Month: April 2026

Millions to protect a war frigate. A Bluetooth tracker worth a few euros has been enough to follow her in real time

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Protecting a warship costs a fortune. We are talking about sensors, protocols, personnel, weapons and a security chain designed to minimize any unnecessary exposure. That is why what has happened with the Zr.Ms. Evertsena frigate of the Netherlands Navy integrated into the battle group of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. According to Omroep Gelderlandtheir position could be tracked in real time for hours with something much more mundane and cheaper: a simple Bluetooth tracker sent via military mail. The story does not begin with a technological gap or with a particularly complex maneuver, but with something much more earthly: a postcard. That was what the aforementioned medium used to introduce the tracker into Evertsen through the military mail service. The sources do not specify what device was used, beyond describing it as a low-cost tracker. It is easy to think of a Apple AirTagbut there is no indication that it was that specific model and the market offers many similar alternatives. How a minor failure left a frigate exposed The case gains another dimension when you look at what Evertsen’s mission was at that time. According to the source, the frigate was part of the group that escorted the Charles de Gaulle and its function was to help protect the aircraft carrier of possible air or missile threats. This task makes its location especially sensitive data within an ongoing military mission. In other words, it was not just about knowing where a ship was, but about being able to keep track of a relevant piece within a real operation. The really delicate thing about this episode is not only that a tracker managed to enter the military postal circuit, but what that suggests about certain procedures that continue to operate with a logic from other times. According to the media itself based on official videos from the ministry, the packages did go through X-rays, but the envelopes did not follow the same control. That combination opened enough of a gap to compromise the discretion of the deployment. We are not facing a spectacular failure, but rather an apparently minor vulnerability, but sufficient to allow the ship to be monitored. Once the initial filter was passed, the case stopped being a hypothesis and became a real follow-up. According to the reconstruction published by the Dutch media, the tracker signal made it possible to follow a path that went from Netherlands to Cretewith steps through Den Helder and Eindhoven airport before reaching the port of Heraklion. There, in addition, images from a camera fit that clue and showed the Evertsen moored at the dock. On March 27, once out of port, the frigate continued broadcasting its position for about 24 more hours: first it skirted the Cretan coast and then headed east, until the device stopped giving a signal near Cyprus. The official reaction came after publication and was, at least in part, corrective. The Dutch Ministry of Defense made changes following this incident and stopped allowing battery-powered greeting cards to be sent to Evertsen, as well as announcing a broader review of military mail guidelines. At the same time, the department held that the tracker was located while the correspondence on board was being sorted, once the frigate had already left the port. And although he admitted that the ship could be followed at sea, he assured that this did not constitute an operational risk. There is a quite obvious reading in closing this story. The frigate was still part of a military mission, protected within a much larger device, and yet a low-cost domestic object managed to open a tracking window for hours. Not because it replaced the big threats, but because it slipped through a minor seam that no one had fully adjusted. That’s what makes this episode especially revealing: remember that, in 2026, security doesn’t just depend on large systems. Images | Ein Dahmer | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | France was moving its aircraft carrier without revealing its location. Until a runner on board uploaded an activity to Strava

AI already knew how to create images. OpenAI says it has found the missing piece with the new ChatGPT Images 2.0

