Month: June 2026

Puertomingalvo, the Teruel town of 130 inhabitants, has been without free beds for the eclipse for more than a year

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The solar eclipse on August 12 will be an ideal opportunity to go sightseeing in places where we normally would not do so. There are many people who have chosen to organize their vacations around this great astronomical eventwhose entire strip will not precisely cross the most tourist places in Spain. It will not pass through Benidorm, the Canary Islands or the Costa del Sol. Yes, it will be seen in some fairly touristy spots on the Balearic Islands, but little else. Mostly it will discharge all its splendor in the famous emptied Spain. The Sun rulesso many people who possibly would not have had these destinations among their options for summer vacations have decided to enter these small towns and discover all their charm. Because, logically, there will be a lot to do beyond seeing the eclipse, whose totality will not last two minutes. Castilla León, Navarra and Aragón, for example, are home to many interesting towns to take advantage of the day of the eclipse and the days before and after it. For example, many people will choose to see it in Puertomingalvo, a beautiful Teruel town in which all its accommodations posted the full sign for these dates more than a year ago. Although it is not necessary to stay directly in the town to enjoy everything it has to offer. A changing population preparing for the great solar eclipse As it could not be otherwise, to get to know the town of Puertomingalvo a little better I have contacted Manuel Vázquez, the guide in charge of your Tourist Office. He says that, although there are currently about 130 people registered in this town in the Gúdar Javalambre regionin summer it is usually around 600 people. There are many second homes where some people who moved to Castellón or other more industrialized cities travel in summer in search of work. But there are also 11 accommodations that have been full for more than a year. It is true that in summer it is always full, but reservations for August usually begin to close in June, not a year in advance. Furthermore, Vázquez is a lover of statistics, so he has been studying the searches that have been made on the Puertomingalvo website. Thus, he has observed that, although last year searches in French stood out, this year they have far surpassed them in searches in Spanish. That does not mean that the town did not have national tourism. He had, and a lot. But maybe they were people who didn’t have to search the town. Now, thanks to the eclipse, there are many more Spaniards who have been interested in getting to know it. Hermitage of Saint Barbara of Nicomedia For all this, the Government of Aragon has also been preparing this and other nearby towns for a year for what is to come. “From the Government of Aragon they send us talks and information about how to use approved glasses“, prevent fires, etc.,” says Vázquez. “We are dedicated to informing anyone who needs it about the eclipse.” The town is located at 1,456 meters high and it has a very clear sky. Additionally, according to Vázquez, there has only been one summer storm around that time in recent years. Generally the skies are usually clear, so the weather will most likely behave when the day arrives. Much more than an eclipse The eclipse will be an ideal occasion for many people who did not even know Puertomingalvo to venture inside its medieval walls. In summer, with its population quintupled, the town bustles with a very complete program of festivals. “The schedule for August is crazy,” celebrates the tour guide. “Last year they made more than 100 activities in 30 days and this year many activities are also expected.” In short, people who decide to take advantage of the eclipse to visit Puertomingalvo will have a good program of activities. But, in addition, you will enjoy many places to visit. And, despite its small size, Puertomingalvo has a lot of heritage. It is part of the Association of the most beautiful towns in Spain and in 1982 It was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Historical-Artistic Complex. Upon arrival, the visitor can enjoy observing its walls, but inside the art and history do not end. The Castle stands out, where you can arrange a private visit, as well as the Town Hall building and the hermitages. All these buildings are from Civil Gothic and were built between the 14th and 16th centuries. You can also visit the Church of the Purification and San Blas, El Hospicio Poma, the laundries and the Hospital for the Poor, which has currently been converted into a hostel and library. On the other hand, Casa Llorens stands out, a very well preserved palatial house, which was built between the 16th and 17th centuries. Sport and Nature In the surroundings of the town there are numerous hiking trails which can be visited on foot, by bicycle or even on horseback. It is an ideal way to enjoy nature and sports at any time of the year. In summer, without a doubt, one of the most recommended is the Cascada del Arquero route, since you can end it with a swim in the river, ideal for the heat. Outside the town, you can also visit the remains of the Iberian town of Los Castillejos. In short, history, nature and the sky come together in a perfect combo for a different vacation. Puertomingalvo is a great location to observe the solar eclipse, but also to delight in everything it has to offer, both this year and whenever we decide to visit. Image | Pabloandr85, Juan Emilio Prades Bel In Xataka | Between 2026 and 2028 Spain will become an eclipse paradise. And we have new maps to know where they will look best

We know that the inhabitants of a Roman site in Aragon loved wine and games. A mystery remains: why they vanished

