Month: December 2025

17% more hospitalizations and increasingly overwhelmed emergencies

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He flu virus is reaching its peak with a higher infection rate after seeing practically vertical graphs in communities like Madrid or Catalonia. The positive point that we mentioned is that hospitalizations They weren’t increasing too much.but we can now put this idea aside because they have begun to grow. And that is a problem for the health system. Number of infections. The report of Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System of the ISCIII published this Thursday points to an incidence of 446.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants until last Sunday the 14th. An increase of almost 50% compared to the previous week, something that undoubtedly reminds us of the worst of the covid pandemic. Hospital admissions. One of the most striking points, since it can be clearly seen in hospital emergencies with long waits and a high number of patients waiting for a bed. And it is that revenue has increased by 17% until reaching 9 incomes per 100,000 inhabitants. Something that already is evident in the emergency room with patients waiting for beds, long waiting lines due to the flood of patients and a health system that is already beginning to be strained. Flu evolution in Spain by season. Source: ISCIII If we focus on the ages of the patients, those over 80 years of age have a rate of 56.2 cases per 100,000 people. But in children under one year old this figure drops to 48.8 cases. Unequal impact by communities. Although the trend is upward at the national level, the situation is not homogeneous. In the Community of Madrid, through the Notifiable Diseases system, 22,110 new flu cases during week 50. This is a figure that is quite far from other communities such as Castilla y León, which in the report WATCH reports a global rate of 149 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the case of influenza. Although in the case of acute respiratory infections in general this figure increases to 781 cases. Virus variant. Part of the blame for this great spread of the virus (at least much more than we saw in other years) is due to the variant k of the H3N2 influenza virus for which we were not entirely prepared. This has meant that the vaccine does not work 100%, and even generate certain doubts about the effectiveness of the campaign. What is clear is that it is mitigating part of its effects, minimizing its severity. This means that right now the recommendation to follow is to get vaccinated at the health center to have part of this protection. The holidays begin. The peak of the flu seems to be approaching, but there is still a very important event: Christmas dinners. A moment where there is a large accumulation of people in the same closed area and which can lead to a considerable increase in infections after these important dates. And the most relevant transmitter is undoubtedly the smallest in the house, who a priori may not show many symptoms or may even take much longer to show them. This makes it easy for them to spread it, especially for the older people in their environment who can develop a much more serious flu that may end up in a hospital. right now it’s starting to collapse. The forecast. As we say, the great ‘boom’ of the contagion curve is expected for this Christmas due to this number of contacts. But from here everything will begin to go downwards with the aim of recovering normality already into 2026. It must also be taken into account that this year the epidemic began earlier than expected, so it can also be seen that it will end earlier than what happened in other years. Images | Victory Brittany Colette In Xataka | Centuries later, tuberculosis remains a deadly disease. Now we have a shortcut to detect it: rats

The US has just sent an unprecedented package to Taiwan. Inside are the instructions and weapons against an invasion

