Month: May 2026

The ‘Improved Games’ wanted to show that the future of sport is doping. Things didn’t go as expected

by

It is still too early to know if the Enhanced Gamesthe famous ‘Enhanced Games’ that were held this weekend in Las Vegas with some rules on doping infinitely more lax than those of any competition recognized by the IOC, will achieve their commercial objectives. Whether or not it has been an effective marketing campaign. What is already clear is that they have deflated at a sporting level. Its organizers promised an evening full of heart-stopping records and marks by athletes ‘enhanced’ with steroids, EPO or testosterone, but they have obtained only one record. The question that remains is… And now, what? Doped athletes? To the Enhanced Games Many things may be blamed on them and their philosophy will be more or less convincing, but there is one thing that cannot be blamed on them: going head-on. The event, held over the weekend in Las Vegas with the pomp of a great showadvanced its objective already in its name: ‘Improved Games’. Its purpose was to organize an athletics, swimming and weightlifting competition in which athletes could doping almost without restrictions. The only limit was that they did not use illegal drugs and the drugs had been prescribed by a doctor. From there, wide Castilla: anabolic steroids, testosterone, EPO… The use of prohibited equipment was even allowed, such as polyurethane suits similar to those that the International Swimming Federation (FINA) banned years ago. The idea was very simple: to prove that, in order not to remain “stuck” and allow athletes to give “the best version” of themselves, official sport must rethink its vetoes. @enhanced_games A $1,000,000 WORLD RECORD SWIM! Kristian Gkolomeev wins the Men’s 50m Freestyle in 20.81 and takes home $1,000,000 bonus + 250,000 first place finish and reclaims his 50M Freestyle world record. ♬ original sound – Enhanced Games The value of a good show. Although the idea is provocative and has earned it enormous media exposure, the organizers of the Enhanced Games wanted to give the event the appearance of a great show. The competition was held at Resorts World in Las Vegas, in a stadium with capacity for 2,500 people and after months of a speech measured to the millimeter to generate expectation. In his favor he had two great claims, beyond the controversy. The first, a team of media athletes. Among the athletes who agreed to participate, Olympic medalists or podiums from world tournaments such as Leidy Solis (silver in Beijing 2008), Fred Kerley (silver in Tokyo 2020), Kristian Gkolomeev (silver at Gwangju 2019) or Hafþór Björnssonweightlifter who reached a world record in 2025 and is famous above all for playing “the Mountain” in ‘Game of Thrones’. And that among a wide etcetera. 42 athletes. In total, 42 athletes (sprinters, swimmers and weightlifters) participated in the Enhanced Games, the vast majority of whom were doped. Guardian precise that of all of them there were only three people who chose to participate in the tests in a ‘clean’ way, without consuming chemical substances that would be equivalent to a disqualification in any official tournament. Their participation in the event gave an extra point of epicness to the Enhanced Games and reinforced its main challenge: Can the consumption of testosterone, EPO, steroids or polyurethane suits really make a difference? Don’t say sport, say money. The second claim that we referred to before explains what Gkolomeev, Björnsson and many other athletes who agreed to participate in the Enhanced Games were doing yesterday in Las Vegas. Beyond their greater or lesser harmony with the underlying message, if they decided to compete it was because the organization promised great awards: $500,000 per test, half of it for the winner. If he also managed to set a world record in one of the “definitive tests” (100 m dash and 50 m freestyle) he could earn an extra one million. And how was it? Not as good as the organizers (probably) expected. Despite the expectation generated, the advertisements who claimed that records were already being broken in training and throughout the hype generated around the use of chemicals, the reality is that the first Enhanced Games only managed to crown a world record. The Greek swimmer did it Kristian Gkolomeevalmost in extremis. Under the watchful eye of the organizers, he managed to complete the 50 meter freestyle in 20.81 seconds, slightly lower than the 20.88 official record achieved by the Australian. Cameron McEvoy in March. Proof of the relief that this meant for those responsible for the Enhanced Games is that, after the race (and in further demonstration that the tournament was more intended as a show than a sporting event), the executive director of the ‘Games’, Max Martin, he knelt before Gkolomeev to proclaim his victory. The mark of 20.81 will not be officially valid, but it will allow the Greek to pocket the bonus of one million dollars. “Maybe next year I’ll beat it again,” he said. A pyrrhic victory. Martin did not save on superlatives when evaluating the competition and went so far as to celebrate that the Enhanced Games have “changed the world”. “We have seen how records were broken and how 12 athletes broke personal bests,” celebrated. The reality is that the balance of the first ‘Improved Games’ has been discreet and has certainly fallen far below the expectations generated by the organization itself. Beyond the consumption of doping substances allowed in the event, Gkolomeev, for example, scratched his record with the help of a ‘supersuit’ banned by FINA. Doped vs ‘clean’. Apart from the fact that there were athletes who broke their “personal records” thanks to doping, as the organization claims, in some cases the competitions were won by the few athletes who claimed not to use drugs. This was the case, for example, of Hunter Armstrong, who won the 50 m backstroke against two doped rivals, or the sprinters Tristan Evelyn and Fred Kerley, who in addition to taking the winner’s check he threw a jibe to their opponents: “They have to train a little harder, … Read more

