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“Do not increase the power at home. Turning it up and not taking advantage of it is wasting money”

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In the first six months of 2026, 63,201 electric cars have been purchased in Spain, according to ANFAC data. Its market share is already close to 10% and in June it exceeded one more point. The growth compared to 2025 is 36.69%. If we add plug-in hybrids to this data, 21.79% of the cars purchased in our country have a zero-emissions label. To understand what we need if we want to buy one of these cars and the cases that revolve around installing a plug, we have spoken with Antonio José Pérez, CEO and co-founder of My Car Charger. a boom. “Since 2023 we have no truce. Since the beginning of Moves II Planspecifically. When you set up the business you have to be knocking on all the doors and sowing the seed, insisting a lot when sending a budget; but now there is no time, the clients come to you. Since 2023 we are not in Christmas, nor in summer, nor anything. This doesn’t let up. Last year I was only able to take a week’s vacation in June,” explains Antonio José Pérez about the boom that the plug-in car is experiencing in our country. Also, they explain to us, “we offered training to salespeople because they know about the car, they have the information on the specifications, but when a client asks them: ‘Well, where do I charge this? Can I take advantage of my solar panel installation to charge the car?’, well, they didn’t know. The aids. From Mi Car Charger they explain that one of the reasons why the electric car seems to be taking off is the aid. Antonio José explains that the MOVES II Plan was a before and after. Later the third edition of the same project arrived and today the Auto+ Plan. “Waiting for it, many people are waiting for it. It was said that it was going to be in May, after the end of July… at the moment, nothing“, they remind us. And it was promised that the Auto+ Plan would be ready in January 2026 and that the aid discount would be applied at the time of purchase. At the moment it is announced but not active and it has been said that it will be retroactive to January 1. This implies that there are companies advancing aid with interest-free loans but It is money that the client has to return because, supposedly, at some point that help will come in. Of course, they are aid for the purchase of cars and this time a subsidy for the installation of the charger is not contemplated. “I always say that the aid has little help if you have to pay 100% at the beginning, receive it over time and, to make matters worse, pay it on income the following year. In the end, what was going to be 70% ends up being much less,” the company complains. And how much does it cost? The installation of a charger for an electric car varies greatly depending on whether we live in an individual house or store the car in a community garage. And the fact is that in a house it is very easy to reach the electrical network and pull the cable to where the charger is most convenient, not so in a garage where the square will be more or less far from the meter panel. “In a single-family home it usually takes about 3 or 4 hours of work. The charger has a more or less fixed price, but what varies is the meter of wiring, the labor and the amount of material. It usually ranges between 1,200 and 1,500 euros with VAT,” explains Antonio José Pérez. The difference with a community garage is “the hours of work and the meter of cable,” he emphasizes. And being more or less close to the meter panel varies a lot in the final bill. “We connect from there and we have to see the path to the garage.” The neighbors. “You have to see if the line passes over a neighbor’s square. If you have to drill a hole there, you have to ask for permission to work in their square for that time because logically there can’t be any cars,” they tell us from Mi Car Charger. That can be a problem. “Normally nothing happens, although in Seville we had the case of a neighbor who was an opponent of the electric car and did not want to see one near his square. We looked for an alternative on the route. We had to go around more and pull more meters of cable, which makes the installation more expensive because you always look for the shortest path, but in the end it was done,” he explains to us. Can I refuse to have them work on my garage space? The point is that in a community garage, the owner of the electric car You just have to inform the community of owners of the works but it cannot deny you the right to mount the charger. But a parking space, its space, is private. “We have even been presented with the Civil Guard in some installation. There is a figure that is the right of way. If your garage space falls in the way of the common services, such as the meter room, you are obliged to allow work to be done in your garage space. Although luckily we have never had to use that figure,” Antonio José Pérez explains to us. Essential. “What I recommend, and it almost comes from the factory, is that it has dynamic charging. It is what is called the ‘power balancer’. If you have 4 kW contracted, the system distributes those 4 kW between the consumption of the house and the charger. If less is consumed in the house, the more power the charger has. It is an intelligent load. And finally, another essential: “support is paramount. We have been testing many … Read more

This map shows you all the active fires in Spain in real time, and can alert you if there is one near your home

