A viral message claims that “AIs can access group messages” on WhatsApp. It’s a manual hoax

There are many WhatsApp users You are receiving a disturbing message. It indicates that “if we do not activate an advanced privacy option, AIs can access group messages, see phone numbers and even obtain personal information from the mobile phone… even in private chats.” The message is nothing more than a hoax that was already spread in the summer and that uses WhatsApp again as a means of dissemination. We explain why. manual hoax. According to this hoax, the chats you have on your WhatsApp could be at the mercy of tools like Meta AIthe chatbot that Meta integrated into WhatsApp some time ago. That would imply that they could read everything you write and write to you if you don’t take that immediate action. Although the notice may originate with good intentions, it is false: there is no invasion of privacy. Or at least, none that we didn’t already know. WhatsApp message that is being spread and that is nothing more than a hoax. Advanced chat privacy. The function “Advanced chat privacy” was presented by Meta months ago and its objective was none other than to offer more control over the dissemination of content shared in a conversation. The idea is to be able to limit the ability of group participants when redistributing messages and multimedia files. Specifically, and as They already pointed out in Genbeta a few months ago: Prevent messages from being shared in other chats, preventing you from using the forwarding option. Block automatic saving of media filessuch as photos or videos, in the users’ gallery. Disable the ability to use AI features within the chat, such as invoking Meta AI by typing its name. What does that option do then? Just the opposite of spying on you: it protects you more, in fact. Above all, other participants share things that you do not want to be shared. With this you can block group messages from being sent to other contacts (including chatbots), but you can also block Meta AI from being used within those specific chats. From reading your private messages, nothing. Goal AI, the chatbot integrated into WhatsAppcan’t see the private messages you’re sending with someone else. The only way this chatbot can access those messages is if you explicitly share that message with her. To do this you have two options: Share the message with AI: for example, by copying and pasting it into a conversation with Meta AI, ChatGPT or any other chatbot. Invoke Meta AI in the chat: if you write “@meta AI” in that private chat, you will make this chatbot able to access the messages of the chat in which it has been mentioned. WhatsApp’s AI only reads what you let it read. Precisely with the “Advanced chat privacy” option you can prevent the use of Meta AI from being invoked in those private chats (with another person or a group). If you do not do this, Meta AI will be able to access the messages in which you mention it or to which you give it access so that it can summarize them, for example. We continue to use end-to-end encryption. It is convenient to remember that when we use WhatsApp we do so with messages that are end-to-end encryption. Not even Meta (nor its AI) can read them, nor can they access or read group messages, including information such as phone numbers or personal information. Don’t worry. The conclusion is this: that viral message is nothing more than a textbook hoax, and everything it says is false. Meta’s AI is not and will not spy on you, and only accesses messages when you summon it. This AI cannot “spy on you alone”, enter your mobile phone through WhatsApp and steal your private chats or your phone number. What it will use to train its AI models—if you don’t prevent it— are your Facebook and Instagram postsbut of course, those are public. In Xataka | How to translate WhatsApp messages: converting them from any language to Spanish

“They replicated the movie’s message”

Few special effects designers have impacted both the world of cinema and him. If the eighties and nineties were aesthetically dominated by Industrial Light & Magic and the colorful and naive mastodon of the George Lucas company, The new century greeted a new generation of science fiction films and its effects. The flag bearer of that change was’Matrix‘And the impressive, even today impeccable digital tricks of John Gaeta. And although Gaeta went down in history for his revolutionary Bullet Time that allowed to capture scenes in a virtual space that could be digitally manipulable, a technique for which he won an Oscar to the best visual effects, his work was Beyond this foundational trilogyin films like ‘The curious case of Benjamin Button’ and ‘Avatar‘. He is one of the founders of Ilmxlab, a specialized Lucasfilm division in virtual reality and mixed reality, and we have had the opportunity to chat with him on all these issues during the Comic-with Malaga. Of course, we have no choice but to ask how you see His own role as absolute classic of the history of special effects. He tells us that “‘Matrix’ initiated a new chapter in the volumetric media: the real world was incorporated, including actors and characters, to a prototypic form of simulation.” But he did not understand it as a simulation, but as “a three -dimensional version of a real scene or moment.” And that fit the idea of ​​the film, where “we do not understand that we are already within the simulation.” That is, and there was greatness: the special effects took into account the argument and message of the film: if in the future the machines wanted to simulate the real world, they had to capture it visually and translate it: “we would have to capture the real world and translate it in some way to spatial media, computer graphics. And that was where we began to include the capture of actors.” Of course, technical difficulties began: “These things were like sculptures. They were not interactive or dynamic,” and had to create it from zero. “I think ‘Matrix’,” he concludes, “it was a catalyst event in the new medium form, a potential medium.” And therefore, sequences like that in which neo dodges the bullets are more than an exhibition of technical expertise: “That moment represents how your mind is imposed on matter, on Matrixthere is a certain self -realization. It is able to control the simulation that manipulated its reality, it is a decisive moment. And we needed to show something never seen, something supernatural, and that the viewer was witness. The future of effects When we ask about the future of special effects, it is very clear that they are in AI, something that is not surprising taking into account that it is currently immersed in the direction of Escape.aia platform that drives audiovisual narration with artificial intelligence. With it it intends to democratize the creation of content: “In the next ten years we will see the union of all media (from the cinema to other immersive such as virtual reality or video games) in a single multimodal medium thanks to AI.” What we are seeing now is just the beginning, “Once the generative AI is not as simplistic as it is currentlywhich is trained in two -dimensional passive media to simulate them. “What is that future, then?” When it begins to be much deeper when acquiring space intelligence, physical intelligence and scientific intelligence (because it will be trained for different purposes by scientists, educators, governments …), we will have the possibility of accessing entertainment that will no longer only consist of contemplating in a passive way. “ And that absence of passivity of the spectator (which will no longer be a spectator, according to Gaeta), is what the AI ​​will bring us: “Literally, we can say: ‘Well, now I do not want anyone who predetermines the content of this virtual world that has already shown me a story. I want to move away, turn around the corner, enter this world and start interacting with the characters and even play in this environment, or do what you want.” Gaeta blindly trusts the possibilities of AI to generate these completely interactive immersive worlds and that are created according to the user’s needs .. And this comes, of course, with SU batch of corresponding risks, on which Gaeta is reluctant to speak. But finally, he grants that “it is scary, it is exciting at the same time. It has always happened. As the technology with which cars were manufactured, which replaced the horses and is the same that ended up leading to the manufacture of tanks, and that is scary. It was supposed to be a great educator, and it turned out to be a device of distortion of reality. Everything has a price” “Technology is a double -edged sword, so there will be people who use things for good and create extraordinary things, solutions, inspiration, and then there will be evil people, who always exist, who will explode, try to enslave, try to destroy.” Gaeta is clear: “We have to be mature about it and know that technology always ends up revealing that duality.” In Xataka | Matrix was the first film to portray a real hacking. And inspired a generation of computer pirates

