life

The Spanish philosopher who defends that what is important is in the simple things of everyday life

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Anyone who has visited Bruges and wandered through its streets has ended up coming across a wonderful little park surrounded by white houses. He Belgian city beguinage It is, along with twelve others spread throughout Flanders, a World Heritage Site since 1998 and no wonder. Although “it is not known how this movement began,” as Silvana Panciera explainedsociologist and author of a book about them; The truth is that since the 12th century and for centuries, “they proposed that women exist without being wives or religious, emancipated from any male domination.” The curious thing is that the beguinage, like convents and religious writers, are becoming fashionable. Very fashionable. And no, I’m not talking about the Catholic ‘revival’. In recent weeks, the temporary “coincidence” of ‘Sundays‘by Ruiz de Azúa or ‘Lux‘ from Rosalía, had raised the murmur that “Catholicism was back“But, really, I don’t talk about that. As books like ‘Mystics’ by Begoña Méndezwe are talking about something deeper: something that, behind the Catholic trappings, speaks directly to an entire generation of young women. Something that, in the words of Jorge Burón“opens common horizons instead of individual ones.” Saint Teresa was right. Saint Teresa of Jesus may be the most important Spanish thinker in all of history and, very often, readings that are excessively attached to the Christian background prevent us from appreciating the philosophical power that is hidden behind it. Today, when the tensions between personal life and professional development are especially intense in a generation of women that has abandoned traditional frames of reference without yet embracing new ones, Teresa de Cepeda’s ideas are especially relevant. “Between the pots.” A well-known example is in the ‘Book of foundations’when he says that “…understand that, if it is in the kitchen, the Lord walks among the pots, helping you internally and externally.” In that passage, Teresa defends that there is no war between inner life and outer work, that the underlying criterion is not what we do, but how we do it. However, it is not a defense of “everything doesn’t matter.” On the contrary, what he rejects is the automatic superiority of the “elevated” over the “everyday.” Seeking God (the meaning of life, who we really are) is not something we demand the most absolute solitude: It is something that must be done wherever it is necessary. Where it touches. It is not a cliché: a few days ago we argued that the feeling of the end of the era, acceleration, saturation, existential anxiety or problems of legitimacy are something inherent to our days. The feeling that the future is a fiction is the order of the day. Therefore, it can surprise no one that Saint Teresa is more alive than ever encouraging us to take charge of our day. Image | Teresa, the body of Christ In Xataka | The Catholic Church changed the psychology of Europe. Unintentionally, it sparked an era of technological innovation

“The greatest obstacle in life is the wait for tomorrow and the loss of today”

