Mobile Tech & Gadgets

AI is devouring physical storage

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Of course, this does not seem like the best time to assemble a PC in parts. The industry has been talking for months about memory shortage and a market with rising pricesand the doubts about the launch of new NVIDIA graphics cards For this 2026 they don’t help either. In the midst of this context, another signal now arrives from a less visible layer of hardware: Western Digital has communicated that its hard drive capacity for 2026 is practically compromised. So we ask ourselves what that message really means and how far its impact can go. The data. During the presentation of results for the second fiscal quarter of 2026, its CEO, Irving Tan, noted that Western Digital “has practically sold the entire catalog by 2026”, backed by confirmed orders from its seven largest clients and by multi-year agreements that extend until 2027 and 2028. The combination of volume in exabytes and price within these contracts points, in the executive’s words, to a transformation in the role that storage plays as activity linked to artificial intelligence gains weight within the technology business. behind the scenes. In this context, “sold out” does not refer to empty shelves or a sudden lack of hard drives for the consumer. As we can interpret, it refers to the fact that future production capacity is already reserved through agreements with large clients, defined by massive amounts of data and economic commitments for several years to come. In other words, the focus is not on the retail market, but on much larger scale contracts. And that detail completely changes the way the ad is interpreted. What kind of hard drives are we really talking about?. The language used by the company points directly to the storage used by data centers and large cloud services. It is the realm of high-capacity professional drives and business families designed to operate continuously, far removed from the disk that ends up inside one of our computers. The distribution of money. During the same fiscal quarter, Western Digital indicated that 89% of its revenue came from the “cloud” business, compared to 6% from the “client” segment and just 5% from consumption. The company ensures that it also delivered 215 exabytes of capacity, with a strong weight of next-generation disks for AI that reach up to 32 TB. The numbers not only measure the scale of business demand, but also explain why the industrial priority is placed there. Why AI is eating hard drives. It is no longer a secret that models need huge volumes of data to train and, later, infrastructures capable of preserving and serving information continuously. That combination skyrockets storage where capacity outweighs speed. Hence, despite the advancement of faster technologies, large data centers continue to rely on magnetic storage to sustain the scale of AI. What about the home user. Western Digital maintains consumer-oriented products and has not announced cuts or shortages on that front, so any direct effect would be, for now, speculative. What we can see is a clear priority towards large-scale enterprise contracts, and an eventual redistribution of capacity could generate indirect pressures on the rest of the line. More thermometer than immediate warning. If one thing is clear, it is that the data shows the extent to which AI is redefining priorities in the physical base of the technology industry, even in components that seemed stable for years. It remains to be seen whether that pressure will continue long enough to further disrupt the consumer market. Images | Western Digital In Xataka | While technology companies dispense with juniors to replace them with AI, IBM is doing the opposite: catching bargains

There was a day when Spain was a reference on the roads of Europe. 13.4 billion need to be invested to recover its splendor

