terrible

Printers have been a terrible product for 30 years. The fault is Nash’s balance

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Let’s go back to 1949. A young mathematician named John Nash Find an original idea for your thesis at Princeton University. Game theory already existed thanks to the previous works (1944) by John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, but the von Neumann model focused on zero -sum games (one player wins, the other loses). Nash had a spark of genius in proposing that in any game there should be at least one point where no player could improve his situation by changing his strategy unilaterally. Formalized that idea in a short two -page article (‘Equilibrium Points in N-Person Games‘) In January 1950, and with it revolutionized history. Including printers. Is the printer the worst technological product in history? And is that the printers is an almost manual example to apply the call Nash balance. These types of products have been following – at least, to a large extent – the economic model of the machin and blades: you sell cheap the first, but face the second. Consumers know that when we buy an ink printer, the price will be economical, almost ridiculous. But we also have assumed that ink and cartridges for those printers will be very expensive. And if they are not, what will end up being is Ink subscription… either to the printers themselves. Not only that: in the last 30-40 years we have seen how printers have become-probably- The worst technological product in history. It is no longer only that printers can get stuck or work erratically. The real problem is terrifying form in which manufacturers have protected their business, preventing in all possible ways that users can for example use Compatible cartridges and tonniers of third parties. Nash’s balance explains very well why manufacturers do what they do. Imagine two great manufacturers such as HP and Canon with two options: Expensive and blocked cartridges (current model) Cheap and open cartridges (which allow competition and lower prices) Given this situation, HP and Canon managers know that three types of market situations can be found: If both keep expensive and blocked cartridges: they earn a lot If one “opens” its cartridges and lowers prices and the other remains closed: the one that opens loses income and the one that is still closed earns more … or the opposite. Whatever happens, one will end up winning a lot and the other losing a lot. If both open: there is strong competition again, but both win less Given that scenario, manufacturers make an inevitable business decision: they close their cartridge technology and sell it face Because that’s what gives more benefits to everyone. Nash’s balance is fully fulfilled here: it describes a stable point for each player (company) but does not ensure that the result is the best for the whole. Collectively and from the social point of view, the optimal would be to open the technology and lower prices: companies would earn less, but the market would be larger and fair. Reality, as we know, is very different. But maybe that reality can change. We need a “Tesla printer” The printer user has therefore 30 years constant bleeding which translates into an exaggerated expense in cartridges and also in an erosion of time and productivity. What has happened with printers is something extraordinary: We have normalized that printers are almost more a problem than a solution. The Open Printer, a striking printer project “Open Source” and is based on the use of HP cartridges but accepts compatible third -party cartridges. Source: The Open Printer. And that is why we have a panorama in which there is a great opportunity for a revolution in the printers market. This segment is hungry for an ethical disruptive: the manufacturer who abandons the current Nash balance can change everything here. It is a mature field in which an innovative based on transparency and reliability could not only capture the market, but even redefine it. What the market needs is a kind of “Tesla printer”. And we refer to a printer that causes in this segment what Tesla managed to provoke in the car industry: a machine that has a great design, a reliable operation and that is also designed to last. But above all, that offers an alternative to current printers and their dictatorial philosophy with cartridges. Here are some projects underway. The project The Open Printerfrom the Parisian startup Open Tooks, is intended as A repair ink printer, Open Sourceand that focuses its operation on reparable cartridges. Its creators claim that this printer is created “with standard mechanical components and with modular parts”, which theoretically simplifies its assembly, modification and repair. Source: The Open Printer. In fact, the Open Printer works with a small Raspberry Pi W plate as an operations center. There are no proprietary firmware or cartridges with DRM. It is designed to use HP63 cartridges (HP 302 in Europe) both in black and in color but they serve both those of HP and third parties. And not only can you print on AAR or A4 folios, but even in 27 mm paper rolls. There are no details about its price or availability for the moment, but the idea will not be launched directly, and will first be launched as a collective financing project. We know for previous failures (and frauds) that such financing models It has its risksbut in this case that option seems reasonable and we only have to wait for the best of the project. That may not be the only launch in this regard, and in fact There is an even more interesting rumor. Frameworkthe company that has conquered us with its repairable laptops, seems to be considering the idea of ​​creating its own printer (modular and repairable? We expect that!). This is how at least a recent message indicates in X in which they commented on how “one of you must have sabotaged the office printer and has forced us to manufacture one. It is not possible that HP is selling printers that broken.” … Read more