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USA has announced one of the largest arms sales deals ever signed with Taiwan, a package valued at more than 11,000 million of dollars that includes medium-range missiles, HIMARS systemsself-propelled howitzers, suicide drones, military software and anti-tank ammunition. The message is loud and clear to reach 130 km away. A package with a copyto. Formally, the operation is presented as an upgrade of the island’s defensive capabilities and as fulfillment of the US legal obligation to help Taiwan defend itself. In practice, however, the agreement is a strategic message in every rule, carefully formulated to strengthen deterrence against China without altering the diplomatic framework of ambiguity that Washington has maintained for decades. The fact that the announcement came during a televised speech by Trump in which foreign policy was barely mentioned underlines the extent to which the gesture was intended more as a structural signal than an immediate rhetorical coup. Missiles, HIMARS and drones. The content of the package is not coincidental. HIMARS systems and ATACMS missiles, already tested on the Ukrainian battlefield, they are designed to hit long-range targets with great precision, greatly complicating any Chinese amphibious or air operation (without rhetoric, against an invasion). to it they add up self-propelled howitzers, Javelin and TOW missiles, and kamikaze drones designed to overwhelm and wear down an adversary superior in numbers. It is a clearly oriented military architecture to asymmetric war: It does not seek that Taiwan can defeat China, but that it can inflict costs so high and so fast that an invasion ceases to be a politically acceptable option in Beijing. Washington and Taipei insist that these are defensive weapons, but the type of capabilities included points to a strategy of denial of territory and airspace in the early stages of a conflict. The strategic ambiguity. The size of the agreement also has an internal reading in the United States. During Trump’s second term, part of the establishment security and the hardest sectors towards China had expressed doubts about their real commitment to the defense of Taiwan, especially in a negotiation context trade with Beijing. A package that exceeds 11,000 million of dollars, greater than the total volume sold during the Biden presidency and equivalent to more than half of what was approved in Trump’s first term, serves to dispel these suspicions. Without explicitly committing direct military intervention, Washington de facto reinforces his support for Taiwan and demonstrates that the so-called “strategic ambiguity” does not equal passivity. The message is twofold: to China, that the cost of coercion will continue to rise; and to US allies, that the US security network remains operational in the Asia-Pacific. The red line narrative. The Chinese reaction has been immediate and predictable. Beijing has condemned the agreement as a violation of its sovereignty and has warned that Taiwan is a “red line” that should not be crossed in Sino-US relations. In its official speech, the Communist Party insists that rearmament of the island only turns it into a powder keg and accelerates the risk of war. However, the intensity of the response also reflects an uncomfortable reality for China: each new weapons package raises the military and political threshold for any pressure action. While the People’s Liberation Army increases daily with flights, naval maneuvers and large-scale exercises, the United States reply silently strengthening Taiwan’s capacity for resistance, without the need to modify treaties or formally recognize its sovereignty. Taiwan and the internal cost. For Taipei, the agreement comes at a politically complex time. President Lai Ching-te has proposed a historic special budget of 40,000 million dollars for defense, which includes air defense systems like the T-Dome and a wide range of long-range capabilities, but faces resistance from an opposition that controls parliament and questions both the cost and effectiveness of previous purchases. Even so, there is a growing consensus on the island about the need to increase military spending to at least 5% of GDP in 2030, in line with Washington’s implicit demands. American protection is not free: it comes accompanied by political pressure, budgetary sacrifices and a profound transformation of the Taiwanese defensive structure. Ukraine as a precedent. The parallel with Ukraine is inevitable. The same systems as the United States has sent to kyiv to stop Russia now appear in the package destined for Taiwan. In both cases, the strategy is similar: do not intervene directly, but arm a partner until it becomes a credible military barrier against a revisionist power. In Europe, this model is applied in open war. In Asia, as prevention. The result is an increasingly clear pattern in Western security policy: finance and equip allies key to acting as the first line of deterrence, reducing the need for direct confrontation between great powers. The final message. He arms deal with Taiwan does not guarantee peace in the Strait, but it redefines its balance. The United States does not promise to defend Taiwan no matter what, but it does ensure that any attempt to force reunification will be expensive, lengthy and politically explosive. Taiwan, for its part, accept the role of an advanced bastion, assuming the economic cost and strategic risk that this implies. And China is getting a clear, if carefully worded, message: Washington is not seeking war, but neither will it allow the status quo to be broken without consequences. Like in Ukrainedeterrence is not articulated with grandiloquent words, but with missiles, rockets and drones. And on the global board, that language remains the most eloquent. Image | 中文（臺灣）：​中華民國總統府, NARA, 總統府 In Xataka | China does not need bombs or missiles to impose its law. It is called “panda diplomacy” and it has just been applied to Japan In Xataka | China is sending drones to an island 100 km from Taiwan. The problem is that Japan and the US are filling it with missiles

