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Parents’ brains also change when they have children

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There is a lot of talk about brain of women when they have children. As soon as pregnancy begins, the brain begins to experience those changes that, over time, turn them into supermommies capable of distinguish your child’s crying among many more. They even react more strongly to their babies’ cries than to their partners’ cries. These supermommies develop an incredible ability to detect if their little one needs them in the middle of the night and can compartmentalize their tasks so that there is always room for parenting. The brain changes a lot, of course. But parents’ brains change too. Obviously, there are no hormonal changes due to any pregnancy, but your brain adapts to attend to that new life that comes into the world. For that reason, there are no excuses. Fathers are as biologically capable as mothers to care for their children’s needs. If a parent does not know the name of the pediatrician or where the diapers are kept, it may be because they did not want to learn. Reconfiguration of gray matter in the brain of parents This 2026, a study was published in which the brains of 25 new parents were analyzed using functional magnetic resonance imaging at weeks 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 after birth. Thus, it was observed that in the first six weeks the gray matter volume in areas like the insula, the hippocampus, and the occipital, frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. The loss of gray matter may sound like they were becoming dumber, but nothing could be further from the truth. They were rewiring his brain. Therefore, after those first six weeks the process stabilized, to begin to become an increase in gray matter levels from week 12, especially in the frontal cortex and the cerebellum. Basically, it is believed that neuronal pruning was taking place. Brain connections that are not useful are eliminated to invest more energy in reinforcing those that will be essential in that new life. It is a process that occurs to all people throughout life. adolescencebut that can occur in specific situations such as parenthood. In fact, a big change was also seen in the brain connections of the parents. For example, the amygdaladirectly involved with emotional processing, greatly strengthened its connections with other regions of the brain. All these data are added to those of another previous study, 2014in which an increase in gray matter volume was observed in brain regions involved in motivation and reward. Basically, the motivation of parents to take care of their children was being enhanced. This is something that has made us grow as a species evolutionarily. Reward systems make us feel good about situations that are good for us, like having sex or eating chocolate. Sex helps us perpetuate the species and chocolate gives us a lot of energy. Taking care of children is also beneficial for us, although sometimes it can be very tiring, so motivation through reward systems is essential. Curiously, all these reconfigurations in the brain they are more intense in parents who are more involved in caring for their children. Come on, the brain can be trained to be a good father. The more you practice, the simpler the care becomes. The parents most involved in parenting are the ones who experience the most changes It’s also a question of hormones Hormonal changes are more intuitive in women, as they are often associated with pregnancy. However, in men there are also changes in their hormone levels once they become parents. In fact, has been observed that in the first years of their children’s lives their levels of testosteronewhile oxytocin levels increase. This, far from being bad or stealing one’s virility, as some may venture to think, is essential to developing patience and attachment to one’s children. There is only one but It should be noted that, generally, these studies are carried out with few participants and, furthermore, only with parents who are involved in parenting to a greater or lesser extent. The absent parentsthose who believe that by putting in the sperm they have done enough, do not volunteer to know how their brain changes with parenthood. Luckily, there are more and more parents who do get properly involved, but those who don’t continue to exist. That is the main handicap of these investigations. Anyway, it is clear that the brain changes and can be trained, so surely even they could become super daddies if they wanted to. Or simply in parents. It is not necessary to be a superhero or a superheroine. It is enough to get involved in equal care. The brain is more than prepared, you just have to start using it. Images | Magnificent In Xataka | In Spain it is much more likely to encounter a pet than a child. Six times more likely, specifically

Canada sent a submarine 400 meters off Greenland. Found the wreck of Shackleton’s legendary ship