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Floods, landslides, fractures, potholes or, directly, sinkholes. What is happening with Spanish roads? Are we facing a real maintenance problem or are we simply facing an avalanche of information or viral videos fueled by railway accidents and doubts about their maintenance? These are the answers we have. The controversy. The roads are bad. Very badly. At least that is the popular sentiment on social networks and in much of the media. The potholes (or directly sinkholes) They are the main ones accused of an alleged lack of investment in the maintenance of Spanish roads. Since the Adamuz train accident (Córdoba) in which 46 people died on January 18, the state of infrastructure in Spain is in the spotlight. The Adamuz railway accident was followed by new accident in Rodalies (Catalonia) in which a trainee train driver died and 37 people were injured just 48 hours later. The focus was then placed on the condition of the roads and their maintenance But, as the weeks have passed, the controversy has moved to the roads. And in recent days there have been videos in which cars are counted that have suffered blowouts due to going over a large pothole and statements on social networks. Is there data?. According to the Association of Infrastructure Conservation and Exploitation Companies (ACEX)Spain has a deficit of 5 billion euros of investment in its roads, distributed as follows: Highways under the responsibility of the State: 2,000 million euros. Highways of the Autonomous Communities: 2,000 million euros. Provincial roads: 1,000 million euros. According to ACEX, Spain invested half that of neighboring countries between 2009 and 2017, with a clear impact of the economic crisis of 2008. Since 2022, the deficit with Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom has been reduced to 30% with the arrival of European funds. It must be noted, however, that ACEX is made up of large construction companies. Source: AEC Officials? More or less. It must be taken into account that the budget items for road maintenance are not only presented in the General State Budgets, they must then be executed by the corresponding administrations. However, the DGT validates the data provided by the Spanish Road Association (AEC). And they say that half of the road surface in Spain is in poor condition. The data is even long before the last rains and a winter that is especially punishing the pavement. In fact, although the report was presented in 2025, the information was collected in 2024 so there is no data after the first months of last year either. which were also especially rainy. The AEC is an association created in 1949 and is non-profit. In 1998, it was also declared a Public Utility Entity and has international recognition. According to their evaluations, Spanish roads are “at the worst moment in its history” and that 13,491 million euros are needed to repair all the roads that need some type of intervention and they are distributed as follows: 4,721 million euros in 26,000 km managed by the State. 8,770 million euros in 75,300 km managed by the regional and provincial governments. A creeping problem. The problem of investments in road maintenance in Spain is not new. According to data from the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) in a 2019 studyroads had absorbed the majority of infrastructure investments between 1985 and 2018, surpassed only by train investments between 2008 and 2012. Those days, from Europe it was supported that the quality of Spanish roads was much higher than average and among the best in Europe. However, investments had been declining for years and although they exceeded 1% of GDP in the 1990s, in 2018 they were below 0.5% of GDP. Of the total money invested, the AIReF report indicates, 35.98% corresponded to the State, 19.96% to the Autonomous Communities and 8.41% to local entities. Money received, for example, with European funds, is not taken into account. European entities, however, attributed this decline in investments to an infrastructure that was already established and in good condition. The OECD pointed out that Spanish roads were above average in quality and connectivity and were only behind in density. Are there solutions? European aid is what once again boosts investments in roads. From the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agency they collected that between 2022 and 2024 2,460 million euros would be mobilized, placing special emphasis on the maintenance of the roads but announcing that they foresee a study to analyze the financing channels, which once again gives rise to the constant background noise about the implementation of tolls. Furthermore, with the impetus of Europe, a project has been created to adapt Spanish infrastructures to the new climate reality, analyzing the interventions that must be carried out to readapt them to more extreme climates where aggressive weather episodes occur more frequently. Photo | Feranza In Xataka | Spain has dozens of unique abandoned roads. Now he wants to save them by turning them into “historic roads”

China brought humanoid robots to the country’s biggest television show: it made them practice kung-fu with millimeter precision

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Every year, hundreds of millions of people in China sit in front of the television to watch the Spring Festival Gala, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the most watched annual program on the planet. It is not only a music and dance show, but also a showcase where the country decides what image it wants to project of itself. In this scenario of maximum visibility, the presence of humanoid robots ceases to be a simple technological curiosity and begins to function as a public declaration about the place that innovation occupies in the national narrative. What happened there was not just an artistic number, but a clear clue as to where the Asian giant is looking when it thinks about its technological future. Kung fu, choreography and coordination. To present their robots to millions of spectators, the organizers turned to a deeply recognizable symbol: martial arts. In the CCTV broadcast available on YouTube We can see robots using traditional weapons such as swords and nunchucks, as well as doing tricks and jumping from trampolines, always in sequences shared with human performers. The choice of kung fu provided more than just visual spectacularity, it can also be interpreted as a close way of reading technological advancement within a tradition known to the public. The magnitude of the event. The Spring Festival Gala has been broadcast since 1983 and is an inseparable part of the New Year celebration in hundreds of millions of homes. Reuters also describes it as an event comparable, in terms of media scale, to the American Super Bowl, capable of concentrating popular culture, political message and industrial ambition in a single night. What appears in that scenario entertains and, at the same time, projects a message and indicates priorities. A gateway for the industry. Behind the staging there were specific names and a visible strategy. They participated in the gala companies known in the West such as Unitree, but others less known such as MagicLab, Galbot and Noetix. The immediate precedent helps to understand the moment: Unitree’s robot performance in the previous edition went viral and, in a way, brought this technology closer to the general public. So the idea of ​​betting on a similar show again is reasonable. From the stage to the factory. The public display of these systems fits with a line of industrial policy that places robotics and AI at the center of the next Chinese manufacturing stage. In recent years we have seen how the Asian giant has invested heavily in this sector. According to OmdiaChina accounted for around 90% of the nearly 13,000 humanoid robots shipped worldwide last year, a global shipping metric that does not go unnoticed. Morgan Stanley also projects that Chinese sales could exceed 28,000 units this year, which would point to a notable expansion phase. In Xataka There are people sharing their court cases with AI. The problem is when a judge considers the conversations as evidence In the end, what was seen on that stage went beyond well-executed choreography. Behind each movement appeared a country narrative that combines technological ambition, industrial policy and cultural projection in the same television image. The question is no longer whether these robots can perform in front of millions of people, but rather how much their presence will grow in the coming years and into what spaces of daily life they will end up integrating. For now, its massive presence is destined for this type of spectacle. Images | CCTV In Xataka | While technology companies dispense with juniors to replace them with AI, IBM is doing the opposite: catching bargains (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news China brought humanoid robots to the country’s biggest television show: it made them practice kung-fu with millimeter precision was originally published in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

