Month: December 2025

The EU already has a date to charge Chinese platforms at least three euros per package. Temu had been preparing for a long time

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Buying something cheap online has become an almost automatic gesture for many. A pair of t-shirts, a mobile accessory or a small gadget that costs little more than a coffee arrives at home in a few days, often from platforms such as Shein, AliExpress or Temu. It is not an isolated perception. The compliance reports themselves under the Digital Services Law They show the extent to which these platforms have been integrated into the day-to-day life of digital consumption in the Old Continent. This change in habits has a very concrete translation in figures and logistics. In 2024, the European Union received 4.6 billion low-value shipments, equivalent to more than twelve million a day. According to the European Commission91% of these shipments came from China, a constant flow that has not only grown exponentially in recent years, but has put customs and control systems, designed for another volume and another reality of international trade, under unprecedented pressure. What changes come and when. Brussels’ response to this scenario has a calendar and concrete measures. It has been agreed to apply a fixed tariff of three euros to items contained in small shipments that enter the European Union and have a value of less than 150 euros. We are facing a transitional solution that will begin to be applied on July 1, 2026 and that will serve as a bridge until the entry into operation of the new European customs systemwith a large data node to centralize information and improve risk management, and with a community authority to coordinate and homogenize the application of the rules. The EU has been working for some time on a structural reform of its customs union to unify data, streamline procedures and strengthen supervision at community level. The creation of a common information system and a European customs authority seeks to correct the fragmentation between Member States, a problem that the massive increase in small shipments has made evident. Faced with increasingly atomized and low-value trade, Brussels aspires to a different model, with more coordination and a more homogeneous application of the rules throughout the internal market. Behind the scenes of the measure. The political impulse behind this reform responds to several fronts open at the same time. On the one hand, European authorities have been warning for years about undervaluation practices that distort competition and penalize businesses that do comply with the rules. Added to this are “risks to the health and safety of consumers, high levels of fraud and environmental concerns.” When is the fee paid? The key to this measure is the moment in which the tax is activated. The three-euro tariff is applied when the merchandise enters the European Union, that is, at the time of importation. This implies a fundamental difference for our purchases. If the product is shipped directly from outside the EU, the shipping is subject to that rate. Things change when the order leaves a warehouse located within the single market, the package does not cross a customs border again and the tax is not activated in this case because the import should have occurred earlier. The document approved by the EU does not say at any time that the consumer will pay this tariff directly. The rule is limited to establishing that the tax will be applied to the goods at the time of their importation. From there, the logic of the market suggests that it will be the platforms, sellers or logistics operators who manage the payment before the customs authority and then decide how to integrate that cost. In practice, the most common thing is that it ends up being reflected in the final price or in the costs of the order, that is, we would see it reflected at the time of “checkout” of our purchase. Three euros per product or per item? The Council document is precise in one key nuance. The tariff is defined as a fixed charge of three euros on items contained in small shipments, and not as a flat rate per package or as a surcharge for each individual unit. This choice of words indicates that the calculation is linked to the declared content of the shipment, and not only to the box in which it travels. In the absence of a more detailed operational guide from the authorities, and following the usual logic of customs, this allows us to interpret that several identical products would be grouped under the same item. For example, if an order includes three pairs of sneakers and three watches, the tax would not be applied six times, but rather once for the sneakers and once for the watches. That is, three euros for each type of product included in the shipment, and not for each unit purchased. Temu anticipates the change. Faced with this new scenario, Temu has been adjusting its model in Europe for some time. The platform has reinforced agreements with local logistics operators to expand delivery options and support its local seller program, with a bid to serve more orders from within the community market. In its official communications, the company notes that it expects local sellers and logistical compliance within the EU represent up to 80% of its European sales, a strategy that seeks to gain agility, shorten deadlines and adapt to a more demanding regulatory environment. The key question is whether this model pays off. Centralizing stock in the EU provides control and speed, but requires better selection of which products are offered and in what quantities. The calendar, in any case, is already defined and the countdown for the changes in the community customs system to come into force is underway. At the same time, e-commerce platforms are starting to respond. Everything indicates that part of this adjustment will end up being reflected in higher prices for some products from China, although its real scope will depend on how logistics is reorganized in the coming months. Images | Xataka with Grok | Olga Nayda In Xataka … Read more

