Mobile Tech & Gadgets

AI is not a product, it is a weapon. And Europe has none

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A few days ago the Government of Spain showed its chest announcing that the EU AI Regulatory Sandbox project had been a success. It is difficult to understand why, but while these efforts to regulate require notable investments (in this particular project, 4.3 million euros), there is a stark and forceful reality: Spain and the EU are light years ahead of the US and China in terms of innovation in AI. And in this situation, how will the EU survive? Chronology of events. That was already a problem before, but each new advance of the US or Chinese frontier models makes that hole seem bigger and bigger. We have seen it with what happened to Claude Fable 5which has been vetoed following the order of the US Government. The recent chronology allows us to explain what happened: April 8, 2026: Anthropic releases Claude Mythos Previewa model that according to them is so powerful in terms of cybersecurity that they avoid releasing it publicly. Your capacity is being confirmed by companies like Mozilla, which is one of the privileged to be able to use it. June 10, 2026: Anthropic launches Claude Fable 5a kind of layered version of Claude Mythos Preview. According to the benchmarks, the model is a qualitative leap, but it has several security measures to avoid being used maliciously. Its availability was initially public in the different plans (free and paid) of Claude.ai. As of June 22, it would only be possible to access it through the API. That was the plan, at least. June 12, 2026: The US Government forces Anthropic to turn off the tap and not allow anyone who is not a US citizen to access Fable 5. Anthropic then decides cut off access to absolutely everyone to this model. AI is already a weapon. All this development of events, still in full effervescencedemonstrates something important: AI has stopped being just a tool and has become a technological weapon. It is the confirmation of that Oppenheimer moment which we already alluded to in the past. Oppenheimer Moment. What happened with the atomic bomb – a technology that the US Government ended up appropriating – is partly happening now with models like Fable 5: it is the state that ends up having the power, whether we like it or not, so that the world can use it. Its creators, Anthropic, have practically no say even though they have already tried to defend their position. with the scandal of the Pentagon and the Department of Defense. I’ll see who I let use the AI. The US decision to cut off access to a commercial AI model is unprecedented. Hiding behind the protection of National Security, the Government of this country has decided that Fable 5 was simply too dangerous for other countries to use. He has exerted absolute control over a disturbing technology, and he has done it without anyone being able to do anything. That access to AI can be vetoed overnight due to government imposition once again makes it clear that those who invest in these models have a strategic advantage that can be definitive. China takes another stance. In fact, China is currently proposing a radically opposite strategy: open weight AI models are the norm among its large companies and its startups. DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi or Xiaomi Mimo are some of the clear examples of how it is possible to develop advanced AI models with another approach. At the moment China has not vetoed any of these models, and all of them have become a great resource for companies around the world to improve and use. Even North American companies do it: Cursor’s Composer 2.5 model It is nothing more than a derived version of Kimi 2.5. AI as a commercial weapon. What we are seeing is another episode of the great trade war that both the US and China are maintaining at a technological level. Both play with their resources to put pressure on the other party—or the entire world. But before, the pressure was exerted with things like advanced AI chips or rare earths. Now the US has also decided that the AI ​​software itself (the models) can be used in the same way. And the companies that develop them don’t seem to be able to do much about it. Spain boasts about what it shouldn’t. But as we said, in Spain what we have are announcements of regulatory efforts. It is true that the intention is surely good and that the idea is reasonable (to develop the technology responsibly), but that focus has proven to be a problem: while Spain boasts of being a pioneer in the application of AI regulation in Europe, our country barely has its own tools in this area. ALIAthe model focused on co-official languages, remains in a surprising background, and what is We have an agency, AESIAwhich once again demonstrates that ambition to regulate while neglecting the other part: that of innovating. Europe is not much better. What is happening in Spain is almost a reflection of what we are seeing in Europe. Only the French company Mistral is trying to advance with its own AI models, but for now its developments They are very far from the frontier models of the US or China. In Spain we have Magnificbut this startup is not so much a developer of its own models as an aggregator of those already existing in the creative field. Atomic bombs on one hand, forks on the other. It is probably an exaggeration to compare Fable 5 with the atomic bomb, but one thing is clear: the US has AI models that are effectively far above any European development. It is in a sense as if they had a bomb and Europe was trying to compete with a fork. What experts have been saying for almost three years is that the path chosen by the EU is a mistake. What is needed is investment in innovation, and not with government projects, … Read more

