Month: May 2026

7,000 employees move to AI while 8,000 clear their desks

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Thousands of Meta employees will go to sleep tonight without knowing if tomorrow they will have work. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has set a date and time to put end to the long agony that their employees were suffering in one of the further staff cuts that Meta has done in its recent history. According to advanced Reuters, the company has asked its US employees to telework tomorrow while layoff notices are rolled out. A measure that, beyond logistics, reflects the enormous tension that the company knew would be generated that day. Layoffs at 4 in the morning and without relief. According to an internal document to which the news agency has had access, the layoffs will be carried out in three waves that will begin at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, local time, in each region. This was detailed by Janelle Gale, director of Human Resources at Meta, in an internal memo shared with employees. “Many leaders will announce organizational changes,” the directive wrote. According to that document, the set of layoffs will affect about 10% of the entire workforce of the 77,986 employees that Meta had at the end of March. Furthermore, the company has withdrawn 6,000 offers of work to fill vacancies that were open. More than 7,000 employees relocated to AI. The layoffs are just one part of the restructuring movement that Mark Zuckerberg is carrying out. Meta has already reassigned more than 7,000 employees to new positions in new projects linked to AIaccording to the same Gale memo. Some transfers have already become effective before May 20, but in other cases employees will be notified throughout the same Wednesday. In that internal communication, Gale explained the goal of the changes: “We are now at a stage where many organizations can operate with a more horizontal structure, with smaller teams of groups or cohorts that can move more quickly and with greater autonomy.” The company also will eliminate middle management to flatten your hierarchy and speed up decision making. Weeks of anguish before the cut. The last few weeks at Meta have been especially hard for workers after the news of the layoffs leaked, and the hasty confirmation by the company. Meta employees rated the experience as “a hell of 28 days.” During these days a group of employees protested against the use of mouse tracking technology to monitor productivity, in a tension scenario in which many workers questioned their permanence in the company. The price of betting everything on AI. These changes are part of a profound renewal at Meta this year, which many are already calling Meta’s “second Year of Efficiency”, in reference to the first major restructuring that Mark Zuckerberg applied between 2023 and 2024. According to pointed Business Insider, several company leaders did not rule out further cuts beyond this initial 10%which makes May 20 the beginning of a process of thinning the Mera structure that is more intense than anticipated in the initial figures. In Xataka | Technology companies have laid off 92,000 employees to invest in AI. The problem is that the layoffs are costing them a fortune. Image | Unsplash (Mariia Shalabaieva), Goal

There is a Chinese manufacturer eating the entire electric motorcycle pie. And his next goal is Europe

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The increase of fuel prices caused by the iran war It is being the perfect excuse for one of the most relevant electric motorcycle manufacturers in China to focus away from its territory. Given the growing demand for economical and electric motorcycles outside Asia, the focus is clear: Europe. Yadea. Yadea is, by sales volume, the world’s largest manufacturer of scooters and electric two-wheeled vehicles. Its success is given by the very high demand for this type of motorbikes both in China and in Southeast Asia and South America. And now it’s time to conquer Europe. Since the conflict with Iran raised oil prices and created obstacles to its transit, international sales of Yadea They are growing at a rate of 70% year-on-year compared to 2025. The new. Yadea is not a new player in Europe. They have been present in Spain since 2022, distributing affordable mopeds and electric motorcycles. A discreet operation that wants to begin to consolidate and grow starting this year. Yadea is closing the opening of a factory in Hungary to produce within the European Union and protect itself from tariff tightening. It is not a new practice: China is starting to manufacture in Europe to make their products competitive, and the electric motorcycle is no exception. Why it is important. Of the almost 60 million electric scooters sold in China, 16 million correspond to Yadea. If there is a manufacturer with enough muscle and knowledge to flood Europe with two-wheeled vehicles at an affordable price, it is this one. Why now. Wang Jiazhong, vice president of Yadea, has made it clear in his statements that the current situation is the best possible opportunity to begin expanding into more markets. “The situation in the Middle East presents a good opportunity for us to enter the market and guide consumers towards the use of our electric vehicles, as they can clearly feel how much fuel prices have increased.” Not so fast. Europe is a peculiar and complicated market for electric two wheels. It represents around 9% of global volumes and is skewed towards premium models. It is not a volume market like Asia, at least today. Quite the opposite happens with the combustion motorcycle: China is sweeping and soon the top 3 best-selling motorcycles will be led by Chinese motorcycles. Therefore, the company is exploring joint ventures and collaborations with local companies to adapt their offer culturally and aesthetically. What giants like NIU, Super Soco or Silence have not achieved (example of the resounding failure of the electric motorcycle in Spain, with the SEAT MO), Yadea wants to achieve it. In Xataka | Spain loves one thing: cheap motorcycles. Europe doesn’t like something else: cheap motorcycles.

