history

Spotify has suffered the largest music theft in history. One that confirms that most of their catalog is never heard

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Anna’s Archive was already known by literature lovers, who turned to this repository to be able to access books of all kinds without having to pay for them. Now they want to achieve the same thing with music, and they have taken a colossal and disturbing step: stealing practically the entire Spotify catalog. What is Anna’s Archive. Anna’s Archive project appeared on the scene in late 2022, shortly after legal pressure managed to knock down the Z-Library platformone of the largest websites for downloading free books. The platform works as a metasearch engine that allows you to find books and then download them. Anna’s Archive does not host these files—which, according to the project, exempts it from legal responsibility—and links to different anonymous download providers, which is where users can obtain them. Until now the platform focused on books, but that has changed. The biggest music theft in history. In a post published on his blog official this weekend, those responsible for Anna’s Archive indicated that they have made “a backup copy” of Spotify that includes both metadata and music files. Not only that: it is indicated that they are distributing all this information through torrent files, and the total download takes up 300 TB of data “grouped by popularity.” 86 million songs. They call it the first music “preservation archive” in history and it has 86 million music files. Although that figure is only 37% of the songs in Spotify’s entire catalog, according to Anna’s Archive they account for 99.6% of listening on Spotify. And here there are two important things: on the one hand, music as such. And on the other hand, the metadata that surrounds that music, and that offers very interesting information about Spotify’s music catalog. The top 10,000 popularity. Thus, at Anna’s Archive they wanted to organize that archive based on “popularity”, a metric that they use in Spotify to order the songs that are listened to the most and how recent those plays are. Those responsible for Anna’s Archive have compiled a gigantic list with the 10,000 most popular songs according to this metric. Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish occupy the top three positions, for example. This graph reveals how song popularity demonstrates the long tail phenomenon. Only 62 songs exceed 90 points. Three out of four songs are not heard. By grouping songs by popularity, the metadata reveals and confirms the traditional long tail phenomenon. More than 70% of the songs in the Spotify catalog are barely listened to (less than 1,000 plays), and there are so many that are popular or that they had to cut the gigantic file (it would have been 700 TB) to end that representation of 99.6% of songs that have minimal popularity on Spotify. That does not mean that they are better or worse, be careful: it just means that they have been heard more or less on the platform. We all hear (more or less) the same thing. Most listens come to songs with popularity between 50 and 80, and here comes an expected figure: of the 86 million songs, only 210,000 exceed 50 popularity (0.1%). Or what is the same: almost everyone basically listens to a very small set of songs compared to the size of the catalog. How much is each song listened to? Those responsible for Anna’s Archive claim that it is possible to estimate the total number of views per song thanks to popularity. They gave the example of the first three: ‘Die with a smile’ (Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars), 3,075 million views ‘Birds of a feather’ (Billie Eilish): 3,137 million views ‘DtMF’ (Bad Bunny): 1,124 million views Between the three of them they accumulate as many listens as the songs that are between number 20 and number 100 million have. Once again, the long tail in action. Analysis everywhere. These metadata are very useful, and Anna’s Archive has produced a unique report in which they reveal conclusions based on the data collected. Thus, you can confirm how the most common length of songs is around 3:30 minutes, how there are numerous duplicates per song (licenses, versions, etc.), which ones are the most popular genres between artists or how most of the songs on Spotify are singles, and not part of an album. These metadata are a true treasure for market researchers. Downloading (for now) only in large torrents. At Anna’s Archive they have not published almost any of the torrents so far, but they have already indicated how they will offer those 300 TB. First, the metadata in a 200 GB file, which is already being shared by about 200 people. Then the music in various batches organized by popularity. Finally, some additional metadata and content like album art designs. Time will tell if those 86 million songs end up being available on some type of platform that links them to download individually. At Anna’s Archive that does not seem to be the intention, at least for now, and at the moment the metasearch engine focuses strictly on books. What Spotify says. As they point out in TorrentFreakthose responsible for Spotify have launched an investigation, and as a result have “identified and deactivated the accounts of malicious users who were participating in illegal scraping activities.” They have also implemented new measures to prevent these types of attacks and “are monitoring suspicious behavior.” Image | Sumeet B In Xataka | The chaos of streaming is causing a phenomenon that we thought was in recession: downloads are increasing

In 1932 Hedy Lamarr performed the first nude in film history. And then he went to invent WiFi

