worth

small differences that make it worth it (or not) to pay more to jump to the new generation

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Habemus three new Samsung foldables. The comparisons between them are interesting because, beyond the format, they also have other differences. Now, it is also worth looking back and compare them just with the previous generation. For this reason, today we are going to face the Galaxy Z Flip7 and to Galaxy Z Fold8. Technical data sheet of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 Dimensions and weight Folding: 75.2 x 85.5 x 13.7mm Displayed: 75.2 x 166.7 x 6.5mm 188 grams Folding: 75.4 x 85.7 x 13.1mm Displayed: 75.4 x 166.9 x 6.1mm 180 grams folding screen 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X FullHD+ resolution (1,080 x 2,520 pixels) 397 pixels per inch 2,600 nits Refresh rate: 1-120Hz Vision Booster 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X FullHD+ resolution (1,080 x 2,520 pixels) 400 pixels per inch 3,000 nits Refresh rate: 1-120Hz Vision Booster secondary / main screen 4.1-inch Super AMOLED Refresh rate: 60-120 Hz Resolution 948 x 1,048 pixels 4.1-inch Super AMOLED Refresh rate: 60/120 Hz Resolution 948 x 1,048 pixels processor Exynos 2500 Exynos 2600 Ram memory and storage 12/256GB 12/512GB 12/256GB 12/512GB main camera 50 MP wide angle, f/1.8. OIS 12 MP wide angle, f/2.2, 123º FOV 50 MP wide angle, dual pixel AF, OIS, f/1.8, FOV 85º 12 MP wide angle, f/2.2, 123º FOV front camera 10 MP f/2.2, FOV 85º 10 MP, f/2.2, FOV 85º battery 4,300 mAh 25W fast charging 15W wireless charging Reverse wireless charging Dual 4,300 mAh (typical) 25W fast charging 15W wireless charging PowerShare Reverse Wireless Charging price From 945.65 euros From 1,299 euros At first glance there are not too many differences between the two, but there are some that are worth taking into account before jumping into one or the other model. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8, 256GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A design that tends to become increasingly thinner At first glance, both folding devices are so similar that it is difficult to distinguish them. Samsung maintains a design with which it is comfortable, although it continues in the same direction as other devices such as the Galaxy S26 Ultra. What does that mean? What the Galaxy Z Flip8 is a thinner and lighter device than its predecessor. Let’s talk about concrete numbers. It is about a reduction of 0.4 millimeters in thickness and 8 grams in weight. On paper, it is a small difference, but it is noticeable if we take into account that it is a foldable that seeks to be light and manageable. Interior display: change in maximum brightness level and hinge The exterior screen of the Galaxy Z Flip8 is identical to the one already released on the Galaxy Z Flip7, covering the entire surface of the device except for the camera modules. The interior doesn’t change much either, although Samsung The maximum brightness level has been improved from 2,600 to 3,000 nits. In practice, this should make it look better outdoors or in sunlight. Another change that comes to both the new Flip and the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra It is a technology called Flex Titanium. Simply explained, it is a titanium film along with a plate of the same material that goes in the area of ​​the wrinkle that the folding screen has. Its objective is clear: make this wrinkle barely noticeable and less visible. Processor renewal: Exynos again While the other two foldables of this new generation have a Qualcomm processor, the Galaxy Z Flip8 repeats with an Exynos. Specifically, we are talking about the Exynos 2600which is exactly the same processor that the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+so we can get an idea of ​​its performance. Here we have a jump in power and technical efficiency with respect to the Z Flip7 processor, which was the Exynos 2500. With this change we can expect that Samsung’s new foldable will be more powerful and efficient than its predecessor and even improves its thermal management. Otherwise, there are no more differences at the hardware level between both devices, which come with the same cameras and battery. New One UI, same years of updates As happens practically every time Samsung releases a new high-end mobile phone, the Galaxy Z Flip8 arrives with a new operating system. This device comes with One UI 9 and Android 17 as standarda logical change in this sense, since the Z Flip7 arrived with Android 16 and One UI 8. The biggest difference between both operating systems is that the new version will allow us to use more functions and tools on the external screen of the device. And what happens with years of updates? Here Samsung repeats the move: the Z Flip8 promises seven years of updatesthe same as its predecessor. Now, since the latter arrives in stores for a year, you are going to “spend” one of them when you update to One UI 9. Price increase for the Galaxy Z Flip8 The Galaxy Z Flip8 hits stores with two different configurations, as the Z Flip7 already did: 256 GB or 512 GB of storage (both with 12 GB of RAM). What this new mobile also comes with is with a price increase in both versions. We leave you below so that you can see, clearly, the change in launch prices between both devices: Galaxy Z Flip8 with 256 GB storage: 1,299 euros (for 1,209 euros for the Z Flip7). Galaxy Z Flip8 with 512 GB storage: 1,499 euros (for 1,329 euros for the Z Flip7). Which model to choose? Now that we have seen the differences between both devices, It’s time to opt for one. Both are a very good option if you like this type of folding mobile, although, depending on what you are looking for or what you want to spend, there is one that will be better for you. Why buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 … Read more

