Mobile Tech & Gadgets

John Cazale’s impossibly perfect career

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There was an actor who never starred in a mediocre movie because he simply didn’t have time for it. John Cazale died of cancer in 1978, at the age of 42, leaving behind a filmography of just five titles. All of them were nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. An achievement incomparable to that of any other actor in the history of cinema. The perfect filmography. The scale. There’s a way to measure the quality of a film career that’s more telling than any box office or individual accolade: the percentage of an actor’s films that have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Based on this criterion, the absolute winner is a semi-unknown actor: John Cazale participated in five feature films between 1972 and 1978. All five were nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. Even more: three of them took home the statuette: ‘The Godfather’ (1972), ‘The Godfather. Part II’ (1974) – in which he played the unforgettable Fredo Corleone – and ‘The Hunter’ (1978). His entire filmography generated a total of forty Oscar nominations. And the culmination: all his feature films were selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. 5 out of 5, 100% of his work, in the most important category of the most influential awards in the industry. Let’s compare. To understand: Meryl Streep, the actress with the most nominations in the history of the Oscars (21 nominations in total) has a filmography that exceeds ninety films in five decades of career. A dozen of his works have touched the category of Best Film, but the proportion with respect to his total filmography does not reach 15%. Jack Nicholson, with around eighty film credits, or Al Pacino, with more than sixty, present similar proportions. The greater the volume of work, the greater the exposure to relative failure: a mediocre director, a box office failure, a slight setback. Cazale didn’t have time to make a mistake. The momentum. Cazale entered the cinema at the height of New Hollywooda trend that transformed the American industry between the late sixties and mid-seventies: directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet and Michael Cimino broke with the model of the big studios and opted for darker stories, more ambiguous characters and character actors. Like Cazale: without the weight of fame, without the burden of stardom, available to embody weakness, betrayal and fear with ruthless effectiveness. Who was it? Born in 1935 in Revere, Massachusetts, John Cazale studied acting at Boston University with the help of a tutor who pushed his students towards the darkest aspects of each character. Before coming to the movies at the age of 36, he spent a decade in the New York off-Broadway theater, where he won several awards, and worked as a taxi driver and messenger, a job in which he met Al Pacino. a casting director recommended him to Coppola for ‘The Godfather’ and there he aroused glowing praise from colleagues like Pacino himself. He died shortly after turning forty, a victim of bone cancer. The case of the hunter. The admiration that Cazale aroused is perfectly summarized by what happened in ‘The Hunter’, a film that he filmed while he was sick. Michael Cimino hired him knowing the diagnosis, but Universal didn’t know, and when they found out they pushed for him to be replaced. What happened next is one of the most cited episodes of loyalty in Hollywood at the time. To start, De Niro paid the premium out of pocket of Cazale’s insurance because the production company could not cover it. Meryl Streep, then Cazale’s partner, threatened to walk out of filming if he was removed, and Cimino rearranged the production schedule to film all of his scenes first. ‘The Hunter’ was nominated for nine Oscars in 1979 and won five, including Best Picture, Best Director for Cimino and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken. Cazale died nine months before the premiere. He was not able to see the film but his legacy, with an absolutely perfect filmography, will always endure. In Xataka | What would have happened to the 80s (and beyond) if Steven Spielberg had not been born

