place

Garlic is mired in a deep crisis in Spain. And that is bad news for a particular place: Cuenca

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Spain occupies An important place In the world macker of garlic, but that does not mean that the farmers of Castilla-La Mancha or Andalusia who are dedicated to growing it are easy. The garlic It crosses turbulence. The sector warns of the difficulties that are to combat pests, the effects of drought, the “excessive bureaucracy” or the lack of generational relief, among other stalking challenges. A complicated panorama that is seen with special attention from the province of Cuenca, where the Purple Garlic from Las Pedroñeras. After all, garlic is much more than a vegetable that fluctuates in the market: The sector claims which is a crop that helps to “pour” the emptied Spain. “In crisis”. He newly named President of the National Garlic Bureau, José Carlos Patiño, is clear: they do not run good times for his business. In An interview With eldiario.es the agriculture Manchego, the new visible face of the Aheros, warned that the sector “is suffering a” aggravated crisis, among other factors, by the water scarcitythe reduction of hectares of crop, the lack of generational relief and a bureaucracy that they consider “excessive.” It is nothing new. His predecessor, Julio Bacete I already used The same word to describe the situation that farmers dedicated to garlic culture face: “crisis.” A year ago, during A talk with Xatakahe admitted that the sector was going through “complicated moments”, a trend that is visible mainly in the loss of hectares dedicated to plantations. Why’s that? For a sum of factors. Although not all weigh the same. When explaining the situation, farmers usually point out above all loss of resources To fight pests. They ensure that their arsenal has been trimmed by regulations, which subtracts tools to protect crops … and their investments. “It’s not about talking badly about the 2030 Agenda or the Green Pact, but the reduction we carry in phytosanitary is affecting us a lot. There are diseases, pests, fungi that we cannot control,” warns Patiño. “We have a very large decrease. There is a lack of performance, simply in the seed itself. In nascence there are plots that have a decrease of 30% damage. In the end, that is kilos of garlic,” Comment the representative of the sector. He is not the only one who thinks like that. The president of the National Association of Garlic Producers and Marketers (ANPCA), Fernando Rubio, He shared recently A similar message with The confidential: “Pests begin to be resistant because we have very little variety of active matter that we can use.” Pest question … And something else. Although the shortage of resources to treat pests and fungi is usually one of the most cited handicaps by farmers is not the only one that explains the “crisis” that faces garlic. The guild indicates other serious ones, both structural and short -term: water shortage, specialized professionals and generational relief, “Excess bureaucracy”loss of hectares, the cost of land lease, low visibility in the domestic market or even the effect of imports and The tariffs by Donald Trump. The sector has been dealing with China’s competition for some time, Great world exporter of garlic and that stands out especially for its prices. With that backdrop, In the guild worries now what The tariff war and the imposition of levies to Chinese trade in the US ends up leading Asian farmers to redirect their merchandise towards other destinations, complicating exports to Spain. It is not the only conjunctural challenge with which the sector has dealt with, which in recent years has had to see them with The increase of The energy either Fertilizers. Hectares. The transformation of the sector can also be measured in figures. For example, that of the cultivated area. The data does not always coincide, but show a clear loss of soil: The report presented a year ago by the National Garlic Table to the Mixed Fruit and Vegetable Committee notes that it has passed from 29,826 hectares in 2021 to a provision of 21,000. Other sources They point out that it has dropped from 24,900 h in 2023 to something less than 23,000 In the 2024 season. The descent would be even more accent in Some regions. “Much investment”. “Putting one hectare of garlic carries a lot warns Patiño at eldiario.es. Less land does not always have less crops. Some data They point to the high weight of garlic Springvariety that stands out for its rhythm of production and performance, and a loss of land of purple garlic. As for prices, the manager wait Good values, above last year. The ministry indicates that the 100 kg of dry garlic are in 125 euros. Garlic (and something else). Not everyone lives the same turbulence that the vegetable is going through. After all, as He noticed recently Rubio, garlic plays a key role as a job generator in part of emptied Spain. “The cultivation is going to be lost to many villages of rural Spain, the reason for about 60 wages per hectare,” duck The President of ANPCA. In that context, there is a variety of culture to which Pay attention The sector: purple garlic. In a basin place … “In purple garlic it is a very serious problem. It is in danger and production can be left,” Patiño points out to The confidential. The reason is simple: to the rest of the challenges that the Ajero collective is going through, the purple variety adds the lack of visibility in the stores. Although the purple garlic of Las Pedroñeras It has one Protected Geographic Indicationthe sector regrets its lack of dissemination in a market in which the client values ​​the cost. Looking at the Canary Islands banana. “It does not happen with the banana, which differs much from the banana. Here the qualities are not compared to, but there is no culture to seek the garlic of the Pedroñeras in the super” s, Rubio reflects. To this lack of recognition is added the performance of the variety, less than that … Read more