If you think hospital food is terrible, science has just proved you

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The industrial aspect of the trays in which food is served in the clinics, the aseptic environment of the room, or the bad drink that generally implies the visit to the health center are factors that convert hospital food into a dish of the liking of few. Well, the problem can be even more serious. Health and environment. A team of researchers has analyzed the food served in two hospitals and three residences in Germany and He has found reasons For concern, both for the health impact of menus and for their environmental effects. The team detected, in all the institutions analyzed, shortcomings in fundamental nutrients, including folate, potassium and vitamin B6. In addition, they also detected that in residences patients failed to achieve the required provision of proteins. “We have found that meals contained insufficient plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes; and too many refined grains, added sugars, salt and saturated fats,” pointed in a press release Lisa Pörtner, co -author of the study. “This leads us to an inadequate provision of nutrients and poor dietary quality.” Not only a matter of health. According to the equipment, the diet in health centers should be model in relation to its dietary quality, but the problems detected by the study go further, and the study found that the analyzed diets had a negative environmental impact. “We find that (these menus) contribute to environmental degradation and climate change (which also threatens health),” Nathalie Lambrecht highlightedalso member of the team. Planetary health diet. How did the team reach these conclusions? The study was based on the comparison between the sampled diets and a model diet, in this case the so -called Planetary Health Diet or phd. PHD is a diet Proposal in 2019 by experts of the Eat-Lancet commission, linked to the magazine specialized in medical studies The Lancet. This diet prepares the consumption of plant foods, limiting in turn the consumption of meats and dairy (without eliminating them). The equine not only contrasted the degree of adhesion of these menus to the PHD, it also cotnrasted its nutritional qualities through the so-called Healthy Eating Index-2020 and a nutritional adaptation evaluation. In addition, they calculated the “environmental footprint” of diets through an estimate of the requirements in land use, greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication (excess nutrients caused by waste emission), water -water acidification and expenditure. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine The Lancet: Planetary Health. And in Spain? The results are not directly extrapolated to Spanish hospitals, after all ingredients and cooking techniques can vary much from country to country, even in something as apparently bland as hospital food. However the situation here It doesn’t seem much betterto the point that the complaints of users and professionals took a few months ago to the ministries of health and consumption to take action on the matter. In May, the project of a new Royal Decree focused on improving the quality of menus in health centers, a framework similar to the announced months ago for the improvement of food quality in teaching centers, was announced. The process for the development of the new standard began with a public consultation announced the same May. In Xataka | How much meat is too much meat? This is how the debate about meat is changing Image | Xataka with Gemini

We are in 2025 and the Wi -Fi of the airplanes is still terrible. Starlink is demonstrating that we are at the turning point

