thinking

I was thinking about buying a Steam Machine, but its price has put me off. This PC seems like a better option to me

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Yes, we already know the official prices of the Steam Machine. I really liked the concept of a tiny PC that I could have in the living room connected to the television, ideal for enjoying my gigantic Steam library (hello, digital Diogenes), but the price is much higher than expected. To contextualize it a little, its price is higher than that of PlayStation 5 Pro despite his last rise and its performance is quite far from the Sony console. So, to be honest, I wouldn’t buy the new Steam device, even though I really like the idea and I love how well it works, for example, Steam Deck. For a little less, there are computers like this PC Neo that can offer similar performance and, although it loses the concept of a compact PC along the way, has many other strong points. It is available, by the way, for 999 euros. NEO Gaming PC Ryzen 5 5500 RTX 5060 Ti SSD 1TB 32GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links An alternative to the Steam Machine if you are looking for a conventional PC We must start from the basis that they are two very different PCs (despite having a very similar price), but knowing that this Neobyte equipment can be a very good alternative if what you are looking for is to have a conventional PC to place in your setup with two monitors as is my case. First of all, let’s look at the prices of the Steam Machine in its different configurations to fully understand what the outlook looks like: The processor used by this computer is an AMD Ryzen 5 5500. It has 6 cores and 12 threads like the one used by the Steam Machine, although what matters here is the architecture. In that sense, the Steam team’s CPU uses Zen 4 architecture and the Neobyte Zen 3 team, so the Steam Machine clearly takes the point there. The same does not happen on the graphics card. As explained Digital Foundrythe graphical performance offered by the new Steam Machine is between an RX 6600 and an RX 7600 from AMD. Both GPUs are one step below PNY’s RTX 5060 Ti which uses the PC Neo that we are using in the comparison. Graphics card that, in addition, It is compatible with DLSS 4.5a technology that can help us have much better performance when playing. And how are they doing by memory? The Steam Machine uses 16GB of DDR5 RAM in a single module, while the PC Neo comes with 32GB DDR4 memory. In addition, the most basic version of the Steam Machine (which costs 1,039 euros) has 512 GB of storage, while the other gaming PC has 1TB. Finally, there is the issue of SteamOS, which is the basis on which the Steam Machine and Steam Deck are based. This operating system is comfortable to use and great for playing, offering the user an experience very similar to that of a console. Windows is not at that level, but we can use the Big Picture mode of the Steam app itself to achieve a result that, although not the same, provides a similar solution. So which option is better? There is no easy, universal answer for everyone. Personally, I think this Neo PC from Neobyte is a better option. It will offer performance very similar to the Steam Machine, although with the advantage that we can change your graphics card or processor (or basically any component) in the future. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: neoybyte neo pc ✅ THE BEST Good GPU + RAM combination: Despite being DDR4, this PC comes with 32 GB of RAM and an RTX 5060 Ti. It is a combo to play for several years with DLSS 4.5. Updatable for the future: It is a conventional gaming PC, which means that we can update it whenever we want. ❌ THE WORST Bottom processor: Its CPU uses an old architecture, so it is somewhat limited. This is something that we will especially notice playing at low resolutions. It does not have that compact living room component: It is a gaming PC with the good and the bad, so you may not want to place it in the living room as it is bulky. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for a computer to play with for several years with the possibility of being able to update it to improve its performance. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… What you’re looking for is a “living room PC” to play on TV with your entire Steam library. You may also be interested PcCom Lite AMD Ryzen 5 5500 / 16GB / 1TB SSD / RTX 5060 V2 / Windows 11 Home The price could vary. We earn commission from these links COOLPC Black I – Ryzen 5 5500 / GeForce RTX 5060 8GB / 16GB DDR4 / SSD 500GB / W11 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Steam, Artiom VallatNeobyte In Xataka | Best gaming laptops in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis

Many people use the eco mode of the dishwasher thinking that it is the most responsible option. There are two reasons why not

