Month: October 2025

After imposing a peace agreement in Gaza, the US is heading to Ukraine to do the same. And that has two nuclear problems

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United States, in omnipresent figure of its president Donald Trump, seems willing to finish once and for all the invasion of Ukraine. It happens that trying to reproduce the same diplomatic “success” that is exhibited after the agreement in Gaza runs into two problems nuclear: on the one hand, the attempt to impose an agreement on Russia calls into question the sovereignty and legitimacy of the process and pushes Moscow to react. On the other hand, perhaps more dangerous, the pressure campaign that is articulated around the threat with long range missiles drastically increases the risk of an escalation that is difficult to control. From ambiguity to challenge. For a long time, Trump’s foreign policy toward Russia and Ukraine moved between deference and confusiona mix of praise for Putin, vague warnings and broken promises to kyiv. But in recent weeks, something has changed. trump has radically changed his speech, going from suggesting that Ukraine should accept territorial losses to presenting himself as the man capable of ending the war. What started as a rhetorical gesture before the UN has become a political process that seeks to consolidate the role of the United States as arbiter of the conflict, with a mix of military pressure, transactional diplomacy and calculated threat. Change and breakup. Trump, who had historically shown a almost personal indulgence towards Putin, surprised his allies and his critics with a speech in which rated Russia “paper tiger” and stated that Ukraine can recover all your territory with the support of Europe and NATO. This change, announced after his meeting with Zelensky and Macron, marks an abandonment of his traditional strategy of avoiding direct confrontations with Moscow. However, behind the turn there does not seem to be an articulated policy yet, but rather a combination of gestures: hints of sanctions, threats of retaliation and an explicit desire to reintroduce the idea of force as an instrument of negotiation. What was once indifference toward kyiv has become an instrumental interest, mixing rivalry with Putin and a desire to demonstrate international leadership. Tomahawks and ultimatums. The most visible symbol of this transformation is the word that has become recurrent in the communications from Washington: Tomahawk. Trump has openly threatened to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles if Putin does not agree to reopen peace negotiations, an ultimatum which has put the Kremlin on alert. Moscow has responded calling the measure a “qualitatively new escalation” and warning that it could not distinguish whether the missiles carry nuclear warheads or not. For Trump, however, the announcement meets a double function: reinforces your image as a negotiator who commands respect and pressures Putin to prevent him from prolonging a war he can no longer win. Zelensky, for his part, sees the possibility of obtaining Tomahawks as not only a military instrument. but psychological: the threat of its use would be enough to push Russia to the negotiation table. The mere fact of discussing its delivery represents a break with the caution of the Biden erain which Washington rejected outright any action that could be considered direct aggression. From Gaza to Ukraine: export a model. The partial success of ceasefire in Gaza has offered Trump a narrative of diplomatic victory that he is now trying to convey on the European front. After freeing the Israeli hostages and achieving a temporary cessation of hostilities, the American president declared that his next objective was to “focus on Russia” and end the war in Ukraine. What is apparently a humanitarian movement also responds to a repositioning strategy global: demonstrate that Washington can impose order in both the Middle East and Europe without needing to deploy large military contingents. Trump has presented this new stage under a classic concept that has republished with pragmatism: “peace through strength.” It is the same logic that he seeks to apply with Putin (that is, not from conciliation, but from a credible threat). Ukraine, which for months feigned faith in some sterile negotiations to ingratiate himself with the White House, now perceives a window of opportunity: to replace the dialogue tables with the delivery of advanced weapons that change the balance of the battlefield. A military agreement. The visit of a Ukrainian delegation to Washington, led by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, has sealed the new phase. The negotiators arrived with a list of valued acquisitions in 90,000 million of dollars, including Patriot anti-aircraft systemslong-range missiles and drone co-production agreements. Zelensky has learned to speak Trump’s language: that of transactions. It is no longer about asking for help out of solidarity, but rather offer “mega deals” that benefit both parties, presenting Ukraine as a profitable partner for the US military industry. The White House, in turn, has implicitly accepted that the talks with Moscow they are sold outand that only a substantial increase in military pressure will be able to force Putin to negotiate from weakness. The new strategic calculation. If you like, the Kremlin also crosses a point operational fatigue. Its territorial advances have become more marginal, and Zelensky himself has taken it upon himself to remember this in Washington with maps and figures: in a thousand days of war, Russia has barely conquered less than one percent of additional Ukrainian territory from 2022. The narrative of inevitable victory fades, and Trump seems to have understood. His speech on networks, in which stated that Ukraine is “in a position to recover his entire country in its original form,” was interpreted as confirmation of that change in perception. In other words: it is no longer about keeping a conflict frozen, but about precipitating its outcome through technological superiority and Russian economic collapse. The paradox. Paradoxically, the trump turn does not imply a return to the liberal idealism that defined US foreign policy for decades, but rather a pragmatism that mixes interests, spectacle and coercion. Washington does not seek to rebuild Ukraine, but rather to close a war that has stopped serving its image of power. From that perspective, the American president does not seem … Read more

