hooked

Just Eat knows that we Spaniards are hooked on Delivery. This is how they have closed an agreement so that you can order on WhatsApp

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Spain it is delivery countryand Just Eat knows it. We are one of the European markets where food delivery has grown the most in the last decade. So much so, Just Eat has decided to make Spain one of the only two countries—along with the Netherlands—where it will debut in Europe something that no delivery platform had done before: allowing you to order food directly from WhatsApp. The alliance. Just Eat has become the first platform in Europe to enable an integrated ordering experience through WhatsApp in which the entire search and selection process occurs within the chat itself. The Just Eat app only comes into play for the last step: secure payment. WhatsApp is not going to replace the service app, but rather it is going to become one of the main entry channels. “With the launch of the first ordering system via WhatsApp in Europe, at Just Eat we are not just including a new channel: we are redefining the concept of convenience. This innovation is a key element in our evolution, going from being a menu-based transactional application to becoming a true intelligent assistant powered by AI, capable of understanding user intent in real time.” Mert Öztekin, CTO of Just Eat How it will work. Using a QR code or link, we will enter WhatsApp, we will start a conversation with the AI agent from Just Eat, and we can complete practically the entire experience from the messaging app. Unlike the existing WhatsApp chat options, aimed at customer assistance channels, the company ensures that its AI will be able to understand natural language, to talk with us about what we want to eat, what restaurants there are, what they have on the menu and their prices. The promise is clear: this is not a support chatbot or anything similar to what we have used so far. The buts. The proposal is striking, but it is inevitable to ask some questions. The first is a simple “why”. Explaining to an AI agent what you want for dinner when Just Eat has a highly optimized app in which you can order food in five or six touches of the screen, a priori, does not seem more comfortable. The second is that Goal is Goaland every WhatsApp conversation goes through its servers. That Just Eat has the necessary data for our order is logical, but all this information Now passing through Meta may not be so attractive. When. Just Eat has not given a final date for this service, although it assures that it will begin its trial in 2026. They will start in Spain and the Netherlands and, if it is a success, expand to more countries in the European Union. In Xataka | The delivery war is no longer about bringing pizzas home, it is about delivering in 10 minutes: ‘Q-commerce’

In 2026 we are hooked on mobile. In 1929 people were alarmed by the “addiction” to crossword puzzles

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At a time when heroin and cocaine were legal tender, activists, journalists and legislators decided that what was really worrying, what was really was destroying western civilization They were crossword puzzles. Yes, as it sounds: crossword puzzles. Yesterday’s moral panics. Thanks to Jose César Peralesone of the country’s leading addiction neuroscience experts, we come to what is likely to become my favorite case of “moral panic”: the newspaper’s anti-hobby movements. Although I would have to search the monumental “Verbalia” of Marius Serra To confirm this, popular wisdom tells us that this evolution of magic square What we know today as a crossword puzzle was invented in 1913 by the English journalist, Arthur Wynne, while working on the ‘Fun’ supplement of the ‘New York World’ newspaper. where does it come from. The success of the hobby was spectacular and throughout the decade newspapers around the world incorporated it into their pages. In 1922, comic strips about people doing crossword puzzles were already circulating, and in 1924, the New York Library assured that “the latest fad to hit libraries is the crossword puzzle” complaining bitterly that “puzzle fanatics” monopolized “dictionaries and encyclopedias scaring away readers and students who need these books in their daily work.” Popularization. That library report was not something isolated. In fact, during 1924, voices of alarm against the threat posed by crossword puzzles became increasingly popular. That year, as the Harrisburg Telegraph stated“professors at the University of Michigan had banned crossword puzzles in their classes.” “Crossword addiction”. Concerned about crossword puzzle fever, the Kingsport Times-News, a Tennessee newspaper, denounced that “if legislators have acquired the habit, as they presumably have, it is difficult to see how they will find time to legislate” and lamented that “opposition to crossword puzzle addiction had not yet been organized”, although they were convinced that it would soon do so. After all, until now he had only “interfered with relatively unimportant matters”, but as the addiction grew the problems would increase. It sounds familiar to us. I have no doubt, As Perales himself pointed outthat opposition to crossword puzzles was nothing more than a “hobby” in those wonderful 1920s that blew up after the crash of ’29. That is to say, to the chagrin of the Kingsport Times-News columnist, that anti-puzzle movement was never organized (or turned into a lobby). However, it is a paradigmatic example of what moral panic is; that is, “a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception of some cultural behavior.” It is something that we have seen repeatedly with video games and that has become an urban myth. But it is when we see it in things like crossword puzzles (or in the dozens of examples that this “technophobia archive” has that is ‘Pessimists Archive‘) when it becomes especially evident. It’s good to remember it from time to time. In Xataka | Helping the waiter clear the table seems like a kind gesture: psychologists see something much deeper In Xataka | The mirage of the hyperpresent father: they dedicate four times more time to their children, but mothers are still on the verge of collapse In Xataka | “It doesn’t give me life”: the phrase that summarizes the vital state of an entire generation of Spaniards in their thirties Image | Ross Sneddon