AI text detectors are terrible. And there are writers winning awards thanks to it

by

AI does many things well, but writing is not one of them. And detecting if something is written by her is even less so. From the first generations of ChatGPT, to advanced models like ClaudeAI has not been able to write in a human way. The tone, the imperfection, the non-repetition of hackneyed phrases… For the writer, it is relatively easy to identify when a text has been written with AI. Text detectors written by AI do not seem to have it so clear. Writing well has become a “this was probably written by an AI”, to the point that there are AIs detecting some of the great books of Spanish literature as created by AI. And since there is no way to fix this piphostio, there are those who are taking advantage. The mess. One of the news of the week shows the problem we have in identifying whether or not a text is written by AI. Three of the five regional winners of the Commonwalth Short Story Prizeorganized by the British literary magazine Granta, are suspected of having written their fiction works with AI. The accusations come from the readers of the works themselves, as well as from the writers who have participated. It is a contest with a very high reputation in the country, in which different short stories are presented and a prize is awarded to a writer for each of the major regions (Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe…). The prizes amount to up to $6,700 and it is one of the English references in short literature. How do people know? One of the winning works, The Serpent in the Grove, began to raise suspicions. Phrases like “not X, not Y, but Z.” (“Not the neat work of bees nor the harsh sound of a machete against the vine, but a harsh sound, as if the earth swallowed a scream and held it back.”) Strange words without context (“the forest hums at noon”). Some fragments detected by AI tools as 100% created by AI. The author did not make any statements in this regard and, browsing his social media accounts… one finds that they are also generated by AI. In fact, the matter is so murky that an effort even had to be made to prove that the author really existed, and that he was not a character created by AI. “We do not currently use AI systems in our judging process as this is an award for unpublished fiction. Providing an unpublished original work to an AI system would raise serious questions about consent and intellectual property. We also do not use AI to assess stories at any stage of the process. By submitting their stories to the award, authors accept our rules and guidelines for participation. These include confirmation that their submitted work is original. All shortlisted authors have personally declared that no AI was used and, after subsequent consultation, the Foundation has confirmed it”. Undetectable. In the case of Granta, they did not want to use AI systems to recognize whether or not the texts were artificially created. But if it had been done, it would be of no use. Well-known services such as ZeroGPT or Grammarly have significant limitations when it comes to detecting technical texts. In fact, there are already have detected recognized works or fragments of the Bible as AI-generated content. The same thing happens the other way around: there are texts that are 100% generated by AI that the detectors can interpret as 100% human, although it is somewhat more complicated. LLMs (language models like ChatGPT or Claude) don’t actually write, they just make predictions. Its basic mechanism is to calculate, word by word, which is the most likely next given the previous context. This produces coherent, well-structured, grammatically impeccable texts… and flat, very flat and robotic. AI almost always chooses the most predictable option, because that is what it is optimized for, and it has no qualms about repeating patterns in the results it offers to each and every person who uses it. Bad writing as a solution? It is easy to find examples that illustrate ways to circumvent these systems. In the case of yours truly, I am preparing a systematic review on a fairly academic, quite technical topic. The University uses AI detectors, so I usually run the text through it to check the percentage. My surprise lies precisely in how AI detectors penalize correct writing. 100% human texts detected with an 80% probability of having been generated by AI. Solution? Write them but with somewhat more disjointed phrases and without absolute rigor. Be that as it may, the reflection is clear: if not even AI knows how to distinguish a text written with AI… how can humans confirm it at a legal level? In Xataka | We have a problem with AI. Those who were most enthusiastic at the beginning are starting to get tired of it.

When the police investigated the crime of the founder of Mango, a motive had disappeared. Then they looked at their son’s car.

