Month: November 2025

with massive ‘spam’ and 2,000 euros in salary

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In the middle of 2025 the postal mail (Correos knows it well) is not usually news. However, in Belgium there are about 150,000 letterswith their corresponding envelopes, addresses and letterheads, which are giving a lot to talk. Logical if you take into account that the one who sends them is the Ministry of Defense and their recipients are thousands of 17-year-old Belgians whom the Government wants to encourage to join the army or, at least, to try a one-year voluntary ‘military’. In exchange he offers them a net salary of 2,000 euros per month. What has happened? That in Belgium, 17-year-olds have begun to receive a very special letter this week, an invitation from the Ministry of Defense in which they are encouraged to join the army and try a 12-month voluntary military service. It is not a surprise because the letter is the result of a public agreement adopted months agowhen the House of Representatives agreed to “raise awareness” among the country’s youth via postal mail, but still sent the envelopes has generated expectation. The person in charge of announcing it (via X) has been the Minister of Defense himself, Theo Franckenof New Flemish Alliancea nationalist and conservative formation. “Yesterday, 149,000 letters were sent. All 17-year-olds in the country are encouraged to join the armed forces in general and to go on voluntary military service for one year in particular. Let’s go!”, the leader tweeted on Saturday along with several photos in which the envelopes are seen stacked on tables, boxes and inside a bucket. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Are more details known? Yes. Some. For example, the recruits selected for this first voluntary ‘military’ will be eligible for a net salary of 2,000 euros monthly. It is also known that, although letters are being sent now, registration will not open until January 2026. Before then, the Ministry will hold online and in-person information sessions in the different provinces of the country. However, the new military will take a few more months to start. It won’t do it in principle until september. Another interesting fact is that 500 volunteer recruits will be accepted from the outset. between 18 and 25 yearsa figure that should be reached without problems if one takes into account that only a few months ago the Ministry of Defense acknowledged that it expects to receive some 3,500 applications for the first cam. Do you only want 500 recruits? Yes. And no. That will be the starting point, but the goal is to expand it little by little. After the first batch of 500 volunteers, the idea is that the number of places will be expanded to 1,000 in 2027 and continue to strengthen with a view to reach 7,000. Once the military begins, recruits will participate in a ten-week basic military training phase, which will be followed by another more specific stage. The purpose? That the new soldiers end up accessing the different branches of the army and are in charge of maintenance work. surveillance and support. What does Belgium want? Strengthen (and rejuvenate) your army. “It is about opening the mind to the military, about telling young people that defense is an option, even an opportunity. The objective is also to make young people aware that the world has changed and that there is a threat that weighs on our country. It is a social project,” explained Francken recently Le Soir. The truth is that to meet its objectives the Government needs to increase the pace of recruitment. As remember The Countryciting the Belgian press, today Defense enlists about 2,800 soldiers a year. The figure serves to maintain its volume of 24,600 troops (thousands of reservists are added to them), but it seems difficult to allow it to reach the tens of thousands of troops that it wants to add in the medium term. Belgian News Agency points out that in a decade officials intend to expand the Defense workforce to 34,500 soldiers12,800 reservists and 8,500 civilians. Does context matter? Yes. And quite a bit. Data from the Macrotrends platform show a considerable drop in the number of Belgian military personnel over the last 30 years, a decline especially acute in the early 1990s, just when Belgium decided to abolish compulsory military service. At that time the geopolitical scenario was marked by the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, today it is marked by the war in Ukraine, the break with Putin’s Russia, the threats of Donald Trump to leave NATO and an increase in military investment. In fact in spring The Belgian Government decided to increase its defense spending to reach NATO’s goal of dedicating 2% of GDP to the sector. Today the alliance is already looking beyond, to a mobilization of 5%. Is it a unique case? No. And perhaps that is the most revealing. That Belgium has decided to opt for a mandatory military service is part of a more global attempt to strengthen armies in the West. Not long ago there was another nation that moved in a similar direction: Germany. His Government has moved to recover military service, suspended in 2011, with a voluntary recruitment system. The possibility of a “recruitment lottery”. Neither Belgium nor Germany they are alone. In recent years, especially after the Russian annexation of Crimea, a good number of countries They have strengthened their recruitment systems or (at least) opened the debate on recovering their military: from Lithuania, Latvia and Romania to the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway or Denmark. Spain discard recover compulsory service (abolished in 2001), although there are other formats, such as military camps, which are arousing interest. Is there debate? Yes, the topic raises debate. And Belgium once again provides a good example. There the military has been received with criticismespecially from youth organizations that fear that “the promise of a high salary can exploit the precarious situation of young people and make militaristic discourse socially acceptable for a generation in … Read more

