years

manufactures in a week what the earth takes one billion years

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For centuries, diamonds have been synonymous with luxury, shortage and geological time: a jewel that nature carries over one billion years underground. Now China has found a way to reduce times and create the perfect diamond. Made in China. 70% of synthetic diamonds Used in worldwide jewelry they are already manufactured in China, especially in the province of Henan. In a Financial Times report They have explained That companies like Jiaruifu, led by Feng Canjun, have managed to manufacture a three carat diamond – the typical size of a engagement ring – in just a week. But it is synthetic. Yes, but its irruption has meant an unprecedented disruption in the market of precious stones. As explained by Marty Hurwitz, director of the Grown Diamond Trade Organization, to the British environmentthis is “the first really competitive product that the natural diamond has faced.” And he has done it with devastating consequences: the prices of smaller natural diamonds have fallen to minimums of the last decade. According to data from the Tenoris consultantsynthetic diamond already represents 17 % of the volume of the retail market in the US, and more than half in commitment rings, a key category. 60 years of improvement. After the break with the USSR in the 60s, Beijing was forced to develop its own production capacity. As New York Times collectedthe Soviets used diamonds not only as raw material but as a diplomatic and economic weapon. Given that pressure and without relevant natural reservations, China opted for the technological and long -distance path: produce its own laboratory diamonds. What was born as a geopolitical survival strategy has become a globally dominant industry today. The creation process. As have detailed in FTcompanies such as Jiaruifu mainly use two methods: high pressure-high temperature (HPHT) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the latter most recent and effective for large gems. In addition, efficiency is not just technique. The carving process is subcontracts to India, where labor costs are lower, and transport is carried out through hubs such as Dubai or Antwerp, although on the label of the final product there is no trace of its Chinese origin. There is another differential. China does not stay with crossed ones as soon as it has a fixed goal, we have already observed that its plans are never in the short term, we can observe it in Your plans with oil. As detailed The Huanghe Whirlwind company are also making improvements in the diamond creation process, but they wanted to bet on a more sustainable model. In this project they have managed to integrate solar energy into their manufacturing process. This innovation not only drastically reduces the carbon footprint by quilate, but also positions China as a pioneer in “green” synthetic diamonds. A dramatic turn. The traditional natural diamond industry is in check. In 2024, by Beers – the historical giant of the sector— It accumulated an inventory of non -selling diamonds valued at 2,000 million dollars. Its synthetic diamond division, Lightbox, He closed recently After losing competitiveness in front of Chinese brands. To this is added a cultural change: younger consumers no longer demand natural diamonds, and many prioritize price and sustainability. As He has revealed British designer Fei Liu to the Financial Times, at first he resisted using synthetic stones, but the price “flew his head.” Another conquered sector. Beyond technological and commercial success, synthetic diamond is becoming a new strategic front for China. The Government has not left the market to operate freely: in Henan, the Provincial Administration has promoted the creation of a diamond association with the aim of stabilizing prices and avoiding a destructive career down. As He explained Feng Al Financial Times, a minimum price of $ 15 per caa has been set for the stones between one and ten carats. If a company sells below that threshold, its competitors can report it to the authorities, which will intervene. This policy reminds the strategy adopted in the electric car sector, another field in which China He has led technologicallybut where excess supply and fierce competition also caused price wars. In both cases, Beijing has sought to impose order in sectors considered key to industrial sovereignty and the country’s geopolitical positioning. Compressing times. In that process, the Asian giant has challenged a centenary industry, has democratized luxury and has drawn a new map for the global diamond trade. What was previously a symbol of rarity and eternity, today can be produced in mass, sold at a low cost and with a minimum ecological footprint. The diamond is no longer what it was. And it is very possible that, for most consumers, that is not necessarily a bad. Image | Pexels and Unspash Xataka | Antimony under another flag: the Chinese mineral that continues to enter the US disguised for Thai or Mexican export

No one knew what happened for 12 years in a Volkswagen ranch in the Brazilian jungle. Until a priest made a call