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We are going to tell you what it is and how it works firespain.esa website with which you can see all active fires in Spain. Thus, whether you are planning a trip you will be able to know if there is one at your destination, and if you have it close to home you will be able to receive warnings if it starts to be dangerous for you. We are going to start by explaining to you what exactly this website is, the data it offers and where it obtains its information from. Then we will tell you how to set up a notification to notify you when there is a fire approaching your house. What is IncendiosEspaña.es and where does it get the data from? firesespaña.es is a website that unifies and shows information on all fires on a map that are taking place in Spain. It shows them on a map where you can see the number of fires, active outbreaks, their location and even their severity. You will have them all on a map where you will be able to navigate as you wish, zooming in on the areas that interest you and clicking on the different icons to expand the information. There are icons that indicate confirmed fires, and there are others that indicate outbreaks. When you click on one of these icons you will obtain data such as the type of fires, the place where they are, the municipalities affected, and even start time and assigned resources. It will also give you other information such as its radius, radiative power (FRP), detection confidence level, road closures, wind, and more. And as for sources, the website obtains data from the emergency services of several autonomous communities, as well as heat photos detected by the NASA satellites FIRMS, EUMETSAT and Copernicus/EFFIS. This information is updated in near real time, every 5 minutes for utilities or 15 minutes for satellites. The website also has a left column where you can organize the data by selecting the time period you want to analyze or searching for populations. you also have a list of outbreaks by province with which you can navigate directly to those that interest you. How to configure alerts If you want to set up alerts To be notified if a fire appears near your house, you have to go to the bottom of the screen. When you close the cookies text, a message will appear inviting you to activate the alerts, and in it you must click on the button Activate alerts. This will take you to a web page where you simply have to enter your email, zip code and notification radius. Thus, if a fire appears and the town belonging to the zip code is within the warning radius that you have configured, an email will be sent to you with the alert and also telling you your risk level. In Xataka Basics | How to know where there are fires with Google Maps

While Mercadona was dedicated to conquering all of Spain, a supermarket has taken over its territory at home: Consum

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For years now, talking about supermarkets in Spain means talking about Mercadona. And it is logical. The Valencian chain has been gradually expanding its share until it has monopolized almost 30% of the sector at the end of 2025 and its commitment to service ‘Ready to eat’ is giving wings to a new business concept in Spain: the merchants. However, despite that resounding dominion of the retailJuan Roig’s company has found a surprise in the Valencian Community, the region where it was born. late 70’s: Consum has just advanced it in a key business parameter. The question is… What does that mean? What has happened? Basically, that the specialized portal infoRETAIL has published a report on the food distribution sector that, for the first time in a long time, relegates Mercadona to second place. The study, based on Retail Data, concludes that the Juan Roig chain has lost its dominant role in the Valencian Community in one of the key business parameters: square meters of sales area. If we look at that aspect, at the end of the first quarter Consum was better positioned. What does the data say? They show that right now Consum dominates the Valencian sales areas with 25.9% of the space. Translated into meters, that is equivalent to 436,835 m2 in the region which are spread across 533 locations. The firm directed by Antonio Rodríguez Lázaro also stands out in this aspect: there is no other chain in the region with more stores. Mercadona occupies second place with 431,688 m2 and 262 stores, which gives it a share of 25.6%. Is it an important indicator? Yes, because it shows us how extended the chain’s sales network is, a key asset when competing with its rivals. However, a crucial detail must be taken into account: the surface area quota is not the same as the value quota. The first is basically measured in square meters with merchandise displayed. The second in invoiced euros. infoRETAIL does not provide updated data on the latest indicator (value quota), but in spring Expansion echoed from a study by Worlpanel by Numerator that reflects that Roig’s chain clearly dominates on that front. Your share of business in the Levant was 33.6%above that reached in other regions of Spain and that registered by Consum, which held 16.8%. Has it grown that much? If we talk about surface, the answer is ‘yes’. In 2025 Consum premiered 18 new supermarketsof which seven were distributed throughout the Valencian Community, and by 2026 it has been marked a similar goal: open 18 new establishments, a good part of which will be distributed throughout towns in the region (Orihuela, Cox, Sagunto, Ontinyent, Torrevieja and València). This explains why Consum’s share of sales area in the Valencian Community has increased by close to 0.2% in a matter of one year. During the same period, Mercadona’s share decreased by 0.1%. In general, Mercadona said goodbye to 2025 with fewer stores in its sales network than in 2024. This drop did not affect its turnover, which grew 8%up to 41.8 billion. And the rest of the chains? The exchange of positions between Mercadona and Consum is not the only change that the sector has experienced in the Valencian Community. The results of Retail Data show that Lidl has managed to establish itself in the Valencian “TOP 5” with 101,777 m2 spread across 83 establishments. The German firm thus surpasses Masymas, which has 100,519 m2 in 180 stores. The photo is completed with Aldi, which totals 89,154 m2 in 78 stores. The Valencian market is not only important for its economic potential, it is also important on a symbolic level. After all, it is the cradle of three large chains in competition: Mercadona, Masymas and Consum, which started in 1975 in Alaquàs and closed 2025 with a turnover of 5,163 million euros, 9.7% more than the previous year. In its annual balance there was already an increase in surface area of ​​5.6%. Images | Wikipedia 1, 2 and 3 In Xataka | Bernardo Rodilla, retail expert: “The ‘Ready to eat’ is gaining weight, in the end we want to spend as little time as possible cooking”