Windows 10 is as of today an insecure operating system. One that is installed on 4 out of every 10 computers in the world

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Today is the last day that Windows 10 will be officially supported by Microsoft. This means that this operating system will no longer receive security updates, and therefore the computers governed by said version will be exposed to security vulnerabilities that are discovered from now on. Windows 10 is too popular. The problem with this operating system going unsupported is that it is still enormously popular. It is true that Windows 11 has already managed to surpass it in share, but not by much. According to data from Statcounter GlobalStatsIn September 2025, Windows 11 has a 48.94% market share in Windows computers globally, while Windows 10 has a 40.5% share. Four out of ten Windows-based computers will use an insecure operating system. Five, without taking into account that one in ten continue to use even older versions: Windows 7 is installed on 9.61% of Windows computers, for example. Windows 11 is the version of Windows with the largest market share, but not by much. It overtook Windows 10 just a few months ago, and today Windows 10’s share is around 40%. Source: Statcounter GlobalStats. Remembering Wannacry. On May 12, 2017, we woke up to the news of a massive cyber attack that we first believed was had affected Telefónica and that it was actually global. The ransomware responsible for the attack, called WannaCryput companies in check from all over the world. The attack took advantage of a vulnerability called EternalBlue present in several old versions of Windows, including Windows XP, which at that time had a reduced market share (5%) but was relevant: it was still relatively used in companies that were exposed. The attack forced Microsoft to release a specific patch for this operating system, and showed how serious it can be rely on an insecure operating system. Payment lifeguard… To mitigate the problem that millions of users will now face, Microsoft offers two paths. One of them is the paying officer. The company has launched calls extended security updates (ESU, for its acronym in English). Although some requirements must be met (such as using Windows 10 22H2), many users can enroll in this program to continue receiving critical security updates. That, according to Microsoft, will allow time “while they make the transition to Windows 11”, which is the ideal solution for all Windows 10 users. This option is designed for business users but be careful, because said program – which in fact will have a total extension of three years – it’s not cheap: It costs $61 per device for the first year, $122 for the second, and $244 for the third. And entering the program later does not reduce the cost. …and free lifeguard. But Microsoft will also offer one more year of free security updates in Europe and the USA. In fact, in Europe, being able to activate that one-year extension of support for Windows 10 is relatively simple: just log in with a Microsoft account to access that option. It is best that you move to Windows 11. But obviously the best solution to avoid problems is to update your computer to Windows 11. It is possible to perform this update for free on Windows 10 computers according to Microsoft’s FAQ. Normally Microsoft requires that the PC or laptop meet certain requirements, but even in those cases it is possible to “skip” those obligations and install a modified Windows 11 with a little trick. Or give Linux a chance. There are other solutions, of course. One of them is to maintain the current equipment, but install some Linux distribution on it. Although that may put some users off, these distributions have been making it really easy for users to do the same things they do on their Windows computers for some time now. Including video gamessomething that Steam’s Proton platform has made possible. There is joy in the sale of PCs. In the third quarter of 2025, 9.4% more PCs were sold worldwide than in the same period of 2024. Source: IDC. The end of Windows 10 is a joy for PC manufacturers. Especially because this is the perfect excuse to change teams, especially in the business segment. Old PCs with Windows 10 are a huge security risk for these companies, which are especially forced to update their equipment or renew their IT fleet. That is also true for many users who take advantage of this circumstance, and that is causing a boost in sales. We are already seeing it: an analysis from the consulting firm IDC shows how in the third quarter of 2025, 9.4% more PCs were distributed than in the same period of 2024. Image | Clint Patterson In Xataka | If you have an old PC, there is an effective alternative to Windows 11 requirements and bloatware: this is how Flyoobe works

