Month: December 2025

40% of the soil is already ‘sick’

by

For years we have talked about the desertification as a future threat or a shadow that loomed over the Iberian Peninsula. Now, thanks to data science and to joint work from the University of Alicante (UA) and the CSIC, we have stopped talking about probable futures to talk about tangible presents, and the truth makes us rethink many things. The reality. In order to get an idea of ​​what our country is facing, researchers have prepared the First Atlas of Desertification of Spain (ADE). This is not just a map, but it is a complete x-ray of the Spanish soil health based on decades of data that we had accumulated and that has served to understand the trend of the country. The diagnosis in this case is quite clear: more than 40% of the national territory undergoes a degradation process. But although this is an alarming figure, it is not the most worrying. The Atlas itself reveals our relationship with water: technology and intensive irrigation They are ‘covering up’ a problem that is advancing silently under our feet and that we are not seeing. An exhausted soil. To understand this research, we must first kill a myth: desertification does not mean that Spain is becoming the Sahara full of dunes, although it is a reality that aridity is increasing. How do they explain project coordinators, Jorge Olcina (UA) and Jaime Martínez Valderrama (CSIC), desertification is the degradation of land in dry areas. It is a process by which the soil loses its biological and economic capacity to produce. Stop being fertile. The data. There are two points to take into account in this case. The first of them is that 40.9% right now is showing signs of degradation. But if we go to the ‘dry lands’ such as arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas, the percentage of “sick” territory shoots up to 60.94%. The paradox of irrigation. One of the most interesting points in this case is the role that agricultural technology is playing. And although right now it may be thought that the irrigation system can combat desertification, the study points out that In many cases it can speed it up. That is, the opposite effect. The report details how intensively irrigated agriculture acts as a “cover-up mechanism.” Thanks to fertilizers and massive extraction of groundwaterwe can see very green crops on the surface, which makes us think that there are no problems with them. But the reality is very different. The demonstration. The Atlas has cross-referenced the data on the amount of chlorophyll and biomass that can be seen on earth with the state of water resources and the reality that emerges. For science, we are right now maintaining that greenery at the cost of depleting the aquifers and salinizing the soils, as can occur in the maintenance of very profitable crops such as avocados in the south of the peninsula. A devastating fact from the report illustrates this: in the Guadiana basin, 86% of the aquifers show rates of overexploitation or degradation linked to this phenomenon. And we are giving a lot of weight to maintaining the color green while we are ‘charging’ our water resources. The state by zones. The Atlas, which consists of more than 60 thematic maps generated using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, allows you to zoom in on critical areas. The “zero ground” of desertification in Europe is clearly drawn in the southeast of the peninsula, where there are some highly affected regions: Region of Murcia: it is the most affected community, with extreme water pressure and increasing aridity. Valencian Community and Andalusia with large areas of intensive cultivation that overlap with areas of high climatic vulnerability. Canary Islands with an island location that adds an extra risk factor to land management. La Mancha and Aragón are inland areas that, although less in the media, are suffering accelerated degradation due to agricultural transformation. Specific case. In addition to this information, the report points to strategic locations such as the Sierra de Gádor in Almería, which suffered from 19th century mining and therefore deforested holm oak and espart forests with 52,000 tons of charcoal from half a million destroyed trees, leaving skeletal soils that last for centuries despite repopulation. Changing the rules. This is something really important, because until now Spain depended on more general or outdated maps. ADE changes this by introducing socioeconomic variables into the equation. Not only does it look at how much it rains (which is becoming less and more torrential), but also at how we use the water that falls. The document warns that 42% of the national territory consumes more than 80% of the available fresh water. In a context of climate change, where rainfall will be more erratic and temperatures higher, maintaining this model is physically impossible. Images | giovanni cordioli Being Organic in EU In Xataka | The drought is turning water into a very scarce and valuable commodity in Spain. And there are already organized groups of thieves

The British skipped fuel tax by switching to an electric car. The Government’s solution: create another tax

