Mobile Tech & Gadgets

the European anti-F-35 vanishes

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Europe has been promising for years that, this time, it will take the definitive leap towards a real military autonomywith its own projects capable of competing with the great powers and reducing external dependencies. But sometimes great strategic dreams are not broken by lack of ambition, but by something much more difficult to harmonize: very different interests, priorities and visions under the same flag. The dream of the great European fighter. we have been counting. He Future Combat Air System It was born as the great commitment of France, Germany and Spain to develop a sixth-generation fighter capable of competing with the F-35 and the emerging models of China and Russia, integrating, among other technologies, advanced stealth, artificial intelligence, swarms of drones or a digital combat cloud. It was clearly the symbol of European strategic autonomy and the most ambitious attempt to overcome the industrial fragmentation of the continent, where several models of previous generation combat aircraft coexist while other powers advance with more integrated and technologically superior platforms. Trapped between two giants. But what should be cooperation is turned into rivalry. Dassault, backed by Paris, demanded absolute leadership of the development of the central aircraft, while Airbus (supported by Berlin and with Spanish participation) defended a balanced distribution. The dispute over who controls design and contracts has been eroding political trust and has delayed key decisionsto the point that the very pillar of the common fighter could be derailed, even if other parts of the system survive. The technical clash that separates Berlin from Paris. The visible trigger is the divergence on the plane’s profile. From the sidewalk in France you look for a device with nuclear capacity and suitable to operate from aircraft carriers, consistent with its strategic doctrine and its autonomous deterrence. It happens that from the sidewalk of Germany the perspective It’s very different. Berlin maintains that the Bundeswehr does not need such capabilities “right now” and questions whether it makes sense to design a single aircraft for such different requirements. The discussion is no longer marginal: it is structural, because it forces us to decide between a common model or two different variants. Word of Merz. In an interview with the German political podcast “Machtwechsel”, Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that the impasse reflects fundamentally different military needs, much more than political ones. “This is not a political dispute. We have a real problem with the requirements profile. And if we cannot resolve it, we cannot maintain the project,” he declared. Not only that. “The French need a nuclear-capable aircraft and an aircraft carrier in the next generation. The Bundeswehr does not need it for now. France wants to build just one and adapt it to its own specifications. But that is not the aircraft we need. There are other countries in Europe, Spain at least, but also others interested in talking to us about it, Merz settled. Germany opens another door. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has gone further by publicly stating that if the disagreement is not resolved, and it does not appear that it will be, Germany could look for other partners in Europe and even reconsider whether it will need a manned fighter in two decades. In fact, Berlin has already compromised purchase of more F-35s Americans to cover their role in NATO’s nuclear deterrent, reducing their dependence on FCAS and weakening the political urgency of keeping the program intact. The finishing touch to the Spanish dream. For Spain, the FCAS was much more than an airplane: it represented decades of industrial workload, technological consolidation and a way to not depend exclusively of US platforms in the future. The German ambivalence It directly hits that strategy, because without the financial and political weight of Berlin the project loses critical mass and credibility. If the common hunt is fragmented or abandoned, Spain will be faced with an uncomfortable dilemma that has slipped in recent weeks: assuming a secondary role in a reduced version, seeking new alliances or even ending up strengthening its integration with systems such as the F-35, with the consequent impact on industrial sovereignty and strategic autonomy. Fragmented Europe. If you like, the FCAS case also exposes a broader problem: Europe spends figures comparable to the great powers, but invests less in research, duplicating systems and prioritizes national interests on economies of scale. The inability to agree on a single new generation fighter illustrates that structural weakness. If the project ends up breaking down, not only will an industrial program fall, it will possibly also deal a blow to the narrative of a Europe capable of building its own defense architecture without depending on Washington. Image | RawPixel In Xataka | Spain has a dilemma that is difficult to solve: call the US or be the last with a fighter jet in danger of extinction In Xataka | France and Germany have agreed to give Spain the worst news: one in which the F-35 and its “button” are the winners

China looks at Spain and Spain is willing to be a European delegation of Chinese factories