There are already airlines planning flights to see the solar eclipse from the air: is it worth it?

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The solar eclipse on August 12, 2026 will not be seen in Belgium in full totalitybut they are going to express the bias in a very curious way: planning a flight to see it from the air. It will be carried out by the Brussels Airlines companyin collaboration with the Urania Public Observatory, the University of Antwerp and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). In Spain, at the moment, there are companies using the solar eclipse only as a teaser. This is the case of Lufthansa, which is sending emails to its customers encouraging them to fly with them during the eclipse. However, for now they have not planned any specific flights, as the Belgian company has done. Better without clouds. The advantage of viewing a solar eclipse from the air is that commercial flights usually travel above the clouds, usually at altitudes between 9,000 and 13,000 meters. This allows you to see the solar eclipse without the obstruction of clouds, but also without other atmospheric distortions. In the case of the eclipse that will be seen in Spain this August 12, 2026, totality will take place around sunset. With the Sun so low on the horizon, it will be very important that the skies are sufficiently clear and clean to enjoy it in all its splendor. In Belgium the Moon will cover, in the best of cases, 91% of the Sun. It will also happen around sunset, so for Brussels Airlines, its proposal may be a good way to see it in this very particular situation. The details. The flight will leave Brussels for France at 7:20 p.m. and will arrive back in Belgian territory at 9:20 p.m. The maximum occultation of the Sun will take place at 8:21 p.m., in the middle of the trip. The 100 people who have purchased the flights will have plenty of space to observe the solar eclipse, since aisle seats will not be sold, in order to have greater visibility. The experience will be accompanied at all times by the comments of an expert from the Urania observatory and, of course, with protection, since the company will distribute approved glasses to all passengers. All for the modest? price of 299 euros. There are already testimonies. In reality, this will not be a pioneering trip. During the solar eclipse of 2024, for example, many American airlines planned flights specifically for observation. Furthermore, there are eclipse chasers who, after seeing many of these phenomena from the ground, wanted to try the experience in small planes. This is, for example, the case of Glenn Schneider, who in 2017 told in statements to Space that the image is very different from what is seen from the ground. With the air cleaner and the eclipse below, rather than above, it is easier to see the solar corona and specific details such as Baily’s pearls. In Spain what? Spain has already organized a multitude of parties and activities around the solar eclipse on August 12. At the moment, it does not seem that it has organized any flights, like the one that will be organized in Belgium. In this country they have wanted to hurry up, ensuring that there will not be another similar opportunity until September 2090. In Spain, luckily, there will be another solar eclipse within a single year. Perhaps this is the time for companies to get on the organized travel bandwagon. Image | Magnific/Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | Puertomingalvo, the Teruel town of 130 inhabitants that has been without free beds for the eclipse for more than a year

A professor from Malaga decided to rewrite ‘Don Quixote’ in Gothic calligraphy. Now he says it’s worth a million euros