the ice cream maker that my seven-year-old self always wanted to have at home

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“Haaaaaaaaaa make ice cream, in the Famoplay refrigerator, soooo delicious, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla.” I have few memories of my childhood (unfortunately), but I remember that ad from the year 2001 as if it had been broadcast during the World Cup break a few days ago. I remember that seven-year-old Jose glued to the black tube Sony in his parents’ living room, thinking, greedily, about how cool it would be to have his own refrigerator at home. It never happened. Today, 25 years later, the 32-year-old Jose, who has gray hair and is getting married in a few months, has been able to try out a refrigerator. One that, surprise, leaves the Famoplay refrigerator at the height of the bitumen. Because the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl It has little of a toy. It is one of those appliances that no one needs, that most will only use a few months a year (an ice cream in December always fits in, I said), that is a whim like the top of a pine tree, but that is a true marvel. Today, seven-year-old Jose smiles. ✅ Buy them if… You are patient enough to wait a day to eat the ice cream. You have little ones and you are looking for a culinary activity to do together. You have space at home and 350 euros that you don’t need. ❌ Don’t buy it if… You want to make ice cream on the spot and from scratch. You have a small kitchen or limited space. You want a silent device. The essentials in 30 seconds The Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl is like the Ninja CREAMi, but with a dispensing system similar to what you would find in a frozen yogurt store. In addition, it has more programs designed for soft ice cream recipes. The idea and operation, however, are identical: you make the recipe, pour it into a container, freeze it and process it in the machine. In a normal Ninja Creami you eat the ice cream from the tub and in the Scoop and Swirl you have more options. The grace of the model in question is the lever. If you make soft ice cream or frozen yogurt, you can put the tub in an extruder that, by pulling the lever down, allows you to extract it through a nozzle and pour the product into a cone or tub. The machine works really scary, so much so that it is complicated, if not impossible, take issue. The only “but” that can be said is that it is large (although not heavy) and greedily noisy. Otherwise, the performance is exceptional and has lived up to each and every one of the recipes I have made these weeks. Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl Ice cream maker with 2 tubs and 13 functions prepares ice cream, soft serve, gelato, smoothies and more, and has the option to add extras, stone/gold, NC701EUSTGD The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Our experience with the Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl Image | Xataka How it works. Unlike ice cream makers, which cool and churn at the same time, the Ninja Creami processes solid blocks already prepared in a tub. That’s why it is “small”, because it doesn’t need a compressor. It has a blade called Creamerizer that, roughly speaking, moves downwards and “scrapes” and “combs” the frozen product. The technique is similar to the one followed to make slushies, except that by varying the rotation speed, depth and frequency of descent (hence the different modes) different textures can be achieved. It is also the reason why it makes noise, a lot of noise, not suitable for having an ice cream at nap time. In this video you can hear the noise it makes. Shall we make ice cream? That is the question that must be asked before anything else. Understanding the machine as a magical system that makes ice cream is a mistake. It requires some planning and patience, as the tubs need to be frozen for at least a day. It’s not so much “I’m going to eat ice cream,” but rather “I’m going to make the ice cream I want to eat tomorrow.” In the photos you are seeing a tub of açaí that I prepared the day before. You need another machine. A mixer, specifically. Although it may seem like it, the Ninja Creami is not a mixer. Doesn’t beat. Mixes hard ingredients into already processed preparations, but does not beat. Ideally, you should make the recipes in a blender and then pour them into the container. A mini negative point is that the tubs are small, 480 ml each, so if you make ice cream for four it is better to prepare two tubs and be cautious. The recipes. The machine includes a little book with some recipes of different types (it is not in Spanish, as a note) to try all the modes, and TikTok is full of ideas. In any case, in the long run I have ended up using only two modes: ice cream for ice cream and frozen yogurt for my açaí preparations. As for the recipes, you can get as exquisite as you want. It will depend on how deep your pantry is and how much you want to buy products that you are going to use sporadically. If you don’t want to complicate your life, take note: 100 ml of whipping cream (minimum 35% MG), 200 ml of whole milk, 70 grams of powdered sugar, two tablespoons full of pure cocoa powder and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. There you have a super simple chocolate ice cream. If you don’t like chocolate, replace it with two tablespoons of vanilla extract and you will have vanilla ice cream. Homemade açaí preparation | Image: Xataka How do the ice creams come out? In short, and assuming you don’t mess up the recipe, they come out spectacular. The texture and flavor are brutal. I’m not … Read more