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Renew or die. That is the maxim that the Government claims to follow in its plans and projects related to the automobile industry in our country. Some plans include the electrification of current plants and attracting more investments. Investments that, everything indicates, will come from China if the rumors take shape. Sweeping for home A few days ago, the Government ended up confirming the details of the Auto+ Planthe new aid system for the purchase of electric cars. With them it is confirmed that, now, The maximum discount for an electric car will be 4,500 euros But to obtain it it will be necessary to meet two requirements: the car has to be assembled in Europe and its battery too. Shortly after, Jordi García Brustenga, Secretary of State for Industry, defended the Auto 2030 Plan during the event Future: Fast Forwardorganized by 50 companies directly related to the automobile industry. There he presented the main lines of the future of the Spanish automobile: electrification and embrace of new investments. Wherever they come from. an obsession. “We are in favor of electrification and we will continue taking steps in the coming years in this obsession,” defended García Brustenga in statements collected by Europa Press. In them he stressed that the Government acts with the certainty that the electric car is the vehicle of the future. And to walk that path, the Government says it is open to taking the hand of anyone who does so in that direction. Asked about possible investments by Chinese manufacturers, the Secretary of State for Industry responded: “The Government’s position is to welcome these investments and we want to do it well, not with quick permits, but rather with compensation that represents advantages for both sides. It is important that these competitors have the Spanish value chain, technology and workforce” Because? The automobile industry is, after the agri-food industry, the one that produces the most in our country and it is the industry that it exports more products than it produces. Its weight translates into 10% of GDP and we are the second largest vehicle manufacturer in the European Union, only surpassed by Germany. It is logical, therefore, that the Government maintains its attention on the sector, which has focused enormous amounts of money in the form of subsidies taking advantage of European funds. The latest project, the Auto 2030 Plan, is based on 25 measures that focus on attracting investments to produce batteries and components for future vehicles in our country, new factories and the modernization of current plants. The project seeks to maintain the privileged position of our country. And between 2019 and 2024, 400,000 vehicles per year have stopped being manufactured on our soil, according to the information published by Anfac in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry. Furthermore, competitiveness has been lost in the market and we have suffered more with the cuts, since our industry is based on assembly and not so much in product development. Chinese interest. In the recent past, Spain has undoubtedly attracted Chinese interest in landing in Europe. Our country has repeatedly been considered one of the main candidates to host a new BYD European factory. The latest rumor is that Ford would be interested in sharing space with Geely in Valencia. But beyond collaborations, CATL does have it going the construction of a plant to produce batteries in Zaragoza and feed the Stellantis factory. Precisely, on the land of the latter the Leapmotor carsthe Chinese company that this automotive group distributes in Europe. And from 2024the Chery Group keeps the old Nissan plant in Barcelona alive with Ebro. Later Jaecoo and Omoda models should arrive. And not only from a manufacturing point of view. Spain has turned its ports into China’s gateway to Europe. 81% of vehicles exported from China to Spain and 13% to Europe They entered through Barcelona during 2024. He port of Santander was chosen by BYD in the first steps it took in our country. An approach. The Government’s position has been varying. So much so that we have gone from supporting tariffs on Chinese electric cars, that are still validto abstain from voting and put ourselves in profile so as not to compromise investments. Investments that China, everything indicateshas ordered arrests in the countries that finally supported this protectionist measure and that have remained in Spain after a Pedro Sánchez’s trip to the Asian country where he praised the Chinese automobile industry. Spain was risking the future of new investments and the future of the Iberian pig in one of its most important markets. Yes, but. For now, it is clear that Spain has made a strong commitment to attracting Chinese investments. The plan, everything indicates, has gained strength taking into account that it only proposes to deliver the maximum purchase aid to those who manufacture on European soil. Despite this, there are those who are questioning that these investments really impact the economy or, at least, impact as much as we are told. And CATL, like BYD is doing in Hungaryseems to give the bulk of your labor pool to Chinese employees. Likewise, at the moment at Nissan plans remain unconsolidated for Omoda and Jaecoo to drive cars through their doors. On the table was the intention to give the final assembly to cars that They arrived in kits already almost assembled. It is the same thing that is proposed for the Santana factory in Andalusia. Those plans have been delayed after the European Union has not ensured that serve as a bridge to skip current tariffs. Photo | Moncloa In Xataka | “They assemble Chinese cars with Chinese components and Chinese personnel”: the EU is beginning to suspect the manufacturers’ plants