How to summarize pages with Gemini in Chrome for Android

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Let’s explain to you how to summarize pages with Gemini in Chrome for Android. This way, if you find a very long article and you don’t feel like it or don’t have time to read it in full, you can ask the artificial intelligence Let me summarize it for you so you can see the key points and go directly to the information it offers. This is something you can do now Gemini It is fully integrated into Android. In the future you will also be able to do it on iOSbut this Gemini feature is not yet available on iPhones. Summarize web pages with Gemini The first thing you have to do is go to the web page you want to summarize in Chrome. So, Press and hold the power button on your phone to summon Gemini on Android. This will open Gemini on top of Chrome, so you can interact with the AI ​​referring to the content you have open on the web. In addition to the writing field, above you will have several options, and you have to press where it says Summarize page in this menu. Just by doing this, in a few seconds Gemini will show you a summary of everything it puts on the website. Here, the important thing is that this summary is overlaid and you have not left Chrome, so whenever you want you can close it and continue browsing normally. In Xataka Basics | Gemini Image Editor: 16 Ways and Tricks to Squeeze Nano-banana with Google’s AI

the animal ‘technology’ that is surpassing laboratories

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The story of Mwajuma Abdalla Ngema is that of thousands of people. He went to a clinic in Dar es Sallam (Tanzania) with a persistent cough and the first thing they did was to tuberculosis test which tested negative. After being discharged and a few days had passed, he received a call: the test was positive for tuberculosis, and the result did not come from a laboratory machine, but from the sense of smell of a giant African rat. The method. This scenario, which seems straight out of a science fiction movie, is the core of an innovative program led by the non-profit organization APOPO. In this case, using giant spider rats (Cricetomys ansorgei) have managed to create a tuberculosis detection system that is not only faster and cheaper, but in many cases is proving to be more effective than conventional methods. Tuberculosis. It remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world, causing 1.25 million deaths in 2023. One of the biggest challenges is detection, especially in those countries that have very limited resources to purchase reagents or appropriate machinery. And even if these possibilities are available, sputum analysis has limited sensitivity and some cases with a low bacterial load may occur. This is where the rats come in. APOPO, which initially began training them to detect landmines, discovered that their extremely acute sense of smell could be redirected to identify the specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that emits the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples. And the results speak for themselves. Scientific support. A published study in BMC Infectious Diseases reveals the incredible effectiveness of this method. During 2022, the program analyzed 35,766 samples in patients in Tanzania. Of these, local clinics gave a negative result to 33,866 of these samples through classical microscopy or Xpert tests. And this is where the rats came in to re-evaluate the results, offering a shocking fact: the rodents identified 2,029 additional cases of tuberculosis that would otherwise have been missed. This means that rats contributed to 52% of the total tuberculosis cases identified in the program, saving thousands of people from going undiagnosed and untreated. Speed ​​is also a key advantage: a rat can analyze 100 samples in less than 20 minutes, a task that would take a lab technician days. More effective. The true superpower of these “HeroRats,” as APOPO calls them, lies in their ability to detect the undetectable. The study showed that rats are six times more likely to detect tuberculosis in patients with a low bacterial load (“poor” or “1+” categories) compared to standard microscopy in clinics. This sensitivity is especially crucial for children, whose diagnosis of tuberculosis is notoriously difficult due to the low concentration of bacteria and the difficulty in obtaining quality sputum samples. But this is not a problem for rats, which are twice as likely to identify a case of TB in a child than in an adult. The training. Behind each correct diagnosis is a rigorous training process that lasts between nine months and a year at the APOPO center in Morogoro. Trainers socialize the pups from four weeks old to create a trusting rat-researcher bond. Although coexistence is not easy, according to the APOPO coordinator himself, he states that “at first there are trust problems (…) The rat has to trust that I am not a threat, and I have to be sure that it will not bite me.” Once the bond has been created, training is based on positive reinforcement. The rats are presented with several samples and are rewarded with food when they correctly identify a sample that is positive. And logically, before becoming a ‘diagnostic system’ they must have a score of 10/10 by correctly identifying positive samples. Economy. In addition to being effective, it is also a very economical solution. The cost of analyzing a sample with a rat is about 2,600 Tanzanian shillings (about 0.90 euros), while a smear scan costs between 4,700 and 7,000 shillings. And if we talk about a molecular test like PCR, we are going up to 42,000 shillings. This means that after a useful life of seven years, the rats “retire” having saved a lot of money, saving lives and ending his days in the center of Morogoro. Hundreds of thousands of lives. Since its inception, APOPO has analyzed more than 900,000 different samples and detected more than 30,000 cases of tuberculosis that health systems had missed. This is something that has prevented approximately 300,000 new contagion infections, because an untreated person can infect between 10 and 15 people a year. The success in Tanzania and Ethiopia has prompted APOPO to plan to open more laboratories in northern Tanzania and even to transfer the idea to neighboring countries that also have a very high prevalence of this disease. Images | National Institute of Allergy In Xataka | A silent epidemic is killing more and more humans around the planet: fungal infections