by

Tuesday May 19, Jonathan Andic is ordered to go to prison. It has been ordered by the Judge of the Courts of Instance and Investigation of Martorell who are handling the case of the death of Isak Andic, founder of Mango and one of the richest people in Spain. The order arrives after evaluating the information provided by the Mossos d’Esquadra. A report that points to the poor relationship between father and son, “the obsession that Jonathan Andic has with money”, in the words of the judge, and “the emotional manipulation to achieve his economic goals” that the son would have used against the father. But there are also indications that point beyond mere personal relationships. The researchers They assure that the footprints collected on the path of the Monserrat mountain, next to Barcelona, ​​where Isak Andic fell do not agree with a fortuitous slip. Nor are the version changes understood regarding the use that the founder of Mango would have made of his own mobile phone. And, as always, there is the matter of geolocation. But this time the Mossos d’Esquadra are not targeting the cell phone. They point to a much larger and more forceful object: one called Mercedes-AMG G63. Not just the mobile phone If the ubiquitous true crime podcasts or television series have taught us anything, it is that the mobile phone is a source of problems when it comes to murdering a person or disposing of a corpse. The persistent location of the telephone, either due to the use of the Internet or the search for antennas to connect to to access the mobile telephone network, has become one of the first threads to pull when studying one of these cases. In the case involving Isak Andic it has been no less. That is why the police report refers to the replacement of an iPhone 14 owned by the son of the founder of Mango with an iPhone 16 Pro after an alleged robbery during a lightning trip to Ecuador between March 24 and 26, 2025 when the media reported on the reopening of the investigations. The inherited content of the old phone was deleted and agents have found no evidence of such theft. However, this time it was not the location of the phone that made the agents suspicious. In their report they point out that they can prove that Jonathan went to the hiking route on up to three occasions in the days prior to the alleged murder. And for this they use their Mercedes-AMG G63. They point in three directions. The first is that the alleged visits coincide in days with the car entering and leaving the city of Barcelona, ​​comparing the license plate with the surveillance system of the low emissions zone. Also because the traffic cameras of Collbató, the municipality where the natural enclave is located, also recorded the passage of the vehicle. And, also, by the IMEI of the car. What is the IMEI of our car? Connections to mobile networks on a data plan have their own serial number. Each phone has its own and information on when and where it connects to the Internet or telephone networks can be tracked by police officers. But not only phones are identified with a IMEI. Modern cars also have one if they are connected to the mobile networksince they have the modem that guarantees said connection. Nowadays it is common for a new car to come with a data plan and a SIM card with a duration stipulated by contract. The duration is usually years and, after the stipulated time, the client decides whether or not to renew the plan. This data plan is what allows, for example, to use the car navigator with real-time traffic directions. And it is also the one that in an electric car allows us to know the occupancy rate of the chargers or manage certain functions of the car, such as air conditioning or opening doors, from a mobile application. Just like a mobile phone, these recurring connections made by a car with an active SIM leave a digital trail. And that digital trace is associated with the IMEI with which each vehicle is identified. The result is clear: the police only need the operation of a car equipped with this service to detect where the vehicle moved and at what time. This system should not be confused with the eCall security service of our cars. Since 2018all new cars are required to be sold with the eCall system, a service that allows the driver contact emergency services in the event of an accident. This is activated automatically if a collision is detected but can also be started by the driver himself. At that moment, an attempt is made to establish a call but, whether there is coverage or not, the car also launches a geolocation signal using the European Galileo system so that the emergency services can have a clear idea of ​​the location in the shortest possible time. This system, obviously, has its own IMEI but it is only activated when the system is started, either with automatic activation when the accident is detected or manual activation. Meanwhile, the system is inactive and therefore the car cannot be tracked. Besides, the European Union makes clear that the data saved is done so temporarily because the memory “will only be allowed to retain the last three locations of the vehicle to the extent strictly necessary to determine the current location of the vehicle and the direction of travel at the time of the event.” The regulations also make it clear that the information can only be delivered to third parties with the prior consent of the interested party and that no company can have access to the data if no emergency call occurs. Therefore, the IMEI referred to by the Mossos d’Esquadra refers to the car’s modem but they would not be able to access it if the car did not have … Read more

Huawei has found a way to step on TSMC’s heels

by

The development of current semiconductor technology is deeply dependent on the size of the transistors that reside within the chips. TSMC, Intel, Samsung and other integrated circuit manufacturers they dedicate a lot of resources generation after generation of its technologies to the optimization and the miniaturization of its transistors. Even so, perfecting them is so difficult that sometimes they barely manage to improve them between two generations of consecutive integration technologies. That the chip industry depends so deeply on transistor size is a problem. Make them smaller it’s getting harderso the ideal is to undo this dependency as much as possible with a purpose: to ensure that the integration technologies developed by integrated circuit manufacturers continue to improve without being so profoundly limited by the physical characteristics of the transistors. This is precisely what Huawei has just achieved as part of the effort that China is making to ensure the development of its chip industry despite the pressure of US sanctions. He Tingbo, the president of the semiconductor business and director of the scientific committee of this company, has presented a new scaling law and a new chip architecture capable, on paper, of taking its semiconductors to a lithographic process node equivalent to 1.4 nm by 2031. Currently the most advanced integrated circuits that TSMC, Intel or Samsung produce are 2 nm. The “tau scaling law” promises He Tingbo made this announcement during his keynote address at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS 2026) in Shanghai, China, today. Huawei’s plan is to continue improving the performance and density of its chips despite restrictions that limit China’s access to the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. And the heart of their strategy is the “tau scaling law.” Tau is the time it takes for electrical signals to go from one transistor to another. Huawei’s bet is to reduce it to the maximum This principle seeks to reduce the time it takes for signals and data to travel through computer chips and equipment. According to He Tingbo, it proposes a paradigm shift that replaces the traditional geometric miniaturization of transistors. for a temporary escalation (τ), hence its name. It seems like a very complicated strategy, but it’s actually reasonably simple. We can easily understand what it is by referring to this example. Let’s imagine that we have a city (the chip) with many buildings (transistors) connected by roads (wires). Moore’s Law says: “make buildings smaller to fit more into the same space.” Huawei, however, proposes: “buildings can no longer be much smaller, so instead let’s make cars (electric signals) travel faster on the roads, and redesign the urban layout so that they travel less distance.” τ (tau) is, precisely, the time it takes a car to go from one building to another, and Huawei’s commitment is to reduce it as much as possible. Huawei’s LogicFolding architecture plays an essential role in this approach. And, if we continue with our example, it proposes a new design of the roads on which cars circulate, so that the chip will perform better without the need to build smaller buildings. Huawei has anticipated that its next generation of Kirin chips, which will arrive next fall, will be the first to implement the LogicFolding architecture. Image | TSMC More information | Reuters | SCMP In Xataka | The condemnation that afflicts China: after decades of manufacturing a competitive desktop processor, it is six years behind

