machine

The war machine that the US destroyed, Iran has put it back on its feet

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During the Vietnam War, American pilots bombed for days a network of tunnels near Cu Chi convinced that they had completely rendered it useless. When the troops advanced on the ground, they discovered that not only was it still operational, but the combatants they had reappeared from hidden exits a few meters from their positions. The scene left a brutal lesson: destroying from the air does not always mean eliminating what is below. A start of war that changes everything. The first hours of the conflict in Iran set the tone of everything that would come later: an intensity of fire rarely seen, with hundreds of missiles and almost a thousand drones launched in just two days, forcing the defensive systems to operate at the limit from the first moment. That volume not only showed the scale of the Iranian arsenal, but also the type of war that was being waged, one in which saturation was almost as important as precision. From that starting point, the expectation was clear for all the actors: if that rhythm was sustained, the key was not going to be who hit the hardest, because that actor had a name from the beginning, but who last longer. The illusion of total destruction. Because the United States and Israel responded in the first 48 hours of war with a massive campaign of bombings that sought to disable the Iranian military infrastructure, attacking thousands of targets and sealing access to underground bases to leave the launchers trapped. For weeks, the official message It was forceful.: The missile program had been devastated and the country’s response capacity was practically nullified. However, even at that time doubts arose from within the US apparatus itself, which warned that a significant part of these systems had not been destroyed, but simply blocked or temporarily inaccessible. Iranian efforts underway at a missile base in Tabriz on April 10 The mountains as a shield and strategy. It we count at the time. The real differentiating element was not in the missiles, but in where they were stored. Iran has spent decades building a network of underground facilities in mountainous environments, many of them excavated in granitic rock capable of resisting extremely powerful attacks. These “missile cities” not only store weapons, but also integrate complete logistics systemswith tunnels, launch points and escape routes designed to minimize exposure. It is an architecture designed for survive the first blowassume damage and keep the operational core intact, in a logic that prioritizes resilience over invulnerability. A loader over debris blocking an entrance to a missile base near Khomeyn, April 10 Dig, reactivate and launch again. Satellite images now have confirmed that, as soon as a ceasefire window opened, heavy machinery went into action to remove debris and reopen accesses blocked by bombings. As? The Telegraph said Through satellite survey that dozens of excavators, trucks and engineering equipment were deployed at key points to clear sealed entrances and regain access to buried launchers. Again, what is relevant here is not just that it is being done, but the speed: in a matter of days (and even in just 48 hours in some cases) those facilities have become operational again, suggesting that much of the military capacity was not destroyed, but simply paused. Designed to resist. All of this, furthermore, fits with a very specific doctrine: assume that the enemy will have air superiority and design the system to survive it. Unlike a conventional war, where losing control of the air usually implies the progressive destruction of infrastructure, here the logic is different and focuses on protect assets critical underground, absorb the first attack and recover capacity combat as soon as possible. This approach turns conflict into a race of attrition, where each cycle of attack and reconstruction erodes both the attacker and the defender. The real problem. If you like, the direct consequence of this dynamic is that the apparent initial success of Washington (and Israel) has lost weight in the face of the recovery capacity Iranian. Because, although the attacks have been massive and technically effective, the speed with which Tehran is restoring its bases raises an uncomfortable scene for their adversaries: every pause, negotiation or ceasefire in the fighting becomes an opportunity to rearm again or, literally, dust off the bunkers In that context, the question stops being whether an infrastructure can be destroyed and becomes how many times it can function again before the other side is left behind. without resources or without political margin to continue. Image | Airbus In Xataka | If the question is where is the US nuclear aircraft carrier, the answer is uncomfortable: hidden so that it does not sink In Xataka | We sensed that Iran bombed the US military bases with help: some coordinates have revealed its name, and it is Made in China

China has been pushing the boundaries of engineering for years. Its gigantic high-speed tunnel boring machine has just given another example

