ana. At this point, very different trends are clearly seen between brands: from models with “a more intense HDR” to more conservative and balanced proposals, with a more consistent white balance and a less aggressive final image. And if there is a theme that runs through the entire video, that is the role of artificial intelligence. Because today zoom is not just optics. It is also an algorithm. It is also reconstruction. In this part of Versus it is appreciated which manufacturersThey put more into AI to “improve” the capture and what is gained (or lost) with it. Sometimes the result is striking, even spectacular. In others, excess translates into photos that are too artificial, with an aesthetic that may not be to everyone’s taste. “Although if we look at these portrait photos, and we look at my face, the Vivo photo is all AI and my skin has completely lost its texture,” says Ana about the Chinese brand’s mobile phone, although the video leaves more examples of the extent to which AI can mark the character of an image. The comparison does not stop at photography. It also includes optical + digital zoom in low lighting conditions, video tests and, as it could not be otherwise, the section that arouses the most curiosity when we talk about telephoto lenses: the external accessories that allow you to take the zoom to another level. Only three of the models analyzed have this type of option, Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO, and it is one of those details that not only changes the final result, but also changes the experience. “The thing is, how do I get back to my iPhone now?” Ana asks herself after checking it out. To know the winners of each round, see the complete tests and discover Ana’s final conclusions, we invite you to watch the video on the Xataka YouTube channel. And as we always do, you can leave us your opinion both here and in the comments of the video. Images | Xataka In Xataka | It had been a long time since a cell phone left me speechless. So I went to China to test the Honor Magic8 Pro camera

desperately finding your own SpaceX

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In the technological field, it is often said that Europe regulates a lot and innovates little. This regulatory obsession is something that the European Union is often criticized for, but it has managed important technical advances in technology (a universal airdrop and the USB-C standardization). However, it is true that, in certain fields, other countries have overtaken us to the right. In spatial matters, it is evident: China is investing a lot and SpaceX takes the lead in reusable rockets. Europe wants to get its act together and has announced a megaproject. One of more than 900 million euros to find its own SpaceX. In short. November 2023 marked the turning point for European space ambitions. The ESA advertisement the European Launcher Challenge, an initiative to foster competition between European orbital launch providers, promote a diverse ecosystem to access space, develop cost-effective solutions and, above all, improve European autonomy in space transportation. During this time, it has awarded contracts of up to 169 million euros to five companies that will have the task of developing these processes, the Spanish PLD Space being one of them. It was essential that European States respond with financing, and we already have the results. A few days ago, the ESA published ‘Document 100’ that details each of the investments made by the participants. Final amount? 902.16 million euros to finance the space program. Not necessary: ​​vital. Not only countries with companies involved in development have put money in: there are others that do not have production plans, but have committed funds to the program. It responds to the movements that have been occurring in the world for almost four years. If ESA, and Europe, want to be relevant in space, they must be self-sufficient, just as Russia, the United States and China are. The problem is that it wasn’t. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Access to Soyuz rockets was cut off. He Ariane 5 European retired in 2023 and Ariane 6 has had a series of major mishaps until its first flight in summer 2024. This goes beyond sending astronauts to the ISS: it implies that, without rockets, critical satellites such as The Galileo navigation or the Euclid telescope. Europe had to foldwith many reviewsbefore SpaceX and from the ESA management itself, they signed the agreement with a “we have no other option.” Show me the money. With those 902 million euros, Europe seeks sovereignty, something it is doing in other areas (rearmament, for example), because he understands that he cannot trust geopolitical agreements that, at one time or another, can be broken. The biggest bets have been made from the countries that have the most interest in the program: Germany It is the one that has contributed the most: a total of 363 million euros. France It is the second with about 179 million euros. Spain will make a contribution of 169 million euros. United Kingdom about 144 million euros. And then, as we say, other countries like Norway with 29 million euros directly to the European Launcher Challenge, but each country contributes another amount to other ESA programs. The amounts are astronomical and go to each person’s homeland. In the case of Spain, for example, 36.77 million are going to PLD Space to develop the MIURA 5 and another 132 million for the rocket construction sector in Elche. The chosen ones. And the companies that will receive the bulk of the financing to develop their programs, which they will later sell to ESA, are the following: Isar Aerospace – German company that develops the Spectrum rocket to carry medium payloads. Rocket Factory Augsburg – Also German, she works on the RFA One launcher which is already in the testing phase. MaiaSpace – French she is developing Reusable vertical landing technology. This is a key piece to reduce the price of each launch, which is what SpaceX is achieving with its rockets. PLC Space – The Spanish one who develops the MIURA 5, a small class launcher, as well as a family of reusable rockets called Miura Next. Orbex – British company that plans to host launches from the Saxavord outpost in the Shetland Islands and is developing the Prime A. Feet of lead. Despite the ambition of the project and the companies involved, we must go with a certain skepticism, precisely because of what I commented at the beginning of the article: the regulatory desire. While the American model has allowed SpaceX’s ambitions to be unleashed, with a huge investment and one NASA turning to Musk’s company To put its astronauts into orbit, Europe has maintained a model of strong government oversight. Recently, some voices they asked whether Europe could create a reusable rocket industry, taking into account that it is something that requires specific market conditions that have not been cultivated in the territory. This is precisely where the ESA wants to put the patch with its European Launcher Challenge thanks to a change in policies and investment. Since 2023, private investment in space technology has skyrocketed in Europe and institutions have point to a change of course to “recover sovereignty in terms of access to space.” It only remains to see how the five companies develop their systems, something that will happen before the end of 2027 with a view to ESA missions towards 2030. Images | OrbexIsar Aerospace, ESA, MaiaSpaceFRG In Xataka | “Elon Musk can monopolize everything,” warns Arianespace, which has been launching all of Europe’s satellites for 40 years