the Dutch philosopher convinced that saving snails is saving ourselves

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Before the arrival of Westerners, in Hawaii there were more than 700 species of snails that were nowhere else. Since then, these Pacific islands have suffered all the human processes that have existed and to have occurred: from the most orthodox colonization to a totally accelerated globalization through rapid urbanization, intense militarization and tourism, a lot of tourism. The result can be summarized in just one figure: today, 60% of those snails have become extinct and those who remain are in frank decadence. Chronicle of many foretold deaths. By the early 20th century, populations were decimated, but still abundant. The boom in rats in the archipelago, the rapid changes in habitats and, above all, the arrival of the pink wolf snail (a foreign predator) have meant that the 200 or 300 species that survive do it in very isolated areas or, directly, only in ‘conversation labs‘. In one of them, in a trailer on the outskirts of Kailua and in the care of David Sischo, director of the snail extinction prevention program of the state, lived George (the last known individual of the species Achatinella apexfulva). He died there on January 1, 2019. That shocked those who were in the archipelago and, among them, Thom van Dooren. The cuckoo species trap. This professor of environmental humanities at the University of Sydney was dedicated to the study of everything that birds could teach us, he realized George’s trick. The same trap as Sudan or what other animals. He realized that “There is value in saving charismatic speciesamong other things because they are very useful for raising awareness among the population and raising funds. But, as recently explained in an interview“we cannot forget that mass extinction also and above all affects invertebrates, which constitute 99% of animal life and are essential for pollination, soil fertilization or the nutrient cycle.” What we can learn from snails. For van Dooren, what the snails are “slowly and gently” teaching us is to think in the long term, to use the forces of others and to understand that if we do not think about the systemic (the preservation of habitats), we will have to fight very difficult battles one by one (apply “violent care” to species to avoid their extinction) But, above all, it gives us three very specific ideas: Being late is a problem: if we act when the problem is already “stopped”, everything is more difficult. If we have to ‘triar’, we have already arrived late: When we put ourselves in “emergency mode” we have to prioritize what can be saved over other considerations because we have limited time and resources. And intensive interventions do not fix the cause: we can rescue, replace, conserve… but if we do not change the underlying pressures we are only postponing the end. Snails can teach us precisely that: that at the end of the day, the important thing is to be clear about what we want and value. From there, it’s time to act accordingly. If not, we are condemned to live in our particular ‘Noah’s ark’. Image | Marina Grynykha | BBVA In Xataka | They identify the smallest species of land snail in the world: it is around 0.5 mm high and its discoverers needed brushes and a microscope

How to create songs in Google Gemini using its Lyria component

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Let’s tell you how to create music with Geminithe artificial intelligence from Google. Gemini has just implemented the Lyria model within its AI assistant, which is capable of generating songs from your prompt of text. With this, Gemini begins to compete with Suno and other tools for create songs with artificial intelligence. It is true that Lyria in Gemini is still a little far from what the competition offers, but it is capable of generating amazing results. It will create both the music, the lyrics and the voice of a song. You just have to describe what you want, and the AI ​​will sing in your language without problems. The songs it generates are just 30 seconds longsmall musical clips that you can share. How to create music in Gemini Let’s tell you the two methods you have to create music using Gemini. One of them is a method with which the AI ​​tries to help you step by step to configure your musical style, so that it is faster, and the other is just invoking the creator with a prompt Make music with Gemini from its tools The first method is choose the option Create music from the Chrome tools menu. Simply click on tools and choose the option Create music. The option may also appear in the suggestions that appear below the writing field when you start a new chat. This will take you to a screen where you will be able to choose musical style that you want to use for your song. Each of these styles or pre-generated songs to work from has a button to listen to them, and you will only have to click on the style you want to continue. Now you simply have to write a prompt describing the song what do you want to do. When you do, you’ll see Gemini start thinking and summon Lyria, and then she’ll generate a song for you that you can play and even share. You will also have the option to regenerate the result or write a new prompt in which you request the changes you want to make. In this prompt you can give all kinds of details, such as musical style, subgenre, language, rhythm, theme, and you can even add the letter or tell it only words or phrases that you want the lyrics to include. You can specify structures, music speeds, whatever you want. Create a song in Gemini with a single prompt The second method is simply directly writing a prompt with everything. Here, the only important thing is that at the prompt indicate that you want a songand then describe how you want it to be. When you do this, when processing your request Gemini will realize that you have requested music or a song, and will directly run the Lyria tool to generate it. In just a few seconds you will have your song. Then you will be able write more prompts to request changes on the created song, or directly to compose a new one. In this prompt you can give all kinds of details, such as musical style, subgenre, language, rhythm, theme, and you can even add the letter or tell it only words or phrases that you want the lyrics to include. You can specify structures, music speeds, whatever you want. In Xataka Basics | How to Improve Gemini Answers: 14 Steps to Ensure Higher Quality and Better Sources