the best deals today, May 25, on Amazon

by

A new week begins and the heat indicates that it will be the protagonist in our daily lives. If you are thinking of buying an air conditioner, fan or any air conditioning device, there are very interesting models. Although you can find discounts not only on these types of products. These are the best bargains that we found today on Amazon today, May 25. SZLX Vacuum Backpack with Pump Hand Luggage 40x30x20 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links portable air conditioner Midea PortaSplit by 949.99 euros: with 12,000 BTU and 4 in 1. OnePlus 15R + OnePlus Watch3 by 549 euros: 6.83 inches and 256 GB of storage. wireless speaker Soundcore Anker 2 by 25.99 euros: with 12 W of power and autonomy of up to 24 hours. SZLX Vacuum Cabin Backpack by 48.86 euros: with multiple compartments and waterproof pocket. Wireless adapter for Android Auto and CarPlay Ottocast Mini Pico by 54.09 euros: Plug & Play type and compatible with car controls. Midea PortaSplit portable air conditioner Within the air conditioning sector, this Midea PortaSplit It is one of the most powerful innovations in recent years. It solves in one fell swoop the main problem of portable air conditioners: the inefficiency and noise of the conventional extractor tube. It is an expensive model, but now you can get it at a discount, for 949.99 euros. It stands out for its impressive cooling capacity of 12,000 BTU, making it perfect for rooms up to 45 square meters. It is a 4-in-1 all-terrain device that cools, ventilates, dehumidifies and works as a heat pump. In addition, it is silent (it operates at around 39 dB) and has WiFi connectivity so you can control it from your mobile phone. Midea Portasplit Portable Air Conditioner 4 in 1 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links OnePlus 15R + OnePlus Watch3 If you are thinking of changing your mobile phone for a high-end one, this pack will interest you. Now, you can take the OnePlus 15R plus the OnePlus Watch3 with a 23% discount, for 549 eurosthus saving you almost 200 euros compared to its usual RRP. This OnePlus 15R stands out for its 6.83 inch AMOLED screen and its massive 7,400 mAh battery with 80 W SUPERVOOC fast charging. It has a triple camera and comes with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. As for the OnePlus Watch3 watch, it works with WearOS and stands out for being very resistant. OnePlus 15R 12GB RAM + 256GB Storage, Charcoal Black Watch 3 43mm OPWE242 Black Steel The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Soundcore Anker 2 Wireless Speaker If you are one of those who, in summer, like to take your music to the pool, the beach or the balcony or terrace, this speaker Anker Soundcore 2 It is one of the undisputed kings of the entry range. Now, on Amazon, it is on sale and has gone from costing 39.99 euros to 25.99 euros in this flash offer. Despite its compact design, this Bluetooth speaker It offers a power of 12 W and its battery is something to highlight, as it provides a autonomy of up to 24 hours of continuous playback. It has IPX7 certification that makes it waterproof and you can create stereo sound by pairing two identical speakers. Soundcore Anker 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker with 12W Stereo Sound The price could vary. We earn commission from these links SZLX Vacuum Cabin Backpack A viral phenomenon, this vacuum cabin backpack is perfect for flying in airlines low cost without having to pay extra for carrying luggage. Now, you can get it discounted on Amazon for 48.86 eurosmuch cheaper than having to pay to check in a cabin bag. The real strong point of this travel backpack lies in its intelligent distribution of the interior space and, above all, in the possibility of storing everything under vacuumsince it has a mouthpiece to do it easily. It has a practical waterproof insulated pocket and a ventilated compartment at the base exclusively for shoes. In addition, it has an external USB charging port, which is very useful for connecting a power bank. SZLX Vacuum Backpack with Pump Hand Luggage 40x30x20 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Wireless adapter for Android Auto and CarPlay Ottocast Mini Pico Now that the good weather is here, getaways and trips are multiplying. If you are tired of plugging your wired phone into the car every time you get in it, this wireless adapter Ottocast Mini Pico It will be your salvation. Now, you can take it for 54.09 euros thanks to the 20 euro extra discount coupon available. The great advantage of this model wireless adapter lies in its Plug & Play configuration and its intelligent automatic reconnection function, which links the mobile phone just a few seconds after starting the engine. Is Compatible with original car controlsallowing you to continue natively using the steering wheel buttons, touch screen and Google Assistant or Siri commands. Ottocast Mini Pico, New 2026, Wireless 2-in-1 CarPlay Android Auto Adapter The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Midea, Ottocast, SZLX, Anker and OnePlus In Xataka | Which smart air conditioner to buy: how to choose a connected air conditioning system and featured models In Xataka | Buying guide for connected fans: recommendations for choosing a “smart” model with WiFi and six models from 50 euros

