machine

We thought this bug was a pig. Now we know that it was two meters tall, weighed a thousand kilos and was a killing machine related to whales.

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Almost 200 years ago, a paleontologist found some completely improbable bones. They thought about it a thousand times, tried to find some sense in it; but everything ended in the same delirious image: that of a huge pig with the capacity to destroy everything in front of it. And that’s what we called him for decades: the ‘pig from hell’. What we have just discovered, two centuries later, is that we know almost nothing about them. Now they are even more terrible. But what really is a ‘hell pig’? It is the popular nickname by which entelodonts are known; an extinct family of large prehistoric mammals that lived about 30 million years ago. The bug was described for the first time in the 1840sbut it was in the early 20th century that paleontologists assumed it was closely related to pigs or peccaries. It was not something irrational: on a strictly physical level, entelodonts looked very similar to modern-day pigs. Two meters tall, weighing more than a thousand kilos and jaws capable of crushing bones, but pigs nonetheless. With “crushing bones” we are falling short. Recently, a team from Vanderbilt University could examine in detail the teeth of these animals and, thanks to three-dimensional models of dental microwear, they have managed to turn around everything we thought we knew about the role of these animals in North American ecosystems 30 million years ago. Your conclusions they leave no room for doubt: “the largest specimens were capable of crushing bones with an efficiency similar to or even greater than that of lions and hyenas.” Luckily, they weren’t very smart; And, according to the researchers, “it has a brain-body relationship similar to that of reptiles, so they were very unintelligent creatures.” A complex story. At first, experts thought that this monstrous animal was a born hunter. Then, partly because of this familiarity with pigs, they came to the conclusion that they were omnivorous animals, capable of eating small animals and carrion. Now, thanks to this team, we know that they were most likely at the top of the food chain of their ecosystems. This, in fact, raises the possibility that different species (or subspecies) occupied different ecological niches. However, there are curious things. To begin with, entelodonts have nothing to do with pigs. In fact, they are closer to whales and hippos than anything else. But, above all, it shows us the difficulties we continue to have in understanding our past. Little by little, we are understanding that if our way of looking at the past conditions the futureour ability to understand what the world was like 30 million years ago will radically change many things we think we are. And the best thing is that, even though I get melancholic and retrospective, everything we know makes it clear that the “pig from hell” is more infernal than ever. Image | Carnegie Museum of Natural History In Xataka | The deaths of cows, reindeer or rhinos are not a mystery: they are the consequences of a curse, that of “large animals”

There are people making all kinds of theories to know the price of the Steam Machine. And no one is very optimistic