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Over the last few years we have seen image generators become increasingly more spectacular, faster and also more popular. The problem is that a striking image is not always useful to work with. It is one thing to ask for an astronaut cat and quite another to obtain a usable marketing poster, a coherent vignette or a graphic that respects what we have asked for. That’s where OpenAI now wants to move the conversation with its new model: not so much towards the pretty image, but towards the useful image. The answer. What OpenAI proposes goes in that direction. The company led by Sam Altman He maintains that his new model is not only created to generate attractive images, but to solve visual assignments with more intention and less trial and error. In the presentation he went so far as to state that “images are a language, not decoration”, a fairly clear way of summarizing where he wants to take the product in a present with quite a bit of competition. The thesis is that: that asking for an image in ChatGPT It’s less like launching a creative prompt and more like commissioning a piece that we can actually use. The missing piece. If the firm wants us to talk about something more than showy images, it had to improve exactly the points where these models usually fail. Here they promise important changes on three very specific fronts: following complex instructions more precisely, better organizing elements within the image and reproducing dense text with greater reliability. In other words, we are not only looking for more beautiful results, but also less ambiguous and more controllable ones. Think before you draw. One of the novelties that OpenAI tries to highlight most strongly is that this is its first image model with reasoning capabilities. Translated into practical terms, the company maintains that, when a model with “thinking” is chosen within ChatGPT, the system can take more time, structure the task better, rely on the web to search for updated information and review its own results before delivering the image. And we have tried it, asking for the image of two people walking along Gran Vía, in Madrid, near Cines Callao, and some notes on activities to do in Spain during May. These are the images that we can see in the cover image. The keys. OpenAI talks about game prototyping, storyboards, marketing creatives, comics, social graphics and other materials where both content and form matter. To sustain that ambition, the company says it has improved on two delicate fronts: the handling of non-Latin text, with advances especially in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi and Bengali, and the more faithful reproduction of very marked visual styles. It also expands the possible formats, with proportions of up to 3:1 and 1:3, resolution of up to 2K and, in certain modes, the possibility of generating up to ten images within the same request with continuity between characters and objects. The competitive context. This announcement also cannot be read as if OpenAI had suddenly discovered a new market. Midjourney has already become a clear reference for works with a strong artistic charge, Nano Banana has attracted attention for its conversational editing capabilities and FLUX 2 has become strong in photorealism. With that board in front, the company seems to be looking for another angle. Rather than contesting each terrain separately, it tries to present ChatGPT as an environment where the image is not generated in isolation, but as part of a broader flow, something that on paper can be attractive if it really delivers what it promises. It’s already starting to unfold: One of the keys to the announcement is that OpenAI ensures that the model does not remain in the showcase phase, but is beginning to reach a product. The company places its deployment in ChatGPT for all users, including Free and Go, and associates the most advanced results with Plus and Pro, as also reported by Engadget. Additionally, it takes you to the API and Codex, a sign that they don’t want to limit it to casual use within the chat. If your strategy involves turning the image into another work tool, it made sense for the deployment to start precisely there. Images | Xataka with ChatGPT Images 2.0 | OpenAI In Xataka | Amazon wants to win the AI ​​race at any price. That is why it has invested both in Anthropic and OpenAI

Blue Origin equals SpaceX in rocket reuse but fails in the mission

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Blue Origin has reused the propellant of its New Glenn rocket for the first time, reaching a milestone that until now had only been achieved by SpaceX. With this achievement, it is one step closer to its main competitor, which is also beginning to hinder its path to the Moon. However, this launch has been accompanied by some errors that still allow Elon Musk’s company to breathe easy. The good and the bad. Last November, Blue Origin managed to recover the propellant for the first time with which he had launched a New Glenn rocket into space. Their goal was to reuse it, exactly as SpaceX already does routinely. That second achievement has been a long time coming, but it finally took place this Sunday, April 19. The launch was carried out successfully, but there was a problem: The satellite it was carrying as a payload was placed in the wrong orbit. Therefore, although this is a giant step for Jeff Bezos’ space company, there are still details to be refined. Background. Blue Origin had already managed to reuse the propellant of a rocket, but it was not a New Glenn rocket, but a New Shepard. This one is smaller, so it was less of a challenge. To match SpaceX, it needed to do the same with a larger rocket. For this reason, the company’s goal has long been set on reusing the first phase of a New Glenn. This one measures 98 meters high. The New Shepard only 18 meters. A failed attempt in January 2025. To reuse a propellant, it must first be recovered. This occurs after the rocket launches. The two phases separate and, while the second continues the journey to leave its payload in place, the first returns to Earth. Ideally, a vertical landing or splashdown should occur, so that the propellant can be recovered intact. Blue Origin already tried this with a New Glenn rocket in January 2025, but a failure to fire the engines during descent prevented it from being done correctly. In November, however, complete recovery was achieved. That has been the propellant that has now been reused. SpaceX has reused its Falcon 9 hundreds of times Other companys. In reality, the only space companies that have achieved reuse of this type have been Blue Origin and SpaceX, although there is another that has done something similar: Rocket Lab. In their case, a vertical landing of the first phase does not occur, but instead It lands in the ocean with the help of a parachute. It is also useful, but recovery is more complicated. Furthermore, this company has not yet achieved complete reuse of the recovered rockets. Other companies, like the Chinese LandSpacethey also intend to follow in the footsteps of SpaceX, but are still carrying out tests. Importance for the future. Rocket reuse is important for many reasons. To begin with, what companies look at most: their economy. Not having to manufacture a new propellant with each launch greatly reduces costs and allows investment in other technologies. On the other hand, it is useful and necessary for reduce space debris levels. SpaceX does not stop generating new space junk by sending satellites into space. Few experts consider that the reuse of rockets will compensate for that, but it continues with its particular space greenwashing. SpaceX has made a lot of progress in this regard. Their reuse of rockets has already become routine, with more than 500 reused takeoffs from its Falcon 9. It has also been possible to reuse the powerful Starship. Even Rockets have been recovered in flight with a kind of giant Chinese chopsticks. Now, Blue Origin is closer, but if they want to continue in the competition they must be more accurate. An investigation is underway as to why the satellite did not end up in the correct orbit. When you find the answer, you can look for solutions. Images | Blue Origin | SpaceX In Xataka | Jeff Bezos asked his parents for their life savings to found Amazon. They only asked him one question: “What is the Internet?

