Month: May 2026

The brutal crisis of ViñaRock in one year is explained in an empty venue

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The ViñaRock audience debacle is no longer a secret: the clear highlight of the edition, the Sex Pistols (or the group that today bears that name, without the band’s classic vocalist, Johnny Rotten, at the helm), played in front of around 100,000 people. A year earlier, the same event had brought together 240,000 attendees. ViñaRock is the main victim of the crisis unleashed by the financing of several Spanish festivals by Israeli investment funds. The vindication, part of its DNA. ViñaRock was born in Villarrobledo in 1996 with a very specific profile: combative rock, affordable prices and alternative spirit. This differentiated it from other macro events and also favored the approach of the public and bands with very explicit political positions leaning to the left. It did not take long for it to grow until it became one of the main festivals in Spain under the motto ‘Neither God, nor country, nor king’, becoming the largest of its kind. In 2025 it brought together 240,000 people and generated 22 million euros economic impact in the region. The numbers of 2026. The public number of attendees was 100,000 in three days, less than half that in 2025. The organization presented it as a relative successalthough the economic impact falls: of the 22 million generated in 2025, around 11 million will remain. To compensate for the lower external influx, the festival allowed access by the residents of Villarrobledo through its registration program, a formula that for years reserve tickets at starting price for residents of the municipality before the general sale. In the 2026 edition, this preferential access had more weight than ever, and the result was something that in networks It has been closer to the classic image of a patron saint festival, more than a classic rock festival. How it started. In May 2025. El Salto published an investigationrevealing that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), an American venture capital fund, had acquired in 2024 the promoter Superstruct Entertainment for around 1,400 million euros. Superstruct manages nearly 80 festivals around the world and, in Spain, it has more than twenty events under its umbrella, such as Sónar, Arenal Sound, FIB, Resurrection Fest, O Son do Camiño, Monegros Desert Festival or ViñaRock. The crisis came when it became known that KKR maintains positions in Israeli cybersecurity companiesis the main investor of the German media group Axel Springer (which has real estate activity in occupied Palestinian territoriessomething contrary to international law) and its president for the Middle East moved in May 2025 to the Civil-Military Coordination Center run by US army officials in Israel. For many regular bands on the circuit, it was a very difficult issue to ignore. Cancellations begin. The rap-metal group Sons of Aguirre & Scila was among the first to formalize the boycott: in a statement announced that he would not participate in any festival in the KKR orbit again until the owners changed. They were soon joined by Fermín Muguruza, Los de Marras, Sinkope, No Konforme, Residente, Judeline and Samantha Hudson, among others. The ViñaRock tried to do damage controlreaffirming their artistic independence, condemning the situation in Palestine and announcing legal action against what they considered a smear campaign. New poster. In February 2026 It was made public that the festival had been acquired by Orange Alive, and an attempt was made to rebuild the 2026 edition practically from scratch. It didn’t help much, because that same month it was made public that They were still linked to Superconstruct. The poster featured groups such as the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter, Turbonegro, Skindred, Celtas Cortos, Medina Azahara, Kiko Veneno and Barón Rojo. The tickets started at 39.99 euros, notably lower than previous editions, and the videos on social networks left images of the events for posterity. half empty stages. He’s not the only one. The ViñaRock crisis is far from being the only one: the concentration of festivals in the hands of large financial groups is a consolidated trend in the live entertainment industry. Other festivals in the Superstruct orbit may face similar reactions from the public and groups, although Resurrection Fest, similar in nature to ViñaRock, broke attendance record shortly after the controversy broke out. Quite possibly, ViñaRock has been affected by both the boycott and the little time it had to restructure its lineup after the defections. Header | Vinarock In Xataka | If your favorite band has left Spotify, don’t be surprised: they are boycotting their CEO’s warring investments