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Throughout its 85 years Hedy Lamarr He dedicated himself to chaining lives. First there was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, the name her parents gave her when she was born in Vienna in 1914, and with which she became a gifted child and a pioneering actress: the first to appear naked from head to toe and fake an orgasm in a commercial film. For a few years she was also Mandl’s Lady, his wife and “slave” (as she herself would later define that stage). by the Viennese Fritz Mandla jealous, controlling and tyrannical magnate, who provided weapons to Hitler and Mussolini. Towards the end of the 1930s, in Hollywood, she became Hedy Lamarr, the name with which producer Louis B. Mayer baptized her and with which she would rise to fame. Already a diva of the cinema, she was the engineer Lamarr, who dedicated her nights to cultivating her side of inventor and managed to develop a key technology for the subsequent development of wireless communication of mobile phones, GPS or WiFi technology. Already in the last years of her life she had to assume the saddest role: she secluded herself in her mansion in Florida, obsessed with operating rooms, kleptomaniac and hooked on pills. How to improve WiFi at home The life in three acts of a woman who passed through the world as if she were playing her best and most demanding Hollywood role. Lamarr won the title of “most beautiful woman” of golden cinema and (already at the end of his days), when his technological contributions were echoed, he obtained numerous recognitions from the scientific community: the Pioner Award, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), or the Viktor Kaplan medal from the Austrian Association of Inventors and Patent Holders, among others. The date of his birth, November 9, has become International Inventor’s Day. Act one: the first nude in cinema The future Hedy Lamarr was born in Vienna, in 1914, with the name Edwig Eva Maria Kiesler. Theirs was a Jewish family, cultured and wealthy. His father was a prosperous banker from Lemberg and his mother, a pianist from Budapest raised Catholic. Since she was a child, she received a careful education that soon revealed her prodigious intelligence. It is said that when he was only five years old he satisfied his scientific curiosity by gutting musical boxes that he would then put back together piece by piece. Kiesler began his engineering career, but abandoned it to dedicate himself to his other great vocation: acting. In 1932, at only 19 years old, he starred in his first bombshell: Ecstasy, a film by Gustav Machaty in which she broke molds by appearing on screen as God brought her into the world and faking an orgasm. That bravery was met with the anger of his family, the indignation of a good part of the prudish society of the time, and even provoked the wrath of the Vatican. The sensual and intelligent Viennese woman fascinated Fritz Mandl14 years older than her. The tycoon got Kiesler’s parents They approved the wedding and the couple walked down the aisle in 1933. Mandl, an arms businessman who worked with the Nazis, soon showed himself to be a sexist tyrant. In a fit of jealousy he tried to buy all the tapes of Ecstasy so that no one could see Kiesler’s scenes, and he even prohibited her from bathing or undressing if he was not in front of her. He also forced her to accompany him to his business meals. Fed up with that slavery, in 1937 the young woman he pulled his wits to escape: He hired a maid who looked like him, sedated her, dressed like her and managed to evade the surveillance of his confinement. She sold her jewelry and set sail for the United States after stopping in London. “He had played at keeping me prisoner. I played at escaping. He lost,” she would later relate. This first act of her life closes with a thrilling escape while Mandl’s thugs are hot on her heels to force her to return to her golden cage. Second act: the great diva of Hollywood Destiny awaited Kiesler around the corner. Specifically, on the ship he boarded to travel to North America. There he met Louis B. Mayer, the famous producer, who showed off his unfailing eye for celluloid. He offered her a job and renamed her Hedy Lamarr, a peculiar tribute to the actress Bárbara La Marrwhose life had been taken prematurely by tuberculosis and nephritis just a decade earlier. In Hollywood, Lamarr deployed all his talent in front of the cameras, she won the title of “most beautiful woman” and fulfilled the role of femme fatal. He acted in Algiers, Lady of Tropics, Comrade…And dozens of other titles. He shared the bill with some of the brightest stars in Hollywood and they say that the creators of snow white and catwoman They were inspired by her stunning beauty. The most famous role he played was that of Delilah in Samson and Delilah. Her fame could have been much greater if Lamarr or those who advised her had had more aim when choosing roles. He rejected the main characters in two bombshells that would go down in cinema history: Casablanca (!) and Dying lightwhich together had almost twenty Oscar nominations. Throughout his career, Lamarr produced his own films. In his private life, he had six marriages that ended in as many divorces. She ended her days retired in Florida, a kleptomaniac, obsessed with cosmetic surgery, succumbing to drugs and starring in notorious scandals. She died at the dawn of the new century: on January 19, 2000. “She was a victim of the system,” comments one of her sons in one of the documentaries filmed about her. Proof of how little society knew how to value her is the anecdote that happened to her when, during the Second World War, she offered her collaboration to the United States as a brilliant engineer. The answer … Read more

