While the West debates what to do with AI in schools, in China there are already schools turning it into a child tutor

by

Anyone who has been a child or a parent knows the scene: the flexo light on, an incomprehensible math problem on the table, tears falling from the frustration of not understanding a lesson or not being able to pronounce a foreign language, and a parent losing patience after explaining the same thing for the fifth time. In China they have found a way to turn it around, parents frustrated and exhausted by their workdays are delegating the academic supervision of their children to artificial intelligence. While in different countries there is a strong debate and fear about whether AI erodes critical thinking of students, the opposite is true in China: a 2025 survey led by KPMG revealed that more than 90% of the Chinese are optimistic about this technology. The phenomenon came to light and sparked debate on social media when a mother in Shandong province discovered her husband playing on his mobile phone while letting her Kimi AIa chatbot capable of processing two million characters, did his son’s homework. But this father is not an isolated case. Many adults are using AI not just to teach, but to do the dreaded “parenting chores.” Mr. Zhang, for example, admitted to using the chatbot Doubao to generate summaries of the Aesop’s Fables and print step-by-step images for your third grader’s craft projects. The market has responded with an avalanche of gadgets. Zheng Wenqi, a working mother, bought for about 375 dollars the “Native Language Star”, a device composed of a mask that muffles your voice in Chinese and a speaker that translates it into English to converse with your children. Others, like university professor Wu Ling, They invested $1,170 in AlphaDoga robot dog powered by the DeepSeek model that practices English, dances and keeps his only son company. There are even parents who have gone one step further by becoming creators. This is the case of Yin Xingyu, a mother from Shenzhen who does not know how to program, but who uses the technique of vibecoding with DeepSeek to create interactive English word games for her 6-year-old daughter, as well as generate personalized comics using the Nano Banana Pro imaging model. For the purist parents, devices have emerged such as the “Youdao AI Q&A Pen”, a smart pen designed from “asceticism”: it has no browser or games, it only guides the child step by step in their mathematical reasoning without giving them the direct answer. A multi-million dollar business in a gray area All this enthusiasm has fueled a runaway educational technology market valued at more than $43 billion. Outsourcing has left the homes to take to the streets and, until July 2024, The opening of about 50,000 was estimated “AI study rooms” across the country. In these establishments, children sit in cubicles in front of standardized tablets; They cannot leave until the indicators on the screen turn from red (errors) to green (correct answers). As detailed on CCTVthe “teachers” in these rooms do not teach, they are prohibited from explaining the subject and they act as mere supervisors and commissioned salespeople. To cope with the monotony of 6 to 8 hours answering questions, some children learn to play Go or Gomoku secretly on the same machines, often with the supervisors’ blind eye. However, former employees and parents report that in many of these centers, “artificial intelligence” is just a marketing façade to charge more, and children simply consume pre-recorded lessons on basic tablets. Behind these study rooms hides a business survival tactic. Many of these centers operate in a gray zone to avoid the strict “double reduction” policy. imposed by the government in 2021which banned for-profit tutoring to relieve financial and academic pressure on families. By arguing that “it is AI that teaches and not a human,” these companies dodge education regulators, registering under names of “cultural media” and avoiding words like “enrollment” or “classes.” Franchises are strategically expanding into peri-urban areas and small towns, where rents are low and parents are equally willing to pay for a place to leave their children. This mass adoption is no accident; is backed by a clear state directive. The Chinese government is promoting the integration of AI in education as part of a national strategy to accelerate its technological progress against global competitors such as the United States. The regulations are already on the table. Starting with the fall 2025 semester, Beijing will require a minimum of eight hours per year of AI education in all primary and secondary schools. The transition has been rapid and planned, with higher education leading the way: 99% of university students and teachers in China already use generative tools, and elite universities such as Zhejiang or Fudan have made AI courses mandatory and transversal subjects. Science supports this dive. An empirical study conducted with high school students in H city showed that the duration of daily use of AI tools significantly and positively influences students’ AI knowledge and algorithmic thinking. That is, constant exposure is already shaping your cognitive and technological abilities. The debate is served The families’ opinions are drastically divided. For many, AI democratizes education. Mothers like Li Linyun celebrate that the Doubao chatbot be a “24-hour, knowledgeable and extremely patient teacher,” which has saved him hundreds of dollars on human tutors and improved his relationship with his daughter. On the other hand, technological dependence terrifies educators and a faction of parents, who criticize that children are becoming lazy and losing the ability to think independently. In study halls, proctors notice that students, desperate to turn the screen green, resort to tactical memorization: repeatedly choosing incorrect answers by discard until the system approves them, without actually learning the concept. Added to this is the “AI illusion” and its hallucinations. Su Xiao, mother of a ninth grader, discovered that the general models They could invent historical data with complete confidence and fluency, or omit crucial data in mathematical problems, offering logically impeccable but erroneous results. This forced her to become a “cyber quality inspector,” … Read more