The SEPE has a message for them

One of the concepts that are discounted every month of the payroll of all employees is that of the unemployment benefit that is entitled to collect unemployment When the company says goodbye. However, access that benefit It is not so simple As it may seem and the SEPE (Public State Employment Service) can refuse unemployment if a series of requirements are not met. Condition to collect unemployment: that they fire you It may sound like perogrulda, but the right to collect unemployment benefit in Spain is conditioned to a fundamental demand: that the worker who being able and wanting to work loses your job by Causes outside your will. This means that if an employee Voluntarily renunciation To your position, in principle, you will not be able to access this benefit, unless certain conditions are met. Such and as specified The SEPE, when giving up a job, the worker loses immediate right to collect unemployment. However, if after the resignation it works at least three months and is fired for legal causes in that new job, you can request the unemployment benefit accumulated in previous works. The regulations in this case contemplate that, even if the contracts subsequent to voluntary resignation are of short duration, provided that together Add a minimum of three months workedthe worker recovers his right to unemployment. For example, if an employee renounces his job and begins to work in temporary employment for two weeks, when he ends this contract, he will not be able to access the unemployment benefit. However, if he chains several contracts for more than three months, he could request it and access unemployment with the price he had accumulated in the employment he resigned. Again, the condition will always be that the reason for the end of these jobs be for ordinary dismissal, End of contract, not having exceeded test periods or be affected by an ERE. In any of the cases, they are causes outside the employee’s will. Another of the conditions is that, to have Access to that unemployment benefit has previously quoted The necessary time. Depending on the quoted time, the benefit may be received for more or less time, as detailed in this SEPE table. For example, with 360 days quoted, you are entitled to 120 days of unemployment. From 2,160 days quoted (about six years) you are entitled to 720 days (about two years) of unemployment benefit, this being the maximum stop of the benefit. “You fix my unemployment and I’m leaving” When the employee resigns, the businessman is not forced to compensate the workerand you should only settle your situation with the settlement to compensate for non -enjoyed vacations, pending collection salary, extra payments, etc. That is why, sometimes, both parties can agree to simulate a Disciplinary dismissal. In that case, the company is not obliged to pay No compensation (only liquidating the settlement) and the employee would have the right to unemployment benefit. However, this fetén formula has an important inconvenience: It is a fraud and, therefore, totally illegal. Such and as they detail In Capmany Abogados, if the SEPE or the Labor Inspection detects that a dismissal has been agreed, both parties would be incurring a crime of fraud and will face legal consequences. The employee would be obliged to return The benefits you have received and would lose their right to receive them. For the company, the consequences were not going to be very different. If a disciplinary dismissal has been agreed for fraudulent purposes, the company can lose all tax incentives and benefits for a period of up to six years as stated in the Law on Infractions and Sactions of Social Order (Liver). In addition, both company and employee would face serious sanctions with amounts ranging from 7,501 euros to several million euros according to the amount and number of affected. Exceptions you can give up and have unemployment He Workers Statute contemplates some specific situations in which the voluntary decline yes right to collect unemployment. According The published By anchor lawyers, among these causes are unilateral changes in the location of the job, substantial modifications in working conditions, workplace harassment or repeated delays in the payment of the salary. In addition, this exception also applies in situations of gender violence that force the worker to change their jobs, a situation collected Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence. These situations collected in the Article 50 of the Workers’ Statutethey are considered substantial modifications or breaches that justify the voluntary leave with the right to unemployment acquiring the same consideration as An inadmissible dismissal With the right to compensation, provided that they are documented and adjusted to current regulations. In Xataka | A dismissal is a traumatic experience. The best form of padding is becoming a “preper” Image | Unspash (Shoeib Abolhassani, VITALY GARIEV, Jeriden Villegas), Sepe

