Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Samsung has its biggest competitor at home. His future with chips depends on his rivalry with SK Hynix

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South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix is ​​on a good streak. The memory market is dominated by the Samsung subsidiary specialized in the production of integrated circuits with an approximate share of 40%while SK Hynix defends a very worthy 29%. Behind both is the American Micron Technology, with 26% approximately. These are, precisely, the three companies that control the juicy HBM memory market (High Bandwidth Memory) that work hand in hand with GPUs to artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, SK Hynix is ​​NVIDIA’s main memory supplier. And having the company led by Jensen Huang as a client helps. It helps a lot. So much so that according to SCMPSK Hynix has surpassed Samsung in profits. And it has done so, precisely, thanks to its high-performance memories. However, it is not all good news. SK Hynix has predicted that sales of memory chips for consumer devices, such as smartphones or computers, will fall during 2025. “This year the memory chip market will be subject to great uncertainty because trade protectionism is growing and geopolitical risks are increasing. At the same time, PC and mobile phone companies are adjusting their inventories,” Kim Woo-hyun statedCFO of SK Hynix. This situation anticipates a complicated 2025 for both Samsung and SK Hynix, although the latter, as we have seen, has a very positive inertia in the HBM memory market. Together against China The rivalry between Samsung and SK Hynix in the memory market is a fact, but, in reality, the main threat to these South Korean companies comes from China. The memory integrated circuits industry has enormous growth potential precisely due to the high demand for these chips that has led to the proliferation of data centers for AI applications. And, as expected, Chinese semiconductor manufacturers do not want to be left out of it. The Chinese CXMT has deployed a very aggressive pricing policy to compete in the memory market Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is one of the Chinese companies specialized in the production of memory chips, and, like other companies in the country led by Xi Jinping, it has chosen to compete in this market so attractive unfolding a very aggressive pricing policy. Furthermore, CXMT in particular has increased its DRAM chip production capacity almost five times over the last four years, allowing it to increase its global market share to a very worthy 9%. This growth has placed this company just behind Micron if we stick to its market share, making it already the fourth largest memory chip manufacturer on the planet. To further complicate matters, the Chinese Government is financially supporting its manufacturers of this type of semiconductor in response to the sanctions deployed by the US and its allies, so the competitiveness of Chinese companies is on the rise. Image | Samsung More information | SCMP In Xataka | South Korea fears US retaliation. To avoid them, his old lithography equipment collects dust in a warehouse

These are the advantages of making your pre-purchase

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Although we have very recent Samsung’s latest Unpacked and its new Galaxy S25, we cannot forget the rest of the company’s news. We also have a new batch of laptops around the corner made up of several Galaxy Book5three different models with a common point: They come loaded with artificial intelligence. The cheapest way to get hold of them is in the official samsung storeand right below we are going to explain what promotions we have available for them. Pre-buying the new Galaxy Book5 now has many advantages Being the fastest to jump on the new Samsung laptops has many advantages. The first of them, only available until next January 26is that we can take some totally free Galaxy Buds3 Prothe best Samsung headphones to date and with a RRP of 249 euros. In addition to this guaranteed gift, we will also have other very juicy advantages, available for a little longer (specifically, until February 7). The first of them is the GBOOK5 code, thanks to which we will obtain 150 euros direct discount in any of the three models. We can benefit from another discount of 100 euros if we use Bizum as a payment method, and in addition, we will receive an additional 10% discount if we make the purchase through the app. We have left one of the best advantages that the Samsung store has for last: the ‘Delivery and Release’ program, thanks to which we can bring in our old device and receive a good additional saving. In the case of the new Galaxy Book5, This savings can reach up to 1,070 euros. No matter what you’re looking for, there’s a Galaxy Book5 for you As with most of the South Korean firm’s product lines, the new Galaxy Book5 offer us three models with different features, benefits and prices. The first of the models we have available is the Galaxy Book5 360, the most economical option of the three and which offers the user a hybrid laptop and tablet experience. It is compatible with the Samsung S-Pengiving it a different touch that can be great for us when working. This device, with 512 GB of capacity in the form of an SSD (there is a 1 TB version), is a fairly compact device, since it barely weighs 1.46 kg. Its 15.6-inch screen offers great image quality, and that’s not to mention that it’s powered by a top processor such as the Intel Core Ultra 7. The model we refer to a little above will hit stores at the price of 1,699 euros, but with the code GBOOK5 we will reduce its price by 150 euros, in addition to the additional 100 euros that we can save if we use Bizum as a payment method. We will get the best price from the official storesince with your 10% discount, we will have the equipment in just 1,304.10 euros. All this without forgetting that we can lower the price further with ‘Delivery and Release’. *Some prices may have changed since the last review We move on to the next model, the Galaxy Book5 Pro. This device is designed to offer a more ‘classic’ experience, ideal if we are not interested in using the device as a tablet at any time. This is the one that comes with the greatest number of configurations (specifically, there are 8 models available), but we are going to emphasize its 14-inch version with Intel Core Ultra 7 processor. It is more compact than the previous one, although without giving up being a powerful device. Its Super AMOLED screen will allow us to work with a very good level of detail or view content of all kinds. We cannot forget that, like the rest of the models in this new laptop line, it receives Galaxy AI, artificial intelligence joining Copilot to offer the user a new and very comfortable experience. This version, which also has 512 GB of storage, comes at a price of 1,799 euros. As with the previous one, we can apply the same promotions to lower its price considerably, specifically to the 1,394.10 euros. We cannot ignore that, if we hurry, it will come with some Galaxy Buds3 Pro as a gift. We can also reduce your price even further with ‘Delivery and Release’. *Some prices may have changed since the last review The last of the models repeats its name with respect to the previous generation: it is the Galaxy Book5 Pro 360. This laptop offers the same hybrid possibilities as the first model, although with the architecture of the Pro model, which makes it the most complete option of the entire line. In this case, the Book5 Pro 360 hits stores with four different configurations, all 16 inches. On this occasion, we are going to recommend the model with Intel Core Ultra 5 and 512 GB of storage in the form of SSD, the cheapest of all there is. The version of the laptop in question will hit stores at a price of 1,999 euros, which we can significantly reduce with the code GBOOK5 and paying with Bizum. Also, if we make the purchase from the app, we will reduce your price by an additional 10%staying in 1574.10 euros. Of course, as with the previous ones, we can make our purchase much cheaper with ‘Delivery and Release’. *Some prices may have changed since the last review Some very interesting offers from the official Samsung store In addition to the new Galaxy Book5, we now have a lot to choose from among all the Samsung products on offer. Of all of them, we leave you a couple of examples that are especially interesting. 50-inch QLED QE1D Smart TV If we are looking for a new television for the home and we want something with an excellent value for moneywatch out for this QE1D. This model, which came second in its category at the Xataka awardsis a model with QLED technology and 50 inches diagonal, a size that can be … Read more