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China has been developing large infrastructures and its own machinery to execute them for years, with projects that tend to stand out for their size and the technical control they require. It is not just about building more, but about doing so under increasingly demanding conditions. This pattern is repeated in very different areas, from energy to scientific research, and also in transport infrastructure. Under this logic, the appearance of new machines and projects is not an exception, but rather the continuation of a clear trend that now adds a new chapter with the “Linghang” tunnel boring machine. The advance. “Linghang” has completed the section under the Yangtze Riverwith a continuous excavation of just over 11 kilometers, according to CCTV. The machine began its journey on April 29, 2024 from Chongming Island, in Shanghai, and after 23 months of work, it completed the underwater section of the river, surpassed the south dam and came ashore in Taicang, in Jiangsu province. The movement is not minor: it involves completing the section under the watercourse, one of the key points of the work, and leaving the project one step away from its next milestone. What’s behind. The operation is integrated into the tunnel Chongming-Taicanga key work within the Shanghai-Nanjing section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed corridor. With a total length of 14.25 kilometers, this infrastructure brings together several technical milestones, including the world’s longest single head excavation distance in a high-speed tunnel, with 11.32 kilometers, and a maximum depth of 89 meters under the Yangtze. The design contemplates the passage of trains at 350 km/h even in the underground section. The machine inside. The tunnel boring machine used in this project has unusual dimensions even within this type of work: it measures about 148 meters in length and weighs around 4,000 tons. according to Global Times. It is equipped with an intelligent control system called I-TBM, designed to automatically manage a large part of the excavation process, from internal pressure to the forward position or the exit of the material. Added to this are elements such as high-pressure seals, a long-lasting main bearing and a cutting head prepared to withstand demanding conditions under the river. A project that is not an isolated case. In recent years, the country has built facilities such as the Three Gorges Dam, the FAST telescope either the EAST reactorprojects that, although they belong to different areas, share the same base: scale, technical control and own development. In this context, this type of machinery is best understood not as a specific milestone, but as one more piece within a sustained line of work. A close reference. In Spain, the Mayrit tunnel boring machine, currently in use in the expansion of line 11 of the Madrid Metrooffers a useful point of comparison to understand the magnitude of this type of machinery. Measuring about 98 meters in length, weighing around 1,500 tons and with a diameter close to 9 meters, it is a large piece of equipment within the European context. Images | CCTV In Xataka | Czechia wanted to build a highway and found a problem: an intact 2,000-year-old Celtic city

With the RAM market completely destroyed, Valve has a message to create the Steam Machine: “help”

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Valve is not having any luck in the hardware world. If with software it is the undisputed queen of the PC ecosystem thanks to Steamwhen they try to launch a console things don’t go so smoothly. More than a decade ago they already tried it with some first Steam Machines that they had no identity. Now they have returned to the fray with a Steam Machine that it looks very goodbut it comes at the worst time. And in the middle of the RAM memory crisisValve only has one thing to say. Aid. The crisis. At Xataka we have been covering the RAM memory news because, although it seems that it is a crisis of a specific component, it is really something that It is affecting the entire industry of semiconductors… and consumption. If in 2020 it was a perfect storm What caused the semiconductor crisis is now the enormous demand for RAM by AI companies. They are all building gigantic data centers and there is a problem: there is only three big RAM manufacturers (plus a fourth that is emerging in China) and all of them have focused on creating RAM for data center equipment. The consequence is that there is no RAM for anyone else. And this not only affects RAM as such: it affects the price of cell phones, computers, cars and even to the router. And, of course, to the Steam Machine. Hey kid, do you have RAM? Valve announced its new machine at the end of last year and they targeted early 2026 to give a release date and price. The problem is that the days were passing, the price of RAM was rising and the question arose: What about Steam Machine? Well what happens is that Valve is desperate. They have already said that it will be released this year (in principle it was going to be spring), it seems that it will be expensive and, in addition, they have pointed directly to the crisis in the supply problems they are having with his other console, the Steam Deck. With this panorama, Valve has appeared at the GDC fair to explain its vision of the console/PC and, in an environment full of manufacturers and professionals, launched a request to the public: If you have access to a large amount of RAM, we are in the market and we would like to buy it.” Complicated. It is a humorous comment, but also somewhat symptomatic. Valve has the money as punishment, but it is not even close to being a premium customer of those few foundries capable of creating RAM. If even Apple can have a bad time, being the second client of the giant TSMCValve does not even enter the annex in the memory request sheet. There are analyzes of all kinds about the consequences of this crisis. In it mobile market will feel a strong bloweven targeting manufacturers that will have to stop launching devices due to market conditions. But on PC, things are more or less the same, with global shipments forecast to be 11% less than the previous year. Captain after the fact. It’s no longer that the Steam Machine may or may not come out, it’s that if it does come out, it would be very expensive. It is something similar to what would happen with the rumored PlayStation 6 that could have seen the light this year and about which we already know that we will not have news in the short term. And here the big question may arise: why didn’t Valve release the Steam Machine when they announced it? Obviously, there were units prepared because they were shown to the press and, furthermore, it is not cutting-edge hardware, so it would have been easy to have it on the market in November 2025. But of course, the situation escalated at a dizzying pace and launching a console at X price and two months later raising it by 200 euros due to the price of RAM or, even worse, stopping selling it because you don’t have units available would have been a tremendous blow. Not so much to the coffers, which in the end with Steam they get a good pinch, but to the reputation. And it is clear that a second disastrous launch of a Steam Machine is something that Valve cannot afford. Now we just have to wait to see when they will be able to launch the machine and, above all, if the price corresponds to components that have already been available for five months. they seemed somewhat fair to us for the most demanding games. Images | DOTA2 The International In Xataka | The price of RAM has skyrocketed and the best example to see the debacle is a 100 euro PC: the Raspberry Pi

