Mobile Tech & Gadgets

the invisible leak that locked a town in an industrial dystopia

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This afternoon, the Basque authorities restrictions have been lifted in Muskizbut the fear still remains. Living in the shadow of the largest refinery in the Basque Country, Petronor, has turned this Biscayan municipality into a scene straight out of England at the end of the 19th century. Its streets have been empty, schools with minimal activity and neighbors equipped with masks. The mist that covered the town on Thursday and part of Friday was not fog, but a toxic cloud. The invisible escape. It all started on Thursday morning due to a technical incident in a gasoline tank at the petrochemical plant, which caused the evaporation and emission into the atmosphere of the volatile fraction of the fuel. According to the Muskiz city councilbetween 10:15 and 11:00 a.m., stations such as the one in the San Julián neighborhood recorded peaks of between 100 and 200 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³) of benzene. To put the figure in perspective, the regulatory limit value for the annual average is just 5 µg/m³, meaning that emissions far exceeded the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, the chemist Néstor Etxebarria (UPV/EHU) warned that not only benzene escapedbut also toluene and xylene, completing the dangerous chemical cocktail known as BTEX, very volatile and toxic substances. The real danger of hydrocarbons. To understand the severity of the leak, it is necessary to explain what benzene is. Simply put, it is a colorless, volatile liquid with a sweet smell. that penetrates very easily into the bloodstream through the lungs. In the short term, acute inhalation causes poisoning similar to that of solvents: drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, tremors and, in severe levels, loss of consciousness. However, the real danger lies in its long-term effects. International health and environmental agencies (IARC, ATSDR, EPA) classify benzene as a confirmed human carcinogen (Group 1). This substance directly attacks the bone marrow, depressing the formation of blood cells, which can trigger aplastic anemia and acute myeloid leukemia. The WHO itself assumes in its guidelines that, being a genotoxic agent, there is no exposure threshold that the human body can safely tolerate. Any dose, no matter how small, increases the risk. Communication chaos, dizziness and fear. Despite the obvious chemical danger, the management of the crisis has outraged those affected. Although the escape occurred on Thursday morning, The Mail denounced that the Basque Government It did not issue preventive confinement recommendations until 8:17 p.m., ten hours after the incident. The usual Petronor emergency sirens, which sound every Thursday as a drill, remained silent yesterday, and neither mass alert was sent (ES-Alert) to cell phones because Public Health considered that “it was not an emergency.” While the Local Police patrolled with megaphones asking residents to lock themselves in, the director of Public Health, Guillermo Herrero, minimized the crisis in Radio Euskadiensuring that there was no “risk for the population” and that a “normal life” could be led. This vision contrasted head-on with that of the mayor of Muskiz, Eduardo Briones, who to the microphones Chain Being, He recommended not going out because “it is better to sin by excess.” The human impact was immediate. In statements to The MailItxaso Etxegarai recounted how her asthmatic daughter lost her appetite and suffered severe headaches, while her eyes stung. For his part, retiree José Taboada had to go look for his wife at work because, after inhaling the air, “he had gotten dizzy” and “had lost consciousness a little.” Panic also crossed the walls of the refinery. chow to detail The Jumpdozens of contract workers abandoned their jobs on Friday morning. “No one has told us anything clearly. While we are waiting, we are at the site of toxicity,” an operator reported to the BEsuffering from a sore throat. Unions such as LAB and CCOO demanded the paralysis of the plant. Impunity and legal loopholes. This episode is not an isolated event, but rather the straw that breaks the camel’s back for a population accustomed to living with industrial pollution. In fact, it is the third incident in just two months (in December there was another leak, and this same Sunday an electrical failure caused immense flames and black smoke) As detailed by the chemist and environmental disseminator Julen Rekondo in COPE chainthe problem lies in a flagrant legal vacuum: Spanish regulations sanction companies if they exceed the annual average of benzene, but does not contemplate punitive limits for sharp point peaks. This allows serious episodes not to count as an infraction. Neighborhood fatigue. Petronor’s shadow is long. The refinery is responsible of more than 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and Public Health data show that the Muskiz area registers mortality rates from lung cancer between 11% and 45% higher than the Basque average. Added to this is citizen distrust due to “revolving doors.” The residents gathered this week remembered that former senior officials of the Basque Government, such as Josu Jon Imaz or Iñaki Zudaire, ended up occupying positions of maximum power in Petronor and Repsol, which raises doubts about the rigor of institutional control. To channel this satiety, the neighborhood platform “Las Karreras Variant Stop“has called a protest demonstration for this Sunday, March 1, at 12:00 p.m., demanding real solutions. The air clears, but the indignation remains. The sirens never sounded, but the silence in Muskiz has been deafening. Although at two in the afternoon on Friday, February 27, the authorities lifted the preventive confinement when benzene stabilized at 2 µg/m³, normality here is a fragile concept. The gas will dissipate with the wind currents, but the uncertainty of living in a chemical Russian roulette remains entrenched in the lungs of a people who demand to stop being the collateral damage of industrial progress. Image | Zarateman and Gustavo Fring Xataka | The United Kingdom has found lithium under its feet, but extracting it is going to be a billion-dollar logistical nightmare