In Japan, a perfect storm is sinking one of its greatest gastronomic symbols: izakayas

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If you like the animeJapanese cinema or you have simply had the enormous fortune to visit Tokyo or any other city in Japan, it is quite likely that you have seen one or another izakaya. The name may not ring a bell. Your image for sure yes. Typical bars where you can drink beer or sake with office colleagues while devouring chicken skewers, plates of sashimi or bowls of edamameThere are few places more iconic in Japanese gastronomy. The problem is that tradition is not necessarily synonymous with success. The izakaya They may be emblematic, but they are going through hard momentswith its highest level of bankruptcies in the last decade (at least) and a large part of the stores that still exist, recognizing economic difficulties. Good story, bad data. If each city has its own urban landscape, made up of unmistakable symbols, in Japanese cities one of those iconic pieces are the izakaya. There are many. And with a long tradition. There are even different types: robotayaki, yakitor-ya, oden-ya…depending on their characteristics and specialization. Neither its long history nor its roots have freed hundreds of izakayas to close its doors for the last two years. In 2023 they declared 204 bankruptcies and, in the absence of definitive data for the exercise, between January and November 2024, 203 were registered, which indicates that in all likelihood it has been their toughest exercise since at least 2010. More closures than with COVID-19. The data collected by Teikoku Databank are certainly devastating. That between January and November of last year 203 izakayas If they declared bankruptcy, meaning that they accumulated debts exceeding ten million yen, about $64,000, it is a bad sign for several reasons. To begin with, it is the highest figure during that period since at least 2010, when 115 were counted bankruptcies from January to November. Furthermore, the balance as of November 30, 2024 was practically identical to that of the entire 2023 financial year, which means that in all likelihood the year closed with a higher balance. There would be a third reason why the statistics of Teikoku are worrying: the bankruptcies of 2023 and 2024 far exceed those recorded in 2020, probably the year most affected by the COVID pandemic. During that year, 189 succumbed to economic asphyxiation. izakayas. Does it affect everyone equally? No. Family businesses, which can be equated to microenterprises or small or medium-sized businesses, suffer the most. The diary The Manichi remember that of the 203 izayakas bankrupt between January and November of last year, around half (100) were establishments with a capital of less than one million yen, $6,400. Another 86 had a capital between one and ten million yen, which did not exceed $64,000. What does this data mean? That not all izayakas They seem to be suffering equally. The Mainichione of the most relevant newspapers in Japan, even talks about a “clear gap” between small establishments and those in the hands of chains. One of them, Watami Co.has even shown signs that it is doing better than other years: reservations for the December holidays, closely related to income, were between 10 and 20% higher in 2024 than in 2023. “Survival of the fittest”. reading What they get from Teikoku Databank is clear: “Medium, small and micro businesses have limited options when it comes to adopting countermeasures and the current situation is accelerating the survival of the fittest within the industry.” izayakasomething that was difficult to see during the pandemic.” However, there would be two worrying indicators for the sector. Its economic weight seems to have shrunk in a short time. At the end of last year it was estimated that the izakayas reached an estimated size of 10.6 billion dollarssignificantly above the 5,680 to which it was reduced in 2021, during the pandemic, but still far from the levels at which it was moving before COVID-19 entered the scene. During fiscal year 2017, it is estimated that this value was around $12.1 billion. The scenario is not flattering either. A considerable percentage of those responsible for izakayas (about 40%) have recognized that during fiscal year 2023 they went through economic difficulties, which leaves out the possibility that there are more businesses that are headed to ruin. And what is the reason? Reasons rather. that the izakayas seem to be going through a “lean season” can be explained for several reasons. Some of a general nature, related to the economic context, and others more linked to its culture and business model. Among the first, the demographic drift from Japan, inflationthe increase in the cost of imports due to yen weaknessthe impact of the Ukrainian war on the supply and cost of energy or labor costs. The izakayas They are not the only places in Japan that have suffered the consequences of that explosive cocktail. Restaurants specializing in ramen are not exactly going through their best times either, with more than 70 businesses in bankruptcy in 2024, 30% more than the previous year. In their case, there is also an equally important handicap: the reluctance of many hoteliers to charge more than a thousand yen for their bowls of noodle soup, a psychological barrier from which, they believe, they could lose their clientele. “A vestige of bygone eras”. At izakayas They are also affected by another factor, more intrinsic and linked to their business model. For years in its premises it was not unusual to find office colleagues drinking together when leaving work or on the way home, but that habit was cut during the pandemic and does not seem to have recovered. Or at least with the same vitality as before. Not to mention that Gen Z seems less interested for alcohol. “He izakaya It is a vestige of earlier times, when the postwar generation of baby boomers dominated”, explains to Guardian Robbie Swiennerton, food critic for Japan Times. “Nowadays there are fewer young people and they don’t drink as much, nor do they want to drink in the same … Read more

