Month: March 2026

the toxic hell of Tehran after the bombing of the worst fuel in the world

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The water in emergency reserves is no longer transparent; It has turned a thick black. The city’s once passable streets are covered in a slippery, dark layer. “Night became morning and morning, with all the smoke, became night again,” said one astonished resident. These are not scenes from a dystopian movie, but the reality that describe The New York Times after the bombings on the oil infrastructure in Iran. The attacks have left Tehran residents facing a rain laden with oil and toxins that stains cars, roofs and hanging clothes. Faced with this unprecedented situation, the Iranian authorities and the Red Crescent have been forced to ask the more than 9 million inhabitants of the capital to lock themselves in their homes, with severe warnings for children, the elderly and pregnant women. What falls from the sky is no longer just water; It’s poison. A fog that reaches space. The constant military bombings against multiple fuel facilities in and around Tehran, such as the Shahran and Aqdasieh depots, have left a black scar. As detailed GuardianDays after the impacts, satellite images showed that the facilities were still burning, sending columns of dense smoke into the atmosphere. But the problem is aggravated by the type of fuel that burns. An exhaustive analysis of The New York Times reveals that the clouds They are extraordinarily toxic because Iran burns and stores large quantities of “mazut.” This is a very low quality residual fuel, the “bottom of the barrel” that remains after refining the oil, and which contains very high levels of sulfur. Although much of the world prohibits its use, Iran depends on it due to its aging refineries and international sanctions. And it started to rain black. When the facilities were blown up, smoke laden with soot, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen compounds rose to the skies. Why did it rain black? Akshay Deoras, scientist at the University of Reading consulted by Guardianand the magazine Nature They explain it with a clear metaphor: the raindrops acted like “sponges or magnets”, absorbing all the pollutants and oil suspended in the air before collapsing on the city. Furthermore, Tehran is a victim of its own geography. As the magazine explains NaturelThe city is surrounded by the Alborz mountains. This generates a phenomenon known as “thermal inversion,” where a layer of warm air traps cold, contaminated air near the ground, functioning as a lid that prevents toxicity from dispersing. The invisible enemy. The citizens they expressed thatAlmost instantly, they began to suffer headaches, eye and skin irritation, and severe breathing difficulties. The Iranian Red Crescent issued urgent alerts warning that the mixture of humidity and sulfur dioxide was generating acid rain, capable of causing chemical burns on the skin. However, the medical community’s real fear is long-term. This is the “invisible enemy” that Professor Armin Sorooshian talks about in The Conversation. Not only do explosions release petroleum smoke, but the ammunition itself contains heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) that penetrate deep into the lungs brings with it a devastating legacy. As John Balmes, professor emeritus at the University of California, warns, in The New York Times: “Can you imagine a fire in an oil depot in Manhattan? That’s what we’re talking about.” Experts predict a future increase in cardiovascular disease, cognitive damage, DNA alterations and various types of cancer due to the carcinogens present, such as benzene. The threat also filters into what the population drinks and eats. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have warned that spilled oil and toxic rain are contaminating groundwater, public canals and farmland, poisoning the food chain in a country already suffering from a severe drought. Beyond: ecocide. The magnitude of the disaster brings legal loopholes and massive collateral damage to the table. Iran has called the attacks “ecocide,” a term that makes sense when analyzing international law. The legal limbo that allows this horror. It may seem paradoxical, but bombing a fuel tank is not technically a chemical attack. Expert Alexandra R. Harrington explained it in detail in The Conversation: Although the Geneva Conventions prohibit destroying civil infrastructure, they do not specifically shield gasoline tanks or industrial products. Added to this is that international treaties on chemical weapons only punish the use of weapons manufactured expressly for this purpose. The result? A huge legal loophole that allows a refinery to explode and an entire city to be poisoned without having fired a single factory-made toxic missile. A black sea in the Gulf. The disaster is not only in the sky of Tehran. If we look towards the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the war has turned the water into another ground zero after direct hits against oil tankers and desalination plants. Oil spills are already spreading across the sea, putting local fishing communities on the ropes and drowning coral reefs. Species that were already on the verge of extinction, like dugongsthey are now swimming in a death trap. The smoke that crossed half the world. The gigantic column of black smoke that was born in the Iranian deposits has not remained stagnant there. The currents have been dragged eastwarddrawing a dark line over Afghanistan and China until it sneaks into Russian airspace. The big fear now is that if all that accumulated soot falls on the high mountain ranges, it will act as a magnet for the sun and drastically accelerate the melting of the glaciers. The hidden climate bill. There is collateral damage that is hardly talked about and that Deutsche Welle has put on the table: The military machinery is an insatiable devourer of fossil fuels. Bombings and troop movements are injecting millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in record time. The most frustrating thing about this situation is that the current climate agreements have a “fine print” that exempts countries from accounting for emissions derived from war in their official balance sheets. An indelible toxic legacy. Historically, … Read more