How to schedule a daily summary of your new newsletters sent by artificial intelligence to your email

by

Let’s tell you how to create a summary of all the newsletters received in your email electronic using artificial intelligence. For this, we are going to use the service Make to create a workflow or workflow with a three-step automation. The idea is to have an email where we receive the newsletters, and configure an automation that once a day analyzes if you have new ones in your mailbox, sends them to an AI like Gemini to make a summary for you, and to send you an email to a second account with a summary of each newsletter you have. But before we start, I must remind you that when you do this, you will be sharing your email data first with Make, where you will link your account, and then with Gemini to give you a summary. It is something that you should take into account if you are a person who wants to take maximum care of your privacy. And if you don’t want to complicate things so much, remember that we have taught you how to make a timely summary of your newsletters with AI. This will not be programmed as we are going to show you today, but you will only need to link your email directly to an AI and write the prompt corresponding. You have to use two email accounts To create this automation you will need two email accounts. One will receive the newsletters and send an automatic email with the summary of each one to your second account. A practical tip is to have an account only for newsletters. With this, first you will prevent unwanted newsletters from reaching you and so much data from your main account being shared, and on the other hand, when you create this workflow you will not be linking the email that you normally use, only the one for the newsletters. And with this, when you configure the third step or module of our workflow, that is where you will have to put the main email to receive the summaries, while all the connections and content explorations will be where the newsletters arrive. Tag your newsletters You will also have to tag all newsletters that you receive. This way, you will have all the emails under that label, and then when creating the automation it will be easier to point out where the AI ​​has to read. For example in Gmail, go to the manage labels option and create one. Once you have created the label, simply label all the emails that are newsletters. So, sender addresses will be labeledand all the emails that arrive will go directly to the tag that you have created for the newsletters. Get the AI ​​API you want to use For this automation, also we are going to need the API of an AI to be able to use it in our project. In our case, we will follow the guide that we have made for you to get the free Gemini APIand thus use Google AI to process the newsletters and send you the summaries. You simply have to enter the website of aistudio.google.com and sign in with your Google account. When you do, in the left bar click on API keysand then at the top click on Create API key. By doing so, create a new project to link the key to and that’s it. When you have created the API, you will see that it appears in the list of API keys. You just have to click on the left, below where it says Clueand a window with the API will open, starting with “AIza–“. You can do this with any other AI whose API you want to use. Now, create your automation Let’s now move on to creating our automation. As we have been doing several times, we are going to turn to Make, as it is a platform that is easy to use and very versatile. In it we will create automations with Gmail and Gemini modules, and in all of them we will have to log in. We are going to skip these steps in the guide, but to log in with Gemini you will need to enter the API that we obtained in the previous step, and with Gmail you will have to log in and give the platform permission to read all your emails and be able to write them in your name. First the Gmail module The first thing we are going to do is create a new scenario in Make, and add module Watch emails from Gmail inside him. This module is used to make the automation read emails, and can be launched when you receive a new one. Now we go to the panel to configure this module. In him, in Folder you can put All mailso that it reads all the emails, but just below it says that it does not include spam and garbage. So make sure the newsletters don’t go there. In Label you have to choose the label Newsletters that we have created before in Gmail. As a criterion you can put them all, or those you have not read yet, and below mark the processed emails as read. Finally, you can set a limit on the number of emails to process. Save it like this, and in the next step choose if you want to process the emails from now on, all of them, or from a date. Now a Gemini module to do the summary We now go to the second step, that of create a Gemini module right after Gmail. Click on the + to the right of the Gmail module, among the options look for Google Gemini, and within its functions choose the option Generate a response. This is used to generate a response from some data you give it, which in this case will be emails labeled as newsletters. Now let’s configure this module. You will first have to … Read more

In 1885, Finland mistakenly built a lighthouse in Sweden, so its neighbor redrew the border to return it to them.