The industry does not stop raising the price of games and I have gotten hooked on this free movie guessing game

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There’s something perversely satisfying about spending weeks thinking more about Al Pacino movies because of one game than any recent AAA release. This movie guessing game has no cutscenes spectacular nor does it come with an ambitious built-in trailer. This is a free website, without invasive advertising, that makes you chain movies with an unknown rival from the other side of the world. Is called ‘Cine2Nerdle‘, and its Battle 2.0 mode is, right now, the hardest thing for me to leave in the browser. How to play. The daily puzzle puts you in front of a grid of 4×4 tiles. Each card contains a word or phrase. The objective is to rearrange them by exchanging positions until each row or column alludes to or describes a movie. There are between four and five movies hidden on each board. When you have three tiles of the same movie lined up, they light up yellow; when you complete all four, the row is resolved. And when you have four horizontally you have to reorganize in search of the fifth. All with limited movements, of course. What makes Cine2Nerdle genuinely interesting in its single-player mode is its constant cheating. A card can belong to a row because it is the place where a movie takes place, and simultaneously to a column because it is the last name of the leading actor in another. This game of polysemy also affects false paths; A proper name can have multiple owners, an initial can be a title or the name of a character. Each puzzle is more like a crossword puzzle than a logic test. Its secret: Battle Mode. The daily puzzle is already good enough, but what makes ‘Cine2Nerdle’ a diabolical invention is the Battle mode, and more specifically its second version. The basic idea is a 1vs1 duel in real time: both players start from an initial film and have 25 seconds, taking turns to chain together others that share at least one member of the artistic team: actor, director, screenwriter, director of photography. And so on until someone is left without an answer or runs out of time. What Battle 2.0 added over the previous version is a layer of strategy that transforms the game. Before, games could last about an hour if both players knew cinema well. Now each player carries a “battle kit” that includes items as a condition for immediate victory (for example, mentioning four science fiction films from the eighties or connecting films with an actor without using him as a direct connector), life savers (small helps, such as revealing facts about the films) and the possibility of banning films or actors to the rival. Thus the games are resolved in about five minutes. The good thing: before each game you prepare the kit of aids and objectives that you have gained while playing, and thus you can make up for your film-loving shortcomings. Pure RPG mechanics. The strategy. You have to use the aspects in which you are strong and have knowledge to drag the rival there. For example: are you an expert in horror films from the eighties? Mention long career directors who take the game from the present, where everyone knows titles, to decades past (e.g. John Carpenter). Take the game to your territory, and there, begin to uncover increasingly rare films, and reinforce your choices with prohibitions on using the best-known actors in the cast. The remains of ‘Wordle’. When the New York Times bought ‘Wordle’ for more than a million dollars By early 2022, the game already had millions of daily users. The formula was simple: one word per day, shareable on networks, without unnecessary additives. What followed was an avalanche of thematic derivatives: geography (Worldle), music (Heardle), mathematics (Nerdle)… Most did not survive a year. Cine2Nerdle He is one of the survivors. It was created by Nilanth Yogadasan, who had already published CineNerdle (a puzzle of film frames that were revealed little by little). The jump to “2” completely changed the mechanics and also, as its creator recognizesis a nod to the style of titles like ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’: the sequel that puts the number in the middle. The kind of winks for coffee lovers that turn a game for film nerds into an accessible and fun experience. In Xataka | The Spanish Puzzle Championship exists, real professionals participate and there are prizes of up to 1,000 euros

Half of Spain has gotten hooked this Christmas on a board game that is not a board game: ‘El Impostor’