Today at Lidl (and half price) the Coca-Cola popcorn machine that is ideal for movie nights at home

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If there is something that many of us have wanted to have at home since we were little, it is a popcorn making machine. Today at Lidl we have one available with a Coca-Cola design that is amazing and that you can use every time you want to watch a movie, a series or simply have a visitor at home. The best thing is that it is reduced to 74.99 euros (its price is 169.90 euros). Coca-Cola popcorn machine The price could vary. We earn commission from these links If you can’t get it or you just want an alternative, you have this other popcorn machine from Amazon available for 84.80 euros. It has a similar design (although without the Coca-Cola logo), a warm light to keep the popcorn warm, and the container is easy to remove. Elite Gourmet EPM-250# Classic Carnival 74ml Tabletop Popcorn Machine, Retro Style, Movie Theater Hot Buttery Popcorn, Red The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A Coca-Cola popcorn machine at home This popcorn machine, as we have already said above, has a 55% discountso we are facing a very good purchasing moment. It is true that there are many ways to prepare popcorn at home, even in the microwave. if we do not want to use the bags that we can find in supermarkets. However, one of these machines, in addition to being very cool, has several advantages that make it worth it. The boiler where the popcorn is made is made of stainless steel and has a non-stick coating, which will prevent the popcorn from sticking. Besides, has an integrated stirring systemsomething that mostly prevents them from burning and coming out charred, something that makes them have an unpleasant flavor. Along with all this, it should be noted that it has an integrated lighting system, several accessories such as a measuring spoon and a crank to turn the boiler without burning ourselves. Its capacity is 10 cups of popcorn per serving.so we’re going to be able to make a good amount of these each time. ⚡ IN BRIEF: Coca-Cola popcorn machine offer ✅ THE BEST Costs less than half: Lidl right now has it with a 55% discount, so it’s a very good time to get it. A very cool design: These popcorn machines have a retro design that looks great in any kitchen, but the Coca-Cola logo gives it a special touch. Integrated stirring system: Shaking the popcorn makes it come out better, with a more uniform integration of the seasoning we use and with less probability of burning. ❌ THE WORST It is not a small machine: It measures approximately 49 centimeters high, so it is necessary to have space in the kitchen for it. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for a popcorn machine for your home and you want to get one with a very striking design with the Coca-Cola logo. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You prefer a more compact machine because you have little counter space. You may also be interested Gadgy Retro Popcorn Maker 5 L 800W Non-Stick Red The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Cecotec Fun&Taste P’Corn Lotus Popcorn Making Machine. 1200 W Popcorn Maker, Popcorn Ready in 2 Minutes, includes 4 removable containers with a total capacity of 4.5 L The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Lidl In Xataka | Ninja Crispi Pro vs. Ninja Crispi: the duel for the new glass air fryers is decided on size and power In Xataka | American refrigerator or 70 cm Combi? Be careful with making mistakes when buying liters that you may not be able to use

“When we leave home, even on a weekend, cats must be supervised”