by

The Market Island It is most particular. How Guinness certifiesalong with Koiluoto, is the smallest uninhabited island shared between two nations: Sweden and Finland, once integrated into the Russian Empire (became independent in 1917but the history of Finland is another story). Unlike other islands with this casuistry such as Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic), its border is not more or less a straight line: It looks like an S, as you can see in the image that illustrates this article. The reason for this winding muga is a lighthouse. As a curiosity, the Market lighthouse It had its lighthouse keeper in charge of managing it until it was automated in 1977, at which time the island became uninhabited, beyond tourists who came to visit its impressive fauna. Located at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea, Märket is halfway between the islands bordering the Swedish provinces of Uppsala and Stockholm to the west, and the Finnish archipelago of Åland to the east. The western part of the island is administered by Sweden and is also divided into two provinces: Uppsala and Stockholm. The eastern area corresponds to Hammarland, belonging to the Finnish autonomous territory of Åland. Although the exact date on which Märket emerged from the sea is unknown, geology is based in the postglacial rebound rhythm of the region (greater than 5 mm per year) to point to the 16th century. Märket barely has 0.033 square kilometers, spread over a surface of mostly smooth diabase rock, with a maximum elevation of about 3.5 meters above sea level. On its northern and southern coasts there are coves that serve as natural ports for small boats. To prevent ships from running aground on its reef, in 1885 the Tsar of Russia commissioned the construction of a lighthouse, designed by the Finnish architect Georg Schreck: the wayward Märket lighthouse. Stay with one piece of information: Schreck chose the highest point on the island to build it with all the sense in the world: it is the least exposed to waves and ice. The Märket Island lighthouse has caused Sweden and Finland to change their borders But before we go to 1885, let’s move to 1809, the moment when Sweden and the Russian Empire drew their borders in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. According to this agreement, the borders would be fixed on geographical elements and the sea border would be fixed in the Åland Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, with the islands assigned to the nearest country. The topographical description of 1811 ruled: that line crossed Märket exactly through its geographical center. This original border can be revised in the historical archive Histdocwhich houses the official record: Original Märket border. Official document of the governments of Sweden and Finland. Via Histdoc You don’t have to pay much attention to observe an abysmal difference between the original border and the current one. Now it is time to travel back in time to 1885 when, after enduring the harsh climate (even in summer) of the island, the construction of the lighthouse was completed. Then two other attached buildings would arrive, a warehouse and a machine room. There was just one tiny, tiny problem.: They had planted it on the Swedish side. Märket is (and always has been) an inhospitable island in the wilderness, not a place to pass through or stay. So no one bothered to solve this little problem until the 1980s. Specifically, the formal border demarcation process of 1979-1981 officially showed that the lighthouse was between 35 and 60 meters west of the central point of the islet: on the Swedish side. As you can see on the map, the buildings are marked in part B, entirely on the Swedish side. So in 1985 they resolved it amicably. A joint Swedish-Finnish commission decided to modify the border so that the lighthouse was on the Finnish side through an exchange of territories, which generated that characteristic S shape. The maritime borders could not be modified without affecting the fishing areas, so they were limited to the land. Since then, the border has been marked with perforations in the rock itself (doing it any other way is not feasible due to its meteorological conditions) for almost 500 meters. In Xataka | A man bought a desert island in 1962: he planted 16,000 trees and turned it into an anti-rich sanctuary In Xataka | There is a paradise island that you only enter armed. And the United Kingdom wants to “liberate” it from the United States Cover | Google Maps and tt_koski

It is literally the largest and heaviest machine ever built by humans and it does one thing: extract coal.

