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Giving seven times more vitamin D during pregnancy improves children’s memory at 10 years old. The problem is in the fine print

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During pregnancy, the recommendations of supplementation They are an area where science advances with lead feet, since the most important thing is always to guarantee safety. One of these supplements that is heard the most is vitamin Dtraditionally known for its role in calcium absorption and bone health, but which has been in the spotlight for years for its possible impact on neurodevelopment. A new study of Danish origin has put its objective on this statement to be able to clarify what happens when a mother supplements with vitamin D during pregnancy. Through its publication in JAMAtells how, to achieve good results, almost 500 children were analyzed for several years until finally being able to see if they had cognitive improvement during their childhood. What were they based on? To understand this discovery we have to go back in time to a randomized clinical trial titled as COPSAC2010whose initial results were published in 2016. This trial sought to evaluate whether vitamin D prevented the risk of suffering from asthma or persistent wheezing in babies, and to verify this the researchers divided the mothers into two groups from the 24th week of gestation: One group would receive the standard recommended dose of vitamin D of 400 IU per day. The other group had a “megadose” of vitamin D of 2,800 IU daily. The discovery. Taking advantage of this valuable group of 498 children, the research team decided to get more out of it, since when these children reached 10 years of age they were subjected to rigorous cognitive tests to see if the fact of having given vitamin D to their mother during pregnancy had left its mark on their brain. In this way, two objectives were covered with a single investigation. Here the results revealed that children in the high supplementation group showed a modest but significant improvement in verbal and visual memory compared to the children of mothers who took the standard dose of vitamin D. Although something important to note is that it puts to rest any idea that this supplementation is a machine to “create geniuses”, because there were no differences in IQ and they only saw that the ability to retain information was improved. The small print. Given such a finding, it is tempting to think that all pregnant women should multiply their vitamin D intake to give their children an advantage over others. But here we must pay attention to different problems, such as that the original trial was designed to measure respiratory problems and not neurological development. This means that drawing conclusions from here reduces the statistical robustness of the discovery. But this is not the only problem, since we have seen that the effect is “modest” without seeming to give children a great advantage. And furthermore, the study is based on women who already had normal vitamin D levels before the study, so it is not clear how this dose would act in populations that truly have some type of chronic deficiency of the vitamin. Will there be changes? At the moment, these studies do not justify the need to recommend that all pregnant women supplement their diet with vitamin D, as is the case with other supplements such as folic acid. The real value of this research is not to give us an immediate new prescription, but to open the door to future clinical trials specifically designed to unravel how what happens in the womb continues to shape our brains a decade later. Images | amylla battani In Xataka | We have been sending pregnant women to bed for decades as a precaution. Science has just proven that it is a big mistake

the fine print matters as much as the price

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If you were thinking about signing up for PlayStation Plusit may be worth checking the calendar. Sony has announced a price rise for its subscription service, which offers monthly games, online multiplayer and other benefits to users of its consoles. The change comes into effect tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20, although with an important nuance: it will not affect all users equally. The announcement has come through a message posted on X. The Japanese company has indicated that the increase responds to current “market conditions” and that the new rates will start at 10.99 dollars, 9.99 euros and 7.99 pounds for one-month subscriptions, and at 27.99 dollars, 27.99 euros and 21.99 pounds for three-month subscriptions. Click to see the original publication in X The immediate question is which markets exactly this rise will reach. At the moment, Sony has not published a official list of countries not one entry in the PlayStation blog with more details. We only have that message, quite brief, for reference. Sony explains that the new PlayStation Plus prices will only apply to new subscribers in “select regions.” It also adds the following: “This price change does not apply to current subscribers (except in Türkiye and India) unless the existing subscription changes or expires.” The statement leaves some unknowns open. The expression “prices will start at” presumably points to the plan essentialthe entry level of the service. In Spain, this modality currently costs 8.99 euros per month and 24.99 euros if contracted for three months. If the increase is finally applied to the Spanish market, the change would mean paying 1 euro more in the monthly plan and 3 euros more in the quarterly plan. What we still don’t know is what will happen with the other levels of the service. PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium are the most expensive modalities and include additional benefits, such as Ubisoft+ Classics, a broader catalog of games, classics and title trials, depending on the contracted plan. For now, Sony has not given details about possible changes to these subscriptions. We’ve contacted Sony for more information about the extent of the upload and will update this article if we hear back. Images | sony In Xataka | Pluto is in Sagittarius and that can only mean one thing: the third trailer for ‘GTA VI’ will be out on May 14