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It is not as well known as the ship Endurancebut the Quest is on its own merits one of the most iconic ships in history. Heroic Age of Antarctic Explorationthe period at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in which scientists and adventurers set out to discover the white continent. Although it was not particularly large, the commander Ernest Shackleton He chose the Quest for the expedition that I planned to map the coast of Enderby Land. He didn’t have much luck. During a stopover in South GeorgiaShackleton died in his cabin, which ruined the mission, but made the Quest a symbol. We knew that the ship ended up sinking in 1962 in the North Atlantic, but for years its exact whereabouts were a mystery. Now we have finally solved it. We have even been able to see what the wreck is like after six decades. What has happened? That archaeologists and enthusiasts of the history of Antarctic exploration have achieved a milestone that they have been dreaming of for decades: confirming the exact location of the Quest ship and, above all, contemplating it 64 years after it sank in the icy waters of the labrador sea. An expedition led by Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) in collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has used an underwater vehicle for deep dives, the alvinand the Falcon remote-controlled submersible to descend 390 m to the bottom of the Labrador Sea and capture the first images of the wreck that Shackleton once commanded. Why is it relevant? Because of the importance of the mission. And because of the historical relevance of the Quest itself. Members of the expedition led by the RCGS had located the remains of the ship in 2024 off the coast of Canada, but then they could only obtain sonar images side sweep. Nothing else. It was quite an achievement, but it left a bittersweet taste for the team of Canadian scientists led by John Geiger. They had found the remains of the wreck, true, but they were not able to directly see the ship, check its state of conservation or analyze its structure to better understand what its shipwreck was like in May 1962. That thorn has now been removed after obtaining images and surprising videos disclosed by the RCGS and WHOI. That’s all? No. The chronicle of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration includes many ship names, some as well known as the Enduranceprobably the most famous ship associated with Ernest Shackleton. The Quest was smaller (a vapor of 34 meters in length and 6.3 m in width) and the mission in which he participated, the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition of 1921-1922did not meet your expectations; but still it is a legendary boat. The reason? It was Shackleton’s final resting place. The famous commander died in one of his cabins on the island of South Georgia on January 5, 1922. He was only 47 years old and the cause of death was a heart attack. That episode not only gave the Quest an undeniable prominence in the biography of the Anglo-Irish explorer. There are historians who believe that the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition itself, often known as the ‘Quest Expedition’, marked the end of the Heroic Age. And how is the Quest? That’s the worst part. We knew that after Shackleton’s death the Quest ended up in the hands of a Norwegian family, which was remodeled and that for much of the rest of its days it was used for seal hunting off the coast of Labrador, although it also served on Arctic expeditions. It is also documented that its chronicle ended on May 5, 1962, when an ice floe crushed it and caused it to sink in the North Atlantic. There, 390 meters deep off the coast of Canada, RCGS experts found it with the help of sonar in 2024, more than 60 years later. All that is known, what we did not know is that the sea has not treated the wreck particularly well these last six decades. The RCGS itself recognize that “is in worse condition” than experts expected after seeing the sonar images. Its structure is deteriorated, the stern and part of the starboard side have ended up covered with fishing nets and other gear and the part of the bridge on which the name “Quest” previously bore has disappeared. However, that does not mean that Shackleton’s ship is doomed to a fateful end. Why’s that? Because it is lively. The wreck has become home to coral and several species of fish, including cod, redfish, and wolffish. “It is becoming a scientific experiment. The different materials present on the ship when it sank have favored colonization by various types of marine animals, creating visible layers of biodiversity around the wreck,” celebrate Antoine Normandin, head of the mission. Images| Wikipedia and Royal Canadian Geographical Society Via | 3DJ In Xataka | 3o years ago we found a 17th century ship full of gold coins in England. We finally know its origin

Where to buy approved glasses to see the eclipse so that they arrive home on time