five gifts to surprise with on the next Father’s Day

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There are two weeks left until the arrival Father’s Day. If this year you don’t want to get caught out and buy the typical last-minute socks or purse, you have time to do it right and surprise your father in 2026. Below we offer you a selection with some gifts that he will surely love. Pack Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition + wireless charging case and base by 267.38 euros: with seven-inch color screen and various accessories. Razor Philips OneBlade 360 by 39.99 euros: with a guide comb and autonomy of up to 60 minutes. Wine accessories set Fackelmann by 17.99 euros: with cooling sleeve, aerator and corkscrew. Smart TV Haier H32K702FG by 139.99 euros: 32-inch LED and Android TV. Pack of two surveillance cameras Blink Mini by 24.99 euros: with two-way audio and compatible with Alexa. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition Pack + case and wireless charging base If your father is a book devourer and keeps linking one title to another, perhaps a good gift (especially to save space at home) is to give him an e-book reader. Now, on Amazon, they have reduced the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Editionwhich comes in a pack with a case and wireless charging base for 267.38 euros. He Kindle Colorsoft stands out for its seven inch color screen. Its battery is charged via USB-C and can last up to eight weeks. Although, thanks to this pack, you can also charge it with the wireless charging base that is included. If your father travels a lot or takes the subway or bus every day, this Kindle is very thin and light, making it very comfortable to transport. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (32 GB) + case + wireless charging base The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Philips OneBlade 360 ​​razor More and more men have beards and if your father has one, you surely want him to have it in perfect condition. This shaver Philips OneBlade It is a real bestseller and now it has a discount of 20 euros on Amazon and you can buy it for 39.99 euros. This shaver from Philips is effective even on the longest hair and is 360, meaning it can be tilted in all directions. comes with a guide comb so you can choose the appropriate length and with its double-sided blade you can create precise edges. It works with a battery, which is charged via USB and offers a range of up to 60 minutes. Philips OneBlade 360 ​​- Hybrid Razor The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fackelmann Wine Accessories Set A very useful gift for parents who like to enjoy a good glass of wine at home can be this Fackelmann set. Thanks to this set, you will be able to serve wine in perfect condition and now it only costs 17.99 euros. The set comes with a cooling sleeve for wine and cava bottles, a aerator and a corkscrew. The cover is equipped with a cooling gel that can be repeatedly frozen and is made of elastic nylon, to provide a universal fit. As for the aerator, it optimizes the oxygenation of the wine through the Bernoulli effect, improving its flavor. Fackelmann Wine Accessories Set The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Smart TV Haier H32K702FG If your father likes to watch TV in bed, you might be interested in giving him a small TV for the bedroom. This Haier H32K702 FG It is perfect, not only for its size, but for its price: 139.99 euros. The LED panel of this TV is type 32 inch LED and it offers Full HD resolution and for the price it is not bad. Works under the operating system Android TV and has Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, WiFi and Ethernet port. As far as audio is concerned, its speakers offer 8 W RMS power and are compatible with Dolby Audio. Haier Direct LED Full HD H32K702FG – 32″, Smart-TV, HDR, Dolby Audio, Android 11, Smart-TV, Google Assistant, Bluetooth 5.1, DBX TV, HDMI 2.1 x 3, Frameless The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pack of two Blink Mini surveillance cameras Finally, if your father is worried about home security and, every time you go on a trip, he says he has to buy a surveillance camera; Now, on Amazon, there is a very interesting offer. This is the pack of two Blink Mini surveillance cameras, which has gone from costing 44.99 euros to 24.99 euros. You can get these indoor surveillance cameras in black or white and are compatible with Alexa. They offer images in HD 1080p resolution and have two-way audioso they are ideal even if you have pets at home and want to calm them while you are not at home. Blink Mini | Compact Smart Security Camera, 2-Pack 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. Image | Amazon, Blink, Haier, Fackelmann, Philips and Freepik In Xataka | Best e-books: which one to buy and nine recommended models In Xataka | Five things to keep in mind before buying an e-book