This 11-inch Samsung tablet comes with 256 GB and Dolby sound

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Tablets have become the favorite device for many when it comes to watching series and movies comfortably on the couch, in bed, or even while traveling. If you are thinking of buying one for yourself (or to give as a gift for Santa Claus or Three Wise Men), you now have this one on Amazon Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ by 259 euros. Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ 256GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A tablet with good features and a low price This Samsung A11+ is a tablet that offers great value for money. Its screen is 11 inches. If you buy it on Amazon, you will have a four-year warranty: the brand’s official three years plus an extended year from Amazon. It is modern, elegant and powerful, thanks to its Improved CPU and GPU. Integrates Gemini, Google’s Artificial Intelligence. To access it, you just have to press and hold the side button and you will receive help in real time. Its RAM is 8 GB and this discounted model comes with 256 GB internal storagewhich you can expand up to 2 TB using an SD card. Its battery supports fast charging at 25 W and, finally, its quad Dolby speakers can be highlighted that offer powerful and immersive sound. You may also be interested in these accessories CACOE Case Compatible with Samsung Galaxy Tab A11+ The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Active – 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 | Samsung In Xataka | Best SD cards for smartphones: which one to buy and seven recommended models for your phone In Xataka | Fast chargers for your mobile phone or tablet: best models to buy for their power and safety

Samsung opens the era of 2nm chips with the Exynos 2600. Chances are we won’t notice much

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Samsung has announced officially the Exynos 2600 SoC. This smartphone chip is especially notable for one particular feature: it is the first to be manufactured with 2 nm photolithography. The question, of course, is whether that will change things much. Why is it important. Node jumps in photolithographic processes are especially striking because they usually lead to significant improvements in performance and efficiency. By reducing the scale it is possible to fit more transistors in the same space, which in essence ends up giving us “more for the same.” The Samsung Exynos 2600 goes precisely in that direction. The data. Samsung’s new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) boasts above all of that new 2nm GAA (Gate-All-Around) manufacturing process, and is composed of the following elements: CPU: ten cores in total. The configuration features one 3.8 GHz C1-Ultra core, three 3.25 GHz C1-Pro cores, and six 2.75 GHz C1-Pro cores. GPU: Samsung Xclipse 960 NPU: 32K MAC What can we expect. According to Samsung, this new CPU increases performance by 39% compared to the Exynos 2500. The Xclipse 960 GPU manages to double the computing capacity of its predecessor and 50% more performance in ray-tracing. And finally, the NPU allows 113% more performance than its predecessor, which will allow you to enjoy AI functions in a theoretically notable way. 320 MP sensors. Another of the differentiating elements of this SoC is the support for sensors of up to 320 MP, in addition to offering zero latency for captures of up to 108 MP. Or what is the same: you take snapshots thanks to that processing capacity. It is also compatible with 8K recording at 30 fps and 4K at 120 fps with HDR. Less throttling. One of the most important novelties of these chips is Heath Path Block technology (HPB). This system improves thermal conductivity using new materials, which reduces thermal resistance and helps the chip maintain high performance for longer. It will therefore be more difficult for us to notice drops in chip performance due to potential overheating, for example in gaming sessions with the mobile phone that integrates this SoC. If that promise is fulfilled, we would be facing a potential solution to a problem that has traditionally been criticized in Exynos chips. Will we notice anything? The truth is that current SoCs are already true computing beasts in all sections and usually give so much room for maneuver that it is difficult to notice differences between them in our daily lives. That perception is misleading, because these hardware advances allow us to take advantage of that performance and efficiency “without realizing it.” Increasingly better photos captured and processed instantly, absolute fluidity in the interface even with high resolutions and refresh rates, or of course gaming in increasingly demanding games are scenarios in which these chips do their best. remains to be seen if Google finally goes ahead with its “PC mode”an area in which having powerful chips like this can offer a user experience much closer to the usual laptop/PC. Competition for Qualcomm. Theoretically, the Samsung chip will be able to compete head to head with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Some previous leaks That’s what they pointed out, but without a doubt we could be facing a great option for a market that will certainly benefit from that competition. Prepared for the Galaxy S26. Samsung is expected to use the new Exynos 2600 in its Galaxy S26 series, although it is not clear at the moment whether that decision will be global and will depend on the region. A global commitment would allow, for example, to integrate this chip on the Galaxy S26 and use Qualcomm chips only in the S26 Ultra, but everything remains to be confirmed. Of course, that type of strategy would be the definitive litmus test for Samsung Foundry, which in recent years has clearly been one step behind in performance and efficiency compared to its competitors. In Xataka | The Samsung Galaxy S26 will be much more than a phone for Samsung: the future of Exynos depends on it

Mathematicians have a simple way to increase the odds of winning the jackpot. Another thing is that it compensates

