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This Star Trek movie was canceled in 1977 because science fiction had no future. Two weeks later Star Wars premiered

February 14, 2026 by usatoday24

In the mid-1970s, ‘Star Trek‘ was experiencing a unique phenomenon in the entertainment industry. The original series, canceled in 1969 after three seasons of discreet audiences, had found an unexpected second life. Continuous reruns and fan enthusiasm (the first phenomenon of its kind to develop pop culture) encouraged Paramount to extend the original mythology. In 1976, a full-page advertisement appeared in ‘The New York Times’ proclaiming the imminent production of a Star Trek film: ‘Planet of the Titans’, and which aspired to take the franchise into uncharted cinematic territories. The origin. Producer Gerald Isenberg assumed executive control of the project in July 1976, intending to transform ‘Star Trek’ into a first-rate cinematic event. To direct, Paramount hired Philip Kaufman, a filmmaker whose profile was unconventional for a franchise. Kaufman would direct acclaimed works such as ‘Chosen for Glory’ and would delve into a science fiction very different from ‘Star Trek’ in the remake of ‘Invasion of the Ultracorps’ in 1978. But by 1976 he had already directed the western ‘No Law or Hope’ and the arctic adventures of ‘The White Dawn’. Chris Bryant and Allan Scott, British writers of the superb and extremely rare ‘Shadow Menace’, were chosen as scriptwriters. The conceptual basis of the project was nourished by ambitious sources: Kaufman and Isenberg structured the narrative inspired by the novel ‘The Last and the First Humanity’ by Olaf Stapledon, which traces human evolution over billions of years. As a scientific advisor, Paramount hired Jesco von Puttkamer, a NASA engineer. Ralph McQuarriewhose conceptual work for ‘Star Wars’ was then in full development, would do the designs. The conflicts. Creative tensions quickly emerged. Kaufman aspired to create a cinematographic work that would dialogue with ‘2001: A Space Odyssey‘ in visual and philosophical complexity. Gene Roddenberry, creator of the original series, defended its essence. Bryant and Scott they were trapped between these two incompatible visions, trying to balance the artistic ambitions of one and the fidelity of the other. The budget, initially set at three million dollars, rose to 10 million. What was it about? Captain James T. Kirk has disappeared three years ago, during a rescue mission near a black hole. The Enterprise remains operational, but Spock has returned to Vulcan. When Starfleet detects anomalous energetic emissions coming from the same black hole where Kirk was lost, Spock rejoins. They discover a planet trapped inside the black hole, the mythical home of the Titans, an ancient civilization possessing technology superior to that of humans. The planet is being inexorably sucked into the black hole. Spock locates Kirk, scarred by years of isolation and transformed by cosmic forces. The planned outcome was the most radical bet: to escape collapse, the Enterprise deliberately enters the black hole, emerging not in its time, but in our prehistory. The crew discovers that they themselves are the Titans of mythology. Kirk is Prometheus, the bringer of fire to early humanity. The script does not clarify whether the crew would finally manage to return to their time or would be trapped observing the slow development of human history that they themselves had started. Kirk is dead. But… why make a movie in which the legendary Kirk is practically absent? William Shatner’s contract with Paramount had expired, leading Bryant and Scott to develop a first draft that eliminated Kirk. After several weeks of work, the studio informed them that an agreement had been reached and that Kirk should be reinstated as the lead. This twist forced a substantial rewrite of the material. And the situation with Leonard Nimoy was even more complex: the actor withdrew from the project due to a conflict over the unauthorized use of his image as Spock in a Heineken advertisement, but an agreement was finally reached. The cancellation. Bryant and Scott submitted their first completed draft on March 1, 1977, after months of intense creative negotiations, but ultimately walked away from the project. Kaufman personally took on the rewrite of the script. His version intensified the role of Spock and developed the dynamic with a Klingon played by none other than the legendary Toshiro Mifune. Just when he was convinced he had found the definitive story, he was told that Paramount had canceled the project. This happened in May 1977, just seventeen days before the premiere of ‘Star Wars’. Kaufman would always remember the phrase that a studio executive told him as justification for the cancellation: “there is no future in science fiction.” Why was it cancelled? They converged different factors: the increase in costs, the fear that ‘Star Wars’ would saturate the science fiction market and the belief that they had distanced themselves too much from the original series. When ‘Star Wars’ grossed more than $775 million worldwide, Paramount pitched ‘Star Trek: Phase II,’ a television series planned as the flagship of a new company television network. It would also be cancelled, although one of its scripts would eventually become the basis for ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, released in December 1979. The legacy. ‘‘Planet of the Titans’ was not the first failed attempt to bring ‘Star Trek’ to the cinema, but rather one more link in a chain of frustrated projects that reflected Paramount’s uncertainty about how to capitalize on the franchise: there are cases as popular as the legendary and disturbing film ‘The God Thing’, written by Roddenberry himself in 1975, or the many attempts to recruit science fiction authors to contribute ideas for films, as happened with Harlan Ellison in the late seventies. And although something remained from the film in the future after the cancellation of ‘Planet of the Titans’ (for example, the concept designs They were reused in 2017 in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’), this cursed movie is the perfect example of what ‘Star Trek’ has always been. A sign that there are more ways to do science fiction outside of spectacle pulp of Star Wars and, at the same time, the confirmation that it is very complicated to do so. In Xataka | More and more … Read more