by

The British Government recently announced a new tax for electric vehicles in which drivers would pay per distance traveled (miles), with the intention of it coming into force in April 2028. The measure, which is included in this documenthas drawn criticism from many citizens and experts, and comes at a key moment, as the United Kingdom plans to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars in 2030. Its public coffers are losing revenue from fuel taxes while the adoption of electric vehicles grows. How the system is planned so far. Electric car drivers will pay 3p per mile traveled (about 3.4 euro cents), while plug-in hybrids will pay 1.5 pence. The calculation will be made through an annual mileage estimate that drivers will declare when renewing their road tax, and will subsequently be verified during the technical inspection of the vehicle. According to the Government, an average electric car driver who travels 13,680 kilometers a year you will pay about 255 pounds additional (approximately 295 euros). Why this change matters. Just like share According to The Telegraph, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves justifies the measure as necessary to compensate for the drop in fuel tax revenue. According to Dan Tomlinson, MP and Secretary of the Treasury, if no action is taken, by 2030 one in five drivers will not pay fuel tax while others will continue to contribute an average of £480 annually. According to the media, the Office of Budget Responsibility predicts that this new tax could reduce sales of electric vehicles by 440,000 units in the next five years. Industry reactions. Manufacturers such as Ford and the British manufacturers’ association SMMT have harshly criticized the measure. Ian Plummer, Commercial Director at Autotrader, declared that “we need more carrot and less stick if we are serious about the electric transition.” From Ford they pointed out that the budget sends “a mixed message” about the government’s goal of driving the shift to electric vehicles. Implementation problems. The system presents several practical challenges. Drivers will have to estimate their annual mileage without it necessarily coinciding with the date of their MOT (the equivalent of the MOT in the UK), which complicates the calculation. New cars, which do not require inspection for the first three years, will need additional checks. Furthermore, the Government recognize which could increase odometer fraud, a practice which, according to The Telegraph, already affects 2.3% of British vehicles. A controversial issue. As the current regulations are stated, drivers who use their vehicles outside the United Kingdom They would also pay for those milesdespite not using British roads. The Government justifies this decision by arguing that the percentage of drivers traveling abroad is small, although it recognizes that it will especially affect residents of Northern Ireland, as they frequently cross into the Republic of Ireland. The impact on the pocket. Although the Government insist With the rate equal to half of what gasoline and diesel drivers pay, many electric vehicle owners are already starting to worry. Stephen Walton, a driver who bought an electric car in 2023, counted to the BBC that “it will be my first and last electric vehicle because there are no tax advantages for electric car drivers.” A unexpected advantage for China. Analysts such as Sam Goodman, from the China Strategic Risks Institute, warn that the new tax could encourage British consumers to opt for cheaper Chinese models such as the BYD Dolphin Surfwhich sells for 18,650 pounds compared to the more than 26,000 that some eligible European alternatives cost. During the third quarter of 2025, Chinese models They already represented 11.8% of the British new passenger car market, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. What’s coming now? The Government has opened a consultation period to define the final details of the system before 2028. It also announced an additional investment of 1.3 billion pounds in aid for the purchase of electric vehicles, although only four models currently qualify for the maximum subsidy of 3,750 pounds, the cheapest being the Ford Puma Gen-E (£26,245 applying subsidies). The Office of Budget Responsibility esteem The new tax will raise £1.1bn in its first year and £1.9bn by 2030-31, although the actual figure will depend on how many Britons decide to buy electric cars in the coming years. In Xataka | Your car windshield has hundreds of small black dots. It is not decoration, it is technology to save our lives

If the question is whether they can geolocate you during your work day and use it to fire you, justice leaves no doubt: yes

by

Know that your company knows where are you every minute of your workday can generate discomfort and even doubts about its legality. However, the courts have been clarifying this area for some time. A recent ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of Asturias does so with unusual forcefulness. The case involves an elevator maintenance technician and an application time control which recorded, in addition to his schedule, the exact point from which he clocked in. What seemed like a routine tool ended up becoming the key to a disciplinary dismissal which today is fully validated by justice. Schedule control with advanced features. As detailed in the sentence issued by the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Asturias, a maintenance employee of an elevator company used a time control application installed on the corporate mobile. His function was simple: mark the beginning and end of his day and do it from the place where he attended to each incident. The company distributed the routes on a daily basis and registration had to be done at the customer’s location, not from another point. However, the employee’s workday began to show strange patterns. In one month, the company detected up to 11 outbound signings made from the employee’s home and coinciding with work hours. The record indicated that, instead of closing his last intervention from the customer’s location, the technician finished his day on time, but already at home. Notices, warnings… and a disciplinary dismissal. The company did not act immediately. Before the dismissal, he issued several internal warnings to the worker and reminded him of the operation of the application, pointing out the irregularities detected and reminding him the obligation to sign from each real location. Even so, the signings from home continued, so the company interpreted that the agreed working day was being breached. Finally, he proceeded to the disciplinary dismissal, considering it proven that the technician ended his day prematurely and from a place outside the workplace. The Social Chamber of the TSJA confirmed the decision of disciplinary dismissal and validated the use of geolocation as evidence. What the law says. The TSJA ruling is based on the article 20.3 of the Workers’ Statutewhich specifies “the employer may adopt the surveillance and control measures he deems most appropriate to verify compliance by the worker with his or her work obligations and duties.” Therefore, and given the mobility nature of the position, the time control system with geolocation was justified. In addition, Organic Law 3/2018 on Data Protection (LOPDGDD) specifically regulates geolocation systems. Your article 90 requires clear information about the existence of these systems, their purpose, the scope of the processing and data protection rights. In this case, the app was corporate, the device belonged to the company, the worker knew how it worked, and the application only recorded the location when the application was opened. Taking all these regulations into account, the TSJA considered that the company acted within the law and used a proportional tool, linked to strictly labor purposes and correctly communicated to the employee. Time nuances. He Workers Statute It also precisely delimits when the day begins and ends. Article 34.5 establishes that “working time will be calculated so that both at the beginning and at the end of the daily shift the worker is at his or her workplace.” This is where we have to differentiate workplace and job position. It is not a minor nuance: effective working time begins when one is operationally available to perform the assigned functions. This does not mean that the employee must arrive at the workplace at the agreed time, but rather that he must be at his workplace at that time. If there are 10 minutes from the company entrance to your position and you arrive at the work center at your agreed time, you would be arriving 10 minutes late. The same applies at departure time. That employee must remain at his position until the agreed time, and then collect his things and leave the company. If you are leaving the company premises at the agreed time at the end of the day, you would be leaving 10 minutes early. The only exception to the rule: there is no job to go to. The Supreme Court has recognized a relevant exception: When the company does not have offices, premises or any physical space where workers can start their day, the employee’s home can be considered a valid starting point for the day. This doctrine applies especially to completely decentralized companies whose workers only move from client to client. In these situations (well accredited and exceptional), the travel time from home to the first client can be counted as workbecause the home assumes the function of the only available operating point. But as long as there is a work center or a clearly defined place where the activity can begin, this exception does not apply. Clocking in from home, as in the case of the Asturias elevator technician, is not justified and is a non-compliance with working hours. In Xataka | Breakfast and the first 15 minutes of entry are work: the Supreme Court sets the limits of time control Image | Unsplash (Kevin Grieve)