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The Valve’s Steam Machine has been received as a manna for the somewhat disastrous hardware landscape of the industry, with Switch 2 turned into a completely isolated system and aimed at its circle of consumers and Sony and Microsoft giving the impression of being somewhat lost in a scenario that is little or nothing exciting. In these comes Valve, which has already turned the concept of the portable PC upside down with its Steam Deckand now proposes a consolidated PC, completely oriented to work with Steam and ready to steal space from traditional consoles. Of course, there is a question that no one dares to answer completely: and the price? There are more and more theories. Not at losses. Valve has discarded compete in price with traditional consoles. The company confirmed that its new Steam Machine, scheduled for early 2026, will not follow the subsidized pricing model that characterizes PlayStation and Xbox. This means, as explained by one of the engineers responsible for the design of the machine, Pierre-Loup Griffais, that the device will align with “what would be expected from the current PC market”, explicitly rejecting the idea of ​​selling at a loss to expand market share and be more attractive to the general public. Frustrated expectations. The gaming community did its calculations: one of the most widespread bets said that Valve would take advantage of its 30% commission for each game sold on Steam to offer affordable hardware. These illusions have had to be qualified: youtuber Linus Sebastian revealed on his WAN Show that when he was in a meeting with Valve itself and suggested a price of $500, “no one confirmed anything, but the energy in the room completely changed.” That is, the youtuber thinks that Valve’s intentions point to a higher price. The current projections They place the Steam Machine between $750 and $900, very far from the $549 for the standard PlayStation 5 or the $599 for the Xbox Series X. Even the base model, cheaper and with 512GB, could exceed $600. Disappointing precedents. The original Steam Machines, launched in November 2015 after two years of delay, They barely reached 400,000 units sold throughout its commercial existence. The concept shipwrecked for multiple reasons: SteamOS ran on Linux, drastically limiting the catalog of compatible games; the product lacked a defined identity (it was, at the same time, too rigid for PC users and excessively complex for console consumers); and the proliferation of manufacturers led to a chaotic range of prices, from $499 to $1,500. In 2018, Valve quietly deleted any mention of the product from its store. How the subsidized price works… Yes, Valve has already said that it will not apply. But an approach is useful to understand what options Valve has on the table. The console industry traditionally operates through a model of hardware sold at a loss, which is recovered through the console business ecosystem. For exampleMicrosoft sold the Xbox 360 with a deficit of $125 per unit, while Sony absorbed losses of $240 to $300 with each PlayStation 3. The economic recovery It is obtained later, from commissions usually of 30% on each game sold, from subscription services and from official accessories. Microsoft publicly acknowledged in 2021 that each Xbox was still trading at a loss. The component crisis. But there is another reason to expect a high price for the Steam Machine, and that is that the rise of artificial intelligence has unleashed an unprecedented crisis in the memory market. There is data which speak of year-on-year increases of 171.8% in DRAM prices. Samsung and SK Hynix satisfy only 70% of orders, prioritizing HBM memories for AI data centers. AND are predicted serious shortfalls in DRAM, NAND Flash and hard drives during 2026, in a crisis which can last until 2029. The conspiracy of prices. The combination of unsubsidized hardware and expensive components puts the Steam Machine in an ambiguous position. Valve now has unthinkable advantages in 2015yes: in-house manufacturing, SteamOS refined thanks to the commercial success of Steam Deck, and a much broader compatible library. However, some analysts They warn that success will depend largely on the final price. Without the possibility of competing economically with traditional consoles, the device could remain half-hearted in commercial terms.

The first autonomous robot waiter in China served me. It’s nothing more than a glorified vending machine

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A few weeks ago I was in Beijing. I went to take photos with a preliminary version of the Realme GT8 Probut there was time to walk around there. I was hoping to find things that would surprise me, like the external batteries that are in every corner of the citybut I came across something unexpected: the Galbot G1. It is a humanoid robot very different from the rest of humanoid robots. Because? Because this is already working. And not in a warehouse or factorylike so many others, but in a much more demanding position: facing the public. He is tending a drinks stand in a very large shopping center. It does this without any human intervention. And… the waiters can rest easy. The robot that serves you bottles of water Before we get into the robot, let’s go with some context. Galbot is another of the many Chinese companies that They are researching robotics. They are focusing not so much on the moving parts as on the ‘brain’ of these robots: the language models connected with a vision system that allows the robot to manipulate objects in a general way. This means you can break away from pre-programmed routines to react in real time. Your brain is powered by hardware NVIDIA Jetson Thorwhich is what allows you to execute that LLM in real time, and has two keys: Navigate without the need for markers on the ground. It does not do it with legs, but with a base that gives it less flexibility, but greater autonomy and stability. Your system allows you to perceive what is around you, “understand” it, and react based on that perception. In short: thousands and thousands of dollars invested in creating a robot with one objective: serving me a bottle of water. Image | Xataka When we stumbled upon the stall, it was by chance. There was no one ordering, all the rows of bottles were intact and it was even strange. But since science doesn’t do itself, I approached, determined to buy the cheapest bottle of flavored water available to do the test. The process couldn’t be simpler: You choose product. You pay with AliPay/WeChat. The robot does its thing. You leave. The problem is that I may be defining the work of a robot that has cost a fortune, but I may also be describing the process of purchasing from a Goya vending machine. There are two differences: the robot is cooler… and it takes much longer. How much? Here it is: As a bartender, meh. In a warehouse it makes sense The truth is that my feeling was strange and the first thing I thought was “the waiters can rest assured because this is not a threat.” But I also wondered to what extent the Galbot G1 that had served me was nothing more than a proof of concept in the real world and the company’s intentions are different. And, indeed. All that technology and reasoning in real time, with perception of physical space thanks to its numerous cameras and sensors located in various parts of the body, is not there to serve me bottles of a few cents, but to carry out work in environments in which it can really be useful: logistics. Because facing acrobaticsthis G1 (because the Unitree is also a G1) is committed to demonstrating its viability in real commercial uses today. One is “light” hospitality, such as the kiosk where I bought, but also logistics in controlled spaces in the last mile. Applications targeted by Galbot It is the video demonstration just above these lines, where we see the adaptability of the Galbot when they move the boxes. The response time in which it analyzes the situation is similar to the one I saw when I ordered my little bottle, and those sales stands in some areas of China are nothing more than training, or that’s what I get the feeling, for its artificial intelligence model. The queue that was set up just when I ordered. Before it was empty. Image | Xataka For now, curiosity, a Furbyan attraction, but in certain environments, it can be very useful. As a machine vendingNo, although it attracts a lot of attention, and a good queue formed not to buy… but to see how he bought. Images | Xataka In Xataka | A robot called “Sardinator” circulated through the streets of Malaga promoting a beach bar. Until the police arrived

