Month: December 2025

AI has allowed developers to program faster than ever. That’s turning out to be a problem.

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Whoever has tried it knows it. Programming with AI can be wonderful. Especially if you have (almost) no idea about programming. This is where generative AI models have seen their first and probably only revolution. The developers were the first to be able to embrace this new technology. The appearance of GitHub Copilot in 2021 It showed us that it was no longer necessary to chop so much code, because the machine was already doing it for you, and since then the advance of generative AI in the field of programming has been overwhelming. The question is: has it been positive? The answer is not at all clear. It is evident that AI has allowed: That millions of people who were not programmers could turn their ideas for applications and games into a reality. That millions of professionals can save time by not having to write repetitive code (boilerplate) to focus on other more important and productive parts of your work The industry, of course, has been especially insistent with this vision of the transformation of this segment. Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) and Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet/Google) already boasted months ago that about 25% of the code generated by their companies is generated by AI. Meanwhile, Jensen Huang went further and made it clear that At this point no one should learn to program anymore because the AI ​​would do it for us. These are very forceful statements, but behind them lies another reality: that All that glitters is not gold in the world of AI for programmers. At MIT Technology Review they have spoken with more than 30 developers and experts in this field and have reached interesting conclusions. AI is a better programmer than ever. At least, according to the benchmarks In August 2024 OpenAI made a unique launch: presented SWE-bench Verifieda benchmark intended to measure the ability of generative AI models to program. At that time, the best of the models was only capable of solving 33% of the tests proposed by that benchmark. A year later the best models already exceed 70%. Current ranking of the best models according to the SWE-bench Verified benchmark. Several already pass 70% of the tests. Source: SWE-bench. The evolution in this area has been dizzying and we have witnessed the birth of that new modality programming called “vibe coding” and all the big ones have developed powerful programming tools to take advantage of the pull. We have OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, or Claude Code, for example, but they have been added startups like Cursor either Windsurfing who have also known how to take advantage of this fever for programming with AI. All of these tools promise basically the same thing: that you will program more and better. Productivity theoretically skyrockets, and while more code is certainly being written than ever thanks to AI, programmers They have gone from writing their own code to reviewing what machines generate. Recent studies reveal that veteran developers who believed they had been more productive actually they weren’t. Their estimate was that they had been 20% faster by being able to move forward without blockages, but in reality they had taken 19% longer than they would have taken without AI, according to the tests carried out. There is another problem too: code quality is not necessarily goodand as we say, developers must review that code before being able to use it in production. In the latest survey from Stack Overflow, one of the largest developer communities in the world, there was a notable fact: The positive perception of AI tools had decreased: it was 70% in 2024, and 60% in 2025. There are limitations, but even so everything has already changed Those interviewed by MIT Technology Review generally agreed with its conclusions. Generative AI programming tools are great for producing repetitive code, writing tests, fixing bugs, or explaining code to new developers. However, they still have important limitations, and the most notable is his short memory. These models are only capable of handling a fraction of the workload in professional environments: if your code is large, the AI ​​model may not be able to “consume” it and understand it all at once. For small projects, great. For large developments, probably not so much. The problem of hallucinations also affects the code, and in repositories with a multitude of components, AI models can end up getting lost and not understanding the structure and its interconnections. The problems are there, and they can end up accumulating and causing exactly the opposite of what they wanted to avoid. Several experts, however, explained in that text how it is actually difficult to go back. Kyle Daigle, COO of GitHub, explained that “the days of coding every line of code by hand are likely behind us.” Erin Yepis, an analyst at Stack Overflow, indicated that although this unbridled optimism towards AI has fallen somewhat, that is actually a sign of something else: that programmers embrace this technology, but they do so assuming its risks. And then there is another reality. One that is repeated day after day and that seems undeniable. The AI ​​we have today is the worst of all those we will have in the future. It may not be tomorrow or next week, but it is clear that the AI ​​you program will end up getting better and better. And there may come a point when those limitations disappear. Whether they do it or not, what is clear is that AI has changed programming forever. Image | Mohammad Rahmani In Xataka | OpenAI has turned ChatGPT into mainstream AI. In the business world the game is being won by its great rival

Telefónica promised great savings by 2030. Its ERE has been negotiated at 2,500 million euros and 4,525 layoffs