OpenAI is building the biggest house of cards in history. Its “circular financing” aggravates the threat of the AI ​​bubble

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Yesterday OpenAI and Broadcom announced a collaboration agreement that will see both companies design and deploy 10 GW of custom AI chips over the course of four years. It’s a new episode of that unusual strategy that OpenAI has carried out and which is summarized in an increasingly disturbing concept: that of circular financing. Multimillion-dollar agreements. In recent weeks we have seen how OpenAI has reached new agreements worth billions of dollars with large companies in the semiconductor sector. Thus, we have: Circular financing. All these advertisements respond to a unique circular financing strategy in which chip companies (the suppliers) not only sell their products to an AI startup (customer), but also invest capital in that startup, which in turn uses that capital to buy more products from its investor. In reality, the supplier “does not invest” as such, because that money ends up going back into purchases of its products and services. It is in fact something similar to what OpenAI did with Microsoft when the latter invested $13 billion in it. Rather than investing them, it allowed him to use a kind of subscription for that amount to use his cloud, Azure, and its computing resources. It’s a win-win for some and for others. OpenAI wins. These agreements allow OpenAI to have guaranteed access to computing, something you need like eating. The startup spends billions a year and still not profitablebut thanks to this strategy he obtains a massive flow of capital. In the case of Broadcom, it also manages to collaborate in the design of customized chips for minimize future dependence on other partners (such as NVIDIA or AMD) and thus enjoy a lower total cost of ownership in the long term. And by signing with three different semiconductor suppliers, it encourages competition and improves its bargaining power. Bright. Suppliers win. The circular strategy also benefits NVIDIA, AMD and Broadcom. All of them gain a customer with almost unlimited demand, and can register immediate income from the sale of chips while the cost of the investment is amortized over time. NVIDIA also manages to maintain its dominant position, while AMD and Broadcom manage to expand in this market. If there are also actions involved, all of them are revalued and participating in each other is another element of interest in these financial operations. They reinforce and grow larger among themselves, and while they weaken all the others. A gigantic house of cards. But compared to that strategy, reality. And the reality is that this circular flow of capital is creating artificial demand in which the supplier pays itself. The systemic risk is enormous: if OpenAI fails or AI growth slows, the domino effect can significantly affect these vendors and their investors. We are facing a huge (and fragile) house of cards that, if it collapses, will have equally enormous consequences. The AI ​​bubbleif it really exists, continues to grow and grow. Total uncertainty. There is also absolute uncertainty about the promise of AI: will we really use it as much as these companies think we will? Will OpenAI be able to deliver on its promise and turn a profit in 2030? It is impossible to know. Finally, another problem: these circular agreements make these companies larger, but they make the entry of new competitors in both markets increasingly complicated. There are winners, but also losers. While all this is happening and the shares of these companies are skyrocketing, the reality is that there are also losers. The retail investor is blind to these events—and suspicions about cases of insider trading They are inevitable. And of course when talking about competition we are not talking about new competitors, but also current ones. Anthropic or Perplexity, with already established businesses, now finds it more difficult to compete. Google, Microsoft or Meta have plenty of infrastructure and economic resources, but they are still seeing how OpenAI is getting bigger and bigger without being able to prevent it. If successful, OpenAI may end up being above all of them, because it seeks the same thing that every company seeks even if it does not admit it: become a monopoly. Image | Xataka with Freepik – Gemini In Xataka | You thought you had an amazing connection on Tinder, but you were actually chatting with ChatGPT