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After months of work, stress and headaches, the second half of July has finally arrived and with it those vacations that you have been planning for months. Maybe you go to the Rías Baixas, the Canary Islands or Southeast Asia, the fact is that you will be away for two weeks and there are a loose end that you have not yet resolved: Who, when and how is going to take care of your cat? If it were a dog you could take it to a dog hotel or maybe leave it with your parents, but… And a kitten? Are there hotels for cats? Is it advisable to move them to an apartment that they do not know or is prepared for them? Better that someone go home to take care of them? Noelia Hernández, feline educator in Feline Codehas some keys. Feeders overflowing, and that’s it. If you are going to be away from home for several days (even if not many) the option of leaving your cat alone and unsupervised is not an option. Even if you leave the feeders full, a couple of bowls overflowing with water and the sandboxes just changed. “It is not contemplated even under the law,” warns Noelia Hernández, who recalls that the Animal Welfare Law (LBA) regulates the maximum time that an animal can be alone. In your article 27 (section “i”) the rule leaves the responsibilities of guardians in black and white. And one of them is to guarantee that your furry companion will not be unattended for more than 72 hours. To be precise, the law expressly prohibits “leaving any pet animal unsupervised for more than three consecutive days.” If we talk about dogs, that period is reduced to 24 hours. “Also a weekend”. Regardless of what the law says, Hernández remembers that even leaving a cat unsupervised on a weekend entails serious risks to its health. The reason: if the animal is alone and no one watches it, it is very difficult to know how it behaves, if it feeds, drinks and visits the sandbox. “A cat that spends 24 hours without going to the litter box, eating or drinking is a cat that urgently needs veterinary attention,” the expert emphasizes. He doesn’t exaggerate. In addition to dehydration, fasting can lead to hypoglycemia either hepatic lipidosis. That he does not go to the sandbox also reveals a urinary obstruction. Hence, Hernández advises that, even if we are only going to be away from home for a weekend, it is recommended that the cat not be left unattended. What if I take the cat with me? If you plan to move to a rental apartment on the coast and stay there for the rest of the summer until September, taking your minimum companion with you is an option, although you should take several factors into account. The first, recalls Hernández, is that “the cat is a territorial animal and changes in its environment cause a lot of stress.” “The car trip can be very stressful for them and there can also be a lot of risks,” he insists. At the end of the day, you may have your house ready, but… And that apartment where you are going to stay? Are the windows protected with nets to prevent falling? Are you sure there won’t be people coming and going without watching for the cat to escape? Not only that. Hernández remembers that yes the apartment is pet friendly It is quite likely that traces of other animals remain. Territorial animals. The same thing happens if we decide to remove the cat from its usual home and temporarily transfer it to that of a family member or friend who will take care of it or even if we opt for a feline hotel, that there are. Hernández advocates “assessing the risks” and remembering that cats are territorial animals. If we want to avoid stress, “it is always best to leave them in their territory.” The figure of catsitter. That does not mean that there are no options to go on vacation without neglecting the well-being of our kitten companion. Hernández remembers the figure of catsittera home cat care professional. “If they have training, they are people who also know how to maintain environmental enrichment when they get home,” explains the expert before emphasizing that idea: the ideal is not only for a person to go a couple of times a day to watch our pet and supervise the litter boxes and food, but to interact with them. “If the person who is going to come is trustworthy, we try to get the cats to know her first, to have seen her previously and to be aware of the routines and know as much as possible about them. Cats are animals of habit,” Hernández explains about her specific case. To ensure that everything is going well, another option is to use surveillance cameras in the food area and sandboxes. “A little outline”. That the person who is going to come to our house has been in contact with cats is important. Both for the animals and for the caregiver himself, who will thus handle more keys to carry out his job. “When I leave, I like to leave a small diagram of what is normal and what is not in each of my cats: how they like to play and eat, in what areas they stay and what symptoms are strange. For example, that they hide in a certain place or that they do not eat their favorite treat. The person who comes from outside does not know them.” It is about, summarizes Hernández, giving “a cheat sheet” to the caregiver so that they can quickly detect the “alarm” signs when something is not going well. “I always leave the carriers set up for any emergency and I tell the contact who comes to the house which is our reference veterinary hospital and the nearby 24-hour center in case of an … Read more