deadlines no longer count the same

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Driving a vehicle that is not your own is a much more common situation than it seems in Mexico and, in legal terms, does not represent any inconvenience as long as the requirements to circulate are met. The problem arose when the driver, without being the owner, received a fine: the big question was when the deadline to file an amparo began to run. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) has finally resolved this issue with a ruling that for years generated different criteria between courts and that now seeks to give certainty to an everyday practice. The origin of the problem. The courts did not have a unified criterion on when the deadline to promote a protection trial against a traffic ticket imposed on a person other than the owner of the vehicle. While some considered notification to the driver sufficient to activate this legal calculation, others warned that this circumstance did not guarantee that the owner had real knowledge of the sanction. This disparity generated practical uncertainty and could leave without defense those who did not even know that an infringement existed, which led the highest court to establish a clear criterion. The rule that sets the start of the term. The SCJN’s decision is based on a simple idea, but with important effects in practice: no one can lose the opportunity to defend themselves for a notification they never received. For this reason, the Plenary established as a mandatory criterion that, when the fine is imposed on a person other than the owner of the vehicle, the period to promote indirect protection must be counted from the moment in which the owner has direct, exact and complete knowledge of the sanction, or appears to be aware of it. Here we must highlight a very important point: it is not enough to hand the ticket to the driver. The real benefit for whoever owns the vehicle. As we can see, in practice, the resolution does not eliminate fines or modify the responsibility of the person who commits the driving violation, but it guarantees that the owner has an effective possibility of defending himself. This is especially relevant in everyday situations, such as borrowed cars, family vehicles, or units used by employees, where the penalty can be imposed without the owner being present. The Court also stated that the joint liability between owner and driver in the face of traffic violations, that is, both can legally respond for the sanction, cannot nullify the right of the former to file an amparo lawsuit within the legal period. From formal notice to real knowledge. In some administrative procedures, the authority you can take the notification for granted without direct contact with the owner, which opens the risk that the deadline to challenge begins to run before he or she finds out about the existence of the fine. The amparo trial, as a way to question acts of authority that may violate rights, depends precisely on that temporal calculation in order to be exercised effectively. With its resolution, the Supreme Court shifts the center of gravity from the mere formality of the notice to the certainty that the person really knows about the violation. Key question. How the date on which the owner became aware of the fine is determined. In an amparo trial, that moment must be proven in the file. To do this, the notification records addressed to the owner and other verifiable resources are reviewed. In this context, everything indicates that the interested person himself can provide documentation that supports the moment in which he became aware of the fine, precisely to support the opportunity with which he promotes the protection. What doesn’t change. The fines remain in force, the administrative procedures are not altered and the driver’s responsibility remains the same. What the ruling provides is a clarification with concrete effects: the calculation of the period does not depend on a notification beyond the direct knowledge of the owner. Now it remains to be seen to what extent its practical application manages to reduce the usual conflicts around traffic fines. Images | Juan Luis Alejos In Xataka | “Chinese money is expensive”: Peru gave the keys to a giant door to China that the US now wants to blow up

There’s a reason why the Japanese don’t need to dust as much as we do. And you can apply it easily