He has been vetoing the shipment of weapons to Israel for months

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The bases of Rota and Morón have been two pieces discreet but essential of the United States military machinery in the Mediterranean. From them operations have started in the Middle East, strategic bombers, anti-missile shield destroyers and even part of the naval device that watches over the Strait of Hormuz. Spain shares them with Washington since bilateral agreements signed in the middle of the Cold War, and since then they had hardly generated relevant diplomatic friction. Until now. The threat that opened an unprecedented crisis. Tension broke out yesterday when Donald Trump threatened with cutting off trade with Spain after the Government refused to allow the use of bases of Rota and Morón for the bombings against Iran. The warning represented an unprecedented escalation between two NATO allies, because the US president did not speak of simple trade retaliation but of the possibility of a total economic embargo. Pedro Sanchez just responded with an institutional declaration in which he summarized the Spanish position in a phrase that evoked the popular rejection of the 2003 invasion of Iraq: “No to war.” The president defended that Spain rejects both the Iranian regime and the current military escalation and demanded the cessation of hostilities before the conflict causes a spiral of violence with global consequences. Tariffs and embargoes: two very different weapons. Trump’s threat drew attention because he did not resort to his favorite tool for years, the tariffsbut to something much more extreme: a trade embargo. Tariffs make specific products more expensive and are used to pressure or protect industries, while an embargo involves blocking practically all economic relations with a country. The difference is enormous: an embargo can prevent exports, investments, financial operations or even access to the dollar system. Furthermore, Trump began talking about this option after the US Supreme Court declare illegal the use of an economic emergency law to impose global tariffs, although that same legislation does allow blocking trade with countries considered a threat to national security. A tool reserved for “enemies”. They remembered in The World Which is precisely why the threat has generated so much surprise in Europe. Economic sanctions based on that law have traditionally been applied against governments considered hostile or authoritariancountries such as Iran, North Korea or Venezuela, or even against specific companies and leaders accused of human rights violations, corruption or illicit activities. Hence, using this mechanism against an allied country, a member of the European Union and NATO, would be something practically unpublished and legally very controversial and complex. Furthermore, it would have enormous economic consequences. for both sides Atlantic: The United States sells more than double what it buys to Spain and numerous American multinationals operate in the country, so an embargo would cause an unprecedented financial and commercial clash between strategic partners. The fine print that explains the climb. And while the controversy grew, the newspaper The country has released details that shed light on Washington’s virulent reaction. According to the official statistics documents sent to Congress, in reality Spain had been discreetly blocking the transit and export of weapons for months. bound for Israel. How much? In 2024 they were denied seven ship calls with weapons (including the prohibition of the cargo ships Maersk Denver, Maersk Seletar and Marianne Danica from calling in Algeciras and Cartagena) and They vetoed 57 operations export of military or dual-use material to that country. Some of these decisions had already caused tensions with the United States and even a file of the US Federal Maritime Commission. Although after the Hamas attack on October 2023 Sales were progressively restricted until they were prohibited by law. In 2024, military material worth 1.45 million euros was still exported from previous licenses, mainly sensors, electrical systems or returns of defective equipment, in addition to some components destined for third countries or the A400M aircraft. The total veto. Already in 2025 no sale was authorized of defense or dual use to Israel, only licenses with no economic value for repairs of equipment of the Spanish Armed Forces. At the same time, the report has also revealed that Spain has sold military material to Ukraine for 110.3 million between January 2024 and June 2025 (mainly artillery ammunition) in addition to donations of military equipment valued at 384 million. For their part, global exports of Spanish weapons reached 3,491 million in 2024 and rebounded strongly in the first half of 2025, with record new licenses and controversial clients such as Equatorial Guinea or Eritrea, which has generated criticism from organizations such as Amnesty International. A long conflict. In short, this context helps to understand why the American reaction it’s been so hard. He veto to the use of the bases to bomb Iran was the visible trigger of the crisis, but not the only reason for friction. The traffic restrictions of arms towards Israel, added to the refusal to participate in the military operation, outline a Spanish policy that tries to set limits in the Middle East and prioritize diplomacy over armed intervention. For the White House, however, this shift means a direct challenge to its strategy in the region, whatever it may be. The result is a dispute that has for the first time placed a European ally under the threat of an economic tool that the United States had until now reserved. for his adversaries. Image | Phan J. Alan Elliott, US Army In Xataka | In 1988 Spain and the US signed an agreement. Thanks to him, today Spain can refuse to use its bases to attack Iran In Xataka | The great paradox of Spain is 7,000 million euros: nobody wants to take up weapons, but they are making money by selling them

TSMC is the ‘kingpin’ of chips and Apple has always been its best friend. That just changed