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Manuel Marín Navarro, artistic drawing teacher from Vélez-Málaga, had an idea. “A madness”, rather, as he himself says: rewriting the entire great work of Miguel de Cervantes using Gothic calligraphy. By hand, dedicating between 7 and 8 hours a day. It’s been six years, seven months and 26 days and he still hasn’t completed the 344,000 words that make up the, why not say it, best book in the history of universal literature. Anyone would say of ‘The Quixote’ rots sanity. Wait, I emphasize it well, then Jesús G. Maestro gets angry: ‘The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of la Mancha’. Miguel de Cervantes gave birth to a textually transmitted virus and, four centuries later, the pathogen is still free. Rewriting the 2.1 million characters in a Gothic font, letter by letter, ink on paper, is his great dream, the legacy of a life. A retiree doing lettering with the pulse of a teenager on TikTok? The difference here lies in the commitment. His company borders on the wild: the final book is on its way to weighing 20 kilos and, if it goes on sale, the author values ​​this monstrosity at one million euros. Shooting low. That million euros is a calculation that obeys pure labor arithmetic. Marín Navarro added hours, days and years, after such a monastic confinement in front of the folio, he estimates a salary equivalent to that of a medieval copyist in the current market. Not in vain has he drawn two million one hundred thousand characters with a pen. Pens that he has made himself. It has filled one thousand three hundred and five giant-sized (A3) pages. His cellulose monster is called ‘El Quixote Axárquico’, an orthographic nod to the princes edition of 1605. A geographical tribute to his native Andalusian region. The best book, the neatest edition. “I play music from the 17th century, I get into the character, I read the chapter first, I get the idea and then I start writing. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.” The devotion of this professor and writer for the work of Cervantes is indisputable. Of his personal library, which houses more than 4,000 volumes, three hundred of them are different editions of the hidalgo from La Mancha. At home he keeps eccentric jewelry and pays fortunes at closed auctions. Its most expensive copy cost 6,000 euros. It treasures absurd physical oddities, like a miniature tome printed on a single sheet. That is, the reader needs a powerful magnifying glass in front of that tiny paper. But his recent Gothic manuscript breaks any balance. The dimensions of the work require a brutal binding, so the professor is looking for a brave craftsman. It will take the entire skin of a cow to cover the caps. From prison to museum. And anyone who knows the biography of the writer from Alcalá de Henares well will know that he set foot on the cobbled streets of Vélez-Málaga. The roots go back a long way: he walked there in the hot summer of 1594, acting as a tax collector for King Philip II. He collected money and wheat for the coffers of an insolvent and corrupt empire. And the crown excommunicated the novelist twice for his zeal. What’s more, Cervantes collected debts from the all-powerful Church and it is said that the priests kicked him out of the atriums. A Sevillian bank went bankrupt with the royal collections deposited and that is how Cervantes ended up in a damp and gloomy cell in Seville. And there the figure of the crazy gentleman was born, influenced by Italian literature. Andalusian tradition venerates this prison origin of the work. And of course, Marín Navarro has decided to return the geographical favor to his land, giving his manuscript to the city Museum. The old San Juan de Dios Hospital will host this literary mammoth as long as no one sells the original volume to private funds, nor prints cheap copies for clueless tourists. He reserves a personal and final facsimile: the mother manuscript will sleep under institutional lock forever. Why gothic letters and not Comic Sans. It’s not because Marín Navarro is reviewing HIM or the work of Bauhaus and The Cure. On the contrary, the man from Malaga listens to lute and harpsichord madrigals locked in his study, assimilating tragedy and comedy in silence, using the best black Chinese ink, writing slowly. It takes a whole day to fill out a single page—the first page took a full week of trial and error. To avoid frustration with marks, ten handmade pens were made from reed and metal and it was imposed not to use modern white correctors, scraping the paper with a sharp blade if a mistake was made. As for the use of Textura font, which imposes straight lines and sharp angles, it is simple: history. Johannes Gutenberg applied it in his first printed Bible and German monks perfected it in monasteries. It is not the natural calligraphy of the Spanish Golden Age but it is the one associated with arcane knowledge. The Gothic line provides a brutal dramatic weight and requires much greater physical rigor in the wrist. Navarro does not give up: infected with COVID-19, during confinement the fever kept him in bed. Giving classes with a webcam, he pondered whether to give up or what, but in the end he pulled through and returned to writing the hard way. Between dirty cottons and blows, he already accumulates typos for the interior endpapers of the book. Illustrated by the best. Pictorial art always attacked the Cervantes novel with obsession. It was Gustave Doré who established the visual image in the 19th century—he traveled through Spain in 1861 and drew 370 detailed engravings. Many others wanted to repeat the play. Pablo Picasso sketched the starving silhouette in 1955, using the same black India ink. Salvador Dalí did the same with an American edition in 1946. And ignoring the works of Salvador Tusell, even the comedian Antonio Mingote contributed his … Read more

“Is buying an M5 MacBook Air with more RAM worth the effort?”