All the nominees for the 2025 Oscars and where to see them

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It has not been a nominations announcement with much room for surprise, and finally, and despite the controversies of recent days‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Emilia Pérez’ have swept the nominations. Next March 2, 2025 will be the ceremony of the big Hollywood party, so now, with the list of nominees in hand, we can place bets. For now, you can complete your viewing list with our report on where you can see the nominees, and which we will update as they arrive on streaming platforms. streaming. Post in development The Brutalist The fictional biopic of an architect and his journey from post-war Europe to New York is the core of this three and a half hour mastodon with an intermission included and which functions as an operatic composition shot in a format that has not been used in cinema since the sixties. Excessive and acclaimed in all the festivals and awards it has won (Venice, Golden Globes), the controversy surrounding the use of AI to modify the accents of some dialogues has not prevented it from receiving numerous nominations. Wicked What a traditional musical likes at the Oscars is beyond any doubt, so the bunch of nominations was (sorry) a foregone conclusion. More of a success in the United States than outside of there, but still, a global blockbuster that is also part of an unbeatable classic of cinema. It has every chance to win a good handful of technical Oscars and perhaps awards for its protagonists. Anora One of the favorites of the year on the indie side of the industry is also the Hollywood consecration of Sean Baker, who had already attracted attention with more modest gems like the murky ‘The Florida Project’. In this case it aims higher, with the story of the marriage between the son of a Russian oligarch and a young prostitute, which has already won the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Conclave Another film that smells of Oscar from its very conception: a bunch of superb performers led by Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini, and all under the mantle of Edward Berger, director of the ultra-Oscar-winning ‘All Quiet on the Front’. A chamber (and confessional) drama that uses the intrigues of papal succession to deliver a recital of impressive performances. Emilia Perez After a generally positive clamor at its premiere in Cannes, the last few weeks have been tough for this film, where it has received criticism for its use of AI to improve the voice of Karla Sofía Gascón, but also for the vision it gives of such a subject. thorny like the Mexican cartels or transsexuality. Until the last moment it was not clear if this would affect the Oscars, but once that obstacle has been overcome and with its handful of nominations in its pocket, it remains to be seen how the controversy will impact the final awards. Dune: Part Two The second half of the adaptation of the mammoth adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic novel enters flour after the rather introductory first part, with what is the most ambitious and spectacular science fiction production of the year. Its creative quality is so high that it has not only opted, as is usual in these cases, for the technical categories, but has also missed out on a main artistic category, such as Best Film. The substance For genre film fans it was no surprise that Coralie Fargeat’s new film was a wonderful spectacle of combative feminism and insane special effects, although it was a little more surprising that it is doing so well in the awards season. At the Oscars, it has not only won the obvious technical awards, but has also won some main nominations, such as the expected and well-deserved one for Best Actress, and even Best Film. All the nominees for the 2025 Oscars best movie Anora The Brutalist A complete stranger Conclave Dune: Part 2 Emilia Perez I’m Still Here Nickel Boys The substance Wicked Best lead actor Adrian Brody Timothée Chalamet Colman Domingo Ralph Fiennes Sebastian Stan Best Leading Actress Cynthia Erivo Karla Sofia Gascón Mikey Madison Demi Moore Fernanda Torres Best supporting actor Yura Borisov (Anora) Kiera Culkin (A Real Pain) Edward Norton (A Complete Stranger) Guy Pearce (The Brutalist) Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice) Best supporting actress Monica Barbaro (A Complete Stranger) Ariana Grande (Wicked) Felicity Jones (The Brutalist) Isabella Rossellini (Conclave) Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez) Best animated film flow Inside out 2 Memories of a snail Wallace & Gromit Wild Robot Best animated short film Beautiful Men In The Shadow of the Cypress Magic Candies Wander to Wonder Yuck! Best photography The Brutalist Dune. Part 2 Emilia Perez Maria Callas Nosferatu Best costume design A complete stranger Conclave Gladiator II Nosferatu Wicked Best address Sean Baker Brady Corbet James Mangold Jacques Audiard Coralie Fargeat Best Documentary Feature Film Black Box Diaries No Other Land Porcelain Ware Soundtrack oh a Coup D’Etat Sugarcane Best Documentary Short Film Death By Numbers I Am Ready Queen Incident Instruments of a Beating Heart The Only Girl in the Orchestra Best assembly Anora The Brutalist Conclave Emilia Perez Wicked Best international film I’m Stil Here The Girl With The Needle Emilia Perez The seed of the sacred fig tree flow Best makeup and hair A Different Man Emilia Perez Nosferatu The substance Wicked best music The Brutalist Conclave Emilia Perez Wicked Wild Robot best original song Evil (Emilia Pérez) The Journey Like A Bird My path (Emilia Pérez) Never Too Late (Elton John: Never Too Late) Best production design The Brutalist Conclave Dune: Part 2 Nosferatu Wicked Best live action short film A Lien Anuja I’m not a robot The Last Ranger The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent Better sound A complete stranger Dune. Part 2 Emilia Perez Wicked Wild Robot Better visual effects Alien: Romulus Better Man Dune Part 2 kingdom of the planet of the apes Wicked Best adapted screenplay A complete stranger Conclave Emilia Perez Nickel Boys The Lives of Sing Sing Best … Read more