The house is getting so impossible in Madrid that people are returning to an unexpected place: seseña

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Real estate markets have their own symbols. For years Seseña was from Lick, The real estate bubble which exploded in 2008. Today is something very different: the housing crisis which faces Madrid (and Spain), which has allowed that ancient ghost city associated with Francisco Hernando‘El Pozero’, being reborn strongly. With prices in climbing And a serious housing deficit In the capital, more and more people look out of Madrid when they have to look for a house, to localities such as ValladolidSegovia … or seseña, where It has resumed construction and arise New promotions residential AND It is not the only “Ghost city” that is gaining impulse thanks to the families expelled from Madrid for a market that increasingly tightens Your pockets. Of brick bubble icon … For years Seseña, especially THE PAU THE QUIÑÓN (The city projected by ‘Paco el Pocero’) was an icon of the years of brick excess and The real estate bubble. Also of his hangover. Those who bought in the middle of the urban maelstrom found a kind of “Ghost Barrio”homes in the hands of banks and a fractured market in which prices did not stop falling. If in 2007 a two bedroom floor cost almost 200,000 euros, seven years later, with the banks desperate to get rid of the properties, it could be bought by less than half: about 60,000 euros. … to enjoy a golden age. Today things are different in Seseña. After years with half -building works and worried For the Okupas, the town is living a new golden age. Families arrive. They open business and services. Projects such as PARQUIJOTE. And they raise New promotions. In 2023 The newspaper He spoke of two major projects: an urbanization of 156 houses that moved between 110,500 and just over 200,000 euros and another of chalets. The change has been cooking for some time. Almost a decade ago The countryHe dedicated him A wide report in which he explained how the residential city the Quiñón was gaining impulse little by little, with families, businesses and services. At that time the newspaper spoke of 6,411 inhabitants. Last year Antena3 again analyzed the situation of the Macro Urbanization Toledana and He found An increase in the number of residents, in addition to a growing demand for housing. “Three years ago you could find a house easily here. Now it is almost impossible,” explained At that time Vanesa, a woman who had installed time before in the Toledo urbanization after buying a four -room house with storage room, garage and pool for about 150,000 euros. Waiting list to buy. The last clue on the rebirth of the urbanization of Seseña gave it A few days ago Reuters, who has found The growing interest by the town. Although it is about 40 kilometers south of the capital and does not have the best connections and public transport, more and more families seem interested in settling in their apartments. Reuters speak With an agency that had a waiting list of 70 people for each home. Seseña (and something else). The area has also seen how the new work was also activated. Promotora Impact Homes, for example, is promoting a promotion of 156 homes which started in 2023. Its goal is to have it ready throughout this year. In the sector there is even talk of presale levels of almost 50% In new buildings. “Seseña is 100%,” celebrates the mayor, Jaime de Hita. His is not the only town in Madrid that has seen how his brick was activated. Something similar It has happened in Valdeluzurbanization located 75 km from Madrid that It was halfway after the outbreak of the real estate bubble. Its mayor wait that the population triggers over the next few years. Reuters appointment even a third example: an urbanization located on the outskirts of Bernuy de Porrerosapproximately 100 kilometers north of Madrid, which has also recovered the activity after remaining almost abandoned. And what is the reason? All these populations have something in common: their relative proximity to Madrid, which makes them an attractive destination for families that end up being expelled from the capital for the high cost of their home. Is The case For example, from Nestor, an employee of the construction sector who four years ago left Carabanchel to move with his family to Seseña. Living in Seseña requires you to get up every day at dawn and take the 6.30 h bus that takes it to the capital, but the price gap makes that discomfort more than assumable. In his day Nestor moved to Seseña because the rentals were there 20% lower than those of Madrid, Explainand a few months ago he decided to take another step and become an owner: together with his wife, he bought an apartment in the Toledo town for 240,000 euros. “We chose this close site because we can pay it. Madrid is very expensive right now,” The man tells. Is it a unique case? No. It comes rapidly to the newspaper library to meet Testimonies of families who have decided to settle in Seseña or professionals in the sector who attend the rebirth of urbanization and its buildings. “They seemed monsters that were going to stand for the future, but the need for housing has caused them to reactivate,” confesses A real estate to Tele5. “We move in prices below 200,000 euros. That is impossible in Madrid.” Money issue (and km). Seseña is not the only town to which the families expelled by the Madrid real estate marketthat only in the last year has seen how housing became more expensive, According to idealist. The improvement (and cheaper) of communications, especially the train, has caused Segovia or even Valladolid being hosting people who work for companies in the capital. In those municipalities they find homes at prices that, such as I recently recognized A family installed in Valladolid, “Nor would they smell” in Madrid. Images | Seseña City Council, Wikipedia and Seseña is more (Flickr) In … Read more