what it is and how to use it to get AI answers with a list of sources

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Let’s explain to you What is it and how to use Google AI modewhich you can use both from the search engine’s website and from the mobile application. It is a new method that uses Gemini to find information in the search engine, and offer it to you in a more detailed way. We are going to start the article by explaining what exactly this AI mode is, so that you understand how it works and what differentiates it from normal searches on Google. And then, we will give you a simple explanation on how you can use it. 10 GOOGLE APPS THAT COULD HAVE SUCCESSFUL What is Google AI mode When you use Google normally, you are offered two types of results: first you may have a summary of the results made with artificial intelligenceand then below you have the links. AI mode use Gemini to maximize mode View created with AI of traditional searches. It’s similar to doing a search in Gemini, but the difference is that the main sources used appear on the right side. Come on, the result is generated from these sources, and you can review them whenever you want. So that you understand it. When you search for something in Gemini, practically no sources or links related to the information appear, and when you search for something in Google the summary made by AI is quite insufficient. So, AI mode merges both concepts so that you are offered results showing the sources in a prominent way. Unlike the View created with AI From conventional results, which generates the summary of related sources using literal quotes, this AI mode generates the summary independently by Gemini. It takes into account the sources and their information, but it is as if the AI ​​generated the answers on its own. From top to bottom: Google results, Google AI Mode results, Gemini results. This mode works with a version created specifically for searching Google’s Gemini 2.0 model. This means that in addition to finding the results, you will also be able to have conversations with exhaustive questions. Come on, after asking the question, you will be able to ask questions, and you will also be able to ask longer questions for more detailed answers. How to use Google AI mode The first thing you have to do is enter the Google website or application. Once inside, press the button AI Mode which will appear to the right of the search bar on the web, and below it in the mobile application. This will take you to AI mode, where you can ask any question or consult anything you want to know. You can also ask the question by dictating it by voice, and you will have the option of adding images to ask questions about its content. You will see how Google processes the question and consults several dozen pages, and then will generate a complete and detailed response. The most important thing in this way is that On the right you will have the entire list of sources. This is important because AI can make mistakes due to hallucinations or using unreliable sources, but this mode will allow you to consult the sources so that you can verify the information on pages that you know will offer it to you in full. In Xataka Basics | Gemini Image Editor: 16 Ways and Tricks to Squeeze Nano-banana with Google’s AI

The US attacked China with tariffs and China has counterattacked by stopping buying meat from them. The big winner has been Australia