The enormous Mayrit tunnel boring machine on Metro L11 is already in Madrid. Now comes the real challenge: putting it together piece by piece

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In Madrid there are already the pieces of one of the largest machines that will work in the city’s underground in the coming years. It is about Mayritthe EPB tunnel boring machine 98 meters long and 1,500 tons in weight whose transport started in Germany, continued along the Rhine to Rotterdam and continued by boat to the port of Santander. After that journey, a special convoy has completed more than 450 kilometers by road to take its modules to the future Comillas station, where it will prepare to excavate the new section of Line 11 between Plaza Elíptica and Conde de Casal. The work on which Mayrit will work is part of a broader intervention that the Community of Madrid describes in 2025 as the largest expansion of the Metro network in the last decade. Official data published in November put progress at 34% and maintain a budget of 518 million euros to complete the new section and the planned stations. The regional government maintains the year 2027 as a reference to close this phase of the project. Mayrit is already in Madrid: one hour left to convert its parts into a single operational machine When dealing with a machine of this size and complexity, each phase of the process requires precision that goes far beyond conventional engineering. Mayrit’s journey towards Spain began long before it appeared on the road: it started in Schwanau, the German town where Herrenknecht completed its manufacturing after about 20 months of work. There, more than a thousand kilometers from Madrid, the tunnel boring machine It was assembled for the first time in June 2025 to carry out initial verifications. This assembly showed the magnitude of the next step: converting the machine into a set of parts capable of traveling around Europe without risks. Disassembling it was not a quick procedure. For the next two months, Herrenknecht teams dedicated themselves to separating each module following a sequence calculated to the millimeter. The result was a set of sections ready to begin an international tour. The disembarkation in the port of Santander marked the beginning of the last stage of Mayrit’s journey, a phase that requires coordination very different from that of river and maritime transport. The pieces arrived distributed in separate shipments and were transferred to prepared platforms, a process that is carried out with specialized equipment to avoid any unexpected displacement. The organization of the road transfer incorporated common protocols in special transport, with large-tonnage vehicles escorted by technical teams in charge of checking clearances, turning radii and urban accesses. The authorities confirmed that the advance was carried out mainly at night to reduce interruptions and facilitate maneuvers in the most delicate sections of the route. The arrival in the Comillas area required a final deployment of personnel and machinery to accommodate each piece in the work area, where the assembly phase that will transform this set of modules into a single operational tunnel boring machine is already awaiting. The arrival of the pieces also marks the beginning of a phase that, according to forecasts distributed between June and November 2025, can extend until March 2026. Assembling a TBM requires joining modules in a strict order, connecting hydraulic and electrical systems, and performing tests that are concentrated between late January and February. It is a sequential process that is not resolved in a few days and that determines the date on which the machine will be able to start digging at the beginning of March. The official documentation describes Mayrit as an EPB machine adapted to the geotechnical characteristics of the layout. Its operation is based on maintaining a balance of pressures that prevents unwanted movements on the surface, especially relevant in urban environments. To sustain this process, shifts of specialists are involved who manage the control and evacuation systems of the excavated material. The expected performanceclose to 15 meters per day, will be decisive in setting the pace of mechanized advance. Comillas will be the point from which Mayrit will begin the mechanized sectionaccording to the forecasts that the Community of Madrid has been detailing since June 2025. From there it will advance to Conde de Casalwhile in parallel the manual excavation of about 700 meters towards Plaza Elíptica progresses, started in September with a performance of close to 50 meters per month. The beginning of the excavation will mark the jump between the preparatory work and the actual progress of the tunnel that will transform this section of Line 11. With each meter excavated, the planned layout will get closer to its final shape and will allow the progress of the project to be measured more clearly. It is a significant element within regional planning to reinforce mobility in one of the areas with the most demand on the network. Images | Community of Madrid In Xataka | Malaga has become a magnet for the most luxurious yachts in the world: the latest, that of the co-founder of Google