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Telefónica and the majority unions UGT, CCOO and Fetico-Sumados have signed the employment regulation file (ERE) that will affect the seven subsidiaries of the group. The minimum volume of departures is set at 4,525 employees, 14 less than initially planned after a last-minute reduction in the divisions of Telefónica Global Solutions, Telefónica Innovación Digital and Telefónica SA As highlighted by CCOO statementthe agreement is reached after almost a month of marathon negotiations, which began in November when the management communicated its intention to carry out the ERE for objective reasons that would affect 6,088 employees. Fewer layoffs than estimated He agreement reached establishes the minimum departure of some 4,525 employees, which represents a reduction of 25.6% compared to the 6,088 dismissals proposed at the beginning of the negotiations. However, this limit only responds at a minimum estimatethe company estimates that finally about 5,500 employees will take voluntary leave. In any case, it is a lower figure than that announced by the operator before the negotiations. The bulk of the adjustment corresponds to the companies covered by the Related Companies Agreement (CEV), with 3,765 minimum departures distributed as follows: 2,925 in Telefónica de España (almost 33% of a workforce of 8,892 people), 720 in Telefónica Móviles (20% of a total of 3,587 employees) and 120 in Telefónica Soluciones (11% of 1,118 workers). In the case of these companies covered by the Related Companies Agreement, the final number of dismissals is not fixed, but depends on the volume of voluntary adhesions, with a range that goes from 3,765 to 5,040 departures. The group’s global units total 585 layoffs. 109 layoffs in Telefónica Global Solutions (17% of the 638 employees), 182 in Digital Innovation (18.3% of 993 employees) and 294 in the TSA parent company (25.3% of 1,160 employees). Added to these figures are 175 departures from Movistar+, which represent 20.3% of its workforce of 860 people, a significant reduction compared to the 297 departures initially planned. Economic conditions and membership requirements Compensation contemplates different sections depending on the year of birth of the workers. Those born between 1969 and 1971 will receive 68% of the regulatory salary until the age of 63 and 38% thereafter, although in Movistar+ those born in 1971 are excluded. For the oldest For those born between 1965 and 1968, the percentages are 62% up to age 63 and 34% thereafter, while those born in 1964 or before will receive 52% of the salary up to age 63 and 35% thereafter. To voluntarily join with these conditions, 15 years of seniority in related subsidiaries and 13 years of seniority in global subsidiaries are required. In addition, the latter include voluntary bonuses of between 5,000 and 18,000 euros depending on seniority, doubling the amounts initially proposed. The departure process will be carried out in a staggered manner depending on the subsidiary. For related subsidiaries, the voluntary departure request period will begin on December 29 and end on January 26, while for global subsidiaries, it will extend from December 29 to January 29. In Movistar+, the voluntary deadline is postponed until January 7 and will be accepted until February 6. Spend to save Telefónica calculates that this ERE will have a cost of about 2,500 million euros before taxes. For Telefónica España and Movistar Plus+ the provision will be around 2.3 billion euros, while for the corporate units it will be approximately 200 million euros respectively. These staff cuts are part of the new Transform & Grow strategic plan of Telefónica for the period 2026-2030, which seeks to save costs up to 3,000 million euros annually in 2030. However, the company estimates annual savings close to 600 million euros from 2028, with a positive impact on cash generation as early as 2026. Simultaneously with the ERE, Telefónica has reached an agreement with the union centers to extend the collective agreements of the seven subsidiaries until 2030. The most significant advance is the commitment to increase salaries 1.5% each year while the agreement is in force, affecting both the related subsidiaries and the global units of Telefónica. Employees of the linked subsidiaries will receive an additional payment of 300 euros in October, of which 150 euros will be consolidated annually in the salary tables. The social benefits include the extension of the teleworking package up to 12 days, the extension of the 36 hour work week to global units, the improvement of bank guarantees for home purchases from 75,000 to 100,000 euros, aid of 3,000 euros for rent and the declaration of December 24 and 31 as non-working days. In Xataka | The best strategies to ask for a salary increase, the negotiation most similar to a “battle” at work Image | Telephone

Huawei is not the only one seeking to challenge Nvidia. There are four other “little dragons” knocking on the door