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The Impostor game has dominated Spanish family gatherings during the 2025 holidays, going massively viral on social networks and causing the downloads of mobile applications to multiply that adapt the rules of an entertainment that, in reality, can be played without any type of add-on. We’ve dug into its origins and impact to find out why it’s making a splash this Christmas. The phenomenon. While families gathered over nougat, a dynamic of social deduction as simple as it was addictive crept into the dinners, turning every word into suspicion and every look into infallible proof. This is not a new game, but its massive viralization through TikTok During December, downloads of specialized applications such as “Imposter – Party Game” in the App Store or “Imposter: Word Game” on Google Play. It has not been an exclusively Spanish phenomenon, as articles such as this one from a Mexican digital. But the practical reason for its success is very clear: very simple and quick to explain rules, guaranteed light psychological tension and no preparations, only a handful of people are needed. How to play. The game works through an information asymmetry that starts with all participants knowing a secret word (“meatballs”, “Cuenca” or “car)” except one player. Your survival depends on pretending you know the word. Each person must offer a clue related to the word without saying it directly, balancing being specific enough not to seem suspicious and vague enough not to give away the answer to the imposter. After the clue round, the players debate and vote who is the imposter. If he manages to go unnoticed, victory is his. It can be played with paper and a human moderator, but apps facilitate randomness and word choice, sometimes online, sometimes with a single device passed from hand to hand that secretly assigns roles, which speeds up the pace of the game. Origins of the game. These date back to 1986, to the classroom of a psychology student at Moscow State University named Dimitry Davidoff. It began as a pedagogical exercise to teach “visual psychodiagnoses” (the interpretation of body language and non-verbal signals) and was named “Mafia.” Popular Mechanics He said that Davidoff’s objective was to create “a conflict between an informed minority and an uninformed majority”, that is, between gangsters and innocent citizens. The werewolves arrive. The thematic leap that would define the game came a decade later, in 1997, when designer Andrew Plotkin invented a reconversion: the gangsters were transformed into werewolves, the citizens into medieval villagers, and the game cycle adopted the day/night structure that suited the lycanthropic transformations under the full moon. This version introduced the role of the Seer (a villager with the ability to investigate other people’s identities every night), adding an additional strategic layer. Over time, these games (which fall into the category of “social deduction titles”) have been examined under multiple academic lenses, from the playful to the psychological. For example, in 2024 a paper It explored optimal strategies from a game theory perspective and built mathematical models to calculate what strategies each faction should follow to win. Institutions such as MIT developed their own regulatory variants and experts such as those on the web No Rolls Barred They theorized that these games work because they operate in “an information asymmetry where knowing something that others don’t know becomes a currency of social exchange.” The ‘Among Us’ revolution. It was this seemingly modest video game that would catapult the genre into the global mainstream. Developed by the small studio InnerSloth, it was launched in June 2018 for mobile and PC and for almost two years it languished in obscurity, averaging between 30 and 50 players connected simultaneously, a number so discreet that the studio considered abandoning the project. But when Twitch streamer Sodapoppin discovered the game in July 2020 and hosted a four-plus hour session with other content creators, he set off a chain reaction which would lead ‘Among Us’ to reach 3.8 million concurrent players in September, a growth of 1600% in just eight months. It was then spoken of the opportuneness of timing pandemic, with the world in confinement: ‘Among Us’ offered a form of remote socialization that replicated the experience of board games but without the need for physical proximity. In addition, the game was very accessible economically and technically: free on mobile devices and only five dollars on PC, with very simple mechanics thanks to which anyone with a phone could participate. Third, finally, he was ideal for the streaming: Watching games of ‘Among Us’ was almost as entertaining as playing them. Additionally, the game refined the original mechanics: there were tasks that players had to complete while investigating, eliminating the role of passive eliminated players. The viralization. TikTok has established itself as the true catalyst for the Impostor’s Christmas explosion. Unlike ‘Among Us’, the Impostor found its perfect ecosystem in the short vertical videos of TikTok, with grandmothers accusing grandchildren, groups of friends yelling at each other and entire families breaking up with suspicious laughter. The platform functioned as a visual instruction manual and eliminated the barrier to entry that ‘Mafia’ and ‘Werewolf’ had historically had, as well as mechanically inspired board gameslike ‘Little Secret’ or ‘The Liar’. The secret of the game’s success is that it has transcended generations: a 70-year-old can lie as convincingly as a 15-year-old. Grandparents have learned from their grandchildren how the game worked, parents have discovered that their children lied terrifyingly well, leading to a curious reversal of the usual roles in the family. Quite a game. Header | Alvaro Garcia