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When I was little and living in Switzerland, there was an unspoken rule that we all knew: the shoes They didn’t go beyond the doormat. It was common to see small shelves outside the doors, on the landing, where footwear that had walked on the street was abandoned. For us it was the norm, but when we crossed borders, that custom faded. Today, however, the situation seems to be changing globally. What we previously saw as a cultural curiosity of Japan or a Nordic eccentricity is beginning to make sense in the rest of the world. The contrast is fascinating. While in many Western homes cleaning is understood as a reaction (cleaning what has become dirty), in other cultures it is a preventive lifestyle design. In Japan the secret is not to clean for hours, but to prevent dirt from getting cross the threshold: “Cleaning is not a reaction, but a life design based on prevention.” This philosophy even extends to the air they breathe; Japanese residential ventilation technical documents highlight the critical importance of creating “air passages” by opening opposite windows to expel suspended particles, an obsession with environmental hygiene that invariably begins at the front door. And it’s not just a matter of visual perception. A study from Macquarie University in Sydney, puts it in perspective: until 60% of the dust and the dirt that accumulates inside a house comes from outside, and enters precisely through our feet. The architecture of custom Why is the world divided between those who barefoot and those who don’t? The answer lies in a mix of climate, architecture and philosophy. In Japan, the border is physical. According to the digital media Nipponthe houses have the genkana specific area at the entrance with a step called agari kamachi. This step marks the sacred boundary between the “outer world” (dirty) and the “inner world” (clean). Furthermore, traditional Japanese architecture uses floors tatami (straw mats), a delicate material that would be destroyed by rigid street shoes. In the Anglo-Saxon world, resistance it’s cultural. Journalist Jeff Yang tells in The Guardian a revealing anecdote about his Taiwanese aunt, who told him a lapidary phrase when she saw him enter wearing shoes: “When you enter my house with shoes, you are walking on my heart.” This clash illustrates the division: for some it is respect; for others, as indicated Real Simplewhere only 31% of Americans always barefoot, is an uncomfortable imposition. In Spain, the story is different and has its own peculiarities. There is no deep-rooted tradition to take off your shoes when entering. Historically, doing it in someone else’s house could even be interpreted as a lack of education or excessive trust (“taking too much confidence”). Unlike Nordic or Asian countries, Spain relies on reactive cleaning, something that users on discussion forums such as reddit rsummarize with humor and irony: “We can afford that custom because we invented the mop.” However, the trend is changing after the pandemic. More and more hosts are imposing the “zero shoe” rule for hygiene. It is the case of the influencer of lifestyle Patricia Fernández who, cited in Readingsassures that “removing your shoes at the entrance is your number 1 rule”, always offering comfortable options or baskets with slippers for your guests. Beyond the visible dirt, taking off your shoes has a profound psychological and symbolic impact. It’s not just hygiene, it’s a transition ritual. Dr. Manuel Viso explained that taking off your shoes sends a powerful signal to our brain: “Let’s change the environment, relax, we’re home, we’ve left work behind.” It is a physical switch for mental disconnection, how to change clothes. From an energy perspective, Feng Shui expert Gloria Ramos details in Interior Magazine that the main door is “the mouth of Qi“(vital energy). Leaving your shoes lying around or entering with them blocks that energy and the well-being of the home. Even the way you do it matters, in Japan etiquette requires not only taking off your shoes, but turn them so that they point towards the door (ready for departure) and do so without turning your back on the host, a gesture that denotes respect and consideration towards the community that inhabits that house. Science tips the balance decisively This is where the cultural debate collides with microscopic reality. If you thought your shoes were clean because you didn’t step in mud, experts have bad news. “99% of the shoes analyzed test positive for fecal matter,” pharmacist Álvaro Fernández flatly states. in The Aragon Newspaper. This is because we walk through streets where there are invisible remains of animal excrement and dirt from public toilets. Microbiologist Jonathan Sexton, from the University of Arizona, confirm in Very interesting that almost all soles harbor bacteria such as E.coli (present in 96% of cases) and Clostridium difficilea bacteria that causes serious intestinal problems. But it’s not just bacteria. According to The Conversation, Shoes carry pesticides from gardens, lead from urban dust, and carcinogenic asphalt sealants that end up in the air in our living rooms. It is important not to fall into alarmism. Although shoes are centers of dirt, they are not the only culprits. A published study in Scientific Reports warns that mobile phones are also “dangerous microbial platforms“that harbor a wide spectrum of organisms, often resistant to antibiotics, and that we constantly carry on our faces. It is another reminder that objects such as cell phones or kitchen sponges can have as much or more bacterial load than footwear. Still, experts like Kevin Garey they clarify thatalthough for a healthy adult the risk of infection from the floor is low (since we do not live at ground level), the recommendation is strict if there are crawling children or immunosuppressed people at home. The trend is clear: the frontier of the doormat is hardening in the West, but with our own style. we don’t have genkanbut we have learned to adapt our halls. More and more homes are incorporating benches, wicker baskets or narrow shoe racks … Read more