We thought only marijuana growers were stealing electricity. Now it turns out that supermarkets too

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While the city slows down and most businesses close, some supermarkets continue to operate normally. They open at dawn, keep the lights on and the cold rooms running. For years, this constant consumption barely attracted attention. Until last December 2, a joint action by the Civil Guard, the National Police and the Urban Police revealed that several supermarkets in Barcelona were obtaining electricity through illegal connections to the grid. Under the magnifying glass. It was not a specific case or a single neighborhood. The inspections were distributed across Nou Barris, Sant Andreu, Sant Martí, Gràcia, Eixample and Ciutat Vella. In total, 26 supermarkets, and in 24 of them the electricity did not go through the meter. The Civil Guard opened proceedings against 26 people, of Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationality, for an alleged crime of electricity fraud. They were not small isolated businesses. Most operated as franchise supermarkets, some open 24 hours a day and belonging to well-known chains, according to The Newspaper. The performance, named Nihariwas carried out with the collaboration of Endesa technicians and Labor and Social Security inspectors, and ended with the immediate cutting off of supply in the establishments, as reported by the Urban Guard. Electricity tapped into the network. The investigation began after a complaint filed by Endesa before the Civil Guard, as pointed out The Vanguard. The electricity company had detected a suspicious pattern: businesses that, due to their activity and schedules, recorded anomalous or non-existent consumption in their contracts. Once inside the premises, the technicians verified that the electricity was obtained through illegal connections directly to the general network or public lighting. Manipulations without any type of protection or technical review, designed to avoid paying the energy bill. The fraud amounts to 2.85 million kilowatts, a figure equivalent to the annual consumption of 814 homes. A crime with risk of fire. The Civil Guard remembers, as collected The Newspaperthat illegal connections lack safety systems, adequate insulation and protection against overloads, which significantly increases the possibility of short circuits and fires. The danger is aggravated by the location of many of these supermarkets: commercial basements of residential buildings, with a large influx of people and proximity to garages, storage rooms and common areas. In this sense, the Urban Guard emphasizes that electrical fraud It is not only a crime against the energy system, but also a citizen security problem. Much more than light. The operation uncovered a wide catalog of irregularities. During the inspections, the National Police identified 59 people. Of them, five have been considered victims of labor exploitation and another five are in an irregular administrative situation. In addition, the Barcelona Urban Guard drew up 87 minutes for administrative infractions related to safety, hygiene and regulatory compliance. Among them, blocked emergency exits, absence of fire extinguishers, impractical bathrooms, lack of mandatory signs, sale of expired or spoiled food, and carrying out the activity without a license. For its part, the Civil Guard opened 16 cases due to smuggling, incorrect labeling of products, unmarked surveillance cameras, sales receipts without the businessman’s data and manipulation of scales, with a weighing favorable to the merchant. The absence of a food handling card was also detected in some workers. The same fraud, another showcase. What was previously detected in boarded-up floors and linked industrial warehouses to illegal marijuana cultivation It now appears in all-night supermarkets. The investigation confirm that electrical fraud has ceased to be a strictly clandestine phenomenon and has become established, in some cases, in apparently normal activities facing the public. The scenario changes, but not the crime. And neither are the risks. Image | Release and freepik Xataka | Spain lights up for Christmas, but an uncomfortable doubt arises on some rooftops