The PC had been gaining ground on consoles for years. Steam Machine is directly a meteorite to extinguish them

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What has been rumored around Valve for a long time has happened. No no ‘Half Life 3‘, but the return of Steam Machines. It was something that had been circulating for a while, but yesterday seemed like the day and Valve did not disappoint. They presented a new Steam Controller (with looks better than the first), the Steam Frame glasses and the cherry on top for many: its new Steam Machine. Its appearance is that of a Xbox Series Xbut flatter, and it is not only that it has all the external appearance of being a console, but that it aims to be the device that, finally, presents the PC as a serious threat to the console segment. Your argument? Which has the ease of use of a console, but also the versatility of a PC. We are not going to go into detail about its characteristics because we have already told everything there is to know about the inside of the Steam Machine and it is already estimated that its performance would be similar to that of a PS5. What I am going to do is theorize about why Valve’s new console can be the meteorite for consoles. And for Windows PCs. Now the Steam Machine can work. We have seen it on Steam Deck This thing about Steam Machines is nothing new. Not only the Steam Deck is a “Steam machine”, but because Steam Machines already existed a decade ago. At the end of 2013, Valve presented Steam OSa hybrid system between Linux and Steam focused on video games. It was green, but they wanted it to be the heart of the, also recently presentedSteam Machines. In their day, these first machines They were nothing more than pre-assembled computers thanks to the Valve partnership with brands such as Dell, Asus, Gigabyte or AlienWare. They had Steam OSthey were powerful, the hardware could be upgraded and… they didn’t make sense. Its high price, that at the time ‘gaming’ in Linux was not so developed and that to buy a PC like this, you would assemble one piece by piece, meant that Steam Machines did not take off. The fronts will be customizable In fact, all Steam hardware stumbled, from computers to the curious Steam Controller, to a steam link that was liquidated on Steam next to the command. It didn’t catch on, but Valve continued developing the idea and things were different with the Steam Deck. Following the Switch model, the Steam Deck was portable, but it could also output images to a television. It runs the games very well, it has generated a great community and it does not have Windows, but Linux and Steam OS have been its great strength. What didn’t work a decade ago works now thanks to Steam putting a lot of effort into making everything playable on the Deck: from native Linux games to Windows games that they run perfectly with something called Proton. Broadly speaking, it is a “translator” of Windows instructions so that Linux understands them and, thus, can run its games. Plus, everything is easy, intuitive, and if you just want to play, you don’t have to do weird things with the Deck. Bringing that concept from a laptop to a desktop PC was the natural step, and the new Steam Machine has something that the previous ones didn’t have. absolute support from Valve. The ecosystem That is, the company wanted the previous ones to work, but Steam OS was not mature nor did they have control over what the hardware companies did. The new Steam Machine IS from Steam, and that means that they have optimized software and hardware to make it work perfectly. It is something similar to what Apple does or what Sony and Microsoft do with AMD– PC-like components, but tweaked and tuned to meet your console needs. It seems that Valve is going with everything, which is what it did not do 10 years ago Valve itself has confirmed that they are currently fine-tuning some components, such as the GPU, with AMD. The TDP of the discrete GPU is 100W, but they have confessed who are working in a range between 100 and 130 together with the hardware company. That total control was something they didn’t have in the past, and something that didn’t happen years ago was that the components lasted as long. Like it more or less, the arrival of artificial intelligence tools in video games is showing that obsolete hardware (like the Steam Deck) can stay fresh thanks to image reconstruction tools and frame generation. When the Steam Machine arrives in early 2026your hardware will not be cutting edge (in fact, the GPU is based on RDNA3not in RDNA 4), but those AI tools are what gives valve confidence that everything will run smoothly. 4K60 thanks to FSR. Point directly to the living room It is exactly the same philosophy as a console: Closed hardware. Components adjusted by the system designer. Operating system optimized for those components. Direct support from the company that releases the hardware. And, as I said, Valve now has a reputation for supporting gaming hardware, something it has been demonstrating for years with the Steam Deck. The Steam Machine is a threat to consoles, Xbox and… the PC That’s why a Steam Machine that didn’t work in 2015 can work in 2026but there is something else: the market itself. Although consoles continue to have a high share (Sony has confirmed that a PS5 that is having a fairly weak generation in launches It has already sold more than 80 million units), things are very different now. No more big exclusives: everything comes out on PC. Excluding a Nintendo that, with nintendo switch 2 and its intellectual properties, it goes at its own pace, of course. Xbox launches its games directly on computers and consoles (in fact, it is already more third than first, becoming a heavyweight within PlayStation’s own video games) and Sony has been releasing its … Read more