Spain wants 90% of the people on this map to have an AVE station 30 minutes away. There is small print

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The Ministry of Transport and Urban Mobility wants to turn the train into one of the great mobility axes of our country. To this end, the objective has been proposed to promote the use of high speed in the west of the Iberian Peninsula. The project has a clear headline: an AVE station half an hour away for 90% of the inhabitants of the Atlantic corridor. What has been announced? 9% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have access to a high-speed station within half an hour in 2030. This is the conclusion reached by the Territorial accessibility analysis carried out by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobilitythrough the Office of the Commissioner of the Atlantic Corridor. If the plans are fulfilled, the Ministry assures that in less than five years a total of 62 high-speed stations will be ready, spread across 28 provinces and 11 autonomous communities. The jump will have to be substantial because right now there are 33 stations available with high-speed service distributed in 8 autonomous communities and 19 provinces. What is the Atlantic Corridor? Within the mobility of the European Union, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) defines nine major corridors to define your roadmap and investments. These corridors are large spaces through which a very important part of the citizens of the European Union and their goods move. In the different corridors, therefore, all mobility nodes are taken into account, from ports and airports to railways and roads. In the case of the Atlantic Corridor we are talking about a set of communication nodes that link the south of Germany with Paris and the entire west coast of France with Spain (on its western slope) and Portugal, culminating in the Cádiz area. In these moments, the Atlantic Corridor as it passes through our country offers the following data: 5,400 kilometers of railway tracks 2,900 kilometers of roads Nine seaports Five international airports Nine intermodal stations Four cross-border crossings with Portugal or France And it is linked to 13 autonomous communities and 40 provinces By train. Among the infrastructures designed to facilitate movement through all these places is the train. And, specifically, the boost to high speed that the European Union wants to give to encourage the use of this means of transport instead of the plane. These investments, according to the Ministry of Transport, will have to be completed before December 31, 2030 and represent an investment of 3,123 million euros. It must be taken into account that the European Union has been demanding better connectivity by train from Spain and Portugal than should crystallize with a Madrid-Lisbon in 2030. But It won’t be until 2034 when this line is completely a high-speed route. What does it imply? In order to achieve the milestone set by the European Union, it will be necessary for Spain to complete the “Basque Y”, the high-speed project that has been underway for more than 20 years to provide the region with a qualitative leap in railway connections. that seem not to arrive. Additionally, the entire project will need to be completed to connect Spain with Portugal through Extremaduraa journey in which, at the moment, it is not always possible to travel at high speed. And it will also be necessary to bring high speed to Huelva. 90% with small print. The big headline, as we said, is that 90% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have a high-speed station less than half an hour from their home… as long as such a station exists in their province. Here is the headline’s trick, if the province does not have a high-speed station, the percentage drops drastically in some cases. For example, in the press release no reference is made to Salamancaone of the conflicting points when talking about high speed in the Atlantic Corridor. The European Union roadmap marks a connection between the Spanish city and Porto but there is little progress in this regard. Another of the region’s usual demands is also discarded: recover the Vía de la Plata railway. The truth is that this project is neither here nor expected. Other data must also be taken carefully. The Ministry of Transport says that 100% of the inhabitants of the Basque Country will have access to a high-speed train station… but in this case less than an hour away and not 30 minutes. La Rioja will also make a qualitative leap, from the current 14% to 99% although no high-speed train stops in the region. These data lead us to the fact that, in 2030, 70% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have a high-speed station less than an hour from their home. The Ministry of Transport puts this number at 26.8 million people. Some controversies. However, having a high-speed line close to home does not mean that we have a high-speed train that is always accessible. Spain, the second country with the most high-speed roads in the world (second only to China), is a good example of how a poorly studied growth ended with high speed stations with very little traffic. Nor does living in a provincial capital guarantee that the train always stops. A paradigmatic example of this is Zamorawhere they fight so that more high-speed trains that cover the Galician corridor stop at their stop. And sometimes, The best solution is to offer high-speed stations in the middle of nowhereas a link between large populations. Increasing the number of high-speed stations does not automatically mean having ample schedules to take a high-speed train. However, this shouldn’t be bad in and of itself. A good example is Japan’s dense high-speed network where there are trains that stop exceptionally between origin and destination and others that dot their journey with more or fewer stops. Of course, there the density of passage in the number of trains facilitates mobility and the connection between “fast” trains and those that stop more frequently. Photo | Adif In Xataka | High speed in Madrid … Read more

