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The problem is not spending a lot of tokens, it’s that most of them are being wasted

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A year ago, Sam Altman did a striking prediction: as the production of data centers becomes automated, the cost of intelligence (AI) should at some point converge with the cost of electricity.” Or what is the same: access to AI would be very, very cheap. That has not happened by any means, but in addition to spending a lot of tokens, we are wasting them. So much AI for what?. He phenomenon of tokenmaxxing -he rampant token consumption more like fashion than something useful—has begun to set off alarm bells, because companies have realized that they are spending small fortunes for their employees to try to get the most out of AI. AI dismissal. A study by the startup EntelligenceAI affirms that for every dollar invested in AI, only 18 cents end up reaching production. The remaining 82% ends up being invested in correcting errors, rewriting code and executing review processes that do not generate direct value. This is what they call “unproductive spending,” and it is a warning sign because the success of this technology does not depend on us using AI non-stop, but on using it to improve productivity. Uber warns. Andrew Macdonald, COO of Uber, I questioned openly whether this massive spending by companies like yours on AI is really justified when it is not linked to improvements in productivity. The company has been one of those that has decided to cut spending on Anthropic models because the available annual budget had already been “vented” to use them. Investing in tokens ends up being unprofitable: the “useful part” is less than a fifth of what is invested, according to EIntelligence AI. The uncertainty is there. Other experts They warn just the opposite: This is just the beginning of what is to come, so taking action against AI consumption may be counterproductive. The problem is not so much that AI is being used, but rather that it is being wasted: this obsession with consuming tokens caused the CFO at Amazon, for example, to tell his employees “Don’t use AI just for the sake of using it”. The company rewarded those who used AI the most, so many ended up using it for trivial, redundant or useless tasks. Use AI appropriately. Matan Gringberg, CEO of the AI ​​startup Factory, told in WSJ how a manager at a major financial institution had told him that his employees were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on tokens. The problem was that some were using the most powerful models to answer simple questions or just to chat. The message here is clear: these models must be used appropriately to avoid wasting them: “If your daughter needs private algebra classes, you can probably find someone cheaper than Albert Einstein to give them to her,” he concluded. We are consuming tokens beyond our means. At the Google I/O event Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, explained that the company currently processes more than 3.2 trillion tokens per month, seven times more than a year ago. Faced with this demand, both it and other companies are “punishing” the trivial use of AI models. AI agents consume tokens like there’s no tomorrow. What has also happened is that the arrival and popularization of agentic programming tools, such as Claude Code, Codex or Antigravity, causes many more tokens to be consumed because with them it is possible to automate the execution of programming tasks (or other areas) on a continuous basis. The AI ​​model prepares a plan, executes it, and at each step thinks and evaluates its responses before continuing with the plan. This process is intensive in token consumption, and is the main reason why token consumption has skyrocketed. Flat rates, nothing. Monthly plans like ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro offered leeway for developers to consume huge amounts of tokens with hardly any limitations. However, both OpenAI and Anthropic and other companies have begun to change their strategies, limiting the cases in which these flat rates can be used so that users cannot abuse them. If they want to consume more they can, but always through a pay-per-use philosophy: the more you use, the more you pay for something that at least helps users be aware that they cannot use super-powerful models for useless conversations with their chatbots. Image | Xataka with Magnific In Xataka | If the question is whether using ChatGPT or Claude in English is more efficient and saves tokens, the answer is: yes

The time since 1940 has changed a lot. We finally have a time machine to see it on an interactive map