steal talent from Ouigo and Iryo

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Hundreds of train drivers are looking for a position at Renfe. This is to be expected after the company announced the opening of a call to hire 550 new machinists, within its replacement plan and with the aim of expanding its workforce. Although there is no concrete data on the impact on Ouigo and Iryo, previous calls anticipate a flight of workers to the Spanish company. 550 seats. This is the number of train drivers that Renfe expects to hire in the coming months. The call is already underway and is part of a larger employment plan with which it is expected to hire a total of 2,000 workers. The deadline to register ended in March and the process consists of three phases. In the first, it will be verified that the minimum requirements are met and the merits of the candidates will be assessed. The second phase consists of an in-person test and, finally, the third will be a test in a simulator. A flight of train drivers. It is the fear that Ouigo and Iryo can have. Both companies offer higher salaries than Renfe but the stability of a publicly owned company is still very attractive. In fact, it is not the first time that there has been a massive transfer of these companies to the Spanish side. In 2023, Ouigo and Iryo saw how a third of its staff He joined Renfe’s lists, according to the CNMC, after a call to hire new train drivers. This led the regulator to require Renfe to notify of these calls to their rivals a month and a half in advance before making them public and they cannot incorporate new workers into the workforce until three months after the resolution of the process, with the aim that these companies have enough time to replace the possible departure of their machinists. Because? The flight of train drivers is not a question of money. Or, at least, it is not in the short term. And the Spanish company’s machinists earn less starting money than in rival companies, but their future projection does promise more attractive salaries. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that both Ouigo and Iryo can never offer the same stability as Renfe for years to come. And the Spanish company has a greater number of vacancies available throughout the country and, furthermore, it is a public service so You will have to be present no matter what, wherever this obligation binds you.. How much does a machinist earn? As we said, an “entry train driver”, as new train drivers are described, earn less money on Renfe if we talk about base salary. According to the signed agreementa driver starts at 21,973.56 euros to which must be added a supplement of 1,286.64 euros per year for the “driving” concept and another 192.99 euros under the training category. These figures make up a base salary of about 23,500 euros per year to which must be added travel allowances to the place of residence and for minutes worked. Those minutes are paid more expensively the more minutes they have been used. For its part, an Iryo cobra machinistbase, 23,374.78 euros. To this figure we must add a bonus for minutes worked, as in the case of Renfe, or kilometers traveled. If we talk about Ouigothe base salary in this case is 18,000.00 euros and is increased to 21,693.00 euros with two years of seniority, to which bonuses such as days away from home or overtime must be added. It’s not just money. Union representatives point out The Country that the salary differences in favor of the private company (the bonuses are paid better and, therefore, they charge more from the start) are not being sufficient to compete with Renfe since the latter also allows the choice between Medium Distance or Cercanías trains and high-speed trains, so the possibilities within the company are greater. In addition, seniority weighs heavily in the Spanish company, which is why it rises quickly in the salary tables. These improvements due to seniority are reflected in the base salary but, in addition, the bonuses also grow as they add years to the company. So, a level A chief engineer (the highest range) is close to 60,000 euros gross before applying the bonuses for minutes worked. A first (and expensive) filter. Of course, aspiring to be part of the staff of Renfe or any other company in the sector is not easy. Obviously, the new driver must have the required qualifications that are obtained through theoretical and practical tests. But perhaps the biggest filter comes from economic limitations. And the courses to acquire these skills are expensive. The one from Renfe, specifically, It lasts one year and is offered for 21,200 euros. Photo | Andre Marques In Xataka | Iryo already knows what the cost of competing with Renfe on the AVE lines is: losing tens of millions of euros