The few video game magazines that remain in print have retro content. That’s why ‘Micromanía’ returns in sheet format

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In times when the traditional video game press, on paper and sold in kiosks, has practically disappeared from the map (only with some glorious exception that barely resists), products aimed at the nostalgic waterline of the most veteran players are, however, in very good health. They know it well in Made with Pixelswho publish not only a magazine dedicated to retro (‘Pixels‘), but also official continuations of kiosk icons such as ‘microhobby‘ and now, ‘Micromania‘… in sheet format! Two-year hiatus. In January 2024, just over 24 months ago, the veteran ‘Micromania‘, the magazine of microcomputers first, PC later, which would accompany several generations of gamers. Its first issues, in traditional format, covered current 8-bit machines such as Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. They revolutionized newsstands with their second stage, the most iconic, in a tabloid format that multiplied the content and served as a bridge to 16 bits. A third stage, again in a traditional format, would focus on the PC world. A mixed return. In this new incarnation the format will be somewhat smaller: 25cm x 35cm, that is, larger than any other magazine, but without reaching the brutal excess of the original. The magazine will be bimonthly, and can be purchased in digital format in PDF (5.99 euros), in paper (11.99) or both (13.99). The layout and design are inevitably reminiscent of the original style and the contents will be comparable: analysis in the classic style of Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Game Boy, NES, Master System, Mega Drive, SNESm, etc., arcade games, news on the current retro scene, solutions and maps… What’s in number one. For now, the contents of the first issue that we know are: Cover dedicated to Monkey Island, with report on Ron Gilbert and the complete saga Two gift posters on the central pages of each issue in giant size Damned Castile Requiem– Exclusive review and downloadable demos for Mega Drive and Dreamcast Interviews with original editors of Hobby Press (Microhobby, Micromanía, Hobby Consolas) Reunion with Turbo Girlset of the first cover in sheet format, 38 years ago Who is behind. Without a doubt, this is the most interesting detail of this proposal: behind the writing of the magazine there are a good number of names from the classic age of video game journalism in Spain, which guarantee that the style of the reviews and articles will be in line with what was done then. It is directed by José Luis Sanz, who was already in charge of ‘Hobby Consolas’, and he is accompanied by Marcos García, who directed magazines, paradoxically, in the competition: ‘Superjuegos’ and ‘Revista Oficial Playstation’, among others. They are joined by editors such as Jesús Martínez del Vas, José Luis Rodríguez, J. Luis Molina and Juanjo Muñoz, among others. Bet on the past. As it could not be otherwise, the magazines that survive on paper, with few exceptions, rely on retro content, or at least retro has a strong presence in their pages. In addition to the aforementioned Hecho con Pixels titles, publications such as the Spanish edition of ‘Retro Gamer’, also by Axel Springer, are added. The new incarnation of ‘Micromanía’ is aimed, obviously, at those who bought it at the time: a juicy market of forty-somethings looking to return to even the most spectacularly uncomfortable format in the history of our newsstands. In Xataka | A programmer’s ingenuity turned a fatal error in this classic video game into a congratulatory message

I was about to buy the best-selling Chinese motorcycle in Spain. Until I read the fine print