For decades rats devastated these Pacific islands. Now we’re finding out what happens when they leave

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Before we get to work I propose a game: open Google Earth, type “Bikar Atoll” either Jemo Island and let the search engine take you to those remote points lost in the middle of the Pacific. What do you see? Beaches with turquoise waters and white sand, leafy trees, nature in its purest form. The typical place that promises paradise on earth and where anyone would want to go for a week’s trip. The problem is that until recently both islands had a problem: they were rat infested that had turned their ecosystem upside down. Until recently. In a remote part of the Pacific… They are found Marshall Islandsan island republic located in the region of Micronesia, Oceania, famous for its paradisiacal images and dreamy sandy beaches. Among its string of islands there are two in particular that in recent months have caught the attention of environmentalists: Bikar Atoll and the Jemo Islandboth included in the Ratak island chain. The reason? After intense conservation work and a campaign that dates back to 2024, the two islands have seen their fauna and vegetation recover little by little. As an example, environmentalists they explain who have found a colony of hundreds of onychoprion fuscatus (sooty terns) with chicks in an area where until not so long ago there was not a single one. Not to mention the thousands of sprouts that have begun to appear on previously bare soil. An annoying (and voracious) stowaway. There is little mystery about this change. It is explained by a campaign launched last year and which focused the focus on the big problem that was devastating the ecosystems of Bikar and Jemo: rats. Although both islands have always stood out for their birds (when Spanish explorers discovered Jemo They nicknamed her ‘The Birds’‘), over time they ended up displaced by another animal with a voracious appetite: rodents that arrived hidden on board ships and fed on eggs and other local species, which drastically impacted the delicate island ecosystem. A date: 7/24. Things began to change in July 2024when Island Conservationtogether with the Marshallese Marine Resources Authority, launched an ambitious campaign to eliminate the invasive rats. With the help of a drone he launched baits throughout the islands, a meticulous task that led him to cover each hectare with around 25 kilos of a product designed especially for rodents without affecting the rest of the native species. Months later the team returned to Bikar and Jemo to assess the scope of the campaign. “As soon as you step onto the island, your senses are activated to the maximum: you look for the rats, you look for birds on the ground, look for any clue that indicates whether we have won or lost,” confesses Paul Jacquesdirector of Island Conservation to CNN. What he obtained during that visit was “a great revelation,” confirmation (confirmed with studies) that the plague had subsided. Change of terrain after the disappearance of the rats. Baby birds found on the island. “Drastic transformation”. The quote is by Paul Jacques, who summarizes what they found on the islands: “A colony of 200 sooty terns where there were none before fed hundreds of chicks.” “We also counted thousands of seedlings of the native tree Pisonia grandis in just 60 supervised 12-meter plots in the forest. In 2024 we had not found any,” relates the person responsible for the project, who remembers that this regeneration is essential for the fauna that inhabits both islands. “Native forests are essential for nesting seabirds and crucial for carbon absorption and the ecological health of the island,” insist. When the rats disappeared, the turtles, crabs and birds were no longer harassed, which was soon reflected in the rest of the ecosystem. More birds translated into more guano, which in turn improved soil fertility, encouraging more native vegetation and reefs. And as a picture always says more than a thousand words, Island Conservation has taken care of document the change with a series of photos that show the before and after of the campaign. Far beyond Bikar and Jemo. Change is important for the islands, but from Island Conservation it is insisted in that the success of your campaign goes further. “This integrated approach offers enormous benefits for biodiversity, demonstrating how land and sea conservation, when strategically linked, can boost resilience and ecological impact.” The organization also recalls that the regeneration of the islands benefits neighboring island communities, such as the one located in Likipe, which have historically come to Jemo in search of natural resources. Without rats, they now find more crabs there and hope to achieve sustainable fishing. Images | Andrew Arch (Flickr)Google Earth and Island Conservation In Xataka | New York rats have become a pest that is impossible to eradicate. They have a secret: their own language

