Month: November 2025

30,000 lightning strikes, orange warnings and severe events: don’t call it ‘squall line’, call it ‘new normal’

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During the early morning and early hours of this Wednesday, November 5, the arrival of a cold front to the Peninsula has caused a very active squall line throughout the southwest. And, in this case, saying “very active” is not an exaggeration: the images that they come to us from Portugal they are incredible and at the moment, he is heading to Extremadura and Western Andalusia. The interesting thing is that we no longer talk about meteorological information, we begin to enter the field of Okay, but what is a squall line? This is an organized storm system that, often ahead of a cold front, forms in a line. Due to its structure, this phenomenon causes strong and destructive winds, torrential rains, hail and lightning. In addition, they are characterized by advancing very quickly and being able to cause significant damage. In Xataka The "tropicalization" of the atmosphere is going to change Spain and not exactly for the better And so it has been. Portugal’s Civil Protection recorded more than 150 nighttime incidents and, as the Portuguese press explainedit is not just the problems caused by the rain and wind; is that tens of thousands of electric shocks have been recorded. About 30,000 in a few hours. Given this, AEMET activated orange noticesin Galicia, Extremadura and Andalusia. In addition, 122 Extremadura is prepared for rains of 5–20 l/m² in very short periods of time. It’s not a lot of water, but in these circumstances it can cause a lot of problems. Aren’t we talking about autumn showers? No, we are not talking about loose showers: it is an organized convection capable of producing severe gusts, hail and wet blowouts. They are formations that trigger the risk on urban areas, electrical networks and mobility. It’s another episode of “This is not just an Atlantic storm” that has been with us for weeks now. It is true that November is a typical month for hallways in the southwest; but the data suggests that we are facing something more. {“videoId”:”x89b35l”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”PROFESSIONAL STORM CHASERS_ this is their daily life”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”400″} What is really happening? In technical terms, we are talking about the arrival of an Atlantic trough and cold front with sufficient shear to organize convection and force a quasi-linear system. Ambient humidity does the rest and that is the key. As we said a few days agothat area of ​​the peninsula is prone to low convergences that, with adequate shear and sufficient humidity,They organize convectively very easily. As connections with the Gulf of Mexico (the famous ‘rivers of moisture’) become more common and, with them, the available humidity grows: these systems will become more frequent and more intense. It is the same as occurs in the Mediterranean with DANAs: It doesn’t matter if climate change causes more or not, the amount of “available fuel” makes any spark turn into a fire. Meteorologically speaking, of course. Image | Carlos Virazón (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news 30,000 lightning strikes, orange warnings and severe events: don’t call it ‘squall line’, call it ‘new normal’ was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