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There are just 14 days left to see the total solar eclipse. It is the first with these characteristics that we will have for more than a century, so it is an event that is worth not missing. We already brought you a map to consult the duration and forecast of the same in each municipalitybut today we are going to focus on the glasses we will need to be able to see it safely. And of course, that they arrive home on time. Keyaluo Approved Solar Eclipse Glasses, Pack of 6, EN ISO 12312-2:2015(E) and CE Certified, AAS 2026 Approval, Solar eclipse glasses for direct vision of the sun The price could vary. We earn commission from these links What do glasses have to have to see the eclipse? Regardless of whether we are in an area where the total or partial eclipse can be seen, it is important to view it with glasses with adequate protection. The sunglasses that we use daily are not usefulsince these are designed to protect us from scattered light, and not to look directly at the sun. The fundamental thing we have to look for when buying glasses to see an eclipse is that are approved. This is something that must be clearly indicated in the advertisement or in the product description and, in addition, it is usually also indicated on the glasses themselves. On both sides, there must be the inscription EN ISO 12312-2. It is important that this approval is the one we indicate and not EN ISO 12312-1 (only the last digit changes), since this only regulates glasses for daily use. Furthermore, if we buy the glasses in the European Union, they must also have the ‘CE’ logo. Glasses to see the eclipse that will arrive home on time As we still have two weeks to spare, we have a fairly large range of stores to buy glasses to view the eclipse. If you want to wait as little as possible to receive them, the Amazon option stands out as the most recommended (especially if you are a member of Amazon Prime). Taking a quick look, we can find packages with several approved glasses at affordable prices. Keyaluo Approved Solar Eclipse Glasses, Pack of 6, EN ISO 12312-2:2015(E) and CE Certified, AAS 2026 Approval, Solar eclipse glasses for direct vision of the sun The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some that fit with everything we have explained above are these from the Keyaluo brand. They have the corresponding approval and six units come that you can share with your friends or family. They go out for 6.17 euros right now, so each unit costs 1.03 euros. And, if you have Amazon Prime, you will receive them at home tomorrow. There are also other options available in stores such as MediaMarkt, Carrefour or El Corte Inglés, with models like this one from Hawkers for 3.99 euros. All of these are ideal for viewing the eclipse, but you can always find an alternative yourself. Just remember: that they are approved and with a shipment with enough margin so that they arrive at your house before next August 12. Rectangular unisex eclipse sunglasses with ISO Certificate Hawkers Black 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 | Hawkers, Jongsun LeeAmazon In Xataka | If you live in Madrid and want to see the total eclipse on August 12, write down these 52 towns In Xataka | Seeing the eclipse from a remote corner of Empty Spain is very good. A company has a better idea: see it flying

“Although the inheritance has not been distributed yet. The Treasury already considers you the owner”