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I was born on a Monday in September at noon and, obeying the tradition of the San Miguel summer, the weather was mild and sunny even though October was just around the corner. I know this because my mother has told me a lot of times, but today I also just confirmed it. And be careful, finding out the weather of a day in the 80s was not a priori as easy as knowing what it was last year: it normally involved resorting to scientific databases or finding paper records, which are already old. The good news is that there is a free tool, accessible from any browser and moderately intuitive so that anyone can know what the weather was like on any day (and any time!) from today until 1940, from your date of birth to your wedding or a trip. The not so good news is that it is the best test to see how time is changing due to climate change. His name is Weather Replay and in a few words it works like a meteorological time machine in the form of a weather visualization web application. Behind this website there are two top-level European projects: on the one hand Copernicus Climate Change Serviceintegrated into the EU space program and with the aim of offering rigorous climate data available to everyone. On the other hand, ECMWF, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, the world reference body for numerical weather prediction. Weather Replay Home Screen The climate time machine starts in 1940 The first screen says roughly what it does: you choose a date and time, use the box at the bottom left to write a location and from there you can see a 48-hour animation where the atmospheric conditions of that specific moment are reproduced: temperature, wind, precipitation, pressure and a few other variables. Everything is very visual and available in a few seconds, without installing anything or registering. Layers are a key element to learn more information. Weather Replay Although there is an initial tutorial that may be interesting to follow, the buttons and their function and the legend are easy to understand and despite its simple appearance, it is quite powerful and with practical options to only have what interests us such as zooming, modifying colors and levels or layers. An especially interesting function is being able to compare the time on two specific dates. Swipe left and right to see what the weather was like on two days from 1940 to today. Weather Replay Under the hood of this comprehensive interactive map is ERA5, the ECMWF global atmospheric reanalysis that continuously reconstructs the state of the atmosphere using real data from satellites, sounding balloons, ocean buoys and weather stations with high-resolution numerical models. Thus, it covers the entire Earth with a mesh of about 31 kilometers and 137 vertical layers up to 80 kilometers in altitude. Despite the huge amount of data it handles, the simulations and management are agile thanks to the fact that it is in the cloud DANA Floods of 2024. Weather Replay Beyond tinkering and satisfying curiosity, this tool means that anyone has access to 80 years of atmospheric data in an intuitive and graphic way to see with your own eyes how phenomena have evolved such as heat waves, extreme rain events or wind patterns in the regions you know best. In short: that everyone can see climate change. At a teaching or journalistic level, it constitutes a magnificent resource to contextualize meteorology. For example, reproducing how the tragic Valencia DANA of 2024 began. In Xataka | This is how rain has changed in Spain in the last 30 years, on maps: the result is clear, alarming and there is no turning back In Xataka | The temperature your city will have in 2080, simulated on this disturbing interactive map Cover | Weather Replay

Samsung has made a lot of money from the memory crisis and its employees wanted their cut. Result: bonus of $340,000

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Employees at Samsung’s chip division were in high gear. And it is logical: your company is becoming gold thanks to the rise of data centers for AI. The demand for memory chips is extraordinary and that has caused Samsung’s market capitalization to skyrocket over a billion dollars. The company, yes, was being very selfish, but the threat of a strike He has made her see reason. The bonus of the crisis. Samsung Electronics workers have ratified a multimillion-dollar compensation agreement. One that will see employees of the semiconductor division receive an average bonus estimated at 513 million won (about $340,000). Agreement in extremis. The vote was approved by 74% of members of the majority union, and was closed in extremisbecause there were 90 minutes left before an indefinite strike began that threatened to paralyze this giant’s supply chains. The risk was too high. This agreement avoids a scenario that would have been catastrophic for the AI ​​industry. Samsung is the largest memory chip manufacturer in the worldand its modules power everything from mobile phones and electric vehicles to the GPUs used in AI data centers. Considering that the market is already stressed by the memory crisis and demand that far exceeds supply, adding this bottleneck would have had unforeseeable consequences. Only Saudi Aramco surpasses Samsung in estimated operating profits for 2026. Source: Bloomberg. Memory chips are pure gold. Samsung is on its way to close one of the most profitable years in its history, and its semiconductor division already indicated that its profits had multiplied by 48 in the first quarter of the year, an absolutely extraordinary figure. She is not the only one taking advantage of this phenomenon: SK Hynix and Micron They have broken the trillion-dollar market capitalization barrier for the first time. Some so much and others so little. Although the agreement has avoided a logistical disaster, it has also caused a very uncomfortable situation internally. The bonuses are linked to the financial performance of each business unit, which means that the 28,000 members of the chip division have benefited significantly, but the rest of the company has not. The differences are clear: Engineers in that division will receive bonuses of up to 600 million won ($400,000). They will share 40% of the total allocated as bonuses. Personnel in divisions such as home appliances or telephony will receive a testimonial bonus of just 6 million won ($4,000). They share 60% of the bonus, but there are many more in number, about 260,000 in total. The average salary of Samsung employees in 2025 was 158 million won (about $105,000) according to internal company information published in March. Unions divided. This asymmetry of 100 to 1 has caused great tensions to appear between departments, and this has also been noted in the negotiation and conversations in the union. While the majority bloc (which included the majority of workers in the semiconductor division) supported the agreement with more than 80% of the votes, the secondary union, which brings together employees from other divisions, rejected the document with only 21% of votes in favor. TM Roh takes action. The situation is so worrying that TM Roh, head of the device division, has sent an internal statement to try to calm things down. He has admitted that the results of the negotiation have left thousands of employees feeling “alienated, dispossessed and hurt by the company.” Top management has promised to monitor the conditions of each unit, but while Samsung has managed to control the chaos in its factories, it could have an even more disturbing problem on its hands. Image | Wikimedia Commons (Choi Kwang-mo), IntelUnsplash (Liam Briese) In Xataka | Samsung has just achieved a milestone that has not been recorded for eight years. The problem is that it is a mirage

The Ferrari Luce is a game of lies. And that says a lot about the problems that all electric supercars have.