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I am a faithful user of the dishwasher’s eco mode. In fact, I don’t think I’ve used another one since they installed it in… 2018? It cleans my dishes and saves water, all advantages, or so I thought. It turns out that There are two reasons why it is not recommended Only use this mode. Using the eco mode reduces water consumption and also electricity consumption by not heating it as much. According to a study by the OCUeco mode consumes, on average, 16% less water and 20% less electricity than the normal program. In liters, they calculated that the normal mode consumes about 13 liters and the eco 11 liters, so it is not a huge saving either. If we look at the money, they calculated that per year we save 7.7 euros, 0.60 euros of water and 7.1 euros of electricity. The problem: temperature As a general rule, dishwasher eco programs heat the water up to 50 degrees. This is enough to soften the dirt so that it comes off the plates and cutlery, but not to eliminate certain bacteria that we can find in a kitchen such as E. coli or salmonella. To get rid of most bacteria, different food safety guides They talk about temperatures starting at about 60-65 degrees combined with sufficient exposure time. Below that range, even if we have used soap and see the dish clean, there is no guarantee that no bacteria will remain. Normal dishwasher programs are usually around 60 degrees and also have intensive modes up to 70 or 80 degrees, although it is best to consult your model’s manual to be sure of the temperature of each mode. Another thing we usually do that can harm disinfection is open the dishwasher door prematurely. Even if you have finished washing, the residual heat continues to do its job to dry the dishes and also to kill any bacteria that may have remained. The fact that the water is not as hot in eco mode has another consequence and that is that it can end up damaging the machine itself. With the passage of time, grease and debris deposits are created in the dishwasher ducts, but if we use a program that does not heat the water much those deposits accumulate morewhich can cause bad odors and even lead to long-term failure. A user account on Reddit that his dishwasher broke down and, when the technician arrived, he told him that the culprit was the eco mode because the temperature of the water was not capable of completely dissolving the soap and it had been accumulating in the ducts until it clogged them. That does not mean that you should never use this option, but it does mean that it should not be the only one. For my part, I am going to continue using it, but seeing that the savings are not as great as I thought and that using hotter water has advantages, I will alternate it from time to time with the intensive mode. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Your refrigerator has a compartment designed for eggs in the door. It’s the worst possible place to keep them.

We have been thinking for decades that plastic recycling was worth something. Maybe we were wrong

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That the plastic recycling system is broken is an open secret. But it is only little by little that we are realizing the dimension of the problem. The American association Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) published the year 2024 a report on plastic recycling. In it, they attacked the plastics industry, which they accused of having promoted the recycling of these materials even while knowing of the poor technical and economic feasibility. A difficult task. Recycling plastics is not an easy task. In our daily lives we use a wide variety of materials of this type, each one with certain functional and chemical characteristics. They all end up in the same container, the packaging, but from there it is necessary to separate each type of plastic to proceed to recycling when possible. It is not always possible. Disparate data. According to Ecoembes data, in 2024, 589,885 tons of plastic packaging were recycled in Spain, although NGOs such as Greenpeace cast doubt. According to GreenpeaceIn other years, the difference between the plastic recycling rate declared by Ecoembes (89.2%) and that estimated by the NGO itself (34.8%) is notable. It should be noted that it is still higher than the world average of 9% estimated by the OECD. According to the reportfigures like these are just a reflection of an impossibility: effectively recycling plastics is out of our reach. Not only from an economic perspective but also from a technological point of view. Single use. However, the report emphasizes an accusation: even knowing this impossibility, the industry promoted the idea that recycling was possible and viable to pave the way for single-use plastics like the ones we use in packaging. “They knew that if they focused on single-use (plastics) people would buy and buy,” explained to Guardian Davis Allen, CCI researcher and co-author of the report. Another point of view. The reaction of the industry did not take long to arrive. The American Chemistry Council, in a statementnoted that “American plastic manufacturers are investing billions of dollars in better, innovative products and technologies that separate, capture and recycle larger quantities and more types of plastics.” They allege that the “erroneous report” made reference to obsolete technologies and that it represents a misleading characterization of the industry and the present capacities for recycling plastics. “As is typical, instead of working together toward real solutions to plastic waste, groups like CCI choose political attacks over constructive solutions,” protested Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, in a statement also collected by Guardian. Be that as it may, California took legal action in the matter. Will we make it? We may never achieve an efficient system of recycling that we can apply to the plastics of our daily life. In fact, the UN Global Plastics Treaty has failed again and again. But perhaps one day we will be able to treat this waste so that its waste does not contaminate our environment. One of the big bets In this sense, it is the discovery of enzymes capable of decomposing plastic polymers, breaking these chains to convert them into harmless molecules. It is undoubtedly a great promise that is getting closer and closer, but it is still far from being able to solve the problem. Although time is not what is left over. Pollution caused by microplastics is already a reality. These wastes have appeared in the most remote places on Earth, a sign of the great reach of these contaminants. Furthermore, we know very little about the potential impacts on health and the environment of this waste. In Xataka | I’ve always been curious about what they did with the yellow containers: so I followed one In Xataka | “In 200 years, archaeologists will search through our trash and find a terrible image of ourselves”: the dirty reality of what we throw away Image | Krizjohn Rosales *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2025