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During the darkest years of the Brazilian military dictatorshipwhen the regime promoted at all costs the colonization of the Amazon under the flag of development, one of the largest multinationals on the planet expanded its automobile empire in Latin America. At the same time, he directed an ambitious livestock project deep in the jungle. That multinational was Volkswagen, and in 2019 a priest He revealed a tragedy. Awakening from a forgotten memory. The story was told this week The Washington Post In an extensive report. When in 2019 the priest and academic Ricardo Rezende Figueira read that Volkswagen Brazil was willing to Recognize and repair His complicity with the Brazilian military dictatorship for the political persecution of workers in factories, felt something missing. There was no mention of Vale do rio crystallinethe huge livestock farm of the company in the Amazonian jungle. That land of more than 140,000 hectares, where hundreds of workers were recruited under deceptionisolated, indebted, mistreated, tortured and forced to work in degrading conditions for more than a decade, it seemed to have been History erased. There are evidence. But Rezende, who in the 80s documented those abuses as part of his work with the Pastoral Commission of the Earthstill It kept the evidence: More than a thousand pages of testimonies, notarial statements, police reports and press clippings accumulated in your personal archive. After reading the news, the priest telephone to prosecutor Rafael Garciaspecialist in slave work at the Ministry of Labor. That call would resurrect one of the darker chapters of corporate advance in the Amazon. A jungle turned into hell. The documents that he rebounded delivered to the authorities offered a devastating radiography. Between 1974 and 1986, in full military dictatorship, Volkswagen Brazil (then the largest automotive in Latin America) promoted a Titanic livestock project With regime support: disassemble the jungle in Pará To raise 100,000 cattle, as part of a corporate ideal that the world not only needed cars, but also meat. To do this hired a subsidiaryVale do rio crystalline SA, whose leaders included the president of Volkswagen Brazil himself, Wolfgang Sauer. The company turned to the sadly famous cats (Informal recruiters) who promised good salaries to poor peasants, advanced money and transferred them in trucks to the jungle’s heart. Images of the Brazilian parliamentary delegation during his visit to the farm in 1983 A prison. Once there, the workers were locked in camps remote, forced to work under threat of armswithout medical attention, drinking contaminated water, exposed to malaria, living under plastics and indebted by food and medicines. Not just that. His movements were constantly monitored by armed inspectors. Thus, trying to escape was to face punishment, the disappearance or death. The file that challenged oblivion. For years, Rezende collected Men’s testimonies They escaped from that hell. The records talked about beatings, broken teeth, bare men in the jungle, bodies thrown in cavernseven workers Burned alive. A young man, Valdeci Alves Fumeiro, story Having spent seven years caught in the hacienda, sewn without anesthesia after a fall and forced to continue working. Volkswagen’s announcement in 1977 in Brazil urged other companies to become “neighbors” of their farm in the Amazon Silence. But despite multiple complaints, intelligence reports and official statements that recognized the existence of slave work on the property, never presented A single position penal. I remembered the post that the structure of complicity between companies, state and repressive force guaranteed impunity for decades. Rezee, however, persisted in his conviction: the file had to survive time, because one day he would return to light. And so it was. The prosecutor Garcia, when reviewing the documents, recognized in them the basis for an unprecedented judicial action. A rebuilt truth. The Prosecutor’s Office initiated a national search to locate the workers mentioned by Rezende. The effort fell to the young researcher Matheus Faustinowho toured remote communities for months until he found 14 of the 69 identified. Some, such as Francisco Rezende de Souza, had been devastated by experience: alcoholism, isolation, inability to reintegrate into life. Others, such as the Batista de Souza brothers, were separated and sold by cats even after Volkswagen will leave the project. One of them, Juldemar, was silent for life. Testimonies When in 2023 The trial began in a Federal Labor Court in Redenção, several of these men testified for the first time. “They sold us”, One said. “We slept under plastics,” I commented another. “Everyone was armed, we had to work.” Rezende also went up to the podium. He recalled the complaints since 1977, Volkswagen’s complicity for omission, and the systematic inaction of the State. What does the company say. For its part, Volkswagen Brazil He has flatly denied The accusations. He alleges that his role was merely the shareholder of a company that subcontracted others, and that at the time It did not detect irregularities. In his judicial writings, he argues that it is the government who must hold recruiters and not hold the company. But prosecutors argue that Volkswagen’s subsidiary It was an integral part of the parent company, and that the abuses were systematic and known. Internal documents They show that Volkswagen even organized visits to deny the complaints, while avoiding allowing inspections in the camps. According to the postthe most cynical statement came from the Swiss director of the ranch, Friedrich Brüggerwho in one Interview in 2017 He blamed the workers of his debt and justified the violence of cats as necessary to maintain order: “The Brazilian is a bad person,” declared. The company in Germany has kept silence. Fight for memory. Today, The judicial casewhich requires compensation for 30 million dollarsmarks the first time that the Brazilian State tries to legally hold A multinational by slavery Modern in the Amazon. But for Rezende, which exceeds 70 years and coordinates a Chair of Human Rights in Rio de Janeiro, it is not just a remuneration justice. It is a battle against oblivion. He underlined In the newspaper That each folder in his office … Read more

