Month: August 2025

Russia wants to know how trips will affect us to Mars, so you will throw a thousand flies and 75 mice in a rocket

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He Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstanhe has witnessed the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket that has put the mission into orbit Bion-M No. 2. This Russian space agency project, Roscosmos, is a crucial step in the investigation of the effects of the microgravityand above all, the Cosmic radiationabout living organisms. But on board they are not human, but travel flies or mice, among other organisms. A varied crew on the ship. As if it were Noah’s ark, 75 mice are found in this ship, more than 1,000 fruit fliescellular crops, microorganisms and plant seeds. For a month, these ‘bionautas’ will orbit the earth in a polo pole trajectory, at an altitude that will expose them to the levels of cosmic radiation significantly higher than those experienced in the International Space Station. A “high -tech mice hotel”. The true protagonists of this mission are the 75 mice, who will travel in a specially designed passenger cabin: a “mini hotel”. Each unit is equipped with food, lighting, ventilation and waste systems to guarantee their well -being during the trip. In addition, chips have been implemented in some of the rodents to be able to monitor the constants in real time. Scientists have divided mice into three groups to compare the results. The first will remain on earth in normal conditions, which is what we call in science ‘control group’. The second will live in a land laboratory in flight equipment identical to those of the satellite. The third group, of course, will be the one who travels to space. In this way, the effects of the space flight of other variables can be isolated. Why are they chosen to mice. It has already become an iconic image to see how in biomedical research Mouse is used as the ideal test ‘subject’. And it is not a coincidence. The mouse has a genetic very similar to human, they have a short life cycle to see changes throughout several generations and are very economical to maintain and feed. On the other hand, for this specific investigation the mice They are very radiation sensitiveso they make it the ideal subjects to give us more information on the effect of this physical phenomenon. It has important implications for our health. The objective of this mission is clear: knowing how this radiation will affect astronauts traveling to the moon or Mars. Cosmic radiation In the long term you can damage cell DNAdrastically increasing the risks of long -term cancer, and what you want is to quantify the real damage and prove countermedons as armor for ships and drugs that avoid these undesirable effects. But it also has medical applications here on Earth. Its results can give us more weapons to fight aging, since the rapid loss of bone and muscle mass suffered by astronauts is a perfect model to study osteoporosis and sarcopenia to find new treatments. There are more research apart from mice. In collaboration with the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, the mission transports 16 test tubes with dust simulations and lunar rocks. The objective is to study how radiation and space emptiness affect these materials, information of great value for the future development of lunar bases. Other experiments on board will investigate the susceptibility of organisms to radiation, the development of new life support systems and possible medical benefits in the earth derived from spatial biological research. Continuing the legacy of the bion-m No. 1. This mission It was launched in 2013 And he also spent 30 days in the orbit. However, the new mission will orbitate a 97 degree inclination, which will increase exposure to cosmic radiation compared to its predecessor. It is not the first time that it is investigated in space. There are many precedents that exist of space missions that have aimed at investigation. For example, I know analyzed the potential risks of fertility in space in mice or even the Japanese wanted to see If you can procreate in space through mouse embryos. Images | Spacex Joshua J. Cotten In Xataka | Spacex is on its way to having more money than NASA. He has succeeded, in part, because he does not pay taxes

They are fires “out of extinction”