Airbus has just completed a test that brings its most anticipated moment closer

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He SIRTAP It is not a new name in the Spanish defense. Airbus and the Ministry of Defense have been presenting it for some time as a program called to strengthen tactical capabilities, industrial development and greater sovereignty in defense capabilities, but this entire journey has a milestone that weighs more than any calendar: seeing it take off for the first time. That image has not yet been produced. What we have now is a prior advance, important precisely because it places the program closer to that moment and forces us to sort out the underlying question: what exactly is SIRTAP and why Spain has been pushing it for years. The ground test: The progress communicated by Airbus Defense It occurred on the runway of the Getafe Air Base, right next to the company’s facilities. There, the Airbus U850 SIRTAP completed its first taxi under full control from the ground control station. The test served to verify very specific elements: braking, steering, navigation sensors and commands sent from the station itself. In other words, the objective was to verify that the system begins to behave as an integrated aircraft, not as a sum of separately tested parts. It’s not just any drone: The SIRTAP is, in simple terms, an unmanned military aircraft controlled from the ground and designed to look further, for longer and in more demanding conditions than a conventional short-range system. Airbus presents it as a high-performance tactical UAS, with more than 20 hours of autonomy, range of more than 2,000 km and capacity for ISR missions, that is, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Its design also includes day and night operations, maritime surveillance and the simultaneous use of two payloads, such as electro-optical sensors and radar. The lesson from Ukraine: The importance of SIRTAP is best understood if we look at the role that unmanned systems have gained in recent conflicts. A CSIS Analysis on the lessons from Ukraine summarizes a clear idea: UAVs have extended operational range, reduced soldier exposure, and become common tools for reconnaissance, target acquisition, and precision strikes. This reading does not make the Spanish program a direct consequence of that war, but it does place it within an evident trend. Industrial dimension. The Ministry of Defense acquired nine SIRTAP systems, a formula that does not translate into nine aircraft, but in 27 unmanned aircraft and nine ground control stations, because each system is made up of three devices and one station. Added to this are two simulators to train Spanish operators. According to Defenseall aircraft will be manufactured and assembled at the Airbus Defense and Space plant in Getafe, with Airbus as the driving company and with the participation of Spanish companies. The Ministry itself has defined it as the first Class II/III military aeronautical system developed entirely in Spain. The calendar: The temporal nuance is important because the first flight does not now appear as a pending surprise, but as a milestone that was already on the roadmap. Airbus placed it in 2025 when he announced the contract with Defense in November 2023and the Ministry again indicated that same year as a reference in January 2025. Later, in June 2025Airbus explained that the prototype was ready to begin ground testing and that the inaugural flight was scheduled for the end of that year. With the new progress communicated by Airbus, the conclusion is clear: the program is moving, but the forecast for the first flight in 2025 is already behind us. Next step. SIRTAP is no longer just a promise on paper and is already beginning to pass real checks on the runway, but Airbus still has new test phases ahead before the flight campaign. The important thing is not to confuse one thing with the other: moving on the ground is not equivalent to taking off. It does confirm, however, that the project is approaching the moment that has marked its narrative for years. The next big leap will not be symbolic: it will be seen in the air. Images | Airbus In Xataka | The European fighter may have died, but there is a plan B to avoid the F-35. One with Spain, Germany and an unexpected guest

Meta spent at least $14 billion to win the AI ​​race. It’s been a year and it’s still exactly where it was.