It is literally the largest and heaviest machine ever built by humans and it does one thing: extract coal.

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In North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, the largest machine that man has put on earth operates. Forget about huge ships, aircraft carrier either oil platforms: It’s an excavator. It is called Bagger 293, and its very existence is the moving memory of what industrial engineering is capable of when it is demanded without limits. What is it, exactly? The Bagger 293, also known as the MAN TAKRAF RB293, is a bucket wheel excavator (those that have a giant toothed disc at one end) designed for open pit mining. It was built by the German company TAKRAF, a subsidiary of the MAN group, between 1990 and 1995 in Leipzig. His goal from day one was only one: extract lignitethe so-called brown coal, in the Hambach mine, one of the largest mining operations in Europe. Today it remains operational, owned by RWE Power AG, Germany’s second largest energy producer. Numbers. It is 96 meters high, equivalent to a building of more than 30 floorsand 225 meters long, which is more than two football fields placed in a row. It weighs 14,200 tons. The Guinness Book of Records officially recognizes it as the largest and heaviest land vehicle in the world. Shares title with its predecessor, the Bagger 288although the 293 surpasses it in size and capacity. It also cannot be transported. And moving it about 120 kilometers requires more than three weeks of continuous work, with progress of just 5 or 6 kilometers a day. How it works istea monster. The heart of the machine is a 21.3 meter diameter rotating wheel armed with 18 buckets, large steel buckets, each capable of loading up to 15 cubic meters of material per cycle. That wheel spins non-stop, tearing off layers of earth and rock to reveal the veins of lignite, which are then transported by giant belts to the electricity generation plants. Under normal conditions, the Bagger 293 can move up to 240,000 tons of material in a single day. Furthermore, it is estimated that what it does in one day is equivalent to the manual work of about 40,000 miners. All this with only five operators on board, controlling the system from a central cockpit. electric appetite. To start such a structure, a direct external energy source of 16.56 megawatts is needed (about more than 22,500 HP if we do the conversion). This would be approximately equivalent to the electricity needed to supply a city of about 20,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Bagger 293 does not have its own conventional engine, it is permanently connected to the industrial electrical network. Its 12 steel tracks, each 3.8 meters wide, distribute the immense weight over the ground in a controlled manner so that the ground does not give way under it. Leaf where you work. The excavator works in the Hambach mine, the largest open-pit mine in Germany, with an approved area of ​​up to 8,500 hectares and a depth that reaches 500 meters below ground level. According to Bloombergthe mine produces around 40 million tonnes of lignite per year, enough to power around 8 million homes. But the mine is not without controversy. Brown coal is the most polluting fossil fuel per unit of energy produced, and the exploitation of Hambach 90% of the historic Hambach Forest has been wiped outan ecosystem more than 12,000 years old. As of 2012, environmental activists They occupied the remaining trees for years in a protest that ended up becoming a symbol of the climate debate in Germany. In 2018, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the mine’s expansion. Greta Thunberg herself visited the place in 2019stating that he found it “devastating” to see places like the Hambach mine. In January 2020, the German government agreed to preserve the remaining forest, and in August of that same year Germany committed to its definitive exit from coal by 2038. According to Global Energy Monitormining at the Hambach mine will cease in 2029, and the plan is to transform the territory into a reclaimed landscape that will include a large artificial lake. Images | Andreas Lippold (Wikimedia Commons), Stefan Fussan (Wikimedia Commons), Steve Rowell In Xataka | The key hidden infrastructure for AI is not data centers: it is undersea cables and the Middle East leads the way