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Spain faces a crisis for which it is difficult to find precedents. The fires have always been present in our summers, but this year it could be thought that their voracity would have caught us off guard. Fire extinction teams have often had problems supplying in their work in the fight against fire. And it is not for less, the situation has been extreme and, in part, the fault is in the very nature of these fires. The magnitude of a crisis. The most recent data indicate that fires this year have already devastated plus 340,000 hectaresthe worst data in several decades. The fires They have cost life to several people, eight according to more recent databut they have also caused injuries and have forced thousands of people to move to safer areas. According to data from the emergency management system of the European Terrestrial Observation Program Copernicus (Copernicus ems), this summer the fires have devastated with a much greater area than usual in Spain, approximately 6.5 times the average of previous years. Another fact that allows us to illustrate the seriousness of the problem is that of the almost six million tons Carbon dioxide (CO2) that these fires have released the atmosphere only in Spain, a figure that almost doubles the records of previous years and multiplies the previous average several times. Sixth generation. The voracity of some of the fires we have seen responds to its nature as fires called “Sixth Generation”. In this type of fire the fire reaches an intensity so that it alters the circulation of air in its environment, it generates important convective movements and even pyrocumuli, “clouds of fire”. All this makes the displacement of fast and unpredictable fire, making it difficult to control and extinction. Not all the fires that are currently produced are of this type, but the current conditions favor the appearance of this type of fires. An extreme heat wave as lived in recent weeks, added to the presence of abundant fuel matter, is the broth of Ideal culture for appearance Fifth and sixth generation fires, the most dangerous we catalog. “After a spring as wet as this year in which the vegetation has grown a lot, now we find an extreme heat situation, strong winds and a lot of time (in some cases several months) without rain,” explained to Science Media Center Cristina Santín Nuño, Head of the Department of Biodiversity and Global Change of the Mixed Institute of Biodiversity Research (University of Oviedo-CSIC). “We have all the ingredients for the ‘Molotov cocktail’ that we are seeing right now not only in Spain.” Prevent, better than turns off. Experts agree that our resources when fighting this type of fires are very limited due to their extreme intensity. Often the tools we have to fight fire lacks utility due to the enormous accumulation of energy in these fires, which implies the need to wait and focus on preventing the situation from getting worse. “We cannot forget that, in many cases, when the fires are very large, fast and intense, they cannot be fully controlled by many means of extinction that are dedicated to them. In principle, it seems that the current heat wave will begin to refer in a couple of days, so that could give a truce,” Santín Nuño added. In A recent interview In the newspaper The worldPaco Castañares, who was the General Director of the Environment The Board of Extremadura in the early 90s, also emphasized the impossibility of fighting these events. The reason is that the fires of this magnitude “reach temperatures of 1,200 degrees Celsius in their pirocumulus.” As if this were not enough, it is “fires that have neither head or fronts because they come and go from one place to another,” he added. Not only the voracity of fires. The lack of means when facing fires has been one of the great debates during this fire cycle. The impossibility of fighting this type of fire can make us fall into a false sense of inevitability, but the truth is that the means of extinction are more necessary than ever for several reasons. The first and most obvious is that not all forest fires we are seeing get into an inextinguishable phase: the fires of lower generations are manageable and require the work of the troops destined to the fight against fire. In Spain There are still numerous active fireseach with own characteristics and intensity. Secondly, it must be remembered that sixth generation fires are not inextinguishable from beginning to end although they can be in its intermediate stages. Getting control a fire before acquiring characteristics that make it indomitable is a way to prevent the worst consequences of these events. In addition, after this peak of intensity, the fire refers facilitating its extinction. Finding this moment and taking advantage of it requires these media. Beyond the border of fire. To this is added the importance of having means beyond the limits of the fire, both in space; to protect vulnerable places before the arrival of the flames; And in time, out of the fire season. Regarding the latter case, the present fires have revealed the need to take care of the rural environment Also during winter. The key is also in how the means destined to protect people and the fire environment are distributed. According to Castañares himself explained“Above all, the media have to be inside the people protecting people, with them, it didn’t.” In Xataka | The heat wave and forest fires have another face: the agricultural sector is the one that has to lose in this crisis Image | Copernicus / Ministry for Ecological Transition

In 2017, four Australians revolutionized video games. ‘Silksong’ and its ‘Coca-Cola formula’ promises to repeat it