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By more than try Abel Caballero, the beginning of Christmas (at least in Spain) is not marked by the lighting of the lights of Vigo, but by a much more consolidated tradition: the raffle of the Christmas Lottery. Every December 22, thousands of Spaniards tune in to TV, radio or press the ‘F5’ key on their computers every so often in the hope that the children of San Idelfonso sing your number. However, the probability of this happening is very low, as much as choosing a name at random from the census of a city and getting it right. The question is… Are there ways to expand that probability? 1 in 100,000. The Christmas Lottery generates excitement and makes thousands of Spaniards get out of bed on December 22 with a special tingle: the hope of seeing how their bank accounts suddenly add a handful more zeros. That is undeniable. Just as it is that, if we leave aside the illusion, the chances of our tenth(s) winning are very small. Lower case. The data speaks for itself and leaves little room for hope: in the hype 100,000 balls enter with numbers from 00000 to 99,999. Your number has the same exit options as the other 99,999, one 0.001% probability. Mathematics VS hope. “In these cases the probability is easy to calculate. Since all numbers are equally probable (there is a ball for each number), it would be calculated with Laplace’s rule: the number of favorable cases divided by the number of possible cases,” comments Miguel Ángel Morales, mathematician and author of the blog Gaussians for almost two decades. “Assuming that we have only one tenth, the probability of winning El Gordo would be 1 (there is only one Gordo) in 100,000 (since there are 100,000 numbers that enter the draw). That is, a probability of 0.00001.” What does that mean? Since talking about drums, tenths and statistics can be too abstract, Morales transfers the figures to something we are much more accustomed to: people. In this case we would exchange the tenths for cards and the drums for the municipal registry of a medium-sized city. “Let’s imagine that we have a DNI of someone from Santiago de Compostela and a list with the names of all its inhabitants (about 1,000,000),” reflects the professor. “The probability would be similar to the one we have of choosing one of those names at random and turning out to be the person with the DNI that we had at the beginning.” “If we talk about the total number of prizes, the way to calculate the probability would be the same: we would have to change the 1 (a single Gordo) for the number of prizes. Sticking to the main prizes, as there is a First, a Second, a Third, two Fourths and eight Fifths, the probability of getting a main prize with a single tenth would be 13 divided by 100000, 0.00013.” The big question. There is no Christmas without its Lottery and there is no draw in which it is not considered the same question: Do we have any way to increase our chances of success, however slim they may be? Is there any way to scratch a little more probability, even a few tenths? The answer is yes. And not. The starting data is what it is, but precisely for this reason our chances of being happy on the morning of December 22 increase as the number of different tenths that we have in our portfolio increases. More options? More tenths? “The only way to increase the probabilities is, effectively, to buy more tenths of different numbers,” confirms Morales. “If we have five of different numbers, the probability of winning the jackpot would be 5 in 100,000, which is 0.00005. There are no more mathematical ways to increase the probability of winning a prize.” That is, if what you want is to “maximize” your chances of success, you will have no choice but to put more eggs in the basket. Having more bills of the same number (even if you have a hunch) will only help you win more money in case that combination wins, it does not increase your options. “Speaking of refund, the probability would be one in ten if we have a single tenth. Obviously, buying more tenths with different endings would help us have a greater probability of getting that refund,” he adds. And Doña Manolita or the ‘tricks’? The Christmas Lottery is not only peculiar because of the Gordo, the stones and its symbolic value. It is also because in it statistics and pure hunch go hand in hand (just like in other games of chance). Hence there are people willing to endure long lines outside to buy a tenth at Doña Manolita or to always play the same number, perhaps a special number that coincides with your birthday or the date your child was born. Works? Do these ‘tricks’ improve our chances? Morales is very clear about whether the latter (repeating a number year after year) influences our fortunes: “No, it does not increase it. All draws are independent, which means that what comes out in a draw does not depend on what happened in the previous ones. They have no memory. Mathematically speaking, always playing the same number does not increase the probability of winning.” The administrations of “luck”. There is also no difference between buying a tenth at the corner fruit shop or doing it in administrations so famous like Doña Manolita, The Bruixa d’OrLotería Valdés or El Gato Negro. Manuel García, an expert in Statistics at the European University, was also very clear about this a few days ago in an interview with the diary ACE. “They give out more prizes because they sell more numbers, not because they are luckier. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy effect. It’s very important because since it has that reputation (I don’t know how it originates) people usually go there to buy. They are the ones that … Read more