where, how and when to enjoy the December meteor shower

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The year is ending, and the last great astronomical event is here. It is about the Geminidswhich comes every mid-December to put a final touch on the year, and rejoice in our preparations for Christmas. It is the last great meteor shower of this 2025. And we are going to tell you where, how and when you can enjoy this meteor showerso that if you want to do it you don’t have problems. We are going to tell you in a simple and summarized way. It is a fairly intense meteor shower, with up to 150 meteors per hour expected. When are the Geminids 2025 The Geminids of this 2025 will visit us December 13 and 14. Its moment of maximum splendor will be at 2:30 in the morning on December 14 in Spanish peninsular time, 1:30 in the Canary Islands. The time of its maximum splendor is due to the fact that it will be when the sky is without a moon, and with only a strip of 28% of illumination. However, you can also see them at other times of those days, as well as on previous and subsequent days as well, although in this case with less intensity. How and where to see the Geminids You can see the Geminids anywhere on the peninsulaas well as in the Canary Islands. As for where to look, it is advisable to place your center of vision about 30 degrees away from the radiant (near the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini), with the constellations of Taurus, Orion and Canis Major being the most suitable. The only requirement to be able to see them clearly is to go to an elevated area with a clear sky. It is also important to have as little light pollution as possible, which is why it is advisable to stay away from cities and urban centres. In Xataka | Meteor showers, planetary alignments and lunar phases: all the astronomical events that we have in view

The US has joined the “party” of China, Russia and Japan in the Pacific: with its nuclear bombers

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As if it were an air parade of an air force planetarythe sky of the Asia-Pacific has become a scene of military exhibitions that have rarely been seen outside of a major war conflict. It happens that these fireworks can lead with a single spark into something very different. The improvised aerial party. As we said, the sky of Asia is a tour de force where every time it hides lessand where you patrol, joint exercises and strategic flights function as political messages in broad daylight. Russia and China have been setting the pace with bombers and fighters over disputed seas, Japan responds by raising the profile of its air defense and, now, the United States has decided to join visibly to this choreography of power, incorporating its strategic bombers into a dynamic that reflects the extent to which the region has become one of the epicenters of global rivalry. Bombers Made in USA. The joint flight of two American B-52s with Japanese fighters over the Sea of ​​Japan represents a qualitative leap in the signal sent from Washington, not so much because of its technical novelty as because of its symbolic load. The presence of bombers capable of carry nuclear weapons escorted by Japanese F-35s and F-15s, publicly reinforces the idea that the alliance between both countries is not rhetorical, but operational, and that the United States is willing to support Tokyo with strategic assets at a time of maximum friction with Beijing. The background. This show of force does not arise in a vacuum, but in the midst of an accelerated deterioration of relations between China and Japan that we have been telling, fed by the statements from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on a possible conflict scenario around Taiwan. Beijing considers these words a direct provocation and has responded combining diplomatic pressure, economic threats and a notable increase in military activity near Japanese airspace and disputed islands, raising the risk of unwanted incidents. Russia enters the scene. The previous presence of russian bombers Flying alongside Chinese aircraft near Japan and South Korea adds an additional layer of complexity to the scenario, projecting an image of strategic coordination against US allies in the region. For Tokyo, these joint patrols are not routine exercises, but a clear sign of directed pressure, which explains why the Japanese response has involved reinforcing its coordination with Washington and unambiguously accept the presence of high-profile American assets. Washington balances muscle. Although the White House has tried to reduce the drama of these flights, pointing out that they were planned in advance, the regional context gives them meaning. hard to ignore. The United States tries to maintain a delicate balance: show military commitment to Japan and deter China without completely breaking the channels of dialogue with Beijing, especially at a time when Washington continues to seek commercial stability and avoid an open escalation in the Pacific. An increasingly charged sky. With fighters blocking radarsstrategic bombers crossing disputed seas and joint exercises Happening at an almost routine pace, the airspace of East Asia has become a board where each flight counts as a political statement. The explicit input of the United States in this aerial “party” confirms that the fight between China and Japan is no longer just bilateral, but a broader reflection of the competition between great powers, one in which bombers and fighters seem to speak louder (and clearer) than diplomatic communications. Image | Japan’s Ministry of Defense In Xataka | That Chinese and Russian bombers patrol together is not surprising. That they do it against Japan and South Korea has had an immediate response In Xataka | If the question is how far the tension between China and Japan has escalated, the answer is disturbing: they are targeting each other.