swapping hordes of tourists for undersea cables

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If the capitals of the countries are the cornerstone on which their economies revolve, in Portugal there is not much debate, although there is a certain amount of boredom. Years ago, Lisbon set out to be a tourist capital, and this summer it has been confirmed that it has become the biggest tourist hell of Europe with the price of housing shot while the urban center lost a good part of its population. But Portugal has a simple but difficult plan to execute: exchange submarine cables for tourists. The new horizon. Sinesa seemingly modest coastal municipality, is once again at the center of Portugal’s strategic ambitions. After decades in which tourism became the country’s main economic engine (representing almost a quarter of GDP) the Portuguese government is now seeking to rebalance its production model attracted by an opportunity that mixes geography and technology. As? Sines is the point where they land and take off submarine cables that connect Europe with America and Africaand that will soon also link with the United States through of one line from Google to South Carolina. Portugal as a data center. This combination of global connectivity, available space and energy infrastructure has promoted the development of projects such as a mega data center 8.5 billion eurosa battery factory of 2,000 million and the expansion of the deep-sea port managed by the Port Authority of Singapore, investments equivalent to 4.6% of GDP of the country that could generate more than 5,000 jobs. For Lisbon, Sines is not an experiment, but the link that could transform the Portuguese economy into an Atlantic logistics and technological platform. The Google cable that will connect the US with Portugal and the rest of Europe Ambitions interrupted. However, the municipality carries a legacy of promises that were not kept. In the 70s, the authoritarian regime tried to convert it in the industrial hub of the country, building a commercial port, a refinery and an energy plant with the expectation of processing fuels from the Portuguese colonial empire. After the Revolution of 1974 and the loss of the colonies, the project deflated: the port was underutilized, the refinery survived with difficulty and the power plant ended closing in 2021 due to the cheaper renewable energy. The region grew up expecting a boom that never materialized and many of the newcomers ended up leaving. That memory weighs heavily today on the minds of its inhabitants, who observe this new wave of investments with a mixture of excitement and caution. Pressure. Bloomberg counted that the arrival of thousands of workers linked to the construction of new data centers, factories and port expansions is straining the urban fabric of a city that remains small and with limited services. The housing supply is insufficient, some workers sleep in cars and residential projects are advancing slowly due to lack of financing. Basic services (schools, health centers, municipal infrastructure) show signs of saturation. This mismatch between investment and life support fuels the fundamental doubt: whether Sines This time it will be a city that retains wealth or if, as in the past, the activity will arrive, the works will be completed and the value generated will once again go to other regions and companies. Start Sines Campus Logistics hub. As we said, the port of sines occupies a strategic position between Europe, Africa and America, and its expansion seeks to go from being a transshipment point between ships to becoming a port that introduces goods towards the interior of the peninsula. But this transition requires rapid connections with Spain and central Europe, and the road corridor to the border It is incomplete and does not exist a passenger rail connection, while freight transport is slow. Solution? The government is studying improvements that would cut up to three hours logistics routes to Spain, which would allow it to compete with ports such as Valencia or Algeciras. Transport infrastructure is therefore the real turning point: without it, Sines will remain a peripheral port, but with it, it could become one of the central pieces of European Atlantic trade. Technology, energy and capital. The new projects in Sines are marked by international investment. The data center Start Campus operates with renewable energy and has secured 1.2 gigawatts (a capacity comparable to Lisbon’s consumption) by reusing cooling systems from the old thermal power plant using seawater. The CALB battery plant, partially controlled by Chinese capital, will receive up to 350 million euros in public support and aims to produce batteries for 200,000 electric vehicles per year by 2028. The combination of available clean energy, seawater for cooling, physical space and direct access to submarine cables makes Sines a privileged node in a world where digital infrastructure weighs as much as industrial infrastructure. The great opportunity. For many inhabitants, this transformation may be the opportunity that never camebut for others, it is a new cycle in which large companies will take center stage and the local community will be left out. The difference between one result and another will depend on three levers: accessible housing, infrastructure that connects Sines with the rest of the country and the State’s ability to capture and redistribute the value generated. Thus, what is at stake is not only the future of a coastal citybut the Portuguese economic model as a whole: if the municipality goes from being a tourist landscape and a transit port to becoming a European technological and logistical node, the country could leave behind decades of dependence on tourism as an economic monoculture On the other hand, if he doesn’t, Sines will once again be a symbol of unfulfilled promises. Image | Kalboz, MaritimeGoogle In Xataka | Years ago, Lisbon set out to be a tourist capital. Now it has become the biggest tourist hell in Europe In Xataka | If the question is “can a country sustain itself with renewable energy alone”, the answer is right here: Portugal

There are green, orange and even purple USB ports. The color rule that indicates your generation is extinct