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When we think of ancient Rome, the first image that comes to mind is that of patricians in togas, the Colosseum, legionnaires and heroes gathered in the Senate. That however is only one part of the Empire. The “Rome of marble”, as the archaeologist Ángel A. Jordán recently summarized it in an interview with The Newspaper. Another, equally important and much less known, is the “Rome of clay”, that formed by people who lived far from the metropolis and dedicated their days to working, drinking and playing, went hungry, loved and mourned their dead. That last Rome is the one that Jordan and his companions are discovering little by little in Barker Heada deposit of Five Villasprovince of Zaragoza. In a place in Aragon… It may not be the best-known site in Spain, but Barker Head has proven to be a box of surprises for archaeologists interested in the history of Aragon. Located in the pre-Pyrenean foothills, near Sofuentes, its land was occupied for centuries and played a key role in the road which Augustus ordered to be built and toured the area. Hence since 2016 Researchers have carried out several campaigns to peer into the secrets of a population that, it is estimated, covered 19 hectares and extended from the late bronze age until late antiquity, between the centuries VI and IX AD., a period that has left a good handful of vestiges. Last year, for example, was announced the discovery of a Roman road. Why is it news? Because after eight campaigns, a new excavation has just been launched at the site. He revealed it a few days ago The Aragon Newspaperwho in the process chatted with the project director, Angel A. Jordanabout the objective that the team has set for this year: to clarify why the population declined, something difficult to understand with the data they have collected so far. “It is a city that a priori has water because it is located in a place where there are many springs, it is a privileged area with very good agricultural land… It is a great mystery why the city stopped being inhabited. In the 7th century it no longer exists,” details the expert The chronicle of Cabeza Ladrero can therefore extend from the IX or VIII BC until late in our era, although it is believed that it reached its period of splendor during the Roman era. One unknown, two theories. Although the excavations will (hopefully) clarify the mystery, Jordán and his team already start with some theories on the table. One is that the settlement succumbed to external attacks. “Last year the excavation began to give us curious elements. Small remains are appearing that indicate the presence of fire, ashes are appearing in different parts of the street and that makes us think that it could have been abandoned due to some violent event,” admits in The Newspaper. “Taking into account that the city does not reach the 7th century and that there are signs of destruction, we could still be facing some type of attack, especially from the Bagaudas, rebel groups that acted in the Ebro valley during the 5th and 6th centuries and that looted several cities in the region,” apostille the expert The other suspect. The second hypothesis is that it was the disease that killed the locals. As remember Jordanit is known that in the 6th century there was “a brutal epidemic of the Black Death” that had devastating consequences. “It is estimated that in many parts of the empire up to 25% died,” says the director of the archaeological project before remembering that there is evidence of another phenomenon: a transfer of population to The Bañalesa Roman settlement located not far from Cabeza Ladrero and which became a prosperous town. The “Rome of clay”. Beyond its geopolitical relevance, its role in the road system or the details of its chronicle, there is another reason why Cabeza Ladrero is so special: it offers us a window into the “Rome of clay”which completes the image of “marble Rome” that cinema usually conveys and has formed the cliché of the empire. After all, at the Aragonese site archaeologists have found much more than vials and ancient milestones. Pitchers and board games. During their excavations, researchers have found jugs that tell us about his love of drinking and several tokens that, experts believe, could have been part of an ancient board game. “They were people who lived, got drunk and robbed each other; but they also loved and we have been able to see that very well in the necropolis,” Jordan says in The Newspaper. “Indeed, they played because they had to have fun and, if not, they were bored out of their minds. They organized tournaments and the kids had their toys.” Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2 Via | The Aragon Newspaper In Xataka | Under an institute, Rome has found something impressive: a perfectly preserved “domus” from the 2nd century

Every time a rocket ship fails, an industry grows. And China has just decided that it wants to be the owner and mistress

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In 2016, a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 exploded at Cape Canaveral destroying Israel’s Amos-6 communications satellite. Luckily, like when you get hit by a car while parking, there was insurance behind it that paid for the mess because the incident cost almost 300 million dollars. Because imagine that your latest and most ambitious project explodes and that as a consequence you end up bankrupt. Insurance is that industry that when everything goes well seems like a superfluous expense and that saves you when there is an accident. Applied to space, they move more than 4 billion dollars a year. Well, space insurance is undergoing a historic transformation: China has decided who no longer wants to be a mere customer, she wants to be the owner of the business. China goes from client to insurer. China had been insuring its satellites for years through the state insurer PICC, but part of the real risk was absorbed by the international market via reinsurance. So when ChinaSat-18 failed in 2019, it was foreign insurers that absorbed part of the hit, according to SpaceNews. China paid the premiums and London and Paris, where space reinsurance business is concentratedthey stayed with the business. Everything changed in March 2025: a consortium from Beijing covered 25 private launches for $1.47 billion in its first year, bringing together domestic insurers so that everything, money and control, stays at home, according to Caixin Global. It is the first consortium dedicated exclusively to the Chinese commercial aerospace sector. Why is it important. Because if there is no insurance, there is no investment and without that financing there are no rockets either. A fact: a geostationary satellite costs between 150 and 400 million dollars to manufacture and launch, according to the Satellite Industry Association. If there is a failure, the economic impact is tremendous and could lead to the bankruptcy of the operator, so having an insurance policy is a condition for any investor to dare to put money into a space project. Controlling space insurance is controlling who can take certain risks and how. The Chinese government is clear: according to the IISSShanghai allocated 300 million yuan in subsidies to the commercial aerospace sector in April 2025, and Beijing has announced targeted insurance premium subsidies for space companies. China replicates the move it has already used in semiconductors or batteries: state push to achieve strategic independence. Context. The space insurance market is growing simply because the commercial space sector is also growing, and because insurance is an essential condition for operating in it: Space Liability Convention of 1972 establishes that states are responsible for damages caused by their space objects. Lloyd’s of London has been insuring satellites since 1965 and for decades, this was a closed market dominated in Europe by companies such as Munich Re, Swiss Re or AXA XL. According to Orbital Radarthis market generates between 500 and 600 million in annual premiums and remains concentrated in London, Paris and Bermuda. SpaceX changed everything: more launches, lower unit cost, new risk profiles… and now new Chinese private launchers such as LandSpace, CAS Space, Space Pioneer bring a new transformation: everything stays at home, China cooks it and China eats it. In detail. As with cars, insurance premiums depend on the history of the rocket and here China has a potential gap to slip through: for new rockets with no history, the premiums are very high. Orbital Radar Explained that launch premiums range between 5% and 15% of the insured value depending on the vehicle and orbit. Therein lies the great advantage of the Chinese consortium: it can take risks where other insurers put their “buts.” A revealing fact: of 10,000 active satellites in orbit, only 300 have insurance, according to Space Insider. In fact, SpaceX does not even externally secure its own Starlink. Yes, but. The market that China wants to enter with everything is in trouble: in 2024 it paid more in claims than it earned in premiums, according to Insurance Business Magazineamong other things due to the loss of Intelsat 33e. And it’s going to get worse: space debris is growing faster than the ability to calculate it and here China is largely to blame. Furthermore, in accordance with the regulations OFAC of the US Department of the Treasury.when a Chinese rocket fails, American and European insurers can’t always pay: Western sanctions legally prohibit them from dealing with certain Chinese assets, so the market is fragmented. In Xataka | SpaceX has always been 10 years ahead of the competition. The problem is that in China that law no longer applies. In Xataka | The race to become “China’s SpaceX”: who’s who in its private space launch sector Cover | Ivan Diaz and zhang kaiyv