We have been going to the Moon the wrong way for decades if what we want is to save fuel

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When you travel to the same place many times, little by little you learn which are the best routes. You don’t just need to know the shortest path. It is also good to locate the one with the most gas stations, the best road or the most beautiful landscapes. It all depends on your tastes and needs. If the trip is made in space, it is important to find the shortest path; but, above all, the main need is to locate the one that represents a greater fuel savings. We hope that in the future humans will be able to travel regularly to the Moon, but it would be very expensive and unviable to wait until then to find the best path through trial and error. Therefore, an international team of scientists has developed the formula that calculates the ideal path. Spoiler: it is not any of the ones that have been seen so far. Biggest savings so far. The study, carried out by an international team of scientists and directed from the University of Coimbra, points to a saving in delta-v of 58.80 m/s. This measure refers to the amount of effort necessary to carry out an orbital maneuver. In other words, the total change in speed needed to carry out said maneuver. The lower the delta-v, the better, since a high gear change means more fuel consumption. In the case of the complete trip from Earth to the Moon, the delta-v is 3,342.96 m/s. It may seem that reducing that figure by less than 60 meters per second is not much, but we must keep in mind that A single meter per second already represents a great waste of fuel. Therefore, the results obtained in this study are very positive. Theory of functional connections. When you are going to calculate the trajectory between the Earth and the Moon you need to leave the Earth’s orbit, with a certain speed and position and reach that of the Moon, also with specific characteristics. All those specific parameters are restrictions. When we are in a place as wide as space, there can be many different paths. An infinite number of them. Therefore, to locate them, simulations must be carried out. The problem is that, no matter how powerful the simulators are, if the restrictions are not reduced a little, the possibilities remain endless. This is where the theory of functional connections comes into play. This, basically, consists in changing the approach of the formulas so that the conditions are already included. Said with a more earthly analogy, if we want to find the best route from Madrid to Barcelona, ​​we can analyze absolutely all the roads in Spain or look only for the best option among the roads that start in Madrid and end in Barcelona. With this theory of functional connections you achieve just that. The restrictions are not eliminated, but are included directly in the mathematical approach. With Artemis II there was a moment when connections were lost Much fewer simulations. By changing that approach, more simulations can be done. No time is wasted simulating paths that do not leave Madrid and end in Barcelona. For this reason, the authors of this study have managed to go from 280,000 simulations to more than 30 million. This makes it easier to find an optimal route. A stop along the way. The optimal route includes a stop along the way, right at the Lagrange point L1, a place between the Earth and the Moon in which the gravitational attraction of both objects is compensated, so that the effect is similar to the absence of gravity. The ships could remain there as long as necessary without losing communication with Earth. In the case of Artemis II, for example, there was a point where connections were lost. That wouldn’t happen here. Finally, once everything is ready and the orbits are aligned correctly, the second part of the trip could be carried out, heading to lunar orbit. Better near the Moon. Previous simulations that looked similar to this one included entering this trajectory on a near-Earth branch. However, with this research it has been seen that fuel savings are better if done on the opposite side, closer to the Moon. The cheapest way so far, but not the cheapest possible. The authors of the study acknowledge that this is the cheapest path that has been calculated so far between the Earth and the Moon, but not the cheapest possible. And, in their calculations, they have taken into account the gravitational attraction of the Moon and the Earth, but not that of the Sun. If this were added, savings could also be improved, but the launch window would be restricted. That is, there would be fewer possible days to carry out the launches. That would make logistics difficult, so for now, the cheapest option so far has been chosen, but not the cheapest possible. That alone is a great advance. Image |Rfassbind In Xataka | We have not yet colonized the Moon and we have already filled it with garbage: there are even abandoned golf balls

In Alicante, the Animal Welfare Law is causing demonstrations for a very specific thing: feline colonies