bring the sandwich from home

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A mother hid some sandwiches at the bottom of her backpack so her children could eat on the beach without having to go to the establishment’s restaurant. When it was time for food, he asked them to move away towards the shore so as not to attract the attention of the staff. The episode has ended up becoming the symbol of a debate that has been growing for years in Italy: how far the private beach business can go. It’s not who occupies it, but what you can do. we have been counting. Private concessions have been part of the Italian coastal landscape for decades. In regions such as Liguria or Emilia-Romagna they come to occupy about 70% of the coastlineoffering hammocks, umbrellas, bars, restaurants and all kinds of services. The problem is that, as the price of enjoying a day at the beach has increased, many users feel that the cost does not end when they rent their space on the sand. The last front of this tension no longer revolves around access to the sea, but rather something much more everyday: whether a family can take out a sandwich prepared at home. A symbol of the cost of going to the beach. The controversy broke out on a beach in Puglia, where a woman was reprimanded after introduce homemade food for her and her children. There is no national rule that prohibits bringing food to these establishments, but some concessionaires establish your own rules to protect the activity of its bars and restaurants. For many clients, however, the situation is hard to accept. After paying hundreds of euros for a full season or increasingly higher daily rates for an umbrella and two sunbeds, they consider it excessive to be forced to also assume the expense of the restaurant. Two business models in the same arena. The managers of the private beaches maintain that maintaining these facilities requires heavy investments and remember that they must take care of staff, cleaning, taxes and waste management during a very short tourist season. Furthermore, they assure that the problem is not so much the sandwiches as those who turn the beach into an improvised dining room with complete menus and then abandon the trash. Faced with this vision, many families respond that bringing food from home does not respond to a question of comfort, but of economyespecially at a time marked by the increasing cost of living. The real problem. The controversy has also put the spotlight on the state of many beaches Italian public Many users acknowledge that they would prefer to use them more frequently, but report that they lack basic services or are poorly maintained. This situation pushes many people towards private concessionswhere they find comfort and services, although in exchange they must assume costs that become higher every summer. The result is a growing feeling that access to the sea is still public, but enjoying it is beginning to seem like a luxury. Prohibited solutions. Not all establishments have chosen to tighten the rules. Some have started offer simple menus and affordable that customers can consume under their own umbrella, trying to reduce conflict without forcing them to give up catering. It is a formula that seeks to balance the interests of the business with the economic reality of many vacationers and that demonstrates that there are alternatives to the permanent confrontation between clients and dealers. The great battle. Be that as it may, the sandwich episode has transcended because it summarizes a discussion much broader on the tourism model and the use of public space. The question is no longer just how much it costs to rent a hammock, but where does the right end of the dealer to manage his business and where the freedom of those who have already paid to occupy a small piece of sand begins. In that sense, the humble hidden snack in a backpack has ended up becoming the unexpected protagonist of a debate about the future of Italian beaches. Image | °cute°!° In Xataka | Italy had a problem with its beaches called “tourism”: now it has a solution and an even bigger problem In Xataka | A beach in Sardinia has banned umbrellas for people between 10 and 65 years old. The reason is simple: fire

We believed that laboratories and millions were needed to build a GPU. A maker is setting one up at home

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For years we have assumed that build a GPU It was a field reserved for companies with advanced factories, engineering teams and million-dollar budgets. It wasn’t an absurd idea: just look at the complexity of any modern graphics card to understand why it seemed out of reach for a person. But what he has done Matthias Balwierzknown as Bitluni, forces us to qualify that certainty. It has not replicated a GeForce nor does it intend to compete with NVIDIA, but it does is building from home a graphics machine with thousands of RISC-V microcontrollers. The first phase brings together 8,192 of those microcontrollers, each linked directly to an RGB LED. This decision makes the montage difficult to fit into the usual categories: the design brings together in the same structure the graphic processing and the surface on which the result must appear. In technical terms, it is designed to act as both a graphics card and a screen, without depending on a separate monitor. Of course, the project remains a partial prototype, still far from the scale and capabilities planned for the complete system. A GPU made pixel by pixel That architecture was not defined from the beginning. The maker began thinking about building some type of screen, but when studying the cost and difficulty of the project he ruled out resorting to components Addressable RGBwhich would have made the whole set too expensive. The alternative was more direct: solder an LED to each microcontroller and turn each chip into a visible graphics unit on its own. The decision contained part of the budget, although it multiplied the design, assembly and programming work necessary to coordinate thousands of elements. The scale becomes clearer when we look at the complete objective. A resolution of 1920×1080 would have required more than two million microcontrollers, shooting the cost and complexity far beyond what Bitluni had set itself. The maker then lowered the ambition to 320×200 pixels, a resolution associated with video games of the DOS era, but which still requires 64,000 chips. The components installed so far represent just a first stage of a machine that would multiply its size almost eightfold if it is completed. To organize such a large amount of hardware, Bitluni divided the system into 16×32 “pixel” boards, conceived as independent modules within the set. These are distributed in a circular arrangement that reminds of Cray-1the historic supercomputer of the seventies, although the reference is mainly visual. Internal coordination is also hierarchical: each group of 32 microcontrollers is under the control of a more powerful CH32V unit, in charge of organizing the operation of that section and serving as an intermediate level within the machine. The choice of the QingKe CH570 explains part of the economic logic of the project. It is a microcontroller with a 32-bit RISC-V CPU, a limited instruction set and a frequency of up to 100 MHz. It also integrates a USB controller, a 2.4 GHz transceiver and support for Bluetooth 5.0 LE. Bitluni was able to buy each unit for about $0.13, but the advantage is diluted when multiplied by the entire planned matrix: only the chips necessary to reach 320×200 pixels would exceed $8,000. The problem grows when projecting the power supply of the complete system. It speaks of an estimate of 2,161 W, equivalent to about 655 amps at 3.3Vfor the final planned configuration. The media points out that each microcontroller consumes around 10 mA, although it does not offer a breakdown that allows us to separate the expense of the chips, LEDs and auxiliary electronics. To support such a load, Bitluni has turned to a source Corsair WS3000 and own converters capable of transforming the 12 V output into the required 3.3 V. A big part of the project is also making the infrastructure that allows everything else to work. Bitluni designed the PCBs, power circuits, interface boards and breadboards, tackling a six-layer board for the first time. The complexity of the design ended up pushing him to the limits of the manufacturing service he used. In parallel, he studied an immersion cooling solution and came to the size of the acrylic container he would have needed, although he left that option on hold for economic and environmental reasons. Programming posed another problem of scale: it was not enough to manufacture the boards, the code also had to be loaded into each microcontroller. To avoid doing it by hand, Bitluni 3D printed a small tool with three contacts and attached it to the carriage. a 3D printer. A Python script sent G-code commands to move it to the exact position of each chip and complete the process in a repeatable manner. The printer thus stopped manufacturing parts to become an automated programming machine. This machine does not compete in performance, efficiency or size with a modern graphics card, nor has it yet reached the scale that Bitluni projected. Its value lies in exposing, through separate components, tasks that a commercial solution concentrates or distributes among specialized chips and circuits: calculation, control, power, coordination and visualization. By rebuilding them with low-cost microcontrollers, the maker has turned an unusual idea into a system that can be designed, tested and expanded in stages. It is not a conventional home GPU, but an engineering experiment taken to unusual limits. Images | Bitluni In Xataka | Huawei’s He Tingbo: “This is the first time China has proposed a new principle for the chip industry.” Not everyone is convinced