New Sony Alpha 7V, features, price and technical sheet

by

Taking photos with your cell phone is fine. It’s very good, in fact. Today we can find devices capable of achieving spectacular results, from the Huawei Pura 80 Ultra until the iPhone 17 Propassing through OPPO Find X9 Pro with its curious teleconverter kit designed to further squeeze its capabilities. But, despite the fact that the mobile phone reigns in everyday life, the world of cameras is still far from having thrown in the towel. Firms like Sony continue to promote the sector with increasingly powerful, more versatile equipment and with a growing integration of artificial intelligence. The latest proof of this has its own name: Sony Alpha 7V. This new full-frame mirrorless reaches its fifth generation with a solid track record behind it and a well-earned reputation among advanced hobbyists and professionals. It is just that type of camera that many have chosen—and would continue to choose—when they are looking for performance that borders on professional, versatility that gives room for growth, and a price that does not go into the territory of the more specialized or iconic models of the Japanese brand. Technical data sheet of the Sony Alpha 7V Sony Alpha 7V CAMERA TYPE Digital camera with interchangeable lens Lens mount E-mount sensor 35mm full-frame Exmor RS CMOS sensor (35.9 x 23.9mm) NUMBER OF PIXELS Approx. 35.7MP NUMBER OF PIXELS (EFFECTIVE) Photographs: approx. 33.0MP max Videos: approx. 27.6MP max FOCUS POINT Photographs: max. 759 points (phase detection autofocus), movies: max. 759 points (phase detection autofocus) COLOR TEMPERATURE RANGE 2500K-9900K RECORDING FORMAT JPEG (DCF ver. 2.0, Exif ver. 2.32, MPF Baseline compatible), HEIF (MPEG-A MIAF compatible), RAW (Sony ARW 6.0 format compatible) IMAGE SIZE (PIXELS) (3:2) 35mm Full Frame L: 7008 x 4672 (33M), M: 4608 x 3072 (14M), S: 3504 x 2336 (8.2M) VIDEO COMPRESSION XAVC S: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, XAVC HS: MPEG-H HEVC/H.265 AUDIO RECORDING FORMAT 2-channel LPCM (48 kHz, 16-bit), 2-channel LPCM (48 kHz, 24-bit), 4-channel LPCM (48 kHz, 24-bit) Battery life (photos) 630 shots approx. (viewfinder) / 750 shots approx. (LCD monitor) (CIPA standard) ISO SENSITIVITY Stills: ISO 100-51200, (expandable to ISO 50-204800), AUTO (ISO 100-12800, lower and upper limits selectable); videos: equivalence with ISO 100-5120066 (expandable to ISO 100-102400), AUTO (ISO 100-12800, lower and upper limits selectable) memory card slot SLOT 1: SD memory card multi-slot (UHS-I/II compatible)/CFexpress 2 Type A, SLOT 2: SD memory card (UHS-I/II compatible) monitor 8.0cm TFT screen (type 3.2) price Body: 2,999 euros (available at the end of December) FE 28-70MM F3.5-5.6 OSS II lens: approximately 479 (available February 2026) A full-frame to sit in the range. The Alpha 7V takes over from the Alpha 7 IVthat camera presented in 2021 that for years served as a reference in Sony’s upper mid-range. This new model is clearly positioned as “entry-level professional”, one step below the Alpha A7R V, A1 II and A9 IIIbut inheriting a good part of its key technologies. At this intermediate point in the catalogue, it competes directly with proposals from the same segment such as Nikon Z6 III and the Canon EOS R6 Mark III. New sensor, new brain. Sony uses here a partially stacked Exmor RS CMOS of about 33 MP, accompanied by the BIONZ XR2 processor with a dedicated AI unit, an architecture that the company debuted in 2022 with the Alpha 7R V as the first Alpha camera with a specific processor for AI-based recognition. This set allows for a more accurate interpretation of the scene and improves the speed with which the camera processes each frame. In practice, it represents a clear leap over the Alpha 7 IV, especially in situations where response and recognition make the difference. Click to see sample images on the Sony page Click to see sample images on the Sony page Real-time recognition taken further. The manufacturer claims that the Alpha 7V improves real-time eye recognition AF performance by up to 30% compared to the Alpha 7 IV, according to its own internal measurements. Its 759 phase detection points and 94% frame coverage allow you to maintain focus even with irregular movements or low light situations, with a performance that drops to EV -4.0. All of this contributes to more stable monitoring and better focus decisions. The Alpha 7V also advances image quality thanks to a dynamic range of up to 16 stops when using the mechanical shutter, designed to preserve detail in both bright lights and deep shadows. The new AI-based automatic white balance analyzes the scene and estimates the light source more accurately, delivering more coherent and natural colors. Added to this is the high-resolution RAW processing available in Imaging Edge Desktop, an option that expands flexibility in post-production without compromising sharpness or captured information. Designed not to miss the moment. Thanks to a sensor readout that is approximately 4.5 times faster than the Alpha 7 IV and 60 AF/AE calculations per second, the Alpha 7V can handle highly dynamic scenes with greater stability. The burst reaches 30 fps through the electronic shutter with AF/AE tracking, avoiding interruptions even in irregular movements. In addition, the Pre-Capture function records up to 1 second before shooting, a useful support in unpredictable situations such as wildlife or sports. 4K for hybrid creators. Sony adds more flexibility in video with the arrival of 4K 60p upsampled from 7K in full format and 4K 120p in APS-C/Super 35. Pixel binning-free readout improves the level of detail and dynamic active mode reinforces stability when recording without support. The camera maintains subject framing using AI and adjusts audio with noise reduction and an internal microphone designed to limit constant background sounds and preserve a natural tone. A continuous body, a more polished use. The Alpha 7V maintains the design of the previous generation, with a practically identical chassis to the Alpha 7 IV and the same combination slot configuration, SD UHS-II and CFexpress Type A/SD. The improvements focus on the user experience: 4-axis multi-angle screen, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, dual USB-C and a revised handle to gain stability and comfort. The … Read more