Creating a C compiler cost 2 million dollars and took 2 years. Claude Opus 4.6 did it in two weeks for $20,000

February 8, 2026 by usatoday24

We are facing a technological inflection point. Uo in which software engineering, one of the most complex and demanding technical tasks in history, little by little It is becoming the “killer app” of AI. It is clear that generative AI models are not perfect, but we continue to see extraordinary evolution. The latest example? The C compiler that Claude Opus 4.6 programmed all by himself. what has happened. Nicholas Carlini, researcher at Anthropic, I counted yesterday how “I’ve been experimenting with a new way of monitoring language models that we’ve called “agent teams””. What it has done is ensure that several programming agents work in parallel using the recently released Claude Opus 4.6, and thanks to that it has developed something exceptional with 16 of these agents: a C code compiler. Hello CCC. At Anthropic they have called it Claude’s C Compiler (CCC), and they have published the code, completely generated by Opus 4.6, on GitHub. The project consists of 100,000 lines of Rust code that were generated in two weeks with an API cost of $20,000. And it works: with it they have compiled a functional Linux 6.9 kernel on x86, ARM and RISC-V. Before it was (at least) two million dollars and two years. What this experiment has achieved is to demonstrate how software development can be much cheaper and faster thanks to the use of these agents. Although there is no readily available data on how much time and money compilers cost in the past, the size of these products was enormous, as is the case with Microsoft Visual C++For example. It is difficult to know how much it cost, but it is estimated that it involved 15-20 people working for five years. That’s a lot of man hours and a lot of money to develop and polish that compiler. The estimate of two years and two million dollars may in fact be overly optimistic. another example. Historically, building a C compiler from scratch was considered one of the pinnacles of systems engineering. Not only was in-depth knowledge of processor architecture required, but thousands of man-hours were required to manage optimization and machine code generation. In the 90s the company Cygnus Solutions (clue in compiler development gcc) came to invest more than 250 million in a decade to maintain and port build tools. The real cost was not just in the final lines of code, but in countless hours analyzing CPU and memory patterns to make the resulting binary efficient. Far from perfect, but… Carlini himself explained in the post that this compiler had serious limitations and for example “it does not have a 16-bit x86 compiler which is essential to start Linux outside of “real mode”, and it does not have its own assembler nor its linker“. It is probably far from mature compilers, but even so the achievement remains exceptional and points to that future in which even very complex developments can be supported with AI. They will be expensive, no doubt, but their total development will probably be a fraction of what they cost a few years ago. Cursor already demonstrated it. Before Anthropic launched its AI-programmed compiler, Cursor completed a similar project, combining GPT-5.2 agents into its development platform to create a working browser in a week. In total the AI programmed three million (!) lines of code in Rust, and although it was again far from being perfect or competing with Chrome, it demonstrated the current capacity of these agentic programming systems. Turning point (especially for Anthropic). For the SemiAnalysis experts Claude Code, current leading exponent of this new era of AI-driven programming, is a paradigm shift: “We believe that Claude Code is the turning point for AI agents and is a glimpse into the future of how AI will work.” This prestigious newsletter predicts an exceptional 2026 for Anthropic, and so much so that they believe it will “dramatically surpass OpenAI.” You ask, the AI programs. If you have tried the vibe codingI’m sure you agree with me: AI allows you to do things you would never have dreamed of. What I did a few weeks ago with Immich made it clear to me, and I continue experimenting with AI and programming “custom” things that solve real problems and needs for me. Yes, for now they are for me and therefore they are not large and complex systems that need to be put into production as happens in professional environments, but I am clear that this is being done little by little and more will be done. In fact, both OpenAI and Anthropic have stood out how in the development of their latest models part of the work has been done, paradoxically, by those same models, which have fed back to each other. And the result is in production and used by millions of people. Something is changing. And it’s something big. In Xataka | OpenAI has a problem: Anthropic is succeeding right where the most money is at stake