“Fate gave us an opportunity to test ourselves to the limit”

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The story we have counted. In 1986, three Soviet engineers volunteered to enter the flooded tunnels beneath the Chernobyl nuclear power plant reactor and open valves that could prevent a second devastating explosion. For years it was believed that they had died shortly after from radiation, but the reality was even stranger: two survived for decades. The story well summarizes the Chernobyl paradox: the greatest nuclear danger often comes not with a bomb, but with an out-of-control reactor. The return of the ghost. Almost forty years after the explosion of reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the place once again experienced scenes that seemed buried with the Soviet Union. How we count Then, in February 2025, a Russian explosive drone blew a hole in the gigantic confinement structure built over the old sarcophagus and caused an internal fire. Suddenly, Ukrainian firefighters had to climb back a radioactive facility to contain a fire on the largest symbol of civil nuclear disaster in history. The image had a disturbing echo: men climbing toward the radiation again, like in 1986. Climb into frozen hell. The operation was brutal. For two weeks, more than a hundred rescuers worked in shifts of just thirty minutes to reduce their exposure while fighting a fire hidden between the roof membranes. The water froze almost instantly due to the extreme temperatures and the wind whipped a structure thirty stories high. He summarized the logic of that mission in a Wall Street Journal interview Oleksiy Chuprov, one of the Ukrainian emergency workers who was directly involved in the operation to extinguish the arson, did so coldly: “We just did our job.” Then he added something more revealing: “Destiny gave us an opportunity to test ourselves to the limit.” It was not rhetorical heroism, it was the confirmation that Chernobyl remains a place where the margin of error is zero. The new nuclear enemy. Here appears the central idea of ​​the current drama. For decades, the nuclear threat was associated with missiles, atomic warheads and the doctrine of mutual destruction. Today, according to the historian Serhii Plokhythe danger has moved: “the true nuclear threat today comes much more from atoms for peace than from atoms for war.” The phrase is not trivial because it actually redefines everything. The reactor has not generated electricity since 2000, but it still contains 200 tons of material highly radioactive. What was once a monument to an accident has now become a vulnerable target in conventional warfare. When a power plant becomes a weapon. Because the war in Ukraine has shown that civilian nuclear infrastructure They are already strategic pieces. Russia occupied Chernobyl in 2022 and keep controlling the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe. Furthermore, its attacks on electrical substations force Ukraine to rely even more on its reactors to maintain the living energy system. The pressure is not only military, it is psychological and political. Every missile that passes near a nuclear plant makes civil energy hostage to the conflict. The hole that changes the equation. He drone impact Russian did not destroy the confinement, but it did break the feeling of invulnerability that surrounded the enormous steel structure of 1,750 million of dollars installed in 2019. Designed to withstand tornadoes, forest fires and the passage of time, it was not intended to absorb direct attacks from war. Now Ukraine needs 580 million of dollars to repair it and avoid irreversible corrosion. The physical hole is also conceptual: it shows that even the best civilian nuclear solutions can be reopened by war. Ignorance as an added risk. During the Russian occupation of Chernobyl, soldiers dug trenches and placed mines in contaminated ground without really understanding where they were. Oleh Lebedev, one of the rescuers, explained it devastatingly: “They had absolutely no idea about radiation control or where they were.” The phrase also summarizes another modern danger: not only deliberate aggression, but operational ignorance about facilities that remain extremely sensitive. In a war like the one in Ukraine, the accident can come as quickly as a simple attack. The erased border. What happens in Chernobyl is a global warning. The line between energy to live and to destroy, as Plokh toldand, it is increasingly blurred. A shut down reactor can still be a potential bomb if hit in the right place. And an active plant can become a military shield, a blackmail tool or a strategic objective. Therefore, the men who rise today to cover the hole Chernobyl are not just containing a fire, they are trying to keep closed the door through which a new nuclear catastrophe could sneak in. Image | Wikimedia, Tim Porter In Xataka | In case there was not enough “gasoline” in 2026, the attack by a Russian drone has crossed a red line: that of Chernobyl In Xataka | We believed that the “elephant’s foot” was the most radioactive point in Chernobyl reactor 4. we were wrong