Huawei is building its own alternative ecosystem to CUDA. If it succeeds, NVIDIA will have a serious problem

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When talking about NVIDIA, almost all the focus is on the hardware: the H100Blackwell, racksenergy consumption, nanometers… It is understandable, but it is a mistake. The defensive moat – the moat– NVIDIA is not the hardware. Is CUDA. CUDA is not an add-on to the chip, it is the de facto standard upon which most of the AI ​​code on the planet is written, optimized and debugged. Changing GPUs without changing CUDA does not exist. And switching from CUDA means rewriting years of work. That is why it is a moat. Why is it important. Huawei’s big bet is not to “make a Chinese H100.” It is to build a path for the developer to reach Ascend without feeling like you are changing planets. The restrictions are accelerating it. Exports have split the world in two: An ecosystem that revolves around NVIDIA. And another that China is trying to lift against the clock. In that second, Huawei is not just playing chips: is playing “ecosystem”in AI and outside of it. And therein lies the nuance: you can be years behind in chips and still reduce dependency if you get the software to swallow. In detail. Huawei is attacking the problem on three fronts, with a pragmatically Chinese logic: not to replace everything at once, but to open shortcuts. Native stack (CANN + MindSpore). It is your “pure” alternative: your own environment and your own tools to get the most out of Ascend. The cost today is high, there are complaints of instability, the documentation is rather messy, and the community is much smaller. PyTorch support. This is the most strategic move. Huawei does not try to make the world love its framework– Try to ensure that the world doesn’t have to leave PyTorch. torch_npu acts as an adapter to run PyTorch models on Ascend, but with one problem: it is not native and suffers with every PyTorch change. If PyTorch advances and your backend lags behind, the developer notices. Portability via ONNX. Here Huawei looks for its best window: inference and deployment, not training. ONNX works as a bridge format: you train where you can (often NVIDIA) and deploy to Ascend. It’s a less romantic and more useful approach: if shortages hit, moving inference to local hardware is an immediate relief. Between the lines. The real story is that Huawei is trying to replicate the “trick” that made NVIDIA great: turning its hardware into an experience. That’s why the tactic that explains everything appears: putting engineers in the client’s home to migrate code and optimize it. It is not scalable as a business model, but it is scalable as a transition model: you buy time while you mature tools, libraries and support. And there is another derivative: if China gets enough teams to adopt Ascend out of necessity, over time that can become habit and then infrastructure. Not because it is better, but because it is already integrated. Yes, but. Huawei has two limits that cannot be fixed with marketing: Hardware improvement rate: Roadmap analysis suggests relative stagnation and a gap that could widen, not close, if NVIDIA continues to accelerate cycles. Off-chip bottlenecks: memory (HBM), tools and industrial capacity. You can add “worse” chips, but you need to make a lot of them and build a lot of systems. And now what. If this movie continues, we will see two clear signs: Less hype of chips and more real migration stories: how many computers have moved to Ascendwith what frictions, with what performance losses. Less obsession with training in Ascend and more normalization of the hybrid pattern: I train where I can, I deploy where I must. NVIDIA will continue to be CUDA. Huawei is not “a chip.” It is an escape strategy. And the restrictions are the fuel that is making it inevitable. In Xataka | With HarmonyOS NEXT Huawei has achieved something incredible. Neither Samsung, Microsoft nor Mozilla achieved it Featured image | NVIDIA, Huawei

Time magazine decided that “the architects of AI” were ‘Person of the Year’. And chaos broke out in the betting houses