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Unless you’ve been lost on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific for the last 36 hours, there’s a good chance you’ve had a little inkling of what’s happened to Ferrari. The brand of Il Cavallino has presented its first electric car, the Ferrari Luce. And no, I didn’t like it. The vehicle designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newson has had an almost unanimous response. Undoubtedly, it has not been saved from criticism on social networks. But he has also received them from figures such as Luca Cordero di Montezemolowho led the company for more than a decade. The former president of the Italians has made statements as harsh as that Ferrari is running the risk of “destroying its myth.” But there are reasons to understand why the new Ferrari Luce is unlike anything we’ve seen from Ferrari before. It is not that we defend its aesthetics, we point out why the company seems to have wanted to completely separate this new electric line from its more sporty image. Everything seems to indicate that They are doing everything possible to find a new audience. Ferrari has preferred to put aside its intention to create a completely electric supercar. At the moment, that market does seem completely deserted in terms of potential clients. The Porsche Taycan is stuck. The Rimac Refrigerator does not sell. Brands like Lamborghini have distanced themselves from the pool when they realized that it most likely lacks water. And the electric supercar is faster than a gasoline one. Its acceleration is unmatched. Well executed, it can have a faster and more spectacular cornering than any thermal rival. But in this life not everything is numbers. And when you sell experiences, that’s a problem. It’s not perfect, it’s better than that There is something disturbing about perfection: the absence of soul. Human beings feel pleasure through the senses and enjoy experiences. He likes the tactile, he delights in sound, he tastes and smells with pleasure. And that is difficult to overcome. Even though the substitute product is more efficient and more effective. Cleaner and odorless. A Tesla Model 3 Performance is faster than most sports cars of the moment. Its 3.1 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h was impossible to match for any mass vehicle, a figure within the reach of the best. Cars worth hundreds of thousands of euros. But saying that it is a better sports car than a naturally aspirated V12 is like equating a paella made with care and love over an orange wood fire with a pill manufactured by a pharmaceutical company in seconds at a ridiculous price. Both can provide the same nutrients but I am clear about which one provides more pleasure. The same thing happens with supercars. With any sports car, in fact. And that is a problem for the electric car. Let alone for a brand like Ferrari. When someone buys a Ferrari, buy an experience. Just like when you buy a Lamborghini, a Porsche or, much simpler, a Mazda MX-5. The car is, in most cases, an object of mobility. The electric car is the best and maximum expression of that. Especially in the city. But a sports car is not only about cornering and acceleration that glues you to your seat. Guillermo García Alfonsín explains well why the electric Mini JCW is fun: because it’s not tuned well on purpose. Imperfection attracts us. A Miata isn’t especially fast, but the driving experience is one of the best. The characteristic sound of an engine, whether it is a V6, V12 or an inline five-cylinder. A precise and manual gearbox. Its metallic sound of an H shift in classic supercars. Cabin vibrations. The smell of gasoline while you refuel. All of these are unmatched experiences for an electric car. All things being equal, they are faster and more effective. But the brands are aware that their customers have enormous reluctance to this clean and odorless experience when Mercedes installs an artificial sound in the new Mercedes-AMG GT, the electric that comes to replace the roar of its V8. In their Ferrari Luce, the Italians have chosen a different path. In its press release, the brand refers to the, undoubtedly, very high performance of a car capable of developing more than 1,000 HP of power. To the innovations used to carry out our own development with more than 60 patents. The truth is that, despite everything, a Tesla Model S Plaid that costs cost Five times less is faster. But in its text, Ferrari has tried to value the experiential nature of the proposal. For example, the explanation of how sound works: The Ferrari Luce’s approach to sound is based on the key principle that it must be authentic and functional, generated from the car’s own mechanics and at the service of the driving experience. A precision accelerometer located in the center of the shaft captures the dynamic texture and vibration of rotating components while sound waves are in motion. Developed in-house and patented, this system filters, equalizes and amplifies the signal similar to how an electric guitar does, but only when functional to the driving experience. The sound will depend on the driving mode chosen but also on the use of the paddles, to simulate an experience similar to what would be changing gears with a combustion engine. Cams for a car without gear change. Lie upon lie to build an identity It must be said that Ferrari is by no means the only company that opts for these trompe-l’oeil games. We have mentioned the case of Mercedes but the speakers to filter the sound inside the cabin and comply with the noise limits outside have been on the market for years. Toyota has patents for simulate gear changes in electric cars without gear changes. Honda does exactly the same with its new Prelude. The engineering behind the automobile has been an art since its birth. An art based on engineering and product development that, … Read more

I have tested the Logi Dock, the combination of USB-C hub, speaker and microphone for video calls. It’s a sum that makes a lot of sense.