The regulations allow you to take home a product from three weeks ago

January 31, 2026 by usatoday24

We go to the supermarket, we pick up a package of eggs where it says in big letters “Category A” or “Fresh Eggs” and we assume that those chickens They laid the eggs a couple of days ago. But the reality is very different, and the legal and biological sections follow very different paths. And it’s something easy to see if we look closely. on best-before dates and if we do the necessary math we will see that what the law considers “fresh” can take almost a month in the world. Many doubts. Seeing this, the most logical questions we can have in this case is if it is safe to consume or even if it is legal. And the reality is that it is. But there is a small print in the 28-day regulations that you need to know before deciding whether to make a curdled tortilla or homemade mayonnaise. The 28 day clock. To understand what we are buying, we must first go to the BOE and to European regulations. In this case, category A eggs —those that we usually find on the supermarket shelves— have a very specific commercial life cycle. According to marketing regulations, these eggs must be classified, marked and packaged within 10 days of laying. But this is where we have the key information: the best before date is set in a maximum of 28 days from laying. That is, the law allows an egg to be legally sold and consumed up to four weeks after it comes out of the hen. In this way, as they collect the labeling technical guides and AESAN itselfthat is the deadline to supply them to the consumer. Therefore, under the legal umbrella, “fresh” does not mean “placed yesterday.” Means “within the 28 day window“. How to know the real age. This is where we find the picaresque and calculation that many popularizers like the doctor Fernández Viso has shared on his TikTok account. In this case, the packaging rarely says the “selling date”, because it is not mandatory, if the ‘best before’ date appears. And with this you can do a kind of reverse engineering. To do this, let’s give an example. If we are in the supermarket on January 8 and see a container of eggs with the best before date of January 18, the operation is quite simple. The deadline in this case is 28 days after placement, and if they expire on January 18, it means they were placed around December 21. That is why nothing fresh. Its meaning. Although originally this time frame was limited to 21 days in order to guarantee proximity and consumption a little more, the reality is that it was changed to 28 days to reduce food waste. It is not that the egg magically stays “ultra fresh” until the 28th, it is that it has been prioritized that they do not end up in the trash if they are still suitable for consumption. The truly fresh one. There is a category that is much more recent, and it is the one that says “extra” or “extra fresh” on its packaging. The EU Delegated Regulation specifies that this term can only be used during the first 9 days after laying. If you see that label, you are guaranteed real freshness. If you don’t see it, you are looking at a standard egg that can be from 10 to 28 days old. The problem is that, in the consumer’s head, the term “fresh” on the shelf is interpreted loosely. Good business practice guides recognize this disparity: the legality of labeling does not match what people intuitively understand by freshness. Furthermore, the common commercial practice of mixing lots on shelves, which is legal as long as traceability is respectedmakes us lose the perception of the exact age of each container of eggs. Food safety. Knowing the age of the egg is not only a question of gastronomic quality, it is a safety issue. The AESAN and the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) warn that extending the storage time increases the risk of Salmonella poisoning. Risk mitigation. This is a risk that grows exponentially the longer eggs are stored, both in the store and at home. Therefore, the experts’ recommendations are clear, and depend on the calendar we follow. Specifically, for cooking, that is, for the egg to be well set or cooked, it can be rushed until the best-before date without problem. But for raw consumption such as mayonnaise or tartars, freshness is critical. In this case, it is recommended to use eggs that are more than two weeks away from expiration. Images | Jakub Kapusnak In Xataka | Having a cup of coffee as soon as you wake up seems like a great idea. Science has something to say about it

There is a “nihilistic” penguin who decided to embrace certain death. The Internet has been obsessed with him for weeks