This is how climate change multiplied the devastation of the DANA in Valencia

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October 29, 2024 was marked as one of the most tragic days in the recent history of Spain due to the DANA that hit the region of Valencia and left 230 fatalities, billions in economic losses and rainfall that shattered records. And it is no wonder, because in stations like Turís, they accumulated 771.8 mm in just 16 hours and the national record for rainfall in one hour was broken with 184.6 mm. And now investigations are emerging about it. Climate change. We know that this effect is altering the hydrological cycle at a global level, but now a new and exhaustive published study in Nature led by researcher Carlos Calvo-Sancho, has managed to measure exactly how and how much this storm was ‘doped’ by blame for anthropogenic global warming. And the most interesting thing is that it opens the door to the fact that these phenomena may be more common in the coming years. Pure physics. Days after the disaster, rapid attribution initiatives such as Attribution and ClimaMeter They had already estimated, according to the most basic parameters, that this meteorological event had been twice as likely and 13% more intense due to climate change. Although at that time it was simply preliminary data that required confirmation and above all ‘sitting down’ to analyze it well. That analysis has arrived many months later in a new work that goes far beyond these quick figures and focuses on the physical fundamentals. Here the researchers used very high resolution simulations under an approach called ‘Pseudo-Global Warming’. A simulation. This approach is nothing more than recreating the October 2024 storm on a computer to see the devastation that occurred and then simulating it again by removing the effects of global warming from the formula. This is achieved by returning the atmosphere to the conditions of the pre-industrial era, which is like a reference point when talking about climate change. The data. By comparing both simulated worlds, the supercomputer results showed the tremendous impact of the human hand on the storm. The most interesting results that were obtained can be summarized in four different points: Six-hour rainfall rates intensified by 21% under current weather conditions. The territory affected by rains exceeding 180 liters per square meter, which for the AEMET is the red notice limit, was expanded by 55%. The total volume of water falling directly on the Júcar River basin increased by 19%. The intensity of rain in one hour increased at a rate of 20% for each degree Celsius of temperature, something that is very relevant. And to understand it, we have to go to the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship, which dictates that the atmosphere should retain 7% more water vapor for each extra degree of temperature. Something that was duplicated here. Because?. Here the question that many people can ask, both from the affected areas and from other parts of Spain, is clear: Why did it rain so much more than what the basic theory dictated? Here the science suggests that it all started with unusually high temperatures on the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, which reached record levels in the summer of 2024. This injected a huge amount of water vapor into the system, and when comparing the current simulation with the pre-industrial one, the scientists detected, among other things, an 11.9% increase in the water that could precipitate or 11.9% more violent and faster updrafts. The perfect cocktail. In short, the greater amount of water evaporated in the sea by high temperatures and air not only caused more rain, but also triggered an aerodynamic and thermal domino effect that made the storm much larger, longer lasting and more destructive than could be expected. Towards the future. These findings are important to understand exactly what happened here, but they also raise a big warning: extreme hydrometeorological phenomena in the western Mediterranean are evolving aggressively. In this way, the study highlights that the future scenarios projected by climatologists are already here, making it urgent and vital that we rethink our urban planning and our adaptation strategies to prepare for storms that are going to be increasingly more aggressive, as we keep seeing. Images | EMU Chris LeBoutillier In Xataka | Some say worrying about climate change is a “first world problem.” A macro survey proves him right