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When buying a new computer, RAM is one of the most important features you should look at. But of course, buying a computer model with more RAM also means spending a little more, and we don’t always know if it is worth it for the use we want to give it. One of our readers asked us about this brand, taking advantage of The Officeone of the advantages of Xataka Xtraour subscription to access exclusive newsletters, raffles, promotions and other exclusive advantages. In this case, what we offer is a direct line with us to resolve questions like this. The xatakero asked If it is worth the effort to buy a MaxBook Air M5 with more RAM. He explains to us that he is studying a master’s degree in AI, and would like to be able to make the most of this technology, although always at the user level. And that’s why he’s worried about RAM, not because it’s going wrong with the 16GB base model, but because he wants to have a future-proof Air. The question “I would like some advice. I’m going to buy the new MacBook Air M5 and I’m wondering if 24 GB of RAM is worth the effort. I’m currently pursuing a master’s degree in AI and I would like to get into this, but always at the user level. I also have a 16 GB MacMini M4 and it runs smoothly. But I think about how it can get old with this AI thing, and 24GB sounds pretty good.” The answer Unlike Windows, which is an operating system that must work on all types of computers from all types of manufacturers, macOS is designed only for those manufactured by Apple. This makes it more optimized, and the RAM and hardware needs in general are different. Pedro Aznar, director of Applesfera and Apple specialist, responded to this question. The answer was the following: “Hello! I would recommend you go up to that 24 GB of RAM. The reason is that, although you mention that you will only use it at the user level, the AI ​​is going to advance a lot at the local level, and it is almost certain that you will need that extra memory to load LLMs on your Mac. Therefore, it is a good idea to anticipate that future and buy the MacBook Air M5 with that amount now. By the way, the MacBook Air M5 is a great choice for AI, as the per-core AI accelerators are much better than the previous generation for those tasks. Enjoy it!” Do you have more questions like this? The subscribers of Xataka Xtra You can send us your questions and our team will respond personally. And if you are already a subscriber, remember this advantage and that you can ask us whenever you want.

$30 billion worth of Broadcom chips

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Apple has announced an extension of your agreement with Broadcom which, according to the company itself, will exceed $30 billion. For the company, it is the largest single commitment within its American Manufacturing Program (AMP), but it is also another handful of bills that once again demonstrates how the semiconductor industry is being the central axis of the strategy of big technology. The context. Apple has been trying to demonstrate to Donald Trump’s government for more than a year that is moving part of its production chain to American soil. And it has no other choice, since this commitment is framed within of the 600 billion dollar investment plan in four years that the company announced in 2025, after Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on iPhones if Apple did not manufacture more components in the country. According to collect According to the Financial Times, that promise is similar to another similar one that Apple already made during Trump’s first term, when it committed to investing $350 billion in the United States. In detail. The new agreement with Broadcom provides for the production of more than 15 billion chips manufactured in the United States and will create hundreds of jobs, according to Apple. its official statement. Broadcom, which was already working with Apple to supply connectivity components, will expand and modernize its plant in Fort Collins, Colorado, with an additional investment of $1.5 billion. That plant will manufacture advanced radio frequency components, including FBAR filters, which allow Apple devices to connect to mobile, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks. Neither Apple nor Broadcom have yet confirmed when they will have everything ready to work with this new capacity. Between the lines. The announcement comes two days after Broadcom will inform to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had signed new long-term agreements with Apple to develop custom ASIC-type chips (application-specific integrated circuits, increasingly used in artificial intelligence workloads) that will extend until 2031, according to collects Reuters. So the $30 billion figure now confirmed by Apple puts concrete numbers on those long-term deals. In the last year, Apple has been replacing some of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity chips that it previously bought from Broadcom with its own designs. This had raised doubts among investors about whether Broadcom would lose weight as a supplier, something similar to what happened with Qualcommwhose 5G modems Apple has been phasing out in favor of its own C-series chips. However, it appears that Broadcom will continue to supply other RF components and, according to Bloombergis also working on technology that will support the first artificial intelligence server that Apple plans to deploy next year. The voices. Apple CEO Tim Cook has qualified the components that will be manufactured in Fort Collins as “essential to deliver the performance and connectivity our customers expect,” and thanked President Trump and his Administration for “supporting important projects like this.” For his part, Broadcom’s CEO, Hock Tan, said he was “proud to continue working with Apple after decades of joint success” and highlighted that the agreement will allow it to expand its manufacturing footprint in Colorado. Why it is important. Apple is not massively restructuring its global supply chain, which remains highly concentrated in Asia. Your strategy, as explains the Financial Times, has been to focus on chips, which are the highest-value components in its devices, and announce purchase commitments with manufacturers that already operate in the United States, such as TSMC in Arizona, Texas Instruments in Texas or GlobalFoundries in New York. The Broadcom deal is, so far, the biggest piece of that puzzle. And now what. The announcement comes at a time of transition for Apple. Tim Cook will step down as director of the company on September 1, position that John Ternus will assumecurrent hardware manager. Cook will remain with the company as CEO and, according to Bloombergis expected to maintain his role as the main interlocutor with the White House, a role that has been key to sustaining Apple’s relationship with the Trump Administration in recent months. In Xataka | The US taught that access to advanced AI can be cut off. China is studying the same thing, according to Reuters, and Europe is watching from the outside