Sweden did not believe Russia’s economic data. He has found the proof he was looking for by observing Moscow from space

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If the question is how Russia’s economy is doing, the answer surely depends on who you ask. A few weeks ago, The New York Times published a report where he explained the tensions that exist between the Russian elites as economic growth slows of the nation. They signed up the sanctions and the war itself, but in the face of rhetoric, Moscow responded that they would endure all threats. Sweden was not so clear, and claims to have evidence of the real situation. Stagnation and signs of slowdown. As we have told other timesthe war economy that Russia launched at full speed after the invasion of Ukraine appears to be showing signs of significant slowdown. In fact and as the Times emphasizedeven generating tensions among the country’s economic elite as the conflict enters its fourth year. According to recent official data, many civil sectors have stopped growing and have even begun to declinewhich has exacerbated economic uncertainty. The Russian currency, the ruble, fell three weeks ago to its lowest level in two yearsand companies face difficulties in obtaining new loans or receiving payments from customers, reflecting an increasingly restrictive financial environment. Rise in interest rates. The response of the Central Bank of Russia has been a drastic rise in reference interest rates, reaching 21% in October, the highest level since the fall of the Soviet Union. Despite efforts to contain inflation, the economic growth forecast for the new year has been revised downwards, standing between 0.5% and 1.5%well below the 3.5% to 4% recorded in 2024. In the background, the elephant in the room: the slowdown occurs despite the continued record government spending to finance the warwhich indicates that economic stimuli are no longer having the same effect. Economists and officials have begun to warn about the imminent risk of so-called stagflationa dangerous combination of price increase without economic growth. The impact of sanctions and the Russian response. The strict economic sanctions imposed by the West in response to the invasion of Ukraine have limited Russia’s ability to maintain its military-spending-fueled growth. In this regard, the Kremlin has insisted that it has withstood the impact of sanctions, but slowing growth and rising inflation indicate otherwise. Civilian businesses, in particular, have been hardest hit by the economic crisis. For example, Russian Railways, the country’s largest employer, reported a 9% drop in cargo volume transported last October compared to the previous year. To counteract this decline, the company has announced a price increase of more than 10% and has reduced its investment plans for 2025 by a third. Despite this, experts consider that the crisis is not yet serious enough enough to force President Vladimir Putin to reconsider his ambitions in Ukraine. Conflict Central Bank and the industrial elite. One of the main points of conflict within the Russian economic elite is the relationship between the Central Bank of Russia and the country’s leading industrialists. The bank’s governor, Elvira Nabiullina, has implemented a strict monetary policy to curb inflation, which has generated criticism from businessmenwho argue that record-high interest rates are stifling growth. In response to these, Nabiullina recently defended his strategy before Parliament, arguing that all the country’s economic resources are being used to the maximum and that macroeconomic stability should not be sacrificed for accelerated growth. However, its position has become increasingly isolated in an environment in which Business interests demand more flexible measures to sustain their operations in a context of growing uncertainty. Distrust in official figures. And in the face of domestic rhetoric, Western officials have expressed skepticism about the veracity of the economic data provided by the Kremlin, arguing that the official figures do not accurately reflect the reality of the Russian economy. In this regard, the Minister of Finance of Sweden, Elisabeth Svantesson, expressed during the World Economic Forum in Davos that Russia is presenting an image of economic stability that does not match the real situation. According to Svantesson, government statistics, which put inflation at 9.5%are not credible considering that the Central Bank of Russia has raised interest rates to 21%a discrepancy that suggests much greater inflationary pressure than is officially recognized. Furthermore, the continued flight of capital is another indicator of the country’s economic difficulties, which a priori contradicts the Kremlin’s narrative of resistance to Western sanctions. The “trick” of space. Thus, and given the lack of confidence in Russian data, Western officials have resorted to alternative methods to assess the nation’s economic health, including in the equation analysis of night satellite images of Moscow. Svantesson pointed out that city ​​lighting in 2023 was visibly dimmer compared to 2021which, in his opinion, suggests lower energy consumption and, therefore, a decline in economic activity. In fact, comparative photographs from media like Business Insider showed that, although factors such as cloud cover and time of day can influence perception, in general a pronounced decrease in illuminated areas is observed, especially in the suburbs of the capital, which could point to this deterioration in the level of life and possible cuts in the electricity supply. Manipulation of the economic narrative. Svantesson went a little further, and even emphasized that the Russian government’s official narrative seeks to convince Ukraine and its allies that sanctions have not had the desired impact. However, the data (and alternative data, such as the analysis of night lights), suggest that the economic reality is somewhat different from the image projected by Moscow. The minister concluded that, although the exact state of the Russian economy cannot be known with certainty, what is clear is that “the official version promoted by the Kremlin is not true.” Image | POT In Xataka | The end of the war is very far away for two reasons. One is arriving in Ukraine from the US, the other is an unprecedented figure in Russia In Xataka | Russia already knows how to respond to the sanctions that block its international trade: with cryptocurrencies