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In Silicon Valley, and in technology in general, being huge does not guarantee being prepared to win every race. You can have money, talent, data centers, billions of users and machinery capable of integrating anything new into products we use every day. Still, when the board changes, so does the question. Meta has been trying for years to demonstrate that it can not only distribute artificial intelligence at scale, but rather compete at the center of the conversation. The problem is, when we think about chatbots, it still doesn’t seem to be the first name that comes to mind. 14.3 billion dollars. Ea is the figure that Reuters put on the table for a very specific operation. On June 13, 2025, the agency reported that Meta would take a 49% stake in Scale AI for that amount, in a deal that valued the startup at about $29 billion. Scale itself spoke of a significant new investment from Metaalthough he did not publish the exact amount of the investment. We are not talking, therefore, about everything that the company has allocated to AI, but rather about an identifiable bet within a much broader bill. What Meta saw in Scale AI. It was surely not one of those companies that we had on our radar when we were talking about artificial intelligence. It did not have the public shine of ChatGPT nor the showcase of Geminibut it did occupy an important place in the machinery that makes it possible to train and evaluate models. His work revolves around data that allows training, evaluating and improving AI systems, including labeled or curated data for training. The name behind the operation. Meta was not only betting on Scale AI, it was also incorporating Alexandr Wang into its new stage in artificial intelligence. The agency noted that the main driver of the move was to secure Scale’s founder to lead Meta’s superintelligence efforts. Scale itself confirmed that Wang would join Meta to work on its AI projects. So the investment should not be read solely as an entry into the capital of a data company, but as a way to accelerate leadership and talent. Context. The investment came at a time when Meta needed to strengthen its position in the advanced AI race. It occurred in a context marked by the poor reception of Call 4its latest large family of open models, and due to competitive pressure against companies like Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek. It was not just a matter of having more resources or adding a new piece to the organizational chart. What was at stake was to regain momentum in a field where other names were marking a good part of the technical, business and public conversation. The visible part. The most recognizable result of this new stage is Muse Sparkpresented by Meta as the first model of a new family created by Meta Superintelligence Labs. The company assures that it already powers Meta AI in its app and on the web, and that it is being deployed in WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and its AI glasses. Here, precisely, there is an important point: Meta does not need to convince the user to install another application from scratch: it already has the channels. But converting presence within their own platforms into public relevance within generative AI is another battle. The limit. Just because the model is within WhatsApp or Instagram does not mean that people use it for many tasks. Muse Spark does not seem to be occupying the place that the GPT or Gemini models do, to name a few examples. Despite this, according to ReutersMuse Spark has performed well in languages ​​and visual compression, although it has lagged behind in coding and abstract reasoning. Meta has managed to be present, but has not yet demonstrated that this presence is enough to change habits. Strategic turn. Muse Spark does not follow the path that had given Llama so much visibility: The Wall Street Journal described it as a closed model. The company itself speaks of an API in private preview for selected partners, not open and general access for any developer. That is to say, Meta has put a new model into circulation, but it has done so in a more controlled way, more integrated into its products and less open than the strategy with which it had tried to differentiate itself in AI. The crack. Meta can integrate AI into gigantic products, but the generative AI race is also played in another field: that of the names that the user recognizes when they need a chatbot. And there Zuckerberg’s company does not seem to occupy the same place as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Grok. The economic doubt has not disappeared either. And, a no small detail, advertising continues to be the engine of Meta’s income. Images | Mark Zuckerberg In Xataka | There is a company proving that AI can be the perfect interviewer for companies. His name is Orbio and he is from Madrid

We don’t know if AI is going to take our jobs. The problem is that whoever is developing the AI ​​doesn’t know it either.