I have compared the prices and I will tell you if it is worth buying them or not

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Several hundred euros or even more than 1,000 euros: that is what a smartphone can cost us today. Obviously, a model launched this same year It will still have a high price. For this reason, if what you prioritize above all things is your pocket, Opting for a model from last year or the previous year is a good idea. Depending on the manufacturer, it will take more or less work to find one of these devices in stores. But, And what happens with refurbished cell phones? Do you really save a lot by buying one of these phones? We have taken a look at the main stores where we can find reconditioned very popular mobile phones and we will tell you what the result has been. Spoiler: You can save a pretty penny, but only if you look closely. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The results of the different stores, at a glance As you can see from the table, the price of refurbished phones is almost always lower than that of new devices. Now, the price will depend on several different factors, such as the condition of the device or the seller. Also from the moment in which we search, since their prices fluctuate frequently. The cheapest reconditioned can also be the best quality What we would expect to see in the comparison: A device with more signs of wear or use is cheaper. This is almost always the case, but that’s the key: not always. The table leaves us surprises: if we look at the Galaxy S25 from Samsung, we can see how in ‘very good’ condition it is cheaper than ‘premium’. However, this is not the general trend and we can find mobile phones in the best of conditions at a lower price than ‘pre-owned’ or only ‘functional’. What conclusion do we draw? If we are determined to buy a refurbished device, the best thing we can do is look at various stores. Although they do not vary much, there are cases where we can easily save a good amount. Furthermore, it is possible to find a phone in ‘excellent’ condition in store A cheaper than one that is simply ‘pre-owned’ in store B. Learning from this comparison For the table above we have compared, in several stores, several different refurbished mobile phones. We have focused on some of the best-selling brands such as Apple, Samsung or Xiaomi, always looking at phones that are from high-end or mid-range of past generations. From the specific figures we can extract some clear points: Reconditioned products represent savings (almost) always: It will depend on the device in question, but there can be a very big price difference. Especially on mobile phones with high prices. The condition of the reconditioned is a differentiating factor, but it does not always guarantee the best price. The differences between stores can be big. By comparing reconditioned ones from different stores, we can easily save more than 50 or 100 euros. On mid-range phones, the savings are not that big. It will depend on the mobile phone, but the savings will almost always be greater on more expensive phones. You must also take into account the state of the battery to know if it compensates or not, although we will talk about that below. The condition of the battery can be decisive When we talk or think about refurbished phones, we usually focus a lot on its physical appearance, in case it has scratches or bumps. That is important (it should be more), although we do not have to lose sight of the health of the battery. In this case, it will depend on the store in question: Back Market: minimum 85%. PcComponents: minimum 80%. MediaMarkt Outlet: here we do not find specific information about each device, so we would have to contact the store to find out. It should be noted here that in some stores, such as Back Market, you can request a completely new battery paying a little more. In practice, a capacity of 80% is not too much. It will depend on how we use the phone, but it is obvious that we are going to have to charge the phone more often. Besides, the battery capacity will decrease as they happen charging cycles. And of course, if we add a new battery to the equation, we will be losing part of the savings along the way. My advice? It will depend a lot on the type of user you are.. If you use your phone intensively or intend for it to last for many years, then it is worth considering the option of a new battery. By adding up the cost of the phone and the battery, you can easily see if a refurbished phone is worth it or a new one is better. Now, if you don’t use your phone too much, then a battery that has 80 or 85% health is enough. It is worth checking the store’s warranty and return policy Although you always have the option of searching for second-hand phones in apps like Wallapop, a store with reconditioned phones has the advantage of greater protection and guarantee. As with battery health, it depends on each store: Back Market: It has a 24-month warranty and a 30-day free trial period on all its devices. PcComponents: The warranty depends on the condition of the device. It goes from three years for those that are ‘like new’ to a single year for those that are ‘functional’. The return period is 30 days. MediaMarkt Outlet: The mobile phones have a legal guarantee and there are also 30 days to return it. What to look for when buying refurbished products? With all this information in hand, I am going to summarize the most important things when looking at a refurbished mobile phone in five different points: The offer, the more clear information it has, the betterr– Make sure specific details such as battery … Read more