In Elche a solar macroproject threatens a protected place. It is only the tip of the iceberg of a problem throughout Spain

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Spain advances in its energy transition, but not without conflicts. In Galicia, for example, the expansion of wind farms has generated A growing social rejection for its impact on the landscape. Something similar happens in the teacher, where local communities They denounce the implementation of renewables without planning or consensus. Now, the conflict moves south of the province of Alicante. The voices of the protest. The environmental group friends of the wetlands of southern Alicante (AHSA) has resorted to the authorization of Lucinala, a macroproject of solar energy As detailed in their press release. The authorization was granted by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, despite the fact that the group presented allegations and a first resource last years, still unanswered. Although the project has been reformulated and its reduced surface, environmentalists continue to see it as a direct threat to the natural and agricultural values ​​of the Galvany Clot environment. Project chronology. Lucinala, a solar plant of more than 62 MW of power and 120 hectares of surface, has already received two administrative authorizations In just 15 months. Despite the unfavorable reports issued by entities such as the City Council of Alicante or the road unit, the central government gave the project to the project in January and April 2024, according to He explained The information. The local medium continues to detail that the promoter has introduced modifications in response to these institutional objections, such as the underground of evacuation lines, the elimination of an intermediate substation or the displacement of the electric layout. These measures allowed the project to raffle the main legal obstacles. However, they have not managed to dissipate the social or ecological opposition to the project. A protected area. In the province of Alicante there are about twenty protected placesnot as many as in other areas of Spain. For this reason, the location of the Lucinala plant is especially sensitive in a critical area from the environmental point of view: The Landscape Basin of Galvany Clot. This wetland, located in the municipality of Elche, has various protection figures, both regional and European. The Ecologists collective In your press release He has denounced that the set of eleven solar plants would occupy more than 190 hectares, a figure that exceeds in 10 hectares the total area of ​​the wetland itself. In addition, they added that 60 hectares of high quality agricultural land, 31 hectares of forest land and 25 hectares of areas with flood risk would be affected. And the ecological connection of the Clot was committed to the Serra of why, to the north, which would fragment key habitats for local fauna. This can bring tail. Beyond the specific case, AHSA, together with more than 150 organizations integrated into the Macrorenovable Platform, They have denouncedA speculative “bubble” driven by European subsidies Next Generation. On the other hand, AHSA has warned that renewable projects in process in Spain are already 144 GW of power, well above the 89 GW planned in The National Energy and Climate National Plan (PNIEC) 2021-2030. Even so, the Latest reports From Red Eléctrica de España (REE) they have indicated that, at the end of 2024, the installed renewable power reached 85.1 GW, very close to the marked objective. Reopening the debate. It is true that from the environmental group they insist that abandoning fossil fuels is urgent, but they warn that a poorly planned transition can reproduce old errors: concentration of energy power, loss of territorial sovereignty and false promises of sustainability. Instead, they bet on a fair transition, decentralized and sensitive to territory. At that crossroads, the question continues in the air: how to move towards clean energy without leaving behind the territory, biodiversity and those who inhabit it. Image | Pxhere and Ferran tab Xataka | Solar panels that clean other solar panels: the photovoltaic industry has entered its self -replicant phase

Spain wants to reduce marine pollution and will start in an unsuspected place: the bathroom