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Neither war, nor hunger, nor love. Nor hate, friendship or illness. If there is something that has really bothered us humans throughout the centuries, it is the passage of time. We all (from the richest to the most miserable) come into the world with our days scheduled. Sooner or later we run out of rope without anyone being able to prevent it. It’s that simple. In fact (and for cruel ironic as it may sound) that is one of the very few certainties that we can embrace during our existence, be it more or less extensive: there is no life without death. It’s nothing new. Centuries ago philosophers realized that, in a way, as our lives progress so does our death. If time is short must be valuable (just as happens with precious metals or gems) and everything valuable always brings a challenge. How the hell do you manage it? How to get the most out of it? What’s more, why try to get ‘the most out of it’? Are those who insist on making something of their time happier? useful and helpful Who do you see spending your days lying on the beach? Seneca to the rescue A few centuries ago, around the year 55 AD, there was a Latin philosopher (born in Cordubawhat is now Córdoba and then acted as the capital of Hispania Ulterior) who raised these same questions. His name was Lucius Anneeus Seneca and the answers he found were captured in works such as ‘De brevitate vitae’a text dedicated to a certain Paulino (his father-in-law or brother-in-law) in which he outlines a series of advice. One of the most famous can often be seen in the anthologies of aphorisms: “The biggest obstacle in life is the wait for tomorrow and the loss of today“. The phrase connects with the old maxim of tempus fugit (“time flies”), although there is more to it than may seem at first glance. In it, Seneca addresses one of the most complicated challenges for those who have set out to ensure that time does not slip through their fingers: the balance between the present and the future. A present that is our only certain reality and a tomorrow that will in turn be conditioned by what we do today. In other words, do we bet everything on the present or is it wiser to condition it with tomorrow in mind? They were interesting questions in Rome in the first century AD and they remain so today, twenty centuries later, in procrastination times in which the equation becomes even more complicated. At the end of the day, procrastinating is nothing more than setting traps in time management: deferring, postponing, delaying the moment in which we must carry out a task that (usually) will be beneficial for our future. Seneca’s starting point is as suggestive as it is challenging. Our time may be limited, but that doesn’t mean life is necessarily short. If it seems that way, it is because we ourselves favor it by facing it in the wrong way. And that doesn’t just happen by lying on the couch with your cell phone to kill the hours abandoned to the pleasure of the infinite scroll. For Seneca, the outlook is not much better if we obsess over tasks that make us believe that we do not have enough hours in the day, but in reality they are unimportant. “We don’t have a shortage of time, what happens is that we lose a lot. Life is long enough and to do the most important things it has been generously given to us, if all of it is used well.” “But if it is scattered in ostentation and carelessness, where it is not spent on anything good, when at last the inevitable final trance comes upon us, we realize that a life has passed that we did not know was happening.” “It is like this: we do not receive a short life, but rather we make it short“, concludes the Stoic thinker, who died in 65 AD, aged about 70. The complete reflection that Seneca dedicates to Paulinus and from which the phrase we previously cited about “the loss of today” is extracted is more devastating because it warns of how easy it is to give in to the mirage that we are taking advantage of time. Here we reproduce specifically the translation made by Francisco Socas Gavilán for the version of the Virtual Library of Andalusia. “Can there be anything more stupid than the attitude of some, I mean those men who presume to be far-sighted? They are engaged in too many tasks to be able to live better, they equip life by spending life, their thoughts direct them to the distance. But, of course, the greatest waste of life is procrastination: it cancels each day that is presented, it hides the present while promising what lies ahead.” “The greatest hindrance to living is the expectation that depends on tomorrow and loses what is today. You dispose of what is in the hands of luck, you abandon what is in yours. Where do you look? Where do you orient yourself? All future things remain uncertain: live immediately.” Seneca’s work resonates strongly twenty centuries later because, as remember Socasnot only tells us about death and the passage of time, but also about “life as a positive realization within a limited scope.” “Even though men can’t stop complaining about the brevity of lifethey alone are the real culprits of shortening it with their laziness and vices. “We waste time and do not consider it the greatest and only good,” duck. “The solution will be neither hyperactivity nor laziness, because those who are very busy, always thinking about tomorrow, do not take advantage of their time and are soon surprised by old age, while in idleness passions and amusements rob us of our intimate peace,” comments Socas after remembering Seneca’s words. “The idle fear death more. The busy will not be able to … Read more

We have been searching for the origin of life in hot puddles for years. Bennu has shown that radioactive ice works just as well