I have earned more than 600 euros in a week just doing surveys. I’m not sure it was worth it

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There are many websites and apps that almost promise that you could get rich using them. All of them are a scam or at most a monstrous exaggeration of the money you can really get with them. Despite this, I admit that I like to investigate what they can really offer, like when I was there for several months using apps that said they would pay you just for walkingand that has led me to find Prolific, a survey website with which I have managed to get more than 600 euros in a week. Of course, I’m not sure it was worth it to me. Some of you may remember that a few years ago there was a lot of talk about Prolific because a TikTok video made it so popular suddenly the results it gave became unusable. And it is a platform where different universities, institutions or private companies carry out all types of surveys and market studies that their users can respond to. What exactly is Prolific? Of course, not everyone can sign up for Prolific, since there are people who have been on the waiting list for years and They have never been accepted. For my part, I don’t remember exactly when I tried it for the first time, but in the summer of 2024 was when they gave me access and I started using it sporadically, finding all kinds of studies during this time. As confidentiality is usually requested, you will understand that I do not go into any of them in depth. I have no doubt that there are those who have tried other survey websites or apps and have fled due to the low remuneration they usually offer. Not to mention the ones where you’ve answered a bunch of questions and they suddenly disqualify you without giving you a cent for the time spent. That doesn’t happen in Prolific. (Unsplash) Prolific itself has set a minimum of 6 dollars per hour of time spent answering the surveys. Many times it is paid above that amount and adjustments are also made after the fact if the actual average time used by the respondents causes the average to drop below those $6. Only Paypal is used for payments and all surveys are also paid in dollars or pounds, which means that when you convert it to euros you lose a small amount. It is not something that completely changes the experience, but it is always better to be transparent. Oh, and you can only take one survey at a time, so forget about trying the trick of filling out several at a time, since that option doesn’t even exist. A fundamental part of Prolific is answering all the questions About You, since the surveys arrive according to the person’s profile, which means that there will be those who receive many more surveys than others. There the main competitive advantage is being from the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom, which leads to users who earn more than $1,000 per month consistently. I do not live in any of those countries, which means that the number of surveys that I receive is much lower. Despite this, I have already completed more than 800 approved surveysalthough there is one type of study that shines above the rest – without them it would have been impossible to earn more than 600 euros in just 7 days – but we will get into that later. In addition, the surveys have limited places, so do not expect to be able to answer them later. Either you do it at the moment or say goodbye to them. In fact, you can try to do it as soon as it arrives, but you may be left without access to it because other users get ahead of you, which in the last three months have had more than 300,000 active participants. It is what it is, you will not lack volunteers if you pay well and the effort is not especially great. Therefore, it is best to always have Prolific open in a tab of your browser and it never hurts to also use the extension in which you can activate it to alert you audibly every time a new study arrives. It is not a guarantee that you will arrive first, but it makes your job easier if you are available at that moment to spend a few minutes. The main requirement for respondents is to offer honest answers and take what they ask of you seriously. Therefore, if you suffer several rejections they can freeze your account forever, so don’t fool around to get a little more money. And it doesn’t hurt to keep track of which pollsters are more reliable, which has been created even a website to serve as a guide at that point. The importance of artificial intelligence As I said before, I have answered surveys of all kinds, from giving my opinion on a product promotion campaign to helping university students in the study they are carrying out, but where the money is really in is in the surveys linked to artificial intelligence. Phelim Bradleyco-founder and CEO of Prolific, came to announce recently that the company had just had a week with revenues of 10 million dollars in that period, while six years ago they did not even reach that amount in an entire year. In that announcement he also made it clear that “verified human signals are becoming critically important in an AI-first world. They are necessary to train models, evaluate models and agents.” It is not at all a coincidence that this coincided with the arrival of a flood of surveys related to artificial intelligence in which you could have to choose between two videos, two sound sources or simply determine to what extent the resulting video has correctly followed the introduced prompt. The point is that in those cases the hourly payment went up to 20 dollars per hour – and in exceptional … Read more