Huawei has had half the West against it for six years. Your answer is the Mate 80 Pro

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The market had been warning for some time: Huawei was going to return. Google’s veto United States ostracized to a Chinese company that was taken as a scapegoat at the dawn of the current trade war. What was initially a blow has ended in a big comeback leading he domestic market with more than 18% share. and he Huawei Mate 80 Pro It is another example that the brand does not want us to forget about its mobile phones outside of China. There are a couple of very important asterisks. In short. We told it a few days ago: Huawei’s best feature has been neither its technological innovation nor its investment to give wings to the Chinese foundry. His best quality has been resilience. That translates to 880 billion yuan (about $127 billion). registered in 2025. Put in context, it is the company’s second best year after the glorious 2020 in which it hugged Samsung and Apple and in which it achieved 891,000 million yuan (129,000 million dollars). And it has achieved this by looking at the local market, building an ecosystem under the name of HarmonyOS (something that is very popular in China, and Xiaomi is an example of this) and managing to be in all parts of the business. Huawei was no longer just consumer technology: it was home automation and even cars. The Western blow pushed not the reinvention of a company that was already on that path, but rather to seek that goal more ardently. And it seems that they are moving, again, outside their borders. Mate 80 Pro. In Spain we have continued receiving Huawei devices. For example, smart watches are some of the best you can buy – we just published our review of the Huawei Watch GT Runner 2-, in headphones they have models as interesting as the FreeClip 2 and we have continued receiving tablets and some mobile phones like the Huawei Pure 80 or the Mate X7a foldable. However, not all of them arrived and the Mate 80 Pro, the company’s spearhead, seemed trapped in China. In a recent presentation that we were able to attend in Madrid, Huawei has shown a slide in which it confirms the price in euros of the Huawei Mate 80 Pro, a mobile phone with a 6.75-inch OLED screen, with 8,000 nits of brightnesswith its own Kirin 9030 processor and a triplet of cameras made up of: 50 Mpx main with variable aperture from f/1.4 to f/4.0. 40 Mpx wide angle. 48 Mpx 4x telephoto with an impressive f/2.1 aperture. They have not talked about markets, yes. No concessions. The price? 1,299 euros that are a declaration of intentions. In the analysis of the Huawei Mate X7 we have seen that the performance of that chip is more similar to that of a mid-range than that of a TOP range. It is commendable that they have managed to develop it without being able to access the resources of the West – of ASMLmainly-, but it is not a processor for a 1,300 euro mobile. It also doesn’t have 5G at this point. However, in the rest of the sections in which they can innovate and grow as they did before the veto, they are doing so. 100 W charging, cameras that promise a lot, good storage speed and screens to match. It’s a “here we are, we continue making high-end mobile phones”, a declaration of intent and a kind of “because I can”. The reality: it’s complicated. However, there is no denying the elephant in the room: the Huawei Mate 80 Pro, no matter how good it looks, still cannot natively access Google mobile services. It is no longer not being able to install your apps, but others that depend on those GMS They won’t work on the phone. It’s a huge concession for many users, but it may not sound so bad to others. We are in a time in which many Europeans are beginning to resonate with the idea of ​​abandoning American technology and softwareand that’s where Google comes in. In hardware there are proposals such as Fairphone 6 and every time more alternatives appear of software so as not to have to depend on those American programs. Who had… retained? As I say, it is undeniable that Huawei’s position by sneaking a mobile phone for 1,300 euros with so many concessions is complex and optimistic, but it is still an interesting approach: they are gaining confidence thanks to rising like foam in the local market and they know that they have good foundations and, at least, a name that continues to sound good in the heads of many who have good memories of beasts like the P30 Pro. At the moment, we don’t know where this Mate 80 Pro will end up being released. Perhaps that announcement of the price of 1,299 euros is putting its foot in to test the temperature of the water, but although they know that they are competing at a disadvantage, a mobile phone of that price is a better thermometer of how the European market vibrates than a 2,100 euro foldable like the X7. In Xataka | Chinese mobile phones conquered the market by dividing into a thousand different brands. Now they are doing just the opposite.