‘Stranger Things’ changed everything for Netflix. Your problem now is finding another brand just as powerful.

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The expectation is through the roof: Netflix has just taken the first steps of the final season of ‘Stranger Things’‘, which will run throughout December with several episodes, many of them feature-length. In fact, the desire of the fans is such that Netflix even saw its servers falter. A (very possibly) triumphant culmination that, however, leaves a few unknowns in the air. Netflix flashes. Netflix experienced a service outage that in some cases It lasted about twenty minutes. (although the thing did not exceed about five, according to the platform’s official statement) with the premiere of the fifth season of ‘Stranger Things’. The incident occurred despite the fact that the series co-creator, Ross Duffer, had shared that Netflix would increase its bandwidth by 30% to avoid precisely this type of incident. All in all, thousands of users reported NSEZ-403 errors that prevented them from accessing the content, or accessed it with problems, which worked as a perfect thermometer of the expectation generated by the series. ‘Stranger Things’ continues to be a phenomenon capable of collapsing digital infrastructures three years after its previous season. Devastating figures. The fourth season accumulated 140.7 million viewsestablishing itself as the third most watched series in English on the platform, only behind ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Adolescence’. Of course, it is the only series with all seasons in the Top 10an unprecedented milestone on the platform. The impact on subscribers is more difficult to quantify: the third season, for example, contributed to add 520,000 subscribers in the United States. The cultural impact. The impact that ‘Stranger Things’ has had on modern pop culture is enough for a book, but let’s stick with some figures that will give us a rough idea. First, the economy: Netflix, for example, closed agreements with approximately 75 brands to promote the third season. Coca-Cola relaunched New Coke, generating 1.2 billion dollars in media value; Similarly, Nike obtained $178 million in media coverage with their Hawkins High collection. But this goes far beyond benefits for some brands: Butts County in Georgia, where the series is set, reported a 12% increase in tourism during the years the series was broadcast. And the small city of Jackson, with barely five thousand inhabitants and a per capita income of less than $30,000, revitalized its economy thanks to thematic tours. And of course, there is the strong role that the series has had in the recovery of the aesthetics and fashions of the eighties. It is no longer just that they have been revitalized Stephen King’s books and John Carpenter’s films: platforms like LTK registered increases of 3,000% in searches for clothing similar to those worn by the characters. What can we expect? For now, Netflix has planned very well to divide this final season into three: 4 episodes on November 27, 3 on December 26 and a final one on January 1. That is, coinciding with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and thus, contrary to what is usual on the platform, stretching the cultural conversation for two months. As for audience expectations, as expected, they are very high: analysts predict new viewing records given the three years of waiting until this end. Of course, the critics have spoken and they point to the signs of exhaustion that were already seen in previous seasons: 87% on Rotten Tomatoesthe lowest rating of the series so far, although the audience rises to 92%. It is not easy to maintain narrative quality after so many years, with obstacles such as the age of the protagonists. The future. The really interesting thing about the phenomenon is wondering what Netflix has ahead. Or to put it more awkwardly: can the platform replicate the phenomenon? It has certainly had successful series in its catalogue, such as ‘Wednesday‘, ‘The Squid Game’ or ‘The Bridgertons’, but except for the first, all of them have finished or are about to do so. It is true that Netflix has the ability to generate new hits like ‘Wednesday’, which also, although it came as a bit of a surprise to everyone, could be well exploited by the platform. Now, Netflix is ​​in a phase of prioritize quantity over qualitymercilessly canceling what does not interest you and attesting that we are in a different moment than the initial success of ‘Stranger Things’: the competition has multiplied and it is more difficult to get noticed among multiple offers. Netflix has all the space in the world before it to compete, but perhaps its main rival is its own legacy: how to make ‘Stranger Things’ forgotten. The series was perhaps, before the almost infinite atomization of the offer of the streamingthe medium’s latest great global success. And that is very difficult to overcome. In Xataka | Netflix loved movie theaters. Then he hated them. Now you have reached a very beneficial middle ground