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June 30, 2016. BBC publishes an article called: How does the Wi -Fi work in the airplanes and why is it so bad? Almost 10 years later, we are almost in the same place. The Earth has revolved for almost a decade but in terms of connecting to Internet networks from the air it seems that we are completely stagnant. Or it seemed. 2016. “Some compare their speed with that of the beginning of the Internet, when, with the soundtrack of the atrocious beep of the modem, they had to be put on patience while any page was loaded.” With this paragraph Yolanda Valery for BBC In 2016 what was the experience of trying to connect to the Internet from the air. In that same article it was explained that connecting to the Internet from a flight guaranteed a certain guarantee to do very basic connected tasks, such as sending an email. But it was also mentioned that you could already forget to see a content in streaming Or, at least, assume that it was going to be a really tedious experience. We remain the same. In 2016, the offer of a wifi on board was relatively recent. In 2013 we told you that Iberia made this service available to the client at a price of five euros … for five megas. Shortly after, Enrique Dans narrated his experience In an Iberia plane and pointed out that the option was really interesting but that the result was very bad. And even raised if he had to be offered under the conditions of that time. Already in 2017, in Xataka We wondered why we still have no wifi in all airplanes. And we could say the same right now, with a good handful of airplanes that do not offer it … and above all: those who offer it and serve little or nothing. If we enter On Iberia’s own page We verify that in its reference to the connection packages it is specified that allow “Internet navigation, messenger, email, download and sending documents”. That is, tasks that require poor discharge speed. And they emphasize that it is “it is possible that during some moments of the trip the signal can come weakened” or that it lends itself with “three different suppliers, so you can experience differences between one flight or another.” Why is it so bad? The main reason why the Wi -Fi in the airplanes is so bad is how the Internet connection is obtained. You can take “global, satellite or land coverage,” depending on the flight, they point out on the Iberia website. This means that the plane receiver can connect to telephone antennas or satellites if the latter are not available. On a transatlantic flight, that connection is more unstable since Terrestrial antennas are far away. It only remains to be connected to a satellite so that the shipment and reception of data is complicated. First because the distance is much broader than when we have our feet on the floor and, second, because the plane moves hundreds of kilometers per hour, which complicates the reception and sending of the data. The big problem is that although the bandwidths that users have to share are now the demands of applications. Not only is the Quality of the images we load on Instagramis also the huge amount of data that an application like Netflix needs to play your streaming videos. Already in 2020, in Xataka We estimated that one hour sailing on this platform consumes between one and seven GB (depending on quality). A turning point? Andrew J. Hawkins explains in The Verge that the time may have come to say goodbye to these connections. In the aforementioned article, it indicates its experience aboard an E-175 Embraer, a 88-seat narrow fuselage plane that United Airlines uses for short flights. This, specifically, lasted 90 minutes. The plane is one of the first connected to Starlink and, in fact, will begin offering on May 15. The figures collected are highly hopeful. Connected to the airport Wi -Fi, Hawkins said navigating with a 305 Mbps discharge and a load of 249. The latency was 5 ms. During the flight, the speed was 196 Mbps of discharge and 27.3 Mbps of load with a latency of 19 ms. The discharge speed is close to the experience before climbing to the plane and although the figures are remote from what it offers on land, they are notable compared to those we had so far. During the whole flight. Hawkins breaks another spear in favor of the system and United Airlines: the wifi was active throughout the flight. “The service works from the door to the door, not only above 10,000 feet, restriction under which some other systems operate. As soon as I sat, they told me to connect to the Wi-Fi using United mobile application. “ In fact, in your article to The VergeThe author reflects the speeds during takeoff (234.8 Mbps of discharge and 14.9 Mbps of load with a latency of 19 ms) and the landing (72.6 Mbps of discharge, 26.1 Mbps of load and 90 ms of latency) when the worst data was collected. The time, despite this, would be brief because as soon as the plane touched earth again offered good figures with 231.5 Mbps of discharge. Although, this time, with the worst load data with only 3.01. Well to watch movies. But not so much to work. Because Hawking himself points out that he could use Instagram and Tiktok, Disney Plus, follow the ceremony of the new Pope for CNN or watch a live match “with a crystalline image quality.” However, the result was much less impressive when loading a file on Google Drive that took him seven minutes. Explains that this is because Starlink’s own infrastructure It is designed to download content and not so much to raise it, hence the difference in figures between the two processes. Differential. How much would you be willing to pay … Read more

Let us run out of mobile during the blackout was terrible. That will happen to the government is much more worrying