It is the springboard to becoming the first billionaire in history

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The Delaware Supreme Court has taken a historic turn in a legal battle that has lasted for years: it has definitively approved Elon Musk’s compensation package that was approved in 2018, originally valued at $56 billion. This decision puts an end to the judicial dispute that led to the fiscal change of Tesla from Delaware to Texas. The unanimous ruling of the five judges of Delaware’s highest court considers that canceling the salary package left Musk without any compensation between 2018 and 2024 for his work as CEO of Tesla since You are not assigned a fixed salary in the company. Adjusted for Tesla’s current stock price, which hit all-time highs this week, the value of the stock package you will receive amounts to about $139 billion. The origin of the judicial conflict. The entire judicial mess over Musk’s salary bonus began in January 2024, when Judge Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery annulled the CEO’s compensation package after a complaint from a group of shareholders, arguing that the billion-dollar remuneration was excessive and unfair to shareholders. McCormick determined that Tesla’s board of directors had not properly informed shareholders about the bonus and that board members lacked sufficient independence from Musk. This first unfavorable ruling caused an immediate reaction and forceful from the CEO of Tesla. Tesla’s board of directors organized a second vote among shareholders in June 2024 to reaffirm its CEO’s bonus, which was approved with 63% of the votes, although McCormick rejected again this maneuver in December 2024. The Supreme Court endorses it. The Delaware Supreme Court determined that McCormick’s decision contained several errors and that complete termination of the salary package was an inappropriate penalty. The judges unanimously concluded that voiding the payment had left Musk without any financial compensation for his time and effort during a six-year period as CEO. Although the high court reinstated compensation to the CEO, it has also imposed on Musk the symbolic payment of an additional dollar and ordered him to pay legal fees, recognizing certain problematic aspects of the original process. The decision marks the closing of a legal battle that has lasted almost two years and that has kept one of the most ambitious executive compensation packages in US business history on hold…at least until the arrival of Musk’s new salary bonus, estimated at a billion dollars. The conditions met by Musk. The compensation package approved in 2018 consisted of stock options equivalent to approximately 303 million Tesla shares, which represented about 12% of the company’s total equity at the time. The bonus was structured into 12 tranches of stock options that would only be unlocked if Tesla reached a series of milestones in market capitalization, revenue and profits over the next 10 years. At the time of the plan in 2018, Tesla had a market valuation of approximately $59 billion and was facing serious production and cash flow problems. Musk managed to exceed all established objectives in just five of the ten years planned. In June 2024, when shareholders voted a second time to reaffirm the package, the value of the 303 million stock options to which Musk was entitled had already reached $48.2 billion, with a price of $182. However, in December 2025, with Tesla trading near $481 and a market capitalization around $1.6 trillion, the value of the restored package skyrockets to approximately $139 billion. A historic boost to Musk’s fortune. With the restoration of this salary bonus, Elon Musk’s personal fortune has skyrocketed to over $749 billion, establishing him not only as the richest man in the world, but as the first person in modern history to get this close to $1 trillion. This figure represents almost triple the fortune of the second richest person on the planet: the Google co-founder Larry Page, whose assets are estimated at 252,000 million dollars. Musk is the millionaire best positioned to become the first billionaire in history in the short term, especially if SpaceX goes public in 2026 and the projected valuation of $1.5 trillion is reached. Musk’s stake in SpaceX could exceed an additional $625 billion, which, added to his other investments, could bring his total assets closer to $952 billion. In Xataka | “Work will be optional”: Elon Musk has gone from being a fervent supporter of 996 to believing in universal basic income Image | Flickr (Gage Skidmore), Unsplash (Andreas Rasmussen)

For Google, 2025 could have been a terrifying year. It’s going to end up being one of the best in its history