25% of its staff wants to leave, according to La Información

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The electrical marketing company Holaluz is not going through the best of times, not even in terms of your financial statusas well as his relationship with the staff, who are currently immersed in an indefinite strike due to the substantial change in their working conditions. Among those changes: eliminating teleworking. As a consequence of the loss of this type of work and other acquired social benefits, around the 25% of the workforce has decided not to accept the new conditions imposed by the energy company and terminate your contract, as published The Information. 25% of the workforce does not accept the changes The measure involves the departure of some 52 Holaluz workers until January 31, the deadline for employees to communicate their refusal to accept the substantial change in their working conditions. Union sources consulted by The Information They point out that 14 of those employees have already formalized their departure from the company. These same sources assured that the number of applicants for termination of their contract may rise to 70 workers, which would represent 30% of the energy marketer’s workforce. The Works Council itself would have been affected by this reduction in personnel, going from seven representatives to only three members, maintaining the union representation of UGT and CGT that called for the indefinite strike. Terminate the contract in the event of a substantial change Given the lack of agreement in the negotiation of working conditions and the in-person working day model that Holaluz proposed to its staff in September 2024, the company presented a Substantial Modification of Working Conditions (MSCT) for your entire workforce. This proposal implies acceptance by the company that there will be a substantial change in the working conditions under which its employees were hired and, therefore, opens the door to the application of the article 41 of the Workers’ Statute. Section 3 of this article specifies that “if the worker is harmed by the substantial modification, he will have the right to terminate his contract and receive compensation of twenty days’ salary per year of service, prorating by month the periods less than one year and with a maximum of nine months.” This means that those workers who decide not to accept the new Holaluz conditions will be able to terminate your contract and receive compensation for his departure. After suffering a serious financial setback that had the energy marketer on the verge of bankruptcy for much of 2024, it finally obtained financial support of Icosium Investment which, with a capital injection of 22 million euros, managed to keep the company afloat. According to sources of The Informationall the changes in working conditions announced, including the elimination of teleworking, respond to an effort to adjust expenses estimated at 250,300 euros in 2024. Teleworking was a red line According to what was published by The Informationthe company considered that, after an internal evaluation, teleworking was considered “a measure incompatible with the negative situation in which the company finds itself” and, therefore, it opted for a 100% in-person model. This change led to the call for an indefinite strike starting January 14. According to company sources asked by Xataka, “of 227 employees, the strike has been monitored by 37 people (16% of the workers) who have participated at some point in the strike. Of the total workers, 2% (five employees have supported 100% of the hours during the first week). Analyzing the total hours of the strike (taking into account that the call is two days per week, with four hours each, adding up to a total of eight hours per week), 130.25 strike hours have been recorded out of a total of 1,816 possible hours (227 workers x 8 hours). This represents 7.2% compliance with the hours called for the strike. For their part, union sources confirm that, in the absence of an agreement, as of January 28, the strike will be indefinite for the entire day, and not for hours as has happened until now. Holaluz assures that the company’s operational situation is completely normal and confirms that they have opened new job offers to cover the sick leave of those who have not accepted the substantial modification of their working conditions. “It has been a very hard year and returning to the office is essential to recover the cohesion of the team and recover the enthusiasm. After all the difficulties, we have to row and form a team together,” sources close to Holaluz assure. In Xataka | “It is not a hidden layoff”: Amazon’s CEO has denied that returning to the office is an excuse to reduce his workforce Image | Hellolight