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TSMC is the foundry of the world. Although there are others like Samsung that have muscleit is the Taiwanese company that has conquered the high-performance chip segment. It has achieved this through capacity, technology and an alliance: that of Apple. For a decade, TSMC was Apple’s great friend, the one that manufactured its chips and the one that revolutionized – with the designs of Apple Silicon– the laptops. Now NVIDIA rules. And he has elbowed his way through. In short. In the midst of the AI ​​era and with a technological current in which it is impossible to separate oneself from NVIDIA, Apple has more than enough reasons to feel jealous. While the mobile segment faces cuts unprecedented due to the crisis of RAM and components, and with Tim Cook himself -CEO of Apple- commenting on the difficulties they will have This 2026, artificial intelligence is going like a rocket. Major memory manufacturers have pivoted to high-bandwidth memory for AI GPUs, and companies like NVIDIA, Phison, amd and even the Chinese ones like SMIC and Huawei They are clapping their ears. They have made the AI ​​Big Techs dependent on their hardware, and no one makes that hardware like TSMC. Result? According to the latest reports, NVIDIA will become its largest customer this year. The importance of ‘Customer A’. It may seem like an unimportant change of chips, but it is actually more relevant than we think. The difference between a ‘Customer A’ and a ‘Customer B’ implies that, faced with production bottlenecks, one of the two is given priority. We already saw this in the 2020 semiconductor crisis when, precisely, half of the industry was drowning (cars, cameras, TVs and mobile phones) while Apple did not have such bad forecasts because it was the darling of a TSMC that was going to focus on iPhone chips to consolidate a lucrative relationship that began with the Apple A8 of the iPhone 6. Jensen Huang himself -CEO of NVIDIA- has commented the quite proud play on a podcast. “Morris –Morris Chang, founder of TSMC and friend of Huang – will be happy to know that NVIDIA is TSMC’s largest customer right now,” said the CEO. It is because little margin: 19% for NVIDIA compared to 17% for Apple, but it is an achievement and a thermometer of how the industry is doing. Last year, NVIDIA’s contribution to TSMC was 12%, which is a considerable jump in a very short time. “I need a lot of wafers”. Obviously, this does not imply that TSMC is going to stop pampering Apple over other companies. Apple has a huge percentage of the mobile segment, but NVIDIA is crucial to keep the AI ​​machinery rolling. Despite the Google attempts with its TPUsthe agreements of OpenAI with Broadcomthose of Goal with NVIDIA and AMD or those of xAI manufacturing its chipsNVIDIA is still the one who splits the cod. Even Chinese companies need NVIDIA GPUs and, of course, NVIDIA is more than willing to take a cut. On a recent visit to Taiwan,. Huang met with local industry heavyweights and noted that “NVIDIA would need a lot of wafers this year,” putting even more pressure to a TSMC that is crucial in the artificial intelligence chain. Synonym of success. Samsung, Huawei and SMIC They are fighting to be alternatives in case TSMC collapses. But TSMC has put us on the couch and has been looking at how to diversify the business for a few years. In Taiwan they maintain the heart and the muscle, but the plant in Europe – in Germany – is underway and they already have an operational foundry in the United States. In fact, there are plans to expand it because they have more and more clients who need a very specific product that works like a Swiss watch. But this has a B side: all the industry’s eggs are in the same basket. If TSMC fails, the house of cards can collapse. There is already some report that indicates that the American plant that manufactures for Apple, Intel, NVIDIA or AMD is overwhelmed due to a huge amount of orders. And there, precisely, lies the importance of being a client A… or a client B. Images | TSMC, NVIDIA In Xataka | SK is one of the chip whales and it is clear about one thing: not all the money in the world will satisfy AI’s hunger for RAM

Tecno has finally seen a future for the old modular dream

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Being able to update the phone without having to change it for a new one is the dream of many of us who love telephony. Throughout history there were several brands that tried it, such as Motorola: Project Ara to the commercial materialization of that format, the Moto Z and its Moto Mods. Currently, one of the manufacturers that has most opted for modularity It’s Fairphone. Now, Tecno has decided to skip what is established and take that dream one step further. Although with a difference from the original Ara: Tecno proposes a magnetic, not structural, modularity. Techno It is not a manufacturer that we know in Europe for its smartphones. Even so, it is one of the brands that the more it grows in share and distribution at a global level. Despite having a clear orientation towards accessible mobile phones, Tecno is characterized by being one of the most innovative and risky. Apart from those two adjectives, there is a third that occurred to me while holding the modular mobile: surprising. But can you still add more things? There are LEGO boxes that have fewer pieces than this mobile When I approached the Tecno stand, and saw all the phone pieces scattered on the table, I thought about the LEGOs I had when I was little and how I was combining the parts to make new figures. What Tecno brought to MWC is more or less the same, at least in essence. The base is an extremely thin phone that features a small camera module in the upper area. Tecno has provided all the components with a good number of magnets, it surely used up the store’s stock. Because everything comes together through magnetism. You can add a telephoto camera module by simply “gluing” this piece to the base lens, for example. Everything fits into place with magnets, just like the external battery module, microphone, speaker… Or the SLR camera accessory. When asked how many modules you can put on the phone at most, Tecno said: “Yes.” I have not put the parallel with LEGO at random: the phone supports a good number of pieces on top. Furthermore, there is another important point: The modules can also be combined without having the base telephone. And they work independently You can put a clip on the microphone and use it as a tie microphone. The same for the speaker, for example. Or use the stand to support the pieces outside the mobile. Everything is anchored by magnetism and in its place. With the drawback that it has to be placed correctly the first time, the system does not offer a visual guide to know how to build the LEGO. An idea that seems extravagant and yet works Modular mobile phones were already invented. And Tecno has come to give the concept a twist to take it to the extreme. Because the mobile works, the parts make sense, the entire concept transcends experimentation to become a product that could be viable. Wow, I could totally buy it. The pieces are solid and well thought out, it shows that Tecno has designed each component with precision. And maturity. Now, it’s not perfect, because the pieces can come apart somewhat easily. The magnetic anchor is strong, but it is still that: magnetic. If the camera gets caught in your pocket, it gets left behind. And if the modular phone falls to the ground… Instead of a phone you have a puzzle. Still far from being able to be bought It is beautiful, it is impressive and it appears solid beyond doubt due to the magnetic union between the pieces. Even so, it probably won’t see the light of day in the near future. Tecno is characterized by experiments, by trying to make smartphones show a different face. Many of their concepts end up as a hook to attract the real catalog, the one that really works. I thought that modular mobile phones, as designed by Motorola with Project Ara, would have no future. Tecno has shown me the opposite: apart from being feasible, with a little imagination you can achieve use cases that no one imagined before. That something like this is so refreshing says more about the current stagnation of the smartphone than about modular phones themselves. Images | Ivan Linares In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2026), we have tested them and here are their analyzes