There are Google Pixel, Xiaomi phones and more at top prices

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When he arrives Black Fridaywhoever does not run, flies. The best offers that appear during this month do not last long, so it is advisable to be attentive from the moment an attractive promotion begins. Since yesterday, we have available AliExpress 11.11the best promo in this marketplace. During these hours there are already many offers that have flown, but, as with your discount coupons, we still have several interesting ones available. Discount minimum purchase coupon 1 coupon 2 3 euros 15 euros XATAKAES03 ESAE03 5 euros 29 euros XATAKAES05 ESAE05 12 euros 69 euros XATAKAES12 ESAE12 20 euros 129 euros XATAKAES20 ESAE20 40 euros 249 euros XATAKAES40 ESAE40 60 euros 369 euros XATAKAES60 ESAE60 75 euros 469 euros XATAKAES75 ESAE75 85 euros 549 euros XATAKAES03ES85 ESAE85 This promo will be available until November 19, but the exciting offers that are still available will almost certainly not last until then. If you are looking for a new mobile phone, below we are going to talk about some that present right now a great price for everything they offer. POCO X7 Pro by 214.83 euros with the coupon XATAKAES40, a very interesting phone now that is close to 200 euros. Realme GT7 Pro by 474.32 euros with the coupon XATAKAES75, one of the best devices on the market in terms of autonomy. Vivo X200 Pro by 562.02 euros with the coupon XATAKAES75, ideal if you are looking for a mobile phone with a great camera. Google Pixel 10 by 569.89 euros with the coupon XATAKAES75, the most compact version of the Google flagship. Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 by 121.89 euros with the coupon ESAE05, an interesting mobile for the tightest budgets. POCO X7 Pro We start this time with the POCO X7 Proone of those mobile phones that undoubtedly stands out for its enormous quality-price. It was already launched when it arrived in stores for over 360 euros, but now it stands out more in this sense thanks to the offer we have available within 11.11 on AliExpress: we can get one per 214.83 euros with the coupon XATAKAES40. Despite its price, it offers great performance thanks to its MediaTek Dimensity 8400 Ultra chip. In addition, it has a 6,000 mAh battery with 90 W fast charging, a dual rear camera system that delivers and a large 6.67-inch AMOLED screen with 1.5K resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Realme GT7 Pro We now jump to Realme GT7 Proa device with high-end performance and brutal autonomy, but that does not skyrocket in price if we take advantage of this offer. At launch, its RRP was somewhat high, but now we have a great opportunity if we want to go for it: we can take one home for free. 474.32 euros with the coupon XATAKAES75. This Realme device comes with a Snapdragon 8 Elite inside, one of those processors that we know more than enough about everything it can offer. Its 6.78-inch screen, in addition to being compatible with Dolby Vision, offers a peak brightness of 6,000 nits. All without forgetting its huge 6,500 mAh battery with 120 W fast charging. Realme GT 7 Pro (12+256 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Vivo X200 Pro We have another very interesting option with the Vivo X200 Pro. This device, which has only been on the market for a few months, offers great value for money right now if we take into account its performance, its hardware and its camera system. AliExpress has it available right now for 562.02 euros with the coupon XATAKAES75. Just seeing the phone from behind makes us realize that its camera system stands out. It is made up of three sensors that will offer us very good results in all types of scenarios, something that we will also achieve with its front camera. In addition, it has a 6,000 mAh battery (with 90 W fast charging), Dimensity 9400 processor and a 6.78-inch screen with very good features. Vivo X200 Pro (12+256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 We now continue with one of the new Google phones for 2025. The Google Pixel 10 It is an ideal phone for those who seek to have the best Android experience and prefer a compact device. AliExpress has it available right now for 569.89 euros with the coupon XATAKAES75. This is a great price if we take into account the device it is and the time it has been available. It has a good triple camera system, a 6.3-inch OLED screen with very good peak brightness and a battery that is close to 5,000 mAh with 30 W fast charging. Google Pixel 10 (12+128 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 We close this selection of mobile phones with the cheapest on the list, ideal for all those undemanding users who want to spend little on their new mobile. We refer to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 14a device that, if we take into account the price it has right now, offers great value for money: it costs 121.89 euros with the coupon ESAE05. Despite going up just a little above 120 euros, it is a device that comes with a 6.67-inch screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, ideal for having a fluid experience. It does not have the most powerful chip on the market, but it does have one, the MediaTek Helio G99-Ultra, which is enough for daily use on social networks or apps like WhatsApp. In addition, its battery is 5,500 mAh and it has a camera system that works well in situations with good lighting. Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 (8+256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Xataka, Google, Xiaomi, Vivo, … Read more