Spain has lost 17 factories in two decades

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Not too long ago, Spain had a powerful household appliance industry: Balay, Corberó, Fagor… Between the 1950s and 1970s, manufacturers proliferated that manufactured refrigerators, washing machines and ovens “made in Spain” that constituted the middle class’s access to the comfort of the modern era. That era passed away: in the last two decades 17 plants have disappeared (they have closed or relocated) and barely a dozen remain in the entire state, according to APPLIA datathe Spanish Association of Appliance Manufacturers and Importers. Their turnover is 4.5 billion euros per year and they employ 8,000 people, modest figures for a state the size of Spain. They are, literally, low and hanging by a thread. what’s happening. In a word: relocation. Manufacturing outside the old continent is more profitable than doing so within, where the costs associated with production, regulatory and environmental costs are higher. More specifically, there is a star location: Asia. La Vanguardia collects the statements of Augusto Río, spokesperson for APPLIA and sales director of the German company BSH in Spain: “There are certain regulations in Europe aimed theoretically at improving the European industrial environment, but their application makes it more complicated to manufacture within the EU.” An example: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) taxes the steel necessary for these appliances, but does not apply to imported appliances that arrive already finished. In other words, if you import a ton of steel from Asia, they charge you the tax. But if you use that same ton of steel in Asia to make an entire washing machine there and bring it to Europe, the washing machine enters without paying that green tax. Why is it important. The first consequence is direct and obvious: losing jobs. The not so obvious one is to become strategically dependent on third parties for essential domestic goods. Keeping these companies alive and operational supports local economies under a stable and quality employment model. At least, more than the precarious service sector that usually replaces it. From a technological point of view, the R&D&i ecosystem linked to the industrial fabric is broken: without factories, technical knowledge goes outside and feedback on innovation is lost. Paradoxically, the loss of these industries does not respond to a crisis in consumer demand: according to Renub Researchthe European home appliance market will go from 112.33 billion dollars in 2024 to 147.98 billion in 2033, an annual growth rate of more than 3%. But in this forecast report prepared by Mordor Intelligence We see that the quintet that leads the appliance market is the German BSH, the Swedish Electrolux, the British Dyson, the North American Whirpoool and the Chinese Haier. Precisely another Chinese brand, Midea, was the one that acquired the Teka Group between 2024 and 2025. Context. Historically, the manufacture of household appliances in Spain was a reflection of economic developmentalism and the adaptation of the “American Way of Life” to mass consumption in the mid-20th century. The families established a relationship that went beyond the purchase: they acquired the devices, but they also manufactured them, generating a strong bond and worker identity. I don’t remember one of my student apartments in Zaragoza where there wasn’t something by Balay. The globalization of the late 20th century and early 21st century put an end to it: multinationals moved their factories to countries with lower labor and environmental costs. Added to this context of relocation are specific legal asymmetries: Spain requires three years of guarantee of manufacturing compared to the two required by general EU regulations. Likewise, it is mandatory store spare parts for a decadewhich generates inventory costs that in practice the import avoids. Europe’s (only) great asset. To survive the fierce competition in the Asian market, the strategy of the European industry that is still resisting is to abandon the price war and differentiate itself in quality, as the German Mittelstand serves as an example. That is the plan of the CNA group, owner of the Cata brand and with a factory in Torelló. Santiago Torrent, its executive president, details: “The challenge is not to grow, but to do so with more added value” and that they must focus on quality, innovation, durability and better performance. This also includes after-sales and repairs, two areas in which the European Right to Repair Directive It requires them to have increasing responsibility for the product life cycle. Yes, but. The problem with this value-added strategy requires time, investment and a market that is willing to pay more for a European product, something that does not have to happen. And even less so in an inflationary scenario like the current one. On the other hand, China has already publicly shown its discontent with the protectionist European tariff measures, responding that he will take “the necessary actions.” And Europe’s dependence on China goes far beyond washing machines: it encompasses semiconductors, batteries and rare earths, structurally limiting how far Brussels can squeeze without harming itself. In Xataka | Europe’s passenger car industry, in a revealing map that makes it clear who is the real “engine” of the EU In Xataka | Europe is divided in two: the devastating map of deindustrialization Cover | Homa Appliances and Mati Flo