Only until Sunday! All these Samsung TVs and appliances, at a historic low price

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Spanish cinema has a big night in a few days with the Goya, but Samsung doesn’t want to wait that long. Its official store has launched a promo with movie discountswhich of course includes televisions and sound bars, but also extends to your appliances and other devices. We are not talking about just any discount: there are discounts of up to 50%. The thing doesn’t end there. Today and only today we have an active discount coupon that allows us to save on any device or appliance an additional 10% if we use the code ‘CINE10’. Thus, we can take home real bargains, although only if we hurry. Below we have made a list of some products that, due to features and discounts, seem especially interesting to us: 55-inch Neo QLED QN74F by 521 eurosa top quality-price option that is ideal for video games. 55-inch S95F OLED by 1,304 eurosthe best high-end TV of 2025. Bespoke Silver Combi Fridge by 494 euroswith good capacity and at a great price. Bespoke AI Combi Fridge by 908 euroswith energy rating A. Bespoke AI American Refrigerator by 1,061 eurosperfect for large families. Freestanding dishwasher by 314 euroswith a historical minimum price. 55-inch Neo QLED QN74F If you are looking for a versatile television, with good image quality and that allows you to take full advantage of the power of a PlayStation 5 or one Xbox Series Xthis QN74F can fit you very well. It is a model with a very high quality-price ratio that comes with Tizen operating system (so it has seven years of guaranteed updates), artificial intelligence and with a refresh rate that we can take up to 144 Hz. The launch price of this version of the TV, which has 55 inches, is 1,199 euros. This Samsung movie promo has it reduced to 579 euros, although only today, if we use the discount code ‘CINEMA10‘, we can lower this price even further to 521 euros. And be careful: it includes free wall installation, which is valued at 90 euros. That, in total, is a 57% discount compared to the RRP. TV 55″ Neo QLED QN74F 4K Samsung Vision AI Smart TV 2025 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links 55-inch S95F OLED OLED televisions offer the purest blacks and are perfect for watching movies or series. There it stands out (and a lot) the Samsung S95Fwhich took the Xataka award for best high-end television last 2025. It is a Smart TV that will give us vivid and very precise colors, with a maximum brightness of 2,200 nits that will make content with HDR10 and HDR10+ shine. In addition, it is also ideal for gaming and has a anti-glare coverage which is ideal for rooms where there is a lot of light. The starting price of this S95F, which is also 55 inches, is 2,389.99 euros. The current promo has its price reduced to 1,449 euros, but using the code ‘CINE10’, its price remains more than attractive 1,304 euros. As with the previous Neo QLED model, Also includes free wall installation. A 45% discount compared to its RRP. TV 55″ OLED S95F 4K Samsung Vision AI Smart TV 2025 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Bespoke Silver Combi Fridge We now move on to household appliances and we do so with this Bespoke Silver Combi, a model with great value for money. ‘SpaceMax’ technology means we have a lot of space inside and thus reaches a capacity of 390 total liters. In addition, with Samsung’s SmartThings application, we can see your consumption and use an artificial intelligence mode so that we can save on the electricity bill. The RRP of this Samsung refrigerator is 949 euros, although we now have it available for 599 euros. At that point we can also use Delivery and Premierethe company’s renewal plan to change our old appliances. With it, we will reduce the price by 50 euros to 549 euros and if we also use the code ‘CINEMA10‘, then we can get this refrigerator for 494 euros. Discount of 48% compared to its original price. Bespoke Silver 390L Combi Refrigerator Energy Classification C with Smart AI – RB38C600CS9 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Bespoke AI Combi Fridge As an alternative to the previous one, we have this Bespoke AI Combi with 387 liters of capacity. This refrigerator stands out for having an A energy classificationwhich is ideal if our priority is reduce our electricity bill as much as possible. In addition, it has a metal cooling plate that serves to minimize the dispersion of cold and maintain the temperature inside. Thus, the refrigerator works (and suffers) less and its consumption is reduced. Time to talk about the offer. Its RRP is 1,799 euros, although we now have it available for 1,179 euros. With Delivery and Release we will obtain a discount additional from 170 euros (which would leave its price at 1,009 euros), but if we finish with the code ‘CINE10’, we will leave its price at only 908 euros. Thus, it costs just half of its RRP. Bespoke AI Combi Refrigerator 203cm 387L Class A Inox RB38C7B6AS9/EF The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Bespoke AI American Refrigerator If you have space and there are many of you at home (or you are looking for a lot of space to store food), this Bespoke AI American refrigerator may be a better fit for you. With the, we will have 640 liters of capacitywhich is really amazing. In addition, we can also monitor your consumption from your mobile phone and it has a water and ice dispenser. The RRP of it is 2,099 euros, although it is reduced to 1,299 euros. This price, already quite interesting, we can lower it double: on the one hand, 120 euros with Delivery and Release; on the other hand, 10% if we use the code ‘CINE10’. Everything together makes its price stay at … Read more