Genetics suggests that Neanderthal males preferred human females

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We have known for years that today’s non-African populations They preserve between 1 and 4% Neanderthal DNA as a legacy of the prehistoric crossings that existed. However, when looking at our X chromosome (which determines sex), geneticists repeatedly encountered an absolute void, a phenomenon that has been dubbed ‘neanderthal desert‘since there was no ancient DNA. And the question here is quite obvious: Why did the imprint of this species disappear from our sex chromosome, but not from the rest of the chromosomes? The key data. From here science began to investigate, and a new published article in Science proposes an answer much more focused on demographics: sex between both species It had a very strong gender bias. That is to say, the fact that a member of each species had sexual relations with great frequency has survived to this day with this genetic imprint. How do you know? What was done to be able to see what happened to the genetic material and its passage between generations within the Neanderthal populations was simply to analyze genomes. Specifically, the DNA of women from current African populations, who do not have any Neanderthal genetics, and compared them with genomes of female Neanderthals, mainly the Neanderthal of Altaibut also specimens of Chagyrskaya and Vindija. The result. Here the researchers realized that the X chromosome of the Neanderthals analyzed presented a large amount of DNA that came from the Homo sapiens. Specifically, an excess of 62% was seen compared to the rest of the organism’s chromosomes. The only thing that confirms is that the genetic exchange between both species was not a one-way change, but rather that both parties were enriched, causing the Neanderthals to also have sapiens DNA, but in different proportions. A matter of preferences. How is such a brutal asymmetry in the sex chromosomes explained? Until now, the most accurate hypothesis to justify our “Neanderthal desert” was biological incompatibility between species. Here it was thought that male hybrids suffered fertility or viability problems if they received this DNA, which caused a negative selection of testicular genes that erased the Neanderthal imprint of our X chromosomes. However, science has now ruled out that this 62% excess on the Neanderthal side is due to the sapiens DNA giving them an evolutionary advantage, since they ended up disappearing in a until now inexplicable way. The conclusion. Everything indicates here that there was an extreme sexual bias in the miscegenation. That is, the crossings occurred overwhelmingly between Neanderthal males and females. Homo sapiens, and always with this pattern. This mating preference persisted across generations, where Neanderthal males preferred females sapiensand the resulting hybrid offspring were also “preferred” in group dynamics. In this way we are faced with the piece that fits into the bidirectional puzzle of our evolutionary history. There are nuances. As usual, there is always a ‘but’ in these stories. In this case, the researchers point out that, although the genetics are quite clear, the behavioral interpretation has nuances, since the pattern we see today could be the result of a mixture of factors. One of them is that societies where women sapiens They left their tribe to join the clans of their Neanderthal partners, introducing their X chromosome into the genetic pool of the other species. Images | Jan Jakubowski In Xataka | The extinction of Neanderthals has always been a mystery. Science now believes that they are still with us

It turns out that to innovate in mobile phones, only one thing was needed: (very) useful little things.

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Neither the latest Qualcomm processor, nor “agent” AI, nor a camera with 200 megapixels. What surprised us most this week with the launch of the Galaxy S26 Ultra It was his anti-gossip screen. A friendly reminder that, perhaps, innovation in technology does not involve the most technical characteristic, but rather the most useful one. A touch of attention. We have been criticizing for years (and rightly so) that mobile phones do not innovate. For some time now, attending the presentation of a new model is usually summarized in: Same mobile Best camera (sometimes not even that) More power AI functions that, with a high probability, we will never use The umpteenth improvement in hardware that has been nearing its peak for years This is why, as soon as we see one of those novelties of the “oh, I want that in my daily life“, we return to that smile from when mobile phones were devices designed to make our lives easier, and not so much to sell hardware deployments at the highest possible price. The anti-peeping screen. Yes, we already know that there are €1 screen protectors that perform a similar function, but the point is that this screen includes it from the factory, and with brutal technology. It is capable of regulating the emission of the pixels so that we are only able to see the panel from the front. This opens the door to having a native security layer on our screen and, by the way, being able to put a quality screen protector on it (protection ones are usually not). The matte screen. A couple of years ago, Samsung surprised the world with the matte screen of the Samsung Galaxy S24an anti-reflective layer that represented a before and after when viewing content. Apple tried something similar in its last generation, but couldn’t come close. Once again, a silent innovation that did not impress on the technical sheet, but in terms of utility it was outstanding. Apple’s square sensor. People take selfies, lots of selfies. And turning the phone to do them is not a drama, but if you can save it, all the better. It is just what Apple invented with its iPhone 17 and the square sensor: one that allows the mobile to record and take photos both vertically and horizontally in the same position. NXTpaper screens. Although the superiority of the physical book over the electronic reader is a debate that I do not want to open (and that I do not intend to lose), TCL has been doing something for some time that its competition does not dare to imitate: dual panelswhich can be used as an electronic reader and as a traditional panel. How does it work? These phones and tablets are modified LCD panels with a different matrix than the rest. The backlighting system, the anti-reflective layer and the microtexture of the surface itself are adjusted to emulate an electronic ink panel, and thus be much less aggressive to the eye when we are reading. 10,000mAh batteries. Quietly, smartphone batteries are undergoing their biggest revolution. The main change: betting on silicon to give us much more generous capacities. Because yes, innovating is making the phone last three days, and not one as we have been accustomed to for years. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Mobile phones have been stagnant for five years when it comes to innovation. There is an explanation