the forgotten story of the 11 deaf men of NASA

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In the late 1950s, NASA was very clear that it wanted to send astronauts into space and that that would be the beginning of a new era. Therefore, it was very important to thoroughly study how microgravity could affect the health of human beings. The first step would be to see how sick these travelers would get. And what better way to study it than with a group of people incapable of getting dizzy? Yes, although it may not seem like it, that makes sense. The Gallaudet 11. Gallaudet College, now known as Gallaudet University, was the first school in the world dedicated to the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing. That’s why it was there where NASA recruited 11 men between 25 and 48 years oldwhose deafness came mostly from damage to the vestibular system. 10 of them had lost hearing at an early age due to spinal meningitis that had deteriorated this system involved in balance. Having it affected they couldn’t get dizzy. Therefore, by studying their cases, NASA scientists hoped to better understand how seasickness occurs, in order to find the best methods to prevent it. A question of contradictions. motion sickness, also known as motion sicknessis a mechanism of the brain to react when faced with something it detects as contradictory. While the eyes detect that we are still, in a car, for example, the vestibular system, located in the ear, detects that we are moving. Faced with this contradiction, the brain tries to defend itself from danger, causing that feeling of dizziness that alerts us that something is supposedly going wrong. In the case of space travel, the vestibular system loses the reference influenced by gravity that it normally interprets as being in balance. Therefore, a similar effect is produced. But of course, if someone has damaged the vestibular system, it is impossible for them to perceive this type of dizziness. 11 men at the limit. The 11 volunteers recruited for this study They were divided into several groupswho underwent different experiments related to motion sickness and the absence of microgravity. For example, several of them spent 12 days in a slow-rotating room, which rotated 10 times per minute. Many others climbed into centrifugal capsules that they spin at high speed to simulate hypergravity. And possibly those who took it most to the extreme were those who went on microgravity simulation flights in which the aircraft flies upward quickly, stops and drops abruptly. One of these planes is known as the Vomit Comet for reasons that leave little room for the imagination. Unaffected by seasickness. Participants did not feel dizzy in any of these experiments. In fact, in the fourth exercise, in which they had to travel on a ferry in the rough seas of Nova Scotia, the researchers had to cancel the test due to the terrible dizziness they experienced. The 11 volunteers, on the other hand, were playing cards calmly. The benefits for the future. Thanks to these experiments, it was understood that space motion sickness is something temporary and manageable, linked to the vestibular system. Better training was also designed so that astronauts would be ready to avoid getting sick on their trips to space. For all this, although they never traveled to space, they were crucial for the well-being of all those astronauts who did. Their contributions were key in milestones as important as the one we just experienced with Artemis II. Image | POT In Xataka | We knew that Mars has gravity. Now we have just discovered the unexpected effect it has on the Earth’s climate

In two days the animated spin-off of the platform’s only powerful franchise premieres on Netflix: ‘Stranger Things’