your modules are corroding

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The Lunar Gateway, the lunar station in orbit that It was intended to be used as a strategic stop on trips to our satellite, it has suffered many delays since its manufacturing began. Today, after the withdrawal of financing from the United States Government, it is canceled. But even so it continues to give something to talk about. The latest conflict around it has arisen after it was shown that two important modules that were already manufactured and ready for launch have corroded. If the plan had remained on track, this would have been one more headache. In fact, it is equally so. The facts. After the cancellation of the initial project, the company in charge of launching the two habitable modules of the Lunar Gateway has asked NASA to reuse it in the bases that are planned to be built on the lunar surface. The response of Jared Isaacman, the administrator of the space agency, It was making public a somewhat unpleasant problem. The metal of both modules has been corroded. How are they going to use them in those conditions? The company responsible, Northrop Grumman, has not denied it, but it has removed all blame, accusing another company of what happened. According to them, it was the work of Thales Alenia Space, a Franco-Italian company that was commissioned to build the main structure of these modules. Thales shows its face. Initially, the company in question did not respond to the accusations. However, a few days later, in a press release, have recognized the problem. They assure that a “well-known metallurgical behavior” has been detected in both modules and that they plan to solve it by the third quarter of 2026. They add that it is not a big problem, since something similar was detected in some modules of the International Space Station during its construction and that, after solving it, they continue to function without problems. That metallurgical behavior must be their fancy way of talking about corrosion. They haven’t mentioned this much more unpleasant word, but they seem to recognize the problem. NASA doesn’t trust. At the moment, it does not appear that NASA intends to wait for Thales to solve the problem in the third quarter. In his statements to the press, Isaacman recalled that if the Lunar Gateway had gone ahead, this problem would have delayed the launch, scheduled for 2026. It would possibly have been postponed until 2030. It would have been a serious inconvenience, so they do not believe that now it is worth trusting that it will be easily solved. Lunar Gateway Halo Module a cursed station. Lunar Gateway has suffered many delays since the project was launched. Initially, a first component aimed at obtaining energy and propulsion was going to be launched in 2022. Later, NASA decided that it was more efficient to send it together with the first habitable module. That delayed the first launch until 2024. However, there were a series of problems related to the calculation of the mass of both components and, in order to solve it, the launch was delayed until 2026. The Trump Government saw that a lot of time was being wasted and a lot of money was spent, while China took steps towards the Moonso he chose to withdraw funding from the project. In March 2026 its cancellation was announced. And now what? Initially, in Artemis III and in the program’s later missions The Lunar Gateway would be used to dock both the lander and the capsule with the astronauts. There, the two crew members destined for landing would go from one ship to the other. Now, however, it is planned to dock both vehicles directly in orbit, without the need for a lunar station. NASA’s goalsInstead, they focus on building a base directly on the surface of the Moon starting in 2028. But there’s still plenty of time left for that. First, we will have to check if everything is going well in 2027. What is clear is that, given what we have seen, there is not much faith in recycling the Lunar Gateway habitable modules. As much as Northrop regrets it. Image | NASA | Northrop Grumman In Xataka | We have not yet colonized the Moon and we have already filled it with garbage: there are even abandoned golf balls

Japan has just crossed a line that it has not crossed since World War II. China has responded with supersonic missiles