review with features, price and specifications

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First of all: who names appliances like microwaves, ovens, washing machines and stuff? How difficult it is to then recommend or know which one to buy, and I say this with experience: less than a year ago I bought an apartment and had to set up the kitchen and its associated appliances. What a shame I didn’t know about the existence of this product segment, because the LG MJ3965BP is not just another microwave (like the one I have), it is a three-in-one: microwave, oven and airfryer. They say that he who covers a lot, takes little, so we have tested it thoroughly and this has been our experience. ✅ Buy it if… You have little space in the kitchen. The size of air fryers falls short. You are a fan of microwaves and you think they are underrated. ❌ Don’t buy it if… There are a lot of people at home. You already have an oven and (especially) a good air fryer. You want a simple and cheap microwave. The essentials in 30 seconds The LG MJ3965BP is an oven, microwave, grill and air fryer. I don’t want to entangle you with psychological technicalities about air fryers (you can go deeper here), I’ll just summarize it like this: They are mini convection ovens. and that’s just what we have here, a small oven that also has a microwave function. Come on, he can cook with waves and air and he does it with flying colors. When I was little I remember the legendary microwaves with a grill function that you almost had to put in the burner to toast that gratin lasagna after waiting an eternity, but nothing could be further from the truth: this one goes like a shot and actually toasts food before the oven. As for the airfryer, it has fine print: you can put whatever you want, but limited to 300 grams. There it cooks like the best air fryers because it has power and by adding such a small amount, the cooking is uniform. I don’t know about you, but I usually put more in. If that happens, your best bet is to use the oven version. For a microwave it is large, but for an oven it is small, which makes it precisely a solution for those homes where there is no oven, either because you don’t have space or because you are renting and your kitchen already came like this. In that case, here you have a three-in-one solvent for all types of preparations. LG MJ3965BPS – Microwave Oven, 4 in 1, with Digital Display, 39 Liters and 1100 W, Smart Inverter and EasyClean Function, Cooks Faster, Maintains Flavor, Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Our experience with the LG MJ3965BP A great design in every way. When I took it out of the box the first thing I said was blasphemy: it’s heavier than a regular microwave and it was difficult for me to take it out. And also find a place for it, because it doesn’t fit on the shelf where my resident microwave is. Finally, I found a space on the counter for this 39-liter capacity pot. The good thing is that it has a very striking and modern mirrored finish. To operate it, little story: a touch panel, a screen and a roulette wheel and everything you need to know is on a sheet of paper on the side of the door. Ideal for impatient people who don’t read instructions. This little oven is very big. After the drama of finding a place for it, the joys come: the great handicap of air fryers in general is that there are things that you can’t fit into, but in this LG MJ3965BP, unless the whole family comes, there is plenty of space to fit a whole chicken. And in 50 minutes you have it this golden, a little less than the required hour in my oven. You just have to choose the “Roast and Bake” function and little else. That the plate rotates is a plus for uniform cooking and since there is interior light, you can keep an eye on it without having to open the door. In short, power is not a problem and that brings advantages: you save time in the oven, you use less energy and you fit more than in a deep fryer. Excellent in microwave. It may be the least exciting, but it more than accomplishes the tasks of evenly heating those leftovers, defrosting bread, boiling water for an infusion… What has surprised me most here is that it minimizes the endemic evil of microwaves: you heat a plate of meatballs and while one is hot, the other is cold. The power and rotation help, but the way of heating food with waves is more homogeneous compared to most microwaves I have tried (which are the typical basic ones for 50 – 100 euros). TOirfryer may be saying a lot. With some potato sticks in the next dish, my doubt was whether to bake them or put them in air fryer mode. I ventured to try the second option and there I was disappointed: it is limited to introducing 300 grams of food. With that amount or less you ensure that the food is spread out and cooked and toasted quickly, that is to say: the airfryer function in its most favorable conditions. But who makes only 300 grams of potatoes? I took a gamble by disobeying the instructions and tried it and here I found that it was much more difficult for them to achieve that golden brown. Maintenance: leave a cloth nearby. The finish is a real magnet for grease marks (which, on the other hand, lend themselves to appearing on a device that is used for cooking), so it is better to have a cloth nearby. The good thing is that being completely flat and with hardly any nooks, it is cleaned just as … Read more

“Society will not tolerate that only a few companies do all the learning”