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The United States was one of the main exporters of beef to China, but the tension between both countries and the tariff war has ended this relationship. The winner of the situation is Australia, which is already the country that exports the most beef to China, but also one of the main partners of the United States. What is happening. There was no official statement from the government. Last March, China did not renew its beef export licenses with the United States and has found a new partner to meet demand: Australia. Beef exports have increased 35% in the first half of the year and the Australian livestock sector has already invoiced 6.6 billion dollars, according to Nikkei Asia. Shipments to the Chinese market have grown by 65%, but they have also increased to the United States by 48%. It’s a double victory. Why it is important. China is the largest importer of agricultural products and is using this stance to harm the United States. They already did it with their decision to stop buying soybeans from the United Stateswhich was their main supplier, and now they have done it with beef. The beef trade between the United States and China produced around 120 million dollars a month. Now that number is zero. It is another example that dismantles Trump’s storywhich defends tariffs as a beneficial measure for the United States. Skyrocketing prices. The price of meat reached its all-time high last September, according to data from United Nations. In particular, the increase in the price of beef is caused by several factors. On the one hand, the decrease in production in countries such as the United States, New Zealand and Europe. In the United States specifically, the shortage has been caused because of the drought. On the other hand, tariffs and geopolitical tensions have put pressure on international market prices. The game board has been reconfigured, with the United States and China turning primarily to Australia and Brazil to meet their demand. perfect position. At least for the moment, Australia wins because it is in a good position with the main meat importers. In China they are already the first supplier of beef, while in the United States they are the second behind Brazil. The key is that while Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilin Australia they only have 10% because they mainly export minced meat for hamburgers. Australia and China. There was not always harmony between the two nations. In 2020, China suspended imports of Australian beef. The reason given was labeling problems for some products, but everything indicates that the decision had more to do with the critical stance of the Australian government about China’s handling of the coronavirus. Image | Wikipedia, PXhere In Xataka | China has just beaten the United States in the most unexpected fight: that of branded coffee shops

Russia has found a key advantage to multiply the range of its most lethal weapon in Ukraine: Chinese factories

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Last July Reuters was made with some documents that proved the scope of the help from Beijing to Moscow with the war in Ukraine as a backdrop. The proliferation of Russian drones was possible thanks to a system labeling called “industrial refrigeration units” during transportation, one that allowed sanctions imposed by the West to be bypassed through fictitious companies. Now we know something else: that there are entire factories dedicated to collaboration. The invisible industrial alliance. The war in Ukraine has entered a new phase in which Russia’s technological advantage on the battlefield increasingly depends on a network of factories and chinese suppliers. Although Beijing proclaims neutrality, the official customs data show a spectacular increase in exports of critical components (especially fiber optic cables and batteries lithium-ion) that have allowed Moscow to mass-build the wired drones that are transforming the balance of power on the front. These aircraft, operated through ultra-fine glass threads that unwind in flight up to more than twenty kilometers, They are almost immune to electronic warfare and have managed to breach Ukrainian defenses with an efficiency reminiscent of a silent industrial evolution. The Chinese quantitative leap. How much? counted the Washington Post that between May and August, Chinese exports of fiber optic cables to Russia multiplied tenfold, reaching 528,000 kilometers per month, while shipments of lithium-ion batteries climbed to $54 million. In contrast, Ukraine barely received a few tens of km of cable and a testimonial volume of batteries. For analysts, this asymmetry it is not coincidental: China has restricted the transfer of technologies to kyiv and its allies, but has opened the floodgates of the flow towards Moscowtransforming what were simple commercial components into decisive pieces of the Russian war machine. The combination of low cost, high production capacity and speed in developing prototypes makes Chinese factories a material extension of the Kremlin’s war effort, a “precision rearguard” capable of sustaining the offensive even under Western sanctions. The weapon against electronic chaos. we have been counting. Faced with Ukrainian dominance in FPV drones, Russia has found fiber optic models a devastating tool. As they do not depend on radio frequencies, these devices are impossible to block through interference, and their wiring guarantees total control even in environments saturated with electronic warfare. Moscow uses them to destroy logistics lines, command centers and jamming equipment before launching offensives terrestrial. Its scope (coinciding with the advances measured “by sections of cable”) illustrates how this technology defines the very geometry of the front. Since the Ukrainian withdrawal in the Kursk region, wired drones have been the protagonists of precision attacks, such as the registered in Kramatorsk on October 5, cementing a pattern of warfare in which electronic resistance has become useless. The new factories of conflict. After the withdrawal of the giant DJI of the Russian market in 2022, a constellation of minor Chinese manufacturers has taken up its space. Companies like Shenzhen Huaxin Energy either Nasmin Technologyofficially dedicated to civil products, have become major suppliers of batteries and motors for Russian assemblers. The signature Rustakt LLCone of the largest in the Russian military sector, imported from China more than 577 million dollars in pieces between July 2023 and December of the same year, a volume that reveals the scale of covert industrial support. In turn, Russian manufacturers as ASFPV or Stribog exhibit on their websites production lines located in Chinese territorywith personnel, machinery and labels in Mandarin, manufacturing ultralight coils 0.28 mm and 20 km range designed by Chinese engineers. It is a transnational industrial network that no contracts needed formal military to nourish the Russian war effort: the flow of trade is its camouflage. The dilemma of the West. We have also been counting. Despite the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, the majority of these shipments are protected by the ambiguity of the products “dual use”whose civil application allows controls to be avoided. For NATO, China has become a “decisive facilitator” of Putin’s war, Brussels accuses it of selectively applying its own export rules and to tolerate traffic of components that supports the Russian military industry. Beijing, meanwhile, continues to proclaim its neutrality, while its industrial system benefits economically from the prolongation of the conflict. Its strategy is subtle but effective: it does not supply weapons, but the infrastructure that makes them possible. A strategic advantage. Taken together, the convergence between Russian ingenuity and Chinese manufacturing capacity has created a war ecosystem that combines improvisation with industrial efficiency. The fiber drones optics symbolize that symbiosis: cheap, adaptable and difficult to counter. By providing Russia with technological independence from sanctions and tactical superiority on the battlefield, China not only strengthens its strategic partner, but also redefines global balance of power around a new form of hybrid warfare, where factories and cables count as much as missiles. The result is a cumulative advantage that, in the long term, threatens to turn the Ukrainian front into a manufactured warfare laboratorysupported not so much by soldiers, but by production lines on the other side of the world. Image | Ukraine Mod, Ministry of Defense Ukraine In Xataka | Europe has found the antidote to Russian drones. So demand for a 100-year-old gun has skyrocketed In Xataka | Europe has been working for three years to isolate itself from Russian gas. Two countries have decided to build a direct gas pipeline to Russia