We are so hooked on smartphones that Gen Z has found its own “detox”: sending letters again

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I remember perfectly the first letter I wrote. My best friend had moved to a town in Ciudad Real and the distance, back then, was measured in the time our parents allowed us to use the telephone line. We couldn’t spend hours on the phone, so we decided to tell each other our lives by email. Every week, a letter. That exchange of envelopes lasted as long as it took us to have a computer tower and internet access. Then the great migration arrived: Messenger, Fotolog, Tuenti, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp… Today we send photos to each other in real time and make video calls. If someone had told those two girls that technology would be the glue of their friendship, they wouldn’t have believed it. In the middle of 2025, history seems to be closing an unexpected circle. We live in the era of immediacy, where WhatsApp messages coexist with saturated emails that ask for mercy under the tagline ASAP (as soon as possible). The saturation is such that the phone’s storage warns every so often that there is no space, while the messages are interspersed with alerts, reminders and the white noise of a hyperconnected world. Faced with this “uncontrolled beat of the digital rush”, Generation Z has rescued the habit of being penpals or pen pals. Stamps.com Data reveal that almost 48% of this generation sends physical correspondence at least once a month, breaking the myth of the young person unable to tear themselves away from the screen. On Instagram, the hashtag #penpal already exceeds 1.3 million of posts, while TikTok becomes a catalog of calligraphy and sealing wax. It’s not about sending a text; It is a “slow ritual” where both the content and the container count. Neuropsychology explains this return with crystal clear clarity. According to psychologist Noelia Barroso, interviewed by El EspañolWhile digital notification triggers a rapid and volatile dopamine pulse, waiting for a letter activates multisensory processes that generate much more stable oxytocin peaks. The weight of the paper and its aroma link deep memories that the pixel simply ignores. This phenomenon is, in essence, a measure of mental health. The Tunheim report points out that 44% of young people have reduced their screen time out of sheer exhaustion, searching through the mail for a necessary “digital detox.” The expert Victoria López, in Hello magazinedefines it as a form of “constant presence”: a physical object that lives on a shelf and that, unlike a chat, has a mass and texture that make it indestructible against oblivion. A love of the tangible This “historical nostalgia” for times they did not live in is an emotional compass towards the authenticity that the algorithm has worn away. The impact is such that the market is transforming. Pinterest Predictions 2026 indicates that searches of “beautiful stamps” have risen 105% and that letter writing will be considered a “performative art.” However, the road is uneven. While in the United States 31% of young people trust the email for securityIn Europe we are experiencing radical contrasts. Denmark has stopped delivering letters after 400 years due to extreme digitalization, but even so, young Danes send three times more letters than the rest of the population through private companies, according to The Guardian. Even the connection with our own future has changed. Tools like FutureMe either Letter to Yourself They allow you to send messages to yourself ten years from now. It is an exercise in “realistic optimism” to connect with the present and relativize the current crises, a way of “leaving a mark.” In the end, Generation Z is not technophobic; They are simply the first to understand that technology is a means, not an end. According to sociologist Narciso Michavila in La Vanguardiathey look for the physical because hyperdigitization no longer surprises them; It is its natural state and, therefore, it lacks the value of the extraordinary. This need to touch the memory has crystallized into another practice that is sweeping networks: junk journaling. It’s not just collecting papers; is, as WeLife explainsthe art of turning recycling into a personal diary to reconnect with yourself. The New York Times collect how young enthusiasts They rescue everything from traffic tickets to museum tickets or bread wrappers for their aesthetic value. “It’s a challenge to find things you would normally throw away and use them in a fun way,” its practitioners explain. In a world consumed by screens, the junk journal forces hands to still and embrace the silence of cutting and pasting, creating physical time capsules that, unlike the cloud, do not depend on a server to exist. In a context where generative AI can write thousands of emails in seconds, human handwriting is positioned as the last bastion of the unrepeatable. The handwritten letter has ceased to be a formality and has become an object of resistance against the attention economy. Some things don’t go out of style, they just wait for us to need them again. Today, in 2025, it seems that Gen Z has found in a sealed envelope the calm that fiber optics failed to give them. Image | freepik Xataka | Harvard bought a cheap copy of the Magna Carta in 1946. They just discovered they had a treasure worth a fortune

There are thousands of people hooked to streaming. One to 3,900 kilometers deep full of marine curiosities (and memes)