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When the capsule OSIRIS-REx mission landed in the Utah desert in September 2023, NASA knew it had a treasure on its hands. We are talking about a bit of black dust that was collected millions of kilometers from Earth and that was about to rewrite one of the most important chapters of science: the origin of life. What we knew. Until now, the predominant theory regarding the origin of life told us that for “cook” all the basic components of life, such as amino acids, heat and liquid water were needed to make a kind of hot chemical soup. However, science has just flipped the script: the bricks of life They are not only formed in heatbut they can be born in the most extreme cold and under gamma radiation. And that completely changes our understanding of how we got here, and also of the possible presence of life in any corner of the Universe. The importance of Bennu. Definitely is the protagonist of this whole story, and it is nothing more than an asteroid of about 500 meters in diameter which functions as a fossil from the early solar system. But the most interesting thing is that it is approximately 4.6 billion years old, the same age as the Earth, although, unlike our planet, its surface has not melted or been drastically altered by geological processes throughout its ‘life’. And little by little we are learning more about this asteroid thanks to the samples brought by OSIRIS-REx that had already been confirmed in preliminary analyzes an unusual abundance of carbon, nitrogen, water and organic compounds. But what the team led by Penn State University has now found goes one step further. The surprise. This same team, when analyzing the isotopic composition of the amino acids present, especially glycine, came across a chemical signature that did not fit with the classical theory of formation in hot water. A radioactive freezer. Until now, we thought that amino acids in asteroids were formed primarily through aqueous alteration processes: ice melts from heat, liquid water interacts with rock, and voilacomplex organic chemistry. However, science now suggests that liquid water is not necessary for amino acids, an essential molecule of life, to form. Simply from simple ice they can arise without much problem. And there are many of these in the universe. The catalyst. The other important factor in this formation was the energywhich in this case came from gamma radiation emitted by radioactive elements that were abundant in the early solar system. And the energy could not come from thermal heat, since this process occurs in icy environments, long before the asteroid was compacted or heated enough to have liquid water. This explains why we found amino acids both in asteroids that underwent a lot of water heating and in those that remained “drier” and colder. Life, it seems, is more stubborn than we thought and can begin to develop in the most hostile conditions of the vacuum of space. An increasingly complex menu. But we are not just talking about simple molecules, since analyzes of Bennu samples have identified a variety of compounds. Among these is tryptophan, which is an essential amino acid, much more structurally complex, and vital for terrestrial life. Besides, DNA and RNA components have been detectedin addition to ammonia and amines, surpassing in richness many samples of famous meteorites such as that of Murchison. Backlash to Panspermia. If amino acids can easily form in irradiated ice grains in the solar nebula—before the planets even formed—it means that these “ingredients” are spread throughout the solar system. The fact that Bennu, a B-type carbonaceous asteroid, is packed with these compounds reinforces the idea that Earth didn’t have to produce all the components of life itself. A constant shower of asteroids and meteorites during the late intense bombardment could having “sown” our planet with a pre-made deep space biological starter kit. That is why in the end looking at a grain of Bennu dust is looking at ourselves. Or, at least, to the chemical great-great-grandparents who made us here today. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | NASA has just announced that this large asteroid has a 1% chance of impacting Earth. That’s not normal

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

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

Samsung and Apple brought ultra-thin mobile phones to the market with little battery life. China’s response: hold my tank

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Samsung was the first, and Apple followed a few months later. The introduction of increasingly thinner mobile phones on the market did not meet any specific need, beyond reducing weight and thickness. Betting on this format, at least with the proposals of Western manufacturers, brought with it sacrifices both in camera and autonomy. In China they are clear that There is no need to sacrifice one thing or the other.. The Honor Magic8 Pro Air. Recently, Honor presented the Magic 8 Pro Air in China. The surname already tells us where the shots are going. It is a mobile phone of only 6.1mm It has the best MediaTek processor It has a 5,500mAh battery It has a triple camera system (wide angle, wide angle and telephoto). It turns out that it was possible. There are a few millimeters of difference between the Honor Magic8 Pro Air and its direct rivals, the iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. But the numbers speak for themselves. Honor magic8 Pro air iphone air samsung galaxy s25 edge dimensions 150.5 x 71.9 156.2×74.7x 158.2 x 75.6 thickness 6.1mm 5.6mm 5.8mm battery 5,500mAh Si/C 3.149mah Li-Ion 3,900mAh Li-ion camera system 50MP, 1/1.3″, OIS 64 MP, /1.2″, OIS 50MP 48 MP 1/1.56″ OIS shift sensor 200 MP, 1/1.3″, OIS 12MP,1/2.55″ The Honor device is 0.3mm thicker than an S25 edge and 0.5mm thicker than the iPhone Air. To give you context, there is a guitar pick difference and a 75% higher energy density in the case of the Chinese mobile. An outrage. Furthermore, China has shown that it is not necessary to give up a single camera to opt for this format. And when we talk about flagships, this point is key. The 10K club. Beyond demonstrating that in ultra-thin mobile phones, silicon-carbon technologies allow energy densities that were impossible until a few years ago, the “10K club” is adding more and more participants. Chinese phones with normal thickness or even less than usual with 10,000mAh batteries. The last one to join the club was Realme P4 Powerthe first mobile phone in the world with a 10,001mAh battery. These are figures that double the usual standard in the rest of the ranges. The answer? There is neither nor is it expected in the short term. China has been ahead in the race to deploy silicon-carbon batteries, one that is not so easy to get into. Such high density batteries require: Greater regulations at the transport level, especially in the European Union. Much higher prices, as Xiaomi advanced. A durability risk not yet proven. Moving towards silicon entails important changes that traditional manufacturers, accustomed to a conservative and slow strategy, are not yet willing to take on. Image | Honor In Xataka | The 80/20 rule seemed like the holy grail for cell phone batteries. It’s not as infallible as it seems.