The Xbox CEO promised a big Xbox reset. That translates into 3,200 layoffs and five studios looking for a new home

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Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Xbox, arrived with the ax ready and prepared to cut off heads and, after days of rumors about layoffs and closure of studieswe already have the conclusion. It was expected that this July 6 we would have news about the restructuring of Xbox, the so-called ‘reset’ of the divisionand the figure that draws attention is the 3,200 people who will lose their jobs. That is not, by any means, the end of the story because since Bloomberg It is pointing to two very hard months for employees, although also a positive note with regard to some of the most reputable studios that it had purchased in recent years. Asha Sharma and the great Xbox reset Jason Schreier is one of the most reliable journalists in the video game industry and, as he points out in Bloomberg, in an internal email from Asha Sharma to the members of the company, the CEO ensures that the business “it is not profitable”. Sharma comments that Xbox needs to be “restarted” because they are operating with margins three to ten times lower than comparable businesses. It is not the first time that Sharma alludes to the disastrous situation of Xbox because the company’s profit margin had fallen to 3% (not that they were losing 3%, but it had fallen, but they were still making money), and after all the motivational messages, the new Xbox commandments and changing the name of the division to XBOX with capital letters, the conclusion to reverse the situation is that drastic decisions had to be made. According to Schreier, and as has been filtered, Starting today, 1,600 jobs will be eliminatedwhile it will execute another 1,600 over the coming months. In total, 3,200 layoffs at Xbox alone while Microsoft is also cutting 3,200 positions in other sections away from Xbox. 6,400 people sounds outrageous, but it is just 3% of a workforce of 228,000 people. They are not definitive figures, since Microsoft ensures that They are still in the early stages of the journey. and that there will be more changes ahead in an exercise in austerity to bet on the only thing that seems to excite companies: artificial intelligence. But beyond eliminating so many jobs, the big question of what will happen to the studies was on the table. The state of Xbox studios In recent days there has been talk of several studios that could be closed, sold or “released” and at Xataka we have stayed away from those rumors, but now Schreier sheds a little light on the matter. It may seem like a consolation for fools, but Xbox seems like it won’t dismantle them. Ninja Theory (creators of ‘Hellblade’ and Undead Labs (‘State of Decay’) will be sold to unspecified buyers. The two studios will continue working for the moment on announced games (Senua’ and ‘State of Decay 3’). Double Fine (Psychonauts’) and Compulsion Games (‘South of Midnight’) will separate and become private studios again. Sharma assures that the two will retain their intellectual properties (thank goodness), but things look uncertain for Arkane Lyon. The studio is developing a ‘Blade’ game, but Microsoft is “reviewing possible strategic options to sell or spin off the studio). Why is things not clear with Arkane? Because French laws protect more than American ones and Microsoft is exploring the avenues it has. These five studies were never bestsellers, but They were purchased under the management of Phil Spencer to ‘fatten up’ the catalog of a recently presented Game Pass and Sharma now notes that “they created significant value, but they did not grow at the rate we expected.” The new CEO’s strategy, in fact, seems different from Phil’s. While under his command many (too many) studies were purchasedSharma points to smaller models of supporting independent creators, alluding to the fact that “it is neither possible nor desirable to own all the large independent studios.” The future of Xbox To finish, Sharma wants Xbox to reach one billion players daily to see a future in which Xbox is bigger, not smaller.” He assures that “this year we will invest as much in Xbox as ever, but with better focus, greater discipline and clarity, all in the service of making Xbox a place where everyone has a place.” At the moment, those who have no room are the 3,200 laid off now, which are added to the thousands laid off by Xbox in the last two years. And we will have to wait to see what happens inside ZeniMax, also owned by Xbox and where the developers of big franchises like ‘Wolfenstein’, ‘Fallout’ or ‘The Elder Scrolls’ are located. We will also have to wait and see what happens to studios that become independent because it is not exactly good news. Without the Microsoft umbrella, it may be difficult for those studios to keep all employees, so be cautious with the futures of Double Fine and Compulsion. In short, another sad day for the video game industry. In Xataka | Sony has told you why it stops selling games in physical format. The real reason, of course, is the same as always: money