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The arrival of AI has sown the seed of uncertainty in many sectors putting on the table a question for which, today, no one has a clear answer: Is AI going to take our jobs or not? The most curious thing is that not even those who are developing those models that would replace millions of employees they have a clear answer. Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, heads of OpenAI and Anthropic, have been offering two completely opposite visions for the same issue. After predicting a almost apocalyptic scenarioAltman now says everything will be fine. Amodei, for his part, warns of a very hard blow to employment. The data also does not shed light on the future employment of those who now must choose a career professional. Altman says he was wrong (for the better). Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, has greatly softened the defeatist speech he had been holding. A while ago I talked about entire job categories that were going to disappear. Now he says something else, although perhaps he does so more conditioned by the IPO of your company than for the certainty of a future with more jobs. According to collected ReutersAltman is “I’m glad I was wrong about this; I thought the elimination of entry-level administrative jobs would have already had a bigger impact than it actually has.” This is a pretty big script twist coming from someone who has been setting the pace for the sector for years. Amodei and Anthropic do not let up. At the other end of the narrative is Anthropic. Its co-founder, Chris Olah, repeated at a conference on ethics and AI in the vatican the same idea as his boss, Dario Amodei, has been defending for a long time. There is a real possibility that AI will replace human work on a large scale. It does not speak of a smooth change or an easy transition. Talk about a serious, and sudden, impact. However, although both talk about the same type of technology and with similar data on the table, their interpretations of what is to come are clearly opposite. Employees were an expense, but AI doesn’t come free. As leaders at major AI companies debate the future of the millions of employees they will replace with AI, companies are beginning to realize that AI It’s not going to be much cheaper either. than an employee. The companies that have opted the most for workforce cuts and increased use of AI are receiving your first billsand they scare. So they have put a stop to the so-called “tokenmaxxing“: pay without limit to use models without measuring the return well. According to collected Business InsiderUber’s chief operating officer said AI costs are increasingly difficult to justify, just after its chief technology officer burned the annual AI budget early. According what was published by The VergeMicrosoft, also began reducing Claude Code licenses among its employees, a cut that Fortune linked to the high cost of massive use of these models. More jobs for programmers and security teams. However, the implementation of AI in companies, far from eliminating jobs, is increasing the demand for certain profiles. According to data from the hiring platform Indeed collected by Axiosvacancies for software engineering positions have grown by 18% in the last year, while total employment falls by 4.3% in the same period. Why is this happening? More code written with AI means more code that someone has to check. Companies continue hiring security analystsauditors and people who validate what the models generate. Automation detects failures at high speed, but prioritizing and fixing them still depends on human judgment. For now, that criterion remains scarceand expensive. Generation Z is not trusting. Without a doubt, those most affected by all this uncertainty are the generation that has just entered the labor market. Without enough experience enough to face the new demands, but too advanced in their professional career to choose another career path. Given all this uncertainty and closed doorsGeneration Z no longer sees AI as an opportunity. He increasingly sees her as a direct threat to his first job, so he has chosen to fight it. A survey According to Gallup, enthusiasm for AI among young people fell 14 points in just one year, and anger towards the technology rose to 31%. And they don’t stop complaining. a survey of Writer together with Workplace Intelligence, pointed out that 44% of Generation Z employees admit to actively sabotaging their company’s AI implementation plans, compared to 29% of the entire workforce. With all this on the table, the only thing clear is that no one has the complete picture about the future of AI in the labor market. Neither those who sell the technology, nor those who use it, nor those who are about to look for their first job. Probably the answer is neither disaster nor total calm, but a little of each, distributed very unevenly depending on the sector and the country. In Xataka | Technology workers have better salaries and an important “but”: more than half fear being replaced by AI Image | Flickr (World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz, Sandra Blaser), Unsplash (syful islam)

“We rushed with the Taycan. A 911 will never be electric, viability depends on the combustion engine”