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“AI” may be one of the words of the year, but “funding round” is a concept that wouldn’t be far behind in the competition. The unicorn is a OpenAI that, if in 2024 it prepared for exceed 100 billion dollarstoday It is bigger than Coca-Cola or Samsung. He has achieved it thanks to money injected by third partiesand Chinese companies want to follow the same strategy as American companies with only one goal in mind: erase the United States from the equation. It’s the ‘Delete A’ plan. Biren. Talking about Chinese artificial intelligence is talking about deepseek and a few other models, but above all hardware companies like Huawei. Their GPUs are the ones that are helping for the Chinese AI field to flourish, and within those GPU companies is Shanghai Biren Technology. As we read in SCMPhas begun a financing round that seeks to raise more than 620 million dollars. Founded by Nvidia and Alibaba veterans, Biren has to his credit BR100one of China’s promises of raw performance to power the demanding data centers needed to train the artificial intelligence. And, unlike others that have opted for Chinese markets, Biren has chosen Hong Kong to attract international capital more easily. They are not the only ones in this race. Moore Threads. If Biren has Nvidia veterans on his team, Moore Threads is directly led by Zhang Jianzhongwho headed Nvidia in China. Perhaps, it is China’s most accurate response to Nvidia itself, and the reason is that it seeks replicate Jensen Huang’s business model combining 3D graphics, for a growing Chinese ecosystem of gamers, and GPUs for AI. To their credit they have the recent architecture Huaganga series that promises 50% more computing density compared to the company’s previous generation of chips, while being ten times more energy efficient. That efficiency is key to keeping AI operating costs at bay, something of vital importance for a China focusing on cheaper artificial intelligencebut functional as soon as possible. And saying that it is Nvidia’s great Chinese rival is not shooting with blank bullets. On the one hand, they are Huashan chips focused on massive clusters of up to 10,000 cards to train LLMs. On the other hand, the chips Lushan that feature hardware ray tracing for the video game market. New Moore Threads GPUs support major gaming APIs little dragons. When Moore Threads debuted on the Shanghai stock market earlier this month, Its shares skyrocketed 500% on the first day, demonstrating that the Chinese market wants to have “its Nvidia”. Biren and Moore Threads are two of the legs of the table. The other two are MetaX (formed by former members of AMD and focused on computing power) and Enflame (a company backed by Tencent and who develop AI systems in the Cloud for Tencent itself). Are known as the “four little dragons of AI” (although other startups are known the same), four of the most promising GPU startups in China that, together with Huawei that has taken giant steps with its AScend 910Dthey have only one objective. “Delete A“Delete the United States. In 2022, when it was still recent the veto of Huawei by the United States in it escalation of the trade war between the US and China, China’s State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission launched Document 79. It was an initiative to encourage the creation of technology that would turn its hardware companies into heavyweights in the global industry. However, there was something else. According to Wall Street Journalthis document has an unusual level of secrecy and an underlying idea: delete United States. Hence the ‘Delete A’ or ‘Delete America’. As? Making all state-owned companies operating in strategic sectors (such as finance, telecommunications, defense or energy) replace foreign software and hardware with domestic alternatives. When? Before of 2027. To do this, national options must be given, and hence the boost to Huawei and startups like these “little dragons.” Although it has also given headaches to companies that have not been able to access Nvidia chips such as Nvidia H20 because they must opt ​​for native solutions, less powerful or optimized in some aspects. Chinese sovereignty. And this development is not just a whim of China, but a necessity. Huawei, Enflame, Moore Threads and Biren, among many others, are on the Entity List of the US Department of Commerce. This prohibits trading with Western companies and access that foreign technology, although more recently the United States has loosened the rope, allowing Nvidia can sell its H200 chips to China… under certain conditions. It is a clear movement resulting from “if China is going to have the technology anyway, let’s take advantage while we can.” And it is because Huawei is working on a open alternative to Nvidia’s CUDA technologythe real ace up the company’s sleeve. Because it is no longer about technical muscle, but about the “language” that the AI ​​speaks. And when China manages to develop this “interpreter”, that is when they will have taken the real leap forward in the development of their tools and in the search for that sovereignty. Images | BirenMoore In Xataka | Big tech is starting to pawn grandma’s jewels for AI: it’s a worrying symptom

four months at sea, kilometers of celluloid and a Trojan horse the size of a building