A year ago, the blackout caused the Spanish data network to collapse. The CNMC believes it has the solution

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In April 2025 Spain suffered a zero energy of which, precisely now, we are going to begin to pay some of its consequences. I remember quite clearly being cut off, not being able to call or send messages via data connection. However, when I changed locations and arrived at my relatives’ houses, some of them could do it. The fall of telecommunications It was uneven in Spainand the CNMC has published a document with preventive measures in case a similar situation occurs again. What happened. The energy blackout that left Spain plunged into darkness resulted in a large part of the population being cut off from communication. However, some operators They managed to keep their mobile network active for hours. Backup generators, generating sets moved to each area, backup systems… The challenge for operators to maintain coverage in Spanish territory was a titanic challenge, quite dependent on internal logistics, the state of the reserve batteries (some of them run on fuel), and the network infrastructure itself They were variables that influenced such unequal conditions to be experienced. A single network. In its statement, the CNMC proposes that the four giants of the Spanish territory put roaming plans at the service of the population in emergency cases. The experience of other countries shows that it is viable to incorporate roaming plans between operators in case of emergency. In this way, in areas where this was necessary due to the unavailability of service in an operator’s mobile network, the networks could be prepared to quickly enable the basic telecommunications services of the affected users through roaming in the networks of other operators. According to the regulator, this is an “ideal measure to strengthen resilience”, but it is not so easy to apply. Yes, but. What the CNMC proposes is a cross-roaming service between Telefónica, Vodafone and MásOrange, something that requires coordination and agreement between the three giants. The best example is Sweden where, after two years of preparation, any mobile phone can connect to any operator. Go deeper. In addition to this proposal, the CNMC requests the mandatory nature of the alert system HANDLE in those cars with DAB+ radio receivers (the evolution of FM radio). Although DAB+ works via antenna (like AM and FM radio), its signal is digitally encoded. The ASA system allows you to automatically activate a DAB+ radio connected to power, being able to quickly launch alerts. At the moment, there is a distance from proposal to fact. In Xataka | Europe has a million reasons to fear an increase in the price of electricity. Spain has something else: renewables

Elon Musk often promises impossible things like Terafab. The problem is that sometimes he manages to turn them into reality.

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It was up to Elon Musk to revolutionize the automotive industry with Tesla and the electric car. Probably no one believed he could do it. Then he did the same with the aerospace industry with SpaceX, and that was more of the same: it seemed impossible. It may be many things, but the truth is that although Elon Musk promises many things and does not always fulfill them when he says (hello autonomous car), has achieved unimaginable things. That’s why when you talk about Terafab, maybe we should give it a chance. Because this seems almost as impossible as his other feats. Terafab and Musk’s master plan. On Saturday night, from a power plant that has not been used for a long time, Elon Musk advertisement the last of the components of its master plan: Terafab. The objective is to create a chip factory in which Tesla, SpaceX and xAI will collaborate. According to Musk, this plant will be capable of manufacturing between 100 and 200 GW of computing capacity per year on earth, but it will reach 1 TW in space. The problem, as always with Musk, is distinguishing what part of the plan is engineering and what part is theater and fireworks. He doesn’t do it just because. At that event, the magnate explained that semiconductor manufacturers do not produce enough chips for their AI and robotics needs. And since TSMC and the rest of the manufacturers cannot meet Musk’s demand, he has proposed manufacturing them directly. You need them for your robotaxis and your humanoid robots, Optimuswhich he hopes will end up multiplying by 10 or 100 the production rate of his cars. But it also needs chips so that xAI can compete in the field of AI, and SpaceX needs them for its satellites. That is, it actually needs a lot of chips. Many. Chips from space. At Terafab they intend to create two types of chips. On the one hand, there will be those intended for autonomous vehicles or Optimus robots. On the other, the chips that already have their own name, D3, and that will be designed specifically for space, with products that use them that work in low Earth orbit and are powered by solar energy. For Musk, the idea “becomes an obvious decision”: there will come a point where putting payload into orbit is so cheap that host data centers in space It is cheaper than doing it on land because solar energy is practically unlimited there. Too many unknowns. Everything was very nice and promising, but once the speech and promises were over, the questions began. Building a state-of-the-art semiconductor factory is a colossal challenge. It’s not just a matter of money: it’s that advanced chip manufacturing is in the hands of three companies around the world (TSMC, Samsung and Intel), and requires photolithography with UVE technology which is only manufactured by the well-known Dutch company ASML. And here’s the thing, that Musk: Did not announce any agreement with ASML It has not shown orders that demonstrate that it will have these equipment He has not named a technological partner for the project No estimated dates or calendar have been given. And he hasn’t talked about the budget either. It’s all a gigantic unknown. The most ambitious vertical integration in tech history. On several occasions Musk repeated how at Terafab they intend to cover the entire development, manufacturing, packagingtesting and improvement in the same facilities. If we fulfill that promise, we would be facing another unprecedented achievement, because the semiconductor industry has been doing just the opposite for decades: hyperspecialization by different suppliers: some design, others manufacture, others package… Musk wants to do it all, and if he succeeds he will become a direct rival for Samsung or TSMC, which a priori he would no longer need. Promises and realities. This project seems especially diffuse, but with Musk anything is possible, as we have said. In recent years, yes, we have seen how several of his ideas or they have failedor they have been delayed, or they have been left in no man’s land. The robotaxis still haven’t arrived, the Cybertruck arrived late and it’s not settingand companies like The Boring Company or products like Solar Roof have had less reach than they promised, at least for now. Terafab seems like another impossible project from Musk. We’ll see if it ends up not being so. Image | tesla In Xataka | 8 years ago Elon Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into space: it continues to orbit and was mistaken for an asteroid