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Three brothers inherit their parents’ two apartments. One of them is rented to tenants who pay their monthly fee without fail. The three brothers they cannot reach an agreement in the distribution of the inheritance. Nobody gives in, nobody signs, nobody distributes anything. Years go by and the apartments are still there, rented, but none of the brothers were awarded it. Each month they contribute money that no one declares to the Treasury because, according to them, since the inheritance has not been distributed, “they belong to no one.” This reasoning has a serious flaw: for the Treasury, those apartments do belong to someone. Of the three at the same time, from the moment their parents died, although legally the inheritance has not yet been resolved. This is confirmed Alina Dragos and Aitor Fernandeztax advisors TaxDown They see this mistake over and over again among their clients. Co-owners before signing anything. As Alina Dragos confirms, when someone dies, their assets are not left without an owner for a single day. The law distributes property among heirs from minute one even though no one has signed or accepted anything yet. “For the Treasury you are a possible heir to this legacy that is lying,” explains Dragos. This means that, if there are three brothers, each one “temporarily” assumes one third of each asset that makes up the inheritance and assumes its tax costs jointly and severally until its final award is resolved. It is not necessary to distribute anything for the obligation to exist. “Each one has to include the property for one third in the declaration,” says Dragos. And the same thing happens with any income that that property generates. That is, if it is a rented apartment, each heir will pay taxes on the corresponding percentage of the benefit generated by the property. What is a recumbent inheritance?. The name sounds a bit strange, the idea is quite simple. A recumbent inheritance It is the time that passes between someone’s death and the formal acceptance of their heirs. The heritage exists, it has debts and rights, but at the moment it does not have a unique and defined owner. As and as indicated From the Vilches Abogados law firm, this period can last weeks, or extend up to 30 years, depending on how long it takes the heirs to resolve the inheritance. Meanwhile, the property continues to generate income and someone has to answer for it to the Treasury. To do so, the Treasury assigns its own NIF to the inheritance for which its designated heirs will be jointly responsible until its acceptance. Why the obligation is born with death, not with the distribution. The law establishes a period of six months from death to settle the inheritance tax. Whether there is a distribution between the brothers or not. That is, we must “settle the inheritance tax that is six months old,” insists Aitor Fernández, no matter what happens between the heirs. And it’s not just that tax. The rest of the obligations of the heirs on that estate begin to run from that same day. And until it is distributed, it remains “a percentage of each of that property.” It doesn’t matter that the paperwork takes years to resolve. It is not that the inheritance enters a limbo and has no owner during that period of time between death and acceptance of the inheritance. The thing is that everyone is the owner until they agree on the final percentages of the distribution. As such, they must comply with the tax obligations of the inheritance assets from day one. What happens with rents, income and investments in the meantime?. If the inherited apartment is rented or generates some type of income, each heir must declare their share of the rent. It does not matter if the money reaches a single account, or only one of the heirs. It is not only limited to real estate, it also happens with dividends on shares or interests that were part of the deceased’s estate. They belong to the heirs from the first day, whether they have been distributed or not, according to the Tax Agency. Leaving the apartment empty does not free you from the Treasury either.. As an easy-to-understand example, we have talked about tax obligations when one of the assets was rented and generated income before accepting the inheritance. But the tax obligations are there even when the property is not making additional profits and no one lives on it. The Treasury assumes that it could also provide income. It is the well-known income imputation. In this case, a value of 2% of the cadastral value is applied, or 1.1% if the value has been reviewed in the last ten years, which is paid only for have an empty home in your name, or that of several heirs, as happens in an undistributed inheritance. When the distribution of the inheritance finally arrives, each heir will declare the final percentage that corresponds to him and, what was previously divided equally between everyone, now falls only to the person who keeps each asset. In Xataka | If the question is how much money can be donated to a child without declaring it to the Treasury, the law makes it clear: none Image | Unsplash (Towfiqu barbhuiya)

Camper vans are a thing of the past. The new trend is to convert buses into chalets with wheels

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Who hasn’t dreamed of going to school on Otto’s bus? Yes, that yellow school bus that picked up Bart and Lisa Simpson at the front door and took him a brainless Friendly and fully trained driver. Go to school… or live an adventure. Because in the United States and Canada there is a new movement in the camper world. It’s about taking a school bus, transforming its entire interior and camperizing it. Or rather than camperizing it, we should say… transforming it into a complete home on wheels. With wheels it’s already crazy The trend is called skoolie and has gained strength in North America, our colleagues explain to us. Motorpassion. The system is simple: take a school bus that was in the scrapyard and transform it into a caravan. With the difference that camperizing this type of automobile means converting them into authentic mini chalets with wheels. The result is what is shown to us, for example, by the Instagram account known as @time_to_go_adventure. Its protagonists are specialized in these school bus conversions in small homes. and the photographs (and the videos you can see at this link) They are spectacular. The movement has its own specialized places on the network. in this forumFor example, users explain their projects and present their new developments. The result is vehicles with huge kitchens (with stoves included), sofa, closets and even a bedroom. The space is so wide that, as in the case of this videothe possibilities are enormous. Click on the image to go to the original post The companions of MotorpassionThey even give us some of the favorite projects running on the network. From the Bumpin Bus until the Trebventurepassing through Bluenose Bus either The Hive Drive. In all cases you have the Instagram or YouTube account linked in the names. And in all cases you will see that they are projects that could compete for a place in some interior design magazines. The projects They are very varied. There are those who cook it and eat it themselves and there are, of course, those who prefer to order it from a company and let someone else get their hands dirty. For example, there is the case of Live Simply either The Mayes Teamcompanies that transform the interior of vehicles by completely customizing them and, in some cases, even searching for them themselves. Click on the image to go to the original post The project, yes, is not cheap. Entering the process does not cost much because if you dive through the houses of american auctions You can find very damaged vehicles for a few thousand dollars. Between 3,500 and 6,000 dollars it is possible to find some and if the problems are inside, there is no problem because the idea is to empty them completely. From here, things get complicated. Least expensive in money is, obviously, using recycled materials and doing it yourself. The most convenient, simple and expensive thing is to order it or opt for new, custom-made materials. In that case we can go for more than 60,000 dollars. As with any hobby, there is always something you can continue spending your money on. There is another advantage for this trend to have spread. And the license to access these vehicles is relatively simple. In Europe to drive vehicles with a mass greater than 3,500 kg we have to forget about the driving license but in the United States the standard license It allows you to handle vehicles that weigh more than 11,000 kg. As this camper bus has no commercial purpose and is empty of seats, no additional license is needed. Photo | Denise Leon and Simon Maisch In Xataka | The camper market is more alive than ever. And China has a weapon to break it: very low prices