Netflix entrusted him with more than 70 million for a series. He came with zero episodes and a luxury mattress bill of $638,000

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Carl Rinsch, director of the semi-unknown Keanu Reeves film ’47 Ronin’ has been convicted of defrauding $11 million to Netflix. For the production of a science fiction series that was never made… nor was it planned to be made. Electronic fraud, money laundering and illegal transactions are the charges for this ingenious scoundrel who dared to tease one of the giants modern audiovisual corporations. What happened. The ‘White Horse’ project, later renamed ‘Conquest’, started in 2018 as an ambitious science fiction series about an artificial humanoid species that rebels against its creators. Netflix beat out Amazon, Apple and HBO in a bidding war for the rights to the series, disbursing more than 61 million dollars and granting Rinsch final creative control. 44 million dollars later and after filming in Uruguay, Brazil and Hungary, there was nothing on Mr. Netflix’s table. Crazy investments. In March 2020, as the pandemic spread, Rinsch requested an additional 11 million to, supposedly, complete the series. For some reason, Netflix agreed: Rinsch transferred the funds directly to personal accounts and speculated with stock options for Gilead Sciences, the pharmaceutical company that wanted to end COVID-19 (and COVID finished with her), losing approximately half of the capital in weeks. He later invested in Dogecointurning 4 million into 27. With the profits he unleashed a consumerist hurricane that resulted in five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari worth 2.4 million dollars, two Hästens mattresses handcrafted in Sweden valued at 638,000 dollars, Swiss watches worth 387,000 and antique furniture valued at 3.3 million. Netflix canceled the project in 2021 after receiving only some promotional fragments of the hypothetical series. The sentence. In an unusual strategy, Rinsch chose to testify in his own defensemaintaining that the 11 million constituted a legitimate reimbursement for own capital invested in the project, and that the material already shot served as a negotiation tool to secure a second season that Netflix would never formally authorize. The prosecution presented bank statements showing direct transfers from the production budget to Rinsch’s personal accounts. Why did it happen? To understand this series of misfortunes for Netflix’s pocket, we must contextualize when it occurred: between 2018 and 2020, Netflix was at the center of a kind of streaming “gold rush”, with spending on content that reached $17.3 billion in 2020. The platform then accumulated 45% of global spending on streaming content since 2010, doubling the investment of your closest competitorAmazon Prime Video. The war for creative talent intensified with the launch of Disney+ in November 2019, followed by HBO Max, Apple TV+ and Peacock. Those were the times when, seeking to create a consistent catalog, Netflix prioritized quantity over quality. In this context, Netflix gave Rinsch that final cut for fear of losing the project to rivals. Other frauds. Rinsch is not an isolated case in an industry increasingly vulnerable to fraud. David Ozer, producer with credentials at Starz Media and Sony Pictures Television, serves sentence after diverting more than $200,000 from the ‘Safehaven’ budget. More recently, in August 2025, David Raymond Brown was accused of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme for 12 million dollars: the producer created a fictitious company that issued invoices for non-existent or already paid services and falsified his profile on IMDb to attract more investors. Header | Dima Solomin in Unsplash

which 13 phones from Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO stop receiving updates

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We are going to tell you the Xiaomi mobiles that They will stop receiving updates in 2026. This marks the end of support for the devices, which will neither have new versions of Android nor security updates. You will still be able to use them, but they will no longer be as safe. Therefore, we are going to give you the mobile list for support purposes, so that if your mobile appears in it know that its useful life in terms of software is over. Xiaomi will consider them as dead. And then, it will depend on you whether you continue using them or not. These are devices that reached the market between 2022 and 2023. Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO phones without support in 2026 Below, we leave you the list of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices that will stop receiving updates. Remember that this It does not mean that the mobile stops workingbut you will no longer receive new features and security improvements against upcoming viruses and malware. These are the devices and the date your support ends in 2026: Xiaomi 12 – Support ends in the first quarter of 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 3 and Android 15) Xiaomi 12 Pro – Support ends in the first quarter of 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 3 and Android 15) Xiaomi 12X – Support ends in March 2026 Xiaomi 12 Lite – Support ends in March 2026 Xiaomi 12T – Support ends in October 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) Xiaomi 12T Pro – Support ends in October 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 3 and Android 15) Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G – Support ends in October 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G – Support ends in October 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) Redmi Note 12 5G – Support ends in March 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) Redmi Note 12 4G – Support ends in April 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) LITTLE F5 5G – Support ends in May 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) POCO X5 5G – Support ends in the first quarter of 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) POCO X5 Pro 5G – Support ends in the first quarter of 2026 (it will stay on HyperOS 2 and Android 15) Cover image | Ivan Linares In Xataka Basics | HyperOS 3 on Xiaomi phones: these are the 13 models that are already updated, and the other nine from Redmi and POCO that will update later