This company was 158 years old and 700 employees. A weak password and click were enough to take it to bankruptcy

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Imagine that you are working in a logistics company, of those that are responsible for managing the entire process so that a product arrives from one point to another, such as those that Amazon’s orders bring to us when we make a purchase, and that from one moment to another all the necessary systems to make the business stop working Due to a cyber attack. What would happen? If the systems do not return to normal, it would probably be a matter of time for the company to pay the consequences. Of course, such a scenario should be avoided with cybersecurity measures, protocols, backups and others. But, let’s be sincere, not everyone is prepared as they should face security threats, even when they have the ability to severely damage or destroy your business. This is what has apparently happened to a British business group called KNPwhich operated 500 trucks under several companies, including a call Knights of Old. When cybersecurity fails, the business can sink The KNP CEO, Paul Abbott, He said in an interview with the BBC That it is believed that a group of cybercriminals managed to infiltrate the systems by guessing the password of one of its employees. What the group of malicious actors did, apparently called Akira, was Straw the data With a ransomware. “If you are reading this, it means that your company’s internal infrastructure is totally or partially dead …”, he said part of the rescue note that, curiously, did not include a specific rescue figure. While the latter may seem unusual, it is also somewhat understandable. Some groups of cybercriminals They have even their own support mechanismswhere they can talk and negotiate with their victims. Recall that the final objective is usually to earn money, so we would rarely see a rescue figure high enough so that the attacked does not meet, but strong enough for the movement to mean some gain. It did not transcend how much money the cybercriminals requested, but it is known that, according to the company, They did not have the money To make the rescue payment. The aforementioned British media collects the analysis of specialists that points to 5 million pounds (about 5.7 million euros). The amount of money, they point out, was unassumable for the company. It is not clear if from the firm they continued to negotiate with the group, but explain that by the end of 2023 the data “were lost” and the company soon declared themselves in bankruptcy. Most employees were dismissed (about 730) and only 170, from one of the companies, called Nelson Distribution, based in Derby, retained their job, but this company was sold. This was the sad outcome for a firm with more than 150 years old. It is likely that after reading this, many questions will come to mind, for example, about the preventive and mitigation measures of which we talked to the beginning. According to those responsible, KNP complied with industry standards and had insurance against cyber attacks. Apparently none of this was enough. Nor do we know if the company already dragged some kind of previous problem and the cyber attack what it did was complicate everything. It is not a unique case. QUALYSEC warns that 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber attack end up closing in the following six months for not having sufficient resources to recover. A report from Verizon in 2020 already underlined That same figure, highlighting the financial damage, the loss of reputation, the distrust of the clients and the operating chaos that leaves an attack. Images | Man Truck & Bus UK | Freepik In Xataka | Spain gave Huawei the storage of judicial telephone listeners. Now the United States and the EU have questions

Panticosa has been a ski sanctuary for years. Now he wants to reconvert … with the most beastly slide in Europe