RAM is in an “unprecedented” crisis. So much so that even Tesla is considering opening its own memory factory

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Neither technological advances nor a revolution in devices: crises are what is defining the last years of the sector. He veto Huaweithe semiconductor crisis of 2020 and now, the RAM memory crisis. The difference between this crisis and the previous one is that, although the 2020 crisis was caused by a perfect storm, the RAM memory crisis is being caused by excessive interest in data centers and AI. And it is taking all sectors ahead. That there is no RAM memory for consumers is a symptom, but it implies something much bigger: although the main producers are investing millions to increase your RAM productionit is not memory for consumption, but for GPUs and data center systems. Only a few companies dominate the production of these chips, and if they cannot produce them, they do not produce the memory chips for SSDs –raising the price-. They dedicate all production to meeting the demands of AI. And, as we read in FortuneElon Musk, one of the owners of some of the largest data centers on the planethas shown that there are two ways to face this crisis: hitting the wall or taking action. And the translation is that Tesla is considering building its own RAM factory. The problem is that it is easier said than done. Tesla and Intel interested in biting the RAM biggies In recent weeks, some of the world’s leading companies have presented results and RAM has been the central topic. PlayStation, for example, has assured that they are very aware of their ability to continue manufacturing PS5 with the goal of not going upagain, the price. And NVIDIA has been stating for days that it needs TSMC – its main chip supplier – and Samsung – who provides them with new generation HBM4 memory – get the batteries. Meanwhile, the outlook is not good. own NVIDIA aims for seven or eight years of construction no brake on data centers. Intel assures that The crisis will extend beyond 2028 and Micron, one of the big three in DRAM memory, has cataloged the market bottleneck as “unprecedented.” In this technological tsunami, and during Tesla’s results presentation at the end of January, Elon Musk pointed out that the company could need to build your own memory manufacturing plant. The objective is the one that all companies have: ensure supply. Going from scratch to manufacturing RAM memory is easier said than done, however, here Tesla has an advantage: they are not new to chip manufacturing. Although they abandoned the project for a few months, at the beginning of this year Musk himself stated that They came back with their own chip for your data centers. Additionally, there is the fact that they are a company with enough muscle to create a clean chip manufacturing room next to some of its existing plants. Intel is another one looking to become one of the important voices in the RAM conversation. Together with the Japanese giant SoftBank, they are developing an evolution of stacked DRAM memory that have been baptized as ‘ZAM’ and that seeks to break the HBM memory monopoly of Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix. Now, things in the palace are going slowly, and if Intel (which is already in it) It will take between three and four years to have commercial productsTesla’s ambition may go into the next decade. Let’s hope we don’t continue in this crisis by then, but if more “players” are interested in producing RAM, it would mean that, in the event of subsequent crises, there will not be a few that dominate the sector, producing a bottleneck like the one we are experiencing. Domino effect of the AMR crisis and China taking action Because this is not just about RAM being more expensive for users: it goes much further. If companies do not have the capacity to satisfy the demand for AI, they pour all their manufacturing muscle into a single task, neglecting the others. This explains the rise in the price of SSDs, but also of other products that should not have a leading role in this conversation: hard drives or HDDs. It is a brutal domino effect because, as we say, it goes beyond the modules being more expensive: RAM is more expensive for companies and that implies mobile phones or more expensive or with less RAMconsoles that increase in price (like what is happening posing for nintendo switch 2), machines that are late and they will be more expensive (like the Steam Machine), car problems and even impacting the routers. And in this scenario, in which companies like Intel or Tesla are considering taking a bite out of the RAM sector, we have some Chinese companies that had no role in the conversation. positioning itself as an option to alleviate demand. We told it a few days ago: there were reports indicating that PC brands such as Asus, Dell or HP were considering purchasing memory from Chinese manufacturers such as CXMT. Their modules are not as advanced as those of Samsung, for example, and they do not have the production capacity of South Korean companies, but… they produce. And in lean times, that’s better than selling laptops without RAM. Anyway, as we have said on occasion, there are still more companies joining the production of RAM when the crisis has already had a full impact, but the goal is not to create more RAM for ourselvesbut for your data centers. It’s time to entrust ourselves to the most sacred thing: that our PC doesn’t break and we need to update. Images | Gage Skidmore, Intel In Xataka | The US has a problem with its AI data centers: more and more states are opposed to building them