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We already have here the first trailer for ‘The Odyssey’ by Christopher Nolan, which, as expected, offers us an adventure that moves away from the environments that the director has frequented until now, but which nevertheless has a good part of the house’s trademarks: musical fanfare, impactful images and dense and solemn atmosphere. a genuine deli for devotees of the director. After releasing a six-minute prologue a week ago Exclusive to 70mm IMAX theaters, this new trailer takes us to the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War: a devastated battlefield where Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, kneels before a fully armored Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) and which some critics have already pointed out as unequivocal proof that historical rigor is clearly not going to be one of the film’s priorities. From there, pure icons of classic adventure: the hero and his soldiers crossing forests, navigating rough seas and entering dark caves. Damon’s voiceover tells that “after years of war, no one could come between my men and home. Not even me.” Significantly, we barely see Odysseus on screen. The trailer gives a good account of Nolan’s visual ambition: we see the Trojan horse being dragged from the sea by hundreds of unsuspecting Trojans, and how the warriors inside the gigantic structure experience it. We see a giant creature at the entrance to a cave, perhaps the cyclops Polyphemus. We see ships suffocatingly tossed about by real waves. An ambitious odyssey ‘The Odyssey’ represents an unprecedented leap in the use of the IMAX format. It is the first film in history shot entirely with IMAX cameras.something Nolan has pursued since he began incorporating the format into action sequences with ‘The Dark Knight’ in 2008. Until ‘Oppenheimer’, technical limitations (excessive noise, prohibitive weight, difficulty capturing dialogue) prevented its continued use. But for ‘The Odyssey’, IMAX developed a new generation of cameras 30% quieter and considerably lighter, making full filming viable. Principal photography lasted 91 days between February and August 2025touring Morocco (Aït Benhaddou to recreate Troy), Greece, Italy, Scotland and Iceland. The most reckless: Nolan spent four months in the open seawith the entire cast rolling on real waves. The budget amounts to $250 million, making it the most expensive film of his career. Nolan explained. that sought to identify absences in contemporary film culture. He concluded that Greek mythology had never received the big-budget Hollywood treatment with full dramatic credibility. Furthermore, he states, The Odyssey by Homer contains elements of horror, mystery, romance and thriller simultaneously. It is not a genre, it is the matrix of all genres. It is clear that Nolan wanted to put the emphasis on the physical: real ships almost submerged in the sea, armies of extras, the Trojan horse… at the moment we do not see the abundant mythological creatures that the story has (the Cyclops, the mermaids, the sorceress Circe), but possibly they have sought to contrast with the realism of the rest of the story. And we still have to see the bulk of the star cast (Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Mia Goth…). This Odyssey has only just begun.