For researcher Amber Simpson, parents can help teach them at home

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In the minds of most people learning mathematics resides in schools, institutes and universities. It is such a consolidated association that It’s hard to question it. However, research published in Mathematical Thinking and Learning shows that the mathematical learning It does not begin or end at school: it also happens at home, spontaneously and often completely unnoticed by the families themselves. The researcher who led this study is Amber Simpson, associate professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University, in New York (USA). Its starting point was a specific question: what happens to the STEM learning (YesscienceTechnology, Engineering and Mathematics or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) when the children come home? To answer it, Simpson and his team designed twelve engineering kits called MAKEngineering aimed at children between second and sixth grade. Each kit posed an open challenge using household materials. One of them, for example, proposed building the prototype of a house capable of protecting animals from an extreme weather phenomenon typical of their region. Seven families from the US participated in the study and provided recordings in which they were seen addressing the challenges together. The data was very revealing. Children used geometric reasoning, informal measurement, and proportional reasoning in a natural way during this experiment. Mathematics is also at home The biggest surprise of the study has nothing to do with the children. It has to do with the parents. There is a widespread assumption that parents lack the necessary knowledge to support their children’s mathematical learning. However, Simpson denies it: Caregivers do have this knowledge, but they exercise it in a way rooted in their usual ways of acting, and not in the school format. They are mathematics hidden in everyday practice, and precisely for this reason they go unnoticed. The participation of twins provided a very revealing perspective on their interaction dynamics. The study also identified another very important finding: the role of siblings. Those who worked together on the kits assumed both supportive and dominant roles, but remained involved in the design at all times. Amber Simpson has a separate article currently under review dedicated to this phenomenon. Interestingly, the participation of a pair of twins provided a very revealing perspective on their interaction dynamics. Simpson argues that non-school mathematics has a legitimate place alongside classroom mathematics, so both should be taken into account equally. The challenge now is to translate these discoveries into practice. To achieve this, these researchers have developed training kits for teachers and have verified that it is essential that teachers themselves first face these tasks before proposing them to their students. Widespread implementation of these kits in the classroom has not yet occurred, but this is precisely what Simpson and his colleagues propose. And his study is not just an academic argument that reveals where learning takes place; it is above all a vindication of value of what families are already doing without even knowing it. In any case, the question that Simpson leaves in the air has more scope than it seems: if mathematics is already happening at home, perhaps the problem is not teaching more, but learning to see what is already there. Within our reach. Image | Kampus Production More information | Mathematical Thinking and Learning In Xataka | The arrival of AI in mathematics goes beyond a “revolution”: it is reaching where human mathematicians did not dream

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