what SpaceX needs to figure out before thinking about the Moon

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Finally, after several postponements and even a scrub During the countdown, flight 12 of the SpaceX Starship has been able to take place. Elon Musk’s company has considered it a success, taking into account its complexity and everything that could have failed. However, it should be noted that it has been a partial success. The performance of the Starship S39 has been very good, but the Super Heavy B19 rocket has had some incidents. So many that they end up disintegrating upon re-entry into the atmosphere. Logically, this implies that there is a lot of work to do before the next flight. Which went well. The launch occurred successfully at 22:30 UTC (00:30 Spanish peninsular time) on Friday, May 22. It was achieved reach a thrust of 8,240 tons, double that achieved by the SLS rocket that NASA is using in the Artemis program. Even the acceleration was greater than expected. The separation of stages occurred properly and the ship fulfilled what was expected, landing in the Indian Ocean as planned. The release of Starlink mockups traveling as payload on Starship was also properly carried out. What went wrong. One of the biggest innovations of Starship Flight 12 was the introduction of version 3 of its Raptor engines. There were a lot of hopes for them, but some have not worked as well as could be expected. The first failure occurred 1 minute and 42 seconds after takeoff, when one of the outer ring engines of the Super Heavy rocket shut down. This consists of 3 central motors, an outer ring with 19 motors and an intermediate one with 11. The failure in the outer ring was already a relevant incident, but it was not the worst. The separation of the two stages occurred at 2 minutes and 30 seconds and precisely there it was seen how the ship’s 6 engines partially burned the surface of the rocket. At that point, the Super Heavy’s engines began to turn on, but some did not activate. 8 seconds later, one of the engines in the intermediate ring exploded, affecting several of the engines surrounding it. With the entire engine system damaged, only 5 of the intermediate ring engines were ignited during the return burn, so the rocket was unable to brake properly during reentry, which occurred at 1,450 kilometers per hour. The rocket disintegrated and what was left of it impacted the ocean 300 kilometers from the place planned by SpaceX. There were also failures on the ship. Although most of the failures occurred in the Super Heavy rocket, there was also an incident with the engines of the Starship ship. This consists of 3 vacuum engines in the center and 3 sea level engines around it. The difference between them is that those in the center are prepared to operate in conditions of spatial vacuum. Since there is no atmospheric pressure, They can have larger nozzleswhich allow greater thrust with the same fuel. On Starship Flight 12, one of those 3 engines shut down early, so to compensate, it was necessary to keep the sea level engines on for longer than planned. At least it was a mistake that SpaceX engineers were able to correct. Most of the failures were concentrated in the engines And now what? As SpaceX has pointed out, this has been a partial success. There have been many points of the mission that have gone perfectly, but it is clear that there is a lot of room for improvement. To begin with, some questions should be asked, such as whether the shielding system that the engines previously had had prevented the explosion that caused the rocket to disintegrate. In version 2, the external piping system It left the engine so exposed that each of them had individual shielding. In version 3 this shielding has been considered unnecessary when improving that space plumbing system. However, it is clear that it will be a point to review. On the other hand, it will be necessary to study step by step the on and off systems that have not worked properly. Next challenges. On upcoming flights, SpaceX will have to meet several challenges. The first will be to demonstrate the possibility of doing an orbital ignition. It was planned to fire one of the engines individually in orbit, as it is a key step for orbital insertion and controlled returns to Earth. Unfortunately, given the problems that were occurring with the engines, the plan was finally cancelled. On the other hand, it remains a challenge rocket recoverywithout disintegrating. And, finally, we will have to try to make these vehicles quickly reusable, as the Falcon 9 is now. In short, Starship flight 12 has been a success, but there is a lot of work ahead. SpaceX should not rest on its laurels if it wants to stay alive your lunar dream. Image | SpaceX In Xataka | SpaceX is preparing the largest IPO in history: the fact that it is doing so right now is no coincidence