Spain already sells more electric cars and plug-in hybrids than gasoline. With a (big) asterisk

by

The plug-in vehicle is expanding in Spain. For the first time, our country has recorded more sales of plug-in vehicles (plug-in hybrids and electric) than gasoline and, of course, diesel cars. Or, in other words, they add up to more than pure combustion vehicles per fuel type and come close to exceeding the sum of both. The data, however, has important nuances. you will have read it. And it makes sense, because the data is striking. For the first time, Spain has added more sales of plug-in vehicles than pure combustion vehicles. The figures for last November are, according to ANFACthe following: Gasoline cars: 21,147 units Diesel cars: 4,979 units Plug-in hybrid cars: 11,999 units Electric cars: 9,316 units Therefore, the duel is as follows: Sum of combustion vehicles: 26,133 units Sum of plug-in vehicles: 21,315 units. The first. The news is that for the first time the sum of cars with plug They have surpassed pure combustion gasoline. Cars that do not have any type of electrification continue to represent 22.47% (28.15% if we extend the photograph to the entire year 2025) but this energy is clearly declining. Cars with a plug have already reached 22.65% market share. But the big change is in the year’s accumulated results. This has shot up to 19.29% when a year ago it stood at 11.06%. Growth between January and November 2025 has skyrocketed by 100.12%. That is, twice as many cars of this type have been purchased. The hybrids. Once again, the non-plug-in hybrid is the best-selling type of car. According to ANFAC data, it was the best-selling type of car last November, with 41,034 units and a market share of 43.60%. This data does not stop growing. In the accumulated of the year, the market share is 41.85% and is almost four percentage points more than in the same period of 2024 (38.09%). In total, they have grown 26.04% in sales so far this year. These hybrids are mostly gasoline. But of the more than 40,000 units last November classified as hybrids, 3,852 of them are hybrids with diesel engines, which begins to give some clues about what we are talking about. Right now, non-plug-in hybrids that run on diesel are 1,000 units away from surpassing pure combustion diesels. Why do we talk about an asterisk? Because in their accounts, the microhybrid cars They count the same as a hybrid. There is no way to know how many of the more than 40,000 hybrids sold in Spain in November 2025 and the more than 437,621 units sold so far this year actually correspond to electric hybrids. What is popularly known as a “Toyota hybrid.” In fact, among the best-selling hybrids so far this year we find cars like the Citroën C4, the Dacia Dusterhe Renault Austral or the Nissan Qashqai. All of them have electric hybrid versions but also light hybrids (also called mild hybrid or microhybrids). In fact, the last two only have versions with the ECO label and although of the four engines, two are mild hybridthey all add up as hybrids in the final count. The controversy of mild hybrid. The controversy with the light hybrid or mild hybrid It comes because it is an effective formula for manufacturers to minimally electrify a car to receive approval from the authorities but with a purely cosmetic impact on the car’s consumption or emissions. With the same engine, a car that uses this type of hybridization barely improves the data approved by its pure combustion brother. In Spain, these cars have some advantages over pure combustion cars despite the fact that their real impact is minimal. In MadridFor example, a car mild hybrid It is exempt from paying 75% of the Tax on Mechanical Traction Vehicles (IVTM) during the first six years. These cars also receive the ECO label from the DGT, which is key when receiving more benefits in Low Emission Zonesspaces where circulation is restricted taking into account the car’s environmental labeling. In some cities they also have advantages such as discounts when parking on the street. A redefinition? It is not expected. Neither when it comes to defining them as hybrids nor when it comes to giving them the ECO label. Recently, in the Congress of Deputies The new Sustainable Mobility Law was approved. It was intended to include the study of a review of environmental labeling, but an amendment by the Popular Party prevented it from being included. this will take place. The creation of a new category or the non-provision of the ECO sticker to these cars is, however, a problem. The main obstacle is what to do with the thousands and thousands of cars mild hybrid that have already been sold and that have received their ECO sticker. Provide different labeling to the new cars, despite the fact that they are in the same situation as the current ones, can create a discriminatory situation, but a retroactive withdrawal of the stickers already delivered is not contemplated either. Photo | juice In Xataka | Catalonia wants to restrict circulation to cars with DGT label B in the ZBE: these are the deadlines and the cities