New Steam Machine, features, price and technical sheet

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If you were thinking about buying a home console and were hesitating between PlayStation 5 or one Xbox Series X|Sa new player has just entered the game. Valve has presented the Steam Machinea proposal that aims high and comes with enough arguments to shake up the market. The company led by Gabe Newell has also announced a new virtual reality headset, the Steam Frameand an updated version of the Steam Controller. All of this reinforces the feeling that Valve wants to once again bet heavily on hardware and regain the prominence it had with the Steam Deck. Stam Machine technical sheet Stam Machine CPU AMD Zen 4 6 cores 12 threads Up to 4.8 GHz TDP: 30W GPU AMD RDNA3, 28 graphics cores Up to 2.45 GHz sustained TDP: 110W Support for 4K, 60 FPS gaming with FSR Ray tracing RAM memory 16GB DDR5 VRAM memory 8GB GDDR6 Storage 512GB (SSD) 2TB (SSD) Expandable via microSD Connectivity Ethernet 1Gbps WiFi 6E (2×2) USB-C 10Gbps (3.2 Gen 2) 4× USB-A ports (2× USB 3 front, 2× USB 2 rear) Operating system Steam OS Others Compatibility with third-party controllers Decorative LED light Price Unannounced Steam Machine: Valve’s great re-entry into the field of consoles Although Valve has not yet revealed the price and has only announced that its launch will take place “early 2026”, yes he has shared a good part of the specifications. The Steam Machine will come in two versions: one with 512 GB of storage and another with 2 TB, both expandable using cards microSD. It can be purchased separately or in a package with the new Steam Controller. This controller has a curious design, with the joysticks in an unusual position that invites you to try it to check its ergonomics. In any case, compatibility with other controllers – such as those for Xbox or PlayStation – is guaranteed. Inside, the console mounts a AMD Zen 4 processor with six cores and twelve threads, capable of reaching 4.8 GHz and with a TDP of 30 W. The graphics part is provided by an AMD RDNA3 GPU with 28 computing units, maximum sustained frequency of 2.45 GHz and a TDP of 110 W. On paper, the promise is clear: games in 4K and 60 FPS with FSR technology. Valve claims that the Steam Machine is “six times more powerful than the Steam Deck.” An ambitious statement, but one that makes sense if we think about the limits that the portable console already shows in some recent titles. This new machine seeks to offer a more fluid, more stable gaming experience and, above all, closer to that of a traditional desktop console. If we talk about memory, it will have 16 GB of DDR5 RAM and 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM. For now there is no data on bandwidth, but there is data on connectivity: one port HDMI 2.0one USB-C and four USB-A (two front and two rear). The operating system chosen is SteamOS, as expected. Valve has maintained its active development since the times of the first Steam Machines, that project that didn’t take offbut which served as the basis for the subsequent success of the Steam Deck. Users will be able to access thousands of games from the SteamOS catalog (a new compatibility badge will be enabled) and even to cloud gaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming. However, some titles will remain absent, such as ‘GTA 6’, which will not be available at launch and whose future arrival is still uncertain. In any case, the Steam Machine is, in essence, a PC. So we can, for example, install another operating system like Windows to expand its possibilities. For now, there is only wait for Valve to confirm prices and specific dates launch to see if the Steam Machine manages to make its way among giants like Sony and Microsoft. Images | Valve In Xataka | ‘GTA 6’ seems invincible, but perhaps so much delay will end up taking its toll