That’s why a 10,000-ton electric megaship has just debuted

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When we talk about megaprojects, we know very well that Chinese companies are very committed to surprising us in terms of dimensions and capabilities. In this case the protagonist is the Ning Yuan Dian Kuna 10,000-ton all-electric container ship that the shipyard presents as the largest vessel of its type in the world. The ship set sail on February 1 from Jiangxi province and has been conducting trials in waters near Shanghai until a few days ago. Below these lines we tell you what is special about it. An electrical giant in figures. The ship measures 127.8 meters in length, 21.6 meters in width and 10.5 meters in depth. It has the capacity to transport 740 TEU containers (units about six meters long) and can reach a maximum speed of 11.5 knots. According to details Marine Insight, the project has been built by Jiangxi Jiangxin Shipbuilding and is designed to operate with zero emissions both during navigation and during loading maneuvers in port. The technology that drives it. The propulsion system is based on ten battery containers with a total capacity of up to 19,000 kWh, which power two permanent magnet motors of 875 kW each. From The Maritime Executive they explain that the batteries can be recharged through high-voltage connections on shore or quickly exchanged for already charged units, a cutting-edge replacement system that reduces waiting times in port. In addition, the ship incorporates photovoltaic panels to generate additional energy during its operations. Autonomous navigation on board. According to the media, the Ning Yuan Dian Kun integrates autonomous navigation systems that allow route planning, automatic collision avoidance, and unmanned operation in open waters. From Electrive share that the ship has “real-time monitoring of the environment, visual perception in any weather condition and unmanned operation functions.” These systems allow the boat to alternate between different navigation modes according to needs. What’s special about it. China seeks to establish a replicable model for zero-carbon short sea shipping. The Ning Yuan Dian Kun project was included in the national list of Advanced Green and Low Carbon Technology Demonstration Projects in 2025, with the aim of developing a scalable solution for coastal transportation. This is not the first attempt in China, since in 2024, the country had already launched the Greenwater 01 on the Yangtze River, a 120-meter-long electric container ship with batteries of up to 80,000 kWh. Between the lines. The tests have been used to evaluate the performance of the propulsion system in different conditions, the real autonomy of the batteries and the reliability of the autonomous systems. If the trials are a success, everything indicates that the ship will enter commercial service for the company, Ningbo Ocean Shipping Co., covering feeding routes linked to the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, one of the busiest in the world. On the other hand, it should be noted that there is already a second confirmed sister ship, the Ning Yuan Dian Peng, and that it will follow in the footsteps of this first one. Decarbonization underway. If it ends up being demonstrated with this type of projects that electrification is viable on a commercial scale in maritime cargo transport, that the model ends up working economically and can be replicated on other routes, could mark a turning point in an industry responsible for around 2% of global CO₂ emissions, according to data from Statista. Maritime transport has historically been one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize, so it could end up being an important step towards this goal. Images | PeopleDaily In Xataka | Africa has more than 30,000 kilometers of coastline and one country has managed to control them without anyone noticing: China

In Ireland they fear that artists will go without food because of AI. So he’s going to give them a basic income.