The largest glacier in Spain is in its final death throes, and this marks a before and after in the Pyrenees

by

Although it may be a bit unknown, in Spain we have a glacier: the Aneto glacier, which is located in the Pyrenees. but there is bad news regarding its continuitysince although we knew that it was doomed to disappear, the reality is that the speed at which it is doing so is faster than we expected. And the latest data that has been known is clear: it has been definitively fragmented. It’s a reality. Although it may be an appreciation of veteran mountaineers who are already tired of seeing it, the reality is very different. The conclusion has been drawn after decades of LiDAR data, photogrammetry with drones and analysis of satellite images from 1981 to 2022 which confirm that the Pyrenean colossus has entered a phase of irreversible collapse. In this way, what was once a continuous mass of ice that flowed down the mountain is today an archipelago of fossil ice fractures that is doomed to disappear. Catastrophic data. Thanks to all the technological means that have been used to monitor this glacier, it has been possible to make a chronology of everything that has happened. And in a single year, the ice masses of the Pyrenees They have lost an average thickness of more than one meter. In specific points, the loss of ice reached four meters, which is equivalent to one and a half floors of a building. But the important thing is that this large amount of ice has disappeared in months. The most worrying thing is that this has occurred in a year that was not especially bad in terms of levels nor did it have the extreme heat waves of 2022. It is simply that the system could no longer take it. An evolution. If we look back, in 2022 the Aneto glacier lost a large lower area. But now the body has split in two so the Aneto is three disconnected masses of ice. And this has consequences even in the name, since the smallest part, under the Collado de Coronas, now stops being a glacier and becomes a glacier. If we continue looking back, there are figures that justify this thaw, since since the final of the little Ice Age in the mid-19th century and until 2017 the temperature of the area increased 1.14ºC. However, the turning point is clearly detected in the 1980s, with a dramatic acceleration of the decline starting in 2000. The technology behind. What differentiates this monitoring from observations made in the last century is its precision. The Cryopyr team It is not limited to driving stakes into the snow and seeing its level. It has been decided to use LiDAR technology and programmed drone flights to create digital models of the terrain. These studies, supported by publications in The Cryosphere and Naturehave made it possible to map not only the surface, but also the basal topography. Thanks to this, we know what is under the ice before it melts. And the most shocking thing is that the ice no longer flows. This is very important because a glacier is defined by its movement; When the thickness decreases so much, gravity stops pushing it down the slope. It stagnates. It turns into fossil ice obscured by dust, which absorbs more solar radiation (lower albedo) and melts even faster. And this is what has already ended up condemning it to its disappearance without anything being able to be done to reverse it. The case of Ossoue. If the Aneto is the symbol, the Ossoue glacier which is located on the border of Spain and France, is undoubtedly the sign that anticipated what was going to happen. This is because it has been the most affected of the season with average losses of 3.5 meters thick. And here history gives us a striking visual reference. In 1882, Earl Henry Russell ordered caves to be excavated on the rock at ice level to celebrate parties. Today, these caves are inaccessible holes hanging tens of meters high above the current ice. The future. What will be left when the ice is gone? This is the mandatory question after seeing this piece of ice melt in the coming years. The answer is that we will see lakes that will appear in the high mountains. And we already have a preview of what we will see what the Innominatea lake with turquoise waters that was formed in 2015 at 3,150 meters above sea level and is considered the highest in the Pyrenees. Despite being beautiful, we must not forget that it is the liquid “corpse” of what was once an ice giant. When will it arrive? There is no exact date on which this disappearance will end. What is known from the most recent reports is that if temperature and precipitation trends continue along the same path, all the Pyrenean glaciers will disappear within 10 years. Images | Pablo J Danis Joan Brebo In Xataka | The Arctic was one of the few corners safe from invasive species thanks to the cold. Until climate change came