clone yourself with AI digital twins

by

A unique group of senior Silicon Valley executives is using so-called AI “digital twins” to delegate part of their daily responsibilities. Meta already warned more than a month ago that they were preparing an AI version of Mark Zuckerberg so that employees could talk to their CEO, but little by little more cases have appeared. The concept is disturbing: an AI system analyzes how they speak, write and even how they think based on the history of emails, speeches and articles. From there, the digital clone He is capable of answering subordinates’ questions, writing proposals in his own style and even, in the most advanced cases, creating video avatars that give lectures in several languages ​​simultaneously. The example of Reid Hoffman. This executive, co-founder of LinkedIn and partner at Greylock Partners, is a clear reference in this trend. His clone, which he called Reid AI, was trained with 22 years of his own content (books, podcasts, articles) to provide it with all the necessary information. The concept of digital twin, by the way, had already been used in the technological field, but with another approach quite distinct. The one on the screen is not me, it is my digital twin. Since it began using it, this digital twin has given more than 75 presentations. In fact, in one of them this AI clone was presented to the public in French, Chinese and Hindi from a giant screen. The executive highlights that “I only speak one language, my AI speaks 74, ensuring that your AI digital twin saves you 50% of the time in the weeks in which you deploy it. For Hoffman, in a decade any company with more than 50 employees will assign trained virtual twins to its managers and middle managers. Not just for speeches. These types of bots are also getting fully involved in the area of ​​human resources and internal management tasks. Bala Sathyanarayanan, HR director at the multinational packaging company Greif, uses the so-called Balabot. This chatbot has interacted with more than 3,300 employees to resolve complex questions, such as motivating underperforming workers. Barriers. As in the case of Hoffman, this manager made use of public appearances and documents, but not those private and more sensitive ones: “He does not ingest my private email or confidential files,” he assured. in WSJ. The tool works so well, says Sathyanarayanan, that some company managers claim that several employees have redirected their careers thanks to the advice of their boss’s clone. But. These digital twins however have some problems. Kelly Monahan former director at Upworkhad to turn off his Digital Kelly clone live at a conference when she began “stuttering and repeating the same phrase on a loop” in front of 200 hoteliers. Hoffman also admitted that his AI sometimes goes completely deadpan after telling a joke, for example, breaking empathy with the audience. The lack of specific data is also another obstacle: Red AI was asked what his favorite ice cream was and he answered “vanilla” because he didn’t know the answer: Hoffman’s is chocolate. Rejection among employees. There is a clear enemy in this trend, and it is the rejection of employee templates. Analyst Josh Bersin attempted to integrate digital twins of employees so that AI could compose business emails by imitating their respective styles. The workers rebelled: “No one wanted to put their entire email history into the system.” Skepticism persists among them, but some claim have turned your digital clone into a daily assistant to prepare meetings or analyze market trends. What happens if you get fired. There is a dilemma more typical of an episode of ‘Black Mirror’ than our present. If an AI becomes brilliant at its job after absorbing all the accumulated experience and knowledge, can you take it with you on a pendrive if you change jobs? Lawyer Paul Jurcys explains that it is likely that in the near future companies will have to financially compensate departing employees so that they leave their digital twin and database behind. First I clone you, then I fire you? There is an uncomfortable question when talking about this topic: will companies create digital clones for the sole purpose of replace human workers and thus save their salaries? Gartner analysts already warn that doing so without transparent communication and without the employee’s explicit consent will cause notable social rejection. There are also doubts about what happens if that digital twin makes a serious mistake: whose responsibility is it, the human employee or the company that has integrated that virtual clone? You take your double, but not what you learned. Kelly Monahan lived this situation upon leaving the company. The employee retains the rights to his or her image, voice, and personal experience, but the company retains the proprietary data of the business that the AI ​​managed to capture during that stage. After leaving the company, Upwork deleted her digital twin, but she ended up retraining a “virtual double” independently with data from her next book to use in her next stage as an independent consultant. Image | Meta, Wikimedia Commons (Anthony Quintano) In Xataka | How to create a character in ChatGPT and Gemini to use it in all the images you make with artificial intelligence