a solution to hang things without drill or screws

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Marco Agustín Secchi is an Argentine Industrial Engineering student who has created a coating capable of turning any wall into a magnetic surface. He called him Ironplacand basically works as if it were a regular plaster, but with the particularity that it allows objects to be fixed directly to the wall with magnets, without having to drill holes. The idea is quite interesting, and below these lines we tell you all the details. What is Ironplac and how does it work?. Why do you have to drill holes in the wall every time you want to hang something? That question was what Secchi himself asked himself and was in fact the starting point of this project. According to counted the 29-year-old young man told the Argentine media La Nación, the material is presented in powder form, mixed with water and applied to the wall as if it were a conventional fine plaster, that is, the mixture that is applied to walls to cover them at the end of a work. According to what he says, once dry, the surface is prepared to attract magnets. The trick is that the mixture incorporates a formulation with mineral and ferrous fillers that convert the coating into a passive ferromagnetic surface. Secchi explains that the mixture does not emit any magnetic field on its own, but responds to magnets that are brought close to it. The user only needs to stick a magnet to the object they want to hang (be it a painting, a knife, a tool, etc.) and place it on the wall. Secchi assures having already tried tools, panels, small boards and even a shovel. An idea with a more practical use. Incorporating ferromagnetic particles into mortars or cements is not unknown in materials research. Normally have been explored this type of composites for applications such as radiation shielding or the improvement of mechanical properties. But the Ironplac skips all that to give it a much more practical approach: hanging things on a wall without the need for holes. And of course, on the other hand, it must be said that we love magnets. Click on the image to go to the post and video What is not yet resolved. The project is in an advanced stage of development, with functional prototypes and demos installed in real construction sites, but it is not yet commercialized. Aspects remain to be demonstrated, such as how much weight it can withstand in the long term, how it is applied to construction regulations and whether the cost will be competitive enough with other types of solutions such as metal panels or magnetic strips to make it viable to scale it to an industrial level. According to share In the middle, the patents are pending and Secchi acknowledges that he is currently working on finding financing and investors to scale production. Where do you want to go? The young inventor is clear about the type of spaces where he sees the most potential: workshops, classrooms, laboratories, kindergartens, offices. Places where the ability to rearrange space without damaging walls has real practical value. “I’m interested in understanding what it takes for an idea to work in the real world and be sustained over time,” declared Secchi. According to share The young man, Ironplac does not aspire to be a closed product, but rather “a construction platform capable of evolving and integrating with different materials.” We will see if it finds financing to scale the project. At the moment we know that the idea is quite attractive, especially because of being able to stick anything to the wall (as long as the element is accompanied by a small magnetic piece). Cover image | Marco Agustín Secchi In Xataka | 30 years ago the US was the country that dominated rare earths. This graph shows how China devastated at dizzying speed