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In the Submarine Canyon of the Sea of La Plata, near Argentina, something of the most curious happens: two powerful currents coincide. One is salty and warm. The other, cold and very rich in nutrients. The union of both is the Confluence Brazil-Malvinas And it is important in the Earth’s climate regulation. It is known that there is a huge ecosystem down there, one of which little is known and that, at the moment, it is being explored live by an underwater rov next to thousands of people who, since July 23, They follow their live emissions Through YouTube. The mission. These submarine cannons hide a varied species ecosystem in their recesses. In 2012 and 2013, the Continental I, II and III of CONICET expeditions (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina) used fishing and drag networks to explore the bed, discovering new species and leading to the publication of more than 60 Papers. Now, in 2025, technology has improved and It is possible to explore depths up to 3,900 meters with a vehicle operated remotely. Continental slope IV: Underwater Oases of Mar del Plata Canyon. That is the name of this new mission, an expedition of CONICET in collaboration with the Schmidt Ocean Institute. As explained from the Council, “it is the first time that in the Argentine Aguas of the Southwestern Atlantic the remotely operated vehicle (Rov) is used, capable of capturing underwater images in ultra high definition and collecting samples without altering the environment.” The funny thing is that the adventures of this rov They are broadcast live through YouTube. The goal. In addition to studying the Argentine seabed as it has not been possible to generate 3D models of emblematic species to produce educational material. The one who has interest can access the data collected completely free through open repositories such as CONICET Digital, Bish and Genbank. Image | CONICET How is the thing going? According to Explain The CONICET researcher in the MACN and scientific chief of the expedition, Daniel Lauretta, “we are barely starting and we see incredible things: animals that had never registered in this area, underwater landscapes that seem from another planet, and behaviors that surprise even the most experienced scientists.” It also states that being able to broadcast it live makes “science is somewhat distant or inaccessible, and becomes part of the day to day. In addition, it forces us to explain what we do clearly, without turns, so that anyone can understand and enjoy it.” The memes. That streaming has become so popular, has undoubtedly helped the collective ingenuity when seeing comedy in the seabed. It is an unknown territory for most and the species that live there are striking. That is why it is not surprising that networks like X have been filled with captures, memes and funny texts with these species as protagonists. The capture of that sea star has gone around the world, but it is not the only one. As for whatever, users have baptized it as “Estrella Culona” | Image: Xataka Argentina Caught in fraganti | Image: Xataka Argentina A violet benthodytes. His nickname: Batatita | Image: Xataka Argentina “Me and the boys together to see a stream of the CONICET,” says an X user | Image: @Genaro23101 Jokes apart, why there? The Malvinas current moves north from Antarctica to almost Río de la Plata, dragging cold and nutrient rich from Antarctica to the Patagonian platform. This current is very important for Argentina and its fishing industry, valued at 2,000 million dollars According to Schmidt Ocean Institute. The current of Brazil, more superficial (700 meters or less), transports warm and salted water from Ecuador to Rio de la Plata. Where both currents collide a strong thermoclin that, in turn, and due to temperature differences, generates rotating currents that redistribute heat, helping to regulate the climate of the earth. As explained by the institute, “the mixture of these two mass of water so different probably creates conditions that facilitate the coexistence of temperate and tropical organisms, as well as species that can only be found in the confluence.” Hence this area has so much scientific interest. Image | CONICET In Xataka | While humanity dreams of colonizing space, researchers have had another idea: living in the seabed

There is a youtuber broadcasting the Soterration works of the A-5 in Madrid. And there are thousands of people hooked