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Chinese motorcycles They are driving the Spanish crazy. So much so that they are achieving the unthinkable: snatch the throne to the historic Japanese Honda and Yamaha. It is no wonder, since both in terms of performance and price, what the Chinese proposals offer is simply unbeatable. Servidor was recently at the Zontes dealership to test what is currently the best-selling A2 license scooter in Spain: the 368G. I went down from trying it convinced of the purchase, until I read the fine print. One that has a lot to do with China’s strategy to conquer Europe. The aforementioned. If you don’t understand much about motorcycles, the summary is easy: this motorcycle is “the SUV” with the best quality-price on the market. It costs less than 5,000 euros, has a 368cc engine and almost 40hp of power, and comes with extras such as rear and front cameras with Sony sensors, heated grips as standard, keyless boot and hood, screen with mirroring for the mobile… The equivalent in any traditional brand costs about 1,500 euros more. The rolling smoothness of the motorcycle is excellent, and although the general qualities are somewhat tight (something completely logical, given the price), it is an absolutely winning purchase. Everything good, except for one little problem. We are guinea pigs. China is achieving something unthinkable a few years ago in the world of motorcycles (and cars). They have not come to compete against smaller brands or carve out a niche for themselves. They have landed in Europe to take the top positions in the ranking and end the leadership of traditional brands. Decades of reign that they have managed to end in a very short time. To do this, at least in the territory of motorcycles, something key is needed in a vehicle for daily use and enjoyment: reliability. And to ensure that the bike passes through the workshop frequently, the inspection intervals are especially abnormal. Yes, but. In the case of this Zontes, the maintenance interval is 4,000km. Yes, every 4,000km you have to go to the workshop. To give you some context, its rivals like the Honda 350 ADV They go through the workshop every 12,000km, and the Yamaha Xmax 300 every 5,000km for oil changes and every 10,000 for the rest of the consumables. The brand is completely aware of the problem this poses, and the 2026 model will arrive in summer with maintenance intervals of 6,000km. It is a substantial change, since every 12,000km a 368g will have passed through the workshop three times. One 2026, two. Little by little. Zontes is not alone in this problem. Voge, the Chinese manufacturer that has managed to become the top 1 in the best-selling trail motorcycles in Spain, has several models with service intervals every 6,000km. But in its star versions, such as 900 DSXthis goes up to 10,000km. If they still sell, imagine in a year. There are many bikers who do not put too many kilometers on their motorcycle, or those who are willing to visit the workshop twice a year in exchange for taking a much more equipped, complete and powerful product. China is managing to place its motorcycles in the top 3 in sales even with this enormous handicap on the table. When your maintenance intervals match the rest of your competitors, the rest will be history. Image | Zontes In Xataka | Spain loves one thing: cheap motorcycles. Europe doesn’t like something else: cheap motorcycles.