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The mass blackout suffered by Spain and Portugal on April 28 left us without light, but also without being able to communicate with our mobile phones. One would think that government members would have some type of auxiliary system, but the truth is that there seems to be no for these types of situations. “Blind”. Government sources pointed out In the world that during The blackout of April 28 They were “blind” and that “mobile phones did not work, we could not communicate (…) not even among us in the complex and in the ministries.” Not only citizens. During those hours millions of citizens suffered A very irregular service in their mobile communications, and except for some exceptionsthe operators had huge problems to continue serving. That is already worrying, but even more than our rulers suffered those same problems and there is no emergency plan for this type of event. It didn’t work either The alert system, Es-Alert. Mesh b. The Government does not have an auxiliary communications system, and for years the effort was in another direction: to protect the communications of government members in the face of possible spying acts. To do this exists The call Mesh bthe Safe Strategic Communications Support System of the National Crisis Management System and the Government Presidency. The system is used not only in government fields, but also in high state institutions. The government protects from espionage. As they point out In the countrythe government decided in early 2025 to renew its encryption systems to shield communications after espionage scandal made with pegasus. The first phase will be a modernization of technical infrastructure, of which will order The Spanish company Epicom. Together with this renewal, an update of the communications encryption system will also be updated, which until now was carried out with Comsec (Indra) but that will now compete with Secret T (Telefónica). Both are National Development Technologies, a primary condition for these services. Sirdee is not (for the moment) for that. Spain has The Sirdee program (Integral System of Digital Emergency Radiocommunications of the State), which was launched in 2000 and that served more than 150,000 users in Spain. Among them are the National Police, the Civil Guard and even the presidency of the Government. There are specific contingency plans and operational continuity in ministries and strategic bodies, but government members suffered the same problems as citizens. As they point out In networks & Telecomthe Sirdee system, which was based on tetra technology of UHF radio, It is now complementing With broadband systems through EMBM technology, based on LTE/5G connectivity. Sirdee base nodes are usually equipped with backup batteries and diesel generators that allow these equipment and communications to be kept while these active auxiliary solutions can be maintained. High frequency networks. In 1988 the United States created its high frequency communications Shares program (HF, 3 to 30 MHz) with the aim of having a support for the first fixed lines, and later for mobile lines. This system, now under the Department of National Security (DHS), is composed of thousands of HF stations distributed throughout the country and belonging to different federal and state agencies. The system It was used during the 11-S attacks, but also during natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005. Satellite communication is another option. During the blackout Starlink turned out to be an exceptional alternative During the blackout, and that shows that satellite communications systems can be very useful in this type of events. Europe has been trying to launch its satellite Internet system Through the Iris2 systemwhich is expected to begin to be operational in 2030. Images |Baatcheet Films | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo In Xataka | The Catalan Sateliot company lifts 70 million euros with a clear objective: to display the “Spanish Starlink of the IoT”

In 2026 the AI ​​will be as powerful as “10 million Nobel Awards” (and that raises a terrible dilemma)

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The CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has marked in red in 2026 in its calendar, as explained in a long interview with the Podcast China Talk. For then, The technological gap between the United States and China in artificial intelligence It could close, and that would lead to having to make a critical decision: to advance with prudence or accelerate without regard. Why it is important. The arrival of AI models equivalent to “10 million Nobel awards working tirelessly,” says Amodei, will propose an existential dilemma: if China reaches the US in capacity, no country can afford to stop the development to make it safer . “If things are matched, we will have to worry about what they build and at the same time because they dominate us with technology. That puts us in a terrible dilemma where there are no options,” says Amodei. Between the lines. True fear is not competition with China in itself, but it derives in an uncontrolled career that forces us to deploy potentially dangerous technology before being prepared to handle it safely. Some examples that Amodei points out: The development of biological weapons: Deepseek It has already demonstrated the ability to generate information about Bioarmas “that is not easily found in Google or in textbooks.” Although today the models are not “literally dangerous”, this could change “later this year or next.” The lack of restrictions: Amodei points out that The Deepseek model “He had the worst performance of any model that we have tested, without absolutely any blockage” against the generation of dangerous information. The argument against regulation: “If we stop, China will simply ahead us.” This mentality, warns amodei, makes it impossible to implement effective safety regulations. Military capacity: Advanced models will have implications “to control dwarfs or analyze intelligence information,” says the CEO of Anthropic as an example of technologies that could be deployed prematurely by competitive pressure. By the way, Google has just eliminated mention not to develop weapons with AI. In detail. Amodei proposes a strategy with two legs: Maintain a two -year advantage over China through export controls. Use part of that temporary margin to implement security safeguards. “My concern is that if the United States and China are matched in this technology, elbow with an elbow at each stage, there will be nothing that prevents both sides from continuing the technology forward,” explains the CEO of Anthropic. Deepen. The technological career raises a paradoxical scenario: American success in containing China could be the only guarantee to develop a safer AI. But that same success could accelerate an escalation that makes more dangerous technology. The main loser? International cooperation. Although Amodei does not rule out agreements with China, he acknowledges that “there has not been much interest on China” in the security initiatives proposed by the USA. Only a “really convincing danger for human civilization” could change this dynamic. The big question. Is this dilemma inevitable? Amodei suggests that no, but warns that avoiding it would require irrefutable evidence that AI is an existential risk. For now, he says, “the arguments are suggestive enough to worry and take it seriously, but not enough for two competitive superpowers to say ‘okay, let’s stop’”. Indeed, it seems unlikely. In Xataka | I have tried Deepseek on the web and in my Mac. Chatgpt, Claude and Gemini have a problem Outstanding image | Techcrunch, Wikipedia