The largest Primark store in Spain is a money-making machine. It is so profitable that even Amancio Ortega makes money with it

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The Primark flagship store on Madrid’s Gran Vía is not only a place to buy cheap clothes, but it has become a monument in the city, both for its size and for the historic building that houses it. The flagship store of the Irish clothing brand has just completed its tenth anniversary active and leaves us with some really interesting figures and data. One of the most curious facts is who he is. really your home. It’s almost a cosmic joke. A historical and popular monument. According to data Provided by the brand itself, the Primark store on Gran Vía has a total area of ​​12,500 square meters, making it the largest of the group in Spain and possibly one of the largest in the world. With more than five million visitors a year, it is one of the most visited commercial spaces in Spain and a key point of Madrid commerce. It is located in the Paris Building, an emblematic building designed in 1924, notable not only for its architecture, but for its artistic decoration, represented by its majestic imperial staircase and its impressive glass dome. On their roofs it rages an epic battle between figures from Greek mythology: Diana the Huntress observes from the building opposite the fight to the death between the Phoenix sent by Zeus to punish Endymion, Diana’s lover. He testimony of that fight It is reflected in the form of two lost arrows of Diana, which from the sidewalk welcome visitors at the main entrance of the store. This combination of history, architecture and grandeur makes the store an authentic “monument” on Madrid’s Gran Vía. Official data and operating figures. According to the study data carried out by the consulting firm AFI on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the storearound 1,000 people of 28 nationalities work there, generating 500 indirect jobs through suppliers and additional services. At an economic level, the store contributed 83 million euros in 2024 to the economy as a whole, of which 42 million euros corresponded to taxes and social contributions. To understand the economic dimension of this economic mastodon, it is enough to say that Primark’s enormous space contributes more than 10 million euros annually to the local Gross Domestic Product through its operations alone. The “unofficial data.” Jaime PlaCEO of SUOP, has started a series of videos in the TikTok profile of the teleco, which details data and figures of emblematic buildings such as the Bernabéu, the Madrid airport or, of course, the Primark megastore. Between data and estimates from the video that the businessman dedicates to this location, it is noted that the salaries of the employees who work in the store amount to approximately 2 million euros, while cleaning, security and insurance services represent a monthly expense of 100,000 euros. Added to this are 20,000 euros per month in electricity and water supplies. All this, together with the merchandise on display on its shelves adds up to an approximate cost of 11.7 million per month. The “cosmic joke”: rent. According to the data provided by Pla, among these monthly expenses, 1.8 million euros are allocated to pay the rent for the building. This point is especially striking because the building where the store is located is owned by Amancio Ortega. It is ironic that the founder from Inditex, is collecting rent of the most important store of its main rival in the sector of retail textile. Amancio Ortega, through Pontegadea, bought the Paris Building to Drago Real Estate Partners in 2015, just before the store opened to the public. It is not known exactly how much Pontegadea paid for him, but the starting price of the operation was 400 million euros. Pontegadea: the “premium” landlord. Amancio Ortega founded Pontegadea with the intention of turning into profitable investments the dividends that its founder receives each year for 59.294% of Inditex shares. with those billionaire annual dividendsPontegadea has become Amancio Ortega’s second empire Thanks to your strategic real estate investmentsOrtega has become in the home from companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Spotify and, as if it were a cosmic joke, also from Primark, charging a millionaire rent to the main rival of the company that made him a millionaire. In Xataka | In his efforts to diversify investments, Amancio Ortega takes a new twist: becoming a port authority Image | Primark, GTRES

A 1,500-ton tunnel boring machine is already traveling to Madrid to drill the new Line 11