20% more is charged

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There is a very specific reason why thousands of Spaniards dedicate years of their lives to prepare oppositions for become public officials. It is not only the job stability that working for public administrations offers. It’s also about salaries. The numbers confirm this with a clarity that is rarely openly debated: do civil servants have very high salaries or are the salaries of private sector employees those that have been left behind? It’s not just for stability, it’s also for the salary. According to data of the last Statistics of Average Contribution Bases of the General Regime of Social Security, the average contribution base of Public Administration workers stood at 2,853.5 euros per month in September 2025. The highest level recorded to date. This data, which serves as an average reference for the gross monthly salary, places public employment as the fifth best-paid activity among the 21 categories analyzed by this organization’s statistics. The most striking thing is not only the amount of the salary, but what it means in comparison with the rest of the sectors. While the average salary in the private sector has remained at the threshold of 2,200 euros per month since November 2024, Administration workers already exceeded 2,800 euros in that same period. This advantage has remained stable and has even grown during 2025.​ A gap of 579 euros per month. Putting it into figures, the average difference between what a public employee earns and one in the same activity in the private sector now exceeds 579 euros per month. This implies that the payroll received by Administration officials is 20.3% higher than that of the entire economy. If only the comparison with workers affiliated to the General Regime is taken into account, this gap rises to 25.46%: This wage gap between the public and private sectors is not new, but it is at a time of maximum expansion. He report from the Bank of Spain that analyzed data from 2021, already placed the advantage of the public sector at 24.97% compared to the private sector, a figure that tripled the average difference in the euro zone between the public and private sectors, placing by just 8%. According to collected ABC In countries like France this is reduced to 13% compared to the private sector. On the other hand, in Germany, the salaries of civil servants are practically the same, and some civil servants even earn less than their counterparts in the private sector. Do civil servants earn a lot or have salaries not risen enough? The Ministry of Public Function reached in December 2025 an agreement with CSIF, UGT and CCOO to increase the salaries of the more than 3.5 million public employees in Spain by 1.5%. This increase is part of a plan that foresees accumulated increases of 11% until 2028. Meanwhile, although the average salary has risen driven by the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage, these increases only affect the most precarious salaries. The rest of the percentiles have registered more irregular and dependent increases on the collective bargaining by sectors. The result is that, in the last five years, public salaries have grown by 14%, compared to 18% in the private sector. However, the starting base for public employment was already so high that the absolute gap remains unbridgeable. That is, the lowest salaries in the Administration are much higher than those in the private sector. The Administration is also looking for talent. The attractiveness of public employment is not explained solely by salary. To the economic advantage It adds job stability that the private sector can rarely offer. This explains that, according to a study From the OpositaTest portal, in 2023, 68% of men and 72% of women would exchange a stable job in the private sector for a public position. Furthermore, the public sector maintains its commitment to teleworking flexibility whenever the position allows, while the private sector has moved towards presenceeven if the position allows it. According what was published by Expansionthe internal distribution of salaries also reveals that in the three highest income deciles, with average salaries of 2,807 euros per month, 3,385 euros and 5,213 euros gross per month, a majority of public employees are concentrated. On the other hand, only 22% of private sector workers reach these salary ranges. That is to say, public employment is not only better, it also offers a greater probability of accessing the highest salary levels, something that explains why oppositions in Spain They continue to be so disputed.​ In Xataka | Some experts have looked at the Spanish labor market and have reached a conclusion: in 2030, 40% will be over 50 years old Image | Unsplash (Beatriz Cattel)