NVIDIA postpones Tesla’s great promise to the next decade

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Autonomous driving. That eternal promise that is supposedly worth billions of euros, that we are always brushing with our fingers and that, in the end, never seems to arrive. The last to express their doubts have been those responsible for NVIDIA. “It’s super difficult”. The words are from Ali Kani, head of NVIDIA’s automotive division, who spoke with the magazine Coach about the future of autonomous driving. “It’s something typical of the next decade. We are not close. It is super difficult,” Kani assured journalists. The question referred to “truly autonomous cars” of which the head of NVIDIA. It is clear that “we will not see them in this decade.” Kani pointed out that cars currently do not have the power or the technology necessary to implement autonomous driving in the short term. A new way of working. Regarding how they work at NVIDIA, Kani assures that what they are doing “is very different” from what they did a year ago. He assures that they are “working on large language models such as GPT Chat with video.” And he emphasizes: “no one was doing this three years ago.” The problems. Basically, we do not have enough computing power to guarantee autonomous driving in the short term. “This type of model needs a lot more computing power, a lot more memory bandwidth. You need more LiDAR sensors and radars, redundant algorithms to make sure it’s safe. All of that has to work in parallel, which means more computing.” Furthermore, NVIDIA is clear that it is not just a matter of raw power. It’s also about giving a good image to potential customers and showing that you can travel safely. “The industry needs to go slow with this. If one company makes a mistake, the entire industry is set back a few years. So we have to act in the most responsible and don’t take any shortcuts. You can only do it when you have proven that it is really safe,” concludes Kani. A different approach. If we take what NVIDIA claims as a reference, the company works in a completely different way than Tesla tries to do. Technology makes it clear that radars and LiDAR sensors continue to be essential, components that Tesla wants to eliminate to trust everything to the use of cameras and recorded images. What Elon Musk’s company defends is that It has a huge fleet of vehicles already on the streets and that everything recorded by them allows their algorithms to learn faster than the competition. They hope, therefore, to spend less money and time to go beyond where Waymo or Cruise have gone. In 2027. The perspectives that come to us from NVIDIA are also very different from the promises that Elon Musk has made about his Tesla Cybercab. According to the owner of Tesla, his fully autonomous cars should be on the streets in 2027 despite his claims “Be unoptimistic with deadlines”. Then he said that next year he will be manufacturing his robotaxis. A promise that, as on so many other occasions, doesn’t seem too realistic. However, Musk is confident in his approach to Donald Trump to open the hand with the tests of autonomous vehicles and deploy their services more quickly. The eternal promise. The truth is, whether we’re talking about Tesla or any other company, the promise of the fully autonomous car always seems to be about to arrive. And it never seems to end. Waymo keeps going but Cruise has fallen by the wayside and has joined a long list of failed attempts. The truth is that Cruise has managed to launch the service in limited spaces but it is also true that the behavior of its cars it was easy to manipulate and who has lived in a eternal controversy of accidents and encounters with San Francisco emergency services. During all this time, Tesla has not managed to make its Autopilot a truly autonomous service and requires human attention. Ford’s BlueCruise also needs it, although in this case can be driven without hands on previously mapped roads. Mercedes does not require it but your system is limited to very specific circumstances. And a bag of millions. Despite everything, there are billions at stake with autonomous driving. Or that’s what they promise us. One of the most optimistic forecasts is that of Tasha Keeney, director of investment analysis at ARK, who quantified in one of his analyzes collected by The Wall Street Journal The value of a robotaxis service like the one Tesla is looking for could account for 60% of the company’s income in 2029 and raise its valuation to $800 billion. Photo | tesla In Xataka | Tesla promises a robotaxi without a steering wheel in 2026. General Motors already tried it with Origin and canceled its project this same year

What is Perplexity, how it works and what the Pro version of this artificial intelligence search engine is like