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“Notify when you leave and when you arrive” Mayrit has already done the first. The second will be in more or less a month when all the pieces are already on Spanish soil. Mayrit is not the youngest son of a family. Mayrit has many fathers and mothers. Many. Those necessary to give life to a 1,500 ton tunnel boring machine. That tunnel boring machine that will directly expand line 11 of the Madrid Metro. A line that, until now, has been excavated with much more traditional means and that of course will take a huge leap forward in its future projection with this gigantic and enormous artifact. What’s coming, what’s coming Connecting Cuatro Vientos, southwest of the capital, with Valedebebas, northeast of it, Line 11 wants to become in one of those star connections in Madrid. Tracing a diagonal, the intention is to convert what is currently just seven stations into one of Madrid’s great corridors. The qualitative and quantitative leap in the progress of the works will be made by Mayrit. This gigantic tunnel boring machine weighs 1,500 tons and is 98 meters long. It is expected that each day about 15 meters can be advanced on the land, key in a line that will have stations 33 meters below ground from Madrid. My colleague Javier Márquez explained a few months ago that the transfer is not easy. The machine is built by Herrenknecht AGa German company that has assembled the entire gigantic puzzle of pieces, screws and components in its country. Once assembled, the machine is cut into pieces to be sent to our country. Of course, “it won’t be quick or easy,” as my partner explained. Now we know that the powerful tunnel boring machine has already set out on its way to Spain. It comes by land and sea. And the bulk of its pieces will arrive in Santander by boat where they will board land transport to reach the capital. Another good package of these pieces will arrive at the port of Valencia, originating in Venice. Map of the new Line 11 Once the pieces arrive, they must be transported to Carabanchel. There, next to Plaza Elpítica, this monster will drill into the ground at a rate of 500 meters per month to connect with Conde de Casal, about six kilometers from the point of origin. This stage is considered one of the most problematic and complex. Until now, the connection between Parque de Comillas (which will have a new station) and Plaza Elíptica is being done by hand. However, the transfer and assembly is so delicate and complex that it will not be until March 2026 when everything is expected to be ready in the Madrid neighborhood to begin drilling the ground. The system is so complex because the tunnel boring machine is not only responsible for excavating the earth and disposing of what is found there. While working advancing into the subsoil, an auger transports the excavated material with a conveyor belt. This material can be washed if it encounters mud but it can also affect the stability of the ground with injections of bentonite, water or foam. All while sensors control the pressure the machine experiences to control how fast it can work. If everything happens according to the planned deadlines, the last piece from Mayrit should arrive in December and, as we said, it is not expected to come into operation until March 2026. For now, it’s time to pull the shovel and pneumatic hammer. Photo | Madrid Metro In Xataka | Faced with daily collapses, the Madrid Metro could increase frequencies or put in “pushers.” He has chosen the second