We present Xataka Life, our new YouTube channel on home automation and technology to transform your home

by

2026 comes full of news in Xataka. If just a couple of months ago we announced the launch of Xataka Xtra, today we bring a new project called Xataka Life. In this house we have been talking about home automation, connectivity and devices for the home for a year, an increasingly relevant category in the world of technology and that, through Xataka Lifewe will explore in video form. Because Xataka Life is, precisely, a YouTube channel. One in which we will discuss topics related to home, home automation, savings and products that, little by little, have been finding a place in the homes of more and more people. We talk about lighting devices, air fryers or robot vacuum cleaners, to name just a few. What changes on the Xataka YouTube channel? Absolutely nothing. This channel will continue to operate as before with the content we already publish. Xataka Life is an additional space that allows us to delve into a topic as complex, but at the same time so exciting and interesting, as technology for the home. As it could not be otherwise, Xataka Life expands beyond the long format of YouTube, so you will also be able to short content on @xatakalife on Instagram. If you like the sound of it, we invite you to follow us on Instagram and, of course, to subscribe to Xataka Life on YouTube. We continue!

one where the US does not discuss Iran’s missiles, bombs or uranium

by

During the so-called “tanker war,” a single Iranian missile against a ship in the Persian Gulf was enough to skyrocket the price of oil and forcing the United States to escort civilian ships between mines and maritime attacks. Decades later, the Strait of Hormuz still has the same capacity to unnerve the entire world economy in a matter of hours. The war that was going to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. The great paradox of the possible agreement between the United States and Iran is that the war officially began to stop the Iranian nuclear program and could end, at least dand momentwithout resolving practically any of the issues that justified the conflict. Washington and Tehran are close to cmiss an understanding temporary focused above all on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, stabilizing the energy market and avoiding an even greater regional escalation, while issues such as Iranian ballistic missiles, uranium enrichment or the future of the nuclear arsenal are postponed for later negotiations. The situation turns out especially striking because Trump and Netanyahu had presented the offensive against Iran as a historic opportunity to definitively dismantle Tehran’s strategic military capabilities. Months later, Iran continues to maintain tons of nuclear material enriched, it maintains a large part of its missile capacity intact and has also managed to demonstrate the extent to which it can threaten the global energy supply. Strait of Hormuz The true center of the negotiation. The core of the agreement does not revolve around centrifuges, nuclear warheads or international inspections, but on a much more immediate issue: reopen the maritime passage through which approximately a quarter of the world’s oil circulates. The Trump administration has finished accepting that the absolute priority was to unblock Hormuz before the economic impact began to spiral out of control inside and outside the United States. The possibility of a prolonged war with oil soaring and gasoline approaching politically toxic levels began to seriously worry the White House, especially ahead of the legislative elections. The negotiated draft contemplates a ceasefire sixty day temporary during which Iran would remove mines from the strait, allow maritime traffic without tolls and could sell oil again with certain relaxations of US sanctions. In other words, Washington has ended up negotiating the global energy flow first and leaving for later exactly what supposedly made war inevitable. The surprising transfer. Until just a few days ago, the US administration insisted that there would be no agreement that he did not address the Iranian nuclear program from the beginning. However, strategic reality ended up imposing itself on political discourse. US officials recognize now that negotiating the gigantic Iranian nuclear framework in a matter of days was simply impossible and that even Obama’s nuclear deal required almost two years of talks and hundreds of technical pages. The result is an extraordinary change in tone by Trump, who went from demanding Iranian “unconditional surrender” to talk about a relationship “more professional and productive” with Tehran. The problem for Washington is that this turn fuels criticism from both Republican hawks as from Israeli sectors who consider that the United States has ended up giving up pressure precisely when Iran was most economically weakened. Iran holds its cards. Although Washington assures that Iran would have verbally agreed to discuss limits on uranium enrichment and possible deliveries of highly enriched nuclear material, the reality is that it does not yet exist. no solid commitment nor clear mechanisms to verify these concessions. Tehran has also not agreed to seriously discuss restrictions about their ballistic missilesa fundamental issue for Israel and for the Arab allies of the Gulf. In fact, much of Iran’s negotiating power continues to rest on exactly the elements that the United States I wanted to delete: its ability to close Hormuz and its stock of enriched uranium close to military grade. Iran seems to have understood that the more it manages to link global energy stability with its own economic survival, the more difficult it will be for Washington to maintain a purely military or maximalist strategy. The fear of Israel. Behind the agreement, a growing tension between the strategic interests of the United States and Israel also emerges. Netanyahu would have expressed directly Trump expressed his concern about several points in the draft, especially because the understanding would include a broader reduction in regional tensions that would even affect the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The White House try to reassure to Israel assuring that any rearmament of Hezbollah would justify new Israeli military actions, but the implicit message is clear: Washington wants to stabilize the region and reduce the risk of an all-out war even if that means accepting temporary and imperfect solutions. For many Israeli and Republican sectors, the agreement means assuming that the initial objectives of the war were probably unattainable. An “energy” negotiation. If you like, what is happening in the Middle East reflects the extent to which modern wars they may end up redefining completely their original priorities. The military campaign began with the promise of destroying Iran’s nuclear program and ending Tehran’s strategic threat. However, after weeks of global tension, crossed attacks and real risk of regional escalation, the negotiation has ended up pivoting on something much more basic and urgent: prevent the collapse of global energy trade. The most revealing detail is that there is not even a definitive agreement yet on enriched uranium, sanctions or Iranian missiles, but even so both sides seem willing to move forward. if oil circulates again normally. Ultimately, the crisis has shown that Iran retains a much greater capacity for pressure than many expected and that, for the United States, the economic and political price of a prolonged war ended up being more dangerous than accepting a truce full of unknowns. Image | RawPixel In Xataka | A drone has just set fire to the perimeter of the first Arab nuclear power plant: we have entered uncharted territory In Xataka | Iran is about to … Read more