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At the beginning of the 20th century, during the battle of tsushimathe Russian imperial fleet took more than seven months to circle half the planet to confront Japan. The result was so disastrous and fast that several powers suddenly understood an idea: in the Asia-Pacific, controlling the sea could decide the global balance long before a total war began. Supersonic missiles off the US and Japan. It we count last week. The South China Sea is becoming a huge military board where Beijing wants to make it clear that it is willing to answer directly to any attempt to surround its area of ​​influence. While the United States, the Philippines and Japan develop the largest Balikatan maneuvers of recent years, China has now responded by sending H-6 bombers armed with YJ-12 supersonic missilesJ-16 fighters equipped with anti-ship missiles and several naval groups around Luzon and Scarborough Shoal. The message is difficult to ignore: Beijing wants to show that it can deploy air and naval force heavy right in front of a military bloc led by Washington and Tokyo without abandoning the initiative in the region. Already looks like a war rehearsal around Taiwan. The Balikatan maneuvers have changed enormously in recent years. What were once relatively conventional exercises between the United States and the Philippines have morphed into focused simulations in maritime settingsattacks against major adversaries and possible conflicts around Taiwan and the South China Sea. The full participation of Japanese forces and the presence of ships from Australia and Canada reflect the extent to which Washington is trying to build a regional network capable of responding to China in the event of a crisis. Beijing interprets it as a direct threatespecially since several of these maneuvers take place near routes and positions that China considers essential to protect its access to the Pacific. Japan has crossed a symbolic line. A few hours ago one of the movements that most irritated Beijing during the maneuvers took place, and it was not only the American presence, but the increasingly active role of Japan. for the first time since World War IIJapanese forces launched abroad a Type 88 anti-ship missile during military exercises in the Philippines, something that China interprets as a clear sign of Japanese “remilitarization.” Although the missile can be used for defensive purposesBeijing considers that deploying this type of weaponry outside Japanese territory breaks part of pacifist logic that Tokyo maintained for decades after 1945. Furthermore, the context further aggravates the tension: Washington also fired Tomahawk missiles from the Philippines using the Typhon systemcapable of hitting targets hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away, potentially including mainland China itself. For Beijing, the image is disturbing because it reflects how Japan, the Philippines and the United States are beginning to rehearse together a scenario where the Pacific island chains could be transformed into advanced attack platforms and military containment against China. Two armed H-6 bombers fly over Scarborough Reef in an attempt by Beijing to show its superiority to Manila and its allies amid the Balikatan maneuvers and territorial disputes H-6 bombers are no longer simple propaganda. Chinese bomber flights over Scarborough Shoal have become relatively commonbut this time the important detail was the weapons. The H-6 appeared with a greater load of YJ-12 supersonic missiles, specifically designed to attack large ships and naval groups. At the same time, J-16 fighters They escorted the deployment while Chinese ships closely followed the multinational flotilla led by the United States and the Philippines. In other words, Beijing is using these exercises to show something very concrete: in a hypothetical regional conflict, it would try saturate and keep away US naval forces using massive quantities of anti-ship missiles launched from land, aircraft and ships. China is surrounding the Philippines with layers of military pressure. Beyond the bombers, China deployed the combat group of the Liaoning aircraft carrier and various armed surface groups with Type 055 destroyersconsidered some of the most powerful ships in the Chinese Navy. One of these groups carried out live fire exercises east of Luzon, precisely in areas that the United States and the Philippines are studying as possible reinforcement routes in the event of war. The Chinese strategic idea is increasingly evident: convert the Philippine maritime environment into a extremely dangerous area for any US attempt to move troops, supplies or reinforcements towards Taiwan or the South China Sea. Naval warfare is changing because of drones. While showcasing bombers and aircraft carriers, China is also accelerating the adaptation of its navy to a threat that has transformed recent conflicts such as Ukraine or attacks in the Middle East: the drones. In fact, Beijing has just presented a new naval antidrone system capable of intercepting stealth and very low altitude attacks in complex electronic warfare environments. The tests carried out in the Bohai Sea show the extent to which the Chinese Navy assumes that future naval confrontations will not depend only on large ships and missiles, but also on enormous swarms of drones capable of harassing or destroying much more expensive ships. The China Sea is filling with signs. The bomber combination with supersonic missilesnext-generation destroyers, aircraft carriers, artificial bases and anti-drone systems reflects something deeper than simple military exercises. China is preparing an environment where any US intervention around Taiwan or the Philippines would be extremely complexsaturated with aerial, maritime and electronic threats. And the most significant thing is that it is no longer just about propaganda displays: Beijing is testing in the field how to coordinate all those capabilities against real forces from the United States, Japan and their allies in one of the most tense regions on the planet. Image | CCTV In Xataka | The YJ-20 has just entered the scene at the most delicate moment: China has launched its hypersonic missile against the US and Japan In Xataka | China is beating the US with a simple strategy: manufacturing hypersonic missiles at the price of a Tesla