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Despite the rain and the cold and the fact that the call was made Sunday at noona few weeks ago around 200 people They went out on the street in Alicante, with banners and a megaphoneto demand, among other things, the resignation of the city’s mayor. They did not mobilize the housing, the increase in price from the shopping cart, unemployment, immigrationcorruption or any of the other issues that according to the CIS It keeps the Spaniards awake at night. What led them to complain are the feline colonies from Alicante. Or rather, how the City Council is managing them despite the fact that since 2023 the Animal Welfare Law (and the autonomous) clearly states what your responsibilities are. What has happened? April 12 around 200 people They met on the Explanada de España, on the seafront of Alicante, to demand that the City Council change its management policy for feline colonies. Between messages such as “cats are unprotected” or “not looking is abandoning,” the protesters denounced what they consider a passive attitude on the part of the City Council, responsible for the street colonies. “He has done absolutely nothing,” regretted in statements to the newspaper Information Antonio Ripoll, president of the Felinos Lo Morant association. The group assures that, despite their insistence on the situation of the colonies, from the Consistory they have only received “excuses” and answers that they interpret as “a way of delaying things.” One of the triggers for the April 12 demonstration came to early marchwhen the Colonias Felinas Alicante (Acofal) association denounced that the municipal cleaning services had removed the cat houses installed in the Parque de la Ereta, which left their colony without shelter or food. “Scattered and disoriented”. What happened in Ereta even led PACMA to launch a statement in which it denounces “the repeated withdrawal” of food, water and shelters in the area, which affects “more than one hundred cats registered”, and warns the City Council of “a possible violation of regional and state animal protection legislation.” “It is impossible to move the cats from the Ereta Park, which occupies the entire slope of the mountain that surrounds the Santa Bárbara Castle,” underlines the collective: “The withdrawal of food, water and shelter leaves the animals unprotected, dispersed and disoriented, especially in episodes of rain.” What does the LBA have to do with it? Both in the messages of the animal associations and in that of PACMA it is repeated a fundamental idea: If the focus is on the City Council it is because for a few years the Animal Welfare Law (LBA) clearly states that local administration plays a key role in the management and care of feline colonies. In fact, PACMA warns that what happened in Ereta could “constitute a violation” of state regulations, the Law 7/2023but also the autonomous range, the 2/2023. “They oblige public administrations to guarantee the correct management and protection of feline colonies,” argues the animalist party. The message is very similar to the one sent from the associative world. Ripoll, for example, matches in which the City Council “is systematically failing to comply with the animal welfare law.” Even they point out that colonies often depend on caregivers who manage them by investing their own resources and time, something they attribute to the lack of “budget and adequate technical personnel” in the animal protection office. Chapter VI. Article 39. The truth is that the legislation is very clear on this matter. The state law 7/2023 of protection of the rights and well-being of animals details in its chapter IV, article 38, the role of city councils: “In the absence of other provisions in regional legislation and respecting the scope of competence established by current legislation, it is up to local entities to manage community cats, for which purposes they must develop Feline Colony Management Programs.” Even precise What minimum requirements should these management plans cover: encourage citizen collaboration, launch training and information campaigns, and establish population control plans. Also the care of animals. In fact, the rule makes it clear that it must be the local entity that assumes “responsibility for health care”, using registered veterinarians to do so, and also establishes protocols for treating cat colonies. Does the law say more? Yes. It puts a few homework extra to city councils (for example, including sterilizations in population control plans), specifies the roles of regional administrations and citizens and finally highlights certain actions that are categorically “prohibited” in the colonies. These include sacrificing cats with very specific exceptions, taking specimens from colonies (and therefore not used to being among humans and confined) to “animal protection centers” and exchanging animals from one colony to another. The law too precise that cats can only be removed from their communities in certain cases. In case there were any doubts Valencian law It also emphasizes that the town councils, hand in hand with animal associations and veterinarians, “will carry out comprehensive management” of the colonies in their municipalities. And that includes CER (Capture, Sterilization and Recovery) programs, feeding, shelter, supervision and health treatment for the felines. “Community cats will be identified with a microchip under the ownership of the local administration.” Beyond Alicante. Alicante is not the only municipality in which the application of the LBA and its obligations has generated friction with the town councils. In Torres Torres (Valencian Community) the volunteers who take care of the feline colonies recently threatened also with going to the Ombudsman in the face of what they consider the “inaction of the city council” and at the end of 2025 PACMA denounced that the Donostia City Council was violating Law 7/2023 in a neighborhood of the city. Similar situations have been experienced in Sangunt (Valencian Community) or Saint Joseph (Ibiza). “Volunteer veterinarians”. Two years ago, shortly after the approval of the LBA, the Alicante College of Veterinarians even released a statement to remember two key ideas about caring for cat colonies. The first is that “population and health control” depends on … Read more