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There was a time when everything was easier. If the USB port was white, it was slow; if it was black, it was standard; and if it was blue, it was the fastest. That rule that helped us Easily identify USB-A generations It’s gone. The arrival of new standards, charging functions and brand marketing has meant that today we find a wide range of green, orange and purple ports that no longer mean much. Image: StorageReview The original color code. The current chaos, as we explain in our guide to the USB standardit was not planned. The USB-IF organization tried to standardize it: white corresponds to USB 1.x, black for USB 2.0 (480 Mbps), and blue (or turquoise) for fast USB 3.0 (5 Gbps). First confusion. That is a product of the charging ports: the first problem came when colors began to be used to indicate power functions, not just data transmission. This is how the yellow, orange or red ports arrived. These usually indicate an “Always on” or “Sleep & Charge” function, which means that the port continues to provide power even when the computer is turned off or in sleep. More speed, more colors. To differentiate USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) and 3.2 (20 Gbps), the standard suggested the color turquoise blue, or failing that, red. Here the system began to leak. And the final blow came from marketing. A purple USB cable for a Huawei device indicates that it supports SuperCharge, its fast charging technology. Image: Reddit The rule became extinct completely when the brands decided use colors as corporate identity. The most famous case is that of Razer, which dyes its ports a characteristic lime green. Likewise, if you see a purple port, it’s probably from Huawei. The Chinese manufacturer uses them to identify its devices compatible with SuperCharge (its fast charging system), although technically it is still a USB 3.1 port. Chaos also in names. If there is already a mess with the colors, there is also a mess with the names: USB-IF itself has contributed by renaming the standards. USB 3.0 was renamed “USB 3.1 Gen 1” and is now “USB 3.2 Gen 1.” In parallel, USB 3.1 is now “USB 3.2 Gen 2”. This makes it almost impossible for a user to know what they are buying without looking at the fine print, a mess that the Wi-Fi Alliance solved much more elegantly. with standards such as Wi-Fi 5, 6 or the most recent Wi-Fi 7. The real culprit: USB-C. The final nail in the color coding coffin is the USB-C connector. It’s just a reversible connector, but what’s inside is chaos: the same USB-C port can be a slow USB 2.0, a USB 3.2 or a very fast Thunderbolt 4. The only way to differentiate them is to look for the lightning bolt logo that characterized Apple. Or read the device’s spec sheet because color, unfortunately, no longer means anything. Image | Xataka In Xataka | How to prepare a USB to use it on your mobile phone, tablet or Smart TV and expand its memory

What are they, what can you do in them and what are they for?

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Let’s explain to you what are ChatGPT projectsa function with which to create work environments with the artificial intelligence. This is one of the advanced options available in the paid versions of ChatGPT from the Go subscription. We are going to start this article by explaining what exactly ChatGPT projects are, so that you can differentiate them from conventional chats. Then, we’ll go on to tell you what you can do with it, and we’ll finish with some examples of things you can do with them. What are projects in ChatGPT The projects on ChatGPT are a personal and persistent work environment within artificial intelligence itself. With them you will be able to organize, save and develop complex or long-term work, without ChatGPT forgetting things you have done in them in the past. In normal chats with AI, the conversations are more ephemeral or thematic, you talk to something and at most ChatGPT remembers what you have been saying in that chat, but if you open a new one, almost everything may be lost. While, The projects are like a kind of separate memorywhere ChatGPT will always remember what you have been doing and saying in them, and will always maintain all the context, data or instructions. Another advantage of these projects is that they are also like a kind of portfolio, and you can upload your own files so that ChatGPT uses them when generating responses. In fact, you can make their responses based solely on internal memories. What you can do within a project Within a project you can create and edit fileswhether code or written documents. You can also upload your own external files for AI analysis or transformation. You can then interact with ChatGPT to base its responses on these files. In a project you can also do other things like run python code, or even generate graphs, process data or convert file formats that you have inside. You can also connect automatic tools and flows, such as recurring queries, reports, or scheduled tasks. You can also define custom instructions for the projectso that everything is focused on specific goals. For example, you can make it just to make weekly sales reports from the files you give them. And in these projects you can also use specific contextual memory for what you do in them. This means that ChatGPT will remember the decisions and instructions you have made within that project, and will continue to remember them within it no matter how many times you ask it other questions, even similar ones, in conventional chats with AI. In fact, in the project configuration you can decide whether to access external chat memory and that the memory of these chats access the project, or close the memory to only use the project memoryso that you only access the projects’ memory from them, inside you cannot access the external one, and from outside you cannot access the projects’ memory. What are these projects for? ChatGPT projects serve to have an independent workspace where you can work in a more structured and persistent way. Its main advantage is that helps you maintain long-term contextremembering the files and settings you upload, as well as purposes or instructions. You don’t have to upload and configure it every time like in normal chats. Projects are like folders, where you can upload and organize multiple fileswhich can be PDF, CSV, DOCX, code, etc. Then, within this same ChatGPT project can analyze and cross-reference information of these uploaded files, or directly modify them. But the most important thing beyond these things is that You can use the bases you upload to develop content or create products. You can write anything from a book to a technical article by asking questions about the sources you have manually uploaded, but also to develop apps, data analysis, create guides or courses, etc. For example, you can upload several documents with data that act as sources. Then you ask ChatGPT to summarize, classify the content or draft an article for you. Then, you can polish everything and even create a final PDF. But the most important thing about this is be able to pick up the project where you left off whenever you want. If you do these things in a normal chat, ChatGPT may later lose context due to other chats you’ve opened, or because the information crosses paths with other conversations. But in a project everything stays within the package, It’s like a separate room. In Xataka Basics | The best prompts to save hours of work and do your tasks with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or other artificial intelligence