Satya Nadella, on the AI ​​bubble

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Are we in an AI bubble? The question has been hovering over the entire industry for months, and there are weighty arguments to think that the answer is yes. However, also there are those who defend the opposite and there is powerful arguments in favor of no. In the midst of this debate, the CEO of Microsoft has given his own answer and it is neither yes nor no. The question everyone asks. It happened during the latest episode of Fareed Zakaria’s podcast. The interviewer begins the conversation with a very direct question “Are we in an AI bubble and has it started to deflate?” Before letting you respond, provide some key information, such as that Microsoft has a 30% stake in OpenAI, a company that continues to lose money at a dizzying rate. “It feels like the math doesn’t add up and there’s going to be a moment of truth,” Zakaria concludes. The answer. The Microsoft CEO begins his response by describing AI as “a new general-purpose technology that is going to boost productivity.” This productivity has to be seen in macroeconomics: in GDP growth, and not only in the United States, but broadly, throughout the economy. If that doesn’t happen, he admits bluntly, “we’re going to have a problem.” His most revealing line is this: “unless we see that broad economic growth, this movie is not going to end well.” Beyond big tech. When we talk about the AI ​​bubble we only look at the accounts of the companies that make it possible, but Nadella insists on the idea that the positive impact of AI must be seen throughout the economy, not just in large technology companies: “it is about each company in the economy, whether it is a small company, a large multinational or a public sector institution, whether they can see the real benefits of this technology.” The problem. Nadella does not say it explicitly, but in his response he admits that this economic growth has not yet been seen. This fits with what the chief economist of Goldman Sachs said in March of this year, and that is that AI had contributed “basically zero” to US GDP. However, there are also analyzes that argue that AI is already generating wealth, but the problem is that the economic data is not reflecting it because We still don’t know how to measure it. The prudent stance. Faced with this climate of uncertainty, Nadella opts for a more cautious discourse: he recognizes that there are warning signs, but rejects the idea that this automatically equates to a bubble about to burst. It is a position similar to that of Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, who at the end of 2025 spoke of there were “elements of irrationality” in the AI ​​market. At that time, Nadella also spoke on the subject and said basically the same thing as now: “When we say ‘this is like the industrial revolution,’ we should have that kind of growth that caused the industrial revolution.” Bubble? What bubble? Faced with this more cautious speech, we have others like that of Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, who is not that he does not see a bubble anywhere but that has come to say that calling this a bubble is “a blasphemy against AI.” It should be noted that SoftBank is the largest investor in OpenAI, so if there is a bubble and it bursts, they will be among the worst off. He is not the only one who thinks there is no bubble, analyst Ben Thompson also sees signs that there is no such bubble. We’ll see who ends up being right. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | If AI is the “weapon” of the future, the US is already investing 25% of all world military spending in it