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Let’s explain to you what is Perplexitythe popular conversational artificial intelligence search engine. It is a tool that seeks to revolutionize the way you find content on the Internet, although currently chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot either Gemini They are also capable of using AI for these searches, although they do not specialize in it. We are going to start the article by briefly explaining what exactly Perplexity is and its internal workings, as well as the difference compared to conventional search engines. Then, we will tell you in a simple way what the external functioning of the search engine is like, and the functions they have. We will finish by talking to you about its paid version. What is Perplexity Perplexity is a conversational search engine that works through artificial intelligence. seeks to offer an easier to use alternative to Googleand in which you will not have to go in and out of links to find the answers you are looking for. The main difference with conversational search engines is the way you interact with it. While with Google or Bing you have to type keywords to find the content, with Perplexity you have to ask a question with natural languageand the AI ​​will understand what you are trying to find, and offer you the answer. It is able to do this because inside the search engine we have an artificial intelligence system that, like ChatGPT or others, has been trained to analyze your text and understand natural language with whom you are asking something. With this, when you ask it a question it extracts the meaning of the words and how they work together, and allows more precise searches. On Google, when you want to write more specific things and ask very long questions, the results may be very bad because it tries to find content with all the words. Perplexity understands the concept of what you want to findand with that performs more precise searches. Furthermore, this search engine is respectful of its sources. Unlike ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini, the web pages from which the information was obtained do not seem hidden. Instead, it shows them at the top, and you can click to go directly to specific pages or click on the box where they all are to display them as a list. In this way, Perplexity also allows you verify information more easily. Artificial intelligence systems sometimes make mistakes or hallucinations in their response, and having sources of information nearby will make it easier to verify that what they say is true. How Perplexity works Perplexity’s home page is similar to other artificial intelligence search engines and chats. Upon entering perplexity.aiyou will have a search field where you can write what you want to find. Below you will also have some suggestions for questions in case you don’t know how to start using it. Below the search field you have several options. With the Focus option you can choose where to search of what you want to find. For example, in addition to searching the web, you can search in academic documents, or social networks, you can search videosand even receive better answers to writing or mathematical problems. You will also have options to upload a PDF file and perform internal searches, or to activate Pro mode, which is the paid version of Perplexity. For these two functions you will first have to create an account, although not necessary for simple searcheswhich you can do without a user account. When you ask a question, Perplexity will compose an answer based on the information it has found on the Internet. But on top of this answer you have a Sources section with the pages Where did you get the information from? On the right, you can also display images or videos, to see those that are related to the search you have performed. In the section of Sources you have four paintings. The first three are links that take you directly to the pages from which the most information has been obtained, and the fourth allows you open a list with all sources that you have used and the articles from which the information with which you have generated the response came. This way, you can enter the one you want just as you do with Google. For some questions you will be answered with graphics or images, especially for quick ones that you can ask, such as what the weather is like today or tomorrow in a certain city. Perplexity vs Perplexity Pro Perplexity has a paid version called Perplexity Pro. In exchange for a monthly payment of 20 euros, you will have advanced functions, such as choose the AI ​​model you want to usebeing able to choose, in addition to their own, other much more famous ones. This is the table with the differences: Perplexity perplexity pro queries Fast and unlimited Fast and unlimited Pro consultations 3 a day 300+ a day AI models Standard Perplexity Standard Perplexity GPT-4o Claude-3 Sonar Large (Llama 3.3) and more… Profile You can create one to customize responses, but it’s optional. You need to create one before subscribing to the pro. Upload and analyze files Only with account Limited Unlimited View responses No Yes, using Playground AI, DALL-E, SDXL and more API Credits No 5$/month As you can see, the main difference is that you can make daily Pro queries with which to obtain better results, and you can compose the answers with other artificial intelligence models like GPT-4o and others. Thus, you do not depend on the advances of the Perplexity model, and you can use other more advanced ones. There are also advantages when it comes to uploading files and analyzing them, which is an unlimited function, and composing images to visualize the responses, something that in the Pro version you can do… and using different image-generating AI models. In Xataka Basics | News of the ChatGPT search engine in December 2024: everything announced by … Read more

We spoke with the creators of ALIA, the 100% Spanish AI, to understand its future