January 30, 2026 by usatoday24

If in many years some historian were to investigate how the world has started 2026, they would find one of those surprises that raise eyebrows: humanity (or at least that part of humanity that rubs shoulders on the Internet) has started the year fascinated by a “nihilistic penguin”. With Ukraine at war, Trump threatening to annex Greenland to the US (by hook or by crook) and Nicolás Maduro detained In a New York prison, half the planet is dedicated to speculating why the hell one fine day in 2007 a palmiped from Antarctica undertook a suicidal trip that would have inspired himself Friedrich Nietzsche. It sounds bizarre, but it makes sense. What the hell is that penguin doing? It sounds bizarre, but for weeks thousands of people around the world have been asking themselves that same question: What is that penguin doing? The bird in question is a Pygoscelis adeliaean ‘Adelia’ like there are thousands of them in Antarctica, but which about 19 years ago came across the German filmmaker’s cameras by pure chance Werner Herzog while recording his documentary ‘Encounters at the End of the World’. The film lasts almost 100 minutes during which Herzog shows snowy plains, seals, underwater scenes and a multitude of frozen landscapes. At one point, however, his camera captured something curious, a detail that caught the attention of some critics years ago and now it has revolutionized half of the Network. The scene shows an Adelie penguin doing something totally counterintuitive. Without us knowing very well why, the animal begins to walk with a firm step away from the rest of its flock, entering between frozen mountains. Ahead, nothingness. No company. No food. That is, death. “But, why?“ The scene is shocking. First because it seems to go against the most basic common sense. At least the human one. Second, because of the surprising determination of the penguin, who sets off on his way without hesitation and only for a brief moment seems to stop to look at everything he leaves behind him. The third reason why it has captivated half the Internet is because Herzog himself was in charge of giving it importance and highlighting its drama. “But why?” he wonders the German filmmaker in the narration that accompanies the scene. After all, he only has miles and miles and miles of barren land ahead of him that take him further and further away from the safety of his colony and food sources. “It caught our attention. It wasn’t heading to the feeding grounds at the edge of the ice or returning to the colony. Shortly afterwards we saw it heading towards the mountains, 70 kilometers away. Dr Ainslie explained that even if he captured it and brought it back to the flock, it would return to the mountains. But… Why?” fascinated account Herzog. The full question would be a little longer: Why the hell would a penguin ignore its own survival instinct? There must be a reason, right? That is exactly what the documentary filmmaker proposed at the time and it has been worrying half the world for weeks. There is who has speculated that the penguin perhaps had a problem that altered its orientation or an ailment that affected its behavior. There is even talk of possible changes at an environmental level or of a exploratory instinct unconventional. If the panorama were not disturbing in itself, add Ainslie’s disturbing observation: it does not matter that Herzog or anyone else tried to correct their course. The animal would begin its deadly journey again almost instantly. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Is this something so strange? The penguin’s attitude does. Our attempts to find an explanation that fits our way of seeing the world (often from a anthropocentric optics), No. We humans have been debating for some time whether animals have something similar to a sense of morality. For example, we ask ourselves if in episodes that seem to us cruel There is a latent intention or they are simply the result of instinct. We have even speculated on the possibility of “altruistic” behavior in fauna. It may sound strange, but these are questions that have arisen in view of specific behaviors. A crow that finds a large amount of meat and decides warn others companions to share the feast, a whale investing time and energy in protect a seal harassed by killer whales, a duck that cares for a cub of another species, even putting itself in danger. Are those animals being generous? Are they selfless or do they act motivated by an instinct that, ultimately, seeks the preservation of themselves and their species? These are issues so complex that they have even given rise to scientific studies. What does it have to do with the penguin? Well, in recent weeks, after Herzog’s video once again gained popularity on the internet, many people have seen a 100% human attitude in the palmipede. Of course, one that has little or nothing to do with altruism or cruelty. What they appreciate is pure nihilismthe doctrine that embraces “nothingness” (hence its name, ‘nihil’) and denies the pillars on which philosophers have relied for centuries: the existence of religious, political and social principles and, in general, any foundation in morality. There is no purpose. Not even life has a meaning like the one that religions have sought for centuries. And what does Herzog’s penguin do if he doesn’t embrace that very thing, nothingness? Does it not evoke, in words by journalist Adil Faouzi, “a willful desertion of the logic of life itself”? The animal recorded by Herzog seems to capture these ideas so well, to condense them in such a powerful way, that many have nicknamed it: the “nihilistic penguin”. A little far-fetched, right? Depends. We do not know what motivated that small creature to undertake a journey towards its own death and who have tried Finding an explanation points (as we said before) to a possible illness or some type … Read more

A man rented two asbestos-filled buildings for 99 years. They were the Twin Towers, and six weeks later he made a fortune with 9/11