features, price and technical sheet

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Dyson is opening its horizons in the vacuum segment. The British firm is an institution in wireless vertical vacuuming and its classic sled vacuum cleaners continue to be a master purchase, but leaving those formats to find its place in others like robot vacuum cleaners It is costing him, among other things, because The competition coming from China is fierce. Well, Dyson has just presented its candidacy in a niche that today speaks Chinese: it has just launched its PencilWash, an ultralight electric mop. An unmistakable stylish design. The format may change, but the design and colors chosen leave no room for doubt: we are looking at a Dyson. Matte finishes, bright shades, those lace pieces with their iconic red button. But it is also differential: while the Roborock F25 Ace Pro either Dreame H15 Pro They are heavy and bulky, the English company is practically a stick in a total display of minimalism. Although this is essentially because what Dyson brings is different and one of a kind. According to the manufacturer, it weighs only 2.2 kilograms and its handle is less than four centimeters in diameter, which anticipates agile handling and good ergonomics (at least, an experience reminiscent of the usual mop) when sliding it across the floor of the entire house. In addition, it bends down up to 170 degrees to clean under furniture. Dyson The roller is the jewel in the crown. Although ergonomics and handling are important, what makes the difference in a cleaning device is what elements it uses. In the case of the Dyson PencilWash, it is a high-density microfiber roller (72,000 filaments per square centimeter) that rotates at 650 revolutions per minute. Dyson Goodbye to stains and spilled liquids. We mentioned above two models of vacuum cleaners-scrubbers from Chinese brands, however Dyson’s is an electric mop without that suction part (it also does not have space to house a powerful motor for suction). Of course, it comes with a hygienic filter to trap bacteria and minimize odors. In addition, the roller provides hydration (which you can adjust) to always use clean water in the cleaning process. And it’s not just limited to mopping floors: it’s capable of dealing with accidents like dropping coffee or dried stains. However, it has a detergent for hard floors for a more thorough cleaning. Dyson The wonder of putting everything on a stick. Dyson has done a true work of engineering art to integrate the components into such a minimal structure. However, its figures are solvent for medium-sized homes: according to the brand, with its 300 ml of clean water tank it is capable of cleaning up to 110 square meters of surface. As for autonomy, it is half an hour but its battery is interchangeable. Dyson Price and availability. The new Dyson PencilWash is available from today, February 19, at an official retail price of 349 euros and can be purchased from its official distributors. In Xataka | Dyson is late to the robot vacuum party. Your ace in the hole is an AI that identifies and removes difficult stains In Xataka | Best cordless upright vacuum cleaners. Which one to buy and seven recommended broom vacuum cleaners from 139 euros

We just discovered that silicon has an invisible bottleneck, and that has a direct impact on our solar panels