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Spain adds this year 642 beaches with blue flag, four more than last year, According to the Association of Environmental and Consumer Education (Adeac). This badge, which recognizes the environmental quality, security and services of the coast, returns to place the country among world leaders. Even so, the figure represents only 18 % of the more than 3,500 beaches in the country, which shows a pending challenge. To face it, Spain has begun to move. A new plan is brewing. Rather, a new bill with The goal of reducing pollution For single -use plastics, where wet wipe manufacturers will be forced to assume cleaning costs derived from the improper use of these products. In addition, the initiative wants to prohibit citizens from discarding wipes by the toilet and release balloons in the air. With this measure, Spain seeks to align with European standards on single -use plastics and move towards the UN sustainable development objectives. A serious problem. Wet wipes, even those made of natural polymers without chemical modifications, generate an important environmental impact. Its resistance to decomposition causes obstructions in sewerage and purification systems, especially during periods of heavy rains, such as has detailed The Guardian. The microfibers that release reach rivers and seas, aggravating pollution and raising management costs for local authorities. Responsibility. The new law will force companies to take care not only for the cleaning of the waste they generate, but also of information campaigns. To control who should pay, manufacturers will have to officially register. Although biodegradable wipes would be exempt, the Ministry of Environment He has insisted In that it is best not to throw any for the wiper, to protect pipes and the environment. A very economical topic. A awareness campaign of the Spanish Water and Sanitation Supply Association I already estimated Six years ago, the withdrawal of these wipes was an annual cost of 230 million euros. Until now, economic consequences have fallen to public administrations. According to eldiario.esValencia had to invest 10 million euros in 2019 to clean a three -kilometer jam. In Badajoz, a similar athlete was a cost of 200,000 euros. Murcia encrypted in more than 250,000 euros the replacement of a damaged team at a treatment plant, while the repair of pumping equipment amounted to another 200,000 euros. Other countries already have the lead. Four years ago, both France, Germany, Belgium and England They prohibited use of single -use plastic products, following the EU guidelines. In addition, on the one hand, France a year later prohibited the use of plastic To package small fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, Germany and Belgium They have been developing A fund funded by single -use plastics manufacturers, who must contribute according to the amount of plastic they sell. This fund aims to cover the cleaning costs of public spaces and waste management, reinforcing the principle of “who pollutes, pays”. It does not start on the shore. While the bill continues its parliamentary processing, its effectiveness will depend much on the citizen response. Because the care of the beaches does not begin only on the coast, but in the daily habits of those who enjoy them. Image | Pexels and Marco Verch Xataka | If the question is whether there is an “invasion” of moths in Murcia, the answer is that of every year by these dates

Internet has become such a confusing place that there are many people longing for web 1.0. And in Neocities you can relive it

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Nostalgia is An emotional mystery that we do not know how to explain at all. We miss what we live in the past, we dyed it from Rosa and compare it to the present, even knowing that perhaps they were worse times. Because … wasn’t that internet of the beginning of the century, with demential designs, recharged and very, very unusable? Or was it that what we missed was precisely that indomesticated savagery of that time? Web 1.0 we gave ourselves. Web 1.0 is considered The first time on the Internet as we know today. It covers approximately From 1991 to 2004 And it has characteristics that the oldest of the place will recognize without problem. Among other things, communication was done unidirectionally (only information could be consumed, not significantly interacting with the pages), almost everything was simple text and images, the design relied on tables, Frames and basic html, and of course, no social networks or global collaboration. Internet was basically a container of things. Characteristic aesthetic. And first of all, it had a difficult aesthetic to cover in its entirety, but that those who lived it identify with a very specific place and moment. To that internet of hypertext (that now it seems that we die) and of the seekers organized by categories pay tribute Neocitiesa service of Hosting who wants to relive the philosophy of free geocities accommodations. He was born in 2013 and already has more than one million websites housed, most with a maximum size of 1 GB, the top that allows the free service option. HTML on fire. Neocities balances the modern and the very delayed quite grace. For example, it facilitates an HTML editor, but integrated into the browser. They can also be used to build CSS and Javascript pages, and in free mode the only files that can be uploaded are of these three languages, in addition to Markdown, XML, text and images. For anyone to make an MP3 repository that, on the other hand, would also be very of the time. In any case, the results can be enjoyed in the Webs gallery Organized by Tags reminiscent of remote time webrings. What times. And all this shoots A Pávlov type reaction That, in this case, it sounds like the meows of a modem of 56 kPbs and the need to disconnect the fixed to navigate. But above all, let’s ask ourselves What do we miss this first Internet incarnation. Possibly the novelty is the element that we remember most then: Everything was a discovery. But from the hand of that discovery is the feeling that the Internet was yet to be tame: the wild, unbalanced contents, without any sense of measure. Because they strictly obeyed the concerns and desires of the creators of the websites, not to algorithms that determined what people wanted to see. The effort is what is valued. In this nostalgia, and some of that is evident in Neocities, there is also a praise of the “effort” of any technology that takes its first steps. The experimental designs by accident, the slow connections, the rodeos to contact someone (mail addresses buried on the websites, visits books, forums, the first chat systems …): almost that the Internet had to be built as it was visiting. Neocities is a wink and tribute to those times although, being honest, with somewhat simpler websites. After all, during all these years something we have learned. In Xataka | The nostalgia industry follows a full candle wind, and an old acquaintance is benefiting: Fujifilm