the new labor moralism of the ultra-rich

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David Solomon is one of the most influential managers on Wall Street. Nobody gave him supposedjust as Solomon himself told in the graduation speech from students at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. The Goldman Sachs executive gained his position through hard work, washing dishes at McDonald’s and serving ice cream at an ice cream parlor while he studied. His story is that of rewarded effort, that of a young man who learned to squeeze every hour of the day and knew how to take advantage of it in the workplace. The problem is that, when that message is sent to the young people of Generation Z today, something doesn’t add up: the world in which Solomon built his career and the one in which Gen Z has had to live They look less and less alike. A lesson in time management. On the stand and before an audience of recent graduates, Solomon explained that as a teenager he played three sports, participated in his school’s student council and still found time to work serving ice cream at a local ice cream shop. Perhaps hoping for some financial help, Solomon told his father that, despite his dedicationhe never had enough money to cover his expenses. Instead of a loan, the millionaire manager got some advice from his father: “write down everything you do each day on a calendar.” In doing so, he realized that he was wasting a lot of his time. Three weeks later, with more order in his schedule, he had already found space for a second job preparing hamburgers at a McDonald’s. Solomon made that lesson the focus of his speech at Wharton, where he talked about embracing criticism and taking advantage of available opportunities. “Throughout my 42-year career, I have discovered that there are certain fundamental values ​​that transcend technological and cultural changes,” said the Goldman Sachs executive. Effort yes, but where are the opportunities? What Solomon did not mention in his speech is that the ladder that Solomon climbed during his youth, today has many more candidates and many fewer steps. According to a recent report of the recruitment platform Greenhousethe average number of applications per offer grew by 111% between 2022 and 2025, going from 116 to 244 applications per position. That is, for every job opportunity there are twice as many candidates. The writer, podcaster and professor at New York University Suzy Welch told in the podcast ‘Masters of Scale‘ conducted by Jeff Berman, that younger workers face the same intensive schedules and tough work demands as previous generations, but lack the assurance that hard work and the effort will reward them with progress in their careers. “We believed that if you worked hard, you would be rewarded. And therein lies the disconnection,” said the work motivation expert. The problem is not that young people do not want to work. According to the report ‘Turning the Tide on Economic Inactivity‘ prepared by the consulting firm PwC, 42% of young people aged 18 to 24 who left the labor market did so due to mental health problems, and the analysis ‘Keep Britain Working‘ from the British Government reveals that young people in the United Kingdom are almost five times more likely to be out of work. According to a report according to the Gallup consultancy in 2025, those under 35 years of age are now less committed than their older colleagues, something that has not happened since 2007. 78% of adults under 30 years of age also fear that artificial intelligence will destroy employment opportunities, compared to 45% of those over 65 years of age who fear for their jobs. A system that does not always reward effort. A Pew Research Center survey in 36 countries reveals that 57% of those surveyed believe that today’s children will grow up in worse conditions than their parents. In Spain the perception is even more concrete: 58% of citizens believe that young people are going to live worse than their parents, according to CIS data from 2024 collected by The Pluraland 84.4% consider that they have more difficulties than previous generations to become independent. 68.7% of young people between 18 and 34 years old lived with their parents or depended on their income in 2025, according to Eurostat data collected by The Confidential. A survey carried out by The Conversation collect the feeling of the young people of the generation that Solomon was addressing, who leaves statements from young people that put the current employment situation on the table: “We had a belief about what our life would be (…), which today is totally incorrect. At the cost of experiencing a great effort to train, the promise of work and economic stability is not fulfilled.” Those who already accumulate work experience are the most skeptical: “the social elevator has broken,” they conclude. In Xataka | Billionaire Mark Cuban has advice for Gen Z: “If you have time, use it to learn more about AI” Image | Unsplash (Marilia Castelli), Flickr (World Economic Forum)

A photographer endured temperatures of -28º and 4,000 m altitude in the Alps to capture an almost impossible image