There is a Russian station that has been issuing a totally unintelligible message decades. And nobody knows why

No one knows what their origin is. Or what is it for. What does it say. Nor does anyone (any government or organization) claim that it is yours. The station UVB-76aka ‘The Buzzer’, is one of the enigmas that has generated more hours of debate among the theorists of the conspiracy over the last years. Basically it is a short wave station that has been (It is said that decades) emitting a buzzing dotted from time to time by names and figures in Russian. Enough to give pábulo to all kinds of stories. Stories that They have sounded again With force now that the Kremlin and the West have tensed their relationship. A name: ‘The Buzzer’. In the world there are many stations. Many. Few however have awakened the fascination of ‘The Buzzer’ (“The buzzer”, in English), also known as UVB-76. And the reason is very simple: it is not known who is responsible for issuing its signal for decades, just as its content is unknown or what is the succession of noise, names and codes that interspersed every so often. Something is only known: it is a paid terrain for the conspiracy. What exactly? UVB-76 is the call indicative of a short wave station that transmits on the frequency 4625 kHzsupposedly from Russia. What it emits is a buzz, a monotonous and repetitive sound that very occasionally (without anyone knowing the reasons) is interrupted by the voice of people who read names and figures in Russian. It is said that at least forty years operatingwhich would overcome its origins to the time of the USSR. In fact, in 2017 The BBC assured He had been with his peculiar salmodia for 35 years “24 hours a day.” If curiosity stings to you, on YouTube there are people who is dedicated to sharing supposed emissions of ‘The Buzzer’, just like In networks. And there are also those who do follow-up of its history and broadcasts, day by day, throughout the year. Who doesn’t like a good mystery? If you are looking in Google you will find dozens and dozens of articles on UVB-76, some of years agoothers of last week. Even in media like Wired, Popular Mechanics, Newsweek either The BBC They have dedicated articles. The reality is that if something is ‘The Buzzer’ is a huge mystery that has known in time, shaking the ingenuity of many conspiracy theorists … and the occasional academic. Last year David StuppleProfessor of Electronic and Radio Engineering at the City University of London, I recognized that to know “the whole truth and nothing more than the truth” of UVB-76 would need to pronounce the Russian Federation, but with everything it was thrown with its own prediction: “It is almost certain that it is the Russian government who is using it. If it is the Russian government, it would not be for peaceful purposes.” Going back to the 70s. The chronicles about ‘The Buzzer’ usually go back to at least The 1970swhen it is believed that their transmissions began. As Remember Wiredthe first thing that caught the attention was his great reach. The second, its content, a buzz that occasionally gave way to tones and men reading messages in Russian. All unintelligible. In the 90s he used the indicative зб-76 (badly translated as UVB-76), a name that has endured. In the history of UVB-76 it is difficult to separate myth of contrasted facts. It is said that in origin the main signal came from a military position located not far from Moscow. Some versions They talk about Povarovo. Others of a site Something fartherabout 80 kilometers north of the Russian capital. In any case, the broadcasting station seems to have not been still during these decades. Popular Mechanics points That since 2010 the signal is more difficult to follow, which explains that there are those who associate it with St. Petersburg, Moscow or PSKOV. When In 2011 Some researchers visited what was supposedly the base on which the signal arose only found a radio team and record books. What does that mean? That if a merit has UVB-76 is its ability to stay for decades as a mystery full of rumors and theories very difficult to confirm, something that also extends to its broadcasts. Popular Mechanics account that at first it issued only beeps and in the 90s I change for a buzz mixed with something similar to a siren and (each or two weeks) the reading of names, words and numbers. The big surprise for his followers arrived 15 years ago, in 2010, when cuts were recorded in the transmission. Why did he? Another mystery. Popular assures That during those days there were those who heard an unusual retransmission, similar to people moving, in addition to an alleged message in Morse and even fragments of ‘The Swan Lake’. Since then his legend has continued to gain weightly, at the blow of news difficult to contrast. Some media They ensure that in 2022, before the invasion of Ukraine, he issued a code series. Or even that in May, after a telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the famous station He began to spit A retahíla of names that were part of a code. Theories to bore. Of course, over the last decades there have been no lacked people willing to theorize about the nature of UVB-76, who is behind or what is their purpose. Some are boring. Others would fit in the script of the last ‘007’ movie and they have earned him The nickname of “the radio of the end of the world”. Stuples Slide For example, it can be an alternative to guarantee communications in case of a disaster that affects the rest of the media. If so, he speculates, his purpose would be to “reserve” the channel. “Maybe they are only reserving it for air defense or some type of defense,” he reflects. “If someone does not use it. The band is so congested that people seek their opportunity … Read more

In the war between Spain and Ryanair for hand luggage, the European Union has already sent a message. It does not paint well for Spain