January 23, 2026 by usatoday24

There are stories that seem like an urban legend because they fit too well with a movie script: a contract signed at the last minute, an invisible risk that no one wanted to look at in the face, and finally an event that changes everything. That’s why the story of an investor who decided attack to a ruinous business, it does not seem real, and the truth is that it was. A contract changed its meaning forever. In July 2001, the businessman Larry Silverstein signed the rent or lease at 99 years of the iconic World Trade Center complex, a deal then valued at around $3.2 billion that gave it operational control of a global symbol. Everything was more or less normal if it weren’t for the fact that a few weeks later 9/11 arrived and that business movement became a almost impossible story to tell without it sounding like a script: the “greatest real estate trophy” in Manhattan became the epicenter of the largest attack on American soil, with all that it implied in losses, contractual liability and clash with the State, public opinion and, above all, insurers. A ruinous business. The World Trade Center was not just any building, it was a logistical monster with expensive maintenance, complex technical decisions and a typical legacy of the great construction of the 20th century: asbestos, used for years as part of “fireproofing” projected onto steel and other materials, and which ended up being a problem health and economic huge for countless homeowners. In the case of the Towers, the use of materials with asbestos in construction phases, especially on the ground and middle floors of the North Tower, and that reality turned any renovation into a minefield of costs, controls and legal risks. In practice, the iconic value coexisted with an asset that was difficult to manage: expensive to maintain, delicate to intervene and with a liability that forced us to think about insurance as if it were part of the structure. Larry Silverstein The key insurance. When the complex collapsed, the debate stopped being “what happened” and became “what exactly does what was signed cover”, and there appears the detail that explains years of judicial war: at the time of the attack not all the definitive policies were closed, and part of the coverage rested on preliminary documents and debatable conditions. This allowed insurers cling to certain definitions and Silverstein to argue that the contractual framework should be read in the way that most protected its financial position. It was not a theoretical discussion, it was the difference between being ruined or having the resources to continue, rebuild and politically survive the earthquake that came after the disaster. The war of a word. The heart of the case was whether 9/11 counted as a single insured event or as two different events, since two planes and two towers were impacted. Silverstein defended that the terrorist attack was actually two attacks separated and, therefore, two events, one in each insured building, which justified aiming for figures close to double the “per occurrence” limit. The insurers, on the other hand, tried to fix it as a single event so as not to duplicate the exposure. The courts did not leave a clean and single ending, but rather a panorama divided into blocks: for some sections and insurers, interpretation was imposed of “an occurrence”and for others the door was opened to consider it two, creating a possible high compensation ceiling, but not necessarily automatic. The final amount. In the popular narrative it has been repeated that the man “tried to charge double” and that is essentially true, because his claims came to be raised in the around 7,000 million of dollars under the logic of two events. It turns out that the real framework was narrower: the total coverage “per occurrence” (building) moved around of the 3.2–3.5 billion and the litigation was cutting, distributing and limiting the maximum exposure according to which insurers fell under which definition. In practical terms, the story was not “he got paid twice and that’s it,” but rather that “he fought for two, partially won, and the system left him in a middle ground” that for years became in the great suspense Financial of Ground Zero. The big deal. After almost six years of battle and litigation, the outcome that mattered above the headlines was reached: an extrajudicial agreement of no less than 2 billion dollars with seven insurers announced with the intervention of the governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, and the state superintendent of insurance, Eric R. Dinallo. That pact was presented as closing all claims pending and, above all, as the elimination of the last great barrier so that the publicized reconstruction of the complex could advance without the permanent brake of judicial uncertainty. Beyond the number, the key was the effect: resources and clarity to fulfill obligations and continue building in a place where each delay was a political, economic and symbolic problem at the same time. How it was distributed. The agreement was not a single check with a single destination, because in the same two actors lived together: the Port Authority as the public owner of the site and Silverstein himself as the private tenant and developer. The agreed distribution left approximately 56% for Silverstein and 44% for the Port Authority, and a direct implicit message: it was not about “getting rich” in a conventional sense, but about sustaining a project that had been tied to contracts, commitments and reconstruction. Furthermore, the confidentiality about how much each insurer paid separately reinforced the typical idea of these endings: a functional closure to be able to turn the page and (re)build. The real story behind the myth. I counted ago a few years Snopes all the hoaxes that were given around the fascinating Silverstein story. Legend often tells it as an almost obscene stroke of luck, but the reality is more uncomfortable: Silverstein signed a huge lease just before the disaster, yes, … Read more

the Ukrainian drone that stopped Russia for six weeks with a machine gun and not a single human soldier

January 10, 2026 by usatoday24

On the Ukrainian front, where every meter conquered or defended is paid for with a human cost that is increasingly difficult to assume, ingenuity is has become a resource as valuable as ammunition. In this context of extreme wear and constant adaptation, some units are experimenting with little visible solutions that, without attracting attention, are beginning to change the way a battle line is held. When there are no soldiers left. In a war marked by a shortage of infantry and the extreme lethality of maintaining forward positions, Ukraine has begun to test a solution that until recently belonged to military science fiction: leaving the front in machine hands. During 45 consecutive daysa Ukrainian unit maintained front-line sectors without direct human presence, entrusting the defense to a single land vehicle unmanned, a bet that summarizes the crude logic of the current conflict: if something can receive enemy fire, it better not bleed. The doctrine. The experience was reported by the NC-13 Strike Company, integrated into the Third Corps of the Ukrainian Army, a unit created specifically to operate unmanned ground vehicles. Its commander, Mykola “Makar” Zinkevych, explained that the idea was radically simple: “robots don’t bleed,” and the ground drone was the only element present in the position, carrying out constant suppressive fire missions to deter Russian advances and force the enemy to confront a defense that could not be psychologically worn down or eliminated with human casualties. The droid TW 12.7. The system used was the Droid TW 12.7developed by the Ukrainian company DevDroida small tracked vehicle armed with a heavy machine gun M2 Browning .50 caliber. Far from being an isolated prototype, the drone was displaced between different positions at the request of local command posts, acting as a mobile punishment platform that turned each attempted Russian advance into a costly and risky operation. The Droid TW 12.7 Wear and tear… also for machines. Although the robot could remain in place for days, it needed withdraw every 48 hours for maintenance, resupply of ammunition and recharging of batteries, tasks carried out by a team located several kilometers from the front. The process, initially four hours, is reduced by half thanks to the purchase of additional batteries paid for by the soldiers themselves, a detail that illustrates the extent to which the Ukrainian war continues to depend on local initiatives and improvised financing even when talking about advanced technology. Limited autonomy. DevDroid affirms that the Droid TW 12.7 can operate at distances of up to 15 miles and has artificial intelligence-assisted navigation functions, although it is unclear to what extent it can act autonomously in combat. Even so, the simple fact that a single UGV has held positions for six weeks demonstrates that the value of these systems lies not only in their sophistication, but in their ability to replace human bodies in tasks where survival is minimal. From experiment to military doctrine. After this experience, the Zinkevych unit plans to expand the use of UGVs in both defensive and offensive missions, relying on new variants equipped with grenade launchers already approved for official use. The demand, recognizeis very high, but so are the costs, to the point that development continues to be partially financed through crowdfunding campaigns. The future of the front. If you like, the case Droid TW 12.7 It is not just a technological anecdote, but a sign of where to go war is headed modern in Ukraine: a battlefield where every meter can be defended with sensors, steel and algorithms instead of flesh and blood, and where the strategic value of a soldier begins to also be measured by his ability not to be physically there. Image | Tank Bureau In Xataka | Russia has reminded the planet that the war in Ukraine is a ticking bomb. And for this he has pressed a nuclear button: Oreshnik In Xataka | Ukraine has become an animal slaughterhouse: Russian soldiers appear with horses and drones blow them up