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I have been working from home for nine years. It wasn’t long ago that I realized that my laptop, a 2021 MacBook Prois the answer to a question that no one has ever asked me: “what do you want, power or flexibility?”. I answered flexibility, but I didn’t know until it was too late. The MacBook Pro is always on the table, but sometimes it also travels or I take it to the cafeteria when my head demands a different environment. It is a desktop computer that from time to time has to go outside. Logitech, who knows a lot about peripherals and how we work, has understood this very well. The Logi Dock is not just a hub of ports to compensate for the fact that recent laptops are not as generous in ports. It is a value proposition that goes beyond: it is an operations center that stays on the desktop while the laptop comes and goes. One USB-C cable to connect everything when you arrive, one to disconnect everything when you leave. That, in practice, has a higher value than what appears on a specification paper. Behind the dock there…: HDMI 2.0 (4K, 60Hz, HDR). DisplayPort 1.4 (4K, 60Hz, HDR). 2 USB-A (USB 3.1 at 5 Gbps). 2 USB-C (USB 3.1 at 5 Gbps) 1 extra USB-C on the side with 7.5W fast charging. and USB-C upstream dedicated to 100W for the laptop. All in a single connection strip that you never touch again. What it does not have is Thunderbolt, Ethernet or card reader. View of the ports of the Logi Dock. A side USB-C is missing, designed primarily for charging the mobile phone. Image: Xataka. There’s that USB-C on the side. Image: Xataka. Immediately the most important question about this product appears, which deserves a completely honest answer. A hub USB-C generic costs between 30 and 80 euros. This dock right now it costs from 276 euros on Amazon. What justifies paying five or ten times more for the Logi Dock than for a simple hub USB-C? That’s the gist. The short answer is that it depends on whether you need what’s extra, not whether you appreciate what’s equal. Ports are ports. What sets the Logi Dock apart from any other hub random are two things: the speakers and the microphone. And that changes the equation… for a specific user profile. In my case, I have had it connected to the MacBook Pro M1 Pro and the Huawei MateView 28 inches. Keyboard, mouse, Scarlett 2i2 interface with the Rode PodMic for the podcastand charging the laptop at 100W. A cable from the Mac to dock. Everything resolved. I start with what does not have a hub anyone and it does have the Logi Dock: the speakers. My Huawei monitor has a built-in speaker that does the bare minimum. And those on the MacBook, which stays closed to one side, are “trapped.” With a hub Generic would have solved the connectivity, but not the audio: the Logi Dock provides good speakers and a microphone designed to not sound boring during video calls. The buttons are designed to be used as quick access during video calls, and also to join them directly with Logi Tune. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. The Logi Dock’s 55mm drivers with their side-mounted passive radiators produce full-bodied sound, some bass, and enough clarity to listen to music while working. It is not an audio monitor. But it doesn’t pretend to be either. In the video calls in which I have used them, giving up the headphones, the microphone beamforming six capsules works well. My interlocutors do not complain and background noise is reasonably attenuated. The real argument for the Logi Dock is not that it is the best at anything, but that He’s good enough at everything at once. The texture of the fabric mesh, in macro photo. Image: Xataka. Three months of use have also shown me where it is weak. No Thunderbolt, no Ethernet, no card reader… The touch buttons on the top panel work fine, but calendar integration via Logi Tune is the most dispensable part: with the Mac you already have your notifications, and join a meeting with a tap on the dock It is a shortcut that in practice you almost never use. It sounds like a function forced in to reinforce its proposal and better justify its existence. In my opinion that value is not there. What you do use, every day, is the most difficult to quantify: the absence of friction. He dock It’s been plugged in for months and has never given me a single problem. does not ask drivers to reinstall or annoying updates, the ports work well and there is no audio that is lost when waking the Mac from sleep. Is it worth paying five times more than a hub generic? If your desktop already has good speakers and a microphone, or if you simply prefer using headphones, probably not. Buy the hub cheap and you will save. But if in your case the Logi Dock becomes the only real speaker on the desk, the microphone in meetings and the only cable that connects and disconnects the laptop every day, then the comparison is no longer with a hub of 60 euros. It is with “a hub “more speakers, more microphone, plus the convenience of everything coexisting without conflict in a single block.” And that last comparison is won by the Logi. Featured image | Xataka In Xataka | The Nike Mind 001 are the strangest shoes I have ever tried. And that is precisely why they are being sold This device has been provided for testing by Logitech. You can consult how we do reviews in Xataka and our relations policy with companies.