At the end of last year, Spain sanctioned Ryanair and four other airlines with millionaire fines for the collection of hand luggage. Since then, the Irish company has been defending that the sanction is illegal because they are not breaking any regulations. The case has climbed to the European Union … And things do not paint well for Spain. Gathered. In person or by video call, which begins to give an idea of ​​positions. At the end of last week, Apostols Tzitzikostas, European Transport Commissioner, He scheduled a meeting with Michael O’LearyRyanair CEO. Yesterday, Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Consumption, met with that same commissioner by video call. The digital meeting arrives days after the reception to the maximum leader of the company and thousands of kilometers away. A first approach that gives an idea of ​​where the positions are. Affinity. From the meeting between O’Leary and Tzitzikostas they have not transcended holders but in Spain they already begin to fear that the positions between them are closer to Spanish positions, they explain in The country. To start because Bustinduy requested to have that meeting before Ryanair’s CEO met with the European leader but there was no success. And, second, because from the European Transport Commission they have clear that their positions are close to those of low -cost airlines in terms of hand luggage. Your last proposition It does not differ much from what, until now, Ryanair was allowing. 4 liters. It is, according to BBC The increase in space Ryanair assumed with its new measures for hand luggage. The company has gone from 40 x 25 x 20 cm with those that was handled until this summer to some innovative 40 x 30 x 20 cm. Those five centimeters are those that are calculated, increase the size by four liters. As we count a few months ago, the decision comes after the Airlines For Europe (A4E) association of which Ryanair is part of, will sign an agreement to establish a minimum in 40 × 30 × 15 cm bags. A movement that actually serves to make lobby and create a new European standard. And, before the fines, Ryanair herself has pressed so that exact minimum sizes allowed are defined. On the side of the low cost. The A4E agreement arrives just when the European Union has decided to close, at once, the hand luggage chapter. Right now, airlines have to ensure that you can travel with “the essential” in a backpack. But there are no minimum measures. In that strip and loosen to get a new regulation of travelers, The Council of Europe has proposedexactly, that the measures to be collected are those 40 x 30 x 15 cm. That is, Ryanair would already be complying with the minimums. And the Transport Commission also bets on the same measures although it emphasizes that this backpack must be free (and It has discrepancies on other aspects). The fine, in the air. Although there is no record that Ryanair has climbed the disagree to European magistrates, what we do know is that the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid He has suspended the sanction Economic, pointing out that if applied, a hard impact on the treasury of these companies will be generated, for what has applied, for the moment, precautionary measures. In fact, in Spain justice has been shown in favor of users and the airline in contradictory sentences for the same fact. In Salamancathe courts have considered that the free size allowed by Ryanair is not enough for the passenger to carry the “essential” luggage. In SevilleHowever, they do not have the same opinion and have failed in favor of the company. Summarizing. At the moment, the Ministry of Consumer faces a complicated role. Has imposed a millionaire fine to Ryanair (the highest in the history of our country) Justice has caught the sanctions precautionary The company has pressed in the European Union European leaders have previously received the company’s CEO than Spanish leaders (and have done so by video call) And Europe seeks to carry out a new regulation to travel with hand suitcases … with more restrictive measures than those Ryanair offer from this summer. Photo | Nejc Soklič and My Random Photo In Xataka | Lack of a hole, prize on the payroll: Ryanair will upload the prize for employees who discover too large handbags

Kodak revolutionized the world of photography. His last message sounds more like farewell than reinvention

Your first camera may be a Small yellow or black box, plastic, with a metallic click and a reel that you carried to reveal to discover photos of bright colors. Before there were mobile phones and Instagram filters, Kodak was the entrance door to photography for millions of people. Yesterday, that same company warned in its quarterly report (Form 10-Q that presents before the SEC) that its continuity is in doubt. The market responded to the announcement with a fall close to 26% of the shares in the subsequent moments. According to the aforementioned document, Kodak closed the last quarter with a net loss of 26 million dollars, compared to 25 million benefit a year earlier, and 155 million box to June 30. The problem is that in less than a year obligations over around 500 million and today it has no compromised financing to cover them, which activated the notice of ‘Going concerns‘. To gain margin, the company has launched extraordinary measures, but has indicated that “these conditions raise serious doubts about the company’s ability to continue operating.” To invent the easy photo to existential doubt Far from their domain days in cameras and reels, Kodak operates today in commercial printing, chemicals and advanced materials, and film for cinema. Its brand is licensed for consumer products, while reinforcing businesses where it retains industrial technology and capillarity. Besides, It already has a regulated installation in Rochesterregistered by the FDA, which will start with PHOSPHATE BUFFERED SALINE (A buffered saline solution with phosphates that is usually used in laboratories and biomedical processes) and aspires to produce intravenous sera later. His footprint in consumer photography is, today, more symbolic than real. As we mentioned above, the pressure of that short-term debt is combined with loose income and limited liquidity, according to 10-Q and the results note. To win oxygen, Kodak has decided to close his Company Pension Plan in the United Statesa corporate system that guarantees retirement payments to former employees. The company plans to clarify on August 15 how it will serve all participants and complete reversal in December 2025, with the idea of amortizing part of the term loan and renegotiating or refinancing the rest. Kodak camera In 1975, Steven SassonKodak engineer, presented a digital camera prototype who captured images with a CCD sensor and kept them on tape. It was rudimentary, but marked the beginning of a technological revolution that would end up imposing. The company decided not to market it then for fear of cannibalizing the road business and for the immaturity of the product. This caution delayed its entry into the digital market, allowed rivals to consolidate positions and weakened the model that had made it unbeatable for decades. In 2020, Kodak tried to reconvert the pharmaceutical ingredients with a letter of interest from the United States Development Bank for a loan of 765 million dollars. The stock market reaction was glowing, but the process was paralyzed between research and criticismand the loan was not formalized. That ambition survives today on a smaller scale: Rochester’s CGMP installation, already registered by the FDA, will begin with PBS as the first product and will serve as a basis for exploring materials of greater regulatory value. What happens in the coming months will be decisive for Kodak. The company argues that it may pay a significant part of the loan and expand or refinance the rest, while executing the closure of the pension plan and Light your new pharmaceutical line. The market, for now, observes skepticism. For a brand that defined photography for more than a century, the challenge is no longer to innovate, but simply survive. Images | KODAK | Bady Abbas In Xataka | The agreement with the US seemed to pave the way to Nvidia in China. Now is the Asian giant who begins to close the door