It is the springboard to becoming the first billionaire in history

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The Delaware Supreme Court has taken a historic turn in a legal battle that has lasted for years: it has definitively approved Elon Musk’s compensation package that was approved in 2018, originally valued at $56 billion. This decision puts an end to the judicial dispute that led to the fiscal change of Tesla from Delaware to Texas. The unanimous ruling of the five judges of Delaware’s highest court considers that canceling the salary package left Musk without any compensation between 2018 and 2024 for his work as CEO of Tesla since You are not assigned a fixed salary in the company. Adjusted for Tesla’s current stock price, which hit all-time highs this week, the value of the stock package you will receive amounts to about $139 billion. The origin of the judicial conflict. The entire judicial mess over Musk’s salary bonus began in January 2024, when Judge Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery annulled the CEO’s compensation package after a complaint from a group of shareholders, arguing that the billion-dollar remuneration was excessive and unfair to shareholders. McCormick determined that Tesla’s board of directors had not properly informed shareholders about the bonus and that board members lacked sufficient independence from Musk. This first unfavorable ruling caused an immediate reaction and forceful from the CEO of Tesla. Tesla’s board of directors organized a second vote among shareholders in June 2024 to reaffirm its CEO’s bonus, which was approved with 63% of the votes, although McCormick rejected again this maneuver in December 2024. The Supreme Court endorses it. The Delaware Supreme Court determined that McCormick’s decision contained several errors and that complete termination of the salary package was an inappropriate penalty. The judges unanimously concluded that voiding the payment had left Musk without any financial compensation for his time and effort during a six-year period as CEO. Although the high court reinstated compensation to the CEO, it has also imposed on Musk the symbolic payment of an additional dollar and ordered him to pay legal fees, recognizing certain problematic aspects of the original process. The decision marks the closing of a legal battle that has lasted almost two years and that has kept one of the most ambitious executive compensation packages in US business history on hold…at least until the arrival of Musk’s new salary bonus, estimated at a billion dollars. The conditions met by Musk. The compensation package approved in 2018 consisted of stock options equivalent to approximately 303 million Tesla shares, which represented about 12% of the company’s total equity at the time. The bonus was structured into 12 tranches of stock options that would only be unlocked if Tesla reached a series of milestones in market capitalization, revenue and profits over the next 10 years. At the time of the plan in 2018, Tesla had a market valuation of approximately $59 billion and was facing serious production and cash flow problems. Musk managed to exceed all established objectives in just five of the ten years planned. In June 2024, when shareholders voted a second time to reaffirm the package, the value of the 303 million stock options to which Musk was entitled had already reached $48.2 billion, with a price of $182. However, in December 2025, with Tesla trading near $481 and a market capitalization around $1.6 trillion, the value of the restored package skyrockets to approximately $139 billion. A historic boost to Musk’s fortune. With the restoration of this salary bonus, Elon Musk’s personal fortune has skyrocketed to over $749 billion, establishing him not only as the richest man in the world, but as the first person in modern history to get this close to $1 trillion. This figure represents almost triple the fortune of the second richest person on the planet: the Google co-founder Larry Page, whose assets are estimated at 252,000 million dollars. Musk is the millionaire best positioned to become the first billionaire in history in the short term, especially if SpaceX goes public in 2026 and the projected valuation of $1.5 trillion is reached. Musk’s stake in SpaceX could exceed an additional $625 billion, which, added to his other investments, could bring his total assets closer to $952 billion. In Xataka | “Work will be optional”: Elon Musk has gone from being a fervent supporter of 996 to believing in universal basic income Image | Flickr (Gage Skidmore), Unsplash (Andreas Rasmussen)

that the war in Ukraine has reached the Mediterranean

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For months, the so-called “tanker war” between Ukraine and Russia had remained contained in a relatively limited space: the Black Sea and its immediate accesses. There, attacks with naval and aerial drones against ships linked to Moscow had become a logical extension of the conflict, an indirect but effective way to hit Russian energy revenues without directly confronting its war fleet. Until now. An invisible line. Everything has taken a 180 degree turn with the attack against the oil tanker Qendil in the Mediterranean, which represents an unprecedented qualitative leap. Not only because of the distance (more than 2,000 kilometers from Ukrainian territory), but because it shows that kyiv is willing to carry out this campaign much further of the traditional theater of operations, calling into question the idea that European sea routes were safe from war. The fleet in the shadows. He Qendilan Oman-flagged crude oil tanker built in 2006, was not chosen at random. Before heading to India it had departed from the Russian port of Novorossiysk, one of the key outlets for Russian oil to the global market. Both the European Union and the United Kingdom consider it part of the called “shadow fleet”the network of ships that Russia uses to avoid sanctions through flag changes, opaque ownership structures and routes designed to dilute legal responsibilities. For Ukraine, these ships are not simple commercial assets, but a direct extension of the Russian war efforta source of income that fuels the war. Hence, the Security Service of Ukraine has defended the attack as a legitimate objective under the law of armed conflict. A surgical operation. According to SBU sourcesthe attack was an “unprecedented special operation”, carried out by its Alpha Special Group using bomber-type aerial drones. The broadcast images They show munitions falling onto the ship’s deck from a hexacopter, pointing to a short-range attack launched from a nearby platform, probably a ship. Tracking data indicate that the tanker was sailing between Malta and Crete when it made a sharp turn and changed course towards Port Said, Egypt, a move that reinforces the idea that something abnormal happened at that point in the journey. Although the ship was empty at the time of the attack (reducing the environmental risk), the SBU holds which suffered critical damage that leaves it unusable for its original function. The message. Beyond the physical damage, the blow has enormous symbolic and strategic value. It comes on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that it would cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea in retaliation for the attacks on the shadow fleet. kyiv’s response seems clear: if Russia can finance its war by exporting oil along increasingly distant routes, those routes too can become a battlefield. The SBU statement That Ukraine “will strike the enemy anywhere in the world” is not just rhetoric, it is a signal to shipowners, insurers and governments that the conflict is no longer limited to a specific sea. Echoes of other wars. This type of attack is reminiscent of the covert war that for years Iran and Israel have fought against merchant ships in the Middle East, a campaign of targeted sabotage designed to send political messages without escalating into open conflict. Everything indicates that Ukraine has studied that model and it is adapting it to its own war, using relatively cheap drones to impose disproportionate costs on the adversary. The possibility of using drones in the future of greater scopeeven with satellite links like Starlink, suggests that the radius of action could be expanded even further. Maritime consequences. He attack on Qendil introduces a new factor of uncertainty in the Mediterranean. Although the target was directly linked to Russia, the simple fact that armed drones can operate against merchant ships in such busy waters forces the maritime sector to rethink security measures, routes and insurance. For Moscow, the message is disturbing: its floats in the shadowestimated at more than a thousand ships and essential to sustain its crude oil exports, is no longer protected by geographical distance. For Europe, it is an uncomfortable reminder that a war that began on land and in the Black Sea is beginning to cast its shadow over one of the planet’s main trade corridors. A conflict that expands. Plus: the attack against the Qendil is not just a tactical action, but an implicit statement that the maritime war is entering a new phase. Ukraine demonstrates that it can bring economic and military pressure to spaces that until now They were considered peripheralwhile Russia threatens to respond without making clear how. Between them, the Mediterranean appears suddenly as a potential scenario of a confrontation that no one has formally declared, but that is already beginning to be felt in commercial navigation. As so many other times After this war, the border between the military and the civil becomes more blurred, and the feeling that there are no completely safe areas begins to extend far beyond the front. Image | x In Xataka | Baba Yaga is a Slavic mythological witch who devours skulls at night. And Ukraine has decided to make it a reality In Xataka | Ukraine has asked Russia if it is going to stop the war for Christmas. Russia has responded bluntly