Despite the fact that it has been losing population and readers for years, Japan does not stop opening new libraries. And it makes perfect sense

by

Japan has increasingly less people (in general). And less fond of reading (in particular). Despite one or the other, for years the country has been experiencing a curious phenomenon: its library network does not stop expanding, with hundreds and hundreds of new reading positions. To be more precise, Nikkei estimates that in 2024 there will be around 3,400 libraries spread across Japan, which is equivalent to 800 more than those that operated in 1999. The big question is… Why? The great paradox. In a country with less and less people and in which the passion for reading is losing ground, the logical thing would be for libraries to close. In Japan the first and the second happen (fewer people, fewer readers), but not the third. The curious thing is that he is not only avoiding the closures of reading positions. It is increasing them. Anyone who wants to find a place to read books at no cost has it much easier today than it was 25 years ago. Reviewing the data. To understand the paradox, it is necessary to first review three pieces of information. The first is the evolution of the Japanese population. According to World Bank Group, in 2024 they will reside in the country 123.9 million peopleconsiderably less than the 128 million it reached in 2010. And the medium and long-term outlook is not much better. The latest statistics Officials reveal that, far from slowing down, the decline in the birth rate is reaching historic figures and is advancing faster than the authorities anticipated. If nothing changes, in 2050 the population will fall to about 100 million. Less people, fewer readers. That is the second key. If we talk about reading, the problem is not so much that there are fewer Japanese as that those who exist seem less and less interested in literature. In 2018 the Agency for Cultural Affairs launched a survey to find out how often their fellow citizens read. He discovered that among those over 16 years of age the percentage of those who read less than one book a month was around 40-49%. In 2023, this indicator had already risen to 62.6%. Another 27.6% said they read between one and two books a month. As if that clue wasn’t clear enough, the number of bookstores open in Japan fell about 30% in just a decade. And the surprise came. With these figures on the table, the fact that just disclosed Nikkei and with which we started this article: today in Japan there are 30% more libraries than in 2000. Of the 2,600 public centers (in the hands of municipalities and districts) in operation at the beginning of the century, there were 3,400 in 2024. In 1996 they did not even reach 2,500. Although Japan is not far from it the country with higher ratio of reading seats per inhabitant, the increase is considerable and some libraries can even boast of moving hundreds of thousands of users a year. The Tenmonkan one, inaugurated in 2022, is around 700,000 people annually, many of them young people under 30 years of age. How is it possible? The big question. And the answer is simple: in Japan the libraries are not only more numerous, they are also they are changing. They are still reading spaces where one goes in search of books or a quiet room in which to devour a novel or study, but they are also places of socialization. Something similar to community centers, only with shelves full of books. “Residents use libraries very often. Together with auditoriums and museums, they attract people and create a lively atmosphere,” points out Katsuyoshi Kinoshita, head of the Foundation for the Advancement of Libraries. The “third place”. “They are spaces where people not only read books, but can also enjoy story-telling and other events or relax in a cafe,” confirm to Nikkei Fumihiko Suzuki of the Daiwa Research Institute. This openness has turned libraries into a kind of “third place” for many Japanese, a reference space beyond their homes, jobs or schools. Access is free, you can stay there as long as you want, there are always people and they often offer alternative activities to reading: events in auditoriums or for children, historical materials, museums… They are, in short, “meeting places.” Is it something spontaneous? Not quite. As explains Sadao Uematsu, of the Japanese Library Association, the phenomenon is partly explained by the “mergers” promoted at the beginning of the century, when “many reading rooms in community centers were converted into municipal libraries.” The success achieved last decade by some projects focused precisely on reading spaces encouraged other municipalities to get on the bandwagon. In recent years the pace of library opening has slowed down, but even so the phenomenon has aroused the interest of international institutions such as the World Economic Forum, which in February dedicated it an extensive analysis that connects the ‘boom’ of libraries with another of the phenomena that mark Japanese society: aging. In a country in which those over 65 years of age represent more than 29% of the population, spaces with community activities have become a key element for the well-being of the elderly. Against this backdrop, libraries have become valuable allies. Images | Olegs Jonins (Unsplash) and Yanhao Fang (Unsplash) In Xataka | While Japan’s population is sinking irremediably, Tokyo is growing. There is an explanation: ikkyoku shūchū