The most revolutionary and rare writing machine was lost in 1940. Until someone received a message

Many may not know, but WRITE MACHINES Not only were they important in the past, the present would not be auctionally similar without these tools. In fact, in 1980 Apple made a decision that few understood: declare him War to the machine to write Several centuries before, in China, someone devised the most revolutionary of all these machines. The problem is that there was only one and lost. Until now. Lost keys. THE HISTORY LA had the New York Times. It all started in 2007, when Tom MullaneyProfessor of Chinese History at Stanford, prepared a presentation about the disappearance of Chinese characters and wondered how something printed could be forgotten. That doubt led him to A revelation: How had a writing system as vast as the Chinese mechanized? He did not remember ever seeing a Chinese typewriter, and when he knocked down in his office to look at old patents, a trip that would last for years began. Discovered that, although scarce, they had existed dozen different models Chinese writing machines, each with ingenious solutions to try to represent thousands of ideograms in a portable frame. One is missing. From there, Mullaney launched a kind of hunting global: He called collectors, heirs traced on ancestry.com, visited churches, museums, even stores. Over time He gathered a collection Of unique devices, some rescued by very little of oblivion, aware that each one was an unrepeatable piece of the history of mechanized writing. However, there was a machine that could not find, not even dreaming of recovering: the legendary mingkwai. Lin Yutang’s mingkwai writing machine, as illustrated in its patent application The impossible machine. The Mingkwai It was created in the 40s by Lin Yutanga Chinese intellectual based in New York who feared that China, if it did not modernize their way of writing, It would be behind in front of foreign powers. To solve the dilemma of how to represent thousands of characters with a few keys, Lin devised a Revolutionary mechanical system: Any combination of two keys activated gears that showed up to eight possible characters in a central window that baptized as the “magical eye”, allowing the user to choose the right one. With only 72 keys, Lin had built an interface that allowed to generate tens of thousands of charactersa kind of chimeric keyboard capable of typing an entire universe. He baptized his creation as Mingkwai, which can be translated (freely) as “clear and fast.” Lost. The problem is that your demonstration before Remington executives It was a disaster: The machine failed and Lin ended up ruined. Along the way, the only prototype was sold to Mergenthaler Linotype, a Brooklyn printing press. From there, the trail It was lost. In his book The Chinese Typewriter (2017), Mullaney wrote that it was most likely to have ended in a landfill. Until, by chance, something extraordinary happened. Lin Yutang The reunion. We arrive at January 2025when Jennifer and Nelson Felix, from Massopequa (New York), reviewed boxes stored after her death. Suddenly, they found A wooden box containing something strange: a typewriter with Chinese keys. Nelson, fond of sale on Facebook, He published some photos In a specialized group without imagining that I was going to detonate a storm of messages. In less than an hour, hundreds of comments, many in Chinese, shouted at one thing: “Contact Tom!” While giving a talk in Chicago, Mullaney He began to receive a waterfall of notifications. As soon as he saw the photos, the man knew that he had to do with the mingkwai. Fear of losing it. The Times told that the historian did not feel jubilation with the news, but rather fear. If someone bought it on eBay and turned it into a lamp or a coffee table, it would disappear forever. What did he do? He wrote to the couple urgently, he told them the history of the machine and asked them to consider sell it to a museum. Jennifer, incredulous, understood in a short time that the object of more than 50 kilos was not just junk. “It was lost half a century,” he explained to Times. “We didn’t want it to be lost again.” From the basement to the campus. The story charged an unexpected turn when Mullaney discovered that Jennifer’s grandfather, Douglas Arthur Jung, had worked on Mergenthaler Linotype And he probably saved the scratch machine when he took it with him. For decades, the family had preserved it without knowing what it was. In April, the couple accepted Sell to Stanfordwhich acquired it thanks to a private donor. When he finally arrived in California, Mullaney witnessed his unpacking with expectation. There, in the University warehouse, he discovered that his mechanism was even more delicate and sophisticated of what I imagined. The machine not only survived: He spokeor something similar. He began to wonder what engineers could discover if they were carefully dismantled. Could, perhaps, replicate it? Does Lin’s thoughts unravel in 1947, when he believed that a typography could save his nation? A recovered story. The History of the mingkwai It is more than that of the rescue of an exotic and rare machine. If you want, it is even a metaphor of ideas that, without interlocutors, run the risk of disappear forever. Mullaney understood that it was possibly the last one who could understand what these machines represented: the linguistic dilemmas of a civilization, the technological aspirations of a nation then marginalized, or even the desperate elegance of a visionary inventor. The mingkwai was a device that No one wanted In his time, too advanced already too clumsy, the result of an idea too big for an era that still did not know how to translate it. But when finding it, complete and still capable of astonishing, the professor not only recovered a museum piece: he rescued from oblivion an entire chapter in the history of human writing. Image | StanfordCampbell, Brobough & Free, American Memory Digital Item Display In Xataka | In 1980, Apple made … Read more