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The electric car is suffocating for brands that produce luxury sports cars. The market does not seem to be determined to buy the proposal and companies have been taking steps back in their strategy or have opted for an unexpected path. Porsche is one of them and its CEO, Michael Leiters, is very clear about it. “We rushed”. For Leiters, the Porsche Taycan was “a flagship project and an excellent product” but it arrived early. That is what he defended in a meeting organized by the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport which brought together the CEOs of Mercedes and the Volkswagen and BMW automobile groups, as well as the president of the board of directors of Audi. There, at the round table, Leiters pointed out that the product is good but that the future is not only about the electric car. “It seems that we were too fast with the jump to electric, we will continue investing in this sense but we will not have an electric 911. Viability depends on the combustion engine and the hybrid,” Leiters made clear. What happened to Porsche? The German company is going through a difficult financial moment. In its 2025 income statements a profit margin of 0.2% was reflected. That is to say, Porsche turned on the machines, put its operators to work and moved all its resources and its profit was practically non-existent. An entire year lost. The perfect storm has hit the German company. In China its sales have plummeted because The Porsche Taycan has become outdated and their customers no longer want their combustion cars, while look at the local market. In the United States, tariffs have punished the company so much that It was rumored that they could take part of their production there. And, furthermore, the jump to the electric car is not completely convincing. He porsche taycanalthough renewed, has not regained the traction of its early days. and the Porsche Macanwhich is only sold in purely electric format, is a great car but it seems that the customer is looking for something else. The client. Within the Volkswagen Group, Porsche has a problem with the electric car. Almost all cars within the rest of the group are replaceable by electric cars because they are mobility objects. There are honorable exceptions where the customer would continue paying extra to have a car with a combustion engine but in no case is there such a strong identification as with Porsche. When we get on the Porsche Macan We tried to explain why the car was not working properly. A Porsche Macan is the everyday car for customers who are already within Porsche and a purely electric version for everyday use could fit them. But there is a client who comes new to Porsche for whom electric is not worth it. that person has preferred to pay a premium By the Germans, for the simple fact of enjoying a car with Porsche DNA, they fulfill a dream that seemed unattainable to them. And no matter how good the electric one is, for them the Porsche DNA is inseparable from a combustion engine. In that case, electric is not an option, which leaves out a very important customer base. Expectations satisfied. Porsche has encountered another problem, everything indicates that the electric supercar is not of interest. The Taycan is a great product that sold a lot in the first years but it has deflated over the years. And the thing is that, after the first fever of having the first electric Porsche that everyone is talking about, the balloon has deflated. Lamborghini keeps delaying its first electric car because electric supercars are not receiving the love of the public. Maserati has thrown away billions of euros to cancel cars that were already developed. Mate Rimac confessed that his electric supercars are not selling, although pointed out the policies to promote electric cars as the culprits. That’s why Ferrari seems to have wanted to try its luck with a completely disruptive product and different. Aware that they were not going to please their most loyal customers and that they could not catch those who do not like their aesthetics, whether correct or not, they have ended up taking a third route, no matter how controversial it may be. In the end, the same as always. In his statements, Michael Leiters also made it clear that they did not have the development of an electric Porsche 911 on the table. It makes perfect sense seeing how the Taycan has deflated and the low interest in the Porsche Macan. Completely electrifying its most iconic model and the one most respected by its fans is presented as a leap into the void. And, to begin with, the Porsche 911 is a particular product. Throughout its history it has evolved taking solutions that seemed sacrilege at the time. Air cooling was abandoned and the turbo was introduced. But jumping to a pure electric car seems like an insurmountable red line. Also because batteries add weight and force a redistribution of the masses that threaten break their very particular dynamic. The good thing for Porsche is that the gap that Europe has left for combustion engines will allow them to continue selling its iconic sports car at an even more expensive price. and with The United States taking steps backwards With the electric one, the red carpet is laid out to amortize investments and earn more money. Photo | porsche In Xataka | Electric car skeptics are in luck: the United States has just joined their cause

