nonsense

We thought that the price of World Cup tickets in the US was going to be the biggest nonsense. Wait to travel by train

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The World Cup is a universal spectacle, but its prices during the tournament that will be held this summer in North America (United States, Mexico and Canada) will not exactly be within reach of all budgets. Especially if you want to enjoy the final, which will be played July 19 in it MetLife Stadium from New Jersey. And not just because their tickets are sold at exorbitant prices. The region’s public transportation operator has revealed that round-trip tickets between Manhattan and MetLife will cost 150 dollars. That decision has already generated a intense controversy. What has happened? That the celebration of the World Cup in the US is being marred by the enormous cost what it will mean for the fans. Until now we knew that those privileged who want to follow the matches directly in the stadiums will have to pay stratospheric sums for the tickets, especially if we talk about the final which will be played at the end of July at MetLife Stadium. That was relatively predictable. Now we know something else: even tickets to go to the stadium on public transport will be priced at the price of gold. Are they that expensive? Yes. A week ago The New York Times has already advanced that round-trip tickets to MetLife from New York’s Pennsylvania Station would cost more than $100, although the public transportation operator, New York Transit (NJT), was reluctant to confirm the information. The mystery did not last long. On Friday, when announcing the mobility plan for the World Cup, the company revealed (almost in passing) that the filtration of Times had fallen short. “Non-transferable, non-refundable, round-trip train tickets will be on sale exclusively to ticket holders on May 13 through NJ Transit for $150,” keep it up the operator when informing of the transportation services that will connect MetLife Stadium, renamed temporarily as New York New Jersey Stadium to conform to FIFA’s sponsorship policy. In the same statement NJT explains that round-trip bus tickets (also non-transferable and non-refundable) will be sold for $80. Is it more expensive than normal? A lot more. NBC News I remembered These days a round-trip ticket to MetLife Stadium usually costs $12.9, so the fare that those who want to use the train on the day of the final will have to pay will be 11 times higher than normal. The price will be very superior This is what fans who travel between Penn Station (New York) and MetLife pay to enjoy NFL Jets or Giants games. Although the price of bus tickets will also quadruple in Boston, where they will be disputed four gamesthere has been international competitions in which fans with tickets could freely use public transport. In the case of the USA, The Wall Street Journal remember that the original 2018 pact between host cities and FIFA included free transportation, but the requirement was relaxed a few years ago. Now fans must pay $150 for a trip that is covered in less than half an hour by car. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Has it generated controversy? Yes. Because of the amount itself (150), but also because the NJT plan does not contemplate Reduced rates, which means that children and seniors will have to pay the same amount as everyone else. It is important because MetLife Stadium will host a total of eight games of the World Cup in which the teams of Brazil, France, Germany and England (among others) will compete. Among those events also includes the most significant of all: the final. Those who want to skip the train or bus and go by car to MetLife will not have it easy either. The celebration of the World Cup will cut considerably the availability of parking in the area, which explains, among other things, that passes are being offered to park in the parking lot of a shopping center in the area for $225, such as has revealed NCB News. Why does it go up so much? That question connects directly with the political debate that has broken out in New Jersey around the World Cup, its costs for the public coffers and the return it will have for the region. Governor Mikie Sherrill (Democratic Party) assures having “inherited” an agreement by which FIFA “does not contribute a single dollar” for transportation and warned that NJ Transit will be forced to pay “a bill of 48 million dollars” to mobilize the tens of thousands of fans who will come to watch the games. MetLife Stadium seats more than 80,000 spectators and Sherrill’s message, just like the one NJT has transferred to the New York Times is clear: “The cost of the eight matches will not be borne by our regular users of public transport.” That is to say, the first step is for the fans (if not FIFA itself) to pay for the transportation required by the competition. Sherrill’s position has caused tensions with the federation, which warns of “deterrent” effect What will the train fares have and remember that MetLife has hosted other macro events without the organizers having to pay for transportation. During the debate, there was also talk of the income that FIFA will receive thanks to the tournament and the return for the USA. Is it just transportation? The truth is that no. The transport controversy is added to another that already goes back a long way: that of the price of tickets to enjoy the World Cup matches. A few weeks ago, FIFA already made headlines because tickets for the final were selling for up to $10,990. Not only are they astronomical figures that threaten to become “the most expensive in history”, as warns the BBC. They also far exceed those of a few months ago. In March, after the president of FIFA recognize that prices could “go up or down according to demand,” the OCU denounced the use of “dynamic pricing”. The rates already they have put on guard to Euroconsumers. Images | … Read more

We already know how much laptop prices are going to rise this year: absolute nonsense