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It is an absolute barbarity, but thousands of video games are thrown every year. The vast majority pass without penalty or glory because we do not have time for everything, but in 2017 a game was launched that shook the segment as an earthquake: ‘Hollow Knight’. An indie title slipped among the great productions of that year thanks to two words: ‘Game Feel’, and in 2019 it was announced that it would have a continuation called ‘Silksong’. Six years later, ‘Silksong’ has become a memebut also in one of the most anticipated launches of 2025 and the absolute star of the great European video game event, the Gamescom. And, finally, ‘Silksong’ has a release date. Without surroundings. When it was learned that ‘Silksong’ would be in Gamescom 2025, the community was excited. This is the perfect frame to show material of a game that, in all these years, has peeked the leg with dropper and, above all, the best time to give a release date. They have done it through a trailer in which we can see the game in action and that expected date: September 4 of this year. Now yes: {“Videid”: “x9p7eki”, “Autoplay”: True, “Title”: “Hollow Knight: Silksong – Trailer Release”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “113”} Earthquake. If you like video games, but the indie scene catches something far away, we go with a little context. ‘Silksong’ is the independent sequel to the aforementioned ‘Hollow Knight’, a game that was born in a Kickstarter campaign, like many others, but unlike many, came to fruition not only in financing, but in recognition. They waited $ 35,000 to give light to the project and reached almost 60,000. Team Cherry was the name of the study and, at the beginning, was composed of two developers: Ari Gibson and William Pellem, but with that extra money, they hired David Kazi as technical director already Chris Larkin as composer and audio designer. Its creation was a ‘Metroidvania’ with an extremely spoiled design and, after a PC launch, it took 15 months to reach one million copies sold. It is not something that all games get, but ‘Hollow Knight’ was very, very good and mouth to mouth worked wonderfully. So much that, when a year later it came out on switch, It took just two weeks in selling more than 250,000 copies. He also reached Xbox One and PS4 and, in addition, with physical versions for the three consoles. In Xataka If there was a museum to the prettiest games, these 28 would be in it The Coca-Cola formula. In it analysis of my 3DJUEGOS companions or in that of my compis of Lifextra They already get rid of praise towards the game, but what I want to contribute is that, much of the success of ‘Hollow Knight’ is due to something that, in video games, is known as ‘Game Feel’. This is that feeling that awakens the title when we have the command between hands, the feedback we receive when performing any action and that keeps us ‘hooked’. In the case of ‘Hollow Knight’, the extremely ‘fine’ controlññ in the platform part has much of the fault, but I consider that it is the fight that really makes a difference. When we attack, the sound is pleasant, the blow feels powerful thanks to both the sound effect and to the particles on screen or that the enemy goes back a few steps due to the forcefulness of the blow and, in addition, the vibrate chamber. Together, it is a dopamine chute for our brain, which only thinks about getting more of those, and it is something that is only achieved if we continue playing. In a nutshell, playing ‘Hollow Knight’ introduces us to a flow state as few games get. THE HYPE TRAIN. Like ‘Super Metroid’ or ‘Symphony of the Night’ in its day, or the Spanish ‘Blasphemous’ more recently,’ Hollow Knight has served as influence for many games developed in recent years. And, being so dear, when in 2019 it was announced that They were working in a sequel Independent with a character we already knew, Hornet, madness broke out. The problem? In these six years we have seen ‘Silksong’ in presentations such as Rog Xbox Ally or in the Nintendo Switch 2but barely passed and without being shown in any case new material, since the same year of presentation already a demo was shown… and since then we have been waiting. And the problem is not so much that there is something wrong within Team Cherry, but in the community we got anxious for each possible novelty of ‘Silksong’ and, in each Nintendo event, the thought circulated in networks of “In this we are going to see it” for, when we had no news, some would always end up putting an image turned into meme and icon clown wig. The meme of each presentation for. Six. Years. ‘Silksong‘. But ‘Silksong’ was alive and Team Cherry has been working all these years in the new installment. I don’t want to imagine the pressure That all this journey since the presentation in 2019 has been supposed for the Australian study, but what has already been played in Gamescom 2025 makes it clear that ‘Silksong’ is not ‘Hollow Knight 2’. While 2017 put us at the controls of a “heavy” and forceful character, almost like a tank, ‘Silksong’ puts us to Hornet’s control, much more athletic and skilled. But what seems not to change at all is that ‘Game Feel’ that marked ‘Hollow Knight’. And, if not only have they managed to maintain those sensations, but have given them a twist thanks to the kinetesia of the new character, ‘Silksong’ only has one destination: selling to espuertas and becoming another milestone of the independent scene. Hype will also help this, of course, but just a few days left to put your hands on top. 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The self -employed cars promised to get rid of paying attention to them. At the moment they only achieve it every 9 minutes