Bugatti has brought the Veyron back to life in the worst possible way: taking advantage of nostalgia

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I confess: I have laughed at my parents. Not once, many times. My parents are those considerate boomers. A generation that took the reins of our society when the century changed and we entered the 2000s. And the market noticed it. In 2001 it premiered on RTVE Tell me how it happened. Three years later it was republished he One, Two, Three…. In 2009, a phenomenon was launched that now seems timeless: I went to EGB. That same year, Antena 3 put on television Course of ’63. The look at the past does not only remain in Spain. The Police return for a new tour. Indy returns from the 80s to live an alien adventure in 2008. Guitar Hero puts us in the skin of the rock myths that had happened a decade or so before. Does anyone remember Guitar Hero Live? I doubt it and I think you already know the answer. And here I am, tasting at night the first seasons of There is no one who lives herewhile I watch in horror as my friends search for tickets to another Love The Tweenties and Villafrío de Abajo faces Villafrío de Arriba in another exciting final of the Grand Prix. I want to run away but the past catches me. That past that brings us back to Andy and Lucas but at least brings us back to the best days of Crash Bandicoot. A past from the day before yesterday. I laughed at my parents but here I am, drooling over the new Bugatti FKP Hommage. ELON MUSK VS JEFF BEZOS: STAR WARS Of necessarily unnecessary tributes and cars 20 years. What is 20 years? Enough, according to Frank Heyl, Bugatti Design Director, to “create what I consider the ideal and definitive Veyron.” What he’s talking about is the Bugatti FKP Hommage. We could say that it is the “last Veyron”. We could say that it is the final and last evolution of a legendary car. We could say it. If it were a Veyron. The Bugatti FKP Hommage is actually a Bugatti Chiron disguised as a Veyron. The hyper-luxury company, through its even more exclusive division Program Solitaire wanted to pay tribute to Ferdinand Karl Piëch, who was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and took the reins of the Volkswagen Group for almost a decade after having held all types of roles in the company. A key man in the company who was even more key for Bugatti. And Piëch was the one who gave the order to buy Bugatti and to make it a different brand, to give it back a glorious past, W16 via. “He was a man who saw the impossible not as an obstacle, but as a challenge. His vision for Bugatti was absolute: 1,000 horsepower, 400 km/h top speed, all-wheel drive, and refined enough to arrive at the opera in a tuxedo or a dress,” defines Hendrik Malinowski, General Director of Bugatti to Piëch. And to honor him, Bugatti has created a one offone of those unique units of your Bugatti Chiron. “The FKP Hommage celebrates this uncompromising pursuit of excellence, combining the timeless proportions of the original Veyron with two decades of engineering evolution,” reflects Malinowski about a luxury hypercar that comes with the latest evolution of the W16 engine and the 1,600 HP that the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport has. To resemble the original model, Bugatti’s most exclusive division has dressed the Chiron in the outfit that the Veyron would wear today. Play with the proportions to maintain the essence of a car of which only 450 units were manufactured. The request, of course, comes from a millionaire whose name we do not know. At least for now. But we can say something about him: he feels “melancholic sadness caused by the memory of a lost happiness.” This is how the RAE defines nostalgia. The question is what this loss has attracted a millionaire to convert one of the most technologically advanced cars in the world into another hypercar from just 20 years ago. What is the sense? Aren’t the 450 units of the original Bugatti Veyron unique because… they are unique? What is there to gain? Nothing. Since there is nothing to gain from updating an iPod when you have millions of iPods elder brother hand. It’s not a question of nostalgia. It’s a matter of the original product being there, just around the corner. We can’t miss him because he never left. You can’t long to go out partying singing Melendi at the top of your lungs because at less than 40 years old you are at the perfect age to continue going out partying and singing whatever you want at the top of your lungs. It’s okay for nostalgia to get to us. But at least it serves to give new life to the product. Unless it serves to make accessible an object of which there are few left, they are difficult to obtain or expensive to maintain. It’s funny that Renault brings back the Five in electrical format. And it makes sense that now the Twingo It also doesn’t have a combustion engine. Or what Renault brings the car back to life Turbo like an electric beast. As harsh as it may seem to a purist, even Ford Mustang Mach E It makes sense when it comes to bringing the driving sensations of a classic Mustang to an electric car. It is the same and, at the same time, very different. But the automobile market is beginning to be dragged into a well of nostalgia that contributes between little and nothing. He Lamborghini Countach LP 800-4 It is interesting as a design exercise because it updates a mythical model. This Bugatti FKP Hommage only repeats what is already known. The same is happening with the “serial” production of restomod. The trend of taking an old car and bringing it back to life by turning it into a modern car with a classic flavor makes sense … Read more