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On December 31, 2025, Netflix aired the final episode of ‘Stranger Things‘. With it, the platform recorded its most viewed New Year’s broadcast in history and put the finishing touch to the platform’s most viewed series, exceeding 1.2 billion accumulated views. And four months later Eleven, Mike, Dustin and the rest of the Hawkins gang are back, but this time in animated format With new voices and a new showrunnerthis ‘Stranger Things: Stories from 85′ this one arrives April 23 to Netflix. And how is it presented when the main story has already closed? Well, going back to when it wasn’t yet: the series takes place in the winter of 1985, between the second and third original seasons. That interval existed in the canon, although it did not come without a technical problem: at the end of T2, Eleven closes the door to the Other Side. T3 starts in July of that same year. How do you fit interdimensional monsters into a story that takes place during the months when the door is sealed? Easy: Particles from the Other Side that escaped before the door closed have begun to mutate into different plant species in Hawkins, generating hybrid creatures like a “snow shark.” All of this comes from the original visual style of the illustrator Meybis Ruiz Cruz and which, through animation, Netflix has wanted to bring closer to series from the eighties such as ‘He-Man’ or ‘The Real Ghostbusters’, but without losing sight of more recent proposals such as the animated films of the Spider-verse or ‘Arcane’. ‘Stories of 85’ obeys the tactic of keeping a franchise alive once it is impossible to do so with the original actors, through formats that alleviate technical and distribution demands. If this experiment works, we will undoubtedly see similar attempts with series like ‘Wednesday’ or ‘The Bridgertons’, and that without leaving Netflix. And, of course, if it works it will also continue on this side: according to the new showrunnerEric Robles, there are ideas to cover many other intervals in the official series. You have to milk it from somewhere. In Xataka | 16 premieres on Netflix: this week, the new ‘Stranger Things’, a rare British series and the return of Charlize Theron

pay young people for dating apps

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To desperate problems, desperate solutions. In full demographic debaclethe authorities of Kōchi (a prefecture in southern Japan) have decided to help their young people find a partner a peculiar shape: paying for their subscription to dating apps. The aid is only aimed at residents under 40 years old, cannot exceed 20,000 yen (110 euros) and is limited to a list of certified social networks, but it gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the Administration is determined to reverse the birth crisis that is clouding the future of the country. That it has focused the focus on apps is not a coincidence either. Help to flirt. Japan is not willing to sit idly by while its birth rate declines at a rate record speed and the country is moving deeper and deeper into a demographic catastrophe of unpredictable consequences. Over the last few years, the Japanese authorities have launched millionaire programs to activate their birth rate, which includes from numerous ‘baby checks’ to job improvements that facilitate conciliation. In few places, however, have they been as imaginative as in Kōchi Prefecture. There the Government has decided help your young to pay dating apps. “Helping singles”. Kōchi’s idea is as simple as it is shocking. a few days ago the prefecture announced a “subsidy program to cover app usage fees.” Said like this, it may not seem too interesting, but things change when you go down to detail. Its objective is very specific: to lend a hand to young people in the region who want to register on dating platforms and, ultimately, “to help singles who want to meet someone or get married.” With small print. The measure, of course, has fine print. Only Kōchi residents between 20 and 39 years old can apply and must prove that the app began to be used on April 1. In fact, the aid is designed to pay for subscriptions between April 2026 and March 2027. Its amount is also limited: in no case can it exceed 20,000 yen, about 110 euros. The curious thing is that Kōchi is not the first to use this trick. In the region of Miyazaki They also launched a similar program in 2025, although with an aid of only 10,000 yen per year, and in Tokyo they have even promoted a dating app focused on a very specific user profile: people looking for a stable partner. Is any application worth it? No. That is another of the peculiarities of the Kōchi initiative. The prefecture subsidizes only subscriptions to certain apps preselected, although among them is Tapple, a platform very popular among singles in Japan. Curiously, just a year ago it incorporated a function that allows its users to verify officially their marital status, which allows the rest of the people in the network to know if they are married or not. In the list from Kōchi also includes Pairs, D3 or Omiai, among others. A well-calibrated bet. That the Kōchi authorities have decided to bet on dating apps is no coincidence. A few years ago the Government carried out a survey in which, among other questions, he asked the Japanese how they had met their partners. A quarter (25%) of those who had gotten married acknowledged that they contacted their better half through dating apps, which makes them the great matchmaker in the country. 21% said they had met their spouse at work and 10% at a school. How much does it cost to flirt? It is also no coincidence that Kōchi has set its subsidy at 110 euros per year. “The current price of annual membership fees is just over 20,000 yen, so we set the amount to cover most of it,” explains an official to The Sankei Shimbun. Those who benefit from the measure will only have to cover the rest of the costs. In its efforts to make it as easy as possible for singles, the prefecture even has a specific program which helps those who move to Kōchi to look for a boyfriend or girlfriend. Again it may seem like a strange initiative, but in Japanese society only a tiny percentage of babies are born out of wedlock. If Kōchi (or any other region) wants more children, it first needs more couples. Goal: more babies. Although Japan is not the only country suffering the effects of demographic winter, the situation there is particularly worrying. Their multiple efforts to reactivate their birth rate do not seem to be giving results (unlike what seems to happen in South Korea) and in 2025 the country recorded its tenth consecutive year of decline, reaching a new historic floor. The outlook is so discouraging that Japan is moving at a minimum demographics I didn’t expect to see until the 2040s. Kōchi is no exception. Macrotrends shows that takes years losing inhabitants. Images | Kochi Prefecture Victoriano Izquierdo (Unsplash) In Xataka | Japan wanted to know what bothers its citizens most about tourism. The answer is extremely Japanese