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The Advanced driving assistance systemsor Adas, they have become an argument of Key sale for many car manufacturers. Functions such as Adaptive Cruise Controlmaintenance within the lane and Assistants for traffic jams They promise to relieve driving load, especially in dense traffic situations. However, A recent study by the American Automobile Association (AAA) returns us to reality: technology is useful, but the attention of the duct remains indispensable. A test in extreme conditions. The AAA chose one of the worst possible scenarios: Los Angeles highways in rush hour. For more than 16 hours, over 550 kilometers, five vehicles equipped with different level 2 ADAS systems (Those who attend, but do not assume total control) face the real world. The cars were instrumented with cameras and GPS to record every detail of their behavior. Less than 10 minutes of tranquility. Although these systems promise us to have great tranquility at the wheel (even if they are not self -employed at all), the reality is very different. On average, in this study it has been seen that every 9.1 minutes (or every 5.1 kilometers) a notable event was recorded that requires driver’s intervention. There are situations that are very frequent. Among these events that require a person to take control of the vehicle, the lane invasion stands out above all. This happens when another car gets into the lane in front of the vehicle, forcing the driver to intervene to adjust the appropriate safety distance to avoid collision in the face of speed decrease. But they stay here. Secondly, there is the inability of the car to stay perfectly focused on the lane, needing driver intervention in 72% of the occasions. This is very typical, especially when it comes to curves. But in addition to these, 71 more cases have been recorded in which the car did not resume the march after a total stop or 43 moments in which the car did not stop enough, being able to have caused an accident. There are differences between proven systems. One of the most interesting comparisons that was carried out in this regard was among the systems that require the driver to keep his hands in the steering wheel and the most advanced that allow them to remove them. Surprisingly, systems that do not require having their hands on the steering wheel are more reliable when requiring a driver intervention every 20.1 minutes. Instead, the most basic systems need human help with a frequency three times higher: every 6.7 minutes. Of course, the “hands -free” systems also asked the driver to take control every 15 minutes for security. The best security recommendation: to have common sense. Given these results, the AAA has launched a series of recommendations in the face of the proliferation of these driving aid systems and trust that can be deposited in them. They point to that the alert must always be maintained, since ADAS does not replace the driverdistraction must be avoided and above all know the car and how each system works before starting it actively. Right now, the goal ahead is to press manufacturers to make driving aid systems that are more reliable. And although driving technology advances by leaps and bounds, the human factor is still essential to guarantee security. The ADAS are already mandatory. Little by little, these systems are increasingly present in our day to day and without having to pay an extra in the car settings. Since 2022 all new approved vehicles They must include Smart Speed Assistant, Integrated breathalyzer or lane involuntary change alert. Images | Charlie Deets In Xataka | The new Mazda CX-5 has taken the physical buttons ahead. According to Mazda, it’s what we want