Volkswagen is going to stop manufacturing the combustion Polo due to new emission regulations

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The future of the Volkswagen Polo will be electric or it will not be. This is what Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen, has come to say. The company’s head believes that there is no way to launch a future combustion Polo if emissions requirements do not change. And the European Commission’s proposal changes the situation very little for this type of car. Electric or electric. “Offering new models with a gasoline engine in the size of the Polo and below does not make sense considering future emissions regulations. They would be too expensive for our customers. The future in this segment is electric.” The words are from Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen, in an interview with the German media Auto Motor und Sport. In it, the top executive of the brand points out that it makes no sense to launch a new Volkswagen Polo with a combustion engine because the development costs could not be amortized if the car is to be kept at a competitive price. Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised? It must be taken into account that the disappearance of the Polo It has already been advanced in 2022 when it was thought that the car would die. Then it was already said that the company was not going to invest money in developing small cars with combustion engines and it seems that the idea remains. The Polo ID. In 2022, Volkswagen was considering eliminating the Polo name. As the years went by and seeing the public’s reception, the company has finally decided to call the electric that comes to occupy this space as Volkswagen ID.Polodiscarding the ID.2 designation finally. At the moment, little is known about the car, other than that it should start at less than 25,000 euros and that will be manufactured in Spain. That and throughout the Volkswagen Group they have the same approach to the combustion car: there will be no new cheap options. Seat, for example, will not launch combustion cars of this size to renew the current Ibiza but it will not do the same with electric until they are cheap enough. The regulations. In his statements Schäfer points to the emissions regulations that Europe has ahead. To start, Volkswagen has until 2027 to record its average emissions of cars sold since this year below 93.6 gr/km of CO2 if you don’t want to incur heavy fines. According to data collected by Motor.esthe Germans had the possibility of receiving more than 1.5 billion euros in fines on the table. These emissions must be halved by 2030 and non-existent by 2035. But hadn’t they changed? At the moment, no. Although everything indicates that there will be subtle changes. However, with the European Commission proposalthose who benefit within the Volkswagen Group are Audi, Porsche or Lamborghini since the cars with combustion engines that can be sold will be very expensive. And the proposal has to be approved by the European Parliament and the Member States (the Council of the EU). However, if it goes ahead, which is most likely, the important changes will be the following: The emissions. To get an idea of ​​the impossibility of complying with these limits by selling small combustion cars, a Volkswagen Polo with a 1.0 three-cylinder engine and 80 HP emits 119 gr/km of CO2. The company would have to sell more than a dozen electric cars to offset each sale of a combustion Polo of this type. Something unthinkable. And small cars are the ones that less profit margin left to a company. That is why the amortization of developments must be achieved by selling a very high volume of cars. If not, the price must be raised and the car is anticompetitive in a part of the market that is more susceptible to price changes. That leaves Volkswagen’s hands tied. The development of a platform for small electric vehicles to comply with emissions regulations has already eaten up money that cannot be invested in launching a new combustion-powered Volkswagen Polo with another stream of money in development included with such a short commercial life ahead. In fact, if Volkswagen does not sell enough electric vehicles He is not even interested in selling the current Volkswagen Polo. On the horns of a dilemma. The biggest problem this leaves us with is that the client finds himself between a rock and a hard place. For a purely technical issue, buying a four-meter electric car can be a very good solution for everyday life. Having a plug at home is perfect and the more kilometers we travel daily, the cheaper it will be for the customer. But the owner of an electric car of this type has a problem when he goes on a trip. And the price savings you are going to pay with discomfort. An electric car of this size is leaving us with versions with batteries of between 40 and 50 kWh to meet the 25,000 euros mark and that leaves us with real autonomy on the road of between 200 and 250 kilometers in the best of cases. This situation is causing the small electric car to not gain enough traction in the market. And if this type of car doesn’t start, the industry has a problem because emissions limits are already on the table and They need to multiply electric sales to comply with the figures that Europe has put on the table. Photo | Volkswagen In Xataka | I went out for a weekend with the Renault 5. This is all that awaits anyone who buys a cheap electric car