They have the first brain implant ready for commercial use

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With the data centersthe astronomical investment in artificial intelligence and plans for robotize factoriesthe most dystopian technological conversation has left out an important player: the cyborgs. If a few years ago the bells began to ring about the brain chipssoon fell into the background. He Neuralink Elon Musk moved on, but the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten. The rest of the world… except China, which already approves commercial implants. It’s the result of making brain chips a national priority. In short. There are several Chinese companies making significant progress in this field. NeuroXess, BrainCo -one of the “six little chinese dragons”- or NeuCyber ​​are two of the best known in this world, at the moment, and one called Neuracle Medical Technology has just achieved a milestone by becoming the first company that can sell an invasive brain-computer interface device in the world. It was a few days ago when the National Medical Products Administration granted marketing approval to the company, and once again puts on the table that China is following a very different strategy from that of the rest of the world. As with AI, while the West insists on increasingly powerful and faster models, China is looking for models that resonate with the general public with the aim of monetizing as soon as possible. The implant. The device is not much different from what we already know. It is a small system about the size of a coin that is placed on the outer surface of the brain. The process is minimally invasive because, although surgery is required, it does not penetrate the brain tissue. Surgeons make a small incision in the skull and electrodes are placed on the membrane surrounding the brain. This is where they can read the neural signals and where the “magic” begins: if the person thinks about grabbing an object with their hand, the SoC decodes the signal and transmits the order to a mechanical glove, which goes towards the object and closes the pneumatic fingers. Requirements. Obviously, it is desirable to never have to use a device of this type, since that would mean that you cannot use your own limbs. The regulatory body has put a limit to people who can use it: be between 18 and 60 years old, have suffered a cervical spinal cord injury, have some mobility in the upper arm, but without the ability to hold objects with their hand and the injury has been diagnosed at least one year before requesting the chip. The Neuralink Advantage. As we say, there are several other companies pursuing these advances and permits, and NeuCyber ​​has come to the fore to detail How is your model going? The Beinao-1 is the one they have been working on in recent years and is very similar to the one detailed: an implant that is placed in the outer membrane of the brain and is already being tested in about seven patients. The company has stated that they are working on a new generation called Beinao-2 (to the surprise of absolutely no one), but they have also said something more interesting: their implant is about three years behind Neuralink’s. And the key is not so much the technological superiority of Elon Musk’s model as the availability of patients for testing. For Beinao-1’s seven patients, Neuralink has more than 20. According to the company’s boss, this availability of clinical trials is what gives Neuralink a clear advantage. And something also interesting is that the new generation of Beinao changes its concept a little. If the first is semi-invasive, the second is completely invasive, using flexible electrodes implanted directly into the brain tissue. Strategic priority. At the moment, Beinao-2 is in animal testing and Beinao-1 is being analyzed in those seven humans, but with the hope of expanding the trials to 50 patients this 2026. We will see if, as the number of patients and real-world data collected increases, the system advances at a better pace, but what is clear is that China is not going to let off the accelerator. To say that these brain-computer interfaces are a priority national is not to magnify the issue. For decades, the Government has had something called the “Five Year Plan” that establishes objectives to be met during the five years following each review of the plan, and this technology, together with quantum computinghe 6G deploymentthe artificial intelligence Physical AI (robots with artificial intelligence, basically) is already within government-funded programs. That is why, from now on, we will begin to see a lot of news about companies that are beginning to promote these implants. And unlike other current technologies, which remains to be seen to what extent they help humanity, recovering mobility is an advance worth pursuing. Image | Mike Cai Chen In Xataka | The large Chinese AI and robotics companies have something in common: their chief scientists are from generation Z