Samsung’s top mobile phone is the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Now, you can get it with 512 GB and a discount of more than 500 euros

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If you have decided to end the year by renewing your old mobile phone and have thought about a high-end one, this Amazon offer is for you. Now, you can buy Samsung’s top mobile phone, the Galaxy S25 Ultrain its 512 GB per configuration 999 euros. Although, if you want to do without a little memory, the 256 GB model is available at El Corte Inglés with the Galaxy Buds3 Pro headphones for 999.90 euros. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 512GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A top mobile at an unbeatable price Although it is true that this Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra It is not a mobile phone with many new features, it does present some improvements compared to its predecessor. One of those most significant improvements is its 6.9-inch anti-glare screen with Quad HD+ resolution. The processor it mounts is the Snapdragon 8 Elitewith 12 GB of RAM and an internal storage capacity of 512 GB. As for its battery, it supports fast charging and wireless and the autonomy it offers is a day and a half or two days. Its operating system allows updates for seven years and it is a mobile phone full of Artificial intelligence. Another thing it stands out for is its photography section. Mount a triple rear camera with a 200 MP main sensora 10 MP telephoto lens, a 50 MP telephoto lens and a 50 MP ultra wide angle lens. Some accessories that may interest you for this mobile JETech 5 in 1 Case for Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 5G with 2 Screen Protectors The price could vary. We earn commission from these links JBL Wave Flex 2, Wireless Headphones 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 | Ricardo Aguilar (Xataka) and Samsung In Xataka | Best Samsung phones: which one to buy and recommended models based on budget, tastes and price quality In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes

It’s not underground, it’s in the recycling of your old windows

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Galicia has strived to demonstrate that the future of the industry is not found underground, extracting finite resources, but in the ability to rescue what we have already used. In a global context obsessed with decarbonization, the town of Coirós, in A Coruña, has hit the table to position itself as an “eternal” aluminum power. The great industrial milestone. According to the company itselfCortizo has invested 38 million euros in a new recycling plant designed to absorb aluminum waste and return it to the market as new material. It is not a typical storage warehouse; It is an area of ​​29,000 square meters where teams of operators, protected with aluminized suits to withstand radiant heat, supervise state-of-the-art smelting furnaces and crushing systems. After a period of testing this summer, the plant has officially started its activity and is now ready to reach its full operational capacity. It is the Galician response to the challenge of the scarcity of raw materials: stop depending on mining to trust in the efficiency of recycling. A vision with history. But to understand this movement it is necessary to look back. The general director of the firm, Raquel Cortizo, insists that this commitment to circularity is not a passing fad. According to the specialized media Retemathe company was already a pioneer in the 90s by launching its foundry in Padrón. At that time, when the concept of “circular economy” was barely mentioned, Cortizo already became the first company in Spain to close the complete production cycle. However, the current leap is on a different scale. The new facilities have the capacity to produce 100,000 tons of recycled aluminum billet per year. The environmental impact La Voz de Galicia summarizes it: This production volume will avoid emitting more than one and a half million tons of CO2 per year. To put it in perspective, the company estimates that it is equivalent to stop emitting the gases generated for a year by all tourism in the provinces of A Coruña and Pontevedra together. The choreography of recycling. The plant works with what is technically known as “post-consumer scrap”: from old windows and facades to bicycle wheels or tent structures that have ended their useful life. The process is divided into two critical phases: Precision classification: Each element is mechanically crushed and separated until pure aluminum is obtained. Smelting and rebirth: The metal is melted to become the billet Infinity. This product comes in cylinders seven meters long. The most astonishing thing is its environmental footprint: its manufacturing consumes 95% less energy than obtaining primary aluminum. It is, in essence, a material that saves energy while being manufactured. Strengthening the Galician muscle The Coirós plant is the spearhead of a larger strategy. The company has invested 228 million euros in the community in the last five years alone. Projects like the Technological Campus wave expansion of its factories in Padrón They are now consolidated with this new center. The relevance of this “Galician aluminum” is already noticeable in homes throughout the country. The company points out, in one of his press releasesthe alliance with the developer Metrovacesa, which already installs these 100% recycled solutions in 14 housing developments in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona or Seville. It is the perfect cycle: the aluminum that is recovered from a renovation or scrapping returns to Coirós to end up supporting the windows of the new homes in the country. Towards an infinite industry? Galicia has found in aluminum a way to lead the ecological transition without giving up its manufacturing identity. The Coirós plant is proof that the industry can be clean, efficient and, above all, infinite. The message that comes out of these facilities is clear: in a throwaway world, Galicia has decided that nothing is lost and everything is transformed. Image | Cortizo Xataka | Europe is looking for where to put its first nuclear fusion reactor. And Spain is one of the best candidates

The 48fps format makes ‘Avatar 3’ hyperrealistic. It’s just what turns back part of the public