Send a clear message to China

He Taipéi Metro It has a vast network of roads, stations and wagons that cover a good part of the bustling metropolitan area of the Taiwanese capital. So far exceptional or that cannot be found in the suburban of other large cities, such as Paris, Madrid or New York. What is much less common is what was lived there on Monday At dawn: instead of passengers loaded with wallets and suitcases, the stations of Taipéi began to arrive military, soldiers and more soldiers armed with anti -tank missiles. The reason: send a message inside and outside the country. Uniforms in the subway. In the Taipéi subway it is usual to see parents with children, people brought from the office, schoolchildren, tourists pulling suitcases or with the camera hanging around the neck … normal in any urban transport network. On Monday at dawn, however, in the city’s cars and stations, it could be seen Something different: Armed military, anti -tank missiles and army commands by displacing ammunition and food from the outskirts of the city. The department of National defense Taiwanés and his Military News Agency They were responsible for disseminating photos in which armed military is seen in the capital’s metro network. In the operation, Precise Business Insidersoldiers of the Military Police and the third command of the Army participated. The maneuvers concentrated on the heart of the Taipéi Transport Network, between the Shandao and Longshan temple stations, a route that passes through the main station. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Why’s that? It is not that the Chinese army progresses towards Taiwan or the island authorities have proof of some new imminent threat. Monday’s military deployment in the Taipéi subway is part of Han Kuangmilitary exercises with which Taiwan intends to be prepared in case of attack by the Chinese Liberation Army (EPL). The maneuvers themselves are not a novelty. The Han Kuang have been held every year for several decades. What is striking this year is its scope and especially the staging. Means like The BBC either Reuters They point out that it is the drill of greater draft and duration made to date, with a deployment significantly greater than last year. Han Kuang will last 10 days (from July 9 to 18), almost double that in 2024, during which the military will display drones, launcher and missiles, including the Himars launch system supplied by the United States. As for the number of mobilized troops, the maneuvers will participate 22,000 reservists50% more than in 2024. To the house door. The Han Kuang of 2025 (and especially the deployment of Monday morning at the Taipéi Metro) stands out for something else: its visibility. And not only for the gallery or Beijing, but towards the civilian population itself. As Point out Financial Timesthe army wanted to bring its “preparations” for a possible Chinese invasion to the doors of citizens. It is no longer about deploying soldiers in ports or fields, but about mobilizing them in the subway stations, in the caps and before the coffee shops where the Taiwanese have breakfast. “If there is ever a war, they will fight right here,” Recognize An old man from Taipéi to the British newspaper. It is about increasing the public awareness of what would mean an attack on the island, better prepare the population and also prove the use of public transport in case of emergency. Monday’s maneuver It also served so that the military learn to operate in the subway if necessary and “use underground facilities to move troops.” “We are learning from Ukraine”. Not all operations have been carried out in the Taipéi subway. Throughout the last days the Taiwanese army has simulated attacks on infrastructure, decentralized operations, drills of “Urban Resilience” and maneuvers areas and naval to defend the coast. On Monday For example, Taiwan lived live a mines placement exercise to demonstrate his ability to respond to a hypothetical amphibious assault of the EPL. The country also wants to try high mobility artillery rocket system (Himars), by Lockheed Martin, in addition to Earth-Aire missiles Sky Sword. “We are learning from the situation in Ukraine in recent years and thinking realistically about what Taiwan could face in a real combat,” Explain To the Reuters agency an official of the Taiwan defense area, who also reveals that one of the priorities is to protect communications. “The commanders should consider the problems that their troops would face.” “It will never succeed”. It is not causality that Taipéi has decided to strengthen Han Kuang right now. China sees Taiwan as A rebel territory And he aspires to reunify it with the continent sooner or later, an objective that has led him to intensify the military pressure around the island in the last five years. In May the US Secretary of Defense assured That Beijing raises “invading” the island in 2027, and warned: “The EPL is trained for it, is rehearsing.” With that complex backdrop, Taipéi seems determined to show (both inside and home) his ability to defense and response. From China you insist on the opposite message to reduce importance. “Taiwan’s attempt to seek independence through force or relying on foreign actors will never succeed,” He came to proclaim MAO NO, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs. The Government has already warned that, “no matter what weapons use”, “Taiwan cannot resist ELP’s back against independence.” Images | Ministry of National Defense, Roc (Taiwan) In Xataka | While China debate about Taiwan, Europe does not waste time. Its greatest port has left a hole for war