It also offers an antivirus compatible with PC, Android and Macos by very little

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No matter the device we refer to: if we can protect it with an antivirus, better. We have several available, even Free options for both PC as For mobile phones. What is not so easy is to find one that serves us for several devices simultaneously and that works well, preventing our equipment from infecting malware and other dangers. If we are looking for a versatile and quality, It may be that of Surshark fits us perfect: Its price is only 2.99 euros a month. Protection for up to 5 devices no matter how little The investment required by this antivirus is very small if we take into account everything it offers. This surfshark tool is not only compatible with Windows, but also with macOS and Android. In addition, we can use it simultaneously in 5 different devicesso we can have everything protected at the same time without having to worry about using several different antivirus. More things. The antivirus analyzes everything, both downloads and applications. Your database is updated very frequentlyso it allows you to identify possible Malwares or other threats, even if they have been acting for a very short time. It is also a very light software and that barely affects the performance of the devices, so we will not notice any type or similar. Protect your devices with an antivirus of the best level * Some price may have changed from the last review To all of the above we must still add some other thing. One of the functions that this tool allows is to Protect our webcamblocking any unauthorized access. It will also send us a notification in case an application or program is trying to access it without our prior authorization. All this is what we take with surfshark for just 2.99 euroshence A year of service will cost us 35.88 euros. We have the option to test the service for 30 days and, if we are not satisfied, ask for a refund. A software that is worth winning in tranquility, not only on the PC: also in the rest of the devices. Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Image | Surfshark In Xataka | Why it is dangerous to connect to public wifis and what you should do to protect yourself In Xataka | Antivirus in Windows 11: What are, differences between free and payment and the best for your PC

Europe manufactures in Algeria with the same method that criticizes China and Algeria has been tired

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When Ebro arrived in Spain, it was said that the intention was to return the company to a fully Spanish past. The truth is that, for the moment, it has little because Ebro S700 and S800 They are, in essence, versions of the Chery Tiggo who are given life through the DKD system. This way of working It resembles that of a puzzle. Instead of having a whole assembly line where the different pieces are assembled and equipped with a driving train, Chery sends cars in almost mounted containers and, here, they finish joining a few parts to leave through the doors of the factory. The system is controversial. At the moment he has helped to boost work in the old Nissan factory in Barcelona for which a clear future was not. But The DKD system is hardly impact on the region since less workers are needed and all pieces (and suppliers) come from China. This way of acting, in fact, It has not been well seen by the European Union that they have already warned Chery that they would not help them save tariffs on their electric cars, understanding that They were bridging They with a minimum investment. A similar situation is what they have in Algeria. And the government has sent a message: the time has come for this to end. “We want to produce cars” “We want to produce global cars locally, and the time of inflating tires is over.” The words have been pronounced by Abdelmajid Tebboune, president of Algeria, In an interview with local media. This metaphor for “inflar tires” refers to the superficial investment that large manufacturers make in the country to “produce” your cars in the country African. Right now, Stellantis is producing fiat cars there. So does the Volkswagen group (with Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi) or Renault. Hyundai or Chery is expected to also open new plants in the country in the near future. However, Algeria lives a complicated situation with this part of the industry. As in the case of Ebro, the local investments of the manufacturers are minimal and what you really want is to skip tariffs and difficult homologations of imported vehicles that have been created to protect the local economy. Renault, for example, acts with the symbol (his Renault Clio in Algeria) in the same way that Chery does with Ebro in Spain. “The vehicle arrives semi or completely finished, so there is nothing to ride,” says Mohamed Bairi, head of Ival, importer of Iveco, to local media. The intention, therefore, is that the use of pieces provided by local suppliers and the involvement in Algerian plants is greater. Stellantis ensures that the use of local pieces will increase by, minimum, 35% from 2026. What the government wants is that this changing forcing the integration of local parts to be at least 30%. As they collect in L’Automobilejust 5% of pieces used in Algeria come from local supplies. It remains to see how this will affect Hyundai’s plans and, above all, those of companies like Chery who trusted the CKD system to sell their vehicles in the country. This last option increases work rates in the country where you work locally and that is what You want to do with the electric omoda 5 In Barcelona. However, all pieces come from abroad and that is what ampoules has raised in the European Union and want to avoid in Algeria. Photo | Renault In Xataka | Morocco is positioning himself as an opponent to beat in the electric car: China has it clearer and clearer