The place where the blackout began

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Huéneja, a small Granada municipality of approximately one thousand inhabitants, has become an epicenter of the eyes after the blackout that left the Iberian Peninsula on April 28. First substation to fall. With a powerful renewable energy concentration, Huéneja’s electrical substation was, according to The Energy Newspaperthe first great disconnection in the chain of events that caused the energy zero a month ago. Here, Red Eléctrica has been operating for more than a decade a 400 kV substation designed to evacuate the growing production of renewable energies in the area. Huéneja’s substation recorded the first generation drop in the moments before the great blackout. A renewable hub. Huéneja’s electrical substation is connected window, photovoltaic and thermosoles. In total, about 668 MW of installed power pour their energy into this knot: 376 MW windings, 142 MW photovoltaic and 150 MW Termosoles. That fateful day, all this connected generation was suddenly disconnected. From what we know, the protections jumped when detecting an over -the higher than the permitted limits, from outside the substation. A late expansion. On May 5, just a week after the blackout and while the causes were still investigated, the Government of Spain authorized Red Electric to expand the huéneja substation. This action, published in the BOE of May 21It has a budget of 7.5 million euros aimed at feeding the electrical train network. Bruno Vuan, connoisseur of the sector, I already pointed to Huéneja As a candidate for the start of the blackout, highlighting her concentration of power and questioning the tension control capacity for that generation. But Huéneja was not the cause of the blackout, but the first big piece of dominoes to fall. The origin is not the cause. Paraphrasing the expert Fernando Rodríguezthat Huéneja’s substation was the origin of the blackout does not mean that it was the cause. The failure of a substation does not grave the entire system, designed to withstand this type of oscillations. There were moments later other two disconnections to the southwest of the peninsula. The “causes” interacted with each other, and also with their effects, touring the system as a zipper that dulls Spain and Portugal. The complete schedule. After the incident in Huéneja at 12:32:57, two other important generation losses occurred in Badajoz and Seville in just twenty seconds, adding a total of 2.2 Gigaveatians disconnected. Luis Badesa, professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, had already signed over overthes as suspects. According to its analysis, the point of no return arrived at 12:33:20, when the Iberian Peninsula lost the connection with France, becoming an “electric island.” What failed then? According to Redeia, the Electric Red Matrix was not the energy mix, It was not the lack of inertiaThey were not the renewables. In an interview with The avant -gardehis president Beatriz Corredor said: “There was no transport network and the operation of the system was correct.” Corridor points to “some conventional generators” that had that day “some voltage control parameters below those established by the regulations.” The president of Redeia has put the focus on conventional energies, which did not control the tension correctly. Image | Voltae In Xataka | The other uncomfortable truth of the blackout: Spain does not yet have enough batteries for its renewable boom

Sinaloa has become such a violent place that even animals flee from there

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Mexico has a problem. The Drug cartels They are tremendously influential in many of the cities, it is estimated that organized crime controls the distribution of 13% of the products and the “renewed” crisis of violence has promoted New strategies by the Government. And that violence is such that animals are also suffering. Specifically, more than 700 copies that have had to leave their sanctuary looking for quieter areas. The greatest relocation of wildlife in the history of Mexico The clashes in Mexico permeate all layers. The groups compete for the territory, something that ends up affecting civiliansbut also fight against security forces. The climate of violence implies that, although in some areas there is no explicit violence, there is uneasiness and there are those who prefer not to go through the place. A few months ago, that tension caused that Some Mayan monuments will be inaccessible Because the guides did not want to play. And something similar has happened with veterinarians and caregivers who should periodically visit the animals of the Sanctuary of Ostok. Located about 25 kilometers from Culiacán, in the state of Sinaloa, the sanctuary hoste Property of criminals. In the area, these last weeks have faced two factions, ‘Los Mayitos’ and ‘Los Chapitos’, turning the city into the stage of shooting, extortion and threats that have not been alien to the sanctuary staff. As we read in CNNthere has come a point where, despite violence, employees and animals in the place had had no problem, but as one of the employees comments in the middle, more recently they have had many difficulties in reaching their job. “They practically took us out of the place because there were people who wanted to extort us,” says Ernesto Zazueta, the director of the installation. In CBS They tell how this resurgence of violence is affecting civilians more because criminals have begun not only to extort, but also kidnap and steal vehicles to obtain funds with which to continue their particular war. This theft of supplies and vehicles has prevented the activity in the park from developing as it should, and in addition to employees, animals also suffer. “There is not a single sure place in the city these days,” says Diego García, an employee of the sanctuary, in Mexico News Dailywho has had to do with some of the animals have been eating days because there were no supplies and because employees could not arrive. The highlight was when one of the elephants of the place suffered an infection that required the review by veterinarians and they refused to enter the area for fear of that violence. It is evident that everything adds, but this is what caused it to be decided to relocate the animals, as Ernesto says in W Radio Mexico. This move was made without any advertisement for fear that the members of the cartels will take over the specimens and the destination is the El Charnto Biopark, a new sanctuary that will open in August and that is in Mazatlan, about 200 kilometers from Culiacán where things seem to be calmer. To carry it out, 15 trucks were needed and were accompanied by both members of the National Guard and by veterinarians and experts in fauna management. For Zazueta, who have been forced to have to make this decision is another sign of the deep War has permeated in everyday life of civilians. And in the Facebook account of the sanctuary, the caregivers They have shown How they say goodbye to them, since they will not be the ones who take care of them from now on. Because we have talked about the Sanctuary of Ostok, but it is estimated that, since September 2024, 97 schools, 800 businesses have closed and almost 1,000 murders have been reported only in Sinaloa. Images | Ostok Sanctuary on Facebook, CCTV In Xakata | The María Islands: The “Alcatraz” of Mexico where the most dangerous criminals in the country ended