AI data centers consume too much energy. Google’s ‘moonshot’ plan is to take them to space

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Training models like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude requires more and more electricity and water, to the point that the energy consumption of AI threatens to exceed that of entire countries. Data centers have become real resource sinks. According to estimates by the International Energy Agencythe electrical expenditure of data centers could double before 2030, driven by the explosion of generative AI. Faced with this perspective, technology giants are desperately looking for alternatives. And Google believes it has found something that seems straight out of science fiction: sending its artificial intelligence chips into space. Conquering space. The company Project Suncatcher has been revealedan ambitious experiment that sounds like science fiction: placing its TPUs—the chips that power its artificial intelligence—on satellites powered by solar energy. The chosen orbit, sun-synchronous, guarantees almost constant light. In theory, these panels could work 24 hours a day and be up to eight times more efficient than the ones we have on Earth. Google plans to test its technology with two prototype satellites before 2027, in a joint mission with the Planet company. The objective will be to check if its chips and communication systems can survive the space environment and, above all, if it is feasible to perform AI calculations in orbit. The engineering behind the idea. Although it sounds like science fiction, the project has solid scientific bases. Google proposes to build constellations of small satellites—dozens or even hundreds—that orbit in compact formation at an altitude of about 650 kilometers. Each one would have chips on board Trillium TPU connected to each other by laser optical links. Such light beams would allow satellites to “talk” to each other at speeds of up to tens of terabits per second. It is an essential capability to process AI tasks in a distributed manner, as a terrestrial data center would do. The technical challenge is enormous: at these distances, the optical signal weakens quickly. To compensate, the satellites would have to fly just a few hundred meters apart. According to Google’s own studyKeeping them so close will require precise maneuvering, but calculations suggest that small orbit adjustments would be enough to keep the formation stable. In addition, engineers have already tested the radiation resistance of their chips. In an experiment with a 67 MeV proton beam, Trillium TPUs safely withstood a dose three times higher than they would receive during a five-year mission in low orbit. “They are surprisingly robust for space applications,” the company concludes in its preliminary report. The great challenge: making it profitable. Beyond the technical problems, the economic challenge is what is in focus. According to calculations cited by Guardian and Ars Technicaif the launch price falls below $200 per kilogram by the mid-2030s, an orbital data center could be economically comparable to a terrestrial one. The calculation is made in energy cost per kilowatt per year. “Our analysis shows that space data centers are not limited by physics or insurmountable economic barriers,” says the Google team. In space, solar energy is practically unlimited. A panel can perform up to eight times more than on the Earth’s surface and generate almost continuous electricity. That would eliminate the need for huge batteries or water-based cooling systems, one of the biggest environmental problems in today’s data centers. However, not everything shines in a vacuum. As The Guardian recallseach launch emits hundreds of tons of CO₂, and astronomers warn that the growing number of satellites “is like looking at the universe through a windshield full of insects.” Furthermore, flying such compact constellations increases the risk of collisions and space debris, an already worrying threat in low orbit. A race to conquer the sky. Google’s announcement comes in the midst of a fever for space data centers. It is not the only company looking up. Elon Musk recently assured that SpaceX plans to scale its Starlink satellite network—already with more than 10,000 units—to create its own data centers in orbit. “It will be enough to scale the Starlink V3 satellites, which have high-speed laser links. SpaceX is going to do it,” wrote Musk in X. For his part, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, predicted during the Italian Tech Week that we will see “giant AI training clusters” in space in the next 10 to 20 years. In his vision, these centers would be more efficient and sustainable than terrestrial ones: “We will take advantage of solar energy 24 hours a day, without clouds or night cycles.” Another unexpected actor is Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, who bought the rocket company Relativity Space precisely to move in that direction. “Data centers will require tens of additional gigawatts in a few years. Taking them off the Earth may be a necessity, not an option,” Schmidt warned in a hearing before the US Congress. And Nvidia, the AI ​​chip giant, also wants to try his luck: The startup Starcloud, backed by its Inception program, will launch the first H100 GPU into space this month to test a small orbital cluster. Their ultimate goal: a 5-gigawatt data center orbiting the Earth. The new battlefield. The Google project is still in the research phase. There are no prototypes in orbit and no guarantees that there will be any soon. But the mere fact that a company of such caliber has published orbital models, radiation calculations and optical communication tests shows that the concept has already moved from the realm of speculation to that of applied engineering. The project inherits the philosophy of others moonshots of the company —like Waymo’s self-driving cars either quantum computers—: explore impossible ideas until they stop being impossible. The future of computing may not be underground or in huge industrial warehouses, but in swarms of satellites shining in the permanent sun of space. Image | Google Xataka | While Silicon Valley seeks electricity, China subsidizes it: this is how it wants to win the AI ​​war