destroy their competitors in performance

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NVIDIA engineers have been working on a new GPU for several months to artificial intelligence (AI) expressly designed for the Chinese market. Reuters He has confirmed that he will be called B30A, and on his shoulders he will rest, neither more nor less, The future of the company led by Jensen Huang in China. This chip must necessarily meet two conditions. On the one hand it has to be more powerful than The H20 GPUwhich is the last solution that Nvidia has placed in China. And, in addition, it must meet the restrictions imposed by the US Department of Commerce. Otherwise Nvidia will not get the export license you need to be able to sell this chip in this Asian country. The current situation complicates a lot The future of this company in China. Its main obstacle is the investigation that the administration of cyberspace has initiated, usually known as CAC for its English denomination (Cyberspace Administration of China). As we have explained in other articles, the problem that Nvidia faces is that The CAC has decided to investigate it Because he suspects that the H20 chip could incorporate a rear door of difficult location by Chinese experts. If so, the possibility of China to use this GPU could be possible. At the moment the CAC has limited himself to questioning those responsible for NVIDIA in China and ask them to demonstrate that the H20 Chip does not represent a threat to the interests and security of the country led by Xi Jinping. The B30A chip responds to the need to lead in performance in China Chinese companies that are dedicated to the development of large AI models are trapped. On the one hand they are being forced to deal with the export restrictions of the GPU imposed by the US government. And, in addition, they are subject to their own dependence on American technology. A priori the optimal solution for them would be to stop buying Nvidia and other US companies their chips for AI, and getting “comparable” GPUs proposed by Huawei, Change either Moore Threadsamong other Chinese companies. Chinese companies prefer GPUs for NVIDIA because their performance is greater However, as explained in your article to Foreign Policy The American analyst Kyle Chan, the scenario they face is more complicated than it seems. And it is that abandoning Nvidia in practice is very difficult. According to ChanTencent, Bytedance, Alibaba and other Chinese companies They prefer GPUs for Nvidia Because its performance is greater, especially when facing the training processes of their AI models. However, they especially opt for the chips of this American company thanks to CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). Most of the AI projects that are currently being developed are implemented on CUDA. This technology brings together the compiler and development tools used by programmers to develop their software for NVIDIA GPUs, and replace it with another option in the projects that are already underway it is a problem. Huawei, who aspires to an important portion From this market in China, it has Cann (Compute Architecture for Neural Networks), which is its alternative to CUDA, but for the moment CUDA dominates the market. In these circumstances, the B30A chip that is putting to point Nvidia has all the meaning of the world. Presumably It will be half powerful that the most advanced GPU this company currently has, The B300 chipbut, even so, it is reasonable to assume that will overcome performance of all the chips for the developed in China, especially when facing the training processes of the AI models. This is the best asset that Nvidia has. And it’s going to play it very soon. In fact, plan deliver the first samples From the GPU B30A to its Chinese clients before it ends next September. Image | Nvidia | Zhang Kaiyv More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US gives Huawei a great opportunity: to get its new chip for AI with the Nvidia market in China

Google has finally revealed how much electricity and water consumes its AI. Estimates could not be more wrong