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If you were waiting until 2026 to renew your equipment, trusting that interesting offers would appear, we have bad news. The laptop market prepares for a perfect storm that threatens to burst retail prices. A reasonable budget until now of about 900 euros will very soon become one of 1,300 euros, and it will do so without the product being better than last year’s. damn memories. The first big culprit of all this is the DRAM memory crisis and NAND storage chips. Supply and demand have remained absolutely unbalanced with the rise of AIand that has caused a tragic situation for end users. If previously these components represented 15% of the manufacturing cost, in 2026 they will represent more than 30% of those costs. Making a laptop is simply much more expensive today than it was yesterday. Intel doesn’t help. As if this were not enough, processors are also rising in price. Intel has already made a move by increasing the cost of its entry-level and previous generation CPUs by more than 15%. In fact, it is likely that things will not stop there: it is expected that by the second quarter of 2026, its mid- and high-range processors will also follow the same path, which will further suffocate manufacturers’ margins. And of course that will end up having the same impact: even more expensive equipment. The dictatorship of profit margins. Manufacturers are governed by elementary but unassailable financial mathematics: profit margins. So that both brands and stores continue to earn the same, the increase in costs ends up being passed on entirely to end users. The result is devastating: a 900 euro laptop could see its price increase by 40%. And here it is not that brands want to earn more: it is that manufacturing that laptop costs 58% more just in CPU, memory and storage. Manufacturers and stores therefore assume part of the impact, but of course most of it is received by users. According to TrendForce, the combined price increase of memory, SSDs and CPUs will cause the “bill of materials” for manufacturers to increase by 58% compared to 45% in the first quarter of 2025. Source: TrendForce. Technological eviction. For months we have been talking about how this fever for AI data centers has caused DRAM and NAND chip manufacturers to completely change focus. Before they manufactured for humans, now they do it for machines. This has caused a “technological eviction” effect in which chips for PCs and laptops are left without room in factories. The offer is reduced to the minimum expression because what is really profitable now is Micron, SK Hynix or Samsung is to make memories for AI chips. Small brands in danger. This crisis does not affect everyone equally. Large manufacturers can negotiate better prices and secure inventory thanks to their purchasing volumes, smaller and local brands are suffering especially. They face volatility that could leave them without inventory or with prices so high that they would be out of the game against large manufacturers. AMD is no longer the refuge of yesteryear. Historically, when Intel rose in price or had stock problems, AMD emerged as an even more relevant alternative. Now the situation is so critical that the shortage is also affecting the firm led by Lisa Su. It is true that AMD has gained market share thanks to its competitiveness, but there are already reports of lack of supply in its entry range. The uncertainty continues. The TrendForce study is clear: the coming quarters will be decisive to be clear about how this unique segment will turn out. With weak demand and skyrocketing production costs, the consumer is faced with an unsustainable situation: buy what’s left in stock now, or accept that the “standard” laptop may have risen in price forever? The era of the cheap PC could have come to an end, although there are striking surprises, such as the one Apple has proposed with the MacBook Neowhich goes just against the grain: it is modest, yes, but also an affordable option at a time when users are most stressed. Good play by Cook and his boys. The alternative: used equipment and components. Faced with this situation, users can resort to a plan B that is not ideal, but that offers them a certain escape. This is where refurbished products could make more sense than ever, and where the second-hand market may mean that users may prefer not to go for the latest of the latest – from this year – and opt for the latest of the latest – from last year. If many do it, of course, there is the other danger: that even those reconditioned and second-hand products also rise in price. In Xataka | RAM manufacturers have grown tired of technology companies buying “just in case.” So they got serious

Sora’s AI is resurrecting dead celebrities to turn them into cheap viral content: it’s technological nonsense

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What of digitally resurrect deceased public figures It’s not new, but Sora 2 by OpenAI is crossing the line from homage to pure morbid entertainment, with videos ranging from harmless humor to the most explicit cruelty. This phenomenon, which has provoked the indignation of relatives of the daughter of actor Robin Williams, raises serious ethical and legal questions. What is happening. Michael Jackson shows up at a KFC and steals a man’s fried chicken while dancing away. Pope John Paul II does some skate tricks. Albert Einstein gives an interview after a UFC fight. These are just a few examples of what people are doing with Sora 2. There’s more: Martin Luther King, Kennedy, Nixon…many videos have a humorous and seemingly harmless tone. Others, however, are in very bad taste, such as those that show a Stephen Hawking being abused brutally. And the worst thing is that no one seems to be stopping it. The Robin Williams case. Zelda Williams, daughter of the late actor, has used her Instagram account to show her rejection of this trend. “Please stop sending me AI-generated videos of dad. Stop believing that I want to see them or that I will understand them. I don’t want them and I won’t understand them,” he said in his message. Although he does not give details about whether the videos he has received are made with Sora 2, his complaint comes just a few days after its release. The cameos. They are the great novelty of Sora 2 and one of the reasons for its popularity. In fact, the app was launched with a cameo by Sam Altman that has already generated all kinds of memes. With cameos you can create funny videos of yourself or a friend, but Sora won’t let you make videos of real people unless they have given their consent. Except if those people are dead. Blurred boundaries. In it Sora security document 2OpenAI states that “only you can decide who can use your cameo, and you can revoke access at any time. We also take steps to block depictions of public figures.” However, they don’t say anything about public figures who have died, and from what we’re seeing, it doesn’t seem like these guidelines apply in the same way. According to the TechCrunch teststhe app does not allow you to create videos of Jimmy Carter or Michael Jackson (although there are published videos), but it does not cause problems when doing so with Robin Williams or Richard Nixon. defaming the dead. Although it is ethically questionable, at a legal level things change. In the United States, where OpenAI operates, legally it is not possible to open a process for defaming a deceased personso the company would not have any responsibility. In Spain it is similar; the Organic Law 1/1982 includes the right to honor, personal and family privacy and one’s own image. However, according to the article 32 of the civil codecivil personality is extinguished after death. Yes, it could be the case that heirs claim the right to honor of the deceasedbut it is a complex process and full of nuances. The new AI dump. At the beginning of the year we talked about how Junk AI or ‘AI Slop’ had flooded the networks. Were most disturbing videosof very bad tastebut they were clearly made with AI. With Sora 2 a dangerous door opens and it is that of a new AI dump more realistic than ever. If we add to this the use of the image of deceased people as if they were toys with which we can do whatever we want, no matter how legal it may be, it sets a very worrying precedent. Image | tiktok In Xataka | OpenAI and AMD have just signed more than just an AI agreement: it’s the barter of desperation

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