Russia had managed to manufacture drones and missiles despite the sanctions. So selling Zara clothes was a matter of time

by

In recent months, a strange wave of western products has begun to reappear in places where, on paper, it is already they shouldn’t exist. Between geopolitical changes, forced business exits and an increasingly opaque market, certain brands have unexpectedly become visible again, fueling rumors, theories about how they are getting there and who is really pulling the strings of their distribution towards Moscow. Now a giant from Spain has (re)appeared: Inditex. A market that does not close completely. After announcing the end of operations in Russia a few days after the invasion of Ukraine, Inditex left behind its second largest market and sold its business in the country. However, more than two years latergarments with official labels from brands such as Zara, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius or Massimo Dutti have once again appeared on the shelves of the Russian channel Tvoenow renamed Tvoe n Ko, which boasts a “constantly updated” selection on social networks and presents the collections as almost clandestine finds. The pieces, which match models from previous seasons and carry prices in euros, are now sold in at least 19 stores Russian companies without there being (according to the official version offered) any contractual relationship between the Spanish company and the local distributor. In fact, they occur two months after the executive director of Inditex, Óscar García Maceiras, will declare to the Financial Times that the conditions “were not met” for his return to Russia. The engineering of the Russian gray market. I was counting a few hours ago the FT that the mechanism that allows the reappearance of these garments is based on the system of “parallel imports” established by Moscow to circumvent the massive departures of Western brands. In this scheme operates Disco Club LLCa Russian company that has recorded 18 statements in accordance, citing Inditex as supplier and presenting itself as its “authorized representative”, despite the fact that Inditex flatly denies having granted such permission. The garments come partly from inventories originally destined for various EU countries and partly from Chinese factories, according to labels and documents customs, in a circuit that takes advantage of legal loopholes and the Kremlin’s lack of inhibition to give formal coverage to a trade that would previously have been considered smuggling. The denial. For its part, Tvoe assures that it does not have direct agreements with Inditex and hides behind confidentiality agreements so as not to detail its suppliers, while Disco Club insist in which he only performed a “punctual technical service.” Burkhard Binder, the businessman linked to the founding of the company and based in Dubai, is disassociating himself from current operations. Inditex, known for its tight control of inventory, distribution and franchises, completely reject any link: he claims not to have authorized Disco Club or any Russian entity to act on his behalf and avoids commenting on how his products arrive in the country since he withdrew. Matter of time. we have been counting: the ability of the Russian economy to adapt in the midst of war has shown that international restrictions, no matter how strict, always find cracks. A country that has rebuilt chains complex supply chains to produce drones, precision ammunition or long-range missiles, despite technological embargoes and industrial vetoes, would not have difficulties reopening the door to much more “simpler” products, such as Western fashion clothing. In that context, the reappearance of garments of Zara in Russian stores is not so much surprising as confirming a trend: Moscow has perfected an ecosystem of parallel imports capable of circumventing almost any blockade, from military components even t-shirts and dresses from past seasons, turning the impossible into routine and the forbidden into a merely logistical problem. Russia, a laboratory of consumption in times of sanctions. The appearance of Zara products in Russia despite the exit from the company illustrates the magnitude of the gray market that Moscow has made official since 2022: an ecosystem that allows consumers to access Western brands through private intermediaries and indirect routes, without participation of the original companies. In this context, the reappearance of the Spanish firm in the Russian commercial landscape is not due to a business return, but rather to a state-run mechanism. commercial evasion that turns its garments into parallel import merchandise. If you like, the phenomenon also reveals the extent to which Russia has rebuilt its global consumption through third countries and front companies, and how even the strictest groups in controlling its supply chain cannot prevent its products from reappearing in a market from which they tried to leave definitely. Image | Pexels In Xataka | Ukraine has opened the Russian ballistic missile that has devastated its cities. Your surprise is a condemnation: your main supplier is untouchable In Xataka | Zara has been selling clothes for years. Now he aspires to sell something more difficult: prestige