only for Xtra members

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The month of July says goodbye and does so, as is customary, with an appointment marked in red for the members of Xataka Xtra: he fourth Q&A live with the house’s team of editors. There are already four of them, so if you haven’t been to one yet, this is as good a time as any to stop by and spend a little time with the other xatakeros and Xataka colleagues. Before we get into how these encounters work, here’s a TL;DR with the key facts: Day: July 30. Hour: 17:00, Spanish peninsular time (16:00 in the Canary Islands). Assistants: Rubén Andrés, Álex Alcolea, Alberto de la Torre, Javier Márquez and Jose García. Connection link: we will send it to you by mail before the event. What is (and what is not) a Xataka Xtra Q&A If this is the first time you are hearing about these meetings, the idea is simple: they are live, informal talks between the xatakeros who are part of Xataka Xtra and the editors of Xataka. They are included in the benefits package of Xataka Xtra and, as in previous editions, there is no script or closed themes. We talk about whatever comes up: the news of the week, a recent launch, space, science, cars… The agenda is set by the xatakeros. It is, in short, a relaxed time to chat and catch up. It could be summarized as meeting us for a drink, only in virtual format. The format remains the same as in previous meetings: the video call will be through Google Meet, so you don’t need to install anything. As always, the link will arrive by email shortly before starting, so that you can connect from your mobile phone, computer or whatever you have at hand. And remember: activating the camera and microphone, or even actively participating, is totally optional. If you prefer to just listen, that’s fine too. As for who will be on the other side of the screen, we continue with the idea of rotate editors in each call so that you can get to know the entire team little by little. For this fourth meeting we will have Rubén Andrés, Álex Alcolea, Alberto de la Torre, Javier Márquez and yours truly, Jose García In Xataka | Subscribe to Xataka Xtra

“In the rental market the price has reached the limit of the tenants’ ability to pay”

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The month doesn’t matter, almost not even the year. If you take a look at the latest CIS studies on the main concerns of Spaniards, there is a topic that repeats over and over in the main positions: housing. Or rather, how difficult it has become to find a home in Spain. In spring the 41.3% of respondents I recognized that this was the issue the more it kept them from sleepingabove the progress of the economy or problems related to employment. One of the agents that has analyzed the phenomenon the most in Spain is Fotocasa, a platform that advances important changes in buying, selling and renting. Record increases… Until when? The Spanish real estate market is going through a peculiar situation: the price of housing continues to rise (second-hand housing at a 17.2% year-on-year and the new at 9.7%), but the purchase and sale operations take several months downjust like the signing of new mortgages. The big question is… With that backdrop, how long will prices continue to rise? Can we expect a fall in the short or medium term or, at least, some relaxation in its rise? For Maria Matosspokesperson for Fotocasa and director of its study area, the answer is clear: the increase in prices accumulated in recent years and the increase in credit After the rate increase in June, they will end up being felt sooner rather than later in the market, softening the rise in m2. “We are going through a turning point in which prices have reached their historical maximum, surpassing the records we had for 20 years. Citizens are facing prices that we have never seen before,” he comments. “However, with the rise in interest rates we foresee an increase in the cost of mortgages. “What is expected is that the pace of growth will moderate.” Matos sees several interesting signs. The first, a clear difficulty for citizens to continue assuming the rise in housing prices. The second, a “change in the mortgage cycle” after the type review from the ECB a few weeks ago. “We are seeing how the access capacity of an important part of the demand, around 75%, is stretched to the limit, and also how in many areas the effort is at the highest levels in history.” Does that mean we will see a price decline? No. What is expected, Matos clarifies, is a certain downshift, but not negative percentages. “We will see how this rate of increase in prices of 20%, 18%, 16%… begins to moderate, that the rate of growth will tend towards normalization; but we will not see decreases because we still have a great imbalance between supply and demand that continues to push prices upwards.” That is one of the great keys to the market. For some time in Spain, homes have been created much higher speed from which buildings are built that can accommodate them, which adds more pressure to the market. For reference, in 2025 they were added to the registry of the Ministry of Housing 95,000 new houseswell below the 240,000 homes created, according to the INE. The Bank of Spain (BE) itself estimates the accumulated deficit between 2021 and 2025 in 750,000 houseswhich gives an indication of the huge ‘hole’ that would have to be covered to satisfy population growth. These are compelling figures, but they fall short for the Fotocasa analysts. Matos specifies that if both the needs of the rental market and the purchase and sale market are taken into account, this estimate would rise to up to touch two million of properties. “Our data tells us that more than 1.8 million homes would be necessary to be able to make up for the deficit we have in Spain,” he clarifies before detailing that between Madrid and Catalonia alone they would need 200,000 properties to balance supply and demand and stabilize prices. “The problem is that many more homes are created every year than we are capable of building.” Matos admits that there are hopeful signs, such as visa increase of new construction, but dark clouds are looming on the horizon. “We continue to encounter very important obstacles: the lack of finalized land, excessive urban bureaucracy and a increase in costs construction rate of 25%,” he comments. “Developers and builders have many difficulties developing these buildings. “There are cities in Spain where it takes longer to give you a license than to build the building itself.” However, the expert points out an equally or even more worrying factor: lack of personnel. “We were reaching a production of about 100,000 homes per year with all the problems of finding land, financing it, buying it and developing it. Now a new obstacle is added, which is that Spain would need to incorporate 700,000 new workers to construction to respond to the housing and infrastructure needs expected for the coming years. “Without bricklayers, formworkers, ironworkers, electricians, without construction managers it is impossible to increase the rate of production. Now that it has been diagnosed, we know why housing is not produced… If we do not resolve this labor deficit it is impossible to increase supply and alleviate the tension on prices.” The truth is that the Fotocasa spokesperson not only anticipates changes in the buying and selling market. It also does so in residential rentals, which in recent months has already has given samples of moderation in price rise. For example, there are real estate platforms that estimate that the year-on-year increase in rents in June was 4.2%In June 2025 it was 8.9% and the previous year it was 13.5%. Although the changes must be analyzed in the long term, Matos advances that his data invites us to think about a decrease in income of 1.6% at the national level. “We have a turning point in the market. We see how the price has reached the limit of the tenants’ ability to pay. It is something we expected because we were seeing in the last six months how it went … Read more