the new life of your Cable Car

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This week, January 20, 2026, works started to dismantle one of the symbols of Madrid. They are, however, the first step to modernize it and adapt it to current security standards. With more than 50 years Behind them, the Madrid Cable Car is being taken down. The reason is a comprehensive renovation of the infrastructure. In fact, the cable car will remain alive but The iconic image will no longer return of the blue cabins supported by cables that seemed to flex too much. Because those cables with more than half a century behind them are being dismantled. The project includes a completely renovated cable car. Fewer cabins, faster journeys and, of course, the obligatory announcement that we will have the AI ​​monitoring possible incidents. It is a turning point in a story that was born at the end of the 60s. A cable car to nowhere Year 1969. Gento continued running on the Real Madrid wing and Gregorio “Hacha braba” Benito brought order to the center of the defense. But the team’s best years in Europe had passed. Gárate, Ufarte, Adelardo and Luis Aragonés would lead Atlético de Madrid to become League champion the following year and a few years later to brush with glory in Heysel before that great shot hit the net by one of those Germans with an unpronounceable name. The 60s gave way to a new decade and Madrid began to breathe a certain air of change without yet letting go of its most traditional signs of identity. Carlos Arias Navarro, then mayor of the city, turned the city upside down to get anywhere by car. Urban highways such as scalextric from Atocha and the proliferation of parking lots honored the rich Madrid tradition of drilling holes in the ground and always keep some work active. But, unlike motorized vehicles, in 1969 Madrid inaugurated a mass of iron that allowed people to fly above what would later become the M-30 and unite the Argüelles neighborhood with the Casa de Campo, then open to traffic and the classic setting for Sunday picnics. The plan seemed perfect to spend a day with the family eating tortillas away from the hustle and bustle. A completely isolated hill that, really, has no services at hand. What then led to building a cable car to nowhere in a city that was in full ferment and whose neighbors seemed eager for new plans? They count in elDiario.es that, really, the current Casa de Campo station was nothing more than an intermediate stop to get to the Amusement Park and the Zoo. That 1969, in fact, an attempt was made to inaugurate the first of these attractions together with the Cable Car, taking advantage of the festival of San Isidro, patron saint of the city, but the flying cabins had to wait because some neighbors tried to stop the project, claiming that the passage of these vehicles did not respect their privacy since they could see the interior of their houses. The Casa de Campo Cable Car station is linked to the Lake, the Amusement Park and the Zoo by roads that run through the interior of the urban park. But then you had to walk through pine trees to get to the recent Amusement Park, which is located just over a kilometer from the end of the cable car. To get to the Zoo it is necessary to double the distance. And the project contemplated joining both spaces with the cable car in a monorail that never came to fruition. If it had left, one of the city’s wealthy neighborhoods would be linked by air to two of the municipality’s great leisure attractions at that turn of the decade. The project, however, was stopped. Since 1969 it has been in operation with the same infrastructure, its cables have remained active for more than 50 years and it is estimated that it has transported more than eight million people. In 2022, a review temporarily paralyzed the facility when it was considered that it was not completely safe and in 2023 it was temporarily closed indefinitely. Now, the Madrid Cable Car seeks to write a new page in its history. This week the works for its dismantling began but a renovation project is already underway, so that the cabins can fly again for almost three kilometers above the Parque del Oeste and the Casa de Campo. They will do it with new cabins and renewed cables from Switzerland. With artificial intelligenceof course, which according to the Madrid City Council will help control incidents. Spaces that will weigh a ton with seats to transport a total of 10 people per trip. The challenge, they say from the City Council, has been to put new material in a space that was designed 60 years ago, they collect in The World. If everything goes ahead as planned, the flying cabins will return to the Madrid sky next year. They will do so after a five-year hiatus and almost 60 years after the first travelers covered that walk that, one day, should have linked the Argüelles neighborhood with the Madrid Zoo. Photo | FDV on Wikimedia and Madrid City Council In Xataka | Madrid wants to put 110,000 tons of weight on the M-30. And the challenge is not technical: it is not to collapse the road