Pocket was the place where you saved articles you never read. The dopamine chute of social networks has killed it

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I was an Pocket user. And like many others, I still did not read the articles that kept me. It was the condemnation of a service that opted for deferred and repossed reading of all kinds of articles – especially long – but found an apparently invincible nemesis: social networks. Mozilla closes Pocket. The Mozilla organization has announced That closes the Pocket service. On July 8 the platform will stop offering articles and will enter “mode only export”: users can export their articles saved until October 8, 2025, at which time “user data will be deleted permanently.” Reasons. According to those responsible, although Pocket has helped millions to save articles and discover stories that were worth reading, “the way people use the web has evolved, so we are channeling our resources to projects that best fit their navigation and online needs habits. “ A great service … Pocket was born in 2007 as Read It Later, a service that allowed to mark as favorite articles that you could read quietly when it came to you. The idea was gaining traction by focusing on extensive pieces of both journalism and creative writing. Mozilla He bought it In 2017 and made it one of the star services associated with its Firefox browser. … that we did not use so much. Many users will coincide with me that Pocket was fantastic but we did not take advantage of it. I kept keeping articles regularly with the hope of reading them in my Kobo e-book reader (which had this function integrated), but rarely ended up doing so. And on top we used a little bad. Pocket was so simple and comfortable to use that many ended up using it not only to keep promising – but not always wonderful – long texts (Longform), but all kinds of links with news or even tweets. And when you opened Pocket, two things used to happen. The first, the feeling of having another obligation before you, another list of tasks in the form of a list (endless) of articles to read. The second, to throw yourself for the short items that you knew you were going to consume in a short time to be able to “erase” from the list. Check “Reading later” had become a “take it off later.” But it was still a fantastic service, and it has not been we who have killed it. The culprit is another. Doomscrolling. Social networks They have stolen us Our capacity to concentrate. The dopamine chute that they offer us with the famous Doomscrolling has proven unstoppable. We love to displace the screen vertically on our mobile phones to see the following content, and that immediacy and instant gratification have ended up shaking our attention capacity. Until always, Pocket 🙁 Slot machine. The algorithms that govern social networks They are inspired by the slots. Its objective is to generate addiction and have us glued to the platform on duty without leaving it. A study Of 2021, the diabolical simplicity of our way of dealing with these contents revealed precisely. The experiment was overwhelming: A group of participants were given a single video and asked if they preferred to see another or perform a certain task. Another group were given five videos and asked them the same question. The second group was much more predisposed to watch more videos. Then the two groups saw the same number of videos, but the first group saw more diverse videos and the other saw more homogeneous videos. The second group showed its predisposition to see more videos instead of moving on to another task. AND ECO CHAMBERS. These results reflect our current reality. Social networks not only raise infinite content, but also do so Locking us increasingly in echo cameras with homogeneous content that reinforce our tastes and opinions. In Pocket we probably also built a large echo camera, true, but at least we did it, not an algorithm. The problem was to reserve 5, 10 or 15 minutes to read a long article is increasingly difficult before the avalanche of images, texts and especially short videos always suggestive, great and fun. Google Reader moment. Pocket’s closure remembers to some extent that we live with Google Reader, feeds RSS reader that the searches giant killed because although we loved him it was probably not profitable. As in that case, Pocket was a fantastic product but also very niche. And even in that niche, underutilized. Digital Diogenes. In fact, Pocket contributed to Our digital diogenes syndrome. It was the place where you saved, saved and saved articles that you never read. In that sense, it was less functional than Google Reader, that when you used you did, you took it to read those headlines of the news that were coming from the feed RSS. But that Save everything syndrome In order not to consume it or enjoy it, it occurs in many other scenarios, Like photos and videos of the mobile or in the video games that we download and to those who will never play. In fact it is not that we no longer play: is that We prefer to see others play. Alternatives. Pocket’s death makes us look for inevitable alternatives to continue keeping articles that we may never read. Among them stands out Instapaperbut they are also Readwise, Wallabag, Rindropeither Mymind. For those who have a kobo there is also somebut not so direct. Curse. Image | Mozilla In Xataka | Internet, let me forget