The most valuable company in the world has no interest in investing in the data center fever

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Big Tech is investing absolute fortunes in data centers. Almost all of them seem to want to be prepared to meet the colossal demand for computing capacity for AI tasks. And yet, there is a curious and surprising exception. Money, money and more money. The big technology companies have put all the meat on the grill with billion-dollar investment plans in data centers throughout 2025. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft jointly invested more than $416 billion in capex during 2025, 66% more than the $251 billion in 2024. Google reached $91.5 billion, marking a new all-time high; Meta’s investment reached 72.2 billion dollars and Microsoft reached 118 billion. By 2026, the climb continues: Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are jointly committing about 725,000 million dollars in AI infrastructure in 2026, 77% more than in 2025, and analysts already project that the figure will exceed one billion in 2027. To give us a slight idea of ​​what that figure means, it is higher than Sweden GDP in 2025 (662,000 million), that of Israel (610,000 million) and that of Singapore (574,000 million). Apple. However, at Apple things are very different, and its Capex for 2025 remained the same. almost flat compared to 2024 with a total investment of 12,715 million dollars. It is a notable figure, of course, but it is far from the 20 billion dollars that Apple plans to invest in 2026. And she is the one with the most money. It is also interesting to compare the investment that these companies will make with respect to their market capitalization. Amazon is the biggest bet here: its capex is equivalent to approximately 7.63% of its current market capitalization, followed by Microsoft, with 6.67%. Further behind appears Alphabet, with around 4.49%, and Meta, with around 3.04%; In contrast, Apple, which remains the most valuable company in the world, has a capex of only 0.29% of its market value. Wall Street rules. The decisions of these companies seem to be greatly influenced by the behavior of the stock markets. The presentation of financial results and short-term forecasts has caused a kind of contagious effect: if we do not invest a fortune in data centers, shareholders are going to punish us a lot, Big Tech seem to have said with those colossal figures. The big beneficiary is NVIDIA. Meanwhile, it is likely that the big beneficiary of these colossal investments will be NVIDIA, which will be the one that will receive a good part of that money if everything continues the current trend. There will undoubtedly be other beneficiaries in this area, but NVIDIA’s Capex is comparatively ridiculous, both with respect to those companies and compared to its current market capitalization ($4.75 billion). Apple is going at a different pace with AI. The Cupertino firm clearly seems to have a very different strategy than its rivals in this segment. Google and Apple subscribed a collaboration for which the next generation of its assistant that will be based on Gemini models and Google cloud technology to power future Apple Intelligence featuresincluding a more personalized Siri. The final deployment came at WWDC 2026: Apple presented “Siri AI”, a remake of the assistant integrated with its Apple Intelligence system developed in collaboration with Google’s Gemini models. The feeling, even internally, is that at Apple they are clear followers and that is not going to change at the moment. A version of this article was published in February 2025. Image | Unsplash (Bangyu Wang) In Xataka | Is Tim Cook the Ballmer of Apple and is Nadella the Jobs of Microsoft?