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It’s not how it starts but how it ends. If Google is having a Christmas dinner, that might be a good phrase to sum up what your year has been like as you raise your glass in a toast. And the Mountain View-based company began 2025 with several dark clouds on the horizon that threatened both its present and its hegemony for the future. But of course, it seems Google still has some time left. Google entered 2025 knowing that it had three major legal battles ahead that could end up amputating precious members like Chrome or its advertising business, with OpenAI in the rearview mirror in the AI ​​race and a troublesome new US president to adapt to. However, Google has not only emerged victorious, but has also managed to maintain the status quo of your structure (for now) and has emerged as the most cutting-edge AI company there is. And furthermore, the accounts come out: is breaking profit records. What has Google done to change its 2025 like this? Being in Google’s shoes in January of this year was not easy. Going through the courts was inevitable and the consequences were potentially devastating for their main sources of income. Declared a monopoly, there were possibilities before it such as the forced sale of Chrome. He also had to give explanations for anti-competitive practices in advertising and his battle with Epic Games It could have resulted in the drastic reduction of commissions in the Play Store on Android, opening the doors to other payment methods and third-party stores. Facing the Justice Department of Trump’s new era was not the best of scenarios either: it is not the first time that the new US president is critical of Google. AI has made them leave their comfort zone. After years of dominating with its combination of Google and Chrome, today the focus has been on artificial intelligence and here it could not be left out, among other things, because it is disrupting its search business. ChatGPT launched a new long-distance race, that of AI, where it started behind technologically speaking and has had to face new and old rivals: the veterans Microsoft and Meta, but also OpenAI and Anthropic. Billions of investment in R&D&I and data centers just to try to keep up. Google has made a huge bet with AI in every way with the hope that it ends up: 1. being profitable. 2. being one of the companies that survive to benefit from it. Because AI is in this phase of filming and expansion and is anything but profitable. And he is risking everything, even cannibalizing his goose that lays the golden eggs: his search business. However, its position is privileged: it has enormous economic muscle, an entire ecosystem and sectors where it leads. This 2025 the wolf was coming for Google, but it was not like that: You have avoided the sale of Chrome. Yes, the judge ruled that Google was a search monopoly, but he did not uphold the Justice Department’s most critical move. The DOJ defended that separating Google from its browser would eliminate one of the company’s great ways to attract users and direct them to its search engine. And be careful, because there was no shortage of buyers. The judge considered that this operation would be “incredibly complex and very risky.” It also allowed Google to continue paying Apple to ensure the prominent presence of its search products. But it did not emerge unscathed: the ruling requires it to share data with competitors (once, not continuously) and to limit exclusive contracts. The future of your advertising business is an unknown. Google yes lost its other big antitrust trial and here the DOJ wants to force you to sell your advertising exchange market and your Ad Manager tool. However, the judge’s predisposition seems to indicate that there will be an agreement that brings a change in behavior before touching the structure of Google, a slower process that could be delayed longer with an appeal from the company licensed by Sundar Pichai. Your (eternal) dispute with Epic. Google lost the case two years ago and this summer it was defeated again… and appealed again. Of course, along the way it has had to allow alternative payment methods and list alternative app stores. As in the previous case, Google hopes to soften the measures: for now it has already negotiated with Epic to reduce commissions and add a new category of registered app stores. Furthermore, it will do so globally. This is decided next month and if it goes ahead, Android will change but Google will still have control. It is not trivial, considering that a new operating system for PC based on Android will arrive in 2026. With Trump, a clean slate. The Mountain View company has had to use diplomacy and open its wallet. It should be remembered that after the capitol incident, Google banned Trump’s account from YouTube. Well, the president of the United States sued them and this year the soap opera has come to an end with YouTube paying 22 million dollars to close the agreement. On the other hand, Google was among the big tech companies that financially supported at the inauguration of the current president of the United States. If Google has had to defend itself in court, in technology it has gone on the attack. We could talk about the advances of the Pixel (which there have been), but the hardware It is not the company’s priority at all. Google has had a fantastic year in AI both in data and in story. Because with AI it is not enough to be the best, you also have to lead the conversation. Its video generator Veo 3 took over social networks, Nano Banana (and later, its Pro version) has starred in trends such as become a Stranger Things character either in an action figure. But it’s not just fashion: it’s that its video models, images and, ultimately, Gemini 3 … Read more

They found a cube-shaped skull in Tamaulipas and thought it was a migrant. Science has turned history upside down