“During the process with Amazon we did not bring innovation to the market for 18 months”

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There’s something liberating about talking to someone who doesn’t have to defend decisions they didn’t make. Gary Cohen He came to iRobot in 2024 to be its CEO when the founder, Colin Angle, He jumped ship after the collapse of the deal with Amazon. Now, more than a year later, from an office in Bedford where he has just renewed his lease – a gesture of permanence in the midst of chaos – he has spoken to Xataka with the frankness of who has had to choose between dignified death and pragmatic survival. “My goal is to make Colin proud,” he says of the departed founder. “He calls it ‘his baby.’ I want to make him feel like we were able to turn this company around.” It’s a curious statement coming from who just sold that baby to Picea Roboticsthe Chinese manufacturer that will now own the company that invented the home robot vacuum cleaner. Dead in the closet At one point in the conversation, Cohen drops an image that sticks: “I have hundreds of dead lawnmower robots in this building.” It refers to Terra project, iRobot’s failed attempt to expand beyond vacuum cleaners. These technological corpses are the perfect metaphor for a company that was ahead of the market… but did not know how to convert that advantage into products that arrived on time. Original sin was go all in on elegant but impractical technology. Colin Angle, a brilliant roboticist at MIT, insisted on camera-based navigation as Chinese competitors adopted LiDAR. Exactly the same as Tesla’s approach to Chinese cars, by the way. “Consumers want to map their homes in twenty minutes, not two hours,” Cohen explains with the wisdom of someone who comes from selling razors at Gillette, not robots. Two hundred software engineers worked at Machine Learning to make that vision work. Meanwhile, companies like Ecovacs or Roborock were overtaking them from the right with cheaper products and, to iRobot’s pain, technologically superior according to many customers. “During the period with Amazon, the management team took its foot off the gas and we didn’t bring innovation to market for about 18 months.” This confession about the 18 months of paralysis while they waited the approval of the sale to Amazon for 1.7 billion It’s devastating. The company was frozen, unable to react as the market moved at Chinese speed. It was not until the last year, already working with Picea, when iRobot incorporated LiDAR into its range. When European regulators ended up blocking the operation to “protect competition,” anddestiny was sealed. The irony hurts: those European regulators prevented an American company from buying another American company, and the result is that it has ended up being absorbed by a Chinese company that played its cards well. When I point out this paradox, Cohen responds cautiously and diplomatically: “This was not a hostile takeover. We went to them.” The creditor’s embrace The relationship with Picea began like many dependency relationships: out of necessity. iRobot I owed them 161 million in manufacturing costs when Cohen took over. They needed to completely reinvent themselves, and they needed to do it quickly. In less than a year they launched eight new models“finally giving the people what they wanted, including LiDAR navigation and scrubbing combo products.” But the final blow came from the tariffs. 46% on imports from Vietnamwhere they manufacture for the US market. $23 million extra in costs in 2025 alone. “Some potential buyers looked at our business and said ‘we don’t want to take risks until the tariff situation is resolved.’” The candidates evaporated one by one. When the last potential buyer couldn’t close the deal, Cohen made the pragmatic decision. “We told Picea: you have a great partnership with us, why don’t you buy from us?” And in one month they closed the deal that turns the supplier, creditor and competitor, all in onein owner. The promise of continuity “Is business as usual. iRobot is here to stay. “We don’t expect any disruption.” Cohen insists Roombas will continue to work, apps will maintain their service and support will continue. For the millions of users (in Spain, where “Roomba” has become as synonymous with a robot vacuum cleaner as “Kleenex” is with a handkerchief) this is the only thing that matters. The offices will remain: Bedford, Tokyo, Madrid, London. Or so the CEO claims. The MIT engineers who form the ‘iRobot Labs’ will continue working. “We have intellectual property that we contribute. They have patents. Together we will be able to differentiate products much more.” The official narrative is optimistic because think about the perfect marriage between American innovation and Chinese efficiency. But when I ask how much of the new product line was actually developed by iRobot, the answer says a lot without saying, “It’s been a partnership.” The most innovative features, such as the compactor container wave retractable scrub roller coverwere developed by Picea. The value of being late “You have to treat every day as if you were second or third, not as if you were first.” It is the advice that Cohen would give to technology entrepreneurs, born from his experience at Gillette when they had 60% of the market but acted as challengers. At some point, iRobot forgot that lesson between its IPO in 2005 and its forced sale for a fraction of its peak value. “My goal,” Cohen says near the end, “is to make customers like your mother happy.” You are referring to my comment about how difficult it was for my mother to set up her Roomba. It’s a modest promise for a company that dreamed of revolutionizing domestic robotics, but maybe realism is exactly what they need now. There is something moving about Cohen defending a company he didn’t build, trying to save half a thousand jobs, promising to honor the legacy of a founder who is no longer here. “Colin was a visionary,” he says, then honestly adds that they couldn’t execute that vision. The future has a … Read more