give it a second life on your Smart TV or PC

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Let’s tell you How to give a second life to your old mini or micro systemso that you can reuse it, especially its speakers. Thus, if you have one at home or see one that is quite cheap second-hand, you should know that it may be better for you to reuse it than to buy a sound bar for your TV or speakers for your computer. Let’s start by telling you about the limitations you will have if you want to do this, such as limited audio formats or no network access. Then, we’ll tell you what you’ll need and how to proceed. These are the limitations The first limitation that you are going to find is in some audio formats. If you connect the mini system to a device such as a TV or computer, you can play almost all types of files, although you will not have support for Dolby Digital, DTS or Dolby AtmosFor example. What you will have is support for great audio quality, since the speakers are connected. The other limitation will be in the connectivity that your chain supports. The safest thing, being a few years old, is that you do not have support for USB-C or HDMI, and possibly not WiFi or Bluetooth support either. Mini chains that are a few years old will surely be limited to analog audio inputs by RCA-type coaxial cable, and it probably has two different inputs, one for the left speaker and the other for the right. The speakers you bring may also be connected to the micro system via a specific speaker cable. This is what you can do If your TV has support for RCA coaxial cables, there is no problem, because you just have to connect them to the micro system, and then the speakers to it. But not all TVs have this support, and of course your computer will not have it. For these cases, there are two solutions. The “easy” solution is to opt for a 3.5mm jack cable. Many TVs and some computers may have one of these connectors, the headphone jack for life, and many micro systems may also have an input to use them. Then, on the device you will have the option to output the audio to speakers or headphones. If your chain doesn’t support it, there are 3.5mm jack to RCA cable adapters, another good option. However, the best option is to buy a DACespecially if you want to reuse the mini system on a computer. These are small boxes that are responsible for converting digital audio into analog. This means that you can connect your computer or TV to the DAC via USB, and after the DAC the RCA cables come out. In fact, you can even use DACs as intermediaries for other PC speakers you have, because they usually improve the sound a lot. This is how I told you back in the day when I explained to you how to improve the sound of your computer. The negative part here is that DACs have a cost. I use a Fiio K7 with support for Hi-Res audio, and Its price is about 200 euros. You can also buy others for less than 100 or less than 50 euros in stores like Aliexpres, they will also work for you. There are many models and many prices, and it all depends on the use you want to give it. Some DACs even have Bluetooth support, which will add this connectivity to your micro system. Regardless of the method used, once you have connected your TV or computer to the micro system, then turn it on in the INPUT options choose the auxiliary or the one designated to input sound from another device you have connected. Reusing speakers is not easy Reusing only the speakers of a micro system without the device itself and its electronic part is a little more complicated. This is only possible if the speakers have passive filters for the frequency range already installed inside them. Almost all speakers are two or more ways, with at least one driver for treble and another for bass-midrange. For everything to sound correctly, the speakers need to send the corresponding frequency range to each driver through prior filtering. These filters can be passive with a filter made up of capacitors, resistors and coils, or electronically active. The normal thing is that the technology to be able to do this is within the microchain itselfso separate speakers sometimes won’t do. In Xataka Basics | Improve the sound of your computer: basic tips and what you can do to make music sound better

makes my life easier every day (and at no cost)