Regenerating tooth enamel is the holy grail of dentistry. And they have achieved it using a part of the sheep

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Cavities are a real nightmare for many because of the pain they cause and also because of the mandatory visit to the dentist, which for some It resembles hell itself. And it is no less a problem, since untreated tooth decay is one of the most common problems in the world, affecting some 2,000 million patients worldwide, such as point the Global Burden of Disease 2019. A serious problem. A cavity requires quick dental treatment, since it is impossible for them to cure on their own or with a simple pill. This is because mature tooth enamel, what we see of the tooth, is a hard tissue, without cells and, therefore, cannot regenerate itself once it is damaged by bacteria. In this way, if not treated, cavities progress, destroys the tooth and takes us straight to the dentist’s chair for a filling. This is where the dentist must remove all damaged enamel and replace it with some kind of putty that hardens to look like enamel, although it really isn’t. The objective. For years, science has been searching for the “holy grail” of dentistry: a method to regenerate enamel biologically. However, getting the enamel compound to grow in an aligned and orderly manner, as biology does, is a nearly impossible thing. The now. A team of researchers from King’s College London has achieved something radically new: using keratin, the protein found in our hair or even in the wool of sheep. With this project, the researchers, instead of betting on a “patch” as now, keratin self-assembles into a fibrous network and forms structures as if it were the perfect scaffold. This is where the magic happens. This keratin scaffold guides the ordered growth of the molecules that make up the tooth. The study discovered that the keratin structure itself is flexible and reorganizes itself during mineralization (changing from β-sheets to α-helices), actively orchestrating the formation of the new mineral layer. It has already been tested. To check If this new material worked, they took human teeth and artificially caused “white spot lesions,” which are the first visible stage of a cavity. With this base, the keratin film was applied and incubated in a mineralization solution, resulting in a comprehensive repair of the tooth with an adequate structure. The future. The most important thing is that this regeneration is not just aesthetic; It is functional. The study measured the mechanical properties of the repaired enamel and the results surpassed one of the current standard treatments: resin infiltration. Both in the hardness and mechanical properties tests, it was seen that the result was really positive when it came to being able to use the tooth as if it were the integral version. In this way, this study establishes a preclinical framework for using a platform based on keratin, a cheap, abundant and biocompatible material. The manufacturing process is simple and does not use solvents. This could represent a “paradigm shift” in the clinical management of early caries. Instead of just having to drill and fill them, the possibility of curing and regenerating them is offered to restore both aesthetics and mechanical properties. Images | Pierre Villedieu Ozkan Guner In Xataka | If you always brush your teeth after eating, science has something to tell you: you’re doing it wrong

Funko literally produced more dolls than it could afford. And now it faces the biggest crisis in its history