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Panticosa is a small town in the region of Alto Gállego, in Huesca, famous for its Pyrenean landscapes and the skiing station Panticosa-Los Lagos. Soon it will be for something else: a Huge slide of mountain almost three kilometers long, half a hundred sleds and a deep unevenness of more than 700 meters that will be unique in Europe. With him the Government of Aragon aspires to disseminate the tourism of the region now that the facilities dedicated to snow sports face a uncertain future. For now, the technical tabogán file impresses. A slide to dominate them all. If you like the slides go by reserving hole for Panticosa. The president of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, put yesterday The first stone which aspires to become “Mountain slide with the greatest uneven in Europe.” At the moment we only have The photos of the presentation and some data of their technical file, but they serve to open appetite: the slide will measure almost three kilometers long and will cover an unevenness of more than 700 meters. According to the Regional Executivethere is no other installation of its kind with a larger slope. At least in Europe. Is there more data? Yeah. Diario del Alto Aragón Precise That the exact slope will be 707 my the slide will run along the hillside from the top of the telecabine to the lower one. The obstacles that are on the way will draw them with bridges and tunnels. The government has also specified that the sleds (with a capacity for an adult alone or with a child) will complete the almost three kilometers of travel in nine minutes. The maximum speed will be 40 km/h, a mark that will not be exceeded thanks to a brake system. “It is not invasive”. In total, the slide will have fifty sleds that, according to executive calculations, will allow transporting about 1,100 people every day. “The system takes advantage of the energy of the telecabine during the climb, since it works with the same exploitation of the skiing track. Then, the descent is done by gravity. Not requiring concrete foundation is not invasive for the environment,” Comment to Aragón News Ignacio Vicente, head of the project. The installation includes A warehouse and shape it will cost in total 7.7 million of euros. More than 90% (7.2 million) will leave the coffers of the Aragonese Executive and the rest of the Panticosa City Council. If the deadlines are fulfilled, the idea is that it is operational to late 2026. OBJECTIVE: Destationalize. With the new installation, Aragon has A clear objective: Diversify the offer that visitors are in Panticosa and that the region is less dependent on snow -linked tourism. “It is an example of an economic engine and the de -stationalization of tourism”, highlighted Azcon at the beginning of the works. “This slide can serve tourists for ten months a year and will be a central element in the de -stations of tourism that face ski stations.” The initiative is in fact framed in the Pyrenees Planas the Regional Executive recalls, among its objectives, it has among its objectives to “de -stationalize” tourism in the four regions of the Aragonese Pyrenees. The 7.2 million dedicated to Panticosa Tobogán are added to the 12 that have already been invested in the Valley of Tena in 2024 to install or replace 547 cannons for the production of snow in formigal-panticosa, “which meant an impulse in the capacity of innivation in the stations of this area”, claims The Azcón team. New life for the valleys. In 2023, al present the master lines Of the Pyrenees Plan in Panticosa, the Aragonese President explained that his goal is to “boost” the valleys of the northernmost region of the region, for which he already foresaw at that time an injection of more than 70 million. Among its initiatives, the Montanuy road and Panticosa’s slide, both projects designed among other things to enrich tourism in the area. It is no accident. Throughout the last years, ski stations (in Spain and other countries) have been seen in difficulties for the shortage of snow, which has condemned them to suffer “Lightning seasons” or directly to closing. Images | Aragon Government (X) In Xataka | Cantabria wants more visitors in the Cabárceno Park. So you will create a large alpine slide to travel at 40 km/h

Years ago I bought a computer that turned out to be a chestnut. Almost for the same price, this gives three (or more) turns