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This Monday it was announced release of ALIA language models. The initiative has been in development for years and it is now that the first fruits are beginning to be seen, still modest, but promising. To learn more details about ALIA, at Xataka we have spoken with Martha Villegas (@MartaVillegasM), head of the Language Technologies Unit of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). This has allowed us to clarify the status of the project, its objectives and its next challenges. To compete with ChatGPT, nothing The first thing we wanted to know is how ALIA had been created, and here Marta Villegas clarified that the model is based on the Llama architecture – Meta’s Open Source model –, “but the model has been trained from scratch and with zero initial weights“. This is important because ALIA is not a Llama-based model that has undergone a refinement or “fine-tuning” process. In those cases, this expert explained, “you start from a model trained with other data and with initialized weights, and you do it to adapt that model to your needs, either because you have more data and you want it to be better or because perhaps you want to adapt it to a particular domain. But here, he told us, “the vocabulary (set of tokens) is completely different.” In other models the corpus or training data set may be mostly in English, which causes the set of admissible tokens to be calculated through English. That, Villegas indicates, would make it adapt less efficiently to other languages. That is precisely what has been sought with ALIA: reduce the relevance of English to increase the number of 35 languages ​​of the European Union and, especially, Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician. How ALIA has been trained The ALIA training process began with some experiments in April 2024. It is necessary because as Villegas explained, “training is not pressing the button after feeding the data and that’s it.” It had to be taken into account that MareNostrum 5the supercomputer located at and managed by the BSC, had just come into operation at full power and there was high demand to use it. MareNostrum 5 In this training process, the ALIA project has had gradual availability of the computing capacity of MareNostrum 5. Although for a short period of time they had access to 512 of the 1,120 specialized nodes of the supercomputer, 256 nodes were used for many months and since September They are using 128 nodes, “which is a lot,” Villegas highlights. During the training process, he told us, there are so-called “checkpoints”, in which it is possible to evaluate how the training process is going. These “pauses” also allow certain training data to be updated, as in fact happened in that process in which at a given moment they introduced a new corpus with high quality that allowed them to replace some data they had. This is just the beginning: it’s time to “instruct” and “align” ALIA Villegas explained to us that ALIA is a foundational model: it is not prepared to be an alternative to ChatGPT. The latter is based on GPT-4, a much more ambitious foundational model that involved much more investment. Here we must differentiate the foundational model from the “educated” and “aligned” models with which we usually interact. As this expert told us, “ALIA-40b is a foundational model that is not instructed or aligned. For a model to be a ChatGPT and understand the conversation and have a certain memory and be “politically correct,” the foundational model (which only learns to say the next token) is “instructed” by passing a bunch of texts.” Even so, the goal is to gradually consider these options. “In March, the instructed version of ALIA-40b is expected to be launched, with a first set of open instructions,” Villegas told us. These instructions are going to be subcontracted – the ones that allow these models to be instructed – and a million euros are going to be invested in that set of instructions from scratch. This data will also be published so that it is available to institutions and developers: if it has been paid with public money, explains Villegas, it is logical that this data will also be public, something that does not usually happen with other AI models from private companies. While training AI models provides guidance on how to respond and defines the context and purpose of those responses, alignment solves problems such as avoid discriminatory biasprevent misinformation or protect privacy. Precisely this lack of alignment means that using these models in this initial phase can produce responses with errors and biases that are precisely mitigated to a great extent with this alignment phase. ALIA and the competition: it is neither a rival of ChatGPT nor does it intend to be In fact, Villegas highlights, “the objective is not to compete with ChatGPT, for that we would need 5 billion dollars.” ALIA-40b “is a good model, and a chatbot can be made in the future because the intention is to instruct and align it, but that will take time.” Within the ALIA family we have the Salamandra models (2b and 7b), smaller and more modest but which already have first instructed versions. Its performance and capacity still have room for improvement, but they are good starting points for the future. It was inevitable to ask how ALIA then intends to compete with other models, both closed and developed by private companies and Open Source models. For her “There is a demand for intermediate models that each person can then adapt to their specific use case, not everyone can use ChatGPT for reasons such as privacy or use case.” Villegas also wanted to highlight how these smaller models can have exceptional performance in specific tasks, and can work at levels of security and not sharing important data. The objective is not to compete with ChatGPT, for that we would need 5,000 million dollars Not only that, he reveals: “we also took out the … Read more

Huawei’s long goodbye in Spain: from strategic partner to unwelcome technology

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Telefónica has awarded Nokia the last part of its 5G core, completing the elimination of Huawei from critical Spanish networks, according to advances Expansion. Why is it important. This move culminates the unofficial banishment of the Chinese giant from critical telecommunications infrastructure in Spain. An explicit government veto has not even been necessary. The context. In 2019, Telefónica had chosen Huawei for its 5G corea decision that was surprising at the time, but international pressures, with the United States at the helm, have been forcing an immediate change of course. The operator announced shortly after a strategy multicore which, in practice, has meant the beginning of the end for Huawei in its Spanish critical infrastructures. The estimated value of the new contract with Nokia is 15 million euros for six years. Huawei’s current presence in the 5G cores of the three large Spanish operators has been reduced to 0%. In Xataka Pallete’s impossible equation: he reduced Telefónica’s debt by half… while its stock market value plummeted behind the scenes. The replacement strategy requires caution and precision, following a meticulous schedule by phases and regions, in order to avoid any interruption of service to users while the transition is completed. The entire process will take more than a year given its difficulty: this movement involves modifying critical infrastructure. The current situation. The three large Spanish operators have expelled Huawei from their network cores: Telefónica divides it between Nokia and Ericsson. Orange awarded it to Ericsson. Vodafone chose Nokia. The money trail. Huawei’s exit from the Spanish market has been accelerated not only by corporate decisions but also by public policies. Although it maintains an important presence in the radio networks of some operators – such as 70% in Vodafone-, his exclusion of public aid for rural 5G through an indirect veto has been decisive. This Government strategy, which requires avoiding “high-risk suppliers” to access public funds, led Huawei to file a lawsuit before the National Court. {“videoId”:”x88i2zx”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Telefónica Smart Buildings”, “tag”:”telefónica”, “duration”:”41″} Go deeper. The 5G network core is the brain that manages all connections and user data, turning it into critical infrastructure for national security. This has ended up becoming a case study on how geopolitics also changes the technological map of a country without the need for direct prohibitions. It is enough to press the appropriate buttons. In Xataka | Huawei is ousting Apple right where it hurts most: it does not stop selling high-end mobile phones in China Featured image | Huawei (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’) ; instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Huawei’s long goodbye in Spain: from strategic partner to unwelcome technology was originally published in Xataka by Javier Lacort .

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