new interface, YouTube, redesign of Maps, and a lot of AI

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In addition to all the news that Google has revealed about Android 17, Gemini Intelligence and Google Bookthe company has also taken the opportunity to tell us all the details about the new and great Android Auto update. And the company has revealed which would be the most ambitious renewal of vehicle software since the platform hit the market eleven years ago. The update features a complete redesign of the interface, new navigation features, the arrival of YouTube and everything wrapped in AI. Gemini. Under these lines we tell you all the new features of the system. An interface that no longer leaves dead spaces on the screen The most visible change is the design. And now the interface adapts to any shape of screen, no matter how irregular it may be. This is especially useful, since we will stop seeing empty spaces with unused margins. “You have the new BMW Neue Klasse with a screen that is like an irregular trapezoid. I don’t even know what to call it. It’s something like a parallelogram. And I was like… I have to go back to teaching geometry classes,” counted to The Verge Patrick Brady, vice president of Android Automotive at Google. Brady defined the new design as “full bleed,” meaning that applications like Google Maps occupy the entire surface of the screen, regardless of its geometry. Google demonstrated the system’s ability to adapt to screens in three very different cases: the circular screen of the Mini, the irregular one of the Lucid Air and the trapezoidal BMW iX3. In all of them, the map covered the space from edge to edge. The design language Material 3 Expressiveuntil now exclusive to mobile phones, also comes to the car with its own fonts, more fluid animations and customizable wallpapers that can even transfer the colors and themes of the user’s mobile phone. Dashboard widgets and 3D navigation The new version incorporates widget supportsomething that had been rumored for a while. These widgets can be pinned onto the navigation map without interruption. For example: quick access to your favorite contacts, a button to open the garage door, weather information or options to control the home automation of our home. At the center of this experience is what Google calls Immersive Navigation, defined by the company as “the largest update to Google Maps in more than a decade.” The map view becomes completely three-dimensionalshowing buildings, overpasses and the relief of the terrain. In addition, it highlights elements such as available lanes, traffic lights and stop signs in real time. According to Google, the function is designed to help with complicated maneuvers such as changing lanes or entering highways. Finally, video in the car: YouTube at 60 fps and in high definition Android Auto incorporates video playback for the first time. Applications such as YouTube will be available while the vehicle is parked, with Full HD quality and at 60 frames per second. According to Brady, users have been asking for this function for some time when they charge their electric car, wait in a parking lot or are standing at the school door. The system has intelligent behavior when starting: if the user was watching a video and starts the car, the image disappears but the audio continues automatically in the apps that support background playback (a great idea to check out with the YouTube Premium). As confirmed by the company, the first manufacturers that will have this function are BMW, Ford, Genesis, Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Škoda, Tata and Volvo. In parallel, Android Auto will add compatibility with Dolby Atmos to deliver spatial and immersive sound. This function will initially reach a somewhat smaller group of brands: BMW, Genesis, Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Škoda, Tata and Volvo. According to Google, music apps, including YouTube Music and Spotify, will also receive a visual update to improve their usability while driving. Gemini Intelligence comes to the car Google’s artificial intelligence assistant, Gemini, was already available on Android Auto, although its arrival has been much more timid than on mobile devices. According to the company, those who have Gemini Intelligence On their phone they will be able to access this more advanced version also from the car. The main difference is that Gemini Intelligence understands user context and promises to act autonomously. The Magic Cue function is the clearest example: if someone receives a message asking for an address, the system analyzes the content, searches for the response among the user’s emails, messages or calendar and offers to send the response with a single touch. Brady affirms that this function seeks to reduce phone use while driving: “We do distraction studies while driving in simulators. We test everything thoroughly.” The company ensures that Gemini will also be able to execute actions in other applications on the phone without the need for special integrations. The example that Google offers It’s the classic way of ordering food, describing to Gemini what you want to order and having it ready for pickup. An extra layer for the coches with integrated Google Vehicles that already have Google incorporated as standard (those with Android Automotivea base integrated system in the car itself) will receive all these new features and, in addition, some exclusive ones from its more integrated architecture. The most notable is lane guidance in real time within Immersive Navigation. Unlike conventional Android Auto, these cars can take advantage of the vehicle’s front camera to analyze the road and know which lane the driver is in, advising them in real time during lane changes or exits. All processing happens inside the car itself. Gemini in these vehicles will also have additional capabilities. According to Google, will be able to answer specific questions about the car: identify what a warning light on the dashboard means or calculate whether an object that the driver is going to pick up fits in the trunk. Zoom and other meeting apps will also arrive in these cars throughout the year. Availability: throughout 2026 Google … Read more