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A few years ago (not too many) I bought a computer that would be destined to work exclusively. It turned out to be a bit brown. I spent approximately 620 euros and, although I did not have a bad technical card, the experience was very different from what I expected. Times change and today for that price we see very interesting offers, but few like Mediamarkt’s. Only today, the store has the Gigabyte G6 For alone 660.45 euros. And much eye at its configuration. Of course, it is worth mentioning that, although the computer already has a direct discount, We can take an additional discount. Just add it to the shopping cart to find it at the price of 660.45 euros (compared to the 777 euros that appears before adding it to the cart). * Some price may have changed from the last review Excellent configuration in a pretty cheap gaming laptop The Gigabyte G6 that we find of offer in Mediamarkt is a Gaming laptop which has an excellent configuration in this case. First, assemble a good 16 -inch screen that offers A Full HD+ resolution and a 165 Hz soda rate. To this we must add that internally comes equipped with the processor Intel Core i7-13620h together with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of internal storage. In addition, it also includes a graphics card NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4050 To enjoy virtually any video game. Among other things, it is worth mentioning that it comes with the Freedos operating system (it does not come with Windows 11 Home) and includes a wide repertoire of connectivity options: several USB-A ports and many other USB-C, 3.5 mm Jack, Mini Displayport, Ethernet and even microSD card reader. You may also interest you LOGITECH G305 LIGHTSPEED Wireless gaming mouse, captor hero 12k, 12,000 dpi, ultra -light, 250h battery, 6 programmable buttons, integrated memory, PC/Mac – Black * Some price may have changed from the last review Razer Barracuda X – Multiplatform wireless headphones for games and mobile * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Images | Gigabyte In Xataka | Best Ultrabooks: Which buy and 13 Light Portables Recommended from 300 to 2500 euros In Xataka | Better laptops in quality price: which to buy based on the use and nine recommended models

The model that dominated technology for 50 years has died

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The numbers do not usually lie, especially in the long term. And Intel’s figures during the last decade speak of a historical replication. Of A giant come less in an alarming way. In figures. In 2015, Intel’s stock capitalization multiplied by Nvidia. Almost ten years later, that of Nvidia, the first company in history to exceed four billion dollars, multiplies by 41! to Intel, which has been jibarized at a time when it has been exceeded by many lower companies. A brutal change that symbolizes the change of technological era: Nvidia’s boom first for its GPUS sales for cryptocurrency mining and then for the training of AI models. Intel’s decline due to its inconsequence in the mobile era, the rival boom in CPUS, or the passage of Microsoft or Apple to ARM. And not only Nvidia has advanced. Also Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, AMD … Gelsinger’s legacy. The contrast. In 2006, Intel refused to make chips for the iPhone Because I considered that Apple was too small. That same year, Intel tried to buy Nvidia For 20,000 million dollars, but Jensen Huang refused. Today these decisions have completely checked Intel’s route, which at the beginning of the century was always in the top 10 of world companies by stock market and today is close to leaving the Top 200. The threat. The Hard recent admission of CEO Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, that Intel is no longer among the top 10 of semiconductors, says many more things. The company that fed the PC revolution, which created the Wintel ecosystem that dominated for decades and was synonymous with American innovation, now is worth less than Spotify, Coinbase or Iberdrola. Yes, but. The 5,500 new layoffs announced by Intel They are more than an adjustment or cut. In California, almost 2,000 jobs will disappear. In Oregon, almost 3,000. In total, 20% of the workforce will be fired. The workers who developed the technology that moved the world are now expendable. The turn. Intel has outsourced TSMC 30% of its production by 2025. Paradoxical in a company that presumed its vertical integration, which controlled from design to manufacturing. And that now depends on his Taiwanese rival to survive. A symbolic surrender: the king of manufacturing asking for help to who removed the throne. Between the lines. The strategy of pivoting to the edge announced by so sounds like last minute refuge. “It’s too late for us“The CEO admitted. It is not only to recognize the loss against Nvidia, it is to recognize the loss in the most important race of what we have been from the century: that of AI. And another paradox: China represents 29% of Intel’s incomemore than any other market. The most iconic American technology company depends more on China than its own market. Trump is focused on technological independence in this legislature … … but Intel needs China to stay alive. Turning point. He 18A process That must save Intel by 2025 generates certain doubts. And if he fails, Intel runs out of his last asset to compete with TSMC. If it triumphs, it will be a partial victory, since it will be arriving five years late to the battle. This Intel fall also symbolizes something else: the end of the vertical integration model in chips represented Intel against Nvidia’s specialization model. The first designs and manufactures. The second designs but leaves manufacturing in the hands of TSMC. And hence the problem for the West: advanced manufacturing is concentrated in Asia and the value is redistributed. In Xataka | In its darkest time Intel is receiving a crucial economic support from its best client: China Outstanding image | Intel