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“There are experiences that you plan for months and yet they arrive without you being prepared.” The phrase is from Angel Fuxa photographer specializing in astrophotography and night landscape portraits, and although it may sound a bit transcendental in your mouth it has a special meaning. A few weeks ago Fux ascended to a summit of 4,200 meters above sea level and, in the middle of hellish conditions which included temperatures of -28ºC, strong gusts of wind and icy ledges where a wrong step could be fatal, obtained one of the most impressive images of the year. Even has attracted attention from NASA. Photographing the darkness. Angel Fux (Paris, 1998) is not just a talented photographer. Over time he has specialized in a fascinating branch: astrophotography and portraits of night mountain landscapes. That obsession has taken her to the Alps, Andes, Pyrenees or the Dolomites, among other regions. “My search for dark skies has intensified over the years in a way that I did not understand until recently,” recognize on his blog. Some time ago Fux was fascinated by the darkness in the Peruvian Andes and in 2025 she ascended to Gornergrat (Pennine Alps) to enjoy a similar experience with your camera at 3,000 meters above sea level. From each expedition he returned to his studio with hypnotic photographs that fueled his ambition, so a few months ago he asked himself a question: Why not go further and observe the night sky from almost 4,200 m above sea level? Dent d´Hérensa summit located just behind the Matterhorn, between Italy and Switzerland? Double arch captured in 2025 in Gornergrat. Image: Angel Fux A very precise objective. His idea was not only to ascend the Dent d’Hérens and aim his objective at the night sky. Fux wanted to capture a unique and ephemeral spectacle: the moment in which, with the help of a prepared camera, an astrophotographer can capture the double arc of the Milky Way. “Once a year, in the northern hemisphere, something simply extraordinary happens in the night sky. For a few days each March it is possible to see both arms of the Milky Way above the horizon on the same night, not at the same time, but along the same Earth’s rotation.” “The winter arc, a quieter, less dense band of stars, rises during the first half of the night. Then, as the Earth rotates, the summer arc rises from the other direction, bringing with it the galactic core, that unmistakable, dense river of light. Together, they form what is known as the double arc of the Milky Way.” It is not an unexplored phenomenon. Other photographers have captured it in awesome images and Fux herself portrayed the double arch in 2025 from the Gornergrat, at 3,100 m. Photographers with ice axes. The challenge that Fux set for himself this year raised the bar for several reasons. To begin with, the area in which I wanted to work. It was proposed to ascend 1,000 meters more than in 2025, until the Dent d’Hérensto achieve a unique result. The reason? “Photographers don’t go there, especially in winter and even less at night. The equipment necessary for astrophotography and that required for mountaineering are simply incompatible in most cases,” relates. For his expedition he needed the help of a professional mountain guide, Richard Lehner, who participated in the project with his son, Arnaud. Squaring the circle. Another complication is that, although the natural spectacle that Fux was looking for is repeated every year, it is not always photographable. For the cameras to capture it properly, they must be other extra conditions: the right phase of the moon, a correct location for the angle of the arcs, a 360-degree clear horizon and as low a level of light pollution as possible. Even if the photographer takes care of all these factors in detail and looks for the most suitable location, there is a risk that the weather will not be good. If so, the job is in danger because, as Fux remembersthe “optimal period” to take the image is very limited: it lasts just five days, so there are years in which the spectacle simply “disappears.” Months of preparation. In your blog Fux explains in detail what the preparation process was like, but comes with knowing two pieces of information. Although the photo was taken in March, he contacted his guide half a year in advance, in September. During those six months Fux dedicated himself to planning logistics, preparing the equipment and studying how to approach the work. However, it is one thing to have a plan drawn up and quite another to have it fulfilled. Throughout the process, the Frenchwoman faced several setbacks that did not prevent her from heading to Dent d’Hérens in March with Richard and Arnaud. The three knew that there was a risk that their stay at the summit would be complicated, so they had to be well equipped. Biggest fear: frostbite. “My sleeping bag is designed to withstand temperatures down to -30ºC, with a survival threshold that extends to -50 or -60ºC. My boots are three-layer mountaineering boots, with attachable crampons. My clothing consisted of several layers, both to maintain passive heat and allow active movement,” clarify. “We also had a system of ropes and harnesses prepared, since once at the top, I had to be tied at all times when leaving the tent. The ledges that surrounded the area made any movement without a rope very dangerous.” And the technical part? fux usa a special team which includes, among other pieces, a Nikon Z6 II camera adapted for astrophotography, a Nikon NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 lens and a Benro Polaris star tracker. Despite this material and his experience in the mountains, Fux had to deal with some unforeseen events that threatened to ruin the project. For example, the nights spent acclimatizing to the altitude practiced with the camera to make sure, among other things, that you could handle it with gloves. “During one … Read more