The EU believes it is time to knock it down

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The European Commission has sent a strong message to the Member States that still maintain regulated electricity rates: it is time to prepare for their end. In his latest report Regarding the retail market, Brussels requires countries like Spain to develop clear roadmaps with defined deadlines to transition in an orderly manner towards prices based purely on the free market. Why do you demand change? The underlying objective of the European Union is that everyone operates under the same rules in the free market. The European Commission considers that, if the Government intervenes in prices, citizens lose the incentive to be efficient with energy and competition between companies is stifled in the long term. Therefore, the official document ask for a step-by-step exit planwith specific milestones and guarantees of non-discriminatory treatment, to gradually disconnect this rate without creating chaos in the sector. Besides, how to underline The Economist, There is a strong component of financial risk prevention. Brussels wants to avoid at all costs a repeat of the cascading bankruptcies experienced during the energy crisis of 2021 and 2022. To achieve this, the European recommendation involves strengthening financial supervision, forcing marketers to undergo “stress tests” and present periodic reports on their hedging strategies against the volatility of wholesale prices. The weight of the intervened tariff in Spanish homes. The European mandate collides with the reality of our country. In Spain, 29% of households continue to benefit from this intervened rate, the Voluntary Price for Small Consumers (PVPC). According to the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC)the magnitude is even greater since 33.5% of those surveyed claim to have hired it. Although Brussels admits that regulating prices may be justified temporarily to protect consumers during a transition, it strongly warns that these interventions should not become a permanent element of the system. The Government stops the measure dead. Despite the European guidelines, the Spanish Government has no intention of stepping on the accelerator. According to statements to the press collected by the agency Europa Pressthe third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, has been emphatic: “At this time there is no plan to eliminate the PVPC.” Aagesen defends that “current market conditions are not appropriate” to eliminate this rate and advocates maintaining it for both vulnerable consumers and any citizen who wishes to benefit from it. As the minister explainsSpain’s argument against Brussels is that the Spanish PVPC is not a fixed price, but is indexed hour by hour to the wholesale market and linked to the futures markets, providing it with greater stability and complying with previous requests from Europe. For now, the Executive has left the ball in the court of the CNMC, which has commissioned a study to evaluate whether this model could be dispensed with in the future. The relief of the social bonus. The debate on the suppression of the PVPC has raised alarm bells among the most fragile households. Having contracted the regulated tariff is an essential requirement to receive the social electricity bonus, an aid that reaches more than 1.7 million beneficiaries, according to data from Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO). However, users can rest assured: the European Commission’s own report expressly cites the Spanish social bonus as a valid and justified measure to protect vulnerable consumers within a structural strategy against energy poverty. The clash of two visions. We are faced with an obvious clash of rhythms and concepts. On the one hand, the orthodoxy of Brussels, which conceives the PVPC as a temporary anomaly on its path towards a fully liberalized European market. On the other hand, the pragmatism of the Spanish Government, which still perceives this regulated tariff as an essential shield for citizens against energy volatility. Although the beginning of the end of the regulated rate is already part of the European demands, Spain has decided, for now, to maintain it with assisted breathing. Image | Magnificent 1 and 2 Xataka | Europe and Japan step on the accelerator of nuclear fusion and place the ball in the court of a strategic country: Spain

It’s time you had a button that allows you to filter AI-generated music

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Music created by AI is generating millions of dollars on platforms like Spotify, making royalties from real artists decrease. The platforms More than 75 million songs have already been uploaded of this type in the last year, and rivals such as Apple Music acknowledge that more than a third of the songs currently uploaded They are generated by AI. You can’t put doors on the field, but putting your hand in the matter seems inevitable. The new step. Spotify is starting to add verification badges for real artists, a badge that guarantees that the artist profile has been reviewed and is an “authentic” musician. The platform explains that those profiles that generate music using AI cannot be verified. The platform takes into account recent concerts, social networks, fan activity and profile behavior to determine whether or not it is real, a fairly fallible method. The world upside down. Spotify has decided to take the opposite path to rivals like Deezer. Their solution to stopping songs created with AI is to verify real artists, while Deezer is betting on a much more aggressive solution AI Music Detection Tool from Suno AI and Udio Removal of AI songs from recommendations Labeling of all songs created with AI According to Deezer, 44% of the total daily music delivery on the platform corresponds to songs created with AIstating that 97% of users are not able to detect between AI-generated music and human-generated music in a blind test. The underlying problem. Spotify’s approach reverses the burden of proof: instead of detecting fake content, it tries to certify authentic content. An independent artist without many numbers, without recent concerts or intensive activity on social networks has a hard time achieving verification, even if his music is completely human. The badge does not measure authenticity, it measures the relevance of the artist, and Spotify is also home to emerging artists. Furthermore, the criteria that Spotify explains are metrics that can be easily modified in AI times, precisely. The system has holes from day one. The damage to artists. The structural problem is not that there are users generating songs with AI, but rather the proportional distribution model that these platforms use. Each artist charges based on their number of plays over the total: the more AI songs accumulate listens, the more diluted what a real musician can earn. Cases like that of ‘Walk My Walk’or how a song generated by AI became the most listened to in the United States, make it clear that the phenomenon is here to stay, and raises the debate of whether AI itself should learn from what it knows: It is the artists who have taught her to compose. In Xataka | You make music with AI, one day you go to download your songs and you discover that you can’t anymore. That’s what just happened with Udio