its new Project Helix is ​​a direct torpedo to Valve’s Steam Machine

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Microsoft has revealed the code name of its next-generation console, a hybrid system between console and PC that will be able to run games from both ecosystems. Project Helix arrives at a turbulent time for the industry: global RAM memory crisis, Valve fighting to launch its own Steam Machine and PlayStation rethinking its presence on PC. Helix Project. Asha Sharma, new CEO of Xboxhas announced that the next Microsoft console receives the internal name of Project Helix. Sharma assured that the device will be a leader in performance and will allow you to play both Xbox and PC titles, thus confirming the rumors that have been circulating for months about hardware that blurs the line between both platforms. The next Game Developers Conference, between March 9 and 13, will be the scene of the first conversations with partners and developers. What does it have? Beyond Sharma’s statements we can scratch some more information: the heart of the system is a semi-custom SoC from AMD whose internal code name is Magnus. According to AMD CEO Lisa Su, during the presentation of fourth quarter results As of 2025, development of the chip is progressing well to support a 2027 launch. Leaks point to a combination of Zen 6 CPU cores and an RDNA 5-based GPU, with up to 48GB of GDDR7 memory. These are specifications that, if the estimates so far are correct, would exceed those of the future. PlayStation 6. How it works. The device will essentially function as a gaming PC whose main interface will be the Xbox Full Screen Experience, already released on the ASUS Xbox Ally laptop. From this interface, designed to replicate the simplicity of a console, the user can choose to jump to the Windows 11 desktop and install Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, Battle.net or any other software from the Microsoft ecosystem. PCs of a lifetime. That Xbox is a PC at its core is not a new idea. The original 2001 console already had an Intel Pentium III and an Nvidia GPU, a configuration much closer to the computer world than to the proprietary chip that defined Sony or Nintendo consoles at that time. All subsequent generations have maintained the x86 architecture, and both Xbox One as Xbox Series X They use AMD SoC with architecture shared with Ryzen and Radeon. What changes with Helix is ​​the software layer: where before the operating system was a closed environment, now there is a complete Windows under the shell. Listen, Valve. The comparison with this console that immediately comes to mind is Valve’s Steam Machine, announced in November as a compact desktop PC powered by SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system that already powers the Steam Deck. Valve works in the opposite direction than Helix: part of the Steam catalog, it works on Linux and offers the possibility of installing Windows as a secondary option. The destiny of both machines is the same: to dynamite the boundaries between console and desktop PC. Valve suffers. The Steam Machine is going through its own ordeals. Valve announced in February a delay in its release schedule (originally, first quarter of the year) and the need to review the price, citing the global shortage of memory and storage as the cause. The analysts They project a price of between $400 and $500 as the optimal range, although the most recent estimates raise the range above $750, a territory that distances it from direct competition with Sony and Microsoft consoles. Valve, which has ruled out selling hardware at a loss, is at the mercy of the components market. The memory crisis Due to the demands of the AIs, it is the great backdrop of this battle. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have turned their production lines towards high-margin HBM memory consumed by artificial intelligence data centers, leaving DRAM and NAND Flash destined for the consumer market in the background. The consequences are already being felt: manufacturers such as Lenovo, Dell, HP and ASUS have warned of increases of between 15% and 20% in the price of their equipment for this year. Exclusive worlds. The franchises that for decades defined Xbox’s identity have begun to come to PlayStation, a decision that Sharma herself has acknowledged wanting to review. Meanwhile, Sony abandons publishing games on PCwith the intention of reinforcing the attractiveness of its exclusives. But Xbox is betting on the opposite. It seems clear that Sharma (who has no experience in the video game industry) does not conceive Helix as a traditional console, but as a platform whose success will depend on alliances with digital stores and the integration of services such as Game Pass. In Xataka | There is brutal competition for our attention. And there is someone losing that battle in a bloody way: the consoles