Jeff Bezos’ grandfather had the key to finding a job in the age of AI: being an inventor

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With saturated selection processes (or directly broken) and the AI conditioning skills that companies demand, there is a skill that Jeff Bezos considers irreplaceable: the ability to invent. The millionaire value this skill above traditional knowledge or experience. Bezos considers that inventiveness is vital to maintaining creativity and innovation in modern companies, ensuring that he himself has applied it to bring Amazon and Blue Origin to their current situation. Lessons from his grandfather. In an interview During the Italian Tech Week 2025 conference that took place in Turin, the millionaire commented that his grandfather was capable of solving any problem on his Texas ranch by himself, without depending on outside help. “He bought a bulldozer for about $5,000 because it was completely broken. We spent a whole summer fixing it. To remove the transmission, we had to build our own crane. And that’s why he had an incredible ability to adapt. He believed he could solve any problem. And I watched him,” Bezos said during his interview. “He did veterinary work with the cattle. He made the needles himself. He took a small piece of wire and heated it with a blowtorch, flattened it, sharpened it and made a small hole in it. Some cows even survived,” he commented sarcastically. That ability to adapt and create practical solutions taught him the value of inventiveness in facing difficulties, a lesson that Bezos has also applied in his life and in the management of Amazon. The “inventor” of Amazon. Bezos himself defines himself as an inventor, stating that “it is his fundamental nature. Put me in front of a white board and I can generate a hundred ideas in half an hour.” The founder of Amazon looks for those creative skills in his team members. In an interview In 2012 at the Utah Technology Council, Bezos indicated that “when I interview candidates, I ask them to give me an example of something they have invented.” Obviously the millionaire was not referring to a patent, but to a process, an idea or a solution to a problem that existed and for which he imagined a solution. “You have to select people who like to invent, think innovatively,” said the millionaire. Innovation as an antidote to fear. One of the six fears that have defined Jeff Bezos’ career is the fear of garages. Not in the literal sense of the place but of the symbolic sense of innovation that they have acquired: HP was born in a garage, just like Apple. “Two kids in a garage scare me more than the competitors I already know,” assured Bezos in an interview. The inventive capacity is a lever towards innovation and experimentation, which has been one of the pillars of the business culture that has taken Amazon to where it is today. “Someone who comes to Amazon and doesn’t like pioneering, doesn’t like exploring, doesn’t like going down dead ends that often turn out to be dead ends, will leave soon,” Bezos said in his interview. In his job interviews, Bezos asks: “How can we do A and B? What invention do we need to bring the two together?” That is, value those candidates who do not see the options in black and white, but rather look for new ways to combine and improve processes to innovate. AI has accelerated everything. More and more CEOs and senior officials at large technology companies agree that they are the skills and attitudes, and not the knowledgewhich will make candidates stand out in the age of AI. The current CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, ​​pointed out that knowledge can be acquired over time, but what companies need in this era of constant innovation are people who know how to adapt to any circumstance and learn from it. “The biggest difference between the people I started with in the early stages of my career and what they are doing now has to do with how good they were at learning.” According to Jassy, ​​the attitude and talent to innovate It has to come standard. In Xataka | Jeff Bezos has the world’s laziest metaphor for AI: “someone invented the plow and we all got rich” In Xataka | If your chair limps during a job interview, it’s no coincidence: they’re evaluating more than just your resume. Image | Flickr (iafastro)