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That things are not very good lately in the tech industry is a reality (depending on which side you are on, of course). The economy around the exacerbated demand for AI data centers It has become so devirtualized that it is no longer surprising that a major technology company has spent tens of billions of dollars on another big deal. And as a consequence of this, component shortage It is making the purchase of technological products by the consumer increasingly more complicated. So yes, you could say that things are not very there. But there’s also some comedy in Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella coming out to point this very thing out. And the company precisely contributes greatly to the situation we are experiencing. In an interview For the Wall Street Journal, Nadella warns that the current AI development model is neither sustainable nor legitimate in the eyes of society. What is this about? Nadella has long warned that AI has to generate real impact to justify the resources it consumes. Already He did it last January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he warned that if AI tokens do not improve tangible results in health, education or productivity, “social permission” to continue allocating energy and money to their development would be lost. Recently, in a similar speechhas dared to point out those who, according to him, are concentrating too much power. Concentration. For Nadella, a small group of companies (those that build the most advanced models, such as OpenAI, Anthropic or Google) are accumulating the value generated by AI while, at the same time, stirring up fear. And the conversation in recent years has revolved around topics such as massive job lossesthe existential risks about its use and about how these companies require almost unlimited resources to continue growing. “You can’t say that all white-collar jobs are going to disappear, that this could be a weapon, and at the same time use all the power available to build data centers,” counted the executive to the WSJ. Society is not going to tolerate a few models and a few companies “doing all the learning in the world,” he continued. “Narrative is not enough because now we have to demonstrate with facts,” he insisted to the medium. Who he points to without naming. Nadella does not mention specific companies in the interview, but the context says it all. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic (and Microsoft partner with a multi-million dollar deal signed last year) predicted in 2025 that AI could eliminate half of jobs entry-level before 2029. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (another long-standing Microsoft partner, in which the company has invested billions) has also made similar warnings about employment, although recently he admitted he was wrong in their predictions. Both companies have led to tensions with the United States Government regarding the safety of its models. What Microsoft is doing. Nadella also points out in the interview that Microsoft has launched a series of low-cost models to make access to AI cheaper for its enterprise clients, and has presented Copilot Coworkan autonomous AI agent that allows the user to choose between different models (including the cheapest ones) depending on the task. The WSJ points out In his article, the company is also considering whether to host a version of DeepSeek on its platform, a company that not long ago turned the technology industry upside down with its R1 model (it is also a company accused by OpenAI and Anthropic of having copied their models). The vision it proposes. For Nadella, the future of AI lies in a more distributed model, that is, companies using their own data, with access to a variety of models at different prices, without depending on a handful of suppliers. He defines the companies of the future as “continuous learning systems” that combine human knowledge and AI. In Nadella’s vision, a company’s capital would not only be its assets, but also its ability to process and learn, something he calls “token capital.” And he warns that protecting intellectual property will be key so that companies do not become mere executors of what the big models dictate. Between the lines. Nadella’s position also has a strategic reading. And Microsoft has not managed to develop its own model that competes with the most advanced ones from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google. Furthermore, according to share WSJ, its Copilot users have begun to prefer alternatives, according to data from the analysis firm Recon Analytics. Without its own header model, it is in its best interest for the market to move towards variety and price competition, and not towards consolidation around the most powerful models (which are, precisely, those of its partners). Cover image | Microsoft and M Rezaie In Xataka | “AI is killing my books”: Tim Ferriss has been selling productivity tips for years that ChatGPT now gives away for free

build the tallest statue of Jesus in the world

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If by chance you travel to Zovunia village in Kotayk, Armenia, you are likely to get one of those surprises that make you wonder if you are really in the middle of a dream. On the outskirts of the town, behind a metal fence, stands a huge figure of Christ of furious white. Although to be more precise, it is correct to say that what stands is only the trunk of the statue. Its other two sections are distributed throughout the same neighborhood, like pieces on a board. The picture is so strange that the aerial photos of the area seem generated by AI. However, it is about something else: the dream of an Armenian megalomaniac determined to raise the statue of Jesus Christ largest on the planet. One name: Gagik Tsarukyan. There are many ways to pass on to posterity. The Armenian Gagik Tsarukyan (69 years old) has it guaranteed by his status as a former athlete (he was world arm wrestling champion in the 90s), wealthy businessman and politician. However, he has decided that he wants to be remembered for another achievement: having erected the largest statue of Jesus in Armenia… and on the planet. What Tsarukyan has in mind is neither more nor less than erecting a huge sculpture of Jesus of 77.5 meters on top of Mount Hatis, in Kotayk. If the pedestal is added, the monument will total around 101 meters high. A new icon. Beyond its dimensions, the project draws attention for its symbolism and pretensions. Tsarukyan not only wants to erect a statue of Christ that surpasses the famous one in height ‘Christ the Redeemer’ from Rio de Janeiro (38 m) or the ‘Christ the King’ of Poland, which in 2010 was awarded the title of “tallest statue of Jesus Christ” by Guinness World Records. The Armenian magnate has proposed erecting his sculpture in a special place: in Hatis, on top of a 2,500 m mountain overlooking Yerevan and protected for its biodiversity and heritage. More than just an idea. The interesting thing about the project is that it is not just a more or less ambitious idea captured on paper or a handful of renders. As anyone who visits Zovuni can see, the sculpture is already well underway. Its authors have made of aluminum and divided into three sections to facilitate its assembly on the enormous pedestal that will rise in Hatis. Does a few months Reporters from Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFE) visited the area and saw how the work on the base was progressing on the mountain while the three sections of the metal statue, already completed and awaiting assembly, appear behind the fence of a Zovuni workshop. The image is so surreal that it attracts curious people and some local guides have included it in their itinerary for tourists. How will those segments be moved to the top of Hatis? Some sources speak of a helicopter. Others point out that the final solution will be more orthodox and the pieces will be loaded in a truck. The oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan. With controversy included. That the work is advanced is explained by a very simple reason: the project is not exactly new. Tsarukyan announced it in 2022 and, at least initially, it seemed to convince the authorities, who saw in it a private initiative that could attract visitors to the country. In the summer of that same year (2022) the tycoon celebrated a ceremony of laying the first stone in Hatis, an event attended by the Minister of Economy. Shortly after, the project was marred, however, by the “irreversible damage” which, supposedly, caused to an ancient fortress in the area. Goal: 2027. That episode brought cold water to Tsarukyan’s plans, as he saw his project paralyzed for months. To save it, the magnate agreed to relocate the pedestal and move it several hundred meters. Thanks to this change, he once again received the green light from the Armenian authorities and continued with the foundation of the base, which was reactivated in September 2025. Photos taken on site by RFE/RL in March confirm that work is progressing with the goal of the monument being completed as early as 2027. The three sections of the statue wait while outdoors, in Zovuni. @armenianexplorer Armenian businessman Gagik Tsarukyan has funded the construction of what will be the world’s tallest statue of Jesus, standing at 33 meters on a 44-meter pedestal. This impressive structure will be installed atop Mount Hatis, at an elevation of 2,528 meters. The statue is already completed, with the architectural design crafted by Armen Samvelyan. ——— #Armenia #ArmenianExplorer #JesusStatue ♬ original sound – Armenian Explorer “He does not consider it acceptable”. Tsarukyan’s project does not quite convince the environmentalists and the Monument Watch organization has raised his voice also to warn of “the destruction” of Mount Hatis that “is carried out with the approval and permission of the Armenian authorities.” There is another institution that also has shown his suspicionalthough for different reasons: the Church. Although supporters of the mega sculpture hope it will attract visitors to Armenia and activate religious tourism, the Armenian Apostolic Church warns that the monument does not quite fit with the religious and architectural heritage of the country. In fact, he made his position very clear in a statement launched shortly after the project was presented, in 2022: “The Church does not consider it acceptable.” This is not a simple aesthetic objection. Armenian tradition reject the statues of Jesus Christ because they are considered idols. His faith is expressed above all through other figures: the Khachkarcarved stone crosses. RFERL remember that the few statues of Christ in the country have ended up vandalized. Matter what… and who. The truth is that Tsarukyan is just as (or even more) striking than his project. Armwrestling champion, boxing fan and rich man, Tsarukyan has also tried his luck in politics. without much luck. In the last elections his party, Prosperous Armenia, nationalist and pro-Russian, did not obtain … Read more