The best deals we have found today on Amazon, Tuesday, May 19

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Do you want to renew some of your technological devices while saving money? Like every week, at Xataka we make a selection with the best deals in technology that we found on Amazon. These are some of the offers that are worth it today, May 19. Xiaomi 17 – 12+512GB Smartphone The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Projector TCL C1 by 193.34 euros: with certified Google TV system. Fire TV Stick HD by 25.99 euros: with Alexa shortcut button. smartphone Xiaomi 17 by 899.99 euros: 6.3 inches and 50 MP f/2.0 telephoto lens. Smart TV TCL 65Q7C by 899 euros: 65-inch QD MiniLED and with Google TV. Bluetooth locator Ugreen FineTrack by 13.99 euros: with CR2 battery that offers autonomy of up to 18 months. TCL C1 Projector We start our selection with a perfect device now that the 2026 World Cup is approaching to watch games in style. It’s about this TCL C1 portable projector which is reduced to 193.34 euros in this flash offer. This projector comes with the certified Google TV system pre-installed and allows you to watch streaming apps without having to resort to a Fire TV Stick or to an Android TV Box. It is also equipped with an 8 W speaker with Dolby Audio and is compatible with 4K video and HDR10 formats. TCL C1 Compatible 4K Portable Projector The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fire TV Stick HD If you have an old TV at home, in a bedroom or in the kitchen, this Fire TV Stick HD is the most basic and economical, but it will help you make it smart or give it greater fluidity. Now you have a 42% discount and you can take it for 25.99 euros. This Amazon device offers HD streaming playback and it is perfect to get started in the world of Fire TV. Your remote comes with a shortcut button to Alexa. In addition, it easily connects to the HDMI port of your TV and its compact size makes it possible to take it comfortably even on vacation or a second home. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi 17 Smartphone If you want to change your phone and you had already had your eye on Xiaomi’s latest flagship, this one is now on sale Xiaomi 17 on Amazon. Specifically, you can take it with you 899.99 euros. The photographic system is the most notable thing about this Xiaomi 17. It has a 50 MP f/2.0 telephoto lensideal for taking photos in spaces with poor lighting. Its screen is 6.3 inches and this model on offer comes with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB internal storage. Xiaomi 17 – 12+512GB Smartphone The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Smart TV TCL 65Q7C As we have said before, one of the sporting events of the year is approaching and if you are looking for a TV to watch the 2026 World Cupthis TCL It’s on sale now on Amazon. It has gone from costing 1,099 euros to 899 euros in these moments. This television mounts a panel 65 inch QD MiniLED and has a sound system signed by Bang & Olufsen. Works under the operating system Google TV and it is also perfect for gaming, thanks to its 144 Hz refresh rate. TCL 65Q7C Television 65 Inch QD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ugreen FineTrack Bluetooth Tracker Have you been thinking about buying a AirTag to have your keys, wallet or even your suitcase located during your vacation, but do you think it’s expensive? This Ugreen locator It is the economical alternative and is now available for only 13.99 euros. It has the same design and size as the Apple AirTag and is compatible with the network “Search” from the bitten apple company. Powered by a replaceable CR2 battery, which provides autonomy of up to 18 months. UGREEN FineTrack Mini Tag The price could vary. We earn commission from these links

He wrote several bestsellers on productivity. Eight years later he denies it: “Our definition is broken”