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You turn on a solar cell and wait for the electrons to flow. But there is a moment, invisible and very brief, in which a part of them simply stops. A new study published in Physical Review B just explained why. The discovery. Researchers from the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Nanoscience (IMDEA Nanoscience) and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany (MPIP) have discovered that, in silicon, photoexcited electrons do not activate immediately when they receive light. For a few picoseconds (millionths of a millionth of a second) they become stuck in small traps of the material before they can circulate and generate current. The person responsible has a name: a phonon bottleneck. What are phonons and why do they matter? Silicon has a peculiarity compared to other materials: for an electron to be released when receiving light, photons are not enough. According to account IMDEA Nanoscience in its note also needs the collaboration of phonons, which are the vibrations of the crystalline lattice of the material itself. As has been discovered, when such timing vibrations are scarce, electrons become temporarily trapped in surface defects near the edge of the energy band. What no one expected to find. Enrique Cánovas himself, one of the authors of the study, recognize that the discovery was accidental. “What we observed was an accident. We expected an instantaneous response, but instead we saw the electrons take a breather,” he says. Until now, the phonon bottleneck was known in high-energy situations, when silicon was excited with very energetic electrons. This is the first experimental record of the phenomenon with low-energy excitations, which occur with near-infrared light, or even below, the absorption threshold of the material. Until now unexplored territory. Why it has practical relevance. Silicon is the heart of the vast majority of solar panels of the world. Any inefficiency in how your electrons respond to light has direct consequences on the performance of those photovoltaic cells. Understanding that this transient delay exists, and that it has an identifiable cause, opens the door to two possible paths: designing materials or structures that minimize this jam, or even taking advantage of it in a controlled way to improve the behavior of the device. It remains to be seen if the impact of this phenomenon is significant enough to justify redesigns in the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic systems. Cover image | yue chan In Xataka | Imitating photosynthesis to transform CO2 into fuel was always a dream. One that has already come true

Perplexity has already marked its path for what it believes is fundamental

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For years, advertising has been the silent fuel of much of the internet. It has financed search engines, web pages, applications and services that we use daily without paying directly for them, something that we have assumed almost as a norm in the digital environment. But the emergence of chatbots and search products powered by AI forces us to rethink that balance, because here the product is no longer just content, but answers that the public should consider reliable. In this area, any suspicion about who influences what is read stops being a technical detail and becomes a central issue. Clash between trust and monetization. In recent months we have begun to see how large AI companies take clear positions, some betting on introducing advertising in their free products and others rejecting it outright due to the impact it could have on user perception. The result is a map that begins to outline a division, just when the sector needs to demonstrate that it can become a sustainable business. And what’s at stake is not just how you make money with AI, but what kind of relationship you build with those who use it. Trust as a product. One of the clearest movements in this division is found in Perplexity. The company even tested ads in 2024, showing sponsored responses under the chatbot’s responses, but it began to withdraw them at the end of last year and now assures that it has no plans to continue down that path. “The user must believe that this is the best possible response to continue using the product and be willing to pay for it,” an executive explained to the Financial Times. The internal conclusion is direct: if the advertisements sow doubts, the value of the product itself is compromised, although the company leaves the door open to revisit that path in the future. War of ads against ads. Anthropic is in the same line as Perplexity, which not only defends keeping its chatbot without advertising, but has turned that decision into a public message. The company launched a campaign prior to the Super Bowl with a direct slogan, “The ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude,” which points to the direction of the sector without explicitly mentioning competing products. The campaign shows scenes that caricature commercial recommendations within personal conversations, underscoring the discomfort that such a scenario could generate. The reaction from OpenAI. Sam Altman rated the campaign of Anthropic as “clearly dishonest” and defended that the ad model his company is exploring would follow different principles, with advertising “separated and clearly labeled” and without influence on the system’s responses. The manager framed this decision as a question of access, arguing that expanding the free use of AI requires new sources of income, and he contrasted this with the idea that Anthropic offers an expensive product for those who can pay for it while OpenAI seeks massive reach with free access. Not everyone wants (or can) do without advertising. Training and sustaining these systems burns cash and has increased the pressure to find sustainable income as usage grows. In this context, some relevant actors are exploring advertising as a way to finance free access, with formulas in which sponsored content appears separated from the responses, with testing on products like ChatGPT and in formats Google Search with AI. It should be noted that Google has not introduced ads to its Gemini chatbot. Images | Perplexity + Nano Banana In Xataka | Claude Sonnet 4.6 promises to do the paperwork for you. Now he has the challenge of his life: dealing with the Spanish administration’s websites