Transferring files from a Samsung to an iPhone is a pain. So the Galaxy are going to be compatible with AirDrop

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Talking about Samsung and Apple is talking about the dog and the cat: two leading companies in completely different software ecosystems, both due to the nature of Android and how Samsung differentiates OneUI from Google’s native system. One of the historical points of friction between both platforms has always been AirDropthe file transfer system that Android tried to emulate with QuickShare. Surprisingly, Samsung has just announced that its phones will begin to be compatible with this protocol. AirDrop is compatible with Samsung. Starting with the Samsung Galaxy S26, S26+ and S6 UltraAirDrop will begin to support Quick Share. In other words, we can send files between Samsung and iPhone with their corresponding wireless protocols. The novelty is beginning to be implemented in South Korea, and will begin to soon expand to Europe and Latin America. Although the Galaxy S26 are the first lucky ones, Samsung has confirmed that it will later reach more models. How is it possible. Google made Quick Share and AirDrop interoperable on your Pixeland now partners like Samsung benefit from it. The company kept secret how it was possible to make its protocol work with Apple’s (completely closed a priori), and the answer lay with the European Union. As explains my colleague Javier Pastorwith the new EU guidelines Apple had to adopt interoperable wireless standards starting with iOS 26. This was a blow for AWDL (Apple Wireless Direct Link, Apple’s proprietary protocol), to embrace the WiFi Alliance’s WiFi Aware standard as its replacement. The beginning of something bigger? Samsung is one of the main partners from Google and one of the companies that is helping the most with the development of Android. For this reason, it is common to see how they are the first to implement exclusive Pixel innovations, more years of updates or, in this case, AirDrop. The big question is how long it will take the rest of the manufacturers to ensure that their phones can send and receive files to devices with iOS 26 through Quick Share and AirDrop. Yes, but. At the moment, this functionality is only possible if we activate the “everyone for 10 minutes” mode of AirDrop, being closed to the “contacts only” mode with which we can transfer files without having to constantly go to the phone settings. Google has been open to collaborating with Apple to enable full connectionalthough there is no news about it from the second company. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Best Samsung phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and five recommended models

All about Lepas, the new Chery Group brand that arrives in Spain with Chinese cars designed specifically for Europe