How to know if the music you listen to on Spotify or Apple Music is from a real artist or made by artificial intelligence

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Let’s give you some clues about how to detect if the music you are listening to Is it by a real artist or is it made by artificial intelligence. We are going to focus on that music that is on streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. The way to detect it is not by looking for things in the music itself, but looking at the artist who created the song. Music made by artificial intelligence does not stop flood streaming servicesand they are having enough trouble stopping it. Many times it is easy to detect, it is music without soul, but one way or another, they are there taking clicks and listens, and the money that should go to real musicians. Therefore, we are going to give you a list of things you should pay attention to to detect if what you hear is from a real musician or not. It is not that if one of these points is met it is music made by AI, but that the more of these red flags it raises, the more it will be pointed in that direction. Listen carefully to the music If you are going to check if an artist is real or if they are songs made by AI, it is possibly because you are noticing something strange in the music. Here, you will be able to notice it especially depending on the musical genre you listen to. This is because elements such as excessively clean voices or lack of natural breathing can be the first indication, although in some commercial genres you will also find this due to excess production. Ultimately, the music will sound artificial, soulless. The phrases in the case of singing will sound mechanical and without any emotion, and the lyrics will also be quite bad. Pay attention to how the instruments sound musicals, because if they sound too compact, like a mush where you can’t distinguish each one of them and their clean sound, it could also be due to AI… or again, due to bad production. Biography and photo of the artist If music has left you suspicious, play then Click on the artist’s name to enter their profile within the streaming platform. The first thing that may make you suspicious is that there is no photo of the artist or the bandand instead there is some landscape or generic image. The fact that the photo of the band is not a photo of the musicians or the soloist is something that should make us suspicious. In the case of a photo of people appearing, you can check if it is made by AI, if it looks unnatural or if there is an excess of processing of the image, but normally AI artists do not usually risk this. It is also worth checking the biography of the artist or band. Look out for some suspicious signs, like the fact that it doesn’t include names of the members, where they are from, or those biographical data that usually give you a little more context about the artists. Instead, “musicians” made by AI will give ambiguous descriptions, and there will be times when in a fit of honesty they will directly say that it is music made by artificial intelligence. Discography and volume of releases The next step would be to look at your albums. If you see that their first releases have been around for many years, this would indicate that they are a normal band, because the AI ​​that generates music has only been able to resemble real music for a couple of years or three. If the releases they have are all new, it could also be because they are a new artist. Then look at the volume of the pitches. Human musicians, those of flesh and blood, can take from one to five or six years to release each new record. If you see that the artist has 2 or 5 full albums released in two monthsthen this should set off all the alarms. It’s AI. And by this we mean albums, not singles or individual songs. you should also pay attention to how the music sounds. If all the songs seem too samey you should also be suspicious, and if the track titles are too generic and simple too. Real artists are not a donut factorythey are not going to release an album every two weeks or every two months, because this requires a process of composition, recording, mastering, and creation of physical formats. Nobody is going to release 40 songs to you in a year if they don’t cheat. Find information about the artist and his concerts If your suspicions are still there, then comes the next level, that of looking for information about these artists on other pages. The first thing could be search for photos or videos of live concerts on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram. Also look for news on music websites. You can also search for concert dates, if they appear at festivals, if they are mentioned on networks. Come on, there must be proof that they are artists that someone has seen or known, because the normal thing is that the objective of musicians is to play live, not simply record albums. You can also search for his name on specialized platforms. Discogs is the largest database of albums and music releases on the Internet, it is a good place to start, in addition to Wikipedia or All Music. Also look for specialized media, such as Metal Archives for rock and heavy metal, and those for other musical genres. In the end, If it seems as if the artist does not exist because there are no photos or any reference outside of streaming platforms… possibly because they don’t exist. There will be artists who use AI In short, if everything we have told you above points in one direction, you will have already located a fake musician who is really an AI algorithm. … Read more