PLD Space, one step away from becoming the company that has developed an orbital rocket the fastest

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Whether in the Elche factory, on a test bench at Teruel airport or on the launch pad under construction in French Guiana, PLD Space is abuzz. The company advances one milestone per week and he tells us why: the Miura 5 rocket is practically ready at the design level. “I would tell you that it is 99%,” says Raúl Torres, CEO of the company, in an interview with Xataka. Candidate to become the Europe’s first private orbital rocketthe Miura 5 is about to finish the Critical Design Review (CDR) and take shape for the first time. “Now we are finishing the QM1 qualification models and starting the QM2, which means that shortly, and I’ll leave it there, we are going to have a first teachable Miura 5,” he reveals for the first time. This first fully integrated model will not fly, but will allow PLD to close engineering fronts and carry out key tests before the end of the year. If everything goes according to plan, the rocket chosen to take off will begin assembly in January. “The idea would be that in May we would be in Guyana to start doing the combined tests with the French space agency CNES,” confirms Torres, adjusting the schedule that originally pointed to a launch at the end of 2025. It is not an unexpected adjustment, but it was pending official confirmation since Chris Larmour, founder of Orbex, PLD’s British competitor, 1,000 euros were bet with Raúl Torres that the Miura 5 would not fly in 2025. Raúl accepted the bet. Will he pay Larmour now? “We have invited him to come sign the rocket at the end of the year, we are waiting for him to answer us,” says Torres. “I would like Orbex to also invite me at the end of the year to sign their rocket. Mine is going to sign it, so I only have to pay half of the bet.” Works in Guayana, lighting in Teruel If the Miura 5 flies in early 2026, PLD Space will be one of the fastest companies to have developed an orbital launcher, which is even more impressive considering the Spanish company’s financing compared to several of its competitors. But PLD Space is not starting from scratch. The successful launch of the Miura 1 suborbital rocket in October 2023 was the graduation of a team that now faces a higher challenge. “Miura 1 has been like primary school, ESO and high school, and now we are at university,” explains Torres. “That is why we have developed Miura 5 so quickly, because we have gone one step ahead with many developments.” Technologies such as the stage power system, cryogenic protections or the welding techniques of the Miura 5 are a direct inheritance from its little brother. However, “university” brings new and more complicated subjects. The most obvious technological leap is in the Miura 5 engines. The five TEPREL-C of the first stage and the vacuum-optimized TEPREL-C of the second They are beasts of another categoryespecially due to the introduction of turbopumps. PLD has developed most of the critical components in-house, such as liquid oxygen and kerosene valves. Combustion chambers are manufactured by electroplating copper and nickel, turbopump housings are 3D printed, and high-precision rotating components are machined. The objective is to achieve a production rate that allows one engine to be manufactured every two weeks in the Elche warehouse. PLD Space passed a fundamental milestone on October 6 with the first static ignition of a fully integrated TEPREL-C Vac in its facilities at Teruel airport. With 75 kN of thrust, it is one of the most powerful vacuum engines ever powered by a private company in Europe. But the real muscle of the rocket will be in the five TEPREL-C engines responsible for takeoff. Each one has 190 kN of thrust, almost double than its competitors. When will we see the first roar of a Miura 5 with the TEPREL-C fully integrated? “In one quarter you should expect the long and qualification tests of both the first and second stages, and also the restart test of both engines,” Torres told Xataka. To validate each component, PLD Space has also deployed new infrastructure at the Teruel airport. The T3 bench has been the protagonist of the static and compression tests of the rocket structures. Valves and gas generators are tested on bench T6. Bench T7 will be used for qualification of first stage Teprel-C engines and second stage long duration ignitions. The T9 bench will be used to test the separation between the first and second stages. Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers across the Atlantic, PLD Space construction in French Guiana has begun. PLD has become the first New Space company to begin construction of its own launch base at the Guyana Space Center. “It is very likely that Miura 5 will be before Kourou’s works,” says Torres. The first structures of the launch pad They are being built in Spain. The rocket should arrive in South America in May. Advances in reuse since flight 1 Inspired by SpaceX, PLD does not conceive of a modern launcher without reuse. And their plan for the Miura 5 is to start collecting landing data from the first flight. If it achieves stage separation on its debut launch, the rocket will perform a maneuver boostback like that of the Falcon 9. “In flight one mission, in the test flight that we will do next year, we are going to try to re-enter the stage,” confirms Torres. After separation, the rocket will turn around and turn on its central engine for a few seconds to brake. “The booster will be ready to re-enter. We don’t want to miss the slightest opportunity to collect data.” And he talks about data because he does not expect to recover the rocket. “Evidently, it’s not going to happen the first time.” The first flight won’t even have a parachute. The main objective is to survive reentry from a hypersonic speed at Mach … Read more