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Modern archeology has just thrown us one of those pieces of the puzzle that forces us to rewrite, in part, what we knew about different ancient cultures of northern Mesoamerica. Something obligatory, since a team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History has identified a find in Tamaulipas that is as unusual as it is fascinating: a skull with an intentional deformation in the shape of a “cube”. “Parallelepiped” deformation. The discovery took place in the archaeological zone of Balcón de Montezuma, in the Sierra Madre Oriental. As detailed in the official INAH bulletinthe remains belong to an adult man over forty years old who lived during the Classic period between 400 and 900 AD Although the most surprising thing may seem given the curious deformation of the skull, for anthropologists the real news was in a modification of the “erect tabular” type. in its “parallelepiped” variant. How did it come to this? To have a skull with this peculiar shape, it is suggested that the ancient settlers of that area had to use wood compression devices such as slats. These would be applied to the back of the head (the occipital bone) and the forehead to restrict the natural growth of bones from childhood. Because it is precisely when they are malleable to adjust them to what you were looking for. Who was it? This is where hypotheses begin to emerge. Anthropologists point out that this type of deformation is more typical of the Mesoamerican southeast. But these bones have been found in the northern area. So the question was clear: Was this man a foreigner who came to the north? The answer, thanks to the analyzes of strontium isotopesit’s a resounding no. The conclusion that has been reached is that the bones belonged to a local man who was born and raised in the Sierra Madre Occidental area. And this is something that changes the narrative completely: we are not facing a migrant, but rather evidence of cultural adoption. Because. The fact that a local inhabitant decided (or his parents decided for him when they were very young) that the skull had to be modified with a technique that involved two splints makes sense. The hypotheses initially point to the membership in a local eliteand this modification could be a distinctive sign to indicate that they were in a higher stratum than the rest of the inhabitants. But it is also something that can suggest a cultural connection, since there was a great flow of ideas and aesthetic fashions that was much more fluid than previously thought between different cities in the area. That is why it may be that having a skull like this was an indication of beauty or it was simply ‘viral’ at that time. Its importance. Until now, archeology had recorded cranial deformations in the area, but they were generally more inclined backwards. The appearance of this more elongated upward shape is something that had not been recorded before in this area. This is something that a priori will help discard the old idea that the northern areas were culturally isolated. On the contrary, this “cubic skull” is physical proof that the northern border of Mesoamerica was fully integrated into the ritual and aesthetic dynamics of the rest of the subcontinent. Images | Chelms Varthoumlien In Xataka | If Spain believes it has a problem with droughts, it is because it does not know what led the Mayans to collapse: 150 extreme years

Da Vinci was not only one of the most brilliant thinkers and inventors in history. It was also very good

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He Da Vinci painter. The sculptor The engineer. The Tuscan wise man who devised flying machines at the end of the 15th century. The one with mirror writing and the muse with a disturbing smile. That of the enigma that does not go away five centuries after his death. With a long beard, sober look and clear forehead, Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci is by far one of the most magnetic characters in history. Hundreds of myths and theories have been founded on his genius, rivers of ink have flowed and bestsellers have even been written and movies made in the most genuine Hollywood style. The last helping of conspiracies was served a few years ago, when the Salvator Mundi canvas was sold. for the astronomical amount of 450 million dollars News followed that again questioned the authorship of the painting. However, before being a consummate artist, a curious man with a voracious appetite and even a modern scientist (some maintain that he was the first, anticipating Galileo), Da Vinci was simply a Sir from Tuscany. With his quirks and flaws, overshadowed by the fascination that the character arouses. A muscular, flirtatious Vinciano with a peculiar sense of humor, who hated meat and who liked to be a fan of things. This is the least known Da Vinci. Da Vinci, Renaissance gymbro The author of The Mona Lisa He was a good-looking guy, with a handsome face and athletic body. And to prevent the passage of centuries from erasing that image, there is plenty of evidence that reminds us that the Tuscan was a true beauty. “He was by nature courteous, cultivated and generous, and his face was extraordinarily beautiful,” wrote the humanist Paolo Giovio. Perhaps to curl the curl and elevate him almost to the category of Adonis, his biographer Vasari (who never met the Tuscan) describes him as a “tall, extraordinary beauty and infinite grace” gallant. There is no doubt that he liked to dress well and take care of his appearance. He used to dress up in pink tunics that reached his knees, fur cloaks and rings. Also carefully comb your hair, curly and long. In one of his notebooks he wrote advice on how to become a real dandy. Do you want them to turn around? square at your pace? Well (recommends the Tuscan) “drink fresh rose water and moisten your hands with them.” Da Vinci, liking himself, around 1478. In any case, it was best not to criticize his appearance. Although there are many testimonies of his pacifist spirit, the chronicles tell us of a Da Vinci endowed with a force exceptional. “With his right hand he could twist a horseshoe or the iron ring of a knocker as if they were made of lead,” explained Vasari, who once again seems inclined to exaggerate a bit of Leonardo’s qualities. The Tuscan’s fixation on elegance went far beyond his appearance. Da Vinci was a clean and conscientious man who liked to surround himself with rigorous order. “If you want to know how a person’s spirit inhabits his body,” reads one of his notebooks, “look at how he treats his dwelling; if it is disordered, in the same way the spirit will maintain the body in a confusing way.” The Full Pantomime of its time Leonardo is remembered as a thoughtful, severe, taciturn and reserved man. Although those were undoubtedly fundamental aspects of his character (this is how he showed himself in his very famous self-portrait from Turinin which she presents herself with a melancholic expression), was far from the only one. Throughout his life he dedicated great efforts to making people laugh. in the book Leonardo, the flight of the mindCharles Nicholl points out the irony that his most famous painting is The Mona Lisa (the jubilant one, in Spanish). There is no doubt that the Tuscan liked jokes. The satirical and sophisticated word games, but also the crudest ones. In his notebooks we find funny notes written down relatively frequently. One of them (which invites us to think of a Leonardo holding his stomach with great laughter and tears in his eyes) says: “They asked a painter why he painted such beautiful images, even though they were of dead things, while his children were so ugly. To which he replied that he made his paintings during the day and his children at night.” “Paparl, paparl, take me to the circus.” (Self-portrait of Da Vinci himself in his younger years) His sense of humor also appeared in his artistic work. Their cartoons They are very well known. Also the decorations and gadgets that he designed for the celebrations of the Sforza family or at the court of France, which in a way made him “the king of the party.” Vasari once again collects another anecdote that, this time, gives us a glimpse of Da Vinci’s humor. On one occasion a gardener gave him a large lizard that he had hunted. Leonardo decided to stick some wings he made with scales on its back. Every time the suffering reptile walked, those membranes trembled to the terror of the public. “He made it eyes, horns and a beard and then domesticated it,” says Vasari, “he used to keep it in a box and whenever he took it out for his friends to see, they ran away scared.” Da Vinci, pop star and veggie Yes, musician. Engineer, painter, anatomist, sculptor, architect… And musician! The Tuscan’s fingers not only showed his virtuosity with the brush. There are multiple references that there was nothing wrong with the lyre of braccioan instrument with which he liked to let inspiration take him from time to time. And just like Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) has its iconic two-neck GibsonLeonardo also showed off his peculiar instrument when he performed: an elegant silver lyre in the shape of a horse’s head, built by himself. Although Leonardo’s musical side is often overlooked, there are clues that indicate he played an important role. For example, it … Read more