OPPO Watch X2 Mini, analysis

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Wear OS left behind the obligation to charge watches every day with the enormous step forward that the OnePlus Watch 2. I was able to analyze it and was surprised by its duality: dual processor and dual operating system. OnePlus has promoted this innovation, so has OPPO. The Watch X2 Mini that I have tested is a worthy heir. Very compact, loaded with features despite being contained, with five days of autonomy and good performance in the sports record. At least for a smartwatch that is not specifically geared toward workouts. With these credentials, I have to say that the OPPO Watch X2 Mini seems like a great recommendation to me. I explain step by step why. OPPO Watch X2 Mini technical sheet OPPO Watch X2 Mini SCREEN 1.32 inch round AMOLED panel 466 x 466 pixel resolution 352 PPI Brightness from 600 to 1000 nits 2.5D Crystal DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 43.2 x 43.2 x 11mm 37.8 grams PROCESSOR Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ BES2800BP RAM 2GB STORAGE 32GB BATTERY 354mAh 6.5W magnetic charging Autonomy from 2.5 to 7 days OPERATING SYSTEM Android 14 with ColorOS Watch 7.0 RTOS Compatible with Android 10 and iOS 14 CONNECTIVITY eSIM 5G and 2.4G WiFi NFC Bluetooth 5.2 OTHERS Resistance 5 ATM and IP68 Optical heart rate and blood oxygen sensor Compass Barometer Stainless steel case PRICE 299 euros OPPO Watch The price could vary. We earn commission from these links OPPO Watch X2 Mini, our experience Design: classic and with exaggerated frames. The watch is quite small for a large wrist like mine. Even so, it does not give a reduced experience, quite the contrary: OPPO has made an effort to maximize the X2 Mini in all aspects. From its excellent stainless steel case to the hardware that beats under the 1.32-inch round screen. The watch is mini, the front shows it. Even so, the frames are thick: around 5 mm. It includes two control buttons that are enough to control anything that is beyond touch. And the back side maintains the heart sensors and a POGO connector for charging. The alignment with the charger is magnetic and said charger has a USB-C port. This way the cable, which also comes in the box, is not damaged. The OPPO Watch X2 Mini seems like the perfect watch for those looking for a complete smartwatch without feeling like they are lifting weights every time they raise their arm. He’s small, but he’s tough. And with a detail: the strap pin is the standard 18 mm. Finding compatible straps is as simple as it is cheap. Blood oxygen saturation measurement The screen shines with its own light. OPPO mounts an OLED panel that is perfectly visible outdoors, even training in sunlight. The brightness is automatic and adapts without problems to the light conditions. It is compatible with Always On, with what that entails: battery life is reduced in that mode. The screen has smoothed edges so that the edges do not interfere with gestures. It is tactile and is protected with hardened glass: I did not scratch it during the weeks of testing (miracle). The watch includes a good number of watch faces, supports video watchfaces, and is compatible with the thousands of Wear OS on Google Play. It’s impossible to get bored. Two is much more than double. When I tested the OnePlus Watch 2 I marveled at the idea of ​​including a dual processor and dual operating system. After the evolution, the OPPO Watch For me it is the way to go in Wear OS. Smartwatch and activity bracelet chip; with software that maintains this duality: Wear OS when the watch uses apps and RTOS for the rest of the tasks. The result is an experience out of ten: the X2 Watch Mini 2 switches between the SoC and soft tandem without the user noticing anything. I have not seen it slow, the jump between sports activities is fast, the registrations are accurate, it has access to Google Play and there are no problems with NFC payments. OPPO has the recipe for the best smartwatch and knows how to cook it perfectly in the Watch X2 Mini. What do smartwatch manufacturers have against mountain biking? A good watch for amateur athletes. Although I play sports every day (or try to), I do not consider myself an athlete. Yes, I like to keep track of all the training sessions to see the evolution. I use a Garmin Epix 2 and it’s fantastic for me. Well: the OPPO Watch X2 Mini is not far behind. I have tested the watch running, walking, high intensity routines, strength training and mountain bike rides. The results have been good for a general purpose smartwatch: It supports more than 100 sports training modes. Too bad the mountain bike is not available (neither is the padel, sorry). Heart rate tracking is sufficiently accurate at low and medium heart rate. Above 150-160 I have seen a margin of error of up to 40 keystrokes. Everything compared to a chest strap connected to the Garmin. Above, OPPO Watch X2 Mini; Below, chest strap connected to Garmin. The OPPO does not register variations or very high heart rates as well. Same exercise: 6.08 km run Related to the previous point, the Watch X2 Mini follows pulse variations as long as they are not triggered by high-intensity interval exercise. In outdoor distance measurements, the positioning system remains at a very good level: the margin of error of the routes is around 50 meters per kilometer. Very quick positioning before the start of practice: less than ten seconds is usually enough. The track record has some saw teeth and may not follow the paths on the map 100% accurately. In terms of total distances, the overall result is decent. Left, Garmin GPS; right, Vivo GPS. About mountain biking practice The personal trainer is suitable for practice, the watch looks great outdoors and withstands harsh weather conditions. Also sweat. Recording height is also suitable: use the … Read more

Japan was the king of semiconductors in the 80s. Rapidus is its only hope to compete in this market again