The Earth is headed for a new ice age, according to a Science study. And it is precisely because of global warming

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Science is largely in agreement when it suggests that the Earth’s temperature it increases more and moreand logic could lead us to think that the world is going to become in a real desert like the one in Almería. But to everyone’s surprise, what can happen is a great ice agethat is, everything ends up covered in ice. And although it may seem illogical, science wanted to give light about this topic. They have been new models from the University of Bremen and the University of California Riverside, published in Sciencewho have located right there one of the great unexpected dangers of terrestrial geochemistry: under certain conditions, excess heat can activate “biological accelerators” that then cool the planet beyond its original state. Even to reach an ice age. Beyond the rocks. Something that may be unknown to many is that the Earth has a temperature control system like the thermostat in our home. The most accepted was regulation by the slow wear of silicate rocks. However, geological records show episodes in which this natural “thermostat” fails: the Earth freezes from pole to pole, as during the Precambrian glaciations. What is missing from the equation? The new study points to the decisive influence of marine biology and nutrient cycles, especially phosphorus and oxygen. An unexpected loop. When CO₂ emissions and global temperatures rise, the arrival of phosphorus into the oceans also increases, fertilizing the proliferation of algae. These remove CO₂ thanks to photosynthesis in the water, and when they die, they transport that carbon to marine sediments, where it can be trapped for millions of years. As if it were a dumping ground for carbon dioxide on the seabed.. But the key to the loop is oxygen: the explosion of algal productivity consumes the oxygen in the water, meaning that almost no living being can live here. Under these conditions, phosphorus stops being buried and instead of being eliminated it is recycled from the sediment. This fuels new “super blooms” and closes a vicious cycle: ‘More nutrients → more algae → less oxygen → more nutrient recycling → extreme cooling’. The result is that the biological thermostat goes crazy, sequestering carbon at a frenetic pace that the rocks’ slow thermostat cannot compensate for. The new model. The new model integrate these quick feedbacksadding sedimentary chemistry, the phosphorus cycle and the oxygenation state to the traditional silicate weathering models. Surprisingly, when predicting the effect of the “great human experiment” of releasing CO₂, he finds that the system does not always smoothly return to the previous statebut it can overcompensate and take the planet to colder times, in deep glaciations, for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years.​​ This only occurs when the atmosphere is less rich in oxygen, something common in Earth’s past, which may explain why ice ages coincide with intermediate periods of planetary oxygenation. Today, that same loop would make the “reward” much smoother, although there would still be the risk of long-term cooldown. If we continue burning fossils. In this way, other scientific studies already suggest that large inputs of phosphorus, whether due to massive mining or increased weathering induced by climate change, can increase the risk of anoxia and abrupt cooling events, although this scenario would take centuries or millennia to develop. This is why the acceleration of the phosphorus cycle together with the increase in CO₂ concentrations is conditioning us to the climate changes that we will see in a few million years. And although the Earth system may have the mission of stabilizing, the reality is that this system cannot always be trusted. Images | Denise Schuld In Xataka | We have just identified the oldest glaciers in the world. Where: under South Africa’s big gold mines