We have searched for dark matter with the most sensitive detector in history and we have found nothing. And that is a success

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The search for dark matter It becomes more and more like a game of hide-and-seek where, as we improve our vision, the target appears to become more invisible. The last thing we tried to do to find it was drill 1,500 meters deep underground, although in the end we had a very bad result, although it did allow us to find things that we were not looking for. The dark matter. It is without a doubt one of the great mysteries of physics. While many researchers suggest that this matter surrounds us and is the main component of the universe, others believe that we were wrong and it doesn’t exist. Although little by little evidence is emerging that it is true that it exists so that our own theories fit. This whole mess is mainly focused on the fact that we do not have the ability to detect this matter. We know it’s there, but we don’t ‘see’ it. Something that generates a great confrontation within the world of physicistsand that is why these types of experiments try to shed light on this matter that allows us understand much better the composition of what surrounds us. New tools. Science has exploited the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experimenta very sophisticated tool built by humanity to hunt down these ghost particles. To understand it, it is nothing more than a sensor that had to be buried 1,500 meters deep, in the facilities of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), in South Dakota. The reason? Use the rock as a shield to block the cosmic radiation that bombards the surface. The concept. The magnitude of this experiment has undoubtedly been quite considerable, since at its core 10 tons of ultrapure liquid xenon have been housed. The theory here is that if a dark matter particle passes through the Earth, it should occasionally collide with a xenon atom that produces a tiny flash of light. In total, the LZ has analyzed data collected for 471 daysbetween March 2023 and April 2025. A period of time that makes this the most exhaustive search that has been done so far. The sound of silence. The main result is that no direct interaction with the particles has been detected. However, this null result is practically worth gold in the field of physics. And by not finding anything, scientists have been able to rule out a huge range of possibilities about what dark matter is and what it is not. In short, we have been able to establish tighter margins to detect dark matter, now having the strictest limit in the world on the cross sections of dark matter particles for a very specific mass. And it is that being of such a small masswhich is why it offers so many problems when it comes to detecting them. The surprise. The most fascinating thing about these results is not what was missing, but what appeared. Although the detector did not see dark matter, it did validate its extreme sensitivity by recording something incredibly difficult to capture: solar neutrinos. This marks a bittersweet milestone: the experiment has officially entered what physicists call the ‘neutrino fog‘. This means that we have reached a point of such extreme sensitivity that neutrinos (that go through everything without flinching) begin to generate background noise that could be confused with dark matter. And the truth is that we are facing a big problem, since technology will have to find a way to distinguish dark matter from neutrinos. The future. The experiment does not stop here. Although these results cover until April 2025, the official plan is to continue taking data until 2028, with the aim of accumulate more than 1,000 days of observations. And many experts continue to point to the same thing: 85% of the mass of the universe It’s dark matterand although it escapes us, we are getting closer to knowing what the universe is made of. Images | Karo K. In Xataka | The strangest event that humanity has witnessed occurred in 2019 under a mountain in Italy