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It seemed that this moment would never come, but it did: the Funko Pop They are in crisis. In popular culture everything is cycles, and if now it is an inevitable topic in the conversation the “superhero fatigue“, after having lived through years in which it seemed that there was going to be nothing but superheroes in the cinema, now it is the turn of the Funko Pop. All after an overwhelming success, which has turned these dolls cut from the same pattern into inevitable passengers in any conversation about the pop panorama. The data. The company recognized in its last quarterly report that there are “substantial doubts” about its ability to continue operating for the next twelve months. Funko carries $241 million in total debt while maintaining just $39.2 million in cash reserves, a ratio that puts the company on the brink of the financial abyss. In the second quarter of 2025, Funko lost $41 million, and although the third quarter showed an improvement with losses of less than one million, these contrast with the $8.9 million profit in the same period just a year earlier, in 2024. The reasons. Sales fell from 292.8 million to 250.9 million year-on-year, a 14% drop that originated mainly in the US market. In 2023, the company destroyed between 30 and 36 million dollars in excess inventory, literally sending millions of figures to landfills because it was cheaper to eliminate them than to pay for storage. The crisis has multiple culprits: the Trump administration’s trade tariffs have hit toys with the nature of Funko hard: cheap items made abroad. But the fundamental problem is structural: overproduction. Funko has systematically and for years produced more than the market has been able to absorb, believing that demand would be infinite. This has led to the company’s debt growing from 182.8 million at the end of 2024 to the current 241 million, an increase of 32% in less than a year. The signs told us. There were different crises that made it clear that problems could come for Funko Pop. In 2021, the pandemic led to a boom and the company achieved record sales of one billion dollars, an increase of 58% over 2020. But like the entire economy that emerged during the pandemic, it was temporary. The post-pandemic drop (losses in the fourth quarter of 2022 of $47 million) should have served as a warning. Then, in 2023, the massive destruction of inventory confirmed that Funko Pop was generating material beyond its capabilities. 40 different Grogu dollsIf nothing woke us up before, it should have been a warning to sailors. And what about collectors? The company crisis is not just a problem of corporate mirage: it is the collapse of a dangerous aspect of collectingwhich is done by mere accumulation of assets that it is believed that it is going to revalue in the future. We have seen exclusive figures for the San Diego Comic-Con that They were resold for 200 or 500% above their original price (and the same phenomenon repeated at the recent Comic-Con in Malaga). And we have seen sets reach impossible prices (especially mythical isWilly Wonka quele in 2022 which reached $100,000). Now, second-hand sales platforms show Funkos that sold for $200 languish at $10. Even discontinued figures can be found at bargain prices, all due to overproduction, which made the “exclusive” or “limited release” label lose its value. There are those who compare what is happening with the phenomenon of Beanie Babies, highly coveted a couple of decades ago by collectors in the United States, and whose bubble ended up exploding. Plastic mountains. AND eye on environmental impactwhich goes beyond a few (many) collectors with shelves full of products that have lost their value. The aforementioned between 1.4 and 3 million vinyl figures that were sent to landfill They were only the first phase of mass destruction. The material Funkos are made of, PVC, can remain in landfills for centuries because it is not biodegradable. And hundreds of millions of units are produced every year, which in the United States are deposited in landfills perfectly legally (in countries like France, companies were prohibited from destroying unsold non-food merchandise, forcing them to donate or recycle). Header | Photo of Z Graphica in Unsplash

There were thousands of mysterious holes lined up in Peru. We didn’t know why until a drone saw them from the air

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In the arid hills of Pisco Valleyin the south of Peru, extends a monument as mysterious as it is precise: a strip of almost a kilometer and a half made up of some 5,200 perfectly aligned cavities, known like Mount Sierpe or the Band of Holes. Discovered in 1931 by the geologist Robert Shippee and Lieutenant George R. Johnson during one of the first aerial expeditions over the Andes, the site baffled generations of archaeologists. Until now. A mysterious landscape. For decades, theories were proposed ranging from its defensive use to fog capture or water storage, but none of them quite fit. Now, a new study published in Antiquity provides a convincing hypothesis from a point of view that no one had valued: from the air. In this way, Mount Sierpe would have functioned as a accounting and barter system on a large scale, a kind of “spreadsheet” of the pre-Hispanic Andes. The geometry that speaks. The international team of researchers, led by archaeologist Jacob Bongers from the University of Sydney, used drones to map the site with millimeter precision. Aerial images revealed an organized structure into about 60 blocks or sections, each with distinct alignments and regular number patterns. Some areas show rows of nine by eight holesothers alternate between groups of seven and eight. This internal order, absent any defensive or agricultural logic, suggests an administrative purpose. Sediment analyzes extracted microscopic remains corn, totora and willow (plants traditionally used to make baskets and mats), which suggests that the cavities were lined with plant fibers and were used to store goods, possibly in packages or braided baskets. The holes of Mount Sierpe From local barter to administration. Researchers believe that Monte Sierpe was born as a space for exchange between highland and coastal communities, an organized market for balance the flow of goods in the absence of currency. Products (for example, corn, coca or cotton) could be deposited in each cavity as a visible representation of the value of one good compared to another, allowing quantities to be compared in a public and transparent manner. Centuries later, with the expansion of inca empirethat system would have been reinterpreted and expanded as an accounting tool to manage the tribute of local populations. Each block of holes would have corresponded to a different community group, and the variations in number and arrangement would reflect the contribution levels or work shifts required by the Inca State. In essence, Monte Sierpe would have been a physical data recorda stone matrix destined to organize the unwritten economy of the Andean world. A carved khipu. The most revealing finding is the similarity between the structure of the site and the Inca khipusthe rope systems with knots used to record censuses, taxes or resources. One of the khipus found near Pisco presents around 80 groups of lacesa figure surprisingly close to the 60 segments of Monte Sierpe. This correspondence suggests that the Band of Holes could have been a three-dimensional khipua monumental version of that woven numerical language, designed to coordinate the flow of goods and work between communities. Unlike the tablets or inscriptions of other civilizations, the Andean peoples turned geography itself into a support for information. Code in the desert. If you also want, Monte Sierpe redefines our understanding of pre-columbian organizational intelligence. Without writing, without currency and in a hostile environment, Andean societies managed to develop a visual, modular and mathematical method to represent their economy. Each hole would have been a cell a great living recordmanaged collectively, perhaps accompanied by ceremonies or ritual exchanges. Thus, in its apparent geometric simplicity, this “spreadsheet” carved into the rock reveals a advanced economic systembased on reciprocity and communal control of resources. What for the first explorers were simple rows of holes now emerge as the physical testimony of a civilization that, centuries before European contact, had already found its own way of turning the landscape into memory. Image | JL Bongers In Xataka | We have found 76 megatraps in the Andes. It’s amazing we hadn’t done it before. In Xataka | A secret room has just revealed how they ruled in Peru 2,000 years ago: with the help of drugs