“The Blue Origin team made t-shirts with the phrase ‘It was worth it'”

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NASA has awarded Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ company and SpaceX’s great rivalfrom Elon Musk, a contract to participate in the construction of a lunar base. Days later, the New Glennthe reusable rocket with which the company wants to achieve its ambitions, exploded before his big test. For anyone, it would be a monumental disaster, but Blue Origin employees took the opportunity to create t-shirts with a message. “It was worth it.” The accident. It was on May 29 when the New Glenn exploded and was engulfed by a gigantic fireball during a test known as a ‘hotfire’. This is a test in which the engines are turned on not with the aim of taking off, but to check whether the systems are working optimally. During it, the rocket remains anchored to the platform, but as detailed the team, “an anomaly” occurred that led to the explosion. “The rockets are complicated”, commented an Elon Musk who has suffered several of these anomalies with his people and Bezos himself also played down the matter even though he acknowledged that it had been a setback. I rent. Within the framework of the Vivatech 2026 fair, the businessman gave a talk in which he commented on various topics, such as the controversies with Prometheus, his AI company, but where he focused on the space ambitions of his other company. And the first thing that was commented on was, precisely, the explosion. “We were very lucky,” he says, because the equipment was safe and only material damage occurred, but also because it is a procedure that must be gone through. The billionaire has shared that, the day after the incident and sporadically, the ‘Blue Team’ that was in charge of the rocket and that test made t-shirts with the message “It was worth it” printed on it. It makes sense. This seems like a contradiction, since it involves months and months of work wasted, not to mention money, but it makes sense and the explanation is extremely simple: when a rocket ‘dies’ during a ground test, no one gets hurt and it is much better than a rocket that ‘dies’ during a mission or with a crew. Aside from that, when a rocket fails in that scenario, the error itself gives back a huge amount of data that engineers can use to improve. As long as this disaster occurs in the testing phase without critical load or people, it is simply an economic loss that is absorbed into the program costs. What that test returns in the form of data on pressures, temperatures, vibrations and telemetry is almost more valuable. Fail fast. In fact, SpaceX itself has converted This is a work philosophy, “fail fast, learn even faster”, starting with some deliberately imperfect prototypes that are improved with each test. This way engineers see where there is a bottleneck and start working on it to come up with another prototype and see if that bottleneck has been resolved… and where the next one is. That is why, in some explosions, there are happy engineers hugging each other. It is still a ‘successful failure’. This has a cost, of course, estimated at 90-100 million dollars per vehicle which, in the end, greatly increases the total costs of the projects. HE esteem that, for example, SpaceX invested $2 billion in 2023 alone. Next steps. Bezos has settled the issue of the explosion by stating that they have recreated everything, they have collected everything they needed to collect and he has made a promise: to fly before the end of the year. We’ll see if they succeed, since this new space race is full of objectives and dates that are not met. Let them tell Artemis II (although it ended up going well). In Xataka | NASA has decided that Artemis III will no longer go to the Moon. Although it may not seem like it, it is a step forward

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

Two friends sold their company for 1.5 billion dollars and bought it back for 450 million: today it is worth 150 billion