an underwater drone has made history

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Ukraine, that lwar laboratory of the present and future, was a pioneer in the use of drones and in the creation of an unprecedented industry around the use of these quadcopters as elements front key. This is how we saw mother drones sending drones to annihilate other drones. In Ukraine too, another unprecedented milestone has just taken place. With drones, but this time under the sea. A before and after. Ukraine claims to have carried out the first combat attack successful in history with an underwater drone against a warship, specifically a Russian submarine of the Improved Kilo class docked in the port of Novorossiysk, one of the current main refuges of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. According to the Ukrainian Security Servicethe attack was carried out with a known unmanned underwater vehicle as Sub Sea Babycapable of sailing underwater to a densely protected port and hitting a specific target without being detected, something that, if confirmed, would represent a qualitative leap in modern naval warfare. The images. He broadcast video by kyiv shows an explosion next to the submarine while it remains moored, which would indicate that the drone managed to penetrate the port’s defenses and reach one of the most valuable platforms of the Russian arsenal, valued at about 400 million dollars and equipped with launchers of Kalibr cruise missiles used recurrently against Ukrainian cities. Blow to the heart of Russian flora. The attacked submarine belongs to one of the most silent and difficult to detect of the Russian Navy when operating submerged and in battery mode, and is part of a small group of six units assigned to the Black Sea Fleet before the war. Sources close to the Russian military they point because the impact would have occurred near the stern, damaging rudders and propeller, critical components that, even without piercing the hull, could leave the submarine out of service for long periods. If the damage is as serious as kyiv claims, Russia would stay with only four Kilo submarines operational in the area, significantly reducing their ability to launch missile attacks from the sea and reinforcing the Ukrainian strategy of hitting launch platforms rather than intercepting individual projectiles. The forced withdrawal. This attack cannot be understood without the context of the Ukrainian naval campaign started in 2023based almost entirely on unmanned systems. The massive use of surface drones loaded with explosives allowed Ukraine to damage or neutralize approximately a third of the Russian Fleet of the Black Sea and forced Moscow to withdraw many of its ships from occupied Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, in Russian territory, until now considered a relatively safe haven. Submarines like Rostov-on-Don they had already been attacked in port on previous occasions, but the use of an underwater drone dramatically expands the range of threats, by making it possible to avoid networks, floating barriers and defenses specifically designed to stop surface attacks. The logic of asymmetric war. For kyiv, the commitment to naval drones, both surface and underwater, responds to a logic of cost and survival. While a Russian submarine costs hundreds of millions of dollars and years to build, a Ukrainian naval drone can be manufactured for between 250,000 and 300,000 dollars. This asymmetry allows Ukraine to compensate for its numerical and technological inferiority compared to Russia, forcing the Kremlin to invest huge resources defensive and live in a constant cycle of adaptation. Each new Ukrainian tactic generates Russian countermeasures, which in turn are neutralized by new developments in periods ranging from weeks to a few months, permanently altering the rules of naval combat in the Black Sea. A sign of what is to come. The operational use of underwater drones as offensive weapons opens a completely new scenario, not only for this conflict, but for global naval warfare. The United States, China and other powers have years developing UUV for reconnaissance missions, mine laying or long range attacksbut Ukraine could have been the first country in demonstrating its real effectiveness in combat. If Novorossiysk is no longer a safe sanctuary and submarines can be attacked even in port, the Russian defensive posture will have to change again, extending even more resources and protection. At the same time, the attack reinforces the idea that the war in Ukraine has become in a laboratory where theoretical concepts are tested on a large scale, anticipating a future in which ports, naval bases and large ships will no longer be able to rely on the depth of the sea as their last line of defense. Image | SBU SCREENCAP In Xataka | Now we know the price North Korea pays Russia for its nuclear submarine: the most dangerous job of the war in Ukraine In Xataka | The drone war in Ukraine is complete nonsense: the manuals that were useful two weeks ago are a death trap today