the small print of the new PVPC and the end of volatility

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The January 2026 slope has come with a moderate surprise for millions of homes: the electricity bill is lower than last year, despite the fact that the structural costs of the electrical system have risen sharply. Behind this partial relief there is a significant change that marks a before and after in the regulated rate: the Voluntary Price for Small Consumers (PVPC) has entered its final phase. After the energy crisis of 2022 and the blackout of April 2025, the Spanish electricity system seek stability. The result is a less volatile, more predictable, but also more rigid rate. The underlying question is whether this new PVPC protects the consumer or prevents them from taking full advantage of the drop in prices when energy is abundant. A respite on the January slope. For an average household, the start of the year is being less suffocating than expected. According to the simulator of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), an average consumer will pay about 9% less than in the same period last year. As detailed The Information, The monthly bill is around 52.50 euros, compared to 56.40 euros in January 2025. This decline is not minor if we take into account that two winds are blowing against us. On the one hand, regulated costs have risen —tolls and charges—which represent between 35% and 45% of the bill. On the other hand, it remains the “reinforced operation” of the electrical system after the blackout, which forces the use of more expensive gas plants more frequently to guarantee the stability of the network. Even so, the receipt goes down. The key is in the reform of the PVPC. The metamorphosis of the PVPC. What the consumer sees on their bill today is the result of a transformation that began in 2023. For more than a decade, the PVPC was almost entirely linked to the daily wholesale market, the so-called poolwhere the price is set every 15 minutes. This design made it possible to take advantage of specific drops, but also exposed households to extreme increases during the gas crisis, with prices that in 2022 exceeded 200 euros per megawatt hour on average. To reduce this vulnerability, the Government designed a three-year transition that ended on January 1, 2026. Since then, the price of PVPC energy is calculated with a stable distribution: 45% depends on the daily and intraday market and the remaining 55% on the futures markets—annual, quarterly and monthly. As explained The Conversationthe objective is not to always make the bill cheaper, but to prevent it from behaving like a roller coaster again. This greater stability comes at a cost. The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) remember that in 2024 The new formula made the bill 5.2% more expensive compared to what would have been paid with the old system. In 2025, with calmer prices, its impact was almost neutral. In 2026, the model is already definitive. The abundance that does not reach the pocket. The new PVPC coincides with a paradoxical moment. During Christmas 2025, Spain and much of Europe experienced some of the lowest electricity prices in recent years. thanks to records of wind and solar production. However, many consumers hardly noticed this drop in their bill. The reason is structural since more than half of the PVPC price is linked to futures contracted months in advance, the sharp falls in the daily market they only partially move upon receipt. This effect is accentuated in moments of curtailmentwhen renewable energy is wasted because the grid cannot absorb it. In Spain, this problem has tripled due to the lack of investment in infrastructure, with especially stressed areas such as Asturias. The result is a contradictory situation: clean and cheap energy at source, but limited by saturated networks and a system that prioritizes stability over extreme savings. What the consumer can do. As he emphasizes The Conversationthe PVPC does not eliminate the user’s decision-making capacity, but it displaces it. The price of energy is no longer the only relevant factor. The bill is made up of several terms and only two are really manageable: the contracted power and the hourly distribution of consumption. In 2025, the power term represented around 20% of the average bill, and the energy bill, 56%. Adjusting the real power needed and taking advantage of off-peak hours—early mornings, weekends and solar periods—remains key to containing costs. The difference is that extreme micro-optimization, based on monitoring the market every hour, loses weight in the new system. So, is it worth staying? The PVPC maintains clear advantages because it remains the only way to access the social bonus and offers total transparency, with prices supervised by the Administration and acts as a cushion against sudden increases in gas in a context of geopolitical uncertainty. But it also loses appeal for very active profiles. Those who adapted their consumption to the cent can no longer fully benefit from the hours of almost free electricity that occur in spring or autumn with high renewable production. The free market, for its part, offers fixed rates that provide certainty, but are not free of risks. The OCU warns of automatic revisions linked to the CPI—3% year-on-year in November—which can make the bill more expensive even for regulated concepts. Comparing carefully is essential. Shadows on the horizon. Beyond the individual consumer, the electrical system faces a fundamental risk. The Government has calculated the 2026 charges assuming that electricity demand will grow by 4.5%. However, the CNMC has much more cautious forecasts, around 2.3%. If consumption does not grow enough, income will not be enough to cover regulated costs and premiums for historical renewables. It’s not a bargain hunter’s fare. The PVPC of 2026 will be more stable, more predictable and safer, but also less spectacular at times of minimum prices. The energy transition has managed to generate clean and abundant electricity, but the consumer continues to pay for obsolete networks, increasing fixed costs and a system designed to avoid blackouts rather than … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, first impressions. Samsung’s most ambitious leap in foldables has fine print