The landing of the first OPPO Ultra in Spain begins with a huge camera

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Sometimes it is enough to look at a device for a few seconds to understand where a brand is going, and that is exactly what happened to me with the OPPO Find X9 Ultra. On paper, its size and the volume of the photographic module could make you think of a cumbersome mobile phone, and it is, but in the hand it also feels light, comfortable and clearly premium. Furthermore, it is a device that does not try to hide its photographic ambition, but rather makes it a central part of its identity. OPPO summoned us to a meeting to calmly explain a product to which it gives special weight within its catalogue, and it is not difficult to understand why. This is the first Ultra that the brand officially puts on the table in Spain and Europe, a move with which it wants to reinforce its position in the highest range. In fact, we will go into more depth about this topic in an interview we had with Kevin Cho, CEO of OPPO in Spain. Oppo Find X9 Ultra technical sheet oppo find x9 ULTRA Dimensions and weight Tundra Umber: 163.16 × 76.97 × 9.10 mm 236g Canyon Orange: 163.16 × 76.97 × 8.65mm 235g screen 6.82 inch AMOLED QHD+ 2K resolution Screen-to-body ratio: 94.60% Refresh Rate: Maximum 144 Hz Brightness: HBM 1800 nits processor Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 memory 12GB storage 512GB battery 7,500 mAh (silicon-carbon) 100W SUPERVOOC 50W AIRVOOC rear cameras 200 MP f/1.5 main, OIS 50 MP f/2.0 Ultra Wide Angle 200 MP f/3.5 3x telephoto, OIS 50 MP f/2.2 10x telephoto, OIS front camera 50MP f/2.0 connectivity 5G Dual SIM NFC Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 6.0 GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BDS operating system ColorOS 16 others IP69 certification Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor price 1,699 euros The camera is not an addition, it is the starting point Where this intention is most noticeable is in the design language itself. OPPO explained to us that it has been inspired by the Hasselblad X2Dand that reference is not just an aesthetic wink, but in a very specific way of building the terminal. The camera module, with that Master Lens design on a hexagonal piece, dominates the rear and does not try to go unnoticed. On the contrary, what we see here is a deliberate decision: to take that protuberance as part of the product’s character and turn it into a way of telling us that the camera is not an add-on, but the center of everything. That idea is also transferred to the materials and the way the phone seeks to fit in the hand. We have seen two very different finishes. Tundra Umber is committed to ecological vegan leather, with dark tones and brown nuances, and it is the one that best expresses that search for a firmer grip and a feeling closer to that of a camera. Canyon Orange, on the other hand, offers a more striking proposal, with a matte finish and the use of aeronautical fiber to reinforce resistance. If we go down from the brand narrative to the terrain of the technical sheet, the Find X9 Ultra also wants to make it clear where it is placed. OPPO equips it with a 6.8-inch 144 Hz screen, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 accompanied by a steam chamber to improve cooling and a 7,050 mAh carbon silicon battery. The company also ups the ante on charging, with 100 W wired SuperVOOC and 50 W wireless AirVOOC, and tops off the set with IP69 certification. It is a very serious technical basis for a phone that aspires to compete without complexes at the top. As we have been seeing from the beginning, the discourse of the Find X9 Ultra revolves again and again around photography. At this point, it is reasonable to look at the whole before going down to detail. And what the brand proposes is a rear system made up of four main cameras and a new True Color Camera, with which it aspires to cover everything from ultra-wide angle to long-distance optical zoom without giving up a clearly ambitious proposal. In this section there is one fact that immediately stands out: here we do not have a single 200 MP sensor, but two. The first occupies the 200 MP main camera, with 23 mm equivalent; The second appears in the 3x telephoto lens, also 200 MP and designed for portrait and distance. Added to this is a 50 MP ultra wide angle that reinforces the base of the set. And then there is the piece with which OPPO finishes stretching its proposal into unusual territory for a mobile phone. The Find X9 Ultra adds a 50 MP 10x optical telephoto lens, with a 230 mm equivalent focal length, and the brand also talks about optical quality up to 20xa figure that helps to understand how far he wants to push the scope of the set. Added to this block is a 300 mm teleconverter that reminds us of the strategy of Live with your X300 Ultra. Here’s an interesting fact: both Vivo and OPPO are part of the Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics. The partnership with Hasselblad enters its fifth year and continues to take center stage in the product narrative, especially around Master Mode. There, one of the most striking messages they gave us was that there is no generative AI, “zero AI in Master Mode”, an idea designed for those looking for a more faithful image of what is in front of them. Added to this are options such as JPG Max and 16-bit RAW Max, clearly aimed at users who want more margin for work. The alliance with Hasselblad enters its fifth year and continues to occupy a central place in the product discourse. Although photography monopolizes almost all the focus, OPPO also wanted to extend this proposal in video and in the general user experience. The Find X9 Ultra promises 4K recording at 60 fps with Dolby Vision in all … Read more