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The new installment of ‘Avatar‘ is distanced, in technical terms, from practically all the other films with which it shares the billboard: Cameron’s thoroughness when it comes to capturing his vision in images has led him to generate, for example, 45 different versions of the film adapted to the conditions of each possible type of theater. This has also led him to declare that the best format to see this third installment it is at 48fps. But not all cinemas are prepared nor does it necessarily have to be a dish to the taste of all viewers. What are 48 frames per second. James Cameron wants us to see 40% of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ at 48 frames per second, double the film standardconvinced that this system offers the most natural visual experience to capture the world of Pandora. However, all previous attempts to impose HFR (High Frame Rate) have failed, since ‘The Hobbit‘ until ‘Gemini‘ by Ang Lee. The reason: to the untrained eye, the image is too sharptoo similar to home video. The question that remains is: why does Cameron opt for a technology that systematically causes visual rejection in viewers? Why Cameron likes it. James Cameron maintains a personal position on HFR: he refuses to classify it as a cinematographic format, but rather defines it as a creative tool at the service of narrative, comparable to any other technical resource. Approximately 40% of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ has been shot at 48 frames per second, concentrating mainly on the underwater sequences and flight scenes where, according to the filmmaker, the increase in visual clarity enhances the feeling of spatial presence. How it works. Cameron’s technical strategy is articulated through the Variable Frame Rate (VFR), which dynamically switches between 24fps and 48fps according to the expressive needs of each scene. As Cameron explainshe framerate high is counterproductive in moments of dialogue or everyday interaction, where it generates an unwanted hyperrealism that emotionally distances the viewer from the fiction. Therefore, scenes with characters talking or walking remain in the traditional standard. The technical process is completed with TrueCutMotiona technology that allows you to adjust the level of motion blur and image smoothness scene by scene. This granular control is intended to avoid the dreaded “soap opera effect” that worked so poorly in ‘The Hobbit’. Cameron conceives of the HFR fundamentally as a technical improvement for 3Dnot as an autonomous aesthetic revolution. In Spain what is closest to Cameron’s proposal is lto Cinity technologyof Chinese origin, which only screens the Odeon network in five theaters and which combines 4K, 3D and HFR. Why does it look like that? The reason we see 48fps with that extreme smoothing effect is because cinema has operated at 24 frames per second since sound demanded standardization of projection speed a hundred years ago. Each frame captures the image for approximately 1/48 of a second, generating a motion blur that the human brain interprets as natural or rather, as “cinematic.” He HFR duplicates that information: 48 images per second with half speed motion blurwhich equals more sharpness in fast movements. The technical advantages apply above all to 3D projections, as Cameron assures: framerate High resolution prevents the image from blurring when panning, and reduces eye-straining flicker in 3D projections. It also helps maintain clarity in low-light scenes, where traditional 24fps results in blurry images. It’s your fault. What we must keep in mind is that the problem that we associate with 48fps It’s psychological, not technical.. Viewers have been trained for a century to associate 24fps with cinematic narrative and framerates superiors with television broadcasts. When the image is too sharp, the brain immediately detects the artifices of the staging. Digital effects, makeup, sets, everything is camouflaged with 24fps images, because we enter more easily into the lie of cinema. The HFR, however, is too clear, too revealing. Previous failures. The first major commercial commitment to HFR came in December 2012 with ‘The Hobbit’. Peter Jackson filmed his entire Tolkien trilogy at 48fps using RED Epic cameras, but the critical and public reaction was devastating because the image was too sharp, almost like that of a reality show. Technically there were no objections to the result, but at the same time it proposed an aesthetic opposite to what was expected from a fantasy story. The HFR versions were never released in domestic format, which makes them curious pieces of lost media in the digital age. Ang Lee went further with the semi-unknown ‘Billy Lynn’ and with ‘Geminis’, which raised the fps to 120. The first could only be projected in those conditions in six theaters around the world and the second, a few more but not many: fourteen in the United States. Both failed commercially, since the HDR versions were released covertly fearing a failure like ‘The Hobbit’. Once again the hyperstylized and fantastical aesthetic came face to face with the dizzying hyperrealism of 120fps. The exhibitors, in addition, they had to acquire HFR licenses for $500 for equipment that they would almost never use. In Xataka | It is possible that ‘Avatar 3’ will sweep and raise millions of dollars. And it is perfectly possible that you lose money despite it

Spain enters the “Scandinavian blockade” and that causes a radical change starting December 23

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Something is happening in Scandinavia and that something is going to affect us directly. It’s already affecting us. Because, as I write, a huge anticyclonic blockade over the Nordic countries is channeling polar (continental) air towards southern Europe. Specifically towards us. What is a lock atmospheric? We speak of blocking when the “normal” flow of west-east winds is interrupted and the jet becomes more wavy (it has variations from north to south). This slows down the typical advance of storms and sends them to areas with little traffic. In Europe, to be specificwe speak of “Scandinavian blocking” when a mass of high pressure in the north of the continent reorganizes the storms and favors cold weather towards mid-latitudes. What translated it turns out: a complicated week. At least in Spain and the Balearic Islands, where low pressures in a context of cold inflows and episodes of stability can end up generating many problems. We talk about yellow warnings for rain in the entire northwest half and snow levels approaching 700 meters in many areas of the country (and 1,200 in the south) Why is this important? I mean, we’re in winter, right? Yes, it’s true: but we are also on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest times of the year. Snow at medium levels and, above all, frost increase exponentially the probability of incidents on roads, ports and mountain passes. That is to say, we do not need a “new Filomena” for the country to turn upside down and accidents to skyrocket. And all this without talking about the associated problems. Indeed. On the one hand, a pattern of low maximums tends to put pressure on electricity and heating demand (with very intense peaks and the possible risks involved). On the other hand, agriculture will suffer damage and the cold will be a terrible factor because it will help the flu epidemic keep wreaking havoc. The debate now is on the impact. That is, the usual debate. For the first time in many years, we are not going to have a warm Christmas and that, we already know, is going to cause problems. The issue is how many problems and to what extent we will be able to get them right. Image | ECMWF In Xataka | Lightning seems like a normal thing: in reality we have been trying to understand it for years and we have achieved it in a laboratory

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