A new futuristic Chinese drone has just appeared on the scene. Beijing has shown it in a video without saying a single word

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China has decided to show its new stealth drone in the most direct way possible: iincluding it in an official video and letting the image speak for itself. The device appears rolling from a hangar and forming with two J-20, a gesture that does not require subtitles to capture attention. It is an austere presentation, almost silent, but full of intention. The movement that changes reading. The official video published by the chinese air force for its 76th anniversary, it combines historical images with recent scenes, following a format that the institution has used for years. It is a simple production piece, focused on showing some of the advances that they consider relevant at this stage. Within this general route, the final section incorporates material that until now had not been seen on official channels, among them the inclusion of the GJ-11. It is a drone that belongs to the category of flying wing stealth platforms, a design that China has been researching for years and that fits with long-distance attack missions and surveillance tasks. What is known comes from sightings at test bases and analysis of their configuration, since Beijing has not published technical specifications. Some analysts interpret that its size and architecture allow prolonged flights, but that information is not part of official statements. Is it already operational? The official video does not confirm that the GJ-11 is in service, but it does fit with the indications that point to a program in an advanced phase. In recent months there have appeared at least three units in Shigatse, an active site where China tests systems in real scenarios. The inclusion of the drone in institutional material adds another element to the chronology, although by itself it is not enough to affirm that its operational deployment is a reality. The key doubts. Despite the relevance of the video, the Chinese Air Force has not offered details about the capabilities, range, sensors or weapons of the GJ-11. There is also no data on its production rate or on possible contracts associated with the program. The footage confirms its form and activity, but does not clear up technical unknowns that allow us to understand its exact role within the operational structure. The absence of this information keeps the program partially in the shadows. The appearance of the GJ-11 in an official video does not dispel all doubts, but it does consolidate an idea: China wants the drone to be part of its public story without the need to communicate technical details. Between previous indications and recent material, the image that remains is that of an advanced program that advances at its own pace. Images | People’s Liberation Army Air Force (Weibo) In Xataka | They have just leaked Russia’s best kept secret: their “invisible” nuclear bomber has exploded into the air