The goal is for it to last about 200 years.

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On April 18, Helsinki inaugurated a 1.2 kilometer bridge on which no cars will circulate. The bridge it was filled with people almost as soon as it opened, and organizers encouraged visitors to come with crowns, a reference to the name ‘Kruunuvuori’ (literally, crown mountain). Many did. There was music, food stalls, a choir, a samba group and even a bicycle parade. During the opening weekend, More than 50,000 people crossed the bridge. The Kruunuvuori has thus become the longest bridge in Finland, and is designed exclusively for pedestrians, cyclists and trams. It has taken a while to materialize. The project is on the political agenda of Helsinki since 2002although construction did not begin until October 2021. The bridge is part of the ‘Kruunusillat’ (the Crown Bridges) project, a set of three bridges creating a new tram and cycle path corridor to the island of Laajasalo, east of central Helsinki. The Kruunuvuori is the last of the three to be completed, and also the most ambitious. What makes it unique. The bridge connects Korkeasaari and Kruunuvuorenranta, and is the longest and highest in all of Finland. Normally structures of this size are not built only for pedestrians, public transport or cyclists, and in fact there has been a debate for years about whether cars should also circulate there. Daniel Sazonov, mayor of the city, recognized at the inauguration that these large projects usually generate conflicting arguments, although he trusts that the neighbors will integrate the bridge into their daily lives when the tram service starts. In detail. In 2012, as part of Helsinki’s World Design Capital programme, the city held an international competition to design the connection between Kalasatama and Kruunuvuorenranta via Korkeasaari. Of 52 proposals, the jury selected ten, and the winner was the Gemma Regalis projectthe jewel in the crown, a joint work of WSP Finland and Knight Architects. The result is a cable-stayed bridge whose most visible piece is a diamond-shaped pylon 135 meters high, taller than Finland’s tallest residential building, the Kalasatama Tower (134 meters), and significantly higher than the Olympic Stadium tower (72 meters). Construction of the pylon alone required approximately two years of continuous concrete pouring. The design also incorporates details designed for the people who pass through it in their daily lives and adapt its structure to the environment in which it has been built. For example, the route along which its citizens now walk is curved, an idea designed so that the destination can be better perceived. The railings on the south side protect from the wind, and embossed plastic pipes on the cables cause the accumulated ice to break off on its own, a detail that is designed to withstand strong coastal winds and icy winters, when the surrounding sea usually freezes. A large bridge. The Kruunusillat project itself is presented as the longest bridge in the world built exclusively for trams, pedestrians and cyclists. Although no Records organization such as Guinness has yet certified it, the New Atlas media pointed out that has not found any other longer bridge that combines pedestrian lane and light tram (not counting exclusive railway bridges). A bridge with a double objective. The Kruunuvuori Bridge alone represented an approximate investment of 130 million euros. The goal is for tram passenger service to be operational by early 2027 at the latest. Likewise, the distance between Kruunuvuorenranta and the city center goes from 11 kilometers to approximately 5.5 kilometers thanks to this corridor. The project facilitates access for residents of the eastern islands without relying on a private car while also reducing pressure on the eastern branches of the Helsinki metro, in the face of forecasts for population growth in new neighborhoods. Made to last. The bridge It has a projected useful life of 200 yearsa requirement that had not been required before for structures of these characteristics in Finland. This has forced the choice of specific materials, such as stainless steel in the outer layer of the pillar armor in the sea, to resist salt water and freeze-thaw cycles. Cover image | SSAB In Xataka | In 1957, two engineers had a delusional idea: to drill a well 40 kilometers deep offshore.