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By now we all know Gemini. Google AI is a fantastic tool that we can use for a ton of things: from writing down a recipe in Keep to getting ideas for giving a gift, to generating a Christmas card. We can download it through Google Play Store But there Android phones have an advantage, since Gemini is deeply and very naturally integrated into them. The best thing is how simple it is to activate this artificial intelligence assistant: All you have to do is press and hold the side button on your phone for a few seconds. and we will automatically be able to interact with Gemini (either by writing or speaking). Now, what exactly can this AI do for us? Let’s see it briefly. Gemini is a very useful tool that has no cost Gemini is a very versatile tool that, as we say, can carry out many tasks. Now, before moving on to it, it is worth mentioning two very important details that give even more value to Google’s AI. The first of them is that interacting with Gemini is very natural, so you don’t have to speak robotically for him to understand us. The other detail is also key: everything is done at no cost to the user. In addition to talking to Gemini directly (or writing, as we have said before), we cannot ignore the existence of Gemini Live. Thanks to this function, which arrived after the launch of this AI, we can activate the device’s camera to share visual information with GeminYo. It is very useful if, for example, we want this assistant to translate a poster in another language. We can also share screen with Gemini if ​​we wish. On a day-to-day basis, we can continually use Gemini to set alarms or create reminders. In fact, this Google assistant handles complex tasks very wellwhich simplifies everything a lot. The clearest example is that we can, with a single sentence and in a language that we would use to talk to a friend, ask Gemini to create a reminder for a doctor’s appointment and send a message with this information to our partner (among many other things). Finally, we must add to this cocktail the latest function that Gemini has received, so far, on mobile phones: Nano Banana. Thanks to this, we can generate images very precisely and use them for anything, whether to create a meme or to design a birthday greeting, for example. You have Android phones with direct access to Gemini on offer If you’re in the market for a new Android phone and looking for something that lets you access Gemini directly, you’re spoiled for choice. In fact, MediaMarkt has an active promotion with many of them on offeralthough you only have a few more days to take advantage of it. Below you have a selection of some very interesting ones. Galaxy S25 Ultra If we are looking for a top Android device, perhaps the Galaxy S25 Ultrawhich precisely won the Xataka award for best super high-end mobile this 2025. We are faced with a device with a beastly performance thanks to the tandem formed by the Snapdragon 8 Elite and its 12 GB of RAM. Its 6.9-inch screen with QHD+ resolution has the best anti-reflective treatment there is and its camera system is outstanding. All added up to seven years of updates and a very interesting price with this offer: 890.10 euros in its 512 GB version if we register in myMediaMarkt (it’s free). Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (512GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Pro The purest Android experience, as usual, will be offered to us by the Google Pixel. We have available right now the Pixel 10 Proa more compact device than the previous one. It has a 6.3-inch OLED screen and uses the Tensor G5 chip, as well as a 4,870 mAh battery with 30 W fast wired charging. Its camera system performs well in all scenarios and has seven years of guaranteed updates. comes out for 854.10 euros if we register at miMediaMarkt. Google Pixel 10 Pro (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 9a If we like the previous Google phone, but we are looking for a cheaper alternative, then the Pixel 9a. This device is, right now, a great quality-price option: it costs 399 euros. Despite having been on the market for almost a year, it continues to offer very good performance thanks to the Tensor G4 chip and its 6.3-inch 120 Hz screen is of high quality. It has a very balanced dual camera system and came with seven years of guaranteed updates. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Vivo V50 Lite We also have an economical and very interesting alternative with the Vivo V50 Lite. This device, which currently costs 209 euros With 256 GB of storage, it stands out for offering a considerably larger battery than previous devices: it is 6,500 mAh. In addition, its 6.77-inch 120 Hz screen provides a very fluid experience. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Galaxy Z Fold7 We also have several folding ones on sale right now, as is the case with the Galaxy Z Fold7. Although Samsung already has several competitors in the foldable sector, this Fold is one of the best devices of this type out there. Its interior screen, once opened, offers 8 inches with a resolution of 2,184 x 1,968 pixels. In addition, it has plenty of power thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 12 GB of RAM. We have it available for 1,709.10 euros if we register at miMediaMarkt. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Here are just a few examples. If you are looking for other alternatives, just take a look to the complete MediaMarkt catalog. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit … Read more

TRAPPIST-1 was the most promising solar system to search for life. Now our joy is in a well