to use AI you don’t need a machine

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When we think about artificial intelligence we usually imagine two very clear paths: paying a monthly subscription to a large chatbot in the cloud or setting up a powerful computer capable of running local models, with all its limitations. That is the mental photo that many of us have. However, what is happening these days with Raspberry Pi forces us to qualify that idea. According to Reutersits shares have recently registered a rise of up to 43% in parallel with the interest in OpenClawan AI agent that does not require very expensive equipment to get started. And that’s where the really interesting thing begins. The OpenClaw effect. Before going into the technical detail, it is worth clarifying what we are talking about. OpenClaw is not a typical chatbot, but an AI agent, that is, a system capable of executing actions on its own, from launching scripts to interacting with external services. The idea that is circulating is that, if autonomous agents become popular, many users could end up resorting to these physical devices, as also reported by Bloomberg. The key is that, in these types of configurations, the large model usually runs on cloud servers and the local device acts as a coordinator: calling APIs, keeping the session active and executing tasks in the user’s environment. Although there are also configurations that allow small models to be run locally using tools such as Ollama or llama.cpp, with models like a Pi 4 or 5 with enough RAM. Isolate the risk. Beyond the enthusiasm, the conversation has also revolved around security. From Raspberry they explain that giving deep system access to an agent can pose a real risk, precisely because it can interact with local files and services, and even browse websites or fill out forms. This coincides with warnings from experts who consider that these algorithms are not without dangers. This is where the idea of ​​a dedicated device makes sense: using a Raspberry Pi as a separate environment allows you to contain possible failures and maintain a certain distance. skeptical voices. In The Register they point out that the idea of ​​using a Raspberry Pi for OpenClaw “does not make sense” and they emphasize that the historical appeal of the device was its low price, something that, according to the media, has been eroded with the rise in memory costs. He cites as an example that an advanced model of Raspberry Pi 5 with 16 GB can exceed $200, which increases costs for those who want to make this type of investment. We have to wait to see if the movement that the market has just anticipated will finally become a reality. Images | Raspberry Pi In Xataka | AI agents have indeed changed work and the economy forever. But for now only in one sector: programming

While the world fights for the most advanced chips, there is a company making gold with the ones that go inside your washing machine