China has been launching the same message to the world about Taiwan. The date was 2027 … until the US bombarded Iran

Now that there is a certain tense calm in the Middle East, there are many analysts who have turned the magnopolitical framework. In June we already commented that, in a turn of the most perverse events, the United States attack Iran intended to contain a nuclear proliferation could be the catalyst of another even more dangerous: North Korea. There was a second stage to draw: that of China and Taiwan. Start over. The analysts told of the New York Times That the American attack against Iranian nuclear facilities has added a new layer of complexity to the already tense geopolitical equation between the United States, China and Taiwan. What began as a diplomatic strategy became a sudden offensive that now serves as Element of study For Chinese leaders, who seek to anticipate how Trump would respond to an eventual crisis in the Taiwan Strait. His Erratic behavior And his willingness to resort to the use of force, even having previously rejected it, generate confusion in Beijing. China, they agree, observe this turn as a sign that Trump, far from representing a predictable position, could apply a logic of force equally in Asia if it perceives that their interests are at stake. Iran’s mirror. In the same way What North Koreahe Attack on Iran has been able to force Chinese strategists to Check your models of contingency with respect to Taiwan. Despite the obvious differences between the two scenarios, the essential lesson It is shared: Trump is willing to unleash military operations if he considers it appropriate, even against adversaries with limited response capacity such as Iran. Beijing, on the other hand, has a considerably superior military power and is known closer to the theater of operations than any American force. Even so, the possibility of a sudden escalation forces the Chinese to prepare For a Scenario fanfrom a diplomatic crisis to a direct confrontation that escapes their hands. Uncertainty about Trump’s red line is precisely what worries them. Taiwan and ambiguity. A constant in American politics towards Taiwan has been the calculated ambiguity: dissuad China from that invasion that sounds by 2027 (coinciding with The EPL centenary), without explicitly guaranteeing a military intervention. Trump has brought that ambiguity to an extreme level. At times ha praised Xi Jinping And he has given relaxes of distensionwhile in others he has hardened his rhetoric and has intensified The supply of weapons to Taipéi. For Beijing, this duality is disconcerting but also dangerous, because it cannot be certain to its behavior. In this context, Chinese analysts They have intensified His scrutiny, maintaining discrete meetings with American interlocutors in search of clues about the true limits of the former president. The impression they transmit is of nervous caution: they fear that the Trump’s unpredictability can trigger an unwanted crisis. Cross pressures. The tension not only emanates from Beijing. Remembered in another report the Time Magazine that within the United States and Taiwan there is fear that Trump himself, in his eagerness, ends giving something to China In a future summit with XI, perhaps in the form of an ambiguous statement or a significant omission about the defense of the island. Washington, as we said, maintains armament supply (And more) and exhortes Taipéi to increase his military spending, but it is the president who finally decides. That centralization of power and its erratic character They worry both in the Pentagon and in the Taiwanese presidential palace. We have Cash: The recent ones Chinese maneuversincluding deployment of aircraft carriers Beyond the first island chain, they are seen as stress tests: Silent drills to measure the allied reaction capacity and the degree of real commitment of Washington. Taiwan between lines and symbols. While Beijin accuses President Taiwanesa Lai Ching-Te de Separatismo, the island administration insists that it is the maneuvers and Chinese threats that They tension the rope. In turn, within Taiwan, there are those who interpret Trump’s attack to Iran as An indirect warning To the great powers, a coded message towards Moscow and Beijing: if a line is crossed, the answer could be immediate. But the comparison between Iran and China is dangerous. He Missile Arsenal from Beijing (which includes about 3,500 missiles Conventional, nuclear ballistic submarines and a rapid assembly) would make a lightning offensive like the one launched in the Middle East. China knows it, and that is why Multiply your deploymentsair incursions and Naval exercisesconsolidating a constant pressure on the island, designed to wear it psychologically and strategically. China between two fronts. Plus: while facing these uncertainties in the east, Beijing must deal with a growing perception of threat in the West. The Recent statements From the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, alerting about Chinese military expansion and his possible coordination with Russia in case of crisis in Taiwan, reinforce the western narrative of China As a systemic challenge. Beijing, meanwhile, denounces that NATO seeks to justify its expansion to Asia using China As a pretext. A theater of shadows. In summary, Trump has shown that he can change course Without prior noticeand that feature, far from reassuring, introduces a dangerous volatility element. Meanwhile, China explores if you can find a loop to weaken American support to Taipéi, even Without resorting to force. And in parallel, the military apparatus of the United States and its allies fears that any calculation error, any word out of place at a summit, can trigger a chain reaction. The military action In Iran it is not just a specific act: it is a declaration of ambiguous intentions, one that has put all the actors of the Indo-Pacific board alert. Image | Chairman, Garystock In Xataka | That China performs 3,000 military air maneuvers over a year is not striking. To do it about Taiwan, yes In Xataka | It is the third time in a few months that China presents itself against Taiwan with an army. The island has decided to move on to attack

The US attack on Iran was a forceful message to the development of nuclear weapons. Less for North Korea