SpaceX’s IPO reveals the extent to which Gulf money is behind the US AI boom

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SpaceX just starred largest IPO on Wall Streetone that is going to make Elon Musk the first billionaire in history. For a company to go public means that many details are made public and among all the paperwork one thing has become clear: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are financing the AI ​​boom, and it is not in exchange for anything. what’s happening. As of June 12, SpaceX is listed on the Nasdaq with a valuation of $1.75 trillion (with a B, the largest in history). As they point out in Rest of Worldthis IPO has not only served to break records, it has also revealed details that until now were private. The S-1 form, also known as the ‘prospectus’, has made it visible that the company plans to raise $75 billion, of which at least $5 billion will come from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. Why is it important. SpaceX’s IPO has made deals public that until now were private and consolidates Middle Eastern investors as key investors in American technological development. This operation is part of a broader strategy in which they have allocated tens of billions to American AI. We see this in examples such as Humain, the state-owned AI company in Saudi Arabia, which put 3,000 million in xAI at the beginning of the year and that after the merger They have become shares of SpaceX. Also with MGX, a technology investment fund based in Abu Dhabi, which has stakes in OpenAIAnthropic and of course SpaceX. What do they get in return?. The money they are putting in is tied to a series of demands, the main one being the obligation to build AI infrastructure in their territory. With these agreements they are moving all associated economic activity (employment, tax revenue…) outside the US, in addition to achieving the transfer of technological knowledge. At a geopolitical level, having critical infrastructure protects them from possible crises. It is something that is already happening: Musk’s ties to the Middle East. Capital from the region has been key in SpaceX’s IPO, to the point that Gulf sovereign funds took priority on the lists subscription. Trust between the tycoon and Middle Eastern investors has been building since, in 2011, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal invested $300 million in what was then Twitter. When Musk bought the social network in 2022, Alwaleed refused to liquidate his share, aligning himself with Musk. Later, xAI merged with SpaceX, so that investment became shares in the company. It is estimated that, after the operation, Alwaleed’s personal fortune has reached 27 billionbecoming one of the big winners. Image | Xataka with Gemini In Xataka | Saudi Arabia had 38 billion dollars ready to become the great power of video games. And then Iran appeared

It is the most faithful recreation of a Viking battle in history, in a film that you can watch for free on streaming this week

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There is a sequence in sensational viking epic ‘The man of the north where the attackers move in columns, not in lines, as the Vikings actually fought. Any other production would have ignored that detail, but its director Robert Eggers remained faithful to reality. Now you can check it out for free and until June 19 on the platform RTVE Play. Historian William Short analyzed the combat in the film, evaluating how faithful the film’s depiction of battles was, and gave it a 9 out of 10 for historical accuracy, recognizing that the depth of Eggers’ research is reflected in the attention to these types of details. From Viking combat techniques to the credibility of the costumes, weapons and rituals of the time. For comparison, Short was much less generous with the 1958 classic ‘The Vikings’ with Kirk Douglas, to whom he gave just a 5 out of 10 for historical accuracy. Short’s starting point was precisely that battle formation in columns: the Vikings did not advance in long lines along the battlefield, and in the film three very characteristic advancing columns are distinguished. But his successes go further: Short also examined the figure of berserker played by Alexander Skarsgårdand although the nature of the berserkers remains somewhat mysterious, sources document that they went into a battle frenzy, howling like wolves and biting at their shields. As for the language, Eggers did not opt ​​for the usual English in these productions. He worked with Icelandic linguist Haukur Þorgeirsson to reconstruct Old Norse in ritual scenes and chants, taking poems written in medieval Iceland and reinterpreting them into what would have been the pronunciation of his time. In short: a must-see film for devotees of Nordic culture that is worth claiming, especially considering that it was a failure at the box office with just 69.6 million in worldwide receipts. In Xataka | Today on Netflix: the first stop-motion film made in Mexico arrives with the seal of Guillermo del Toro