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The AI ​​is putting into serious doubt the continuity of different sectors as varied as the programmersthe music producerscinema and even illustrators. Creating a painting, a song, a video clip or an app used to involve having talent and the necessary knowledge. Now it is enough to choose the right AI model. A few days ago, the United Kingdom government was considering the possibility of implement a universal basic income to alleviate the effects of AI. The Irish government has gone ahead of them and has already launched an initiative in which it provides a basic monthly income to 2,000 artists. According to an official report of the impact of the measure, each public euro contributed to this basic income generates 1.39 euros of return. A test that is consolidated. In 2022, Ireland launched a pilot project of universal basic income for artists with which it sought to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural industry. The test turned out to be an unexpected success, so the Irish Administration has chosen to consolidate it by turning the Basic Income for the Arts into a tool against the precariousness of artists, and prevent them from abandoning their creative work. for economic reasons. According what was published by EFEthe Irish executive has provided the project with a budget item of 18.27 million euros so that 2,000 artists benefit from a payment of 325 euros per week. “This is an important milestone for the arts in Ireland and how we support them,” said Patrick O’Donovan, Ireland’s Minister for Arts and Culture. “Ireland is a world leader in supporting artists thanks to the BIA (Basic Income for the Arts),” he added in the official statement of the measure. A test that was a success. The pilot program started in November 2022 after the pandemic, selecting 2,000 artists from 9,025 applications through a lottery to avoid bias. Each one received 325 euros net per week for 36 months, equivalent to 16,900 euros per year, tax-free and without working conditions. The composition reflected the diversity of the sector: 707 in visual arts such as painters and sculptors, 584 musicians and composers, 204 filmmakers and audiovisuals, 170 writers and poets, 160 in theater and dance, plus 175 in mixed areas such as design or performance. This randomized design allowed us to measure real effects without bias for successful profiles. The pilot test was subjected to a study constant from independent entities, which were able to measure the benefits of the measure. The pilot demonstrated with data that 325 euros per week was enough to cover part of the basic expenses, freeing up to 25 extra hours per week so that the artists could dedicate time to creating. That is, it was low enough to allow artists to dedicate time to their artistic production, but not so low as to make them dependent on it. It is a basic income, but with conditions. The measure allows maintaining the same economic conditions as the 2022 program, but incorporates a series of conditions that avoid dependency by assigning it to alternative three-year periods. That is, the beneficiaries of the income in the 2026-2029 cycle cannot opt ​​for the 2029-2032 cycle, but they are eligible again for the 2032-2035 cycle. In addition, at the end of each cycle, there is a gradual three-month decrease in income, where the payment drops by 25% per month to facilitate the transition until they stop receiving it. More art, less precariousness. The more consolidated results of the pilot test published in September 2025, indicated that the initial investment in the project was 105 million euros, of which only 72 million were executed. However, that was enough to obtain a return of around 80 million euros. The artists who participated in the test increased their monthly income by an average of 500 euros, while their income from non-artistic activities was reduced by an average of 280 euros. That is, the basic income allowed artists to concentrate on their creations and make them profitable, allowing them live from his art and not from precarious or part-time jobs. “The economic return on this investment in Ireland’s artists and creative arts workers is having an immediate positive impact for the sector and the economy in general,” said the Irish culture minister. In Xataka | Barcelona tested a basic income of 1,297 euros per month and the job search was reduced by 22%: the test was a success Image | Unsplash (Dillon Wanner)

not carrying a puncture repair kit

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Every day more people make a decision when they get a puncture on the road: call for assistance. We’re not saying it, it’s the data from RACE, who point to tire problems as the second most common reason why they come to the rescue of drivers. And, despite everything, the DGT has a message if you want to forget your belongings to repair a puncture: XX euros fine. Let others do it. We can fix fewer and fewer things in our cars. And when we have the opportunity, we don’t do it either. We counted for a long time that assistance companies and driving school teachers have detected a clear trend in drivers: less knowledge of mechanics and less intention to get down to work to carry out a repair. We are facing a direct consequence of greater complexity in our vehicles, with Star&Stop systems that make it difficult to change a simple battery or LED headlights irreplaceable at the moment, as was the case when we had a set of light bulbs in the trunk of the car. But, furthermore, when we can we don’t want to either. I’m not going to change the wheel. According to RACE data, the first cause of roadside assistance is changing the battery. The second is replacing the wheel due to a tire problem. Specifically, 12% of the calls they receive in the RACE They suggest that the driver needs someone to change a tire or repair a puncture. The trend has long been reflected in the vehicles themselves. The inexcusable spare tire gave way to “cookie” wheelssmaller and that can travel at a maximum of 80 km/h and have limited kilometers. Over the years they have become popular puncture repair kits. Solutions that have been reducing costs for the manufacturer while gaining space in the trunk. And, everything indicates, customers and manufacturers seem to be happy. Car brands because they do not have to make that financial effort and customers because they do not seem to want the physical effort of changing the wheel that, for years, accounts for most of the roadside calls for help. And why count on it? At this point, the driver being aware that he is not going to change the wheel, some may have wondered why not do without that replacement tire or the puncture repair kit. Gaps that, without a doubt, can be used to gain more trunk space. The DGT, however, requires us to have them, regardless of whether we are going to use them or not. In it article 1. c) of Annex XII of the General Vehicle Regulations It is specified that “all passenger cars” must have the following equipment: c) A complete spare wheel or a wheel for temporary use, with the necessary tools to change the wheels, or an alternative system to change them that offers sufficient guarantees for the mobility of the vehicle. In these cases, circulation will be carried out respecting the limitations of each alternative. The fine. As we say, even if a driver has no intention of changing a tire, the truth is that he has the obligation to have the necessary spare parts to carry out that intervention. We have contacted the DGT and they have confirmed that the fine in this case would be 80 euros, understanding that This is a minor infraction for not having the appropriate elements to carry out the replacement. This should not be confused with the serious infraction that penalizes driving “a vehicle that fails to comply with the technical conditions established by regulation”, which is punishable by 200 euros. Photo | Jamie Street and David Villarreal Fernandez In Xataka | What to do in the event of an accident and if your car is declared a total loss: all the steps to follow