that of a future conditioned by AI

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In a labor market as competitive as the current one, aggravated by the condition of the imminent arrival of AI, it is increasingly important refine the choice of a university degree that facilitates job placement with good salaries and stable work. According to the report ‘The employability of young people in Spain 2025’ from the Knowledge and Development Foundation (CYD), three careers stand out in terms of employability in the following four years after finishing their studies: Computer Science, Health and Engineering. Having a university degree is useful for finding a job. According the data According to the report, in the 2018-2019 academic year, 189,438 people graduated from Spanish universities. Four years later, 75.9% of those graduates are affiliated with Social Security. Of that percentage that has found a job, 72.4% do so with an indefinite contract with an average salary contribution base of 30,976 euros. 80% carry out their work full-time, which are clear indicators of stable employment with remuneration above average in Spain. Graduates from public and private universities maintain differences, with private universities showing more permanent contracts in the first years, although in the fourth year the public university slightly surpasses them in stability. The champion in job placement. Following the same trend that eol already pointed out 2024 employability report from the CYD Foundation, IT once again consolidates itself as the most solid career in terms of stability and quality of employment four years after its completion. With an affiliation rate of 89.4% and an impressive 93.8% of permanent contracts (96.9% of them full-time), it is presented as the career that presents the greatest guarantees of obtaining stable employment in 2025. With 82.8% employability and 90.5% permanent contracts, we find the branches of Engineering, Industry and Construction, thus demonstrating the high demand for technical professionals what companies demand. It is worth highlighting at this point the Medicine career, which, although it registers a higher percentage of job insertion than Computer Science (94%) and has a higher salary contribution base, shows serious precariousness in hiring. Only 2% of graduates have a permanent employment contract after four years in the labor market. Salaries above average. As we mentioned in the previous section, the average salary contribution for Medicine graduates is 41,839 euros per year. Far exceeding the 36,732 euros per year that the average IT graduates pay in their fourth year in the labor market or the 33,215 euros per year that the rest of the computer, industrial and construction engineering majors pay. The red lanterns. As already reflected by the 2024 study datathe careers in the Arts and Humanities branch are the ones that offer the fewest professional opportunities with an average affiliation rate of 63.5%, of which only 73% do so with an indefinite contract and with an average contribution base of 27,185 euros per year. Well below their counterparts in Medicine and IT. The Education and Services branches are not faring better, with insertion rates below 80%, salary bases below 30,000 euros and greater uncertainty in job stability. Present use. If we compare the data from the 2024 study with that of 2025, we find an increase of 10 percentage points in the number of graduates with a permanent contract. This indicates that the work that has been generated is of better quality, but it must also be observed in a context of overall employment growth throughout the labor market, not just in that of graduates with higher education. That is to say, not only have the number of graduates with indefinite contracts increased, but, according to data From the EPA for the third quarter of 2025, full-time employment as a whole has increased by 314,500 people and partial employment has decreased by 196,100 people. Future employment. Despite the good data that graduates in Computer Science and Engineering have been presenting, the progressive arrival of AI to the labor market places them as the professions more exposed to automation. This means that, if a student begins one of these careers now, in eight years (four years of undergraduate plus the four years of job placement proposed by the study), the scenario could be totally different. In fact, Engineering is the one that is most accusing layoffs in big technology in the United States, the market in which AI is being deployed with greater intensity. At the opposite pole, the progressive aging of the population will further increase demand of professionals from field of health and serviceschanging the balances of the labor market and its salaries. In Xataka | For thousands of Spanish students, the challenge is not to pass the PAU and access university: it is to find a job of their own Image | Flickr (University of Seville)

Barcelona is tired of cars not respecting the bus lane. So it’s installing AI cameras on its buses

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2,500 violations in one month. That is, Barcelona City Council could have fined more than 80 drivers every day. It has not done so because, at the moment, the project is in the testing phase, but it has served the City Council to confirm its suspicions: the invasion of the city’s bus lanes is a constant and a real problem. To confirm this, Barcelona City Council has launched a pilot test equipping four buses with cameras enhanced with artificial intelligence. They are units of lines H12, which crosses the city on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, and D20, which in this case covers the entire route of Avinguda del Paral-lel and a nearby section around the port. The project was already presented last February but it wasn’t until summer when we knew all the results. Four buses and 2,500 violations The data published suggests that something is not working in the Catalan city. They collect in Hybrids and Electrics that just four units collected more than 2,500 violations in just one month. These infractions have not been sanctioned because, as we said, it was a pilot project that will serve to define new strategies and look for solutions. The truth is that it is obvious that the Barcelona transport company has to deal daily with all types of vehicles that illegally occupy a space that should serve to prioritize the passage of public transport. To record these infractions, the cameras recorded the movement and position of the vehicles as the bus moved forward. They specified in the presentation of the project that cameras have not been used in the study to identify people or license plates. The software, they say, only counted if there was an object blocking the road and is capable of discerning illegal occupations, such as a parking lot, from those permitted (taxis, right turns…). With the data they want to propose solutions among which, of course, the possibility of turning buses into real moving radars has not been mentioned. Although buses have highlighted the problem, the truth is that Barcelona already has the so-called “multacar”cars with cameras that record violations of the bus lane and that, these do, issue penalties with the violations found in their path. And the city council also has similar vehicles that They control regulated parking areasinstantly checking if a car has exceeded the allowed time and, in that case, fining it. The big difference is that installing this system on the buses themselves would allow the fleet to become an exercise in constant surveillance throughout the service. And taking into account the data recorded, the volume of sanctions would be expected to be very high in that case. Photo | TMB In Xataka | FlixBus wants to operate international bus lines in Spain. He has encountered two enemies: Alsa and Avanza