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Buying low and selling high is one of the maxims of any financial operation if you want do well in life. It’s the advice likely followed by two immigrant friends from Asia who met playing basketball in Los Angeles. The story of these two friends is one of the most bizarre and fortunate in the technological business field, since they managed to sell their company for 1.5 billion, and then buy it back for 450 million and turn it into an empire of 150,000 million dollars. Its history is that of one of the best-known RAM and storage device companies since the late 80s: Kingston Technology. Two immigrants and the worst Monday in history John Tu came to Los Angeles from China in the 1970s. David Sun took the same route, but from Taiwan. They were both engineers and were looking for their big break in California. By the whims of fate, they both ended up playing basketball on the same basketball court in Los Angeles in the 80s. Everything else arose from that friendship. His first business was Camintonn, a memory-related components company used by personal computers that were beginning to make the leap from laboratories and electronics hobby clubs to offices and homes, driven by promising young people like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. After a few years of success and growth, Tu and Sun sold Camintonn in 1986 to AST Research for six million dollars. With that money in their pockets, the future seemed like a bed of roses for the two friends, but their joy was short-lived. The feared Black Monday The October 1987 crash on Wall Street caused a good part of his savings to disappear in one fell swoop. They were left with almost nothing. However, instead of looking for work in a company in the flourishing technology market of the time, they began their adventure as entrepreneurs again. “I told him: ‘You make something and I’ll sell it, like last time,’” Tu said. in an interview for Fortune. John Tu and David Sun, co-founders of Kingston Technology That same year they founded Kensington, a company with a name that seemed elegant and sophisticated, but another company had beaten them to it and registered it. So as they were fans of the folk group The Kingston Triothey chose to rename their company Kingston Technology and launched it in a garage in Fountain Valley, California. How much does current technology owe to California garages! From being born in a garage to being worth 1.5 billion To the contrary to Samsung or other brands, Kingston did not manufacture its own memory chips, but rather bought components from large manufacturers and turned them into products that people use: memory modules for computers, pen drives, flash cards, SSD disks. It was a model without great aspirations, but it worked with a precision that few could match. In fact, it is the same business model that it maintains today. By August 1996, the company was already valued at more than $1.8 billion, and SoftBank acquired 80% of Kingston for $1.5 billion. Masayoshi Son’s Japanese giant was then in the midst of a technological buying spree and Kingston was exactly the type of company it was looking for: profitable, well-positioned and growing. That is, with the acquisition of Softbank, Tu and Sun continued to be a decisive part of the company’s operations thanks to the 10% of the company that each one retained, and they also pocketed 700 million dollars each. Yes, I was not wrong: 700 million for each one, because the founders distributed 100 million dollars in extraordinary bonuses for your employees as a sample of thanks for your work. The deal was perfect because both employees and founders had put a lot of money in their pockets, but they continued working in the same position and with the same conditions as up to that date. What a bargain! …but there was still room for further improvement. Sell ​​high, buy low Three years later, in 1999, SoftBank came knocking on Kingston’s door again. The dotcom bubble was at its highest moment and Masayoshi Son wanted to recover liquidity to invest in the effervescent internet companies. Kingston was still a good business, but it was not the type of hypervolatile asset that Softbank was looking for at that time, so it offered them to recover the same 80% that it had bought from them for 1.5 billion. However, the new price was very different: $450 million. We guess holding back their laughter, Sun and Tu said yes. Obviously. In fact, they were even generous to Softbank. Just like you counted to Fortunein 1996 SoftBank had paid part of the purchase with a promissory note of 300 million that it had to pay in two years, but the investment bank did not fulfill its part and was late in that payment. Faced with such a breach, the founders could have recovered the company by contract in 1998. But they did not do so. They forgave their debt. “SoftBank was shocked,” Tu said. When Masayoshi Son wanted to sell Kingston, his first option was to sell it to them because it was his way of returning the favor they had done a year before. Thus, starting in 1999, Sun and Tu once again owned 100% of Kingston: 50% for each one. According to ForbesKingston Technology had a turnover of about $14.4 billion a year and ranked 28th on the list of the largest private companies in the United States. Its value is estimated at 150,000 million thanks to the memory shortage. A peculiarity of the company is that, despite being one of the most consolidated technology companies, it is still not listed on the stock market. No funds. Without external investors. Just the two friends who met on a court in Los Angeles almost fifty years ago and had two strokes of luck in their career that allowed them to become millionaires without losing control of the company they founded. … Read more

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