This cheap device is ideal for cooling the house in summer

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The summer heat is settling in many towns and cities, so it is a good idea to pay attention to the different devices that allow us to better cope with the high temperatures. Among all of them, air conditioners are especially interesting, especially if you can use them in several rooms. We have a good example in the Orbegozo Air 55whose price on Amazon is 160.67 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Air conditioner, humidifier and purifier The Orbegozo Air 55 is a three-in-one device that has functions of air conditioner, humidifier and air purifierso its use is not limited to times when it is very hot, but at different times throughout the year, whether in summer, winter or spring and autumn. Now, for the summer it is especially interesting because it includes a removable 35 liter tankwhich allows you to relieve the heat in the room, becoming an alternative to other devices such as fans or air conditioners. They may not be as practical as the latter, but they can be transported to other rooms by including wheels. It comes with oscillating directional fins that allow cold air to be better distributed throughout the room. Furthermore, another positive point is that it can be used through its button panel or through the remote controlthus offering good comfort. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: Orbegozo Air 55 ✅ THE BEST Its triple function– Can be used as an air conditioner, humidifier or purifier. its wheels: allow it to be moved to other rooms. ❌ THE WORST Efficiency compared to other devices such as air conditioners, which allow rooms to be cooled better. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for a device that allows you to better cope with the summer heat and that you can also take with you to different rooms. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You only want to use it in one room. In that case, it is worth paying attention to other devices such as ceiling fans or air conditioners, split or portable. You may also be interested MIDEA Portable Evaporative Air Conditioner 3 in 1 Capacity 7L and Remote Control | Water Fan, Air Cooler, Humidifier, 6 Speeds, 5 Modes, 12H Timer, 85º Oscillation, with AI The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Cecotec EnergySilence 3500 Cool Compact Smart Evaporative Air Conditioner, 65 W, 3.5 L Tank, Touch, Remote Control, 3 Speeds, 2 Modes, 70º Oscillation, 12h Timer, Includes 2 Coolers The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Lotus Design N Print in UnsplashOrbengozo In Xataka | Buying guide for connected fans: recommendations for choosing a “smart” model with WiFi and six models from 50 euros In Xataka | Silent ceiling fan: which one to buy? Tips and recommendations

Science confirms how many minutes of weight training per week reduce the risk of mortality

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For decades, when we thought about doing physical exercise, our minds almost automatically went to get older. cardiovascular activity. Running, swimming or cycling have been star recommendations to keep the heart healthy and extend life expectancy. Or at least live with a better quality of life. However, little by little we are normalizing the need to prioritize strength exercises at any age. How long. This is one of the big questions that anyone who needs to quantify the amount of exercise they do per day can ask themselves. There are clear recommendations, such as walk one hour a day at a brisk pacebut in strength we were quite orphaned. Now a new and monumental analysis has come to put exact figures on what until now were general recommendations, establishing a precise time window to maximize our years of life. What has been seen. The finding comes from a large observational study which has had 147,374 participants and exhaustive follow-up that has extended up to 30 years. Its good results have been published in the magazine British Journal of Sports Medicine. And when it comes to lifting weights or doing resistance exercises, intuition could dictate that “the more, the better”, but human physiology provides more limited metrics. The study data found that spending between 90 and 119 minutes weekly in resistance training routines was directly associated with lower overall mortality. In other words, spending between an hour and a half and two hours a week working our muscles is linked to a lower risk of dying from any cause. We have to be adjusted. What is truly revealing about this study lies in what happens when those 120 minutes are exceeded of weekly exercise. Anyone might think that the longer the time, the less likely you are to develop a major disease, but the reality is that above this time the benefits seem to stagnate. This shows that maximum efficiency is achieved in that limited period of time, demystifying the need to spend endless days in the weight room to obtain many more protective advantages at the metabolic level that allow us to extend our life a little more or make it of a higher quality. You have to combine it. Although strength training shines in this study, abandoning cardiovascular exercises would be a profound mistake. Here the research group itself pointed out that combining strength exercises with aerobic activity offered the best possible results, since this duality confirms that a hybrid approach dramatically maximizes long-term survival benefits. It’s backed up. In the past there were reviews that explored the relationship between training and mortality, this being one more that gives it much more strength so that it ultimately continues to be recommended for consultation to anyone, regardless of age. Because exercise here does not understand age, and strength exercise can be for the youngest, but also for the elderly who need to preserve their muscle to have a better quality of life in their last years of life. Images | Anastase Maragos In Xataka | In the fever to train strength, the gym has faced competition: more and more people train on the street