We have been thinking about a single path to Mars for decades. A group of scientists has just found a “shortcut”

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If you travel to the Moon It’s quite a challengethe next step is only for the brave. To date, no one has traveled to Mars and even unmanned trips encounter multiple drawbacks. The first of them is the duration of the trip itself, since it can extend up to 8.5 months, one way. Almost nine months of space route, with all the inconveniences that may arise during it. That is why the shortcut that a team of scientists from the State University of Rio Janeiro has just proposed is so interesting. With it, the trip could be shortened to 153 days, round trip. The key is in the asteroids. The authors of this study They have looked for shortcuts on the route to Mars in a quite interesting way: by noticing other travelers. After studying the trajectories of several asteroids, they have focused on those whose orbit intersects both that of Mars and that of Earth. Until now, the trajectories are designed from the Earth’s orbital plane. If the orbital plane of one of these asteroids, specifically 2001 CA21, is also taken into account, new paths are opened, which were hidden from our planet. One of those paths, according to the study, would drastically reduce the duration of trips to Mars. The asteroid is not a vehicle. It is important to note that this study does not propose using asteroids as a vehicle to Mars. They simply use them to open horizons to other trajectories. We from Earth see only a few “roads”, but asteroids like this have other options. By looking for connection points between the Earth’s orbital plane and that of these asteroids, it can be linked to these other routes, some of which turn out to be more direct. Traditional tours. Normally, to travel from Earth to Mars something known as the Hohmann trajectory is used. This consists of beginning to make a turn around the Sun in our own elliptical orbit; to, when the time comes, take advantage of its gravitational pull and extend the ellipse to the Martian orbit. Broadly speaking, the ship does not go in a straight line to where the destination planet is, but rather travels to where it will be at a given time. It is not a short trip, but with it, by taking advantage of the gravitational pull, fuel consumption is greatly reduced. Planned trajectory for ESA’s ExoMars For this to be carried out, launch windows must be taken advantage of in which the Earth, the Sun and Mars are properly aligned. All this lengthens trips a lot. A change of plane. The orbits of the different objects that revolve around each other are not all in the same plane. Each one has its own plan. Like a sheet of paper that is spinning. The Earth’s plane is not exactly the same as that of Marsbut very similar. That of the asteroid in this study, however, is very different and is much more inclined. That is why it allows us to open the window to new trajectories. As explained in Wired, It is something like opening a secondary window in a video game to see a scenario that we do not see in the main one. Multiple launch windows. Taking into account the need to have a proper alignment between the Earth, the Sun and Mars, there are soon three interesting launch windows to travel to the red planet: 2027, 2029 and 2031. By studying them one by one, the authors of this study saw that it is in 2031 when the best alignment with the plane of the asteroid occurs and, therefore, a much faster opportunity for travel. In the best case, Mars could be reached in 33 days. The complete trip would be 153 days, although in less optimistic cases it could be 226 days. Be that as it may, it is still much less than those 9 months, one way, that it takes now. Other asteroids. Although the study has been carried out with specific data from a single asteroid, these scientists believe that, in reality, the orbital planes of others could be taken whose trajectories also intersect with Earth and Mars. Basically, the key is to look outside the box. Or, much more literally, out of shot. There are many interesting routes out there. More powerful propulsion systems. All this sounds beautiful, but there is a big drawback that we must take into account. And, in order to carry out this process, much more energy is needed. Therefore, it would be necessary to resort to practically unfeasible quantities of fuel or to new, more powerful propulsion systems. Today this is not possible, so advances in this regard should go in parallel with the development of advances in propulsion systems. Many examples are already being investigated, such as the use of nuclear energy. Even has been proposed use lasers, although it is a project that is very much in its infancy. There is still a long way to go, never better said, but if the future is in these short and alternative trajectories it must also be in new propulsion systems that leave traditional ones behind. Image | NASA | THAT In Xataka | ExoMars, this is Europe’s most ambitious mission to Mars

We have been thinking for 40 years that Spain escaped Chernobyl because it was far away. AEMET has discovered that it was pure luck