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‘Time’ magazine has named ‘Person of the Year’, its traditional editorial recognition of the most relevant people of the year, to the “Architects of AI”. The topic is sensitive and controversial, and has unleashed opinions for and against the election. But it has also unleashed a parallel and unexpected tidal wave: people losing small fortunes at betting houses because of this Time decision. Beings of the year. When ‘Time’ revealed on December 11 that “AI Architects” (and not simply “AI”) would be its “Person of the Year 2025”, betting platforms Polymarket and Kalshi were plunged into absolute chaos. More than $75 million was left hanging over semantic disputes over what exactly constitutes a “person.” We are not going to go into the legitimacy of that decision or the technical quality of the cover assembly, but we can comment on how The cover effect among betting professionals brings to the table some characteristics of unregulated speculative markets that convert cultural events into casino chips. The collapse of betting. The users of Polymarket who invested more than $6 million betting on “AI” as the winner discovered that its interpretation did not match the platform’s rules. The final decision established that the title “Architects of AI” was not equivalent to designating artificial intelligence as such, giving thousands of bets as losers. The distinction was crucial: Naming those who build the technology differs radically from crowning the technology itself. In KalshiHowever, bets on individual executives (Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Dario Amodei, Lisa Su and Demis Hassabis) were winners, while those who bet on corporate entities such as “ChatGPT” or “OpenAI” lost. Polymarket had more restrictive rules: betting specifically on “Jensen Huang” was a losing option, validating only the generic “Other” option. Polymarket cited an illustrative precedent: if ‘Time’ awarded “Donald Trump and the MAGA movement,” bets on Trump would win; but if the title were just “The MAGA Movement,” Trump would be excluded even if he was on the cover. Other Polymarket controversies. This scandal adds to a series of episodes that question the integrity of Polymarket. In November 2024, an unauthorized modification to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) maps temporarily showed a Russian advance on the Ukrainian city of Myrnohrad. The change allowed bettors to earn returns of up to 33,000% before ISW admitted to fraudulent editing and fire the responsible geospatial specialist. weeks latersomeone identified as AlphaRaccoon generated profits of $1.15 million by betting with suspicious accuracy on the results of the 2025 ‘Google Year in Search’. Meta engineer Haeju Jeong documented on social media that the bettor had gotten 22 of 23 predictions right, including that singer d4vd (with just 0.2% probability) would top the searches. the same user had previously won $150,000 predicting the exact launch of Gemini 3.0, which fueled accusations of privileged access to Google information. Semantic controversy. And another one from Polymarket, which got into define whether President Zelensky had worn a suit at the NATO summit in the summer of 2024. Despite more than forty global media describing his outfit as a formal suit, the resolution protocol UMA (a decentralized oracle on Ethereum that verifies real-world data for blockchain applications) ruled “No” in a series of bets that moved $242 million. Numerous media They talked about large holders of UMA tokens manipulating the result through coordinated voting. Person of the Year, or whatever. Time magazine has been deliberately stretching the definition of “person” for decades, setting precedents that preempted this year’s confusion. In 1982 he chose “The Computer” under the title “Machine of the Year”, while 1988 crowned “The Endangered Earth” as “Planet of the Year”. The 2006 edition generated controversy by awarding an indeterminate “You”, referring to all users of digital content. “The Silence Breakers” of the #MeToo movement (2017) and “US Scientists” (1960) are other examples of award-winning collective entities. In Xataka | Five years ago he worked from his bathroom on the brink of ruin. Today he runs a company valued at 8 billion