It is very possible that a nation has been stuck to television by observing everything that happened in Iran. About 20 years ago, North Korea began Send engineers Specialized in the excavation of deep tunnels to Tehran. Two decades later, what was learned was tested through the greater furtive attack of the United States against Iranian underground nuclear facilities. A nuclear lesson. They had several analysts In the CNN than the recent ones United States bombings by deployment of b-2 bombersThey have caused an immediate shock not only in the Middle East, but also in Eastern Asia. For experts, this act of force launches a clear (and dangerous) message to North Korea: without nuclear weapons, You are vulnerable. For Kim Jong Un, which has been reinforcing for years Your atomic program As the Central Survival Pilar of the regime, the US attack confirms a long sustained narrative: nuclear deterrence is the only reliable shield against a regime change from the outside. Thus, far from determining proliferation, military action against Iran could accelerate Pyongyang’s arms expansion, in addition to strengthening its Strategic Alliance With Russia, which has become A military lifeguardtechnological and vital economy For the North Korean regime since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The Moscow-Pyongyang axis. We have gone counting. Since 2024, North Korea and Russia have Institutionalized your cooperation in a strategic agreement of broad scope. According to A report of the multilateral sanctions monitoring team, Pyongyang has sent More than 14,000 soldiers and millions of ammunition, including missiles and rockets, to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In return, has received Air defense systems, anti -aircraft missiles, electronic warfters, critical military technology and refined fuel. Plus: the ability to Build Shaheds. This exchange not only finances the North Korean military program, but allows you to access to advanced technologiesdirect experience in modern war and an alternative source of resources to Western sanctions. In the eyes of the North Korean regime, the pact is not only pragmatic but necessary in the face of international isolation, and the attack on Iran makes it even more indispensable. Examples feeding the paranoia. From that perspective, the strategic message could not be clearer to Kim: countries that do not have nuclear weapons are exposed to American intervention. Iraq was invaded without having weapons of mass destruction. Libya left his nuclear program in exchange for diplomatic normalization, just to see Gaddafi overthrown years later. Iran signed the nuclear agreement and maintained its enrichment below the arms threshold, According to the OIEAbut it was still attacked. Two certainties. In contrast, North Korea has already done Six nuclear testshe owns between 40 and 50 active heads and has developed ballistic missiles Intercontinental capable of reaching the United States. Its arsenal, which includes multiple launch vectors, makes Pyongyang an actor with real deterrence and radically differentiates it from Iran. For Victor Cha, from CSIS, American bombings to Iran reinforce in Kim two certainties: The United States does not have a viable military option against the North Korean nuclear program, and its decision to maintain and expand its nuclear arsenal was correct. First nuclear submarine of North Korea Tripartite deterrence. In addition, there is a difference against Iran: North Korea has a Triple Defense System that complicates any American military option. First, its own nuclear arsenal, second, the defensive alliance with Russia, which allows Moscow to intervene automatically in case of attack, and third, the legal and political need of Prior consultation With South Korea, required by the bilateral treaty with Washington, which converts any action into a regional and diplomatic high voltage issue. In this regard, Professor Lim Eul-Chul warnedfrom the Kyungam University, which attacking North Korea could detonate a Total nuclear wargiven your ability to respond. “It’s not Iran,” LEIF-AMER EASLEY emphasizesby Ewha Womans University. Pyongyang can Attack directly To the United States and, in addition, Seoul is shot from most of its weapons systems. Deterrence when rearma. The foreseeable consequence of the attack on Iran is a hardening of the North Korean position. The regime could Accelerate your tests Ballistics, advance in new eyes, experiment with long -range propulsion and expand your attack vectors. I would also do it under the mantle Russia protector and in open indifference to the resolutions of the UN Security Council, whose coercive effects have been reduced to a diplomatic formality. In strategic terms, North Korea’s reaction will probably not be defensive but expansive: Technological cooperation with Moscow, joint military exercises, transfer of ballistic knowledge and new forms of economic and military interdependence. The TNP. They remembered In The Conversation That the non -proliferation treaty, adopted in 1968, was a commitment between the five recognized nuclear powers (United States, Soviet Union, France, United Kingdom and China) to not transfer nuclear weapons and commit, at least formally, to disarmament. In return, other countries promised not to develop atomic weapons. The treaty, then reinforced with the additional protocol of the OIEA, endowed the nuclear inspection agency for broad powers for Verify peaceful use of atomic energy. It was the Oiea who first warned in 2003 about the suspicious enrichment of Uranium in Iran. And it was also this organization that, weeks before the recent bombings, denounced the Iranian breach for the first time in twenty years. A fragile pact. However, effectiveness of the TNP It has been undermined for decades. The nuclear powers never fulfilled their disarmament commitments. In the case of North Korea, He withdrew from the treaty In 2003, he performed his first nuclear test in 2006 and today could possess up to 50 eyelets. Israel, meanwhile, never formally joined, and maintains a unpacked arsenal. India, Pakistan and North Korea have stayed out or have been disconnected. In other words, the covenant has weakened by its own architecture that, although universal, is structurally vulnerable. Iran and North Korea. To all this, the professor of economics underlined Anthony Burke that Iran now has Two roads. The first would be to reconstruct its uranium enrichment capacity and acquire … Read more

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