which Apple John Ternus inherits and where the cracks are

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It arrived last night for Spanish time, but it is the news of the day. After 15 years at the head of Apple, Tim Cook will leave his position on September 1. It will be the moment in which a John Ternus50 years old and with 25 years in the company, will assume the position of CEO. From a sales shark, we will move to a hardware man. And, although Cook will leave Apple in an enviable position, Ternus will take the reins with significant debts and many open fronts. Let him Cook. Yeah jobs He was the idealist, cook was the executor. Most of the hardware of the Apple of the three decades with Tim at the helm was inherited from Jobs’ Apple, but Cook has made them shine. Products such as Apple Watch either AirPodsthe Mac line was turned upside down, giving sit down Intel to bet on its own chips and even the MacBook, which was not one of the economic legs of the business, has experienced tremendous success of the macbook neothe ‘cheap MacBook’. But under the mandate of a Cook who has developed his career doing numbers and not designing products, what has shone has been the services segment. Services > hardware. We already said it in 2024: services exceeded the combined revenue of practically all of Apple’s hardware except for the iPhone, which still represented approximately half of the company’s sales. Apple has gone from being a company recognizable for its devices to one in which the iPhone was still capital, yes, but in which wearables (AirPods and Apple Watch), accessories, home devices, iPad and MacBook They were capitulating to the software. Apple has been buying software (Pixelmator, for example) to strengthen its suite of applications, but it has also been moving to subscription models and opening new lines. AppleOnefor example, is the umbrella under which services such as Apple Music, Fitness+cloud storage, Apple Arcade either AppleTV. All with a monthly subscription, of course. Because the company has a complete line of services and subscriptions to compete against other alternatives. They are in all segments (music, video games, personal care, movies and series) and represent a lifestyle. But they also have their creative suite for compete directly with Adobe with apps like the aforementioned Pixelmator, Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro Proven effectiveness. If we talk about money, this translates into a beastly lever. Under Cook, Apple has grown, and it has grown in a big way: Income from 108 billion dollars in 2011 to more than 391,000 in 2024. Close to 4x. Capitalization which went from 320 billion to 3.7 trillion dollars in 2024, almost 11x. The margin left by services and subscriptions is greater and more direct than that of the iPhone, also allowing a constant cash flow that is not seen as much with hardware launches. An iPhone is purchased once a year, a subscription is paid every month. And all this leads us to talk about a different Apple than in 2011. If then it was the company of the iPhone and other devices, today it is a business that encompasses software and hardware. And there are not many who can boast of that. And Cook’s Apple has built this while creating an extremely streamlined and diversified supply chain with factories in China, India and Vietnam to adapt to regulations and market shocks. But although that is ‘Side A’ of Tim Cook’s film, there is a ‘Side B’. The limbo of the Vision Pro. At this stage we have seen many hardware successes, but also some devices that raise many questions. I don’t get into AirPower anymore (Do you remember AirPower?), but in the field of VisionPro. Apple’s VR/AR headset is a technological marvel, but also an expensive device, with compromises like that hanging battery and, above all, one that you don’t really know where it goes. Launched in 2024 at $3,500, they have not seen the light of day in many markets, they continue to cost the same and a renewal has not been presented in these almost two years. At that time, the other great promoter of VR, Meta, has moved to glasses that they have made a place for themselves among content creators and people who want to document their daily lives. It is evident that it is not the same product, but the underlying idea is: a wearable that you wear for much of the day to create content and consume it. In a different way (audio in the Meta, more video in the Vision Pro), but consuming content, in short. In these two years, we have not been able to give the Vision Pro a ‘killer app’, something that would really make them irresistible within the Apple ecosystem. Tariffs and Apple Intelligence. But if the Vision Pro can afford to be in limbo, these two issues cannot. First, the tariffs. That Apple is moving to other countries to stop depending so much on China is not a whim. Globalization has been breaking down with the most current protectionist policies. Not depending so much on China (which continues to happen) is necessary if Apple, like so many other companies, does not want tariffs to affect its products. It is a very complicated juggling act because the United States wants its companies to leave China, but China is consolidating like a huge marketwith Apple and NVIDIA being two of the companies more interested in continuing to penetrate it to get part of a huge pie. On the other hand, Apple Intelligence. Apple’s AI was introduced two years ago and not only is it not at the level of rivals like Google, they have to ask Google for help to revitalize Siri. Apple Intelligence It is the great pending task of an Apple that has not known how to compete in these early stages of the artificial intelligence race. 2026 is expected to be the year (even They have sent most of the engineers to an ‘AI … Read more