is that it is preventing you from finding one now

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One of the areas in which the use of AI has had the greatest impact has been in the ATS automatic filtering systems of candidates (Applicant Tracking System) of the personnel selection processes, and in general throughout the process including interviews. When AI began to be integrated into these processes, it was done thinking that this technology would streamline screening and selection of the best candidates. However, the use of this technology has led to the collapse of the entire process: neither those selected are the most suitable, nor should those discarded be. As technology journalist Tim Rogers laments in an article published in Slate: the hiring system “is broken.” Sending resume is a waste of time. Rogers said that looking for a job is no longer just a matter of updating your resume and sending it to companies looking to fill their vacancies: automatic systems and artificial intelligence have created an invisible wall that makes it even more difficult to get a real opportunity. The problem is that ATS systems, which in theory should make the selection of candidates easier, now filter and discard hundreds of resumes with rules so strict that many candidates never get to be reviewed by a real person and, therefore, a factor that many CEOs of large companies are missing they are claiming as priorities: attitude and commitment. A system blocked by saturation. According to data According to the World Economic Forum, 80% of companies use some AI system in their recruitment processes. The direct consequence of this automation, which occurs both from the human resources departments and from the candidates themselves, is the saturation of applications and the opposite effect that was expected to be obtained: the selection processes are becoming increasingly longer and recruiters can’t cope to review so many profiles. According to report figures ‘Huntr Q2 2025’, the average time elapsed from the beginning of a job search to receiving the first offer has increased by 22% in just three months, going from 56 days to 68.5 days. The data indicates that the main employment platforms, such as LinkedIn or Indeed, concentrate around 80% of the applications and, even so, their response rate is around 3.3%, which shows that the vast majority of applications do not even manage to attract the attention of a human recruiter. AI plays both sides. Faced with the use of AI in their application filtering systems by recruitment platforms, job seekers have not stood idly by and have also They have used AI to optimize your requests. So they told it from Manfred, who published on their blog that, until recently, they received between 20 and 50 applications for each vacancy they opened. Currently, the same job posting can return 500 applications in the first 24 hours, with most of them generated by AI. As they point out, this avalanche of requests is not due to the fact that there has suddenly been a fivefold increase the talent availableit has only been automated. You hire a profile, not a person. Rogers lamented that automated candidate filtering left out of the process profiles that, in human hands, could be a perfect fit and provide value. “Quality is lost among thousands of documents generated by machines,” the journalist wrote. “We are sold the idea that AI can fix the mess it has created,” warning that this strategy only intensifies the problem and further triggers the digital noise that makes it difficult to really be seen by an employer. Amid frustration over the lack of human treatment, the journalist maintains that “in-person contact continues to be the most effective way to get an interview. The few opportunities I have gotten did not come from algorithms, but from people,” a literal statement based on his own experience. The data proves him right. According to the data collected According to the INE in the 2nd quarter of 2023, 57.5% of people search for employment through their network of contacts. According to Eurostat data As of 2020, Spain does so in 72.6% of cases and Italy in 77.5%. Our neighbors in France use their network of contacts in 63.5% of cases and Portugal in 65.7%. An infinite circle that leads nowhere. Rogers points out that the reliance on AI-automated processes has led to a vicious cycle where “machines write resumes and other machines evaluate them,” reducing the job search to a kind of profile puzzle in which the best fit does not necessarily have to be the most suitable for the position or the team with which you will work. The last experiences with hiring of this type have shown that one of the few reliable avenues for recruitment remains the face to face interview between the candidate and the recruiters. In fact, companies like Google and Amazon are already demanding that their new candidates have a face to face interview to prevent AI distort real capabilities of the candidates. In Xataka | The latest trend to ace job interviews: training with ChatGPT as a recruiter In Xataka | If your chair limps during a job interview, it’s no coincidence: they’re evaluating more than just your resume. Image | Unsplash (charlesdeluvio, Emiliano Vittoriosi)