If Mercadona wants to continue growing, it needs to dominate the online channel. Now you have your first semi-automated warehouse

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Not everything is white label and pre-cooked food in Mercadona’s strategy. Although the Valencian company is transforming part of its stores in ‘merchants’spaces where customers can eat dishes already cooked in the supermarket, their commercial commitment also involves the opposite pole: attracting those families who choose to stay at home and make their purchases remotely. Only in 2025 the online channel reported 1.1 billion to the company, which explains why it has just released a new mega warehouse in Madrid with which he wants to revolutionize his distance sales. In fact, he calls it a “Semi-Automated Hive.” What has happened? What Mercadona just opened a warehouse in the La Atalayuela industrial estate, in Villa de Vallecas (Madrid), which aspires to mark a before and after in its online sales channel. The reason: although the Valencian chain already has six other similar warehouses, spread across Valencia, Barcelona, ​​Alicante, Seville and the Community of Madrid itself, where it manages another two in Getafe and Boadilla del Monte, none of them is comparable to the one in Vallecas. Why is it different? The other six “hives” (the name with which Mercadona refers to this type of warehouse) work with operators and machinery, but the one it has activated in La Atalayuela is the first semi-automated one in its network. That is, the new warehouse incorporates 70 robots that will be responsible for directly managing 2,700 non-perishable goods, which will in turn simplify the tasks that depend on the operators. “The worker no longer walks through aisles to locate the products, but rather the product arrives at the order preparation station,” clarify. Do we know anything else? Yes. The new warehouse does not only stand out for its operation, it also stands out for its size. Round the 32,000 square meterswhich makes it the largest “Hive” in the network managed by Mercadona. To build it, the company has invested 54 million euros and formed a staff of 700 people. Its objective is to be able to attend up to 5,000 orders per day, which would raise Mercadona’s total capacity in the Community of Madrid to 8,000 if the warehouses that already operate in Getafe and Boadilla del Monte are taken into account. The firm aims to cover 95% of the locations in the region this year. Why is it important? Because, beyond what it may mean for the service it provides in Madrid, the new warehouse also tells us about Mercadona’s strategy. The chain has been betting on its white label and the section ‘Ready to eat’which basically offers customers an assortment of already cooked dishes. The bet is going reasonably well: the latest data that has emerged shows that in 2025 the company will invoice in Spain 700 million of euros through this last route, a figure that rises to 3,000 million if the entire business of pre-cooked foods in the national and Portuguese markets is included. Although the online channel includes a section of “prepared dishes”the ‘Ready to eat’ section basically relies on face-to-face sales in stores. In fact, in some stores Mercadona even offers spaces with tables and chairs where customers can eat, just as if they were in a bar. The new Colmena aims at a different business niche: that of distance sales. And how are you doing in that business? In your latest annual report Mercadona revealed that in 2025 the “reinforcement” of its online purchasing model allowed it to increase turnover through that channel by 26%, surpassing the barrier of 1,000 million euros for the first time. To be more precise, the Valencian company was talking about a cash flow of 1,061 million euros thanks to both the activity of its “Hives” and the 218 physical stores that offer the service. In addition to opening warehouses, Mercadona has made two major improvements in this channel in recent years: it has enabled its website to make it accessible to customers with vision problems and it has incorporated Bizum as a payment method. Images | Mercadona In Xataka | In Spain, eating has become a procedure that must be quick and easy. And that is making gold for the supermarkets that prepare dishes

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