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Cal Newport He has been obsessed with productivity for decades. And yes, ‘obsessed’ is the word: a Georgetown computer science professor does not publish three books in less than five years if he does not have an almost unhealthy fixation with the subject. In a very short time, he became one of the most recognized ‘gurus’ in the field and his works (‘Deep Work‘, ‘Digital Minimalism‘ either ‘A world without email‘) could be found in airports around the world. Then one day, suddenly, saw the light. What if it’s all a huge joke? Newport doesn’t say it exactly like that, of course. But, as you will see immediately, It’s in the subtext of everything he says. in recent times. Because under the idea that it is only moving from ‘individual advice’ to ‘structural diagnosis’, there is something else: a basic problem. What really is productivity? As Newport explainsin the factory or in the field, productivity was measurable and easily comparable. Henry Ford, to give the most obvious example for an American, was able to justify the enormous investments that his continuous assembly lines required because they had figures and data. The problem is that the world doesn’t work like that anymore. In the mid-20th century, knowledge workers began to become the most powerful workforce and measuring their productivity is much more elusive. And, to solve it, organizations resorted to a shortcut: If I see you working, I assume you are being productive. Or, to use Newport’s wordswe have used a definition of productivity that is no longer “the use of visible activity as a rough approximation to useful effort.” And then the pandemic arrived. For our expert, COVID was the turning point. life anxiety, the exhausted workerschained zoom calls, silent resignation…the world had been focused on ‘perform being busy‘ and suddenly there was no one looking at you. Suddenly, nothing we did made sense. But as behavioral psychology has taught us, when something we usually do stops working, our first reaction is not to stop doing it. It means doing it harder, more often, with more insistence. These six years have shown us that it was a dead end. And what do we do? For Newport, the answer is clear and is based on three principles: do less things, work at a more natural pace and obsess over quality, value and excellence. If what we do has become a malicious proxy that only ends up burning us, we have to stop doing it. Newport calls it ‘slow productivity’ because, as he said, he is obsessed with productivity; but also because, deep down, it is still in the same scheme. Because, after all, who can decide to work less? As Vivian Song denounced“Newport barely holds those who design the culture of overwhelm accountable.” EITHER, in the words of Joshua Kim“‘slow productivity’ is less a work strategy than a marker of privilege.” The interesting thing about all this is the diagnosis, the recognition (from the very heart of the management publishing industry) that what we do does not work. Now we have to take the problem seriously and find a solution that really works for everyone. Image | Andreas Klassen In Xataka | “Doing nothing” is a great technique to improve your productivity. Neuroscience is clear

A drone has set fire to the perimeter of the first Arab nuclear power plant

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During the war between Iran and Iraq in 1982, a missile accidentally hit near the plant Iran’s Bushehr nuclear when it was still under construction. The incident sowed such concern international that for decades civil nuclear facilities in the Middle East were surrounded by a kind of unwritten taboo even in the midst of the region’s toughest conflicts. A drone and a border that no one wanted to cross. For years, Gulf monarchies assumed that their large energy infrastructures could be vulnerable to missiles or attacks on refineries, ports and pipelines. But there was one psychological line that seemed to remain intact: nuclear power plants. The fire caused by a drone in the perimeter of Barakah, the first nuclear plant trade of the Arab world, has changed that. Although there was no radioactive leak or damage inside the reactor, the simple fact that an unmanned aircraft reached the immediate surroundings of a nuclear facility in the middle of the war between Iran, the United States and Israel has opened a completely new scene for regional security. The Gulf has just entered unknown territory: it is no longer just about protecting oil and gas, but about defending civilian nuclear facilities against cheap, difficult to intercept and politically explosive attacks. Much more than electricity. The Barakah central It occupies a particularly sensitive place within the Emirati strategy. Built with South Korean technology and operational since 2021, it provides around of a quarter of the country’s electricity and represents the great project with which the Emirates tried to diversify its energy economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. That is why the attack has a symbolic burden enormous even if the damage was limited. Hitting the Barakah perimeter means demonstrating that no strategic infrastructure is completely out of reach of the drone war that already dominates the Middle East. Also launches another disturbing message: Civilian nuclear facilities are beginning to enter the risk map of modern regional conflicts. The Gulf War no longer revolves only around oil. The truth is that the evolution of the conflict is profoundly altering the security logic of the entire region. Since the start of the war, Iran has launched thousands of drones and missiles against the Emirates and other Gulf countries to increase the economic and political cost of the campaign led by the United States and Israel. Until now, much of the concern has focused on Hormuz, energy exports and maritime traffic. But he Barakah incident expands the problem into another, much more delicate dimension. An attack against a nuclear power plant, even if it is peripheral, immediately forces international alarms to be activated, involve the International Atomic Energy Agency and propose scenarios that until recently seemed unlikely in the region. The real problem. The most uncomfortable thing for the Emirates and its allies is that the attack proves again a reality that has already been seen in Ukraine, Russia or the Red Sea: even extremely rich and protected countries have enormous difficulties in stopping relatively simple and cheap drones. According to the Emiratesthree aircraft penetrated from the western border and one of them managed to reach the external electrical generator of Barakah despite the existing defenses. The scene perfectly sums up the current imbalance of modern warfare. A small drone can force the activation of nuclear protocols, trigger diplomatic tensions and generate global concern at a negligible cost compared to the gigantic air defense investments of the Gulf states. An increasingly fragile truce. The attack also arrives in one of the most tense moments since the ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Donald Trump has toughened his speech against Tehran (a few hours ago he even said he was about to attack Iran before to stop the operation), Israel speculate again openly with a resumption of the war and the Emirates has become the Arab country more aggressive against Iran during the conflict. Abu Dhabi directly accuses to Iran or its regional allies for having crossed an extremely dangerous line. The problem is that the Barakah incident demonstrates the extent to which the region has entered a phase where escalation can occur. through ambiguous attackscheap and difficult to attribute with complete clarity. And that makes every downed drone (or every drone what gets through) now has the potential to trigger a much larger crisis. Image | Store N., Wikimedia In Xataka | Iran is about to inaugurate in Hormuz a concept that has the shape of a global nightmare: the underwater toll In Xataka | Dubai has come to the same conclusion as Russia. To protect your oil from drones there is something better than missiles: giant cages