Broadcom CEO’s message to his employees before firing half

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Silicon Valley is immersed in a profound transformation in which it has happened to have offices full of slidesarcade machines and free food at all hours, to force their engineers to work 92 hour work week and fire them when the financial results are not what investors expected. In this transformation, an executive has emerged as an example of efficiency for the elite of Silicon Valley startup founders and CEOs: Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom. Hock Tan and efficiency capitalism. As and how did he count The InformationBroadcom has radically changed its strategy under Hock Tan. According to Kenneth Hao, Silver Lake CEO and director of Broadcom, Tan’s management success comes from his “focus on basic principles that do not come from conventional wisdom. Not copying others.” His management has become synonymous with extreme efficiency and obsession with profitabilityto the point of eliminating any company welfare policy if it does not provide financial value to the company. The most notable example is what happened after the acquisition of VMware in late 2023. The first meeting already set the tone. Just as I collected The Information in his article, shortly after close the purchase of VMware for about $69 billion in December 2023, Tan organized a meeting with his new employees to explain his plans. When asked if they would maintain staff benefits offered by VMWare, such as daycare, couples therapy services, wellness bonuses of up to $1,000, or all-day coffee and meal service, Tan responded bluntly: “Why would I do something like that? I’m not your dad.” That response was not a simple comment, it was the first warning that the management philosophy was going to completely change under Broadcom. Layoffs and downsizing. Just like collected Business Insiderthe cuts began almost immediately. In the first days after the acquisition, about 1,300 workers were laid off in California alone, and over time VMware’s workforce went from about 38,000 initial people to about 16,000 employees. Broadcom has defined these layoffs as part of its strategy to eliminate duplication, reduce intermediate layers and focus on the areas of greatest financial impact. Furthermore, among their demands was also that of return to the offices. Only the turtles were saved from the campus. A similar fate befell the VMware campus in Palo Alto, a space famous for its gardens, open areas, ponds with turtles, outdoor amphitheaters and services designed for the daily well-being of employees. After the arrival of Broadcom, most of those spaces disappeared. Of the 18 buildings that made up it, all but five were sold, all garden surfaces, all additional services and even cafeterias were eliminated. Tan has skyrocketed profitability…and his bonus. After the purchase of VMWare, Broadcom’s revenues skyrocketed because the reorganization was not limited to personnel. Broadcom too modified the product catalog and VMware prices, which is reflected in an increase in 20% on company income. Since 2018, Broadcom’s share price has increased by 1,800%. This commitment to efficiency in its annual turnover has a very well-defined reason for Tan. Its good financial results have led it to achieve some of the biggest bonuses that have been paid to a CEO, receiving 161.74 million dollars in 2023. In September, the board of directors In addition, part of Tan’s salary is given in the form of shareswith which the manager already accumulates more than 1.2 million shares of Broadcom with a value of approximately 492 million dollars. In Xataka | We knew that the CEOs of large companies were very well paid. What we didn’t know was how much their salary had been raised. Image | VMware, Wikimedia Commons (Greg Bezat)

People are so, so fed up with AI in Windows 11 that a developer has created an app to eliminate it

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A GitHub user named zoicware ended up so fed up with the presence of AI tools in Windows 11 that he ended up making a decision: eradicate them from the operating system. And since doing it by hand was hell, he came up with something that made his life easier and that can also make it easier for those who are in that situation: create an app called RemoveWindowsAI to remove all those functions. Enough with AI, Microsoft. The Redmond company wants Windows 11 to be full of AI, and for some time it has been adding more and more functions that allow you to take advantage of this technology natively both in the operating system and in some applications. We begin to see it with the controversial Windows Recallbut later that obsession was transferred to the native Copilot app, to Copilot integrated into Edge or to the Creator option of the legendary Paint application. Nobody asked for this. Pavan Davuluri, current president of the Windows division, published in X a message in which he explained that “Windows is evolving towards an agentic operating system.” Microsoft’s intention is clear, but the reception of the message was just the opposite of what the company would have expected: people simply You don’t want those AI options because you didn’t ask for them.. An app to leave Windows 11 without AI. A few months ago a GitHub user named zoicware published a unique project there called RemoveWindowsAI. In the tooltip this developer explains how “The current 25H2 build of Windows 11 and future builds will include more and more AI features and components. This script is aimed at removing ALL of those features to improve the user experience, as well as privacy and security.” What RemoveWindowsAI does. The script, which can be downloaded and then run as administrator from a PowerShell console, is responsible for removing the following components and functions: Disable Copilot Disable Recall Disable Input Insights and typed data collection Disable Copilot in Edge Disable Image Creator in Paint Remove AI Fabric Service Disable AI Actions Disable AI in Paint Disable Voice Access Disable AI Voice Effects Disable AI in Settings Search But there is still more. In addition to those actions, the script disables the reinstallation of packages related to AI features so that they are not offered again, hides those components in Windows 11 Settings, and also disables other features such as the new AI rewrite option in notepad. There are some AI features that cannot be removed with the script, but its creator also indicates how to get rid of them manually. Even a video of use. This developer also wanted to facilitate access to this tool adding documentation written and posting an 11 minute video in which he reviews the objective of the project and explains how to use it. bad signal. The criticism of Microsoft’s intention to turn Windows 11 into an operating system full of AI is clear, and this script is the latest demonstration of this. It does not seem that the company is going to reverse this trend. Mustafa Suleyman, head of the AI ​​division at Microsoft, explained in X I was amazed that people weren’t impressed by being able to talk to their PC calmly thanks to AI. “I grew up playing Snake on a Nokia phone!” he explained. Curiously, Elon Musk replied indicating that his argument seemed good to him. In Xataka | There’s a reason AI PCs aren’t hurting Apple: Nobody asked for AI PCs