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Spain is experiencing a flood of Chinese brands in the automobile market. Manufacturers from this country have considered that Spain is a perfect country for their entry into the European market. Their reasons: key ports to unload cars and a customer who values ​​the quality/price/equipment ratio above brand loyalty. This is candy for Chinese companies. These brands have the challenge of winning over the customer with new models whose added value is, as a general rule, a very attractive price compared to the offer of Western vehicles, always with the same size, equipment and/or technology. With all this in mind, the Chery Group has started in Spain with Omoda and Jaecooin addition to Ebro Although it is a brand with Spanish capital, it uses the models that arrive in kits to Barcelona to build its own cars in our country. To these companies is now added Lepas. Chery will have a third own brand in Spain as a first step in an expansion that should continue throughout Europe soon. The objective is to put on the market a car that begins to target the premium market. This is your plan. What is Lepas and where does it come from? Lepas will be the third brand of the Chery Group to arrive in our country and is the youngest company of the automobile conglomerate since it was created in 2024. It must be taken into account that Chery already sells the Omoda and Jaecoo brands in China but also Jetour, iCar or Exeed. The name, they point out, is the mixture of “Leopard” and “Passion” and aims to position itself as an alternative company created specifically for Europe. It must be taken into account that Chery Group was founded in 1997 and has been exporting cars outside of China for more than 20 years. Its main market, until its arrival in Europe, was South America, but the objective is to continue expanding its borders in the coming years. With this roadmap in mind, Lepas will position itself as a brand designed by and for Europe. Its cars will be Chinese but the brand assures that it is about “responding to new customer profiles in different markets”, so the differentiation with Omoda and Jaecoo should be evident in the next launches. Omoda is, right now, the most youthful brand in Chery’s catalog. The conglomerate has positioned this company as an attractive bet for the most urban client, with a striking aesthetic and somewhat more aggressive or sporty shapes. Jaecoo is committed to the more rural market, with more or less mild offroad ambitions and a somewhat more country aesthetic. Lepas will occupy a slightly more refined position. The shapes of their cars, we assume seeing their first launch, will be softer and less aggressive. Everything indicates that Chery wants to have in Lepas an alternative with a slightly more premium character than its two previous brands. We are not talking about fighting with Audi or Mercedes but we are talking about playing in a league superior to the general league, halfway between both worlds. Lepas L8 Lepas L8, his first car For now, the Lepas landing comes with the Lepas L8. This car is an SUV 4.68 meters long, 1.87 meters wide and 1.69 meters high with a clear family vocation thanks to a trunk capacity of 507 liters. As a plug-in hybrid, it promises a range of up to 1,300 kilometers following a scheme that is common in other models of the group: 1.5 TGDI engine with dedicated DHT hybrid transmission and offers 205 kW (279 HP) of power and 365 Nm of torque. The promised electric range is up to 100 kilometers supported by an 18.4 kWh battery. Interior of the Lepas L8 The car is built on a multi-energy platform that allows plug-in hybrid versions to be put on the market, like this case, and completely electric or extended-range electric options. The latter is a type of car that works the vast majority of the time as an electric car and has a small gasoline tank to generate electricity and support electrical technology in case of emergency. The interior of this Lepas L8 has a steering wheel similar to that of the Omoda 9 so we found soft plastics and attractive design of the steering wheel, with only two horizontal spokes. It has wireless charging for your mobile phone and a large vertical screen. It is a differentiation from the Omoda options, whose screen is horizontal. Some functions with physical buttons are also maintained, although the air conditioning is carried out on the screen. The company points out that the car will arrive with more than 20 ADAS driving assistance systems, including adaptive cruise control, parking assistant (with remote parking) or “540º panoramic camera.” In the future In addition to this Lepas L8, the company’s roadmap involves continuing to send cars to our market. We are talking about the Lepas L4 and L6. At the moment, we know very little about these two cars. Yes we have confirmed that the Lepas L4 is an urban SUVof about 4.30 meters that will help the company to lower the price of entry to the brand. We are not clear, however, what the technology will be and if it will be based on exclusively electric specifications or will add options with combustion engines. The little progress that the brand has made is that the car is already being manufactured in Wuhu, where the Chery Group headquarters is located. As for the Lepas L6 we find ourselves in the same situation but this time we are talking about a compact SUV. We will know the details throughout the year. If we talk about its launch. The company’s roadmap involves putting the first cars on the market at the end of this first half of 2026. Therefore, all the details of the Lepas L8 and the first contacts should arrive shortly before the summer. In the coming months we should know all the … Read more

Jensen Huang believes he has found the perfect new bonus for software engineers. Not Stocks: AI Tokens