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Imagine carrying a cell phone in your pocket that can transform into a 10-inch tablet when you fully deploy it. That is the promise of Samsung Galaxy Z TriFoldan idea that was already on the table and that really makes sense as soon as you have it in front of you. Closed, it behaves like a bar format phone with a 6.5-inch screen, something familiar and relatively comfortable, but just start opening it to understand that the South Korean company wanted to go one step further. I think it’s not just about gaining inches, but about materializing a complex idea. After the initial impact, my first reading of the Galaxy Z TriFold is that of a device that surprises with its degree of maturity within a still young category. It is noticeable that Samsung has focused on the solidity of the whole, on how the pieces are assembled and on conveying a certain confidence when handling it, something that, as my colleague Javier Lacort commented in 2024, has not always been evident. Before moving forward, it is worth remembering that we are dealing with first impressions, they are clear sensations, open questions, but without a thorough approval in search of definitive conclusions. Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold technical sheet Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold dimensions and weight Folded: 159.2 x 75.0 x 12.9 mm Unfolded: 159.2 x 214.1 x 3.9 mm (screen with SIM tray) / 4.2 mm (center screen) / 4.0 mm (screen with side button) 309 grams indoor screen Dynamic AMOLED 2X 10 inches 2160×1584 269 ​​ppi 1600 nits peak brightness 120Hz (adaptive) outdoor screen Dynamic AMOLED 2X 6.5 inches 2520 x 1080, 21:9 422 ppi 2600 nits peak brightness 120 Hz (adaptive) processor Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (3nm) memory and storage 16 GB of memory with 1 TB of internal storage 16 GB of memory with 512 GB of internal storage Not compatible with microSD rear camera 12 MP Ultra Wide Angle, Dual Pixel AF, F2.2, 1.4 μm, 120° 200 MP wide angle, autofocus, OIS, F1.7, 85˚, 2x optical quality zoom 10 MP PDAF telephoto, OIS, F2.4, 1.0 μm, 36˚, 3x optical zoom, up to 30x digital zoom front camera 10 MP F2.2, 1.12 μm, 85˚ selfie (outdoor screen) 10 MP F2.2, 1.12 μm, 100˚ selfie (indoor screen) battery and charging 5,600 mAh QC2.0 and AFC connectivity 5G LTE Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 5.4 operating system Android 16 One UI 8 others IP48 resistance price From 3,594,000 won The promise of a 10-inch tablet, and the price you pay for it To fully understand what this Galaxy Z TriFold proposes, we must stop at its physical approach. We are not looking at a conventional folding device, but rather a device with three panels and two folds that only supports two real ways of use: closed, like a phone, or completely open, “like a 10-inch tablet.” Unlike the approach we have seen in the Huawei Matewhere it is possible to use the device partially deployed with two active panels, there is no middle ground here. When you use it unfolded and the interior screen becomes the center of the experience, the TriFold begins to justify its approach. We are talking about a 10-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 2160 x 1584 resolution, 120 Hz and a density of 269 ppi, figures that explain why it feels so visually solid indoors. My contact with the device has been in the Samsung offices, in the evening and with artificial light, and in that context the experience has been excellent, with vivid colors and constant fluidity. It is true that the maximum brightness of the interior panel is 1600 nits, compared to 2600 nits for the exterior screen, but I have not had the opportunity to test it outdoors. When you leave content consumption, the TriFold lets itself be loved in multitasking scenarios. The screen offers real margin to maintain multiple applications open at the same time without the experience feeling limited, something that marks a distance from smaller folding products. Everything is more comfortable and less compressed, and the whole thing conveys a sense of order that is appreciated. It also seems relevant to me that it allows executing Samsung DeX directly on the screen itself, without an external monitor, because it reinforces your productivity focus. Now, in the hand, the Galaxy Z TriFold makes it clear from the first moment that it is not a light or discreet device when closed. With its 309 grams and a thickness of 12.9 mm when folded, it feels powerful, even more than one would expect when reading the technical sheet. That said, it is also worth putting it in perspective, because in numbers it does not go to the most extreme part of what we have seen in first generation folding devices. Opened, the perception changes noticeably, the weight is better distributed and the whole is surprisingly manageable for a 10-inch screen. One of the elements that caught my attention during the test was the way in which the TriFold manages its own folding. It is not just a question of hinges, but of how the device conditions the user’s gesture to protect itself. The route is clearly defined and if you try to close it incorrectly, the phone responds with a vibration and a warning on the screen that tells you not to continue there, something that reinforces the feeling of being in front of a product designed to avoid errors. Although the interior screen is the TriFold’s great attraction, it is also its most delicate part. When unfolded, the two folds are there and are part of the experience, although not in an intrusive way. It is not something that is constantly obvious and, in many moments, you can forget about them, but when you change the angle or the light hits it in a certain way they appear. In my case, for years the folds have bothered me a lot in folding ones, but over time I have learned to … Read more