How to create original Christmas 2025 greetings to send via WhatsApp

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Let’s tell you how to create christmas greetings for WhatsAppso you can surprise family and friends with something original. This way, you will be able to send more original and personalized images, something that shows that there is a little more to it than forwarding that trite thing that you find in hundreds of groups. In this article we are going to focus on two ways to do it. First, we are going to tell you how to create your own congratulations with different tools to do it. Then, we will go on to tell you a list of specific congratulations that you can find online, whether formal, fun, or aimed at specific types of people. Once you have the greeting created, you will be able to download it to your mobile and all you have to do is send it to whoever you think is appropriate. In addition, they are congratulations that you can use to send in any other application. How to create Christmas greetings We are going to start by telling you several methods to create a Christmas greeting on your own, and thus ensure that you can make it as personalized as possible. Here, we will use tools ranging from artificial intelligence even other classics like canva or Microsoft Designer. With Canva If you want to use Canva, you have several options available. First you have to enter canva.comand in its index you can use several methods. You can use your designs, use Canva’s many templates, or use Canva AI to describe what you want and have it generated for you. You can also do it from scratch, but this will take more time. In our tests, Canva’s AI was not able to generate a Christmas card. Therefore the best is use templates. Here, you will see that there are designs with text and images and others with photos. You will be able to personalize both the texts and the photos to add your own terms and expressions, or a photograph that gives it extra personalization. With artificial intelligence There are two ways to make congratulations with artificial intelligence. You can make it with an AI-generated image and text, or you can also make a greeting with a photo. This is the best method to do something unique and different beyond templates and images from the Internet. If you want to make a greeting with an image and text, even if the image is based on a photo, you can use ChatGPT, Gemini either Copilotanyone works for you. But if you want to use a real photo and modify it then the best option is Gemini, since at the moment it is the most reliable when it comes to handling them. Here, what you have to do is tell you that you want a Christmas greeting and include the text and description of the image that you want to use. For example, you can say the following: I want you to draw a Christmas card. Santa Claus must appear on his sleigh with gifts. The text “Merry Christmas” should appear above If you are going to use a photograph, you have to describe what you want specifying that I use the photo or the person in the photo that you have attached. If you use the person’s face, you can change their expressions to adapt them to the image you want to generate. You can make a prompt like this: Create a Christmas greeting using the photo I uploaded. You have to dress this person as Santa Claus, and below him include the text “Merry Christmas.” But here, the best thing is that experiment and test with the descriptions. Giving a good congratulation is not choosing the first one that comes out, the best thing is specify as much as possible what elements you want to appear and how you want them to do so. With Designer If you want to use Microsoft Designer, you also have several options. You will be able create from scratch by hand or with artificial intelligence the congratulations you want, but also edit templates or images with AI. There are no longer pre-generated templates, instead Designer invites you to create greetings with an AI. When you create a design with AI, you will be able to edit it. Here the best is create the image first and then edit it to add textsince if you add it with text you will not be able to change it. With free apps Lastly, you can also resort to some free applications to make congratulations on your mobile phone. Most likely, you don’t need these apps today, because with AI you can do everything, but we are still going to mention some: canva: Canva also has a mobile app adapted to your device, and you will be able to do everything we mentioned above. This on Google Play for Android and the App Store of the iPhone. Fotor: Another important and well-known application for editing photos, in which you will also find Christmas templates, effects and various design tools. This on Google Play for Android and the App Store of the iPhone. PicCollage: A fairly veteran app with which to create Christmas cards using photo collages. You have several templates, backgrounds, stickers and fonts to be able to customize them to the maximum. This on Google Play for Android and the App Store of the iPhone. Greetings Island: A simple application with a wide variety of Christmas card templates, and you will be able to customize them with photos, texts and stickers. This on Google Play for Android and the App Store of the iPhone. ElfYourself: A small application, in which you simply take a photo and with it an animated video is made showing you an elf video. This on Google Play for Android and the App Store of the iPhone. Christmas greetings to send on Whatsapp Although using templates to congratulate Christmas is a bit out of fashion in the … Read more

You still don’t know when you’re going to receive them.