has launched a modern autonomous minibus

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Something is changing in Mercamadridand it’s not just the pace of trucks that enter and leave from the first hour. The venue has taken another step towards the future with the entry into the scene of a minibus capable of moving without depending on the direct control of a driver. The image may surprise even those who know this place well, an enclave that operates day and night. The City Council has chosen this space to show how it wants to start testing technologies that aim to become everyday in the coming years. Where the experiment really begins. The new Smart Urban Space turns Mercamadrid into a place to measure, with real data, how certain technologies work in urban management. The City Council has activated a pilot here included in the European project Mobilities for EUwhich uses delimited enclosures to evaluate its impact in operational situations. In this case, mobility, efficiency and safety indicators are analyzed that will allow us to know if the solutions applied can be replicated and later scaled to other areas of the city. Who is behind the minibus. The official note from the City Council does not specify the manufacturer of the vehicle used in the pilot, but the images released by the project partners and the material provided by Somauto They point out that it is the e-CENTERa model from the Turkish company Otokar. It is an electric minibus designed to operate in urban environments and has a version with level 4 autonomous driving capabilities. The e-CENTRO is prepared to move autonomously thanks to a system that combines perception of the environment, 360-degree vision and continuous analysis of the road. This equipment allows the vehicle to plan its route and react to the elements it encounters in a limited and monitored space. In the shared material, a person can be seen in the front seat, but the official communication has not specified their function. Vehicle numbers. The e-CENTRO is a 6.6 meter electric minibus that incorporates 110 kWh NMC Li-ion batteries installed in the floor, an arrangement that frees up interior space and allows a capacity of up to 32 passengers. Its DANA-TM4 engine delivers 100 kW (peak 200 kW) and 1,200 Nm for urban routes. According to the manufacturersupports a full recharge in 1.5 hours and uses a regenerative braking system that recovers up to 25% of energy in urban circulation. The concept behind the experiment The City Council defines these spaces as areas where physical infrastructure is combined with sensors, actuators and telecommunications systems connected to the City Operating System. Its function is to monitor in real time what is happening in the environment and generate data that allows urban management to be adjusted more precisely. The project also includes a Smart City Interpretation Center, designed to show citizens how these technologies work. As we say, the pilot is part of Mobilities for EU, a consortium led by Madrid and Dresden, the German city that co-directs the project and acts as a strategic partner in its coordination. This group brings together 29 partners from nine countries and extends its tests to cities such as Espoo, Gdansk, Ioánnina, Sarajevo and Trencin. It involves transport operators, technology companies and universities that collaborate at different levels of the project. Among the members are Alsa, PreZero, MásOrange, Ferrovial, SAP, Volkswagen, T-Systems and the Polytechnic Universities of Madrid and Dresden, along with other entities linked to the digital transition and sustainable mobility. The roadmap and the money at stake. The City Council has framed this pilot within its Digital Transformation Strategy, a plan that reserves more than 60 million euros for different projects over the next five years. These include the contract for smart urban spaces, currently in the bidding phase, with a budget of 7.5 million and an execution period of 48 months. Images | ALSA | In Xataka | A fear begins to grow in some European countries: that China will deactivate its electric buses remotely

What you have is a very serious income problem.