Their other news also has a lot to say

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Android 17 It comes with a word written in large letters: Gemini. Google has taken advantage of its Android Show to show how it wants to integrate more artificial intelligence into the system, but the update is not just about that. Under that umbrella of Gemini Intelligence We also find more earthly news, the kind that may not shine as much in a presentation, but that can end up being much more noticeable on a day-to-day basis. Let’s get to know the most interesting ones, one by one. Quick Share and AirDrop One of the most practical changes in Android 17 has to do with something as simple, and as common, as sending a file to another person. Google had already taken a first step at the end of last year by making Quick Share work with AirDrop on some Pixel and Galaxybut now it wants that compatibility to stop being a rarity limited to a few models. Support will be expanded this year to Xiaomi, Honor and OnePlus, in addition to OPPO and Vivo, which were already announced. For phones that are not compatible, Google now adds an intermediate way: generate a QR code so that an iPhone user can scan it and receive the file directly in iCloud. Migration from iPhone Changing mobile phones always seems easy until messages, contacts, the eSIM and that home screen that each user has organized in their own way come into play. That’s where Android 17 wants to reduce a very well-known friction for those coming from an iPhone. Apple already added in iOS 26.3 the necessary support to transfer that data wirelessly to Androidbut the process still does not work because it requires a device compatible with Android 17. That piece will arrive this year and the rollout will begin with Pixel and Galaxy. Pause Point Pause Point is based on a gesture that we know all too well: opening an app almost without thinking about it. Google’s idea is not to block access, but to place a short pause before entering the applications that we have marked as distracting. Android 17 will show a ten-second timer, with suggestions to do breathing exercises or open a more productive app. It will also allow us to set how long we want to use that application in each session, and here comes the nuance: to deactivate Pause Point we will have to restart the mobile. Security Android 17 also reinforces a less showy, but very sensitive part of the system: security. Google is preparing several small improvements that target very specific scenarios, from calls that try to impersonate banks to apps with suspicious behavior. In the first case, protection will depend on collaboration with certain entities and having their banking application installed. Additionally, the system will improve the detection of malware by analyzing signals such as SMS forwarding or running in the background, while Chrome will check APK downloads for known threats. In case of theft, Google will also allow you to activate biometric protection remotely by marking the phone as lost. On-screen reactions Screen Reactions, which we can understand as reactions on the screen, looks directly at an increasingly common use of the mobile phone: recording ourselves while we comment on what appears on the screen. Android 17 will allow you to capture the video from the front camera and the content we are viewing at the same time, whether photos, videos, web pages or other elements. The person will appear cut out over that content, with a process that Google describes as something that can be done in a few touches. New emojis There are new developments that do not change how the mobile works, but they do change how we feel it every time we write. Emojis fall into that category. Google has redesigned Android’s 4,000 emojis to give them a slightly more three-dimensional look, with more depth and detail than the flatter, more cartoonish versions they replace. Custom widgets Here Android 17 returns to the territory of Gemini Intelligence, but with an idea that is quite easy to understand: create custom widgets without having to design them by hand. Create My Widget will allow you to build widgets for your home screen using natural language instructions. The company gives very specific examples, such as a meal planner that recommends protein-rich recipes, a weather widget designed for cyclists that prioritizes wind and rain, or a view of upcoming concerts in a nearby venue. rambler Rambler is another of Gemini Intelligence’s functions, but here the AI ​​is applied to a very specific situation: dictating a message and making the result not look like a raw transcription. This tool will work in real time to remove fillers, correct errors, and make text more concise. In a demo, Google showed how it could turn a spoken request into a shopping list and even understand a subsequent correction, such as ordering bananas and then discarding them. You will also be able to switch between multiple languages ​​within the same message. Task automation Another block of Gemini Intelligence looks at automations. Task Automation is already available for food delivery and transportation apps on the latest high-end models from Samsung and Google, and will now expand its support to more services. The company offers examples such as ordering groceries from a list saved in notes or preparing a travel itinerary from a photograph. Chrome auto browse will also arrive on Android at the end of June and Gemini in Autofill to complete forms more quickly. Material 3 Expressive Google also wants this intelligence to be noticeable in the interface itself, not just in specific functions. In the information it has shared about Gemini Intelligence, the company explains that the new visual language is based on Material 3 Expressive and that it not only seeks to be more attractive, but also more functional. The animations will have a purpose: to reduce distractions and help maintain focus on the task at hand. Availability The fine print is … Read more

There are a lot of people replacing the oil on ham toast with coffee and orange. And oddly enough, it makes sense.