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In the 1980s, Japan did not compete in semiconductors and technology. It was devastating. In 1988, Japanese companies controlled more than half of the world semiconductor market, and NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi and Fujitsu were above giants of the time in the US such as Motorola, Texas Instruments or Intel. That golden era ended with the hyperspecialization that emerged both in South Korea and China and (especially) in Taiwan, but now Japan wants to make a splash again. what has happened. A year ago the technology industry was surprised by the birth of Rapidus Corporationa company born from the alliance of several Japanese giants (Sony, Toyota, SoftBank) with the aim of returning to Japan part of its relevance in the field of semiconductors. The initial plan was very ambitious: they wanted to jump directly to 2 nm by 2027. As we will see later, they have had to delay that forecast, but what has also changed (a lot) is the structure of the company. Japan like main investor. The Japanese government has decided to make Rapidus a centerpiece of national security, and is taking unprecedented control of the company. He will become the largest shareholder, although initially he will only exercise 10% of the voting rights to leave management in private hands. Of course: the State reserves the right to raise that participation above 50% if the company is experiencing difficulties. Total capital has skyrocketed to 420 billion yen ($2.7 billion), when in 2022 the investment did not exceed 50 million. The golden action. The Japanese executive has made use of a legal mechanism by acquiring the so-called “golden shares” with which he can exercise his veto in critical decisions such as changes in management or mergers. The objective is to shield Rapidus against foreign capital acquisitions and guarantee the sovereignty of the project. Which is exactly the same thing we are seeing around the world, of course: each country wants to have its own apples in its basket. Investors who are also clients. Financial support comes from the Japanese government, but also from some large Japanese business groups such as the aforementioned Sony and Toyota or Denso. In total, 32 companies have invested 167.6 billion yen (1.075 billion dollars) and will contribute to this commitment by also being customers of the silicon that Rapidus can produce. They remain just as ambitious… or more. Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike has adjusted the development plans for his chips, and has delayed the arrival of mass production to March 2028. That’s bad news, but not so much when we discover that the company has plans to go beyond 2nm and is preparing to be able to make 1.4nm chips and even 1 nm. Fast as gunpowder. One of the factors that want to differentiate Rapidus is its promise of rapid delivery of semiconductors. The project aims to automate both the manufacturing, packaging and testing of the chips. These last two are processes with great manual intervention, but at Rapidus they believe they have the key to making them much more autonomous. If they succeed, they could reduce the cycle time of semiconductors by 66% and thus beat even giants like TSMC by the way. Japan turns to chips. Japan’s aspiration is striking, and its Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, seems to be clear that the commitment to this segment must be notable. In fact, Japan is investing a proportion of its GDP (0.71%) in semiconductors much higher than that of the US (0.21%) or Germany (0.41%). Challenges. The strategy, of course, has its critics. Takero Doi, professor at Keio University, point “There are many cases in which public-private investment has led to systems that lacked accountability. It is important to clarify who will lead the project, the private sector or the government.” Plan B. Although the plan with Rapidus is ambitious, the country is actually playing both sides. While boosting its own business, the government has made commitments with TSMC to upgrade its manufacturing plants in Japan. This makes it have a hybrid ecosystem: it attracts the experience and knowledge of the semiconductor giant while on the other hand trying to create a national alternative. Image | Xataka with Freepik In Xataka | Panasonic was the bastion of 100% Japanese TVs after Sony’s step back. Now it has surrendered to China

The subscription to avoid ads is now official in Europe

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The rumors had been circulating for a long time.but now we are no longer talking about speculation. Meta has confirmed that the ads will come to WhatsApp. The company thus introduces advertising in the most used messaging application in the world and, at the same time, opens the door to an alternative for those who prefer to avoid them: a subscription that will allow you to eliminate advertising from your mobile phone itself with a few touches. The change is not minor. In fact, everything indicates that we are facing one of the most important turns in the history of the platform. WhatsApp with advertising: what changes. With official confirmation on the table, the immediate question is where these ads will appear and to what extent they will alter the user experience. As explained by the company itself on its help pageadvertising will not invade private conversations. Ads will be displayed only in states and channels, while “personal messages and calls” will remain ad-free. In other words, the most intimate spaces of the application will remain intact, while advertising will be concentrated in the areas closest to public or shared content. How to remove WhatsApp ads. With the arrival of ads, another question inevitably arises: how to prevent them from appearing. If we do not want promotional messages to sneak between the states or the channels we follow, the only way will be to pay. Meta has chosen to introduce a subscription that will allow you to recover an ad-free experience within the application. It is a strategy that fits with the movement that the company has already started on Facebook and Instagramwhere it offers ad-free versions in exchange for a monthly payment. WhatsApp subscription. This is where the option to remove ads comes into the picture. According to the company, this subscription will be available in the European region, although not all users will be able to activate it automatically from the first moment. In order to subscribe, it is necessary to meet two conditions: have the WhatsApp account linked to the Meta account center and be over 18 years of age. The process to activate the subscription is done from the application itself and follows these steps: In WhatsApp, tap Settings > Account. Go to Ad Preferences for States and Channels and select No Ads. In the Account Center, tap Ads Preferences > Subscribe for ad-free use. Press Continue with subscription. Review the subscription and tap Continue > Continue Payment. Tap Pay Now to complete your payment through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Tap Close after seeing the confirmation screen. How much does a WhatsApp subscription cost?. The price is, without a doubt, one of the most relevant aspects, and for now it remains surrounded by some uncertainty. In our tests from Spain, the option to activate the subscription is not yet available, something that could be explained by a gradual rollout that Meta would be carrying out in phases. With a WhatsApp account linked to the account center, it is currently only possible to activate the subscription without ads on Facebook and Instagram, with a price of 5.99 euros per month for one account and 4 euros per month for each additional account if the management is done from a web browser. The specialized site WABetaInfo, a regular source to follow WhatsApp news, points out that the payments of this subscription will be monthly. As explained, the price may vary depending on the platform and the user’s location. Those who subscribe from Facebook.com or Instagram.com usually pay around 3 euros per month to remove ads, while doing so through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store would raise the figure to about 4 euros per month. It is advisable to take this information with caution. For our part, we have written to Meta to try to confirm the details and clarify what the final price will be. What happens to the privacy of chats. The arrival of advertising also raises another obvious question: what happens to the privacy of conversations. At this point, WhatsApp insists that the operation of the platform does not change. Messages are still protected by end-to-end encryption, meaning no one outside the conversation can access their content. As Meta explains, ad targeting will be based on limited signals, such as language, country, or user interaction with other ads within the platform. The conversations, at least on paper, will remain private. Images | Goal In Xataka | We already know how ads will work on ChatGPT. We have bad and not so bad news