Cover letters were a treasure for recruiters, until AI turned them into wet paper

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AI promised to speed up the processes of staff recruitmentbut after a period of intensive use of AI by both companies and candidates, it has been shown that It’s more broken than ever. Further proof of this degradation are cover letters which, although before the arrival of AI models were a clear differentiating factor, are currently worthless, as a study by Princeton University and Dartmouth College has shown. Cover letters made a difference. The study ‘Making Talk Cheap: generative AI and Labor Market Signaling‘ carried out by Princeton researchers analyzed more than 2.7 million proposals on the Freelancer.com platform before and after the implementation of the LLM text generation models to create these cover letters. Their conclusion is that, before using AI, attach a well-written and to show interest and knowledge of the position and the company to which one was applying, considerably increased the hiring options because the recruiters perceived that this was a very capable candidate. Now they are wet paper. However, as the use of AI tools to generate these cover letters has spread, the appreciation of quality has improved so that candidates in the top 20% of writing skills were 19% less likely to be hired, while those in the lowest 20% increased their chances by 14%. In other words, employers stopped associating a well-written letter with a competent candidate. This has meant that the differentiating factor that a well-written cover letter previously provided has disappeared, reducing the curve of possibilities between the best-trained candidates and those who are not so well-trained. Letters submitted before the LLM models had a better chance of being hired than those post-LLM AI makes hiring more difficult. The effect observed in cover letters has been extended to other areas of personnel selection, since AI distorts real capabilities of the candidates. It is true that its use increases the perception of quality of the candidates, but as the average quality of the group increased, companies began to trust less in the information provided by the applications. He study ‘Does AI devalue communication? Theory and evidence of entrepreneurship and contracting at a global level’ carried out by researchers at Columbia University and Yeshiva, found a similar pattern in selection and entrepreneurship processes: access to AI reduced the accuracy with which recruiters identified the best profiles to fill a given vacancy by between 4% and 9%. If everything is good, nothing is good. For decades, a letter well tailored to the offer served as proof of interest and commitment on the part of candidates. In labor economics, this is known as “signalling”: the candidate conveys their effort through the quality of the text. Generative models have thrown that signal to the ground. The meta-analysis ‘The role of artificial intelligence in personnel selection’ concluded that the automation of selection processes with AI is eroding the traditional signals of merit that were transmitted through cover letters, emails or applications received by the hiring and human resources departments. In that sense, while it is true that AI has democratized competition in the job search, it has also made genuine talent less visible. Who is behind the algorithm? The current degradation of those “clues” that allowed recruiters to locate the best talent, forces us to look for new ways to evaluate candidates. As and as they pointed From the technological employment platform Manfred, the use of AI has multiplied the number of applications, but the perceived quality has not improved at the same pace. For this reason, many companies are choosing to implement more practical tests and face-to-face interviews in their selection processes. That is, eliminate from the equation the presence of AI for the last stage of the selection process. The unknown of this practice is knowing how much talent has succumbed to AI resume filtering prior to that first face-to-face interview. In Xataka | Jeff Bezos assures that there is a type of employee who can never be replaced by an AI: inventors Image | Unsplash (Vitaly Gariev)