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“When the lava enters the tanks, it will cause approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water to overheat and evaporate, causing a significant thermal explosion. Our estimates are between two and four megatons. It will destroy absolutely everything within a 30-kilometer radius, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl. Then, all the radioactive material in the nuclei will be ejected with virulence and propagated by a large seismic wave. It can reach approximately 200 kilometers and could be lethal to the entire population of kyiv and much of Minsk. The radiation release will be immense and will impact Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and East Germany.” Since, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, AEMET published meteorological reconstruction that explained why Spain was left out of the radioactive cloud that affected a good part of Europe, I can’t forget those words from the miniseries which HBO released a few years ago. Mostly because it was pure luck. Pure luck? But Ukraine is very far away. That’s what we used to think, that Spain was spared the hardest part of the Chernobyl hit because we were so far away. However, data from meteorologist Benito Jose Fuentes They say something else: three successive atmospheric reconfigurations that, at the critical moment, sent the radioactive cloud in another direction. But let’s go step by step. Indeed, on April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant became an unstable “pressure cooker” whose explosion spread radiation throughout much of the continent. In fact, that radiation reached Spain shortly after: there is evidence of air filters in Valencia that detected the radioactivity on May 2, 3 and 4. However, we avoided the worst of the blow. According to Fuentes Lópezthe peninsula was at least twice (on April 29 and the days before May 2) “one turn of the wind” away from receiving a direct blow. Reconstructing the disaster. Sources Lopez has published a simplified simulation that reconstructs on a cartographic scale the evolution of the wind at medium and high levels of the atmosphere. This simulation is what gives us the fundamental keys. To begin with, at midday on April 26, a high pressure ridge extended between the Chernobyl zone and Scandinavia. This caused the winds (at 1,700 meters above sea level) to channel the pollutants to the north and Belarus, the Baltic republics, Sweden and Finland took the first hit. The world found out what was happening, precisely, through the sensors of a Swedish nuclear power plant two days later. Spain plays it. On April 29, the pattern changed and a storm in the Mediterranean (and a ridge in Portugal) turned the wind towards Central Europe. According to Fuentes López’s simulations, with this new direction it was a matter of hours before the radioactivity reached Spain. However, between May 1 and 2, a trough pushed the radioactive cloud towards Great Britain (and the Portuguese ridge acted as a wall that diverted the rest of the smaller clouds towards Italy and the Balkans). A reminder. The curious thing about all this is that, according to AEMET datathe dispersion was due to higher atmospheric waves at high levels and not to surface patterns such as storms and anticyclones. That is to say, the work (in addition to a mind-blowing work of atmospheric history) is a reminder that we normally relate to a small part of the weather. That, of course, is a mistake. The atmosphere is a very complex creature full of levels, teleconnections and strange relationships. We are at stake understanding it better. And I am no longer talking about climate change, or phenomena of that type. I’m saying that in most cases, as we already explained many expertsthe profound psychological, social and cultural consequences “turned out to be a much bigger problem than the radiation.” At the climatic level they will also be. And we really don’t know how to handle them well. Image | AEMET In Xataka | We believed that the “elephant’s foot” was the most radioactive point in Chernobyl reactor 4. we were wrong

Amazon Web Services is such a profitable business that its CEO is already thinking about something more ambitious: competing with NVIDIA