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If you have walked through an industrial estate, you have surely come across the typical warehouse with the sign “Spare Parts and Bearings (Insert name)”. And it’s easy for you, at that moment, to wonder what the hell a bearing is and how the rest of the businesses are closing, except for ‘Rodamientos Paco’. Well, in the world of technology there is also a ‘Paco Bearings’. Is called Texas Instruments and, in full era of sophisticated chips, artificial intelligence and quantum computingis breaking it with something very specific. Boring chips. In short. Companies are in the middle of the results presentation period. In this round, the managers inform their shareholders about the direction of the company, while allowing us to learn about data on upcoming devices or business plans. Texas Instruments usually goes unnoticed in these more ‘techie’ times, but they are finishing up a fiscal year with very positive numbers. The fourth quarter they closed with 4,420 million and anticipate increasing to 4,680 million in the first quarter. In the last three months, its share value has increased by 18%. Its shares are among the highest among companies in the same sector and, as we said before, the curious thing is that it is doing all this almost silently. Live outside the hype. You can constantly read information about cutting-edge chips on Xataka. It is true that the current nature of components is marked by the current RAM memory crisis either of SSDsbut the snapdragonthe Apple Silicon, the latest from NVIDIA or AMD It is what usually marks the conversation. They are the most sophisticated and interesting chips, but a coffee maker does not need a chip like that. That’s where Texas Instruments comes into play. Because calling their chips “boring” is not an exaggeration. They are outside the AI ​​hype, the data centers and the most exciting features because its market is different: sensors, connectivity, controllers. Where are Texas Instruments chips? In routers, smart refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, as secondary chips in televisions, in remote controls, in calculators or in smart smoke detectors. But they not only make chips, but also another series of integrated circuits for wireless communications, signal processing in all types of devices and even sensors that detect tire pressure, engine temperatures or the air conditioning system. Texas Instruments chips and sensors are in… everything. Even in weapons. An example of a tiny sophisticated chip in the headphone stick… with only 16 KB of RAM. Because you don’t need more Huge investment. And the company is not sitting idly by with the huge amount of money it is making with its ubiquity strategy. a few days ago, Bloomberg reported on the agreement that Texas Instruments had reached to buy Silicon Labs. Also American, also with ‘boring’ chips that They are inside ‘things’ of all kinds. The operation is not closed, but the smell of it caused Silicon Labs shares to increase 51% to more than $206. The curious thing? That Texas Instruments is willing to pay more: up to $231 per share to investors. The operation has not been closed, but there is talk of a purchase of 7.5 billion dollars, well above the 4.5 billion that Silicon Labs is “worth.” Great year ≠ perfect year. All of this is… outrageous, but it indicates something very specific: they are spending a lot of money to reinforce a huge, stable market that goes unnoticed in a time when everything revolves around artificial intelligence and sophisticated technology. The purchase of Silicon Labs, paying such a high premium per share, shows that they know very well what they are getting into and the value of a market in which they are a key player. But one thing must also be noted: although revenues rose, annual profits did not increase at the same rate. He total invoiced increased by 13%, but as they have also invested more, this increase in costs reduced the profit margin, which “barely” increased by 4.2%, with some quarters being worse than others (in Q4 they fell by 3.5%). They haven’t had a perfect fiscal year, but there is one thing that is undeniable: they are still the kings of their niche. If we can describe being everywhere as a “niche”. In Xataka | While half the world looks for an alternative to Taiwan, Jensen Huang is very clear about the harsh reality: there is no