We have been sending our location to space for 75 years without realizing it. It is now detectable in more than 120,000 stars

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Deliberate attempts for Contact extraterrestrial civilizations, Like the famous Arecibo messagethey have not received an answer. But what takes the dream of a group of cosmologists are not our well -intentioned messages, but those who send without realizing all the airports in the world. An incredibly powerful beacon. We have been shouting at the cosmos for decades without even pretending, betraying our existence in more than 120,000 nearby star systems. A new investigation presented in the Royal Astronomical Society It reveals that the combined electromagnetic leakage of all our airports form a very powerful beacon. According to the study, the signal is so intense that a civilization with technology similar to ours could detect it at a distance of up to 200 light years. Civil and military aviation radars. Researchers at the University of Mercanster simulated how radar signals that are used to control air traffic spread in space. The conclusion is amazing: the combined power of civil aviation radars adds 2 × 10¹⁵ watts, a sufficient figure for a radio telescope to capture hundreds of light years. But the thing doesn’t end there. Military radars, although they have a accumulated power of less than 1 × 10¹⁴ watts, create a pattern that sweeps the sky like a lighthouse. This signal will seem clearly artificial for anyone who observes from interstellar distances. In fact, it can be up to 100 times more powerful than the background signals, depending on the location of the observer. Our accidental technofirma since 1950. While the detection potential is 200 light years, these radar systems only emit with a similar intensity Since the 1950swhich means that our unintentious signal has expanded for now about 75 light years in all directions. Our technofirma has already reached nearby star systems as next centauri (4 light years), the star of Barnard (6 light years) and au microscopii (32 light years), but we still have to wait another 125 years to spread to the maximum and be detected in a radius of 200 light years. There are two ways to take this. On the one hand, we are sending the entire neighborhood an unequivocal sign that there is intelligent life on Earth. Figures such as astronomer David Brin have been Very critical of the idea of “shouting to the cosmos” without first establishing a global consensus. It is an arrogant decision, he argues, because he could end up affecting all humanity. On the other hand, the study gives us an important clue to The search for extraterrestrial life: If there are other civilizations such as ours, perhaps the easiest signs to locate are not their messages, but the radars of their airports. Image | Masterphoto-Dk (CC by 2.0) In Xataka | What is Fermi’s paradox and why the atomic bomb architect took a turn to the extraterrestrial life search

The urban legend about a mythical video game that continues to circulate 35 years later

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A legendary game, ‘Wing Commander’ contained a programming bulk error at a time when correcting a video game was more complex than now, in the same way as the testing processes They were less detailed and prolonged than the current ones. An error message that the ingenuity of a programmer made a brief congratulation to the player. That is what they have been telling us so far … but it wasn’t entirely true. Problems in the galaxy. The year is 1990. ‘Wing Commander’, the legendary saga of space flight simulators starts with a Initial Delivery on PC (MS-DOS), whose success would give rise to a franchise that would reach the most powerful microororders and consoles of the time, as a friend CD32, Sega Mega-CD and SNES. In the saga, the Terrestrial Confederation faces a militarized feline breed called Killrathi in the Vega sector. However, shortly before launch in September, Origin Systems developers realized that A fateful mistake hung the game In his final bars. Capital error. What happened was that they found An error message Produced by the memory manager Emm386, which frozen the game. As they needed to send the game to production, one of the programmers, Ken Demarest, directly edited the error message to show the message “Thank you for playing Wing Commander” instead instead of the technical description of the error. A real required required just in time … and that, in reality, never happened. Urban legends. The truth is that this ingenious solution for the error was not published in the final edition: the team managed to correct the error in time, according to Demarest On the Wing Commander Commer Information Centerin its section dedicated to denying urban legends around the franchise. As they say, Demarest was also head of programming in ‘Last VII’, and this game contained a similar closing message (“Thank you for playing ultima VII”). Therefore, the anecdote could have been incorrectly confused or attributed between both titles, further feeding the myth. Functional fudge. Over the years, the false anecdote (of which even There are captures) It became popular so much that this solution was used as an example of a “functional fudge”: a quick but little orthodox solution for the problem. By extension, some critics of Chris Roberts, creator of ‘Wing Commander’ and currently in the ambitious’Star Citizen‘, they have used urban legend to argue that the technical quality of their products has always been questionable. Finally, everything was one of the many urban legends that circulate in the industry. It is counted, it is rumored. The absence of a serious and established press in the first decades of the industry made the video games of the eighties, ninety and even beyond (such as ‘Wing Cmmander’) into hotbeds of rumors and half lies. Since the time of legendary ‘Polybius‘, a mental control device through recreational machines, to the suicide melody of Lavander town in’ Pokémon Red/Blue ‘, authentic Material for nightmares Creepypastathrough the non-existence of A game that erased itself‘Kill Switch’, video games have always had urban legends commented on dark Internet forums and in the cartridge and discs exchange corrillos. The ‘Wing Commander’, as we have seen, has already been officially denied, but it is clear that no one ever kills a good story. In Xataka | The 39 best games of the time to play now and free in the browser