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Andy Jassy is the CEO of Amazon and an advocate of artificial intelligence to the point that he expects AI to transform the company’s workforce in the coming years. It makes sense that he is the captain of a liner that has turned to the AI ​​business, since before succeeding Bezos, he came from leading Amazon Web Services. And in his last letter annual to shareholders, Jassy leaves several notes that give us clues about the future of the company. It plans to compete against NVIDIA and SpaceX. And they have 200 billion dollars to invest. The photo. The company is going like a rocket. amazon hill 2025 at 717,000 million dollars, exceeding by 12% the 638,000 million of the previous year. Operating income increased by 17% to 80,000 million and, for its part, AWS cloud business it also worked well, achieving 24% year-on-year in the last quarter. They have done so, according to Jassy, ​​without being able to meet the demands of some clients due to the current situation of the data centers, but even so, they are more than happy. Burning pasta. And those good vibes are going to reach Amazon to invest some 200,000 million dollars in the coming months. The CEO has commented that “they are not going to invest that amount in 2026 following a hunch,” also pointing out that they are not going to be conservative in their bets and that what they are looking for is to lead the artificial intelligence business. HE wait that 50,000 of those millions will end up in the pockets of an OpenAI that will need a boost after the NVIDIA “sit-in”he Sora’s closure and Disney’s withdrawal of investment. Those 200 billion will be concentrated on AI infrastructure, a bet on the future that can add pressure to margins in the short term, but from which they expect a lot.or when the business starts operating. For its part, OpenAI is going to invest 100 billion in AWS over the next eight years. The chickens that enter by those that leave, like almost everything in this AI market. business engine. What business? Well… the one with the chips. Amazon is one of the companies (like Goal, tesla or one’s own OpenAI) that buys from NVIDIA, but that also you are developing your own solution. There are three proper names: Graviton, Trainium and Nitro, training and inference chips (depending on the case) whose business is growing at triple digits year-on-year. Specifically Trainium, which is the chip used to train some of the company’s models, can “save tens of billions of dollars a year.” But it’s not just about saving money by having the chip made at home and do not depend on NVIDIA prices and market competition: it is about not depend on NVIDIA itself at all. The NVIDIA Garden. We have already explained on more than one occasion how NVIDIA is the engine of the artificial intelligence business. Not only do they have the hardware that powers the data centers of the main AI players, but they have the money to invest in both established companies and, above all, in the startups that can define the future of the sector. And Jassy aims, directly, to become a hardware rival, one that competes with NVIDIA, AMD and even with the reborn Intel. According to the CEO, if Amazon were to sell its chip on the open market, it could represent a market of about $50 billion annually, more than double its current chip market. It would still be well below some of its rivals, but it could sell its hardware in conjunction with its AWS software. It would be by selling that “complete AI package” where Amazon would be strong against its rivals. Amazon’s Starlink. Wanting to step on the hose of the strong hardware trio is not the only field in which Jassy wants to play. We already know that Bezos, founder of Amazon, has its space businessbut in parallel, the own Amazon is deploying its Kuiper project. It is its own constellation of satellites in low orbit for broadband Internet that aims to be direct competition to SpaceX and Elon Musk’s Starlink. The deployment began in 2025 with a modest 27 satellites, but this 2026 They want to launch another 3,200. In the end, as all mega-companies want, Amazon seeks to be ubiquitous and permeate absolutely every millimeter of the business. Now, although its capacity in AWS is indisputable, competing against NVIDIA is a big deal. Jensen Huang’s company is TSMC’s first customer -the great global factory-, has deployed very aggressively and intelligently in the AI ​​segment, creating a network that is difficult to replicate and, in addition, has ensured itself to be the main customer of Samsung and SK Hynixthe companies leading high bandwidth memory without which AI cannot take off. Image | Amazon (edited) In Xataka | If you think the internet was much better before AI, congratulations: they have created an extension for you

Many people hide behind anonymous accounts thinking that no one can discover them. AI has bad news for them

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Accounts without a profile photo or real name plague social networks; perhaps even you, who read these lines, are the owner of one. We do not judge, there are many reasons not to show your face on networks and, in fact, anonymity is the pillar on which the internet has been built. However, if you thought that calling yourself ‘user84721’ and having a landscape photo protected you, researchers have just shown that accounts can be deanonymized in minutes with AI (of course). The study. A team of researchers has published a study called “Large-scale deanonymization online with large language models” which is echoed Guardian. In it, they demonstrate how an LLM-based agent is able to compromise anonymous social media accounts with astonishing efficiency. The process consists of three steps: the LLM extracts identifying data (age, location, interests…), looks for possible matches in other users and finally reasons which are the best candidates, verifying the matches and eliminating false positives. Minutes. This is how long it took to identify users on sites like Reddit, Hacker News, and Anthropic Interviewer Dataset participants with this method. In the image you can see how, based on a few pieces of information such as where the student studies, the approximate age, the city and the name of the dog, they achieve a match with the user’s real profile. This is a fictitious case, but in the experiment they managed to identify real users by cross-referencing information with Linkedin profiles and other platforms. According to the researchers, LLMs allow for large-scale deanonymization of accounts, far exceeding the speed and efficiency of classical methods. They also highlight that there is not always enough information to reach a match, so everything depends on the online footprint of each user. Consequences. Researchers warn that this use of AI could be used for problematic purposes, such as governments that want to identify activists or cybercriminals seeking to launch highly personalized attacks. In addition, it must be taken into account that the system is not infallible and there may be false positives. Speaking to The Guardian, Peter Bentley, professor of computer science at UCL, warns that “People are going to be accused of things they haven’t done.” The end of anonymity. As we said at the beginning, the Internet has been built on the anonymity of its users, but we are experiencing a regulatory shift that pursues precisely put an end to it. We see it with the ban on social networks or the blocking of pornographic websites for minors promoted by countries such as United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark and now also Spain. These initiatives require the identification of users to be able to access certain content through video selfies, electronic ID, verification systems with AI… There are many options, What is not clear is its effectiveness. Image | Own preparation on a background of Google DeepMind In Xataka | There was no need to invent a “pajaport”, Google already includes it in Android. The real challenge is in Europe