is to have become one of the biggest attention grabbers in history

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Even though the accounts at OpenAI are not so healthy as Sam Altman would likeit’s really not being a problem for continue raising money from your investors. The rain of millions being spent on ChatGPT It draws attention for the way in which they seek to obtain a return: through the attention of users. And it makes more sense than it may seem at first. 7,000 million visits per month. A recent analysis by Similarweb about generative AI has put very interesting figures on the table that are very useful for us to measure the pulse of the internet of our days. In September 2025, AI services added 7 billion visits per monthwhich represents a growth of 76% compared to the previous year and crowns AIs as one of the main rivals of social networks in terms of traffic. ChatGPT remains the undisputed leader: in the aforementioned month it reached 5.9 billion visits, very close to Instagram, with 6.5 billion. The first positions are for Google (with 82.6 billion), YouTube (28.7 billion) and Facebook (11.4 billion). All for our attention. In the age of the Internet, there is something more valuable than money itself: capture users’ attention. It is the reason why social networks are so attractive for companies of any size, becoming more of a commercial showcase that is a place where we can tell our lives. Also, this is the same reason why chatbots are still around, even though they lose money every time someone uses them. Meanwhile, big technology They are resorting to debt. They don’t want to be left out of the AI ​​bubble and the reason is now clearer than ever. The “backbone” of the internet. Not only has ChatGPT managed to become the fastest-rising platform in modern digital history, placing itself on the podium of the five most important websites in the world. The truly important thing about this is that they have managed to capture the most valuable thing: the user’s attention. The next step: fill the ‘chatbots’ with ads. Faced with this paradigm, OpenAI is considering something that was already an open secret: dress up ChatGPT with ads. A possibility that would serve to monetize the tool, especially to obtain financial returns from users of the free plans, but which raises many doubts in the field of privacy and the neutrality of the answers offered. Benefits for when? While, technology companies continue to increase investmenteven if the benefits do not come directly. The bonus, in this case, comes in the form of meteoric growth and several billion views that show that there is a reason to be optimistic about AI. Images | Generated with Gemini In Xataka | Someone has taken a look at the dotcom bubble and compared their data to AI. And it’s not optimistic In Xataka | OpenAI needs to raise an absurd amount of money to continue losing money

Netflix buys Warner Bros, stays with HBO and completes one of the most important movements in the history of streaming

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Warner Bros. knew what it was saying when it commented that it wanted to have a buyer before the end of 2025. After a few weeks in which it seemed that Paramount was going to take the lead, it was finally Netflix, which has acquired the oldest film production company, although we will have to wait: for now, Warner has to conclude its global networks division (which includes CNN and Discovery) in a new company. 82.7 billion dollars. Netflix has closed the largest acquisition in its history and one of the most significant operations in the entertainment industry: the purchase of the centenary Warner Bros studio, along with the streaming platform HBO Maxin a deal valued at $82.7 billion in terms of total enterprise value. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will receive compensation of $27.75 for each title they own, structured as a payment of $23.25 in cash plus $4,501 in Netflix shares. Organic growth is over. The transaction represents a radical shift in corporate strategy for Netflix, which for two decades had shunned large acquisitions in favor of organic growth. Just two months ago, co-CEO Greg Peters had criticized media megamergers. The agreement concludes an intense bidding war of three rounds in which Netflix beat competitors such as Paramount-Skydance (which sought to buy all of WBD) and Comcast (interested only in the streaming and studio assets). Netflix’s final proposal includes a breakup penalty clause of $5 billion in case regulators block the operation. Just yesterday, Paramount-Skydance accused to the process having been “rigged” with a “predetermined outcome” that favored a single bidder. Netflix’s victory is partially attributed to the close professional relationship between David Zaslav and Ted Sarandos. It still remains. The final closure will not occur until Warner Bros. Discovery completes the separation of its traditional networks division (which includes CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery Channel, TBS and the European broadcast television channels, in addition to the Discovery+ service and Bleacher Report) into a new independent company called Discovery Global. This process is scheduled to end in the third quarter of 2026, at which point Netflix will be able to take effective control of the acquired assets, according to the official calendar broadcast by Netflix itself. What does Netflix have now? With this operation, Netflix will incorporate into its corporate structure the production companies Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group and Warner Bros. Television, DC Studios (responsible for the superhero franchises that rival Marvel and that have just experienced a welcome resurrection), the entire HBO programming including emblematic series such as ‘Game of Thrones’ or the future reinvention of ‘Harry Potter’, and a historical library that includes approximately 12,500 feature films and 2,400 series. All of this, of course, in addition to universally famous franchises and IPs like those mentioned, FriendsThe Lord of the Rings or the entire Looney Tunes catalog, among other things Hanna-Barbera. The deal also gives Netflix physical production infrastructure, including Warner’s legendary Burbank studios in California. In Xataka | Using Netflix in 2018 was much better than now: we have normalized degrading experiences

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