Vueling and Wizz Air cut ground in El Prat

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The pulse between Ryanair and Aena due to the increase in airport taxes has made the airline withdraw millions of places in a good part of the regional airports of Spain. This summer too movement is coming In this regard, a maneuver that Ryanair is using to put pressure on the airport operator. This conflict It is going really well for the competition of the Irish airline. The last one was at El Prat airport, Barcelona, ​​where the reduction of seats by Ryanair is leaving room for other airlines to take over. Why is this happening? Ryanair has been engaged in an open battle with Aena for months over the price of the taxes that airlines pay to operate at Spanish airports. As a measure of pressure, Michael O’Leary’s company has been cutting flights and routes at different airports in the country. El Prat is no exception, and just as they count Since Expansión, in the first quarter of 2026 Ryanair transported 5% fewer passengers than in the same period of the previous year, remaining below two million travelers. Its market share fell to 15.9%, almost one and a half points less than in 2025. Who wins with it. The big beneficiaries are Vueling and Wizz Air. The low-cost of the IAG group touched five million passengers between January and March, 3.9% more than a year before, consolidating a market share that already exceeds 40%. On the other hand, Wizz Air increased its traffic by 25.7% to close to 766,000 travelers, taking advantage of both the void left by Ryanair and its own expansion on routes to Central Europe and now also to London. Ambition. In January, Vueling presented a strategic plan that contemplates investments of 5,000 million euros to reach 60 million annual passengers, double its current volume. Half of this growth, according to the company, will be generated precisely in Barcelona. Wizz Air also intends to continue pushing, as it has already announced a 32% increase in its seat offer for this year’s high season in El Prat. The airport. El Prat has been operating at the limit of its capacity for years. Just like they count According to El Economista, in 2025 it exceeded its theoretical ceiling of 55 million by more than two million passengers. Lluís Sala, vice president of the College of Aeronautical Engineers in Catalonia, explained that “it is normal for the map to not be modified when the infrastructure is at maximum capacity.” With such a congested airport, any step back by one airline is an immediate opportunity for the rest. There are agreed expansion works (3,000 million euros agreed in June 2025 between the Generalitat, the Government and Aena), but for the moment growth is achieved by squeezing the time slots with less demand. And now what. The question is whether Ryanair’s withdrawal is temporary or if it will go further. For now, the dispute with Aena has no signs of being resolved soon. Meanwhile, El Prat as a whole continues to grow, with 4% more traffic in the first quarter, and is heading for a new annual record. In Xataka | The airlines had been warning for weeks and the consequences are already here: Volotea will charge 14 euros more for the Hormuz crisis

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