There are eight million Airbnbs, but only one where the disconnection is so extreme that there is fine print: risk of death

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At the beginning of the year, the figure by Bryant Gingerich began to circulate in many media. In a secluded corner of the Ohio wilderness, Gingerich, a 34-year-old engineer, seemed to have found an opportunity to transform his professional life by converting a simple cave in a successful vacation rental business. However, if we talk about places far away from the world, none like the one in this story. Stay at the extreme. I told the story a few days ago BBC. In the Kulusuk Fjords of eastern Greenland, the Floating Glacier Hut It has established itself as one of the most remote accommodations, if not the most, in the world. The cabin, installed on a floating hexagonal platform and anchored to the surrounding rocks, it is located in an area where the distances between settlements are enormous and the human presence is minimal. Access is made only by boat and the infrastructure responds to the idea of ​​offering a space completely removed from any urban dynamics, in a territory dominated by glaciers, icebergs and an unpredictable climate. This approach fits with the rise of the so-called as “quietcations” and hyper-remote destinations, which seek to satisfy the growing need for total disconnection that many travelers express in the face of the accelerated pace of daily life. Disconnect without technology. The cabin dispenses with the internet and reduces outside communication to a satellite phone, which forces us to live real isolation throughout the stay. The Finnish-made module is thermally insulated and has a glass roof that allows you to observe the polar sky and phenomena such as the northern lights without leaving the interior. The equipment it’s basic: a small stove, a toilet, a minimal kitchen area and a double bed. The lack of a shower is part of the design, and some visitors resort to quick dips in the frozen sea to clean themselves. This austerity is proposed as a central feature of the experience, focused on the observation of the environment and sensory immersion without digital interference. Views from the accommodation Caution and logistics. Extreme isolation coexists with reasonable vigilance against the risks inherent to the Arctic. According to the local guide Nicco Segretoresponsible for the project, the cabin acts as an effective refuge from potentially deadly fauna like polar bears (there is a sign that warns you before entering), as long as you stay inside. However, the operator warns that weather conditions may prevent the arrival of the boat in charge of transporting guests, an element that is part of the operational reality in the region. The landscape offers opportunities for activities such as glacier hiking, exploring ice caves formed by subglacial rivers, and ice fishing through a small hole prepared in the structure. These excursions show the dynamics of ice and the visible effects of melting, reinforcing the educational value of the trip. A tourist project. Secret discovered a decade ago a glacial cave that today is part of the activity offerand that discovery was the origin of his initiative to develop low-footprint tourism in the area. In addition to generating employment in the Tasiilaq community, the project aims to attract travelers interested in geology, the behavior of ice and the magnitude of the polar landscape. The Floating Glacier Hut It is the initial phase of a broader plan that includes a future retirement of greater capacity, Vision Lodgeaimed at structured stays of several days. The accelerated retreat of the glaciers, visible even year after year, becomes a central component of the experience, which allows us to observe climate changes on a human scale. An exclusive model. The stay, designed for two people, has an approximate cost from 1,000 to 1,200 dollars per night and includes private boat transfers, dinner prepared by the guide himself, and breakfast. Despite the price, remembered the BBC that the accommodation It has received very positive reviews for the combination of isolation, landscape and silence, elements that guests point out as difficult to find in other destinations. Thus, the general perception is that it is an experience designed for those who seek to completely disconnect (from humanity and devices), observe the environment without filters and face a slower pace, where nature is the central axis of the room and the passage of time seems to acquire another scale. Image | Vision Lodge In Xataka | An engineer left his job to transform a cave into a vacation rental. He’s making a fortune a year without Airbnb In Xataka | Italy vetoes one of the great symbols of mass tourism: the use of key boxes for self-check-in is prohibited

The digital kit promises to digitize SMEs and freelancers and “give them” a Macbook Air. There is a lot of small print