The RAM crisis is great for those who manufacture it. There are those who think that a tsunami will sink many others

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Looking at current technology is peering into a well of contrasts. On the one hand, the optimism of companies that push the narrative of a future supported by AI while spend tens of billions of dollars. On the other hand, the consequences for the consumer segment are a new component crisis. Nobody likes pessimism, but unfortunately the market does not bring good news, and the CEO of Phison has a clear message: Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. And that means that the RAM crisis It is going to take away some technology companies… in all sectors. In short. RAM and SSDs are the components that best exemplify the cost of data centers. They are elements that They have increased the price a real outrage and are made up of NAND flash chips. It is where the information is stored, but even those components need a ‘brain’, and that is where Phison comes into play. This Taiwanese company is one of the most powerful when it comes to creating something very specific: memory controllers. They are responsible for managing access, reading, writing and deleting data from NAND memory, among other tasks. Without them, these components could not function, so it is evident that Phison is interested in continuing to inflate the market. But its CEO, Pua Khein-Seng, has made it clear in a recent interview that this boom in data centers and artificial intelligence will have a disastrous consequence for the consumer market: there will be companies that go bankrupt. And it will be soon: by the end of 2026. slap. According to the boss of the controller company, this situation will put many consumer brands on the ropes, pushing some to disaster before the end of the year. When we talk about “consumer devices”, we refer to mobile phonestablets, consoles and computersbut also cars and of other devices with RAM and flash memories, such as televisions and even routers. Because it’s not that we can’t buy a couple of RAM pills, it’s that gigantic companies like Apple or Lenovo are already facing the problems involved in not having RAM. Memory production is dominated by just three companies and, although there are others such as Intel, tesla and the Chinese wanting to get their nails in the matterSamsung, Micron and SK Hynix are still the only ones capable of supplying the demands of the one that cuts the cod: NVIDIAas well as from Meta, Google or Microsoft. All production is focusing on creating memory for AI, and that means that Corsair, Dell, HP… but also Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO, Sony or Nintendo They cannot buy RAM or they have to do so at higher prices. Consequence? That if they buy at a higher price, they must also sell the product at a higher price. And they may make devices that users are not willing to buy if they are more expensive either by price or by a less memory than that of previous generations. Unprecedented. There were already estimates that certain mobile companies were being more cautious with their shipment estimates for this year, but the CEO of Phison give a figure: between 200 and 250 million fewer mobile phones. It also targets the aforementioned PC industries (not those that we can assemble in parts, but to those pre-assembled by the companies) and to that of televisions. If all televisions are already ‘smart’, they need components that have a price through the roof. The executive is not the only interested party that has sent a pessimistic message about the situation. In statements to BloombergMicron’s executive vice president already pointed out that the current shortage is unprecedented, ridiculing even the previous components crisis that we live in 2020. In fact, something that is also unprecedented is that RAM manufacturers request payments up to three years in advance. Big Tech optimism. While users cannot buy components and consumer-focused companies are beginning to see sea level rise, Big Tech continues investing exorbitant amounts. There is not a day that we do not have news about billion-dollar investments in some data center or agreements between the main protagonist companies. And the most curious thing about that is that a lot is being invested in something that does not yet exist. Goal, for example, ends to buy graphics cards from NVIDIA for a data center not yet built. AND NVIDIA depends on Samsung I sent him a memory that he still doesn’t have. But the wheel keeps turning and, as one of the SMIC bosses commentedthe big feature of China, “no one has really thought about what exactly those data centers will do, but companies would love to build the entire capacity of the next 10 years in just one or two years.” We’ll see who gets ahead. Image | Andrey Matveev In Xataka | There was only one way to lower the price of RAM: Samsung and SK Hynix have flatly refused

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