that humanoid robots controlled by a central AI work

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Samsung has planted itself in the MWC 2026 with one objective: to demonstrate that it is a ubiquitous company. What does this imply? Well, let them gain muscle with your screens everywherebut also show a powerful commitment to artificial intelligence in all links of the chain: from mobile phones to Samsung Galaxy S26 to the factories. And as a result of that intention for AI to be the pilot of everything, they have shown a science fiction plan: that robots and a central AI control their factories. And they want it the day after tomorrow. Independent. He concept of “agent AI” It’s one that we’re going to have to become familiar with because companies are going to put a lot of effort – and money – into this. It is an AI that no longer only responds to what we need, but can carry out actions autonomously. In a releaseSamsung assures that that agent principle that has been introduced in the Galaxy S26 It will be what dictates the future of its factories. The South Korean company wants these artificial intelligence agents to be the ones that “optimize workflows in production, predictive maintenance, repair operations and logistics coordination” in its factories, but an AI cannot execute things outside of the software. Need a physical interfaceand that’s where the other leg of the plan comes into play. Robots. They are the body of the brain and something that many companies are already exploring. A few months ago I traveled to China and came across the first store run by a robot. It is very simple and I described it as a “glorified vending machine”, but it meets the objective of these companies: to have spaces in which robots take care of everything. They don’t rest, they don’t have agreements and they don’t complain. And if companies like BMW either Xiaomi is already testing robots in its factories, Samsung does not want to be left behind. In the statement, the South Korean company states that they are already progressively introducing highly specialized humanoid robots for various tasks. For example, robots for facility management operations, others for the next steps of the production line, others in logistics, others for the transportation of materials, and precision robots for manufacturing. They point out that they are ideal in environments where human access is limited or dangerous and they are clear that it is something that will grow, with other robots dedicated to monitoring plant conditions, identifying risks and mitigating them before they occur. Total bet. In the end, it is about fully integrating AI across the entire manufacturing value chain: from logistics to production; from quality inspection to final shipment. They are designing a “next-generation autonomous production environment,” and they want to have it soon. The plan is that by 2030, “all manufacturing operations” will have completed the transition to this agentic and robotic AI. They are already at it, as we say, adding robots to production chains, but Samsung’s Executive Vice President and Head of Global Technology Research points out that the next phase is the “construction of autonomous environments where AI understands contexts in real time and executes optimal decisions.” NVIDIA. It sounds like science fiction, especially because of the deadlines they have, but they will not be alone in this adventure. Who is going to be by your side? Indeed: NVIDIA. At the end of last year, both they signed an agreement collaboration that includes the deployment of more than 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs and the use of the platform Omniverse to carry out the infrastructure of digital twins in semiconductor manufacturing. This is key to achieving that goal that Samsung seeks and as important as the AI reasoning systems in real time for robots. And for this they are also using the Jetson Thor platform from Jensen Huang’s company. Alternative to TSMC. That is the goal that Samsung wants to reach. Because right now they are one of the largest factories in the world (they have their Exynos processorsbut also its camera sensors that are in various devices, as well as its division of memory that powers NVIDIA GPUs), but what they want is to become an alternative to the undisputed queen: TSMC. To do this, Samsung is moving, opening factories in several countries around the world and investing enormous sums of money to be one of the legs of the business in the United States which also pursues this agentic AI and the end with haste and a good wad of cash: general AI. There are four years left to see if this objective, which seems like science fiction, is met. Images | Samsung, Xiaomi In Xataka | I have seen the result of a crazy night between a mobile phone and a robot: the Honor Robot Phone dances to your music as well as takes photos of you

A teenager in Mexico created a Hombres G fan website in 1998, with the band already separated. 9 years later they filled Las Ventas

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In 1998, Mexican Francisco Romero was 15 years old, had a new computer and a school assignment to complete. Looking for the best grade, he created a website about his favorite group: Hombres G, a Spanish band that by then was already dissolved. What began as an academic exercise ended up becoming the band’s first digital fan community, with thousands of members spread around the world. And it was also the trigger that convinced David Summers and his team to return to the stage. How it all started. In 1998, having internet at home in Mexico was not common: just a marginal fraction (2-3%) of the Mexican population had access to the network under these conditions. Even so, Francisco Romero, a teenager who had just gotten his first computer, embarked on completing a school project in which students were asked to create a web page. Romero chose the Hombres G as the subject of his project. He had arrived at the Madrid group, which had already been dissolved for five years, through friends from high school. And since finding documentation about the band was difficult (there were only two pages about Hombres G on the internet), he decided to create a community. Meeting point. The web, as Romero himself explainswas titled Club ‘We’re still crazy… so what?’, in reference to ‘We’re crazy… or what?’ title of one of the group’s first albums. The success was immediate: in its first five months, it received hundreds of requests from Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Peru and Japan (in times before algorithms and search engines crashed). They wrote to him, above all, from fans who had not had a space to talk about the band for years, to which they had not stopped listening since the last album they had released in 1993, ‘Bikini history‘. The contact. At the end of 2000an anonymous user left him a complimentary message on the page, to which Romero responded politely. Three days later, another message arrived from the same sender, who turned out to be one of the band’s two guitarists: “Please don’t give out my email, I’m Dani Mezquita.” Later they established telephone contact, which ended up leading to more frequent conversations. The significant fact: Mezquita was then working as marketing director at DRO East West, the Warner Music label that released almost all of the band’s albums. From his position he had noticed something: at the end of 2000, a compilation of Hombres G was the third best-selling album in Mexico at that time. A group without activity, without tour, without active label, without a single public appearance in years. That is, they had an active and completely underserved fan base. With these data on the table, and as told in the documentary ‘The Best Years of Our Life’ (released in theaters scheduled for April 30), the members met and proposed a modest return, with three or four concerts in Mexico. It gets out of hand. From there the expectation skyrockets. The reunification tour ended adding 70 performances during 2002 and 2003including a concert in Las Ventas before 20,000 people and several cities in Latin America and the United States. The album that accompanied the comeback, ‘Dangerous Together’, was initially released only in America, which says a lot about where the weight of the comeback was leaning. When he arrived in Spain he ended up obtaining the Platinum Record. In gratitude for Romero’s importance in this return, he has continued working continuously with the band from Mexico. And so we come to the present: on April 25, 2025, Men G performed before more than 60,000 people at the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City. All within the framework of a tour titled ‘Thank you, Mexico Tour’. A name that makes it clear to what extent the very survival of the group is owed to a modest student from the city. In Xataka | Three millennia of pop: the oldest song in the world is 3,400 years old and we can still hear it