the five best offers on Apple watches from the MediaMarkt outlet

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Although MediaMarkt has an outlet area on its own website, it also sells many refurbished devices through eBay, and with the guarantee of the main store. Among all these offers there are many discounted Apple Watchesso in this article we are going to review the five best bargains. Apple Watch SE by 119 eurosone of Apple’s cheapest smartwatches, now at a better price. Apple Watch Series 8 by 194.65 eurosa good price for the watch from a few generations ago. Apple Watch Series 9 by 339.15 euroswith a more vibrant screen than in its previous generation. Apple Watch Series 10 by 379 eurosa gem for your GPS + LTE configuration. Apple Watch Ultra 2 by 549 eurosa much more affordable price than what it normally has new. Apple Watch SE If what we are looking for is an Apple smart watch and we don’t want to spend a lot of money, the Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) is for 119 euros in the MediaMarkt outlet found on eBay. It is a used model that works perfectly and that stands out mainly in its screen, which looks great even in broad daylight, in the finish and in its excellent rotating crown. Apple Watch SE (2023), GPS, 40mm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple Watch Series 8 On the other hand, if what we want is a smartwatch from Apple’s main line, another of the models that have a very good price is the Apple Watch Series 8which is found by 194.65 euros. In this case, we are talking about a watch opened, unused (exhibition item) that has a perfect integration with the brand ecosystem and that offers a multitude of customization and metrics recording options. Apple Watch Series 8 (2022), GPS, 41mm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple Watch Series 9 A generation leap later we find the Apple Watch Series 9a good watch in its 45mm configuration found around 339.15 euros. Again we are talking about a model opened, unused (exhibition item)which in this case improves screen brightness compared to its previous generation. It doesn’t vary in design, but it’s still premium and has an excellent rotating crown. Apple Watch Series 9 (2023), GPS, 45mm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple Watch Series 10 With a slightly higher price, we find one of the best purchase options on this list: the Apple Watch Series 10whose offer price is 379 euros. It is a smart watch in good condition opened, unused (exhibition item) which comes with a larger screen and slimmer body over the Series 9, has improved fast charging and impeccable performance. Apple Watch Series 10 (2024), GPS + LTE, 46mm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple Watch Ultra 2 He Apple Watch Ultra 2 It is currently one of Apple’s most expensive smartwatches (along with the Apple Watch Ultra 3) and you don’t usually find good discounts. However, MediaMarkt has it reconditioned for 549 eurosin state opened, unused (new item with damaged packaging). Its screen is excellent, the autonomy improves compared to its previous generation and in general terms it is the most complete. Apple Watch Ultra 2 (2024), GPS + Cellular, 49mm 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 | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Apple In Xataka | The best smartwatches (2025): their analyzes and videos are here In Xataka | Best smartwatch in quality price. Which one to buy and 14 recommended smart watches

The patch to avoid another massive blackout is going to cost us 731 million euros. Iberdrola has already begun to collect it

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The blackout on April 28 did not come free, and we consumers are going to pay for it. Iberdrola has confirmed that the extra cost caused by the “reinforced mode” that was activated after the massive blackout. And everything indicates that the rest of the electric companies will follow in their footsteps. what has happened. They tell it in The World. Until now, the impact of the blackout on the bill had been limited because the CNMC intervened so that the electricity companies could not modify the price for customers who have contracted fixed rates. FACUA also issued a statement warning that rates could not be raised if it did not appear in the contract. The blackout was more than six months ago, more than enough time for many free market contracts to have been renewed. This has given Iberdrola the opportunity to introduce clauses that allow them to pass the cost on to customers. Reinforced mode After the blackout, the so-called “reinforced mode” was activated. This adjustment involves intervening in the market to incorporate more conventional energy (gas, hydroelectric and nuclear) and limiting the entry of renewables with the aim of avoiding voltage failures. And of course, these energies are more expensive, in addition to requiring more auxiliary services to stabilize the network. The problem is that this It started as a patch after the blackout, but it has become the new normal which remains half a year later. The cost. It covers from the blackout until September and amounts to 210 million euros distributed between Spain and Portugal. Of this sum, Spain assumes the majority, with 180 million euros. Iberdrola regrets that the change in the system by Red Eléctrica is entailing an extra cost that “affects our results” and they hope to transfer 70% of this amount to their clients before the end of the year. Not just Iberdrola. Nothing prevents the rest of the electricity marketers from following in Iberdrola’s footsteps. According to El Mundo, the total cost of the reinforced mode in these six months amounts to 731 million euros and it looks like it will remain active for longer, so this amount will increase. The CNMC warns that any change in contract prices must be communicated transparently. From one pocket to another. In the Iberian Peninsula there are five nuclear power plants, 1,300 hydroelectric plants and some 200 gas plants. These conventional (non-renewable) energy plants are providing more energy as long as the boosted mode remains active and they are receiving more income for it. What is striking is that they mostly belong to private companies such as Iberdrola, Naturgy either Endesawho are the ones who will end up increasing the price of the invoice. Images | Wikipedia In Xataka | Five months later we continue to discover things about the blackout in Spain. And the news is getting worse for Europe