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The CEO of Nvidia has been converting the AI tokens at the center of all their public conversations. Jensen Huang’s latest idea links these tokens to the efficiency of engineers and how the best engineers in the world are recruited: in addition to a generous salary, offer them an amount equivalent to half their annual salary in AI tokens as part of the hiring package.​ Huang verbalized his proposal during the inaugural speech of the GTC 2026 conferenceNVIDIA’s largest annual event for developers. In a later interview, the Nvidia CEO detailed that engineers would earn “a few hundred thousand dollars a year as a base salary,” and the intention would be to give them “probably half of that, also, in tokens, so they can multiply your productivity times ten”.​ What Huang proposes already has a name: Tokenmaxxing. In one podcast appearance ‘All-InHuang said he would be on “high alert” if an engineer earning $500,000 didn’t spend at least $250,000 a year on tokens. “If that person said (that he has used tokens worth) $5,000, I would go completely crazy,” Huang stated. When asked if NVIDIA planned to spend $2 billion on tokens for its engineering team, as proposed, Huang responded: “We’re trying.”​ As and how they counted in The New York Timesthat has generated a phenomenon called “Tokenmaxxing“, with which engineers brag about the number of tokens they consume to try to improve the perception of their productivity: the more tokens you consume, the more productive you are. Tokens as bonuses are a trend in Silicon Valley. The CEO of NVIDIA is not the only one who thinks this way, and the use of tokens as an extra work benefit it’s soaking among investors in the sector. Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures stated to Business Insider that “companies are incorporating AI inference as a fourth component of engineer compensation: salary, bonus, stock and tokens.” The interest of whoever sells the chips. The NVIDIA CEO encouraging everyone to spend more on tokens is not disinterested advice. Gergely Orosz, analyst at software engineeringhe pointed it out bluntly in a publication from AND he added an analogy that sums it up accurately: “It’s almost as if the CEO of Apple said, ‘If someone who makes $500,000 a year doesn’t spend at least $50,000 a year on in-app purchases on iOS, I’d be deeply alarmed.’ And yes, you would be, because that would reduce the revenue you generate.” Huang is the head of the company that manufactures the chips for AI on which most of the world’s artificial intelligence runs. Huang himself made it clear to his investors: “Without computing, there is no way to generate tokens. Without tokens, there is no way to grow revenue,” he declared, describing his data centers as “token factories” whose demand will only grow as AI agents proliferate.​ Do not confuse value with price. However, Huang has incurred a bias when arguing his idea: confusing value with price. Orosz formulated it clearly in a message in X : “The advice that engineers should use tools that make them more productive IS correct… except that the cost of tools should NOT be what we focus on. Some of the most useful tools are very cheap. Of course, vendors will focus on selling the most expensive and most profitable tools.” Productivity is not measured in tokens spent, but in results achieved. The right question for companies should not be whether their employees use more AI, but whether increased use of AI is rewarded. with greater productivity. In Xataka | Customers demand that a human solve their problem. The surprising thing is that if humans serve them they think they are an AI Image | NVIDIA, Unsplash (Arif Riyanto)

The war in Iran has given China an unprecedented opportunity. And she has just been transferred to Taiwan so she can think twice

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Taiwan is one of the most advanced economies in the world, yet it produces less than 5% of the energy it consumes. In just a few days, it can go from being a key center of global technology to depend completely of what happens thousands of kilometers from its coasts. And China has seen an opportunity. Energy as a geopolitical weapon. The war in the Middle East has triggered a chain reaction that goes far beyond the battlefield: with energy routes strained and the Strait of Hormuz turned into a global bottleneckcountries have set out to ensure supplies at any price. In this context of urgency, energy has ceased to be just an economic resource and has become a direct tool of political pressure, one capable of reconfiguring alliances, dependencies and strategic balances in a matter of weeks. The offer that changes the board. And it is precisely in that scenario where China has reformulated your proposal towards Taiwan with a much more pragmatic approach: instead of appealing so much to national identity, the offer is aimed at a concrete and urgent need, energy security. The idea? Beijing offers guaranteed access to stable, cheaper and less exposed resources to external crises in exchange for peaceful “reunification”presenting integration as a technical solution to a structural problem. The message leaves no room for doubt: under the umbrella of a “strong power,” the island could free yourself from uncertainty of global markets and their dependence on vulnerable maritime routes. Gas station in Taiwan A known vulnerability. The proposal is not coincidental, of course, but rather points directly to a critical weakness what was known: Taiwan almost all the energy matters that consumes and depends largely on supplies that pass through areas of high geopolitical risk. Beijing not only presents itself as an alternative supplier, but also suggests that this exposure can get worse if the conflict is prolonged, reinforcing the idea that the solution is to reduce this external dependence. At the same time, it proposes a future of energy integration (electrical networks, gas pipelines, interconnections) that would eliminate a large part of that vulnerability. Between seducing and pressuring. There is no doubt, this strategy of “energy persuasion” It does not replace the rest of the pressure tools that China has had active for a long time. It we have counted before, those military maneuvers around the island, the blockade drills and the constant presence of Chinese forces are part of an environment of sustained pressure that seeks to wear down without provoking open conflict. Under this scenario, the energy adds thus to a set of levers (military, economic and diplomatic) designed to progressively reduce Taiwan’s room for maneuver. Taiwanese rejection and calculation. Taiwan’s response remained to be known. Faced with the suggestive offer, the island has officially responded firmlyrefusing to exchange sovereignty for energy supply and defending that it has sufficient reserves and diversified sources, especially with the support of the United States. As analysts point out, beyond the technical feasibility of the Chinese proposal, the problem is more credibility: The Hong Kong experience has eroded confidence in the model of “one country, two systems”and for a large part of Taiwanese society accepting this agreement would mean beginning a process of gradual loss of autonomy. Long term play. This “no” from Taiwan has not been interpreted in Beijing as something resounding. Possibly, because deep down, the Beijing proposal reflects a much broader strategy: taking advantage of global crises to present itself as a provider of stability in the face of an increasingly volatile environment. There is, therefore, no urgency or immediate rush to force reunification, but rather an accumulation of advantages that, over time, make the option of integrating less costly than resisting. The war in the East has thus opened an unexpected window for that narrative, turning energy into a political argument first order and demonstrating that, in the new geopolitical situation, the control of resources can be as decisive as that of territories. Image | 總統府, Picryl In Xataka | The same day that the US sent its marines to Iran, Taiwan woke up with déjà vu: China has surrounded it with 26 planes and 7 warships In Xataka | US experts are clear about the year in which China will try its luck with Taiwan: the countdown has already begun