The drone war in Ukraine is advancing at the speed of light: what was useful two weeks ago is a death trap today

December 15, 2025 by usatoday24

Since the first months of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has converted the use of drones in one of the central pillars of its defense, and has done so to the point of transforming a conventional conflict into a permanent laboratory unmanned combat. In this environment of constant adaptation, drones have not only redefined the way we fight on the front, but have imposed an unprecedented pace of technological change that forces armies, industries and training centers to update almost in real time to avoid becoming obsolete. Classrooms at war. The Ukrainian drone schools have become one of the most extreme laboratories of military learning in the world, forced to rewrite their training programs at a dizzying pace that in some cases reaches the two weeks. In a conflict where drones have become the main instrument of attack, reconnaissance and attrition, the distance between an obsolete lesson and a lethal decision can be measured in days. For these centers, adapting is not an academic question, but rather a direct line between survival and death on the front, in an environment where technology, countermeasures and tactics change constantly and rapidly. In Xataka We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new: drones are disguising themselves as Russian soldiers, and it is working Synergy. To stay relevant, instructors are not limited to manuals or simulators. They regularly visit the battle lines, maintain permanent contact with alumni deployed and testing new technologies before incorporating them into their courses. In schools like Dronarium, with offices in kyiv and Lviv, its R&D manager, the veteran known as “Ruda”, explains that technological evolution on the front is so rapid that it requires almost immediate adaptability. There is no two equal classes: Each lesson incorporates small adjustments resulting from what happened days before in real combat. More than 16,000 students have passed through this center, and their experiences are directly integrated into the curriculum, turning training into a living system that feeds back on the war. Two-way learning. One of the pillars of this model is communication direct and permanent with the combatants. Messaging groups connect deployed instructors and operators, allowing soldiers to share new enemy tactics, technical problems or improvised solutions, while receiving advice in near real time from the rear. In centers like Karlsson, Karas & Associates or Kruk Drones, this relationship does not end at the end of the course: it is maintained throughout the operator’s operational life. The instruction is clear: nothing is taught that is not strictly necessary in combat, and what is no longer useful is unceremoniously discarded, no matter how recent it may be. A war that reinvents itself. The central weight of drones on the battlefield explains this urgency. The majority of frontline impacts and casualties already depend on unmanned systems, requiring continuous modification of both platforms and employment tactics. New models appear, others are neutralized by countermeasures, and the rules of the game are constantly rewritten. This speed has set off alarm bells in the West: military officials such as British Minister Luke Pollard warn that NATO forces run the risk of becoming obsolete, trapped in acquisition cycles that last years in the face of a war that repeats every two or three weeks. {“videoId”:”x8j6422″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Declassified video of the clash between Russian fighters and the American drone”, “tag”:”united states”, “duration”:”42″} The industry learns from Ukraine. The schools they are not alone in this race. Defense companies that observe the conflict have begun to copy this model of direct interaction with the front, shortening your cycles developmental. Manufacturers of anti-drone systems and UAV platforms visit the battlefield, chat with operators and fine-tune designs in a matter of weeks, not years. Some executives recognize that the ways in which Ukrainians use technology have surprised them, forcing them to rethink basic assumptions. At the same time, the soldiers themselves benefit from this exchange, providing constant feedback and receiving improvements, spare parts and solutions adapted to their real needs. In Genbeta According to psychology, those who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s developed mental strengths that are being lost today Schools under fire. There is no doubt, this permanent adaptation has a cost. Drone schools are not only competing against the technological clock, they are operating under the direct threat from Russian attacks and with limited financial resources, often depending on donations to continue functioning. In this context, their fight is not only to stay updated, but to survive. Even so, their role has become central in modern warfare: they are the link that connects innovation, industry and real combat, and the best example of how Ukraine has turned the urgency of conflict into a flexible and brutally efficient national military learning system. Image | Heute, RawPixel In Xataka | The new episode of terror in Ukraine does not involve missiles or drones: it involves leaving a city without cell phones In Xataka | Europe faces a question it can no longer avoid: how to respond to a war that is rarely declared (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news The drone war in Ukraine is advancing at the speed of light: what was useful two weeks ago is a death trap today was originally published in Xataka by Miguel Jorge .