has just opened its warehouse and delivery network to any company in the world

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For decades, Amazon has built its business one of the most powerful distribution infrastructures on the planet, one that allows its workers to ship products anywhere in the world extremely efficiently. Now he is going to make it available to any business that wants to use it. global network. amazon has announced the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), a service with which any company, not just its marketplace sellers, will be able to access its global logistics network. Transport by sea, air, road and rail; warehouses; distribution centers; and last mile delivery: all under one umbrella and available for companies in all types of sectors, whether healthcare, automotive, manufacturing or retail, among others. Why does it matter? Amazon has a fleet of more than one hundred cargo planes, only behind FedEx and UPS, thousands of warehouses and sorting centers around the world, and its own last-mile delivery service. In fact, according to data from ShipMatrix, this parcel service is already the largest in the United States by volume, ahead of UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service. What changes now is that all that capacity, previously reserved for its own sellers and internal operations, is formally opened to the market. Likewise, the movement turns Amazon into a gigantic logistics operator, what is known in the sector as 3PL (third-party logistics provider) and places it in direct competition with giants such as DHL, Kuehne + Nagel or DSV. According to data From the consulting firm Armstrong & Associates, it is estimated that this global market moves more than 1.3 trillion dollars. The parallelism with AWS. In 2006, the company took the technological infrastructure it had built to run its own business and began selling it to third parties. This is how Amazon Web Services was borntoday the largest cloud service provider in the world. Now try to replicate that model with logistics. “Amazon brings the infrastructure, intelligence and scale of its decades-proven supply chain services to businesses around the world, just as Amazon Web Services did with cloud computing,” counted Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services, in the company’s official statement. Variety of services. According to the company, ASCS offers services divided into four large blocks: Transportation of goods (sea, air, land and rail freight). Distribution and storage with automated inventory forecasting. Preparation and shipping of orders through any sales channel, including rival platforms such as Walmart, Shopify, Shein or TikTok. Parcel delivery with deadlines of between two and five days, seven days a week. A blow to the sector. Following the news, FedEx and UPS shares fell more than 9% each after the announcement, while GXO Logistics plummeted around 13% and DHL lost 7.3%. For these companies it is a direct competitive blow, and according to analysts from the Baird firm, the impact could also extend to air and maritime cargo transport operators. With this blow on the table, another of the threatened segments is business-to-business (B2B) logistics, a niche with a high profit margin where UPS and FedEx have been focusing all these years. Between the lines. Beyond the competitive threat, Amazon seeks to monetize an infrastructure that already exists and in which it has been investing for almost thirty years. The company was already according to Armstrong & Associatesthe world’s largest logistics operator by gross revenue in 2025, although its services were sold in a fragmented manner and without a unified proposition for external clients. “They have warehousing operations, transportation management, and international air and sea freight, but they did not have a coordinated sale like 3PL, although together they are already the largest,” counted Evan Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong & Associates, told the Wall Street Journal. Customer data. Opening the network to external companies raises a question: what does Amazon do with the information of its logistics clients? The company has already been accused in the past of using data from sellers in its marketplace to compete against them, something it has always denied. Larsen assures told the WSJ that Amazon explicitly prohibits using ASCS customer data to make decisions in its own marketplace, citing the fact that hundreds of thousands of sellers already use its logistics services for channels outside of Amazon. Cover image | Garakhan Safarli and Claudio Schwarz In Xataka | What is the cheapest Amazon device you can use Alexa+ on?

a man just discovered that robotaxis can do it too

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It is an automatic thought when we check a suitcase: please don’t let me lose it. The airlines They have improved baggage managementbut millions of incidents continue to be recorded every year and it is something that has happened to practically all of us who have taken a few planes. What is not so common is that the person who loses your suitcase is a robotaxi, or rather we should say the one who steals it from you. what has happened. They tell it in Futurism. A few days ago, a man ordered a Waymo robotaxi to go to the San Jose airport in California. The journey went well, it was upon arriving at the airport that the problem arose. The passenger was able to get out of the taxi without problem, but when he tried to open the trunk to retrieve his suitcase, it did not open and the robotaxi left, leaving him without the luggage that he had prepared for his trip. Waym’s responseeither. The first thing the passenger, whose name is Di Jin, did was call Waymo customer service in the hopes they could get the taxi back with his suitcase. However, the person who assisted him told him that the car was on its way to the warehouse and that it was impossible to change its route. Jin decided to take the plane anyway and later tried to get Waymo to send his luggage, but the response was that he had to go pick it up himself. In statements to NBCJin states that “It doesn’t make any sense because it wasn’t my mistake (…) I pressed the button to open the trunk and it just didn’t work” Why is it important. When autonomous driving is questioned, we often focus on safety and overlook incidents like this. What happened to this passenger perfectly illustrates that there is a whole dimension of failures more focused on user experience in unexpected situations. These are errors that a human driver resolves intuitively and quickly, but in this case it became a very complicated situation full of obstacles. The problem is not just security. In China, a system failure caused more than 100 taxis will stop in the middle of the city. In California, several passengers were trapped inside a Waymo because a passerby attacked the car and it crashed. Self-driving taxis have proven to be a safe and effective means of transportation, myself I tried one a few days ago in China and I was surprised how integrated it is into the dense city traffic. What we are seeing most lately are not so much accidents, but problems of this type more related to practical problems that do not affect a taxi with a driver. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The robotaxis did not need a driver, but Waymo has ended up paying delivery drivers to close ajar doors