Without the Omnibus Decree, aid from the MOVES III Plan has also fallen. It is terrible news for the electric car in Spain

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All the aid that the Government hoped to approve with the Omnibus Decree that had to pass the filter of the Council of Deputies has fallen. With 177 votes against added by the Popular Party, Junts and Vox, the Government was not enough the 171 votes in favor that he obtained to carry out his varied package of measures. Among the measures that this Omnibus Decree was found pension increase but also aid for public transport and, consequently, free or reduced transport passes and multi-trip tickets that can no longer be purchased. Only those that were purchased before January 23, 2025 or those of a regional nature whose town councils or autonomous communities maintain. And among those measures was also the extension of the MOVES III Planaid for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and the discount of up to 3,000 euros in the income tax return that can be deducted for the purchase of a car with these characteristics. The fall of some key aid The extension of the MOVES III Plan and the aid itself for the purchase of electric cars has been a huge headache for the Government in the last year. In February 2024Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government, assured in a Forum organized by ANFAC that they would review the MOVES III Plan “in the coming weeks.” Shortly after, Héctor Gómez, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, assured that they were “aware that the MOVES Plan has its strengths and weaknesses. From a temporal point of view, making the aid more flexible so that charged when the vehicle is purchased “It is a step that we are going to take, that is the commitment.” All MOVES III PLAN aid that is no longer active However, months later the situation had not changed. On the first day since the deadline to buy an electric car with aid expires (July 1, 2024), The Government extended this subsidy again, maintaining the same conditions. Until December 31, 2024, it was possible to buy an electric car with aid that starts at 4,500 euros and that in the best of cases reaches 7,000 euros in discounts if a vehicle that is more than seven years old is scrapped. Months later, as in trapped in timetwo weeks before the end of 2024 and, with it, the MOVES III Plan and its aid, we found ourselves in the same situation again: not knowing what would happen to the program. Just a few days later, on December 26, the Government confirmed that we would have Plan MOVES III until June 30, 2025 but that, again, the conditions were exactly the same. Now, with just over 20 days of the year 2025 already gone, anyone who has not had their request to receive purchase aid under the umbrella of the MOVES III Plan You may find yourself with the unpleasant news that you probably won’t receive it. Without support for the Omnibus Decree in which this extension that was already active was contemplated, everything remains up in the air. We do not know if, if a specific measure is approved in Congress (as the Popular Party has requested for an increase in pensions or transport aid), the delivery of aid will be retroactive to all those who formalized the request before its fall. but they did not have approval from the institutions. The news is terrible for the electric car in Spain. The first months of the year always They tend to be a little weaker in salesthe market accepting the last registrations from the previous year, and the electric car is growing but at a very slow pace. In 2024 it grew by 4.21% but its market share remains at 5.36% which represents a technical tie with the figure for 2023 (5.56%). When talking about the reasons for this stagnation, the MOVES III Plan continues to be pointed out as one of the big problems. In some cases The wait to receive aid has been up to three years and in July 2024 we learned that they had been granted aid worth 250 million euros for which there was no money because the fund had already been exhausted. The news coming from neighboring countries is not too optimistic either. In Germany, the largest electric car market in Europe, it has fallen by 27.4% according to ACEA data in his first year without aid for the purchase of electric cars. In Portugal, where purchase aid is direct when purchasing a car, the electric market share is close to 20%. To alleviate this situation and encourage buyers, it has been the manufacturers themselves who are providing a type of purchase aid to the new owners. To encourage sales, they show the car with 7,000 euros discount that, in reality, It is an interest-free loan. to be returned a few months later when (it is hoped) the new buyer has received the aid. The electric car market is having a hard time taking off in Spain. The lack of purchase aid means new stones on a very unpaved road. It remains to be seen what measures the Government takes, if it manages to carry out a new extension of a plan that requires direct aid for purchases or if, on the contrary, we are facing months of absence of government support. What we do know is that in Germany manufacturers trusted in a return to aid and They launched generous discounts in the first months after their subsidies fell. And, despite everything, it hasn’t worked. Photo | renault In Xataka | Norway and China have confirmed that the electric car can lead sales. With (a lot of) help, of course

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