Samsung is already thinking about a future with OLED screens everywhere. Included in a collar or foldable console

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One of the most entertaining activities you can do at the Mobile World Congress is to walk around the Samsung Display stand. This is Samsung’s division, one of the many it has, in charge of research and development of panels. If today we have the TriFold in the market is because, years ago, We saw its prototype displayed here. That’s why taking a look around their stand is so entertaining, because it lets you see what developments the company has in the works. Whether they see the light or not is another story, but the proposal is nice. OLED panels everywhere. Samsung is, along with LG and BOE, one of the few companies capable of produce OLED panels. That’s why it makes sense that the company wants to put them everywhere. Not only on premium mobile phones, where they are already practically omnipresent, or on televisions, but on every possible gadget, be it a controller, a console or a virtual assistant with AI. This is how Samsung makes money: the secret is in the IPHONE This smartphone unrolls and allows the diagonal of the screen to be increased | Image: Xataka From tiny to conventional size. One of the prototypes we have seen is a vertically rollable phone. The device has a motor that unfolds the screen upwards and hides it downwards, as if it were a blind, and allows you to have a compact phone and, if you want to play or read, a more elongated panel. Very interesting, although with some flaws. The main one is that, rolled up, what in another context would be an aluminum edge would, on this occasion, be a screen, one that is also very exposed to all kinds of misfortunes in the pocket, dirt, knocks, etc. It is striking as a concept, but perhaps it makes more sense on a laptop where, in fact, we are already starting to see them. This tablet unrolls to the side | Image: Xataka Here we can see the unwinding system | Image: Xataka What’s more, Samsung is in it. We have also seen this same roll-up panel technology in a type of tablet and a laptop. The latter is very reminiscent of the Lenovo proposal and unroll the screen to go from 13 to 17 inches. This format, still in its infancy, has a lot of potential if we think of a device that combines productivity and versatility. Samsung Rollable Laptop Concept | Image: Xataka On the tablet, which could also be understood as a portable external monitor, the panel goes from a panoramic format to a 4:3 format that is practically 1:1, something that can be somewhat useful when having several applications open and in office tasks. Without a doubt, where the roll-up format is going to shine is in medium/large panels. Whether we see them on the street or not… only time will tell. Laptop with vertical folding screen | Image: Xataka Laptop with vertical folding screen | Image: Xataka From big to bigger. One of the most curious prototypes has been this trilaptop. Unlike the TriFold, which has three screens, the two folds of this device come in the form of a keyboard and foldable screen. By default, it is a normal laptop, but if we unfold the screen it is like putting another 13-inch panel on top. Useful, very useful, especially for programming. In addition, the unfolded screen is not excessively thick, so the laptop, at least in theory, should not weigh more than necessary, although it will be heavier than normal. Folding console prototype | Image: Xataka So far the normal. Now let’s go with the most peculiar concepts. The first is a folding console. This device, which is clearly reminiscent of a Nintendo Switch, has a Fold-type folding panel that, at least in theory, seeks to make a portable console even more portable. The concept is interesting and I can imagine a console like this in a few years, although perhaps the price would be higher than the 400-550 euros that we are used to seeing. Console controller with integrated screen | Image: Xataka The second is a controller with a central screen. Central touch panels are not new, see Sony’s DualShock and DualSense, but adding a screen opens up a whole range of possibilities. That screen could be part of the HUD, offer actions, provide contextual information or serve to interact with the game in some way through gestures or quick touches. Very curious, it is one of those ideas that I wouldn’t be surprised to see implemented sooner rather than later. Necklace with OLED screen | Image: Xataka Nice necklace. But the concept that takes the cake is the necklace. It is, like everything else, a concept, but the idea is curious. What if, in the same way that you can change the watchface of your necklace, you could change the image of your necklace? The device is big, huge, something that is normal if we want the screen to have some prominence. In a few years will we see a diamond necklace with a GIF of a diamond spinning around? I have no proof, but I have no doubt either. Flexible Micro-LED Panels | Image: Xataka Space for Micro-LED. Samsung has also taken the opportunity to show some advances in Micro-LED, a technology called to be the Holy Grail of panels: OLED blacks, LCD brightness, without degradation or bloombing. The problem is that they are very expensive because their manufacturing is extremely complex. At the moment, we have only seen them on televisions whose prices exceed an average Spanish salary, but Samsung already seems to be working on bringing them to smaller formats. The key, of course, is the excellent color reproduction and brightness, which, in this case, amounts to 7,000 nits. Micro-RGB panel example | Image: Xataka Be that as it may, what is clear is that we are heading to a world full of screens where there were previously printed canvases. Samsung wants … Read more