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We knew that generative artificial intelligence was a monster that was forcing companies to make large investments in energybut Google’s first detailed analysis has put the figures for the first time on the table. We go to the point. According to him Google Technical Reportbased on data from May 2025, an average text consultation to Gemini consumes 0.24 Electricity watts. To put it in context, it is something like watching nine seconds of television with a conventional TV of 100 W. Water consumption, which is still necessary to refrigerate serversis 0.26 milliliters per consultation; The equivalent of five drops of water. The carbon footprint of the entire inference process, according to the report, is 0.03 grams of equivalent. Wrong estimates. Just a year ago, third party analysis They estimated that a single consultation of AI in the Google search engine, such as those of AI overViews, could consume about 3 Wh, ten times more than a traditional search. This led to calculations as striking as the deployment of AI in the search engine would consume enough energy to load seven electric cars per second. With Google’s official data in hand, we see that this estimate was wrong by a 12.5 factor. The new software techniques (such as speculative decoding) and the most efficient models architectures (such as the Mixture-OF-Experts paradigm) have completely changed the panorama. Inference, no training. These figures, the most concrete published to date by the company, only take into account Gemini’s consumption by inferring user response. The expensive process of training the great language models that feed these tools remains a mystery, but Google is justified by saying that the massive adoption of generative AI, integrated even in its search engine, has put the focus on inference. In this direct relationship with the user it is also where greater efficiency jumps are getting large technological companies. Google says that, in the last 12 months, energy consumption has divided by 33 and by 44 the carbon footprint of each consultation to Gemini. Much of this jump has to do, not only with more efficient models, but with the improvement of AI accelerators (Tpus and Gpus), a hardware that Google develops internally. The amount of “prompts” per kWh that process the different models of AI Less than Netflix. Google is not alone in this new era of transparency. Sam Altman, CEO of Openai, also shed some light on the consumption of chatgpt. In one June 2025 publicationAltman said that an average consultation to ChatgPT consumes approximately 0.34 or energy Wh and about 0.3 ml of water. The energy figure is slightly higher than Gemini’s, although it is a difficult comparison. Altman did not give details of his methodology, so we do not know if his calculation includes all the factors that Google has considered (such as electrical consumption in refrigeration and in “idle” machines; that is, inactive, but ready for rapid consumption peaks). Both companies have been compared to television: “An hour of Netflix consumes 100 times more electricity than Chatgpt,” says an official OpenAI slide. The same that says that the total impact of AI on US carbon emissions would be around 0.5%. Images | Google In Xataka | The consumption of AI is overestimated and we must worry more about the air conditioning, according to the IAE

We believed that at this point the PS5 and Xbox would be cheaper than ever. The hallucinating thing is that it is happening just the opposite

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Sony has just announced that all models of their PlayStation 5 consoles will rise $ 50 in the United States. The argument that Sony has used in its statement To explain the decision is that there is a “difficult economic environment.” Or what is the same: they blame tariffs. But that is already a generalized trend … and very unreasonable. PS5 rises around the world. It is the same that happened in April in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, when this company He also announced that prices went up for some models. In Europe, for example, the PS5 digital edition cost 499.99 euros. In the US, these increases affect all models, and the new prices will be activated as of Thursday in that country, being like this: PlayStation 5: 549.99 dollars (before $ 499.99) PlayStation 5 Digital Edition: 499.99 dollars (before $ 449.99) PlayStation 5 Pro: $ 749.99 (before $ 699.99) Prices for accessories, yes, remain unchanged. Microsoft already did the same. This movement is the same as Microsoft also with its Xbox Series S/X consoles, which They also rose in price at 50 euros In Europe and the US. Even the controls and some accessories saw their prices increased. And of course, Nintendo. The Japanese company took a long time to end up lowering the price of the original Nintendo Switch, but the Switch 2 has given it the excuse for uprise even more Even in the games. Not only that: the economic situation has caused Nintendo that Prices upload of the original Nintendo Switch, the Lite edition and the accessories. These data have not been met for the latest Sony and Microsoft models. In fact, the thing is totally the other way around. Damn tariffs. Most video game consoles are manufactured in China, and tariffs have especially affected the Asian giant. That certainly makes manufacturers more expensive to manufacture and export them to be able to sell them in the US or Europe. And if they want to keep their profit margins, they end up doing something logical for them and terrible for consumers, because we are the ones who end up paying the duck. But some manufacturing costs have dropped. The amazing thing about the situation is that both the PS5 and the Xbox Series S/X are now cheaper to manufacture (let’s not say the original switch). After five years in the market (nine in the case of the Nintendo console), the components of these consoles have dropped in price: their cost was then very high, but after all this time those components have ended up becoming almost obsolete compared to the new chips that have appeared in all this time. So what is happening? Not everything has come down. In fact, these consoles are based on GDDR6 memory chips and NAND chips for their solid state units, and there the prices They rose strongly in 2025 and 2025 for the relative shortage of this type of chips and the focus that manufacturers are putting in HBM memories for AI accelerators such as those of Nvidia. To this are added other costs not directly related to the material invoice (BOM), such as logistics, manufacturing energy, or marketing. The dollar loses bellows. But it is also the green ticket has lost value in front of the euro and other currencies. After 80 years being the pillar of the world economy, US tariffs They are starting to destroy it And that also translates into the price increases of everything. Including consoles. Less “boxes” are sold. Consoles manufacturers used to lose money with their models in the initial periods. The idea was always to recover those losses of plenty with the sale of physical games, but the rise of the sale of digital editions, the free-to-play games and the subscriptions have made the distribution of value change. For Sony or Microsoft the solution is simple: if we no longer recover so much value with the games, we upload the price of the hardware. But all that already happened before. The truth is that the situation is in many cases analogous to which it was lived with the PS4 and the Xbox One for example. These consoles ended up falling in a remarkable price over the years, but here a perfect storm has been created. One in which inflation, dollar weakness, tariffs and new video game access models have caused the worst result for users: more expensive consoles. In Xataka | 60 euros for a camera, 90 for a game. The worst (and best) of Nintendo prices for switch 2