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“You insist on putting olive oil on our Iberian ham toast and this is like putting sugar on top of a chocolate cake.” Víctor Sanchego did not know it, but with those words was about to make thousands of people prepare the strangest breakfast we’ve seen in a long time. How come you don’t have to add oil to the ham? Sanchego’s argument is that “the fat of Iberian ham contains more than 60% oleic acid, the same component of extra virgin olive oil.” Therefore, as happens in a perfumery when we have already worn several colognes, when we mix oil and ham at the same time our taste buds become saturated. “Instead of helping it enhance the flavor, it is subtracting it,” says the ham man. The reality, of course, is more complex. The general idea is true for Iberian ham: adding oil (especially if it is an intense and complex one) blurs the flavor profile and can actually oversaturate the bite. This, however, does not happen with the rest of the hams or with the rest of the oils. It is, so to speak, a borderline case. And a well-known one, at that. The normal thing when we talk about Iberian ham, in fact, is that it is recommended to enjoy it alone or with an accompaniment that cleanses the palate, such as a piece of neutral bread. Nobody usually proposes eating a plate of ham with a glass of EVOO on the side. The striking thing about all this is not that. The striking thing is the coffee with orange zest. Because Víctor Sanchego does not propose to eat ham with white bread, nothing like that. He suggests smearing the bread in a mixture of black coffee and orange peel, toasting it and, now, putting the Iberian ham on top. It’s a strange thing, yes; but we cannot define it as madness either. We said before that the ideal thing is to eat Iberian ham with something that ‘cleanses the palate’ and Sanchego’s idea goes directly there: coffee, due to its dry and intense qualities, allows us to enhance the organoleptic properties of our ham. Is it the most interesting decision? Well, the truth is that I couldn’t say. On a theoretical level, there could be dozens of similar combinations that fit better with our usual organoleptic repertoire; but without a doubt it is bold and many of those who try it (on social networks) They are delighted with the result. And that, without a doubt, is good news. Not because of the ham, not because of the coffee, not because of the orange zest. It’s good news because culinary Talibanism It is a practice that greatly impoverishes our understanding of food. And it limits us for no reason. Being open to ‘playing’ with products as iconic as Iberian ham is a symptom of a gastronomic maturity that, used well, can help us resolve problems in a much simpler way. big problems of the food security of the century. Image | Stephan Coudassot | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | We’ve been telling ourselves for 100 years that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day.” The problem is that it is not true In Xataka | We’ve gone from “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to “I grab something quick and stick with it.” And that has problems A version of this theme was published in 2025

I always thought that a Stream Deck was only for streamers. It turns out to be a gadget that saves you a lot of time every day

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It is not easy to work in front of a computer for many hours a day (whether at home or in the office). You spend the entire day browsing between documents, spreadsheets, files or writing emails and, just moving from one task to another, you already waste a lot of time. I really like the concept of ‘optimize workflow‘so that this does not happen (or happens little), but it is not easy at all. There are many ways to try to do this, although few are as visual as using a Stream Deck. Yes, that little device that many streamers have on their table and that seems to only serve to change scenes or cameras, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a device that helps improve productivity in many waysand although there are a lot of models, my favorite is this Stream Deck Neo: right now it costs 84.99 euros. Elgato Stream Deck Neo – 8 customizable keys, 2 Touch Points, fly through your tasks and processes – Control Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Zoom, Spotify, etc. Easy setup – For Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Integrates with almost any software you use on a daily basis The idea of ​​the Stream Deck (of this specific model or any of the others that Elgato has) is the same: to have a panel that, with just the press of a button, simplifies tasks of all kinds. Let’s start with something simple: you can place buttons on a key to open the apps that you use most when working, such as an email manager, the browser or a Slack-type program. Or directly program a single button to open everything at once when you sit in front of the PC. In addition, it is a device that is very easy to install (it is basically plug and play) and configure. The software is also intuitive and allows us to customize the keys to the millimeter. Being compatible with software of all types, we can assign very specific keys to Photoshop, Excel or PowerPoint tools, for example. All, furthermore, with a very high degree of customization. I like this particular model for two things. The first of them is that it is compact and not as big as other models that Elgato has (which have more keys or even other types of buttons). The other is that it has two small touch panels that allow us to switch between the different “pages” of actions that we have configured. All of this means that we have a tool that will help us (a lot) to give a boost to our ‘workflow’. You also have other different Stream Deck models As I said above, there are different models of this gadget. In fact, this same year it released a keyboard in collaboration with Corsair that, directly, integrates a Stream Deck where the numeric keypad usually goes. Next, we leave you said keyboard and some different models of this Elgato gadget. Corsair Galleon 100 SD RGB Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Spanish QWERTY, Stream Deck Integration, Pre-Lubricated and Interchangeable MLX Pulse Key Switches, SOCD FlashTap, 8000Hz The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck Mini – Control Zoom, Teams, PowerPoint, MS Office etc., increase your productivity with perfect integration with the most used apps, easily create shortcuts, compatible with Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck +, Audio Mixer, Live and Studio Controller for Content Creation, Streaming, Gaming, with Touch Strip, Customizable LCD Dials and Keys, Works with Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck XL – Advanced Studio Controller, 32 Macro Keys, Activates actions in apps and Software such as OBS, Twitch, Youtube and Others, Works on Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Elgato In Xataka | Best iPhones. Which one to buy in 2026 and recommended models based on budget, tastes and quality-price In Xataka | This is the gaming tower that I would buy. The computers with the best quality-price ratio for gaming recommended by Xataka

The US is doing a lot of damage to Iran with the Hormuz counterblockade. So much so that he is already considering closing oil wells