this is how we are ‘disneyfying’ the countryside

by

It’s best not to beat around the bush: in some parts of the US, raccoons have become a damn hell. The demographic boom in urban areas, the constant invasion of properties, aggressive behavior and the risk of diseases have generated an endless number of problematic situations. In fact, the enormous availability of food from human waste is turning every situation into a problem. And yet, at the same time, we are seeing a curious phenomenon: raccoons are in the process of domestication. Domestication? It seems so. A recent study has evaluated 20,000 photographs of urban and rural raccoons and what they have found is “a clear reduction in snout length.” It is about, as Nardine Saad explains on the BBC, of ​​”a physical change consistent with the early stages of domestication seen in cats and dogs.” It is not the only sign of domestication: according to Artem Apostolov, principal investigator of the work, “attenuated flight (or fight) responses are found” and the animals seem to feel more comfortable around us. Why is this happening? According to Raffaela Leschco-author of the study, “garbage is really the driving force behind all of this.” “Everywhere we humans go, there is trash, and animals love our trash,” said in Scientific American. But the truth is that it is not easy to access that garbage. You need to be bold enough to rummage through the bins, but not enough to pose a threat. And that evolutionary pressure tends to select genetic lines with good behavior. Good behavior and more. For years, scientists have associated domestication with very specific anatomical and morphological changes such as curled tails, droopy ears, depigmentation, smaller brains and reduced facial skeletons. It is something we can easily see if we buy a dog and a wolf. What we are seeing with the raccoon case is that the active domestication hypothesis (the fact that humans captured and domesticated the animals) does not fit well with these data. “The process could actually begin much earlier than previously thought — these authors maintain — especially as the animals became accustomed to human environments.” That is, we believed that we were domesticating the world and, in reality, it was the world that was domesticating us. Image | Joshua J Cotten In Xataka | Neither hunting nor company: we domesticated the dog because we had plenty of meat in the Ice Age

we have normalized that experiences degrade

by

Netflix has just eliminated one of the most basic, useful and veteran functions of its service: the ability to send content (cast) directly from your mobile phone to most televisions and Chromecast-type devices. They have also done it quietly, without press releases or major announcements. It’s another straw that breaks an increasingly terrible camel’s back. what has happened. Netflix no longer supports the transmission of its content from a mobile device to the vast majority of TVs or Android TV-type devices. The solution they offer is for you to find your TV remote control and navigate through the native Netflix application on it. According to several users, the change was applied with zero warnings around on November 10, and Netflix did not announce it, although it has updated one of their support pages to indicate that that feature is no longer active. It’s unfortunate. The most embarrassing thing is not only the removal of the feature, but the fine print that accompanies it on that support page. According to the new regulations, support for this casting function is restricted to Third generation Chromecast (or previous ones) that did not come with a remote control can continue to receive that signal. And you can only take advantage of this function in plans without advertising: if you have the plan with adsthe feature will be locked even with that supported hardware. It is a move reminiscent of the one they made in 2019 when they eliminated AirPlay support in 2019 under the excuse of “guaranteeing the quality standard.” Traditional corporate phrases that today sound emptier than ever. A sign of something more disturbing. But let’s not let a tree stop us from seeing the forest, because this is actually another drop in the glass of users’ patience. The journalist and writer Cory Doctorow created the term “enshittification” to define this phenomenon that we are experiencing with streaming platforms: First, the platforms are good with their users to attract them They then abuse them to improve business for their commercial clients. Then they abuse everyone to capture the value for themselves From bad to worse. If we look back, using Netflix in 2018 was objectively a much superior user experience than today. The interface was cleaner, the catalog was not so fragmented by licensing wars, the cast worked universally and pay attention: the company itself I encouraged you to share your password on Twitter as an act of love and technological goodness. Sharing was living until it stopped being so and Netflix began its particular crusade with shared accounts. We have encountered the Inquisition. This is out of control. This time it has not happened like in 2019 with AirPlay, and there is no explanation or argument behind this elimination of the feature. What is clear is that Netflix has decided that your comfort in using your phone as a controller is acceptable collateral damage. With this they manage to force you to use their TV interface, where they control much better the visibility of their original content and advertising. Netflix is ​​not alone in this boat. The degradation of the user experience is a transversal trend in the market, and affects other streaming services. Amazon Prime Video, which was born as a premium service free of interruptions, began to display advertising and has been increasing its appearance gradually and consistently. You can only get rid of it unless you pay extra, thereby somewhat breaking the basic promise of the service: what was previously an added value for being a Prime customer is now an advertising showcase for which, paradoxically, you are already paying an annual fee. Noise. We are seeing the same thing in two services that dominate our leisure time: both YouTube and Spotify have been filled with advertising and the user experience is objectively worse than it was a few years ago. In Spotify, the strategy has also been even more bloody, because there now appear vertical videos in the TikTok style and an absolute visual intrusion. Functionality and minimalism have been sacrificed because what matters is the engagement. Users do not react. The alarming thing about this situation is not that companies try to maximize their profits; that is what is expected. What is truly disturbing is how quickly we, the users, have accepted that that user experience has gone and is going back without us doing anything to prevent it. We have normalized the loss of rights and functions, and although there have been some ephemeral reactions on social networks, these have not gone beyond an anecdote. The elimination of shared accounts from Netflix in 2022, for example, sparked a lot of criticism and comments from users who boasted about leaving the platform. There was certainly a fallbut it didn’t last long: Today Netflix has more users than ever. The philosophy of less gives a stone. This collective passivity is what allows these changes to occur without companies even announcing it. Companies have been training us for years to be grateful that the service simply works. The shittification continues its course, and our lack of protests and actions in this regard is like the gasoline that fuels this terrible trend. In Xataka | Not a Christmas without Netflix Christmas fireplaces. These are this year’s, and they come with gamification included