review with features, price and specifications

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To the Apple AirTag One thing happens to them, and that is that you don’t miss them until you can’t use them. That’s just what happened to me a few years ago: after switching to Android, I had to abandon them. I could have continued using them with the iPad, yes, but they lost part of the fun because well, if I lose the backpack in which I carry the AirTag and the iPad, too bad. So I started looking for alternatives. Samsung has its Galaxy SmartTagswhich you can only use (officially) with Samsung phones. Motorola has the Moto Tagwhich are worth 40 euros each; and Chipolo has the same Pop, 35 euros each. Then there are proposals of all colors and shapes on platforms like AliExpress that did not convince. I have literally been thinking since Apple released its AirTags, “when Xiaomi arrives and releases theirs for 15 euros, I’m going to buy them a pallet.” That moment has arrived. We’ll see about buying the pallet, but a few weeks ago Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi Tag and server has already lost it (on purpose) a couple of times to test it and see how it goes. AND spoileris exactly what I was looking for. Xiaomi Tag technical sheet xiaomi tag dimensions and weight 46.5 x 31 x 7.2mm 10 grams connectivity Bluetooth LE 5.4 NFC (Apple Find My only) speaker Piezoelectric buzzer battery Removable CR2030 battery One year of autonomy sensor Accelerometer compatibility Google Android Find Hub: Android 9 or later Apple Find My: iOS 14.5 or later ENDURANCE IP67 PRICE 14.99 euros The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Simple, direct and to the point Xiaomi Tag | Image: Xataka Xiaomi has not heated its head with the design, and it is no wonder. After all, we will only see this product twice: when we take it out of the box and when we find it after losing it. The rest of the time it has to go unnoticed, be light, small and not bothersome. It does that perfectly. So, three aspects to highlight. The first is that it has a physical button on the top that, when pressed, makes it sound. It will be good for us to know if the battery has run out, although the easiest way to find out the remaining battery level is from the Locator app, available in the Google Play Store. The second is that, indeed, it sounds, and quite loudly I must add. If, like me, you often lose your keys at home, with the beep you can easily locate them. The third is that it has a handle on the top that is great to put a keychain on and hang it wherever we want. I used to carry the AirTag in my wallet, but since I have the ID and driving license on mobile The wallet has passed away. So, for this review I have put it on a keychain along with some old keys that I had at home. Like any device of this type, the Xiaomi Tag works with a CR2032 battery. In theory, the autonomy is up to a year, more or less. From my experience with the AirTag I can confirm that this is the case. In any case, you can find these batteries in any establishment, from a neighborhood hardware store to a supermarket, including Amazon. How it works Xiaomi Tag | Image: Xataka Throughout the analysis I will talk about the experience on Android because that is where I have used it, but the Xiaomi Tag is also compatible with iOS. If you have an iPhone, you can use it without problem. You just have to know two things: you can’t use it with Apple and Google networks at the same timeor one or the other; and it doesn’t have UWB technology (ultra wide band). One of the coolest things about AirTags is that, thanks to the Apple U1 chip and UWB technology, when you are close to the lost object it tells you the direction in which you should move to reach it. The Xiaomi Tag lacks this technology and they drink only from Bluetooth. Of course, the Bluetooth of all the Android phones in the world, and that’s where the fun is. The operation of this network is quite simple: Imagine that you lose the keys in which you carry the Xiaomi Tag in the park. Your neighbor Juan, who has an Android phone, passes by your keys. Juan has not seen the keys, but his mobile phone, without Juan knowing it or having to do anything, has detected the Bluetooth Low Energy signal emitted by the Xiaomi Tag. Your mobile sends, after encryption, the location to the Google cloud. Google, through the Locator app, tells you this location and marks it on the map so you know where to find your keys. Xiaomi Tag | Image: Xataka The same thing works in motion. If you leave a backpack on the bus, all the Android phones of all the people who pass by it will detect the Xiaomi Tag and you will be able to see, almost in real time, where it is. As someone who had a suitcase with an AirTag inside lost by a certain airline at the Las Vegas airport, I can confirm that this information can be worth gold. The limitation that these devices have is evident: there must be cell phones nearby. Luckily, in Spain Android is religion with a 70% market share. That is, if you lose the Xiaomi Tag, seven out of every ten mobile phones that pass by will be Android and, therefore, they will collaborate in your search in an anonymized way. Another thing is that you lose it in the middle of the mountain where no one passes by. In that case, you will only be able to see the last known location. Xiaomi Tag | Image: Xataka Here it is worth making a small aside: … Read more