Nvidia had a struggle to sell her H20 to China. Until someone left the language in the US government

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A little over a month ago, Nvidia got what seemed impossible: that the United States government would leave him Sell your H20 chip to China. The movement arrived after the prohibition of doing so in April, when a complicated scenario was drawn: that Nvidia entered this year 15,000 million dollars less, according to the company. Everything was going well, until Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce of the United States, left the language. What Lutnick said. On July 15, just the day after raising the veto to export control over the NVIDIA H20, the US Secretary of Commerce boasted in statements to CNBC That “we do not sell our best things, nor the best best, not even the best thirds.” The comment itself is correct, because the H20 are not up to chips like the NVIDIA H100, H200 either B200. But in Beijing he didn’t like it. Why it is important. Because as the Financial Timessome leaders have considered the comments insulting, and China has reacted restricting the purchases of the NVIDIA H20, and requires companies that already have purchases agreed with the American technological technology to justify purchases. The result, according to the Financial Times, is that orders are being delayed or reducing. A China Data Center Operator He affirmed That buying chips “is not prohibited, but it has become something politically incorrect.” According to Bloombergthe Chinese authorities sent notices to national companies to stop using the H20 chips, especially with regard to government -related issues. The administration of the Cyberspace of China (CAC), the National Commission for Development and Reform (NDRC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) were the agencies that make up a coalition of regulators involved in responding with measures to the comments of Lutnick. More firewood on fire. The notices of the Chinese authorities are still informal, but they suppose one more escalation in the problems of Nvidia, after the suspicions of the Chinese CAC that They are scamming himwhich led to questioning Nvidia in China to demonstrate that H20 does not represent a threat to interest and security in China. The company has spoken very clearly: “No rear doors“In his chips, but The tension that USA and China live is leaving it without options. Being able to sell chips in China has cost Nvidia to leave Trump administration 15% of the total income of exports to the Asian country. A huge concession made to improve its commercial position, but that aims not to be enough after the reaction to Lutnick’s comments. China is an essential market for those of Jensen Huang, but the succession of events is transforming it into a nightmare. USA It faces the dilemma to sell Hardware from AI to China or not do so and develop them them. The succession of events points to the second. The government’s ambition collides with the reality of Chinese companies. The movement to limit the purchase of H20 by the Chinese government also responds to a plan: Prioritize national chips. It forces data centers that belong to the State to use at least 50% of integrated circuits of Chinese origin on their servers. This benefits Huawei, who is already competitive with his Ascend 910D, which seeks to overcome the performance of NVIDIA H100, and with the Ascend 920, which wants to compete with the H20. However, Production will be limitedand it is the Chinese companies themselves (Tencent, Alibaba and others) that They prefer to use the US company GPUsfor a reason: because its performance is greater. China has its alternative to Cuda, but Nvidia’s weapon remains the undisputed software leader in the AI market. To the point that Chinese companies play it and the NVIDIA GPUs They sweep the black market. The question is whether this phenomenon will continue to occur if China takes tougher measures. Image | Nvidia and Flickr In Xataka | China’s three master moves to “independent” technologically from the West: raw materials, chips, AI

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