the EU’s plan to survive China’s mineral blackout

by

The clock of global geopolitics has begun to count down the minutes for the European Union. In an unprecedented move that certifies the end of frictionless globalization, Brussels is finalizing the details of what will be its first major strategic “bunker” of critical minerals. As advanced Reutersthe EU has already selected the materials that will inaugurate this joint reserve: tungsten, rare earths and gallium. Magnesium, germanium and graphite could soon be added to this initial list. A firm step. The initiative of the community bloc is not a coincidence; It is its last great asset to shield its economy against the crushing dominance of Beijing in the production of elements that today are the oxygen of modernity. We are not talking about simple raw materials; We talk about vital components for the defense industry, semiconductors and the energy transition. In fact, almost all of these minerals—with the exception of magnesium—are on the list of the 12 elements. considered critical by NATO for military production. Without them, it is impossible to manufacture everything from armor-piercing ammunition that uses tungsten, to the latest generation radars and combat aircraft that depend on gallium arsenide and gallium nitride. The urgency lies in the data. According to a wrecker report of the European Court of AuditorsEurope is addicted to Chinese minerals: the Asian giant supplies 97% of the magnesium consumed by the EU, refines more than 80% of the planet’s rare earths and controls an overwhelming 98% of the world’s gallium refining capacity. The level of dependency is such that Europe flagrantly fails to comply with its own security threshold, which establishes not depending on a single country for more than 65% for the processing phase. But why step on the accelerator now? The response is dated on the calendar: June 15, 2026. As explained Xinhuaon that day the new regulations of China’s Mineral Resources Law come into force. These regulations will give Beijing absolute power to determine total production caps, restrict which entities can operate mines and, most worryingly for the West, subject any foreign investment in the sector to national security reviews. So how will this logistics shield be built? Moving from intent documents to operational reality requires massive infrastructures. As confirmed Reutersthe European Union is already in advanced talks with large logistics centers to store these industrial treasures. The main candidate is the port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, the largest in Europe. A spokesperson for the port authority has confirmed the ongoing talks, underlining the full readiness of its facilities to assume this strategic role and contribute to European goals. But the bunker will not be centralized in a single point. Italy’s Industry Minister Adolfo Urso revealed that EU officials recently visited Porto Marghera, near Venice, to assess its viability as a storage hub. The port of Trieste is also competing to become the great logistics node of the Mediterranean. However, in this deployment there is a big elephant in the room: financing. Acquiring and maintaining these reserves will require a monumental financial muscle whose origin and distribution mechanisms among Member States are still unknown. The bath of reality. Storing minerals is not like storing natural gas. While rare earth oxides are relatively stable materials, processed gallium metal or certain forms of graphite require highly controlled environmental conditions, a technical challenge that has yet to be resolved. This bunker is just a patch. How an analysis of Rare Earth Exchangestrategic inventories can cushion the impact of a sudden supply outage, but they do not replace an industrial ecosystem. Europe has a deep structural problem, since it is useless to have tons of rare earths stored in Rotterdam if the continent lacks the capacity to refine these materials, convert them into metal and manufacture magnets on a large scale. China has been building this complex ecosystem for decades, while Europe is just beginning to take stock of its own dependence. Added to this deficit is a paralyzing bureaucracy: the few European mining projects are stuck for years in a tangle of administrative permits, making this warehouse an even more desperate measure. The new industrial cold war. While Europe strives to design this defense mechanism against the clock, its rival continues to move chips. China is not only legislating to restrict exports, it is accelerating the construction of its own strategic reserve sites, shielding by law that its resources remain within its borders for a minimum of five years. The creation of this European bunker marks a point of no return. These maneuvers demonstrate that Western governments have definitively abandoned the supply model driven by the free market to embrace deeply interventionist industrial policies. The ambitious goals of the EU Critical Raw Materials Law for 2030 – extracting 10% and processing 40% of what it consumes in its own territory – today seem like an unattainable mountain. The Rotterdam mineral bunker will not solve Europe’s industrial orphanhood, but in the new era of resource geopolitics, it is the only lifeline left to buy the time it so desperately needs. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The condemnation that afflicts China: after decades of manufacturing a competitive desktop processor, it is six years behind

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.