that Apple does not go with the Chinese

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The DRAM memory situation has completely gotten out of hand for the chip industry. The situation and needs of hyperscalers and data centers has caused the majority of the production of memory chips produced by Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix to go to meet the demand for AI, leaving the consumer sector orphaned. Nothing new, since we’ve been talking about this (and complaining) for months, but although we have been talking about new factories to satisfy the brutal demand, we also said that these factories were destined to continue creating more memory for those data centers that were causing the bottleneck. The situation has gotten so out of control that consumer brands have begun to look at chinese manufacturers as CXMT or YMTC, and Samsung has made the decision to expand its production of standard DRAM. The reason? Apple cannot go to Chinese suppliers. Save Soldier Apple Even though the situation is as it is, the wheel must keep turning. Although some brands they are going to stay by the way due to the very high prices of RAM that forces them to increase the price for the consumer, with the risk that the consumer will not want to assume it, and Apple is one of those that is going to launch new devices. Although he iPhone 18 It is expected for the beginning of 2027, by September we hope to see, at least, the iPhone 18 Pro and the foldable iPhonetwo devices whose price is up in the air, but which obviously need both RAM and storage. They are the two most complicated components at the moment and we have already seen that Apple his pulse does not tremble when raising prices. Several times, in fact. But of course, you must have devices on the market and, to do so, you need components. If the production of Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron is not enough, it will look to others, and those are the Chinese producers. Specifically, a CXMT that in recent years has taken giant steps in the manufacturing processes of its RAM, and for weeks we have been hearing the rumor that Apple would not mind if CXMT was one of its suppliers. CXMT would be delighted, of course, despite the fact that in the United States there are those who point out that Apple would get into trouble and that, furthermore, It’s theater to get better prices with your usual suppliers (Samsung). Stratagem or not, it seems that it has worked since, as the media points out SedailySamsung would be expanding its facilities in Hwaseong to increase the supply of commodity DRAM. This plant would focus on consumer DDR and LPDDR memories for mobile devices, and what the South Korean media points out is that this expansion will allow Samsung increase your standard DRAM production capacity by approximately 15% before the end of 2026. It is a move that clearly tells Apple “we will be able to give you the DRAM you need, stop looking at China”, and it makes all the sense in the world. Right now, Samsung accounts are skyrocketing thanks to the momentum of the AI ​​industry, but if all this ever explodes and things return to normal, the fact that one of your main clients has found a better partner is not desirable, and even more so if that partner is a third party with whom you are not as comfortable as with Micron or SK Hynix, with which there is competition, but also favorable treatment, so it seems. And beyond dazzling a giant like Applethe restructuring of the Samsung plant responds to a more practical question. The company has several complexes, but to create this basic DRAM, there were processes spread across several factories, which made the process longer than necessary. With the reorganization, apart from expanding production capacity, they concentrate production systems in one place to improve efficiency. It is not that they are going to start manufacturing more, but that they are going to manufacture more intelligently. We will see if that extra 15% is enough to somewhat alleviate the burden of a saturated market and, above all, we will see if the decision comes in time. Image | Apple In Xataka | In 2007, Steve Jobs went on stage with an iPhone that barely worked: he was saved by a script that did not allow even a detour

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