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China has established itself as one of the driving forces of artificial intelligence, both in adoption and integration of new functions, but the economic balance tells a different story. Its ecosystem grows outward, not upward: it accumulates use, but not income. This divergence between scale and return, increasingly visible in the compared data, explains why the main challenge for Chinese AI is not how much it invests, but how much it manages to earn. The figures and trends we use come from sources that work with updated data series: Stanford University’s global investment tracker and the Tech Buzz China report with Unique Researchwhich examines the performance of Chinese products and companies during 2024 and 2025. Their combination allows us to understand not only how much China is progressing in AI, but also how it is positioned against other markets. The contrast between powers. Stanford University figures for 2024 place global corporate investment in AI at $252.3 billion, in a context of growing demand for these technologies. The United States led with 109.1 billion in private investment, a volume almost twelve times greater than that of China, which stood at 9.3 billion. The data illustrates the magnitude of the gap and the determining weight that American private financing has in the development of AI on an international scale. AI business metrics. To understand the performance of any AI application, it is worth looking at the ARR. This metric reflects the recurring income that a company obtains in a year, a key indicator to evaluate the solidity of its economic model. Unique Research places only four Chinese firms among the 100 private AI companies with the highest ARR: glory reaches 173 million dollars, PLAUD 125 million, ByteDance 116 million and Zuoyebang 33 million. Together they add up to 447 million dollars, 1.23% of the total list, which amounts to 36.4 billion. Compared to that figure, American companies concentrate practically all of the recurring income, which marks a clear difference in scale and commercial maturity. Glority and the piece that fits the context. The name Glority may not sound familiar to you, and that’s completely normal. Most likely, you have ever seen PictureThisits plant identification application that has become the reference in its category. The company was born in 2009 and began working with computer vision models long before the recent rise of AI after 2022. Its trajectory helps to understand how some Chinese companies have grown by combining everyday utility and a technical base developed long in advance. PLAUD and its double anchor: Shenzhen and the United States. Although it appears on the Unique Research list within the Chinese group, Its founder assures that PLAUD operates as a US company. Xu opened an office in San Francisco in 2023, works from there with part of the team and registered the company in Delaware, storing data in Amazon centers in the United States. He himself summarizes its structure like this: “we have the best talent in Shenzhen for hardware design and the best engineers in San Francisco for AI development.” A huge user base. The report figures at 4.78 billion the aggregate monthly active users of the top 100 AI companies as of August 2025. Of these, about 2.2 billion belong to Chinese platforms, around 46% of the total. Baidu, ByteDance, DeepSeekMeitu and Zuoyebang top that list thanks to their presence on multiple daily services. The breadth of its portfolios and continuous integration of AI tools allow its reach to be significantly greater than other markets. Predominance of the visual. In China, many of the most widely used AI applications revolve around the creation and editing of content, from video to photography, including retouching and digital makeup tools. This orientation responds to deeply rooted habits in the country. The result is a powerful visual ecosystem, although less present in business or productivity services, which usually provide more stable income. Where opportunities are concentrated outside China. The report indicates that, on an international scale, the growth of AI is divided into categories linked to daily work: support, development, infrastructure, productivity and improved search. This group includes products developed outside of China, such as ChatGPT, Cursor, Suno either Perplexitywhich are integrated into professional processes where continuity and recurring payment are common. Faced with this diversity, the visual specialization of the Chinese ecosystem occupies a more limited space. An obvious commercial paradox. The Chinese AI ecosystem is built on a huge domestic market, and most companies develop their products with that audience in mind. The report identifies hundreds of startups focused primarily on local users, a strategy that takes advantage of both the country’s scale and its pace of technological adoption. However, when the products that generate the most recurring income are analyzed, those that invoice in international markets predominate. Of the 23 Chinese products present in the top 100 by ARR, 19 earn their main income outside of China. The conclusion is clear: use is concentrated within the country, but the capacity for sustained monetization continues to come from abroad. Achilles heel. By relying on foreign markets to sustain their recurring revenues, Chinese AI companies operate under a higher level of uncertainty than their global competitors. Restrictions associated with “national security,” app bans, and trade measures between countries have become more common, and each of them can limit your international presence. If any of these barriers affected products that are currently monetized abroad, the drop in income would be difficult to avoid. The picture left by the figures is clear: China has built a broad ecosystem, although its income structure continues to depend enormously on foreign sources. The question is no longer how much you invest, but how you convert that effort into lasting results inside and outside the country. The challenge is to consolidate a model that can be sustained beyond reach and that resists an international environment marked by tensions and changing regulations. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 In Xataka | DeepSeek has broken its silence after months without appearing: its … Read more

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