In 1995 some researchers discovered the “peaceful gene” of our body. Today their finding has earned them a Nobel

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The Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm has done it again. He has rewarded one of those investigations that, for years, seemed like a page note in textbooks, but today are the basis of revolutionary treatments. He Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine of 2025 He has been granted jointly to Japanese Shimon Sakaguchi and Americans Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell for “their discoveries about Regulatory T cells And the role of Foxp3 gene In the immune function “ The beginning. Already in the previous decade, Sakaguchi had identified a subset of T lymphocytes that did not attack, but did the opposite: they suppressed the activity of other T lymphocytes. They were pacifying cells, a kind of riot police of the immune system. In 1995, He published a job Key that characterized these cells, today known as regulatory T cells (TREGS). The finding was transcendental. Sakaguchi showed that without these tregs, The immune system went crazy and began to attack the tissues of the body itself, causing devastating autoimmune diseases. He had discovered the natural mechanism of the body to maintain tolerance and avoid self -destruction. But the key piece of the puzzle was missing: what made a T cell become a peacemaker and not a soldier? Brunkow and Ramsdell. Although this discovery was transcendental, the reality is that there was a lot of skeptic that he did not believe in his theory. But the answer to the big question that stayed in the air came in 2001 (still far from the year 2025 and the delivery of this award). Here, on the one hand, Mary E. Brunkow’s team investigated a rare and deadly disease Autoimmune in children called IPEX syndrome. The investigation pointed to a gene as a cause of this disease: Foxp3. On the other hand, Fred Ramsdell’s team was studying a mouse model with very similar symptoms and reached the same conclusion: The defective gene was Foxp3. The connection. The connection was immediate and explosive: Foxp3 was the “master switch”. It is the gene that, when activated in a T lymphocyte, gives you the instructions to become a TREG. Without functional FOXP3, there are no regulatory T cells, and the immune system is uncontrolled. Sakaguchi’s discovery finally found his genetic explanation and already gave him enough weight so that the scientific community saw that he had sat a great precedent. A revolution. This double discovery, Sakaguchi’s cell phone and Brunkow and Ramsdell’s genetic, has completely changed the immunology paradigm and has opened two great therapeutic pathways with immense potential. On the one hand, the door opens up to the fight against autoimmune diseases since with the lack of tregs the body attacks itself. The solution in this case is to increase this type of cells, and there are already different clinical trials to extract patient T cells, “convert” them into the laboratory and re -inject them to the patient. Something we now know as ‘immunotherapy’. But it also serves for the fight against cancer. In these cases it has been seen how tumors are ‘intelligent’ and surround themselves with tregs to protect themselves to the immune system that tries to end these cells. These pacifying cells prevent “soldier” T lymphocytes from attacking cancer. The new immunotherapies seek precisely to temporarily deactivate these tregs or block the action of Foxp3 in the tumor environment, eliminating the protective coat of cancer so that the immune system can destroy it. This has been especially promising in tumors such as lymphoma. Time has passed. The most surprising of all this is the large amount of time between the initial discovery and recognition with a Nobel. If it is true that it has been expected to have a crucial relevance within the clinical aspect, with trials that give very good results for diseases that are really serious. Images | Wikipedia (2, 3) In Xataka | A Spanish team has taken a giant step in a hopeful cancer treatment: chemoinmunotherapy

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