Zuckerberg in the front row of Prada seems like a mistake in The Matrix, but it’s actually Meta’s biggest statement of intent

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Any regular attendee of Milan Fashion Week know what to expect in the first row: a perfectly choreographed ecosystem of K-pop idols, internet stars and Hollywood actors with million-dollar contracts. However, at the presentation of the Prada Fall/Winter 2026 women’s collection, a figure appeared which at first glance seemed like a mistake in The Matrix: Mark Zuckerberg. As the magazine points out GQthe usual fashion audience is undergoing a metamorphosis and the technological elite is reclaiming its place in the spotlight, as demonstrated the appearance by Jeff Bezos in Jonathan Anderson’s debut for Dior. However, the founder of Meta did not finish blending in with the environment. As described The Times With a certain British irony, Zuckerberg looked tense in front of the flashes, like “someone who has ever heard of the concept of sitting on a bench, but has never tried it,” awkwardly spreading his fingers over his pants and not really knowing where to look as the models paraded. But what are the Silicon Valley elite doing there? Despite its recent change of image – which some have dubbed the Zuckaissanceleaving behind his uniform of gray t-shirts for Balenciaga clothes and gold chains—his presence in Milan does not respond to the mere whim of a shopping tourist. It’s a top-notch corporate chess move. As detailed The Timesthe key was in the seating arrangement (the coveted Frow either front row). Zuckerberg was not placed next to any random celebrity, but strategically shoulder to shoulder with Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s marketing director and son of designer Miuccia Prada. At his side, his wife, Priscilla Chan, shared confidences with none other than Andrea Guerra, executive director of the Italian brand. Besides, they fulfilled the aesthetic duties completely changing her style for the sobriety of Prada. lhaute couture as a Trojan horse. All this social choreography points in a single commercial direction. According to the CNBCMeta and Prada are collaborating closely to launch luxury smart glasses powered by artificial intelligence. The corporate bridge that connects Silicon Valley with Milan is already built. Goal has been collaborating for years successfully with EssilorLuxottica, the Franco-Italian giant that manufactures the current Ray-Ban Meta. Glasses that, by the way, will reach the not inconsiderable figure of 7 million units sold in 2025. Given that EssilorLuxottica has just renewed its licensing agreement with Prada until the 2030s, the triangulation of the business is evident. The goal of this maneuver is to legitimize personal surveillance technology through exclusivity. As explained TechCrunch, Bringing AI to high fashion fills a niche that more sporty or casual brands like Oakley and Ray-Ban can’t reach. Consolidating these glasses as a symbol of status and luxury is the definitive step to benefit the global image of the Meta brand. The technological muscle behind the design. For a Prada product to make sense, the technology inside cannot fail, and this is where the specialized technology media provides the crucial context. As explained in an in-depth analysis by my colleague Lacort in Xatakahe hardware The current Ray-Ban Meta is brilliant—fantastic as speakers and great as a discreet camera—but its software is the weak link. Your “Meta AI” assistant currently feels like a “clueless intern” suffering from a lack of context and erratic responses. To solve this and live up to a luxury label, Meta has taken out the checkbook. Another recent report by Xataka details that the company has just signed a multi-million dollar agreement with NVIDIA to acquire its new generation of server infrastructure (the Rubin architecture and Grace processors). Mark Zuckerberg knows that to sell the glasses of the future he needs to achieve what he calls “personal superintelligence”, processing data in real time without the current glitches, whatever the cost. The elephant in the room. Despite the change of look and multi-million dollar investment, Meta faces a challenge that fashion cannot easily hide. Just a few days before sitting on the catwalk, the owner of Meta was testifying in a Los Angeles courtroom in a landmark trial over social media addiction. Most ironic of all, the judge threatened to hold her team in contempt for showing up in the courtroom wearing Meta glasses equipped with a camera, in a place where recording is prohibited. As he warns TechCrunch, Prada glasses will arrive at a time of growing citizen rejection of constant surveillance devices. Society is beginning to react against invasive technology. The rejection is so real that, as the media highlights, there is already a developer who has created a mobile application exclusively to notify you if someone around you is wearing AI glasses. This raises serious doubts about whether Meta will dare to incorporate controversial features such as facial recognition, something that The New York Times He already suggested that it was under study. Does the devil wear Prada? At the end of the parade, one detail did not go unnoticed. As observed Business InsiderZuckerberg was not wearing his signature Meta smart glasses while sitting in the front row. And he didn’t need it. The photograph of him sitting next to Prada’s leadership was the message in itself. Silicon Valley has finally understood that to convince millions of people to wear a camera, microphone and AI on their faces every day, design matters as much as microchips. The next great technological revolution will not be announced in an aseptic California auditorium with a presenter in jeans; It is being decided right now, under the spotlight on the Milan catwalk. Image | José Goulao and Mark Zuckerberg Xataka | AMD wants to be the great alternative to NVIDIA in AI chips, and Meta has a plan that involves both