Michael Burry just shorted NVIDIA. All good except because he was the one who predicted the 2008 real estate bubble

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Michael Burry, the well-known investor and fund manager who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, has recently shown his bearish positions against NVIDIA and Palantir just after launching on social networks a warning about excess optimism in the market. Warning which the Bloomberg media has qualified ‘cryptic’, for several reasons. The movements, made known in regulatory documents filed on Mondayhave reopened the debate on whether artificial intelligence is generating a speculative bubble. What exactly has Burry done. His investment fund, Scion Asset Management, has bought put options (puts) worth $186.5 million against NVIDIA and $912.1 million against Palantir, according to mandatory filings with the SEC. These options benefit if the stock price falls. Burry also took bullish positions (calls) in Pfizer and Halliburton, two stocks that have underperformed the market this year. Why does it matter? Burry is not just any investor. Its history is marked by having bet short against the US real estate market two years before the 2008 crashenduring criticism from his investors until Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and his fund multiplied its profits. His story inspired the film ‘The Big Bet‘. Having gained that fame, when Burry bets against something, the markets pay attention, although his track record is not infallible, as he has been wrong in the past with other bubble predictions. Click on the image to go to the post The context of their movements. Days before these positions became known, Burry broke two years of silence on social networks with a disturbing message: “Sometimes we see bubbles. Sometimes you can do something about it. Sometimes the only winning move is not to play,” accompanied by an image of his character in the film. On Monday night he posted again, this time sharing a Bloomberg chart about concerns about circular financing between OpenAI, NVIDIA and other AI companies. Market reactions. Palantir shares fell more than 10% following the news, even though the company had just raised its annual revenue guidance. NVIDIA also fell by up to 2.9%. Palantir CEO Alex Karp responded in an interview with CNBC calling the idea of ​​shorting against companies like Palantir and NVIDIA, which he says are doing “noble tasks,” “crazy.” The bubble debate. For months, many investors have expressed concern about whether the AI ​​boom is being artificially sustained. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warned recently told CNBC that “there are many things that look like bubbles,” although he clarified that bubbles do not usually burst until the Federal Reserve tightens its monetary policy. According to its “bubble indicator”, approximately 80% of market gains are concentrated in large AI-related technology companies. An important nuance. It’s not entirely clear whether Burry is betting directly on the downside or whether these options are part of a more complex strategy to protect other investments. And just as share Bloomberg, regulatory filings only reflect long positions, so if you were using these puts as a hedge for other investments, we wouldn’t know. The curious thing is that its first quarter presentation did include a note explaining that puts “could be used to cover long positions”, but the third quarter presentation does not say anything about it. Scion’s recent history. This is not the first time Burry has bet against NVIDIA. During the first trimester He has already liquidated almost his entire portfolio of listed shares and bought put options against the chipmaker. However, it has also achieved success: in the third quarter it closed positions in Alibaba (with a 36.5% profit), Estée Lauder (27%), ASML Holdings (45.7%) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (10.8%). Canary in the mine or false alarm? The question on Wall Street is whether Burry is once again detecting a bubble before anyone else or if he is wrong this time. NVIDIA is up 54% this year until reaching a capitalization of 5 billion dollarswhile Palantir has soared 173% thanks to its expansion in AI-related businesses. Valuations are high, but both companies continue to grow and expand their business. Be that as it may, if there is a bubble, we will find out in the worst possible way: when it bursts. Cover image | Solen Feyissa and ‘The Big Short’ In Xataka | The geopolitical irony that we are experiencing in the chip war has an unexpected beneficiary: Russia

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