the refrigerator and the washing machine will be the following

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Xiaomi has entered a new phase of his conquest plan: start bringing the devices that launched in Chinabut never reached the West. The company has just celebrated a presentation event in which it has shown a lot of devices. The absolute protagonists are the new Xiaomi 15t and Xiaomi 15t Proalso a new version of Xiaomi Watch S4of the Smart Band 10 and some headphones. It was “only” a leg of the presentation. The other has had the home as the protagonist. New aspiring robotsa new camera and the Xiaomi TV S Pro Mini Lednews of products that the brand already launched in Europe. The great novelty comes from the hand of The appliances. Because, After notifying a few months ago And look at the leg with the air conditioning, Xiaomi will finally launch a washing machine and a refrigerator in our territory. This is the Mijia Refrigerator Cross Door and the Mijia Front Load Washer Dryer Pro washing. And Spain will be the spearhead for Xiaomi. The cold and wifi cold refrigerator A few months ago, coinciding with the arrival of heat, Xiaomi launched an advance in the Spanish market: the MIJIA AIR CONDITIONER PRO ECO. In an interview, Borja Gómez Carrillo, Country Manager of Xiaomi Iberia, confirmed that this final stretch of 2025 The washing machine and the refrigerator would reach our market. They were defining what models they brought (because in China, the fan is quite wide), but we already have the details. Starting with the refrigerator, The Mijia Refrigerator Cross Door It is a four -door combi model (two for the refrigerator and two for the freezer). Among its technical characteristics linked to a “life” refrigerator, we find: Double investor with a guarantee of 10 years. 90º opening doors. Total capacity of 502 liters. External touch screen for settings. Technology to suppress bacteria. Temperature control by areas that go from -1º to 5th. Dimensions of 852 x 600 x 1.912 cm and a weight of 85 kilos The key, beyond these specifications, is that it has WiFi. Yeah, It is not something so weird today And there are already several models in the market that have connection to send us notices or make a remote diagnosis, but the strength of this product is that it is connected to Xiaomi Home. We will enter this later, but what we can expect is the logical thing of a refrigerator connected to the Internet: remote temperature adjustment, change cooling mode (superfrío, super -gelding or automatic), receive alerts if something goes wrong (for example, if the door does not close well) and we can also update it and even match it with Alexa and Google Asistant To change the temperature to the flight. Washing machine to ia On the other hand, we have the Mijia Front Load Washer Dryer Pro. It is a sink whose main characteristics are as follows: 525 millimeter door diameter. Dimensions of 59.8 x 57 x 85 cm. Centrifuged at 1,400 rpm. Capacity in its washing machine: 9 kg. Capacity in its dryer function: 6 kg. Motor with direct traction and 12 years warranty Xiaomi emphasizes that it is 25% more efficient than others in class A, has rapid 12 -minute washing programs, self -limited systems and bacteria elimination (99.99% of them). But, as in the case of the refrigerator, it is in the intelligent functions where it stands out. It is also connected to Xiaomi Home And it can be updated, but perhaps the most comfortable thing is that we can customize the programs directly from the mobile instead of from the front panel of the device. To this connection is added artificial intelligence to detect the ideal temperature for drying depending on the tissues we have involved and a system that dose the detergent and softener depending on the weight to spend less product. The ecosystem is the key. And Apple knows it well Returning to our interview with Borja, he told us that What they are looking for is to expand the so -called “ecosystem”. That is where all products that are not tablets or smartphones enter, and for this, Xiaomi has a strategy that they baptized as human x car x home that aims to a total connectivity between All the legs of that ecosystem. In China it is very developed (and more With the car for a few months), But little by little they bring those devices to make more sense to an ecosystem that felt something lame only with mobile phones, cameras, vacuum robot or toothbrush. It is also a way to reinforce all aspects of the brand, obviously. Apple users know him well. They may arrive at the brand for the iPhone, and then they acquired a Mac, Airpods or a Apple Watch. Now maybe an Android mobile seem better, but if they use the airpods or the Apple Watch, they are “tied” to that ecosystem by mere comfort. The point is that Xiaomi is betting on implanting in the West something similar to what they have in Chinaseeking that, for comfort, the user acquires devices of the same brand because it is easier to control them all with an app than to fill the house with different brands, each with their own control application. Each of those devices reinforces others and makes the ‘switching cost’, or the cost of changing, more complicated. There is the meaning (beyond the comfort of controlling the washing machine with the mobile) that traditional appliances are under the umbrella of the same platform. “Coming Soon”, although Spain will be a pioneer Now, beyond the characteristics and that reinforcement to the ecosystem, little we can say both of the refrigerator and the Xiaomi washing machine. We do know that Spain, as happened with the air conditioning, will be the advance of these releases at European level, but when we look for details about the launch, we only have a ‘Coming Soon’. The same with the price. The Chinese company must continue to value … Read more

The human brain works as a predictive machine. The question is if a Cyborg future awaits us: 1×22 crossover

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We have a new episode of Crossover, the 1×22, and attentive because this time the topic is so interesting and has given so much that we have dedicated the entire program. Thus, this time we have been able to interview the Dr. José Sánchezneuroscientific and disseminator, which investigates How the brain worksemotions and Intelligence. In this interview of just over an hour Sánchez makes us an introduction to his experience with this area and then start with a unique idea: that the brain is a predictive machine. It also speaks to us, of course, artificial intelligence – the generative is of course A predictive machine– And with human emotions, but then the thing gets interesting. And he does it because with him we chat of the impact, present and Neuralink future and brain chips of other rivals. How will that impact our future? Will we end up being something like Cyborgs? We do not know, but before that happens, there is another debate we are talking about: that of social relationships and how these advances can affect mental health. Without a doubt, a spectacular episode that we hope you enjoy as much as we have enjoyed seeing it. Do not hesitate to comment, please, both here and in the YouTube channel itself. On YouTube | Crossover

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