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The phenomenon popularly known as “Retirees looking at the works“A recurring image in urban environments has been for decades. But new technologies have redefined that passer -by: a YouTube channel that broadcasts comments the advances of the megaobras of the A5 is the last incarnation of a phenomenon as old as the same cities. And this is its most recent plasma. Look at YouTube works. Travel is my thing It is the name this channel that contemplates in detail works, especially from Madrid. It started like A travel channelbut it has ended up focusing on different works in the capital: MADRINGthe Puerta del Sol awningsthe stations of Atocha and Chamartínthe new Castellana Park… And of course, that controversial mastodon and that is turning the south of the capital into chaos, which is the underground of the A-5, which has already dedicated A fortnight of videos. Many of this theme are around 25,000 views and already have almost 20,000 subscribers. A-5, in detail. It is not strange that the account focuses on the works of SOTERRATION OF THE A-5that affect Neighborhoods like Lucero, Aluche, Camp and Casa de Campo: The works began in October last year but it is from January when they have started Generate problems. Its objectives, among other things, are to reduce surface traffic by 90%, improve air quality and reduce noise. However, the problems follow each other as they are dodged The original planning: The capacity has been reduced by half in a three -kilometer stretch, generating large bottles, and specific closures and deviations are being enabled, which is giving rise to tremendous chaos. Why interests. All this gives as fruit A horrible summer to move around Madrid Due to the problems that are also generating the works by Metro, Cercanías, Metro Light and some of the aforementioned above. It is a problem that literally affects millions of people who move daily for the capital by public or private transport, so it has every sense of the world that they want to be informed. Accounts such as traveling is mine provide valuable information beyond official sources. The cliché of the retirees. Beyond the service that these accounts give, the truth is that the topic of retirees looking at works, thanks to accounts like this, acquires a renewed sense, but without limitations of age or free time. We are the digital version of That passerby that in his day Manuel Delgado defined as “he Flâuneur contemporary“. Only now we have Short videos with specific reflections On the layout or incidents of a work, or live broadcasts that document minute large projects such as eThis follows the Camp Nou reconditioning or this detailed chronicle of Those of the Romareda. Children of #Pormishuevism. Those who want warm up with the nth jam of the A-5 They have their content, and the fans of superconstructions, too. It is a trend of digital content consumption that reflects interest, not lacking criticism, for urban transformation, and that derives from legendary accounts in networks such as Broken nation. In more recent times, he has gained great follow -up Erik Harley coining the term #PorMishuevismo, with which he invented a false artistic movement to denounce speculative architecture, urban corruption and waste in public and private projects. The success of satirical or openly critical accounts with urban transformation is what has generated interest in the excesses in construction in large cities. Now, with one more eye put in the detailed analysis of the evolution of the works, this interest is exploited as traveling is mine. Header | Travel is my thing

If Spain is hooked today to programs like ‘OT’ or ‘Big Brother’ is due to a single man: Toni Cruz

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Toni Cruz’s death last Friday at 78 serves us to radiograph the Current Cathodic Business Status. And above all, it is a reliable evidence that those who were architects of television as we know it are retiring or dying (that is, the one that the first years of the private ones were configured). Although for years it was not in front of the camera, its role has been key in some of the greatest successes of recent years. Great successes. Gestmusic launched, in collaboration with public and private channels, great success programs such as’Operation Triunfo‘,’Big Brother‘ either ‘Martian chronicles‘, being a cross essential part of the design and development of these programs. Little can be added to the founding importance of the three: our primeR talent showour first reality and an unclassifiable but very influential program that reached stratospheric audiences at an impossible schedule. The thing did not end there, and with the passage of time, Gestmusic was generating variants of these primal formats, with successes like ‘Rain of stars’, ‘Your face sounds to me’, ‘You do vouchers’, ‘Do not laugh that it is worse’ or ‘Look who dances!’ Cruz and Mainat ended up selling their part of Gestmusic to Endemol in 2017. The Baron of Bidet. For the general public, Toni Cruz became famous since the end of the sixties and even entered the eighties with the trench, in the company of Josep Maria Mainat and Miquel àngel Pasqual. With them he co -length several successful television programs, such as ‘No Passa Res’ (TV3) and ‘Tariro, Tariro’ (TVE), which led him to a large extent how television worked inside. The next step was clear. Gestmusic arrives. In 1987 the trench published its latest album (‘Marro!’) And created the producer Gestmusic. Its foundation coincided with the arrival of private televisions and the massification of regional and local, and their success catapulted when one of the trio members, Pasqual, left the producer due to health problems and sold its part of Gestmusic to one of the most powerful multinationals in the audiovisual world, the Dutch Endemolcreator of the original ‘Big Brother’ format. Two rode together. In a relatively short period of time, two very relevant proper names have disappeared from the national industry, perhaps those that have best defined the tone and style of mass television of the 21st century. Almost three years ago It was Paolo Vasile, who left his position as CEO of Mediaset. Without it we would not have had a format as influential as’Save me‘, in addition to giving green light to programs produced by Cruz himself, such as’ Big Brother’. Between the two agglutinate (one as creative force, another as necessary administrative work from the most successful channel dome for many years) the mass of headers with the greatest impact in Spain in recent decades. It is no longer just about the success of audience of programs such as ‘Operation Triunfo’ or ‘Big Brother’, but beyond the obvious (these two franchises continue to add editions today), their seal is still very present in current programs of great impact. The legacy. For example, one of the most successful programs today is ‘Your face sounds to me’, which has reached maximum of 25.1% quota: it is the nth variant of the ‘Operation Triunfo’ template (interpretation of pop standards, jury, skill), but with the template of “the contestants are famous”. A template that is lately devouring all competitions and realities… And that Gestmusic also invented with the very thunder and unclassifiable ‘Big Brother’ with Celebrities That was ‘Hotel Glam’. Martian chronicles follow. And not only that: the studied balance of dynamics of order and chaos of ‘Martian chronicles’ continues to be in more harmless formats, such as’El Hormiguero‘(He shares part of his production team with the Sardá program). And, of course, with all kinds of pink information programs, starting with ‘Save Me’, also essential to understand the current television formats. So far, so close. Gestmusic and Vasile gave some of the last chest that the industry has lived, taking into account that many of the current success formats are variations of ‘Big Brother’, ‘Operation Triunfo’. Television has always lived to cannibalize its own hits, so regardless of the issues about its future, what is very clear is that Cruz has been an essential part of understanding television in recent decades, and as we have reached what we have now. Header | RTVE – Gestmusic In Xataka | Thirty years later, there is still an unbeatable television format in Spain: desktop soap operas