Schwarzenegger continues training every day at 78 years old and the fascinating thing is that he is right

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At 78 years old, the seven-time Mr. Olympia and the most famous cyborg in the history of cinema continues to faithfully attend his appointment at the gym, as Schwarzenegger acknowledges in an entry on his personal blogwhere he explains that even on days when he has less energy he goes to exercise, something that sums up pretty well with the phrase: “No matter the pain, no matter the weight, every day I achieve a victory.” It’s a reality. His mentality, forged in the golden age of bodybuilding, might seem like the eccentricity of a Hollywood star who refuses to age. However, behind Schwarzenegger’s weights and pulley machines lies one of the most robust physiological truths of modern medicine: strength training starting at age 70 and 80 is not an aesthetic whim, It is a medical necessity. Falling into the stereotype that sport is for young people who want to show off having a good body on the beach is real nonsense, because playing sport literally becomes the next prescription for all the benefits it entails. And logically being more or less old here does not at all condition entry to a gym, as science recognizes us. Inactivity weighs more. To reach old age in better health, you don’t have to invest a lot of money in super expensive supplements or creams to keep your skin firm. And there is a widespread belief that the loss of functional capacity and weakness are inevitable consequences of getting older, but here the National Institute on Aging from the United States is blunt about it: in the vast majority of cases, physical inactivity weighs much more than biological age itself in this deterioration. One of the great silent enemies of middle age is sarcopenia, which is the gradual loss of muscle mass and strength, and which literally correlates with both quality and life expectancy. And to correct it, the only treatment we have at hand is to do strength training adapted to each person profile, directly improving our ability to perform such everyday tasks as getting up from a chair, walking to the supermarket or carrying shopping bags. It’s never too late. Another of the great myths that we also have on the table is that you are too old to start exercising, but here the scientific literature reminds us that it is false, since starting late is still (very much) worth it. Here, a study that grouped 121 randomized trials with 6,700 participants showed that progressive strength training improves muscle strength and functional capacity in older people. This resulted in an improvement in autonomy by significantly improving their walking speed and their ability to climb stairs autonomously. Besides this, a recent systematic review of the Polytechnic University of Madrid on training in older people reported that traditional strength training can achieve improvements in knee extension strength of up to 46%. That percentage, in clinical practice, is the difference between needing a walker or walking on your own. Beyond the muscle. Strength work is also important for bone formation and combating osteoporosis by reducing several cardiometabolic risk factors. Besides, the Heart Foundation points out that strength work, added to balance and mobility training, is vital to protect against falls. It is not something minor, since in people over 70 years of age a fall is not an accident, but rather it is one of the most serious clinical problems that can drastically reduce life expectancy. Added to all this is that exercise has been shown to help regulate sleep, improve mood (reducing stress and anxiety) and even protect cognitive function. Adapted. There is no need to try to emulate Schwarzenegger’s youth records to obtain these benefits, but current medical guidelines agree on a minimum effective dose that is very affordable for almost everyone. In this case, for a person over 70 years old, a reasonable guideline supported by evidence is to train strength at least 2 days per week. But here you should always adapt the exercise to each person and start with a gentle exercise and gradually increase it. Although you don’t just have to be with the dumbbell in your hand, it should be combined with balance routines, joint mobility and some aerobic work. Images | Wikipedia Victor Freitas In Xataka | We have been debating for years whether it is better to go to the gym in the morning or in the afternoon. Physiology finally has the answer

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