Airbnb does not want to be just the place where you reserve the floor of your vacation. Now you want to look for chef and coach

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Airbnb no longer wants to be (alone) the place you go to search and book the house where you will spend your next vacation. That, He assured Tuesday His co -founder and CEO, Brian Chesky, has fallen short. With the tourism market upthe recent memory of pandemic and regulatory challenge every time More presentAirbnb has decided to undergo one of the biggest changes he has lived in its 18 years of history. Its objective: to be a comprehensive tourist platform. And that happens to facilitate the search for accommodation, but also offer Hairdressers, chefs, masseuses, or even a plan to learn flamenco in Madrid or riding a horse in Cuzco. Everything you need for your trip. “Much more than Airbnb”. The phrase is from Chesky and although it could perfectly go through a commercial slogan, it captures well the essence of the change that the company wanted to apply to the summer doors of 2025. After 18 years of travel, Millions of active ads And more than 2,000 million registered stays, Airbnb has decided to undergo an image change and expand its scope. His idea is very simple: he no longer wants to limit himself to accommodation management. Now the app will also allow to hire services and experiences. Do you want a personal coach? You have it. Do you want to resort to the services of a chef, a masseuse or an original experience, such as a gastronomic route, a horse ride or shopping with a stylist? You have it too. Airbnb’s goal is to make the leap to services and complete the experience of tourists. Why’s that? The company assures who wants to stand up to his main competitor: the hotels. “Often people decide Explain. The truth is that its new business turn arrives in a stage marked by other factors, not only the competition that accommodations can exercise. Challenges on the horizon. After almost 20 years of accelerated expansion and add millions of offers in much of the planet (in 2024 Statista spoke Of almost eight million advertisements in 100,000 cities), Airbnb has seen how its regulatory scenario has been complicated. In New York They have put limitsin Norway it applies A ratein cities like Madrid or Florence Its expansion has been stopped by Moratory and restrictions on the opening of new tourist floors and in Barcelona directly wants to end With them. And that to quote just some examples of territories that have moved to paliar tab The impact of the sector in its residential market. The company has also suffered A fall In the stock market Regarding 2024 before business and BBC precise That, despite the strength of his latest profits, Airbnb has warned that the increase in reserves could slow down this quarter. Two ideas: services and experiences. Airbnb has decided to articulate its new offer around those two groups: services and experiences. The first has in turn divided it into 10 categories among which are chefs that prepare food at home, photographers, masseuses, coaches, hairdressers or catering. Airbnb says that it has “evaluated the knowledge and reputation” of all its “hosts” and guarantees that they have an average of ten years of experience, have contributed the necessary permits and also verified their identity. “Best of all, it is not necessary assures. Regarding prices, options are included for less than 50 euros. Airbnb presumes in addition to having recognized professionals (chefs with Michelin stars) and offers that can only be hired through the platform itself. Go out of route or go shops. The other leg of the new Airbnb offer are the “experiences”, available a priori in several hundred cities. As an example the company quotes A route For the Parisian heritage with an architect who has documented the reconstruction of Notre-Dame, Kitchen classes With a Japanese chef, excursions on horseback by Inca sacred places with an anthropologist or a Fight class in a Mexican ring with a professional fighter. Again, Airbnb presumes that part of those experiences are “Airbnb Originals”. And how do you intend to do it? Airbnb Clarify That the services will start in 260 cities with a dozen different categories, “although new types of offers and additional locations will appear in the app every so often,” he says. As for the experiences, they will be launched in more than 650 cities in the world. The country Precise that services and experiences will be available in destinations such as Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Malaga or Seville. For example, flamenco classes are included, a visit to the meadow, wines and oils or tapas routes. To articulate the new Airbnb offer, it has also decided to “totally renew” its app to facilitate that it becomes a comprehensive travel platform: a tool with which to reserve stay, services and plans. “When users reserve accommodation, the application will suggest services and experiences depending on where they are going to stay and who will accompany them,” Clarify. The change comes more than two years later that Chesky proposed to transform the company and an investment that would be around 250 million dollars. Images | Zed Mendez (UNSPLASH) and Airbnb In Xataka | Norway implemented a 22% rate for Airbnb floors years ago. It has only served to raise more