Valve has just announced a delay and price increase for the Steam Machine

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Valve’s plans to revolutionize desktop video games face the reality of the component market. The company has confirmed the postponement of Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller, initially planned for the first quarter of 2026, due to the global shortage of RAM and storage. The announcement comes accompanied by a warning: the initially announced prices will be revised upwards, which puts at risk the strategy of competing directly with traditional consoles. What we believed. The official presentation of Valve’s hardware took place in November 2025when the company simultaneously unveiled three devices aimed at expanding its ecosystem beyond the traditional PC: the Steam Machine console, the Steam Frame virtual reality headset, and a new iteration of the Steam Controller. At that time, information provided to media It targeted a launch in the first quarter of 2026. Our love broke. However, Valve has had to recalibrate its expectations. According to the statement, the company acknowledges that it hoped to announce definitive prices and specific release dates at this point, but circumstances in the component market have prevented this. “The limited availability and rising prices of these critical components mean we must review our exact shipping schedule and pricing,” they admit. A little later. The new time frame now extends to the first half of 2026, a deliberately vague formulation that contrasts with the initial precision. Valve emphasizes that it maintains its goal of distributing the three products within that period, but warns about the volatility of the scenario: they need to establish prices and dates that they can announce with confidence, aware of how quickly circumstances can change. The RAM crisis. The problem affects the entire technology industry. Memory manufacturers have experienced a unprecedented price increase: according to data from the component market, the cost of RAM modules has multiplied by three or even four from the beginning of 2026. This escalation responds to a strategic reorientation of the major producers such as SamsungSK Hynix and Micron, which prioritize the manufacture of high-performance memory for artificial intelligence servers, a segment that offers higher profit margins. It was seen coming. Already in November, when Valve presented its hardware, the warning signs were evident. By then, the company recognized that setting prices was complex because “the market is a little strange” and “memory prices are going up as we speak.” What seemed like temporary turbulence has been consolidated as a structural trend. It is a crisis that evokes the semiconductor shortage that shook the industry between 2020 and 2022, causing delays in the launch of consoles and widespread price increases in graphics cards. The current phenomenon presents, however, a peculiarity: it is not about interruptions in the supply chain, but rather a deliberate decision by manufacturers to redirect productive capacity towards the lucrative AI market, leaving the gaming industry in the background. What is known about the machine’s hardware. The Steam Machine, the star product of this trilogy, will be powered by an AMD processor, as confirmed by the semiconductor company’s CEO, Lisa Su, during the presentation of quarterly results: “From a product perspective, Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year.” That statement, which sounded reassuring then, now takes on an ironic tone: the hardware is ready, but the economic context is not. During previous sessions with specialized media, the company indicated that the Steam Machine would be placed “close to the entry level of the PC space”, a formulation that suggested that it would compete directly with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in terms of price, rather than with high-end PC configurations. This approach clashes head-on with the current reality of the components market: competing with consoles means achieving very tight margins in a closed ecosystem where Sony and Microsoft can assume initial losses. Valve lacks that flexibility, and the increase in memory and storage costs threatens to place its products in a price range that would distance them from the average consumer. In Xataka | Panic of a ridiculous death among RAM manufacturers: they fear that technology companies will “monopolize” and they are already putting controls

the Ukrainian drone that stopped Russia for six weeks with a machine gun and not a single human soldier

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On the Ukrainian front, where every meter conquered or defended is paid for with a human cost that is increasingly difficult to assume, ingenuity is has become a resource as valuable as ammunition. In this context of extreme wear and constant adaptation, some units are experimenting with little visible solutions that, without attracting attention, are beginning to change the way a battle line is held. When there are no soldiers left. In a war marked by a shortage of infantry and the extreme lethality of maintaining forward positions, Ukraine has begun to test a solution that until recently belonged to military science fiction: leaving the front in machine hands. During 45 consecutive daysa Ukrainian unit maintained front-line sectors without direct human presence, entrusting the defense to a single land vehicle unmanned, a bet that summarizes the crude logic of the current conflict: if something can receive enemy fire, it better not bleed. The doctrine. The experience was reported by the NC-13 Strike Company, integrated into the Third Corps of the Ukrainian Army, a unit created specifically to operate unmanned ground vehicles. Its commander, Mykola “Makar” Zinkevych, explained that the idea was radically simple: “robots don’t bleed,” and the ground drone was the only element present in the position, carrying out constant suppressive fire missions to deter Russian advances and force the enemy to confront a defense that could not be psychologically worn down or eliminated with human casualties. The droid TW 12.7. The system used was the Droid TW 12.7developed by the Ukrainian company DevDroida small tracked vehicle armed with a heavy machine gun M2 Browning .50 caliber. Far from being an isolated prototype, the drone was displaced between different positions at the request of local command posts, acting as a mobile punishment platform that turned each attempted Russian advance into a costly and risky operation. The Droid TW 12.7 Wear and tear… also for machines. Although the robot could remain in place for days, it needed withdraw every 48 hours for maintenance, resupply of ammunition and recharging of batteries, tasks carried out by a team located several kilometers from the front. The process, initially four hours, is reduced by half thanks to the purchase of additional batteries paid for by the soldiers themselves, a detail that illustrates the extent to which the Ukrainian war continues to depend on local initiatives and improvised financing even when talking about advanced technology. Limited autonomy. DevDroid affirms that the Droid TW 12.7 can operate at distances of up to 15 miles and has artificial intelligence-assisted navigation functions, although it is unclear to what extent it can act autonomously in combat. Even so, the simple fact that a single UGV has held positions for six weeks demonstrates that the value of these systems lies not only in their sophistication, but in their ability to replace human bodies in tasks where survival is minimal. From experiment to military doctrine. After this experience, the Zinkevych unit plans to expand the use of UGVs in both defensive and offensive missions, relying on new variants equipped with grenade launchers already approved for official use. The demand, recognizeis very high, but so are the costs, to the point that development continues to be partially financed through crowdfunding campaigns. The future of the front. If you like, the case Droid TW 12.7 It is not just a technological anecdote, but a sign of where to go war is headed modern in Ukraine: a battlefield where every meter can be defended with sensors, steel and algorithms instead of flesh and blood, and where the strategic value of a soldier begins to also be measured by his ability not to be physically there. Image | Tank Bureau In Xataka | Russia has reminded the planet that the war in Ukraine is a ticking bomb. And for this he has pressed a nuclear button: Oreshnik In Xataka | Ukraine has become an animal slaughterhouse: Russian soldiers appear with horses and drones blow them up