Magnus Carlsen is the master of FreeStyle chess. It’s increasingly clear that that’s not enough for him.

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It was a miracle, but he did it. Magnus Carlsen was crowned this weekend as world champion of the World Freestyle Chess Championship that has been organized by FIDE. He achieved it after surviving and winning a game that he had practically lost, and although the competition was full of emotion, it is not clear that freestyle chess is the revolution that the chess world was asking for. Not even being blessed by Carlsen. what has happened. These days the world championship of this discipline was being held in Weissenhaus (Germany), and eight of the best players in the world met there, including Magnus Carlsen, considered by many to be the best player in historyor Fabiano Caruana, current world champion in classical chess. Champion by the skin of his teeth. That was the first officially freestyle chess tournament blessed by FIDEalthough there were similar competitions in 2019 and 2022. Carlsen played the final against Fabiano Caruana and beat him by 2.5 to 1.5, and after two draws in the first two games, in the third Caruana had an advantage that seemed secure. However, Carlsen managed to recover and, thanks to Caruana’s subsequent time crunch, take advantage of your mistakes to turn the game around. A boring champion. Carlsen, as many will know, gave up his title as world champion of classical chess in July 2022, bored with this modality. Although he continues to play some tournaments of this version, he prefers to focus on rapid and blitz chess, in addition to now being the main promoter of freestyle chess (also known as 960 or Fischer random chess). This new title as world champion is the 21st of his career (five in classic, six in rapid, nine in lightning, one in freestyle). This is more like boxing. As happens in the world of boxing, in the world of chess there is beginning to be a problem with world titles, and although Caruana is the world champion of classical chess, there is always the question of whether he (or any other current player) could really surpass Carlsen in a world championship that pitted the two of them against each other. In this situation another curious solution now appears. Welcome to the chess ‘triathlon’. For a few months now, the world number one has been supporting a kind of chess ‘triathlon’ that mixes the following modalities: “Fast Classic”: 45 minutes for the first movement, 30 second increment per movement Quick chess: 15 minutes on the first move, 10 seconds increment after each move Lightning chess: three minutes on the first move, 2 seconds increment after each move We will see how it works. As Leontxo García explained in El PaísAlthough the proposal formally comes from the organizers of the Norway Chess tournament, the support of Carlsen and now FIDE has led to the birth of the Total Chess World Championship, which will be held for the first time in pilot format in mid-October 2026. What will become of freestyle chess? The idea of ​​freestyle chess is fantastic, especially to give more excitement from the first move to games between the best players in the world. In classical chess, the deep knowledge of openings that these players have means that the first 20 moves are often made almost by heart. The modality promoted by Carlsen is a breath of fresh air for these players and even for the spectators, but according to Leontxo García, medium or low level fans “hate 960 because it is very difficult and because they feel intellectually naked.” Fast chess for the age of impatience. That, together with the long duration of the games, meant that their interest in today’s world where immediacy is rewarded was very limited. This way of playing offers a more dynamic and entertaining format, but its adoption is still limited. On the Chess.com platform, for example, anyone can play one of these games, but the popularity of conventional chess is massive, although quick games tend to be especially attractive on said platform. It is these formats that attract the most attention, and this chess ‘triathlon’ may be a good compromise solution. Long live chess. Which does not mean that many continue (we continue) thinking that there is only one real chess world championship. The classic chess of a lifetime. With its long games, their scandals, his punches on the table and its scenes. That said, what matters in the end is that chess still more alive than ever. Image | Frans Peeters In Xataka | Beth, from ‘The Queen’s Gambit’, is a mix of Bobby Fischer and Judit Polgár, whose stories are impressive… and real

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