an unusual toll to revolutionize global maritime trade

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In the 16th century, several sultans of the Ottoman Empire came to seriously study the possibility of open an artificial road next to the Bosphorus to better control maritime traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean… the project was canceled again and again for centuries due to wars, lack of money and strategic doubts, but the idea never completely disappeared from Türkiye. The old Turkish obsession. While the Strait of Hormuz has become one of the largest sources of tension of the planet due to the war between Iran, the United States and Israel, an idea that has been around Turkey’s politics and strategy for years has once again gained prominence: building a gigantic artificial canal parallel to the Bosphorus to create a new sea route under Ankara’s direct control. It is not just about decongesting Istanbul’s naval traffic. Behind the project appears a much greater ambition: converting a free natural passage into an alternative corridor capable of generating incomegeopolitical influence and pressure capacity on part of international trade. Precisely now, when Hormuz demonstrates the extent to which a maritime bottleneck can disrupt the world economythat old Turkish idea it rings again with more strength. The Bosphorus and its importance. He Bosphorus It is much more than a strait that divides Istanbul between Europe and Asia. In reality it is the only sea exit towards the Mediterranean for countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, Bulgaria or part of southern Russia, and one of the busiest corridors in the world. Every year, thousands of oil tankers and freighters cross a narrow road, full of curves and surrounded by a gigantic city of millions of inhabitants. Türkiye has been defending for years that this trafficking represents an enormous risk both for maritime security and for Istanbul itself, especially after several accidents of ships occurring next to historic and residential areas. The problem for Ankara is that the Bosphorus is regulated by the Montreux Convention of 1936, which guarantees free transit and greatly limits the possibility of charging direct tolls to ships. The idea that could change the rules. There appears the real core of the project Istanbul Canal. As it is an artificial route and not a natural strait, Türkiye could try apply rates and services transit routes similar to those of Suez or Panama without formally breaking international maritime law. For years, this possibility seemed more like a geopolitical fantasy than a near reality, but the Hormuz crisis aims to restore prominence to an uncomfortable question: what happens when large maritime corridors stop being simple routes and become tools of economic and political pressure. Iran has already hinted at the possibility of demanding payments in Hormuz, something that has alarmed organisms international organizations and the great maritime powers. In this context, the old Turkish project begins to fit within a broader trend: transforming certain strategic steps into infrastructures capable of generate multi-million dollar income and increase the political weight of the countries that control them. Istanbul, Türkiye, divided by the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus Strait. Erdogan’s dream. Yes, because Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned the Istanbul Canal into one of its great symbols politicians. In fact, he has compared it to Suez and Panama, he has described it as a project aimed at transforming the Türkiye’s international role and has presented it as a work capable of turning Istanbul into one of the great logistics centers in the world. On paper, the channel would have 45 kilometers longwould allow the passage of large oil tankers and freighters and would be accompanied by ports, logistics zones, new urbanizations and enormous real estate developments. It would also physically split the European part of Istanbul, creating a kind of gigantic artificial island between the Bosphorus and the new canal. The big question: if anyone would pay to use it. The enormous problem of the project has always been the same. Although Türkiye could charge tolls on the new canal, the Bosphorus would still exist as a free alternative. That doubt has been haunting the plan for years: why a shipping company would agree to pay millions to cross an artificial route when it has another relatively nearby toll-free route. Ankara is confident that congestion, navigation risks and possible delays will push many companies to choose the new corridor, especially for dangerous goods and large tankers. But many economists and maritime experts believe that the real profitability of the project remains uncertain and it would depend on very specific international scenarios, precisely like those that the Hormuz crisis is causing today. Criticism within Türkiye. Furthermore, the Istanbul Canal It has never been solely a discussion about maritime trade. For years it has been accumulating criticism for its ecological impacturban and economic. Scientists and urban planners warn that the canal would cross forests, aquifers, agricultural areas and very sensitive ecosystems in the north of Istanbul. Not only that. There are also fears about how alter the currents between the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Marmara, affect marine biodiversity or increase problems related to earthquakes and landslides in an already very seismically vulnerable region. Plus: the projected cost (which different estimates place between 15,000 and more than 60,000 million dollars) continues to generate doubts even among sectors that support strengthening Turkey’s strategic position. Hormuz has reactivated the dream. For years, the Istanbul Canal seemed to move between bombastic announcements, delays, political disputes and financial doubts. but the war around Hormuz has returned to put on the table a much broader issue: the enormous power that certain maritime points have to alter supply chains, energy markets and entire geopolitical balances. Türkiye now watches as the entire world discusses blockades, maritime insurance, tolls and control of strategic routes while your old project appears again, at least in some sectors of the country, as a possible tool to increase your global influence in a century where maritime corridors once again become central pieces of international power. Image | Wikimedia, NASA In Xataka | Neom has stopped being science … Read more