TIA agents are better ambassadors for the CSIC than we suspected

by

If we think about Mortadelo and Filemónwe also immediately think of all the outrages that the TIA agents have to suffer because of the inventions of Professor Bacterio, the translation into the Carpetovetonic language of the iconic mad doctor which is a foundational part of the science fiction imagination. But there is more: a traveling exhibition traces the history of science in the last half century through the creations of Ibáñez. What does it consist of? The Higher Council for Scientific Research has premiered the exhibition ‘The science of Mortadelo and Filemón‘, which will remain open until February 15 before beginning its tour of various Spanish cities. The exhibition brings together 39 covers published between 1975 and 2018, organized into five thematic blocks that examine everything from Bacterio’s chaotic inventions to climate crises and epidemics. Pura Fernández, vice president of Scientific Culture of the CSIC, highlights in ‘El País’ that Ibáñez turned research into an everyday occurrence through humor. The sections. The exhibition structures its 39 covers into five thematic blocks that document the evolution of Spanish scientific thought and that link to CSIC research through QR codes for visitors: ‘A world in motion under the magnifying glass of science’ examines natural phenomena: from glacial retreat to epidemiological crises, including agricultural innovations. ‘Technological innovations incorporated by the TIA’ satirizes inventions that generate more chaos than solutions, questioning whether technology responds to real needs or commercial impulses. Professor Bacterio stars in his own section as the archetype of the researcher isolated from the world: in ‘Bacterio’s laboratory, successes and accidents’ his failed experiments raise dilemmas about ethics and safety in laboratories. ‘Science in the social mirror’ addresses information manipulation, pseudoscience and responsible communication. ‘Emergency science for troubled times’ talks about climate change, air pollution, invasive species such as the tiger mosquito, and Saharan dust intrusions. How it works. Francisco Ibáñez built a visual archive of Spanish scientific development over six decades. What began in 1958 as detective adventures evolved into a satirical chronicle of Spainwhich included technological modernization. Starting in the seventies, with Spain in full transformation, its covers captured real milestones: the takeoff of the space race in ‘El cocoa spatial’, genetic engineering in ‘The people copying machine’ or the phenomenon of drones in ‘Drones matones’, until reaching the climate alerts of the 21st century. His method was far from the anticipatory rigor of Franco-Belgian comic icons such as Hergé (who consulted the zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans and the astronautics expert Alexandre Ananoff in the Tintin album ‘Target: The Moon’) or the historical accuracy of Goscinny in Asterix. His territory was immediate parody: he transformed scientific headlines into slapstick visual, turning Bacterio’s laboratory into a distorting mirror of contemporary research. The CSIC and pop culture. The public body trusted for years in Spanish graphic humor to democratize knowledge. Fernando del Blanco, head of the library of the CSIC Research and Development Center, inaugurated ‘Science according to Forges’ in 2019, bringing together 66 cartoons by the cartoonist published in ‘El País’ between 1995 and 2018. With this one by Mortadelo he shared a methodology: transforming recognizable cultural figures into bridges to complex scientific concepts. Humor allows us to address everything from the Higgs boson to budget cuts in science. Science versus parody. As Pura Fernández comments in the aforementioned ‘El País’ article, Mortadelo and Filemón manage to discredit practices without delegitimizing the need for knowledge. Bacterio embodies a poor application of science: isolation, lack of peer review, continuous risks… However, his inventions address real phenomena. In this way, he emphasizes, the public understands the reading that Ibáñez proposes: Bacterio satirizes malpractice, not science itself. In Xataka | When Ibáñez lost the rights to Mortadelo in 1985, he created a new magazine where they would have another name: ‘Yo y yo’

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.