There are people so hooked to the AI ​​who are creating groups to alcoholics anonymous to overcome their addiction

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We pass Many hours looking at the mobilelWe blame our lack of concentration And there are even studies that claim that They affect our memory. Until recently, the fault was almost exclusive to apps such as Instagram or Tiktok and his damn ‘Infinite Scroll’but now there is a new culprit: the AI. There are people so hooked to talk to chatbots that have even created help groups to leave it. What’s happening. There are more and more cases of people hooked to AI. There are those who admit to be Friends of a chatbot and even who They are paired with an AI. Although it is not the only one, one of the platforms that He is hooking his users is Character.AI. Here we can create a character to our liking and chat with him as if it were real. In 404 average They tell Nathan’s case, an 18 -year -old student who spent hours wake up with the characters he had created, to the point of preferring them before his real friends. And there are many more like him. Help groups. There are many people in a situation similar to Nathan’s. In Reddit there are several aid communities for people who want to stop using chatbots, how are you which has almost 900 members and is specifically focused on Character.AI users. There are also others such as Chatbotaddiction where members talk about their addictions to other IAS. In these groups, users share their progress by leaving their addiction counting the days that have sober either They look for support when they have a relapseas if they were alcoholics anonymous. But it goes beyond Reddit, the Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous It also includes AI addiction and offer online meetings for those affected. Chatbots want you to use them. Apps like Instagram or Tiktok are designed to spend as long as possible in them And the Chatbots IA also have their techniques so that we do not forget them. Recently, several consumer defense groups in the United States presented a Formal complaint against companies such as Character.AI for allowing the use of Therapy chatbots. In the text they detail the tactics of these platforms to make users use them again. In the case of Character.AIonce you have talked to a character, you start receiving emails to open a new conversation. The bombardment and the ease of falling again has made some users who want to leave it reach the point of Ask the company to block your IP address. A mirage. In This study by the MIT and OpenAI They explored how it affects us to interact with a chatbot in our mental health. Many people who come to Chatgpt to seek emotional support seek to placate the feeling of loneliness and, although it works in the short term, intensive use is associated with higher levels of isolation and emotional dependence. In This other study They deepen the false empathy. Often users who connect with a chatbot talk about how they feel more understood than talking to other people. The fact that these apps are always available and offer reconforting responses creates a false sensation of empathy and safety in users that can lead to dependence or addiction. Image | Gemini In Xataka | I have asked the AI ​​any bullshit and now I am writing a news about her