It is not necessary to shoot down US fighters, it is enough to force them to take off

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In World War II, the Soviet Union produced more than 100,000 tanksmany of them technically inferior to the Germans, but enough to tip the balance of the conflict. Because sometimes in war, the deciding factor is not sophistication, but how many times you can repeat the same move. Win by forcing take off. The conflict with Iran has exposed an American paradox, another onemost uncomfortable: the largest military power in the world can destroy targets with unprecedented precision and speed, but it has enormous difficulties to support the defense against much simpler and cheaper threats. Because instead of trying to shoot down fighters or directly confront American air superiority, Iran has adopted a different logic, one much closer (or exactly the same) as which Ukraine has perfected in his war: overwhelm the system enemy. Each drone launched does not seek to impact so much as to force a response, to activate radars, to take off fighters, to, in short, consume resources. The key, therefore, is not the individual damage, but the accumulated wear and tear to which it is subjected. The mathematics of combat. It’s as simple as a matter of numbers. The core of this strategy is purely economic. Drones that cost tens of thousands of dollars require the use of million interceptors or to keep in the air airplanes whose operating cost per hour already far exceeds the value of the objective they pursue. The result is an exchange deeply unequal in financial terms, where each defense is a small major economic defeat. The image is crystal clear, because using elite technology to counter low-cost threats is equivalent to spending high-end resources on problems that, first, do not justify it, and second, they create an unsustainable dynamic in the long term, even for an army with the most monstrous budget like that of the Pentagon. The Ukrainian mirror. As we said before, the model does not emerge from nothing, but from experience accumulated in Ukrainewhere the mass production of cheap drones has completely changed the battlefield. There, the quantity has proven to have an own value in the face of technological quality, with thousands of drones operating daily and forcing the adversary to disperse its defense. In addition, constant evolution (with software improvements every few weeks) has turned these systems into increasingly useful tools. more autonomous and difficult to counteract, especially in environments where GPS or traditional communications stop working. A preparation error. It we have counted on other occasions. For years, Western defenses were designed with high-end threats such as ballistic missiles in mind, leaving simpler systems in the background. The result is that drones, smaller, slower and more difficult to detect, have found an unexpected crack. Radars need specific adjustments, fighters have difficulty intercepting them due to their speed and flight profile, and the available solutions are totally inefficient. in terms of cost. In this context, resorting to advanced fighters or missiles does not seem like a structural solution, but more of a patch which aggravates the problem. War of attrition underway. In summary, and although it is impossible to ignore the US budget for stretch a war, Iran has so far not needed to win in the traditional sense to alter the balance of the conflict. A simple one was enough calculation exerciseone based on maintaining the pace while forcing the United States and its allies to continue responding, to consume inventories, to stress their logistics and make a hole in your budget. It is a war that, for the moment, is not decided on the classic battlefield, but on the ability to sustain the effort. And in that field, mathematics plays a decisive role: If each response costs more than the attack, the final result depends not on who has better weapons, but on who can afford to continue using them for longer. The “Ukrainian mathematics” applied in Iran. Image | RawPixel In Xataka | We wonder if it is safe to fly now that there are more drones than Ryanair planes: the answer is an Ockham’s razor In Xataka | The weapon to liberate Hormuz has fled 6,000 km from the war. And that just means the US is preparing for what comes next.

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