“Now there is money everywhere and if you have a quality company, you will have a lot of funds waiting”

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Like scouts for football or basketball clubs, investment funds and large companies use a figure with the same purpose. They are the ‘scouts’ or startup scouts. Their mission: to find promising companies when they have not yet been discovered, to be the first or among the first to invest or collaborate with them. In silver, arrive before anyone else. “These ‘scout’ programs become popular during approximately 2021-2022, in the midst of valuation hysteria for technology companies. It is a time of prosperity for the funds, which begin to see that the companies’ income multiples begin to grow very quickly,” says Kintxo Cortés, referring to the fact that the investment enthusiasm resulted in the companies’ income having to be multiplied each time by a higher number (x4, then x6, then x11…) to arrive at your assessment. For reference, the current 5 trillion dollars of capitalization of Nvidia are equivalent to multiplying its annual income by 20. In the case of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, the figure would come from multiplying turnover by 11 and in that of Apple, by 10. “In venture capital what is happening is that money is a commodity. There are very good funds, so it is not only a race to see who finds the company that grows the best but also who enters a promising company the earliest,” explains Cortés, who has been a scout for four years. He currently collaborates with the Accel and Samaipata funds, in addition to working at the connectivity company Gigs. “Now there is money everywhere and if you are an entrepreneur and have a quality company, you will have a lot of funds that will want to put money into you.” In an environment like the one Cortés draws, investment funds can only be differentiated in two ways. One of them is with its team of professionals, capable of adequately supporting the startup. The other is with speed. Whoever gets to the entrepreneur first has an advantage when it comes to investing. So the funds have diversified their search for projects with potential. The objective is to enter capital very soon, even with a small position. And this is where the scouting activity unfolds. They are specialists and know the entrepreneurship ecosystem inside out in certain areas or niches. They allow the funds to gain capillarity that they do not have with their staff alone. This way they have access to a greater number of companies and can glimpse promising teams operating in interesting sectors as soon as possible. Although this scout profile is not the only one that scans the landscape in search of attractive startups. Gema García González, director of Open Innovation and Coporte Venturing at Repsol, is in charge of a team of ten people dedicated to reinforcing the company’s technological development with external resources. “We try to be flexible, we work with other research centers, with other corporations and, of course, with startups. The entrepreneurial ecosystem has many pieces, it has grown a lot in recent years and can contribute a lot to us in developments that we want to accelerate,” he explains. In this case the scouts are on staff. Thus, the company has invested in more than 35 startups and today works with 21 companies, detected by its analyst service. “We do not invest in what any investment fund can invest in, we invest in something that can be strategic for the company, in startups with which we want to collaborate,” says García González. Repsol scouts, working within the framework of its R&D center, Tech Lab, comb the entrepreneurial ecosystem in search of circular economy, energy optimization or renewable hydrogen projects. “My team has to dedicate part of its time to being very connected to the ecosystem. It needs to have a good network of contacts with other corporations, with other investment funds, go to conferences and startup events and see which platforms are the best to launch technological challenges,” explains García González. He clarifies that one of the formulas for finding interesting projects is the launch of contests and challenges that reward the best solutions to a given problem. Don’t let the next ‘PayPal Mafia’ escape The connection with the entrepreneurial world is essential. In the technology sector, a trend that has been seen for a few years has been accentuated. “There are companies that are doing very well in technology and have many employees who begin to set up other companies because they have access to liquidity, either because the company goes public or they can move shares in the secondary market,” says Cortés. “They find themselves with a lot of money and the desire to continue building things.” The phenomenon is not new and is reminiscent of the success of ‘PayPal Mafia’a symbol of that diaspora that sometimes occurs in technology companies. Many talented employees and deep pockets who decide to undertake can emerge from them. From the early days of PayPal came Elon Musk, the founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman and the investor Peter Thiel. And other employees started projects such as YouTube, Yelp or the social application Slide, acquired by Google. More recently, the brain drain at OpenAI also illustrates how talent within one startup ends up spawning other startups. That’s where the Amodei brothers came from.which they founded Anthropicformer chief scientist Ilya Sutskever (Safe Superintelligence) or former CTO Mira Murati (Thinking Machines Lab). The great value of Kintxo Cortés for the funds with which he collaborates is his network of contacts with employees and former employees of the companies where he has worked, especially Airbnb, Shopify and Trade Republic. That connection is key for investing entities, which do not have the structure on their own to delve into the ins and outs of the projects formed by former employees of the technology companies. Even fewer are able to discern which employees they should pay attention to, whether because they are the sharpest, most talented, or best positioned. A corporation like Repsol must also be clear about which … Read more