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Oil has an unbreakable physical law: once it leaves the ground, it has to go somewhere. If ships can’t transport it and storage tanks fill up, the only option is to shut down the wells. Today, the war of attrition between the United States and Iran has ceased to be a mere diplomatic conflict and has become a geological and logistical time bomb. According to data from the analysis firm KplerIran has just 12 to 22 days left before its crude oil storage capacity is completely saturated. The US naval blockade has suffocated its exports by 70%, plummeting shipments from 1.85 million barrels per day to a meager 567,000. A lethal limit. As explained Al Jazeera, Stopping production at an oil well is not like turning off a light switch. When pumping is stopped, the pressure in the underground reservoirs drops sharply, allowing water or gas to seep into the production layers. The potential damage is immense: The Wall Street Journal warns that almost half of the Iranian oil fields are old and low pressure. An abrupt shutdown threatens to permanently destroy part of this aging infrastructure, making recovering that crude oil in the future technically and financially unfeasible. In Washington, the narrative is one of imminent victory. The US administration is confident that this collapse will force Tehran to surrender. According to statements collected by Foreign Policythe US Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessentand President Donald Trump himself predict that the drowning will cause an imminent internal shortage of gasoline, increasing social pressure on the regime until it is forced to give in. However, experts urge caution against Western triumphalism. A rigorous analysis of the Center on Global Energy Policy from Columbia University dismantles part of the myth of catastrophic damage dividing the problem into two fronts: Crude oil can breathe: Specialists detail that the historic oil fields of Khuzestan operate through a “gravity drainage” system. Paradoxically, a temporary stoppage could allow these specific reservoirs to recharge naturally. Natural gas, the true Achilles’ heel: The real risk, the institution explains, lies in the natural gas fields, such as the gigantic South Pars. If these become blocked as they cannot release the associated liquids, Iran will be forced to drastically ration energy for industry and homes in the coming months. Tehran does not plan to give up. According to NDTV, The Islamic Republic will maintain its “diplomacy of patience.” Furthermore, the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) already survived to severe production cuts in 2012 and 2019, and has a robust smuggling network that makes it very resistant to conventional economic pressure. Added to this is the time factor: according to the calculations of Kplerthe real financial blow will take between three and four months to be felt in Iranian coffers, since China – its main client – ​​operates with long delays in payments. The flight forward. To buy time, Iran is resorting to extreme measures. As revealed The Wall Street Journal, The country is reactivating dilapidated infrastructure, known in the sector as “junk storage”, in areas such as Ahvaz and Asaluyeh, and is even trying to export crude oil by train to China; a very slow and very expensive route that shows the level of stress in the system. and in the sea activation of the Nashaa 30-year-old supertanker rescued from scrapping to serve as an emergency floating warehouse. But the most fascinating and opaque strategy is unfolding thousands of miles from the Persian Gulf. As my colleague Miguel Jorge has developed for Xataka, There is a “secret gas station” in the middle of the ocean. This is an area off the coast of Malaysia, known as EOPL, which functions as a huge ghost car park. There, a shadow fleet of aging ships with their tracking systems (AIS) turned off conduct dangerous ship-to-ship crude transfers. With this maneuver they launder the origin of the oil, passing it off as Malaysian to sell it to independent Chinese refineries and evade the radar of US sanctions. The global earthquake. As Iran searches for oxygen, the collateral damage of this blockade is fracturing the global economy and geopolitics. Behind closed doors, the Iranian social collapse is advancing at a steady pace. A crude report of the Financial Times details that real inflation is already close to 50% and the national currency (the rial) sinks to historic lows. The price of basic products such as cheese and chicken has skyrocketed, and the government admits that more than 191,000 workers have applied for unemployment benefits since the start of the war. Globally, the Straits crisis has shattered the mirage of modern logistics. The collapse of Hormuz It’s not a temporary traffic jam.but a tectonic fault that has broken the “just in time” system and is threatening the hegemony of the petrodollar. Markets, panicking over a prolonged disruption, have pushed a barrel of Brent crude above $120, its highest level since 2022. But the most seismic geopolitical consequence of this war has erupted within the oil cartel: the United Arab Emirates (UAE). will leave OPEC+ May 1st. Fed up with production quotas that limited their income and feeling deeply abandoned by their Arab neighbors in the face of direct attacks from Iran, the Emiratis have decided to fly alone. This breakup leaves Saudi Arabia alone bearing the cost of stabilizing the market, greatly weakens OPEC and gives Donald Trump a diplomatic coup that he had been seeking for years. The final pulse. In the end, this conflict has become a drag race in which no one emerges unscathed. The big question that will decide the outcome of the war is who will go bankrupt first: the fragile and antiquated oil wells of Iran and its exhausted population, or the global consumers and the great Western powers, unable to withstand the skyrocketing fuel prices and the collapse of world shipping routes for much longer. And all this happens under inescapable pressure. While political leaders debate and move their chips thousands of kilometers away, the valves of Kharg Island … Read more

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