For years we were condemned to physical travel agencies. The English Court is investing millions in demonstrating otherwise

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The English Court has renewed 60 of its 430 travel officesand plans to reform another 44. The idea is to implement open spaces, sofas, digital screens, previous appointment and advisors with “emotional connection.” Why is it important. The message to be sent is that the physical store has not died, but only needed a new experience. In perspective. It is the classic play of retail Traditional: redesign the spaces to sell a transformation that between, especially, by the eyes. Along the same line as the changes applied to the low floors – the accesses – of some of its stores, modernizing the bookstore or giving more weight to the section Gourmet. EITHER The premiumization of its supermarkets. What is at stake is the role that a traditional physical agency can play in the Skyscanner era, Google flightsAirbnb and Booking. What is happening. Travel El Corte Inglés is more profitable (More than 100 million euros from Ebitda8% more than a year ago), but loses in volume against its great rival, Ávoris (Barceló Group). To renew your offices is a way to reaffirm as a premium brand and differentiate in a world in which the average customer has become accustomed to organizing their vacations from your mobile. The physical network is reduced to transform. Personalized attention is insisted as an advantage over the digital model. Between the lines. The reform is real estate, but first of all it is a way of sustaining the story: we are not a vestige, we are a luxury; We are not an agency, we are a space of inspiration. From store a Boutique. The passage of time will tell us if this is a real modernization or if it is rather an attempt to keep the physical channel alive. The company has not gone wrong: after years seeing how the environment rewarded its new competitors, the English Court is still alive despite insistent rumors of serious crisis. There is also the doubt of the long -term value of that “human contact” as a differential pillar. He is seductive, but difficult to climb. Yes, but. The new model has a very good press, but with the unknown of whether there is insufficient demand. There are still many clients who continue to go to a physical office, but they are increasingly minority. And those who do it, often look for something very concrete: custom trips, honey moons, large budgets. Can you sustain an entire model so capillary around those profiles? In addition, post-pandemic tourism has recovered, but It has also changed. The traveler has become accustomed to certain flexibility levels, price comparators, online opinions, immediate decisions. All of that has a difficult fit in an agency by appointment. The decision to invest in so many offices sends a message: trips El Corte Inglés remains convinced that there is a place for physical agencies if they become experiences. It is quite possible that it is right, although it is a commitment against the direction in which the future of the sector seems to go. In Xataka | Spain has become a country addicted to something that some years ago enjoyed little prestige: the white brand Outstanding image | El Corte Inglés trips

In 2011 a mysterious series of numbers and letters appeared in Reddit. Thousands of people would spend years trying to decipher her