These are the most outstanding offers on AliExpress

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Although May just started just a few days ago, the first AliExpress promo of the month is just a few hours away from ending. This one, called ‘Ready for summer‘, there have been several discount coupons to save and reduce our carts, but they are already gone. Does that mean that there is nothing worthwhile anymore? Not at all. Realme GT 7 (12 + 256 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links We still have quite interesting technology offers, ideal if you are looking to renew any of your devices and want to do so while saving along the way. There are several interesting offers available, although we have made you a selection of five that we find especially attractive: Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones by 295.79 eurossome of the best over-ear headphones on the market. Xiaomi Redmi Pad 2 by 141.80 eurosa tablet with very good quality-price ratio. Realme GT 7 by 376.28 eurosa mobile phone that has enough battery to last up to two days without charging it. Google Pixel 10 by 578.68 eurosideal if you are looking for a compact Android mobile. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 by 172.89 eurosan economical mobile phone in its version with more memory. Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones If we talk about headband headphones, one of the best options that we can buy are the Sony WH-1000XM6. Their sound is wonderful and they have a design that, in addition to being super cool, also makes them very comfortable to wear. They have plenty of autonomy and their active noise cancellation is one of the best there is. They go out for 295.79 eurosa considerable discount if we take into account that they cost almost 469 euros at launch. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Pad 2 For less than 150 euros, Xiaomi’s Redmi Pad 2 It is a very good Android alternative if we are looking for a versatile tablet. We can highlight its 11-inch screen with 2.5K resolution and 90 Hz refresh rate, which makes it very interesting if we want it to read text, because it will look very clear and with a good feeling when moving across the screen. In addition, it has a 9,000 mAh battery and a good 4-speaker system with Dolby Atmos. Costs 141.80 euros. Xiaomi Redmi Pad 2 (8 + 256 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Realme GT 7 If you are looking for an Android phone that has a high-capacity battery, then you may be interested in the Realme GT 7. It is true that it does not offer the same autonomy as the GT 7 Pro, but it still has more than enough to last up to two days of battery life. Plus, its 6.78-inch screen looks great (even outdoors) and has remarkable performance. Perhaps it was expensive at launch (starting at 749.99 euros), but for 376.28 euros Yes, it is a very good option. Realme GT 7 (12 + 256 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 He Google Pixel 10 It is a very good phone and a top option if you want something compact. Its 6.3-inch screen looks very good (although, yes, it is not LTPO) and its photography section performs very well in almost any scenario. As always, having a Google Pixel means that we can receive Android news sooner than on phones from other manufacturers and it also has seven years of updates. comes out for 578.68 euros. Google Pixel 10 (12 + 128 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Are you looking for a cheap mobile phone? This Redmi Note 15 It is a very good option. It is an ideal device if you use your mobile with undemanding apps almost all the time, such as WhatsApp or social networks. Something to keep in mind is that it is the version with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, which will help the mobile last longer. We can purchase it for 172.89 euros. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 (8 + 256 GB) 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 | Xataka, Sony, Xiaomi, Realme, Google In Xataka | Best mobile phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and nine recommended models In Xataka | Best tablets in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and seven recommended models

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