We have had Stephen King releases for several weeks in a row. Don’t we know how to do anything else?

November 22, 2025 by usatoday24

The fall of 2025 has brought with it an avalanche of Stephen King: almost in consecutive weeks we have had the premiere of ‘The long march‘ and ‘The Running Man‘, and shortly before the series started ‘It: Welcome to Derry‘ on HBO Max. Three great productions in just one month. Are we facing an unimaginative industry that constantly turns to the same author, or is it that King continues to offer something that others cannot? The answer has three keys: the so-called Kingaissance, the decisive factor of the streaming and the current value of King, which has not been devalued by bad adaptations. Debunking the myth. To deny King’s supposed dependence on the horror genre, just look at the last twelve months of releases. Independent horror is enjoying an unsuspected golden age: ‘Longlegs’, for example, grossed more than one hundred million dollars at the box office with a budget of just ten, and films like ‘The substance‘ have given terror a life-long breath of quality, including Oscar nominations. Classic franchises such as ‘Final Destination’ are recovered, ‘Frankenstein’ is sweeping Netflix and a star system from horror creators: the aforementioned Perkins, Prano Bailey-Bond, Danny and Michael Philippou, Zach Creggar and Rose Glass, among others. The Kingaissance. The Anglo-Saxon media coined a term to describe what is happening: the “Kingaissance“, a revival that has a precise birth date. In September 2017, ‘It’ by Andy Muschietti became an unexpected cultural phenomenon: With a budget of just thirty-five million, it grossed more than seven hundred globally, becoming the highest-grossing horror film in history without adjusting for inflation. What followed was an avalanche. Without exhaustiveness: ‘Doctor Sleep’, ‘Animal Graveyard’, ‘Eyes of Fire’, ‘Salem’s Lot’, ‘In the Tall Grass’, the series ‘Apocalypse’ and ‘Chapelwaite’… And now, three more adaptations, to which will be added the future television ‘Carrie’ by Mike Flanagan, ‘The Talisman’ for Netflix and perhaps a new ‘Cujo’. The difference with the eighties is abysmal. Back then, TV movies and B series predominated: now they are series on HBO and films with established directors. King himself often has creative control and serves as executive producer on many of these projects. The factor streaming. For decades, adaptations of King’s longer novels have been handicapped by having to compress their length to the margins of the feature film. He streaming changed the rules of the game: platforms now allow series of eight or ten episodes that respect the author’s narrative complexity, something that had previously only been experienced in miniseries format, in productions such as the first version of ‘It’ or ‘The Store’. It happened with ‘11.22.63’, with ‘The Stranger’, with ‘Lisey’s Story’ (which King personally wrote)… Now it is the turn of the prequel to the latest version of ‘It’, and it is clear how the logic of the platforms works: they look for recognizable IPs, and King offers dozens of stories with a bomb-proof dramatic structure. But there were bad adaptations of King. And they didn’t kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. It’s always happened: there are adaptations in miniseries format in the nineties, like ‘The Langoliers’ or ‘The Shining’ that are a pain. Since the nineties there have been as many weak King films as there have been notable ones. Very recent is the horrendous ‘The Dark Tower’ from 2017, which compressed eight novels into 95 disastrous minutes. Or ‘Cell’, absolutely forgettable. Why didn’t these catastrophes sink King’s value? First, the original novels remain, at worst, more than readable, and at best, downright excellent: the source material is indestructible. Second, readers clearly distinguish between author and adaptation, continue to appreciate the writer, and continue to try their hand at adaptations. Third, the good adaptations (‘The Shining,’ ‘Carrie,’ ‘It,’ ‘Misery,’ the original ‘Pet Sematary’) are so good that we’ll always come back for more. Why we return to King. The answer, despite appearances, is not a lack of ideas, but rather that we are faced with a name of proven effectiveness, even in its worst moments: few have that commercial hook combined with minimum standards of quality and entertainment. King has more than 65 novels and 200 short stories, an inexhaustible mine whose themes will never go out of style and are universal: generational traumas, addictions, the problems of the working class, invisible threats, the corruption of power, the weight of our past… And to top it off, we are in the era of the IP. So it is not an issue that affects only him. Marvel, DC, Disney… In 2024, the ten highest-grossing films They all came from pre-existing intellectual properties. And Hollywood seeks familiarity: from the Agatha Christie films directed by Kenneth Branagh to the explosion of video game adaptations like ‘fallout‘, ‘The Last of Us‘ and ‘Super Mario Bros.: The Movie‘. An ideal scenario for a brand that, undoubtedly, has had its ups and downs, but that right now enjoys unexpected iron health. In Xataka | There is a book by Stephen King that sells for around 100 euros and I got it for five: the strange story of ‘Rage’

Five technology offers to take advantage of MediaMarkt’s Black Weeks, today, November 9