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Renfe does not know when it will receive the last three Avril trains that are missing from the order of 30 units which he commissioned from Talgo. Just like they count From El Español, the public operator acknowledges that it has no information or planned dates for its delivery. Talgo, for its part, refuses to give explanations and says that it does not report on its projects. This push and pull and uncertainty around trains aggravates a relationship already deteriorated by more than three years of delays. It is not known where they are. Renfe sources recognize openly that they do not have information or scheduled dates to receive these three pending units. For its part, Talgo hides behind its policy of not sharing details about ongoing projects and leaves the responsibility of reporting on a situation that the operator itself claims to be unaware of in the hands of its client. The relationship between both operators is at its lowest point, a relationship that began to fracture with the first delays of the model 106, known commercially as Avril. A troubled history. The 27 Avril trains that are already part of the Renfe fleet There have been numerous incidents since April 2024, when deliveries began. The most serious episode occurred in September, when the operator was forced to withdraw the Avlo service on the Madrid-Barcelona route due to crack problems in these trains. The last three convoys received came into operation in June in the Galicia-Madrid corridor, where the majority of these units are providing service to replace some Alvia models. 116 million withheld. The accumulated delay of several years led Renfe to impose a penalty of 116 million euros on Talgo in July 2022. Sources from CincoDías they claim that the manufacturer has provisioned this amount in its accounts, but has not made the payment, maintaining that the delays were due to causes beyond its control. Meanwhile, Renfe maintains withheld the planned payments to its supplier, although the paralyzed figure still does not reach 75% of the total penalty. The 107 series, the next open front. The situation threatens to become even more complicated. Talgo must also deliver 13 trains of the 107 seriesa project that is already delayed compared to the dates planned for 2024. The Ministry of Transport has recently warned of possible new sanctions for this non-compliance. This model is being configured through the transformation of hotel trains and the use of 26 power units acquired for 204 million euros. The resulting material will allow driving at 330 kilometers per hour with tread adaptable to different track widths, a crucial capacity for services such as Avant and to reestablish Avlo in Madrid-Barcelona. Frustrated plans in France. The destination of the pending trains has also changed from what was initially planned. Renfe planned to allocate some of the missing units to its operations in France and was pending approval of model 106 in that country. However, the development of this plan has paralyzed “given the successive difficulties and delays that the deployment of its high-speed service offering in France is suffering,” as the company warned a few months ago. Restructuring underway. In parallel to these delivery problems, Talgo faces an extraordinary meeting this Friday in which its new shareholding structure and the co-financing of its debt will be put to a vote. The Basque consortium led by José Antonio Jainaga has acquired 29.7% of the capital for 156.6 million euros, together with the Finkatuz fund of the Basque Government and the Vital and BBVA foundations. The operation includes a capital increase of 45 million by SEPI, which will acquire 7.88% of the company, and the issuance of 105 million in convertible bonds. The challenge of regaining trust. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, declared that his first contact with the next president of Talgo will be precisely to find out the status of the 107 series and settle the issue. Renfe awaits the appointment of the new person in charge to address the pending compensations, which it does not plan to give up. The key for the manufacturer is to increase its industrial capacity and above all avoid further delays in deliveries, with an order book that exceeds 4.8 billion euros and could reach 7,000 as the company consolidates its new structure. Cover image | Ernstkers (Wikipedia) In Xataka | In the search for a supersonic train, China tests a Maglev that will reach 4,000 km/h. The problem will be maintaining it

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