If China invades Taiwan, Taiwan will not notice because a drone has been disguised as an optical illusion for months

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In modern aviation, each aircraft carries a unique “digital license plate” that identifies it to the world in real time. It makes perfect sense. It is a system designed to provide transparency and security, but it also demonstrates a most disturbing paradox: what appears on a screen is not always what is really flying. China has just put it into practice. A bird, a fighter or a drone. A Reuters investigation has revealed that, since last August, at least 23 flights over the South China Sea have been registered under the callsign YILO4200, associated with a long-range Chinese military drone, although the signals it emitted told a different story. It happens that on civil radars it appeared as a sanctioned Belarusian freighter, also as a British Typhoon fighterlike a North Korean plane or even like a Western executive jet. These were not specific errors or programming errors. Was a deliberate impersonation of air identities by manipulating 24-bit transponder codes that identify position, course and speed. “We have never seen anything like this.” The middle counted that open intelligence analysts and those responsible for aerial tracking platforms agreed on something unusual: this pattern was unprecedented. It was not the classic drone flying “in the dark” without emitting a signal. It was just the opposite. He flew showing a false identity, changing it even in the middle of the journey, testing in real time to what extent he could “dirty” the aerial chart. “We had never seen anything like this,” summarized one of the experts who analyzed the data. It didn’t seem like an accident or a technical anomaly. It seemed like a conscious attempt at operational deception. The ultimate optical illusion. The drone, identified as a Wing Loong 2 With a 20-meter wingspan, it took off from Hainan and traced star- or hourglass-shaped patterns for hours over sensitive areas, including naval routes and areas frequented by submarines. In one of the missions the identity of a Typhoon of the RAF with that of three other aircraft in just twenty minutes before virtually “landing” like the Belarusian plane. On another occasion he posed as that same freighter while the real aircraft was simultaneously taking off in Europe. It was a full-fledged aerial optical illusion sustained for months. Taiwan as a backdrop. Not only that. Apparently, the trajectories were not random. Many were projected towards the Bashi channelcritical point between Taiwan and the Philippinesand when superimposed on a map of the island they crossed areas of military interest around Taipei and its southern coast. In fact, they also brushed against American and Japanese bases in Okinawa and the Ryukyu. It wasn’t just about surveillance. The pattern therefore suggests a digital rehearsal to a bigger stagea test of how to generate confusion in the early stages of a crisis in the Strait. Confusion in decisive milliseconds. They remembered in research that, in highly automated conflicts, milliseconds can separate detection from firing. Introducing noise, false identities and contradictory echoes can delay critical decisions and overwhelm chains of command. Although masking would hardly completely fool advanced military radars, it can sow doubts, hide intelligence missions, or fuel disinformation operations. The key is not so much to disappear. Is seem like something else. If China invades, the warning could be a fiction. Ultimately, the most disturbing idea is not only that a drone has been eight months in disguise in front of Taiwan’s radars. It is rather that that capacity has been tested with patience, repetition and apparent impunity. If you will, if China finally decides to go beyond in Taiwannot even the island itself is going to realize at the first moment what it is seeing on its screens. Because from now on, what appears might not be what actually flies. And that is the true revolution of the movement: a possible invasion that begins, not with missiles, but with a false identity flashing on the radar. An “ally” that comes close and that in reality is not so much. Image | 中文（臺灣）：​中華民國總統府, Mztourist – In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: China has concentrated thousands of fishing boats off Japan, and its idea is not to fish In Xataka | China has just mounted the largest cannon in its history on the bow of a ship. And that can only point in one direction

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