Why 20°C “ice slush” changes our search for extraterrestrial life

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Titan, the crown jewel of the moons of saturnjust gave us a slap of reality. For two decades, the official narrative of space exploration focused on what was hidden beneath its thick haze. a vast global ocean of liquid water. But now we know that we were wrong, or at least, it was not as we imagined. The study. Led by Flavio Petricca, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from NASAand published this December 17, 2025 in Nature magazineproposes a radically different model: Titan does not have an interconnected ocean, but a dense, viscous layer of “slush ice” with pockets of trapped liquid water. The 15 hour lag. The Cassini probe ended its mission in 2017 crashing into Saturn, but its data remains a gold mine for physicists. Petricca’s team has therefore decided to reanalyze the probe’s Doppler data, that is, the changes in frequency in the radio signals generated by the moon’s gravity. But now with the most modern processing techniques that we have developed. The result of the analysis is a 15-hour lag in Titan’s tidal response. This means that when Saturn exerts its brutal force of gravity on Titan, the moon deforms as if stretched. In this way, if on its surface there would be pure waterthe response would be almost instantaneous as it is liquid. But what they saw is a 15-hour delay that indicated that the interior is highly viscous. What is it? The data collected suggests that the material on Titan behaves more like a pasty glacier or extremely dense slush. What seems ruled out is free-flowing water, where the existence of life in the future was already pointed out. A new Titan. With all the data that has been collected, it has been possible to completely define everything we knew about the internal geology of Saturn’s largest moon. Specifically, it is now known that the rock core has a radius of 2.26 km, and the layer that surrounds it is formed by high-pressure ice mixed with water. Although not everything has to be so cold, it also has hot water pockets due to the internal heat. This is what keeps liquid water lakes near the rock core at about 20ºC. The question of life. At first glance, eliminating a global ocean of liquid water may seem like a bad idea for astrobiologists who had hoped for life here. But for the members of this study, the opposite is true. In the new “slush” model, the liquid water in the pockets is in direct contact with the rock core. This is very important, as it allows the water to dissolve essential nutrients from the rose and also have a temperature of 20°C which is ideal for complex chemical reactions. But also, having a small size, all these components are more concentrated. Dragonfly. This discovery puts all the pressure on this NASA mission whose launch It is planned from 2028. Dragonfly is an octocopter designed to fly over the surface of Titan, but its most important instrument in this context is its seismometer. What was expected is that this mission would measure the tides of a deep ocean. Now their mission will be to confirm whether seismic waves propagate through this viscous “hail.” In the event that the characteristic vibrations are detected, we will have confirmed that Titan is the most promising chemical laboratory in our solar system. Images | Wikipedia Matt Hardy In Xataka | NASA changes hands in the middle of the space race with China: private astronaut Jared Isaacman will be its new director

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