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On paper the Digital kit It doesn’t seem a bad idea. The government’s proposal, managed by Red.esgrants a series of subsidies to facilitate the “digital transformation” of SMEs and freelancers. Or what is the same: that small businesses and people “in self -employment” can for example have their website, their online store and even access the subsidy of a macbook air m4 that seems to leave “free”. Except that it does not go free. Not much less. Subsidies for digital transformation The program, promoted by Red.es and the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function, aims to “digitize” SMEs and adapt them to new times. Source: Red.es Financing comes from the Next Generation EU program of the European Union, and to start it up they were established different segments of beneficiaries that depended on the size of the SMEs or whether you were autonomous. The calls for almost all segments have been ending over the last months, but there is one that remains active: that of segment III, dedicated to SMEs from zero to three employees and also autonomous. The maximum amount of the subsidy for this segment is 3,000 euros, and is divided into two items. The first, with a subsidy of up to 2,000 euros can be used to commission the development of a web page (“basic internet presence”) or an online store (“Marketplace”). The second, which is becoming a claim on social networks, is a subsidy of up to 1,000 euros for the acquisition of a “safe job”which normally translates into a PC or portable. An important detail here: you can not ask for only the computer for the computer, and this can only be requested as a complement to the subsidy for the website or online store mentioned above. To access the program and get those “digital bonds” of up to 3,000 euros the process, explained in a PDFIt is theoretically simple. Just access the web accelerapyme.escomplete a “self -diagnosis test” and request help Digital kit through the form of the Red.es electronic headquarters. From there we will have to get in touch with a “digitizer agent”which will be the intermediary through which this “digital transformation” of our business is carried out. It is they who provide us with services (or manage that a third party provide them) and that they also take care of the acquisition of the famous portable of 1,000 euros. It is possible to become one of these digitalizing agents through the aforementioned Electronic Headquarters of Red.es, and In another guide in PDF It explains how to log in. A digitizer agent tells us the reality of the digital kit program As we say, on paper everything seems correct, but in practice the digital kit program has become a source of controversy that affects both parties, both those who have asked for those subsidies and to those who have managed them. To know from within what is happening we have talked to Pablo F. Iglesiasfounder of the consultant Cyberbainers that among other things achieved homologation for the digital kit. He has suffered the “small print” of this project as well as a service provider as a couple of a person who requested them. After this time offering their services, he tells us how his feeling is that there were “too many used who have seen in the program a quick business opportunity.” It is a message that others have shared such as Jaime Gómez-Obregón, which explained in x How a microenterprise “sold” hundreds of digital kit projects by subcontracting websites to freelancers in South America, which ended up promoting “Business models of using and throwing”. Iglesias also indicated how there have been large companies that They have taken advantage of the program to capture new customers as part of your service offer. In both cases the impact has been mostly negative. There are many the Complaints in social networks that They speak of Scams Related and how it has been seen that frequently the quality of the web pages or online stores created was very low, they were often “clones” of other web pages with minimal modifications that did not justify the 2,000 euros of the subsidy. For churches there is another additional problem: “Although they grant, for example, 6,000 euros to your company, the categories are limited to maximum expenses. Insufficient expenses to provide a service of twelve months, which encourages, by the structure of the subsidy itself, that the quality of the service is very but very low … or an economic agreement is reached outside the digital kit contract.” Iglesias himself explained that with 2,000 euros it is practically impossible for someone to “make you a professional website, give you basic services of backups, maintenance and monthly SEO work for 12 months.” Even so, he emphasizes, this program has caused the foam “alleged marketing agencies that They are dedicated to riding clonic WordPress With free templates in an afternoon, financing with the digital kit. “Although these pages do not position well in front of the competition, in the eyes of the program they have fulfilled the work,” and as the type client to which they van do not understand anything in the digital world, because it cooks. “ Free laptop myth In recent days we have started to see frequently on social networks like Tiktok Publications of accounts that They talked of The easy What was it get a macbook air m4 “free” subsidized by digital kit. But all these messages are misleading advertising, since although the digital kit program subsidizes these teams, who want to take advantage of this option will have to be very attentive to the small print. To start, because That subsidy does not cover VATand here Iglesias points to how “the state always wins.” To get the laptop we have to ask both the subsidy of 1,000 euros for the “safe job” and the 2,000 euros for the creation of a website or, as many of those ads sell, the start -up of … Read more

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