Trump threatens to “cut off all trade”

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The decision of the Spanish Government not to authorize the Rota and Morón bases to be used in the United States military offensive against Iran has opened a diplomatic front that goes far beyond the military level. The reaction from Washington was immediate. US President Donald Trump He stated this Tuesday that he wants “cut off all trade with Spain.” The disagreement, therefore, no longer revolves solely around the use of military installations on Spanish soil. It has also moved to the economic and commercial field. threatening tone. In his statements to the media, released by the White Housethe American president charged directly against the Spanish Government. On the one hand, the refusal to allow Spanish bases to be used in the operation against Iran. On the other hand, Spain’s refusal to raise its military spending to 5% of GDP, a goal that Washington has been defending for some time within NATO. “Spain has been terrible,” said the president, before reproaching that Spain was the only ally that did not accept that spending objective. A question of international legality. Before Trump launched his trade threat, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, assured the media that the US bases in Spanish territory have not provided support to the offensive against Iran and that this situation will not change. “Neither from Morón nor from Rota have they carried out nor will they carry out any maintenance or support action,” stated. Along the same lines, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, insisted that the Executive will not authorize the use of these facilities for operations that do not fit within the Charter of the United Nations. The Convention as a brake. The refusal of the Spanish Government is also supported by the legal framework that has regulated the US military presence in the country for decades. As we explained in a previously published articlethe bilateral agreement signed in 1988 establishes that the use of facilities such as Rota and Morón must be framed in objectives within the bilateral or multilateral scope provided for in the agreement itself. This same framework contemplates that any operation that goes beyond these assumptions requires prior authorization from the Executive. The Spanish Government relies on this point to maintain that a unilateral military offensive against Iran does not fit into the framework provided for by the agreement. Planes that move. While the political debate intensified, some movements had already occurred on the ground. According to Reutersthe United States transferred at least fifteen resupply aircraft that were deployed at the Morón and Rota bases. a dozen of KC-135 They departed from the Sevillian base to the Ramstein air base, in Germany, while another five took off from the Rota naval base with an unconfirmed destination in some cases. These devices are relevant in air campaigns because they allow the operational range of combat aircraft to be extended. The threat and its limits. The warning to cut off trade raises an obvious question: to what extent can Washington apply such a measure against a single European country. In practice, the margin is limited. As a member of the European Union, Spain does not negotiate its trade agreements with the United States bilaterally, since these conversations are channeled through the European Commission. This complicates any attempt to penalize only Spain. The Country pointshowever, to the possibility of resorting to selective taxes on certain categories of products as an instrument of economic pressure. The Spanish Government has also responded. In a statement collected by RTVEMoncloa pointed out that any review of the commercial relationship between both countries must be done “respecting the autonomy of private companies, international legality, and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the United States.” The Executive also defended that Spain is “a key member of NATO” and a reliable trade partner for dozens of countries. What there is. For now, what exists is a political threat that has not yet been translated into concrete measures. The fight between Spain and the States has gone in a very short time from a discussion about the use of military bases to a much broader field that includes trade, diplomacy and international security. However, there are still many unknowns left open. We have to wait to see how this whole situation will evolve. Images | Defense Visual Information Distribution Service | The White House In Xataka | A Gulf country is launching an unprecedented missile against Iran. Nobody knows who he is and wants to remain anonymous

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