the main social video networks to go to if you are thinking of changing

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We are going to tell you which are the main ones alternative social networks to TikTok. We are going to focus on those that have a similar function and purpose, that of sharing short videos. Thus, in case you want a change of scenery you will know the best places to go. Let’s try to make the list varied. We will start with the heavyweights within the alternatives, other large platforms. But we will also mention other more independent and less known ones, which are gaining or have recently gained weight. Instagram and Facebook Reels If you want to stop using TikTok because you are concerned about privacy, Instagram or Facebook It will never be the best option with your Reels. However, we are going to start with them for audience reasons, because they are still two of the most popular and most used social networks in the world. The Reels become a copy of TikTokwhich Meta launched on its networks when the Asian social network began to gain importance. Therefore, its operation and options are basically the same, with the addition of being able to share the content in stories on these networks. YouTube Shorts YouTube also has its own system of shorter vertical videos with maximum duration of 3 minutes. It was also created after TikTok began to gain traction, and its main advantage is being accessible to the hundreds of thousands of users who already use YouTube. Loops If you are looking a social network where privacy prevailsit is inevitable to talk about Pixelfed. It is a decentralized alternative to Instagram, where users can create their own instances based on ActivityPuband its content is accessible from other social networks in the fediverse that use this protocol, such as Mastodon. Since 2024 Pixelfed has a parallel social network of alternative videos to TikTok called Loops. In essence it is the same, a decentralized social network of vertical videos. It is still in beta and does not have such a powerful user base, but it is there for anyone who wants to bet on it. Among the most indie alternatives we find UpScrolled. It is a network that claims to have arrived promising that all voices will be treated equallywithout algorithms that hide content, shadowbans, or favoritism for those who pay. This social network claims to be politically impartial, and that its algorithms are fair. It allows you to create videos, upload stories and chat with your contacts. It has a hashtag system, no space limits, and an interface clearly inspired by Instagram. snapchat Snapchat was once a powerful emerging social network, until Instagram overlapped it by copying its stories. Now it remains in the second row in terms of popularity, but still pretty solid with hundreds of thousands of users using it around the world. Although its main function is stories, it also has Spotlight, its TikTok-style vertical video feed, with filters, augmented reality, and many creation options. skylight One of the “indie” alternatives that is gaining the most traction at the beginning of 2026 is Skylight. It is an American social network which uses AT Protocolthe social media protocol of Bluesky. This means that you can use it with your Bluesky account, or create a new one in Skylight and make the content accessible from the paired social network. Skylight is not open source, but it is a public benefit corporation. These are companies that balance profits with purpose, and legally committed to creating positive social impact. The downside is that it can be a bit confusing when mixed with Bluesky, and that It is not yet available in Spainalthough you can view the content from Bluesky. RedNote RedNote It is a Chinese social network that is basically a clone of TikTok, and that in the past has positioned itself as an alternative that many were trying to switch to. However, It is not the best option in terms of privacy either.since like many massive social networks they collect a lot of sensitive personal data. And we end with another social network to take into account for the future. diVine is a social network supported by Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, to resurrect the Vine platform of short six-second videos. Its applications are still in closed beta phase, but you can now play around with its web version. This network promises to adopt a decentralized concept similar to Bluesky, being able to have more control over moderation and algorithms. Its registry uses the Nostro decentralized protocol. Has positioned itself strongly against AIwith detection and blocking systems for this content to only have what is created by humans. In Xataka Basics | Your Bluesky account on Mastodon: how to create a bridge for your publications to reach the world

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