November 9, 2025 by usatoday24

Nothing left for Black Friday! In a few weeks, what is one of the biggest sales campaigns of the year will begin, so many stores have already launched discounts that serve as a small preview. MediaMarkt, for example, has its Black Weeksso in this article we are going to review what they are five of their best deals that will be available over the weekend. Google Pixel 10 by 799 euros with coupon, one of the best proposals of the year with a much more reasonable price. Sony WH-1000XM4L by 189 eurostop quality-price headphones that are now cheaper. LaCie Mobile Drive V2 by 145.99 eurosa 5TB hard drive that has a portable design. iPhone 16e by 599 eurosApple’s mobile phone returns with one of the best discounts it has received to date. Dyson V8 Advanced by 259 eurosa good Dyson vacuum cleaner that has dropped in price by 35%. Google Pixel 10 There are not a few offers that the Google Pixel 10 since its launch, and now a new one has arrived at the MediaMarkt store: introducing the coupon TradeInPixel10100Nov Before processing the purchase, you can buy by 799 euros. And be careful, because it is a mobile phone that has an excellent multimedia section, very good cameras, exquisite software and 256 GB of internal storage. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Sony WH-1000XM4L If what you are looking for are good headphones, be careful because the Sony WH-1000XM4L have fallen in MediaMarkt up to 189 eurosa precious thing considering that, despite the fact that there are a couple of more current generations, They offer a very good sound experience. They have excellent active noise cancellation, are very comfortable and their battery offers a range of up to 30 hours. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LaCie Mobile Drive V2 Although SSD units have taken a more prominent role than HDD hard drives, the latter tend to have much more competitive prices. He LaCie Mobile Drive V2 is a good example of this, since at MediaMarkt it is on sale for 145.99 euros. Has 5TB internal storage, has a USB-C connection, allows you to make backup copies and has a resistant and portable design. LaCie Mobile Drive V2 (5TB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iPhone 16e He iPhone 16e It was launched on sale and since then we have been able to find it on sale many times. Now, MediaMarkt has it for 599 eurosone of the best prices it has had so far. It is a powerful mobile thanks to the A18 chipoffers good autonomy and is ideal for those who want a very compact format (6.1 inches). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Dyson V8 Advanced On the other hand, if what you are looking for is a good vacuum cleaner, be careful because this Dyson V8 Advanced has fallen to 259 euros. It is a cordless vacuum cleaner that offers a power of up to 130 AW, its theoretical autonomy is up to 40 minutes and it comes with several accessories. In addition, it has several modes of use and has a hygienic emptying system for dirt. 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 | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Google, Sony, LaCie, Apple, Dyson In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best wireless headphones. Which one to buy and 21 models from 15 euros to 470 euros

thermal lurches have weeks left

October 28, 2025 by usatoday24

Suddenly and without warning, the cold has crept into Spain. More than half the country is waking up with temperatures close to zero And, although it is true that the afternoons are still mild, millions of people are faced with the big question of the moment: is it time to change clothes? Or what is the same, translated into meteorological terms, is the cold here to stay? What has happened? In reality, it is not so much what has happened, but what is happening and what is going to happen. Because in the coming days, we are going to see very rapid temperature jumps (“from ice to sun in 48 hours“, with increases and subsequent decreases). We have already seen it: Ciudad Real went from a minimum of 13 to a minimum of 5 from one day to the next. Teruel, Salamanca or Palencia dropped below zero degrees. And, although in the abstract it is not strange that as we approach November the days are increasingly colder, the heat is holding so much so that the “saw teeth” are much more pronounced. Temperature changes are so marked that they are no longer just meteorological curiosities: they are causing problems in people’s daily lives. Is it going to continue like this? This is interesting. According to AEMETNovember is going to be relatively warm at least during the first fortnight. Warm anomalies and above-average precipitation. However, the ECMWF suggests That’s where the “heat” ends. To that first fortnight with thermal values still above average and strong Atlantic circulation (i.e., more generous rainfall on the western slope); It seems that a second half of November will follow in which a possible pattern change will bring more normalized temperatures. Because? On a technical level, what we are seeing is the product of an alternation of warm ridges and cold fronts. We are talking about mild days, open skies and thermal rises, followed by abrupt drops as cooler maritime air enters. What does all this translate into? In a very pronounced thermal variability. That is to say, a heightened risk of isolated frosts in the interior despite the fact that the days are mild and pleasant. This will have strong impacts in agriculture (especially stone fruits and autumn products), in energy demand (at such an uncertain time) and health (the early arrival of respiratory infections). All this punctuated by a series of Atlantic storms that will repeatedly impact the west; while the Mediterranean will be relatively calm with probable scares against DANAs or undulations of the jet stream. So, is the cold here to stay? In the short term, no. The models point to a soft first half of November compared to the average, with occasional declines. The stable cold seems to be delayed until the second half of November. Image | Tomer Burg In Xataka | A group of researchers is trapped in an Antarctic base under a threat: that of one of them.

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