Foxconn wants to manufacture everything. ALL

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Vivatech was held last week. It is one of the largest technology fairs in the world and one of the least concrete. There is humanoid robotsrobots that are dedicated only to doing funny things, robo-assistants, artificial intelligence, beauty products, a quantum computer, virtual reality and even a feelings monitor. Yeah. However, what surprised me most was not the glimpse into the future, but the deployment of the Taiwanese Foxconn. When we talk about Taiwan and technology, TSMC is the name that comes to mind the easiest, but Foxconn is the main component manufacturer worldwide, the engine of Taiwan’s exports and the controversial assembler of products such as the iPhone or the Xbox. The point is that Foxconn wants to stop being the largest telephone assembler to become one of the main multinationals in the world and the path is clear: robots, cars and artificial intelligence. And all that plumage is what it showed at the Paris fair. Vera Rubin, the jewel in the crown Nvidia is currently a driving force for many companies and Foxconn has been one of the last to enter under the umbrella of the American giant. The company led by Jensen Huang already has everything ready so that those who manufacture its platforms have the machines at maximum production for Vera Rubin. Two of the modules of a server This is the new AI platform that promises to be at the forefront of trainingbut also of the inference in the models and Foxconn recently joined as one of the leading suppliers of both Groq 3 LPX and cabinets Vera Rubin NVL72. These cabinets They are one of the grails of data centersa liquid-cooled supercomputer in which 72 Blackwell GPUs and 36 Grace GPUs behave as a single large accelerator to train and infer trillion-parameter models. It is an impressive platform that could be seen at the Vivatech stand next to one of the modules behind glass and signed by Huang himself. You can see that Foxconn is proud of this, wow, but apart from the injection of money, also because of the possibilities it opens up for them as a company that wants to start doing everything. Robotics and digital twins Because to become multidisciplinary, now youyou have to be an AI company. And something that goes hand in hand are robots and digital twins. At the fair we couldn’t see much about this, although they did show a couple of glimpses. On the one hand, a humanoid robot (from the hips up) that is in charge of setting up the servers. He places pieces and screws them with the necessary precision and force so that everything is adjusted to the millimeter. They told us that it is not the fastest at work (of course), but in the end there are still many of these working in parallel. On the other hand, the digital twins. This technology is very interesting because it is a software simulation of elements of the physical world. Thanks to AI and algorithms, engineers develop exact replicas of the physical world, but in the virtual world. Imagine a car, for example, not only modeled to the millimeter with all its parts in software, but that software simulates the weight of each of the components. The objective of creating these 1:1 replicas that respect the laws of physics, but in the virtual world, is to perform tests on the software that then accelerate developments in the real world. In a factory to create engines or any sensitive part/component, these digital twins are allowing much of the trial and error testing to be done in a virtual environment without the need to invest construction time in the real object. Basically, they exist so that sensitive parts of the development are carried out in an environment in which the price of error is lower, to fine-tune the shot for physical prototypes. And, for that, enormous computing power is required that Foxconn achieves with platforms like Nvidia’s, but also with another of its ambitions: data centers. Data centers If you want to have computing power without depending on increasingly expensive GPU rentals, you must have a data center. It is something that opens the door to both meeting your needs and the possibility of offering your equipment to whoever needs it (for a good pinch). And, within the framework of Vivatech, reported that the French electricity company Schneider had signed an agreement collaboration with Foxconn to set up a data center. It is a partnership that makes perfect sense, since one provides the energy and the other provides the AI ​​platforms that, as we have just seen, are being developed for Nvidia itself. The cars. Because they also have cars, of course. And if each leg of the business makes sense on its own, the unifying point is the most striking product they brought to the fair: the car. The cars, rather. In 2020, Foxconn introduced Foxtron, a subsidiary focused on manufacturing electric cars under the open platform. MIH. This platform has been named “the Android of electric cars”since it is a platform that combines a modular chassis, power electronics and software so that third parties can build their own models and services. Model D interior Foxconn’s goal is reduce entry barriers to the EV segmentlower development costs and shorten market launch times, but of course, they have also taken the opportunity to create their own models. At the French fair they brought both the Bria (an SUV) and the Model D (more of a van) that stand out for their screens inside and an aggressive aerodynamic design in some parts. The company told me that the Bria, for example, It has about 300 or 350 km of autonomy (depending on how much you push it) and that it is powered by chips from MediaTek and Nvidia for the smartest features. The autonomy is nothing remarkable and it all depends on the price at which they market it. Interior of the Bria News regarding this? … Read more

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