Neither London, nor New York, nor Tokyo. The largest city in the world is a place that you have never heard

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We recently told something we sensed, but there were no data to confirm it. For a long time it was thought that we were 8,000 million people on the planet, but a study calculated that we had left Between 1,000 and 3,000 million along the way. It is not a trivial figure, and gives an idea of ​​the “massification” of people on earth. If we add to this that most live in cities, the thing is complicated a little more. In fact, there is only one city that has two records: it is the bigger and the most populatedand possibly you had never heard of her. Colossal and unknown. To the question of the world’s largest city, many candidates may be repeated: London, New York, Tokyo… However, none of those well -known cities really holds the title, neither by total nor surface population. No, the true urban giant is found in China and is a name that the general public is unknown: Chongqing. This monumental metropolis, located in the geographical heart of the country, where the Yangtsé and Jialing rivers cross, has not only become the city with the greater number of inhabitants in its jurisdiction, but also in the most extensive on the planet, with More than 82,400 square kilometersan extension comparable to entire countries such as Ireland or Austria. Context. However, its real size is not easily perceived from the outside, this occurs especially because much of Its territory is ruraland because its urban structure challenges all cartographic logic, built on steep slopes, deep valleys and high urban platforms that force its residents to move between tunnels, phones, stairs, elevators and catwalks that intersect as in an endless vertical dream. A three -dimensional city. More than a flat city, Chongqing is a three -dimensional urban phenomenon, as vertical as expansive, as abruptly as unbeatable. In fact, He told the Guardian Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright when describing his experience there Like a mixture Between the Inception movie and a snake and stairs game. In Chongqing, what seems like the ground floor can actually be the roof of a thirty -story building, and moving a few apples can involve changing levels five times. Its urban design, far from following a classic pattern, Respond to the mountainous topography which forces the neighborhoods clinging to the cliffs since the subway lines cross housing buildings. In such a context, even maps lose meaning: the city is only understood in motion, from within and in all directions. The Chinese city in dusk More than an inflated statistic. Plus: Although it may seem that its classification as “the greatest” is based on administrative technicalism, the argument goes beyond the mere surface. While the urban area occupies a much smaller portion of the total, More than 70% of the population (about 33 million inhabitants) lives within that area concentrated, a figure that exceeds any other city in the world. In addition, Chongqing is not a recent experiment or a planned city overnight: its history goes back to More than 3,000 yearswith a key role as regional capital, strategic river port and even logistics node before the Qing dynasty. The city already had more than two million inhabitants before the economic reforms of 1968 that opened China to the globalized world. From that moment on, growth It was vertiginous: 6.3 million in 1979, 13.9 million in 1983 and almost 29 million in 1997. The urbanized “China”. If you want too, Chongqing symbolizes the perfect model of Intensive urbanization That China has promoted in recent decades, with a state machinery that has doubled the urbanization rate of the country in twenty years, and that projects to reach 70% of urban population by 2050. Moreover, four of the five largest cities in the world by population within its administrative limits They are today in Chinareflex of a national process that has merged economic development with urban planning on a continental scale. Within that framework, the enclave not only represents a statistical feat, but a key piece of Chinese economic and territorial gear, a kind of megalopolis built on the basis of public investment, administrative reorganization and forced mobility towards urban poles. Touching roof. It is the last of the legs to analyze: its future. Like that of many other Chinese cities, he faces a new reality that we have gone counting: Stagnation and posterior Demographic decline of the country. Despite its colossal size and its central role in the economic growth of the nation, it may have already reached its maximum point. The new generations, less numerous and With other goals and valuesThey could reduce the expansion pressure that its recent history has defined. That said, even if it does not grow anymore, Chongqing will continue to be a unique city: with 33 million people And a territory that covers more than some states and countries combined, the city of impossible heights and asymmetric densities is already, in its own right, one of the most extreme urban expressions that humanity has conceived. Image | JUUKEIHC, Kristoffer Trolle In Xataka | We thought we were 8,000 million people throughout the planet. Until some researchers began to make numbers In Xataka | In Japan there is no doubt that they live worse than 30 years ago. Literally, houses are getting smaller and smaller

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