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spent years searching for planets that could serve as a Earth 2in 2015 it happened. Thanks to the TRAPPIST telescope, we discovered an ultra-cool dwarf star which had three planets around it. They published the discovery in 2016, but a year later it was concrete that in the system there was a total of seven Earth-sized planets. It was clear: we had to continue investigating because there were options for one to harbor life. TRAPPIST-1 (because a way of naming the findings it is with the name of the telescope) became the “holy grail” of extraterrestrial life. The star is 40 light years away and three of its planets are estimated to be in the “habitable zone.” This is the segment with the ideal conditions for life to prosper. The initial enthusiasm was justified: they were small planets, they were not gas giantsand the star is so faint that the temperate zone of the system would favor those ideal conditions. Different climate models pointed out that only a small greenhouse effect would be needed for any of them to be able to house liquid water on their surface. but the same James Webb telescopewhat youit is giving us so much joyis the one who has unmounted almost completely the narrative of TRAPPIST-1 as a system in which to search for life. And in less than a decade, these planets have gone from being the most promising place in our cosmic block to being just another rocky exoplanet. James Webb lowering the soufflé There are multiple reasons why we look for extraterrestrial life. There are the philosophical reasons, the well-worn question of whether we are alone in the universe. Then the scientists, eager to find life to understand how much organisms can endure in other conditionsunderstand the origin and evolution of the universe and even compare ourselves with them. And the practices: experiment in other environments, get resources and to a new home. The telescopes with which we observe the system are good for that first exploration, but more recently the task was left in the hands of one of the most powerful we have, the James Webb Space Telescopeor JWST. The result of an international megaproject is not on earth, but on a satellite, which allows sharpness and detail of the observed objectives unattainable for terrestrial telescopes. And when we have pointed the JWST at TRAPPIST-1, the soufflé has been deflated. His work has focused on the inner planets, known as TRAPPIST-1b, c and d. The conclusion is thatTheir habitability is complicated due to the lack of atmosphere or one so “thin” that it would not protect the planet well against the star’s radiation, also implying surfaces so hot that they would not be compatible with life. Any hint of atmosphere that was initially observed is now practically ruled out. As we read in spacefrom the University of Arizona they comment that “based on the most recent work, the previously reported tentative hint of an atmosphere was likely just “noise” from the host star.” If the star itself gave us hope in the first place by not seeming to be a “killer” of planets, it has now moved to the other side of the spectrum. It is possible that this radiation bombardment allowed Extremophilic microbes will develop on those planets, but to do so they would have to have a denser atmosphere, something that JWST is not seeing. However, all is not lost. The Great Hope: TRAPPIST-1e Although d, c and d no longer look good, the great hope now falls on e, f and g. They are the planets located in a more temperate orbit, where the balance between radiation and atmospheric loss may be more conducive to having a denser atmosphere that allows life. Among them, astronomers consider TRAPPIST-1e to be the most promising. A few weeks ago, a article showed how JWST observed TRAPPIST-1e during four different transits at the time when the planet came closest to its star. The telescope’s near-infrared spectrograph recorded subtle changes in the light around it, which would indicate the presence of chemicals in the atmosphere. Their estimate is that the atmosphere is composed of a majority of nitrogen and methane, and not carbon dioxide as occurs on Venus or Mars. Now, is this the case or is it once again noise from the host star.” It is a possibility that they do not rule out, but as they comment, need more observations and analysis. The researchers are clear that “if TRAPPIST-1e has an atmosphere, it is habitable.” It is a bold statement, but the second part of the question is “is there an atmosphere?” For now, it remains an enigma, but the next step is what will allow researchers to rule out the planet as habitable or get excited again. What will they do? Observe the transit through the star of TRAPPIST-1e when it coincides with that of TRAPPIST-1b. This way, ‘e”s signal will not be contaminated with noise from its star and observers will be able to “separate what the star is doing from what is actually happening in the planet’s atmosphere. If it has one.” Therefore, there is a thread to hold on to, but it is better not to get too excited about a planet that is right here in the neighborhood of the infinite vastness of the universe. Images | IT/M. Kornmesser, NASA/JPL-Caltech In Xataka | The James Webb has broken another historical record: a supermassive black hole older than expected

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