How an addicted screens is getting hooked on knitting and sewing

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“That’s fashionable.” Sure? Hobbies and craft techniques that until very recently considered outdated now a Second golden age Thanks to the sum of a series of factors: the need for digital disconnection, the dissemination of its practice thanks to (paradoxically) Internet and the recovery of the legacy of previous generations. Thanks to that, crochet, sewing and ceramics, among other hobbies, live a second youth. What’s happening. Many twenty They are recovering Manual hobbies, such as painting ceramic, embroidered or knitting. The workshops and meetings where young people share techniques and results proliferate (for example, in 2025 the fair Love Yarn Madrid It was consolidated as the largest in Europe dedicated to wool, crochet and crochet, with 14,000 square meters of exposure, more than 120 international exhibitors and more than 60 workshops, of which more than 50 are specifically dedicated to these techniques, and whose entries are exhausted with weeks in advance). In a trend driven by the attractiveness of the artisanal, the sustainability and the therapeutic value of the crafts. Social networks and platforms such as Pinterest and Tiktok They also play a key role spreading ideas and tutorials. And there is already a sphere of influencers and creators of content dedicated to the subject: they are people like mindfulmantra_embroidery, Yolanda Andrés, Sarah K. Benningor the original Cristina Chachewhose followers are counted by millions. The boom, in numbers. Some figures that testify to this resurgence are at the value of the world market of crafts, of 50.9 billion dollars in 2024. ETSY, without a doubt a good thermometer of interest in these issues as it is the center of purchase and sale of manufactured products, registered in 2022 gross sales of 11.8 billion dollars, with 94 million buyers and 7.3 million sellers. In 2020, year of pandemic, The Guardian detected an increase of 140% of people who were encouraged To start with the crocheta total of One million people in the United Kingdom. For the future, A Technovio report He estimates that the global fabric and crochet market will grow by 10,690 million dollars between 2024 and 2028. What gives us psychologically. There are many reasons that explain the resurgence of these trends, but one that covers all the others It is the search for authenticity that seems lost in modern times. Articles like this one of The Wall Street Journal They call the trend Granny Core (referring to the fact that they seem grandmother’s hobbies) and collect statements from twenty people who underline the disconnection of digital and the pleasure of preparing handmade pieces as keys to this resurgence. The genuine. In front of the uniformity of industrial products, handmade objects They represent the genuine and the exclusivesince each piece has its own process. These activities do not require large investments and allow to experience, learn and improve skills, which reinforces self -esteem and the feeling of self -sufficiency. Recent medical studies They talk about how “participation in artistic and craft activities provides significant benefits” and even qualifies it as “accessible and affordable tool for public health.” Digital disconnection is key. All states of mental peace that we point out above are under the same umbrella: that of the Digital disconnection. In a life saturated with screens And digital stimuli, crafts offer a path to disconnect and reduce stress. Medical studies like this Mental Health Center in San Diego They list the benefits of disconnection and specify that “creative hobbies such as painting or crafts” are analog entertainments that should be cultivated. Activities such as embroidered, painting ceramic or weaving encourage creativity and concentration (something that goes in the direction opposed to the effect that generate social networks), and generate a sense of achievement and purpose, which contributes to greater personal satisfaction and emotional well -being. Return to the past. There is a key element in crafts and is the connection with our past, an element of generational transmission that had been lost in the digital age. Learning these techniques allows the twenties to connect with their family and cultural roots. We talk about something that goes beyond mere technical learning: It implies sharing time and experiences with older relatives, creating memories and strengthening family identity. Events like the European Artistic Crafts Daysunder the motto “The Golden Thread” underline precisely how crafts acts as an invisible thread that unites past and present. Return in trends. In the fashion industry, so often marked by rapid consumption and lowering costs, Embroidery or crochet resurgence It is a turn (with its obvious and consequent commercial load) towards the artisanal and sustainable, aspects highly valued by certain sectors of consumers. Manual techniques lead what is known as Slow Fashionmovement that promotes the consumption of clothing in an ethical and conscious way, and among its defenders there are names as relevant in the industry as Dior, ValentinoBatsheva there is or Ganni. Photo of Anya Chernik in Unspash But … And the people? People consume fashion and at the same time influences itthat’s why it is not surprising that the general public has also begun to make crochet and embroidery. If it was before the egg (the industry) or the chicken (consumers) in this return to the seamstress tradition it matters well little, but we can set a key moment to get fashionable again at the user level: Pandemia and confinement. Movement restrictions, the need to learn new skills and hobbies, the search for relaxing activities and the redoubled importance of social networks and online communities to forge and strengthen friendships made the rest. Encourage and click. What also led to the pandemic was a resurgence of domestic businesses of handmade clothing. Through Platforms like ETSYwithout a doubt the most widespread, but also through social networks such as Instagram, second -hand sale platforms such as Wallapop or Vinned and simple systems to mount rudimentary stores, such as Shopify, thousands of people were launched. The swings in the traditional employment market led to this resurgence of self -employment through crafts, which in turn later impacted … Read more

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