Welcome to Loop Infinito, Xataka’s daily podcast about technology

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Infinite Loop changes house and focus. After six years as a daily podcast Applesphere focused on Apple, now move on to Xataka and expands its focus to technology in general. The format does not change: it is still a daily episode of analysis and technological context, published Monday to Friday at 7:00 a.m. (Spanish peninsular time). What changes is the thematic scope: Apple will continue to be common, but it will no longer be the only protagonist. What is Infinite Loop. It is a technological analysis podcast presented by yours truly, Javier Lacort. Each episode addresses a relevant topic: business decisions, product trends, technological geopolitics. The focus is on the context, not the news: what it means, why it matters, how it fits. Without hypewithout jeers, without noise. For six years I have applied that view to the Apple ecosystem. Now I apply it to the entire technology industry. The first two episodes of this stage: Why this change?. Technology doesn’t happen in silos. Apple does not exist in isolation from Google, Microsoft, chipmakers, Chinese regulations, or European Union decisions on AI. To really understand what is happening, a broader vision is needed. Loop Infinito had already explored topics beyond Apple. Now that movement is formalized: the podcast goes from Applesphere to Xataka and is completely open to any relevant technological topic. What changes for today’s listeners. Nothing in practice. He feed of the podcast does not change, there is no need to resubscribe. The format, duration, tone and structure remain identical. Just change the cover (from purple to black background) and the letterhead. Some technical adjustments will arrive in the next few days, but they will be invisible to the listener. What it means for Xataka readers. Loop Infinito is now part of the Xataka content ecosystem. A daily audio format that complements written analysis with a technology context piece each morning. If you are looking to follow current technological news clearly and without noise, Loop Infinito is available on all the usual podcast platforms: Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio In Xataka | I increasingly like technology that doesn’t want anything from me: the one that has a purpose and leaves you alone

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