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Fourteen years ago a Reddit user appeared called ‘A858DE45F56D9BC9’ and began publishing characters of characters, apparently meaningless, in a SubnetDit of the same name. For more than a year the publications went unnoticed until one day madness began. What followed was the creation of a community with thousands of obsessed people with solving the puzzle And, above all, know who was behind the one who is considered One of the biggest Internet mysteries. Reddit’s Stonehenge Although the user’s name was much longer, in Reddit it is known as The mystery of A858. Although the first publications arose in July 2011, it was not until 2012 when the Reddit community began to pay them attention. Some users attempted to disappoint the messages and there was one that made interest explode. The comment and the answer confirmed that A858 was not “something”, but “someone.” A user mentioned that A858 was Reddit’s Stonehenge in reference to Its function was a mystery. A858 responded shortly after with one of his classic encrypted messages. The surprise came when they discovered that it was an image in ASCII format that represented precisely that: the Stonehenge. Until that point he had not given too much importance, but with this it was demonstrated that Behind A858 there was someone human. And then madness unleashed. Years trying to solve it Users wanted to know the goal behind those messages and set out to disregard them, but they soon realized that it was not going to be simple. In September 2012, the SOLVINGA COMMUNITY858 which currently has 15,000 members. Here a collective effort to understand The goal behind A858 that lasted years. Decipher A858 seemed impossible. He also behaved strangely: he disappeared, erased posts … the community was frustrated Only a few messages were deciphered by the community, including some citations of famous authors such as is from Max Lerner, Christmas greetings either References to April’s Fool (The equivalent of innocent’s day). The challenge was very complex from the technical point of viewhe used unusual obfuscation techniques, and there was not a clear pattern in his behavior; Sometimes he disappeared, he deleted posts, the submandit made deprived, Some messages were very easy to solve and others seemed impossible… This made the community frustrate and begin to lose interest, but then A858 appeared and everything was reactivated. Ask A858 Anything One of the points in the Subbreddit Solvinga858 was in 2015 when A858 made a mist (Ask Me Anything) where He attended to the numerous doubts of the users, although they also had to disappoint them. It wasn’t going to be so simple. Users asked him if they were wasting his time trying to decipher him, to which A858 replied that no, but I couldn’t tell them the goal behind the project. He also revealed that only a woman from the United Kingdom had managed to decipher him and expected more correct answers. Here you can read in fullbut then we highlight some of the questions and answers of the session: What is R/A858DE45F56D9BC9? The objective cannot be revealed. A858 published ASCII art drawings, prime numbers tables, Apple II source code fragments, etc. Were you playing with us? Because? Coded posts are designed to be easily resolved. And the other encrypted using a stronger encryption? The other posts are not designed to be easily resolved. There are often long pauses in which there are no A858 posts. Is A858 your only job? Sometimes we are retouching. Other times we are working on other projects. Are you doing this love alone or are we talking to the team of which you are part? A858 is a project with a team. I am a member of the team. Are you affiliated with a government organization? I don’t know any place that has no government. An unsolved mystery The question session fed even more if the mystery fits, but over time A858 was publishing less frequently until the publications ceased completely. In March 2016, after months in which the Subbreddit had been deprived, A message appeared which said “the A858 project has concluded. It can be unsubscribed.” Many users did not believe it, but A858 never published again. A858 was never resolved. We only know that there was a company behind that one day cut the financing. The next news that was had was In September 2016 through one of the moderators of Solvinga858which revealed that he had had contact with the person behind A858. In his message he assured that this mysterious person was paid by a company to “post code puzzles through encryption and different text handling methods.” After a while, The company behind the project decided to cut the financing And there all ended. Needless to say that It was not the answer that the community expected and left too many unknowns to solve. Theories behind A858 As a good mystery, there are many theories about what was really behind A858. One of the most repeated is that it was A company looking for experts in encryption To hire them. A858 agreed over time with Cicada 3301 Another very similar mystery, although much easier to solve. Supposedly those who managed to decipher Cicada, received a message to enter a mysterious organization. Another of the theories defends that A858 a ‘Numbers Station’ Used by Mossad for Espionage Tasks. It does not seem to be known with total certainty, but one of the theories that makes more sense is that A858 was A company testing its own safety. In this scenario, The objective of the project would be precisely for anyone to solve the puzzleswhich would show that security was good. If so, they got it. Image | Amparo Babyloni, Xataka In Xataka | The James Webb has just photographed one of the great mysteries of the universe’s galaxies: how they intertwine

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