Five ideal accessories to get the most out of your super-automatic coffee machine

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If you have already changed to one super automatic coffee makerLeaving your capsule or Italian coffee maker behind, you can maximize it and make a good cup of coffee. Below we offer you a selection with some accessories What can you buy for yourself? new coffee maker and they will be very useful to you. silicone mat If there is a cheap accessory for your super-automatic coffee maker that can come in handy, it is this one. silicone mat. At first glance, it may seem like a very simple element, but it is very useful, mainly to dampen the vibration of the coffee maker. But this cheap accessory is not the only thing for this. Another of its functions is to protect the kitchen counter from coffee stains, for example. It is easily cleaned and the measurements of this mat are 46 x 28 cm. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Purivita Descaler Although it is true that the vast majority of super-automatic coffee machine models come with automatic cleaning programsthis product can be very useful for you. It’s about this liquid Purivita descaler of 500 ml. Is Compatible with all brands of coffee makers on the marketboth capsules, filter, espresso and super-automatic. It is very easy to use and if there is something that this descaler stands out for, it is because it has a color indicator integrated into the liquid. PURIVITA® Universal Descaler for Coffee Machines (500 ml) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Set of 23 Y-Step coffee accessories Although the first two accessories that we have presented to you were designed more for the maintenance of the coffee maker, this one set of 23 Y-Step accessories is ideal for make the best cup of coffeecomparable to one in any cafeteria. As we have already indicated, it comes with 23 accessories to surprise everyone with the best coffee at home. Comes with a 51mm coffee tamper (with mat), barista towel, coffee stirring spoon, pen latte artmilk frothing jug and 16 decorative stencils. All accessories are made of wood and stainless steel. Y-Step Set of 23 Coffee Tampers The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pack of four barista brushes Although super-automatic coffee makers are designed so that there is not much left coffee powder in filtersit is always inevitable that some remainder remains. Therefore, a good accessory for the coffee maker can be this pack of four barista brushes. Thanks to this pack of brushes you can avoid the accumulation of dust (and subsequent problems in your coffee maker). Thanks to them you will be able to eliminate dust without damaging any part of your coffee makerenjoying the full body, aroma and flavor of the coffee you prepare for much longer. 4 Piece Barista Brushes The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Coffee Tampering Station If you already want to become a coffee expert and take the barista experience to the highest level, this coffee tampering station It’s the one you need. It is a 3 in 1 station and is made of woodthus combining perfectly in any kitchen. This is a very stable and durable station, which does not crack or deform easily. Has five custom holeswhich allow you to place 51 to 54 mm filter holders, as well as cleaning brushes and coffee spoons. After use, it is easily cleaned with a damp cloth and it is recommended to keep it in a dry and ventilated place. Fleymu Coffee Tampering Station 51|54 mm 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 | Freepik, Yolococa, Purivita, Y-Step, Bztzhm and Fleymu In Xataka Selection | Best power banks to charge your mobile phone: which one to buy and recommended external batteries In Xataka | Fast chargers for your mobile phone or tablet: best models to buy for their power and safety

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