by

In North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, the largest machine that man has put on earth operates. Forget about huge ships, aircraft carrier either oil platforms: It’s an excavator. It is called Bagger 293, and its very existence is the moving memory of what industrial engineering is capable of when it is demanded without limits. What is it, exactly? The Bagger 293, also known as the MAN TAKRAF RB293, is a bucket wheel excavator (those that have a giant toothed disc at one end) designed for open pit mining. It was built by the German company TAKRAF, a subsidiary of the MAN group, between 1990 and 1995 in Leipzig. His goal from day one was only one: extract lignitethe so-called brown coal, in the Hambach mine, one of the largest mining operations in Europe. Today it remains operational, owned by RWE Power AG, Germany’s second largest energy producer. Numbers. It is 96 meters high, equivalent to a building of more than 30 floorsand 225 meters long, which is more than two football fields placed in a row. It weighs 14,200 tons. The Guinness Book of Records officially recognizes it as the largest and heaviest land vehicle in the world. Shares title with its predecessor, the Bagger 288although the 293 surpasses it in size and capacity. It also cannot be transported. And moving it about 120 kilometers requires more than three weeks of continuous work, with progress of just 5 or 6 kilometers a day. How it works istea monster. The heart of the machine is a 21.3 meter diameter rotating wheel armed with 18 buckets, large steel buckets, each capable of loading up to 15 cubic meters of material per cycle. That wheel spins non-stop, tearing off layers of earth and rock to reveal the veins of lignite, which are then transported by giant belts to the electricity generation plants. Under normal conditions, the Bagger 293 can move up to 240,000 tons of material in a single day. Furthermore, it is estimated that what it does in one day is equivalent to the manual work of about 40,000 miners. All this with only five operators on board, controlling the system from a central cockpit. electric appetite. To start such a structure, a direct external energy source of 16.56 megawatts is needed (about more than 22,500 HP if we do the conversion). This would be approximately equivalent to the electricity needed to supply a city of about 20,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Bagger 293 does not have its own conventional engine, it is permanently connected to the industrial electrical network. Its 12 steel tracks, each 3.8 meters wide, distribute the immense weight over the ground in a controlled manner so that the ground does not give way under it. Leaf where you work. The excavator works in the Hambach mine, the largest open-pit mine in Germany, with an approved area of ​​up to 8,500 hectares and a depth that reaches 500 meters below ground level. According to Bloombergthe mine produces around 40 million tonnes of lignite per year, enough to power around 8 million homes. But the mine is not without controversy. Brown coal is the most polluting fossil fuel per unit of energy produced, and the exploitation of Hambach 90% of the historic Hambach Forest has been wiped outan ecosystem more than 12,000 years old. As of 2012, environmental activists They occupied the remaining trees for years in a protest that ended up becoming a symbol of the climate debate in Germany. In 2018, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the mine’s expansion. Greta Thunberg herself visited the place in 2019stating that he found it “devastating” to see places like the Hambach mine. In January 2020, the German government agreed to preserve the remaining forest, and in August of that same year Germany committed to its definitive exit from coal by 2038. According to Global Energy Monitormining at the Hambach mine will cease in 2029, and the plan is to transform the territory into a reclaimed landscape that will include a large artificial lake. Images | Andreas Lippold (Wikimedia Commons), Stefan Fussan (Wikimedia Commons), Steve Rowell In Xataka | The key hidden infrastructure for AI is not data centers: it is undersea cables and the Middle East leads the way

China is so clear that the future of pork lies in ‘skyscraper farms’ that it is doing something: taking them to other countries

by

When you think of pig farms, what comes to mind are large farms with pig pens, breeding areas, silos with feed… All of this (of course) horizontally. Things change if we are in China. There they have been thinking vertically for years and betting on farms in buildings of various heights, including authentic skyscrapers, such as the two 26-story towers raised in Ezhou (Hubei) and that are capable of breeding 1.2 million pigs every year. Now China has started ‘international’ model. What has happened? That China has begun to export its model of macro farms pig verticals. Although a few years ago the ‘farm towers’ sounded like science fiction and there were even foreign ranchers who raised their eyebrows reading about them, the bet seems to have worked for Beijing. At least enough to consider take her to Vietnamwhere the Chinese firm Muyuan Foods has joined forces with the local BAF to build a complex in the province of Tay Ninhin the southeast of the country. Its main peculiarity: breeding at altitude. What do they want to do? The idea is to develop a high-rise complex dedicated to pig farming, an infrastructure that will be carried out with an investment of just over 450 million dollars and will integrate a farm of 64,000 pigs with a factory capable of producing close to 600,000 tons of feed every year. In September Vietnam Investment Review pointed out that the project has received approval from the authorities of the province of Tay Ninh, where the complex will be built, and from the state authorities. What does it have to do with China? That one of the promoters of the project is Muyuan Foodshe greatest breeder of pigs from China and a heavy weight of the sector at an international level. In addition to his enormous capacity of production, the firm stands out for its commitment to raising pigs in buildings of up to six floors. “We have replaced traditional single-story pig farms with multi-story ones to improve efficiency and land use, promote recycling of manure and waste and ensure biosecurity,” the company explained during its IPO in Hong Kong, a few weeks ago. What is China doing? Although in other countries macro pig farms in towers may be shocking, in China they have been implementing the model for some time. To understand it, you have to go back to 2018, when the country saw how swine fever undermined its herds. The American Society for Microbiology estimates that in total the outbreak killed or forced the sacrifice of 225 million of pigs. The country is the largest producer and pork consumer in the world and it is estimated that before the 2018 outbreak it housed half of the planet’s pig population. In 2019, the Government formally allowed the use of multi-story buildings for livestock farming and just a year later Muyuan opened its doors. a macro complex in Nanyangwith twenty blocks of various plants capable of producing more than two million pigs each year. Little by little, China has been moving from a model in which pig farming was a common practice in homes (it still is in part of the country) to one based on commercial farms in which it is easier to manage waste and diseases such as swine fever. Why farms in skyscrapers? a few years ago The New York Times I was chatting with an expert of the US pork market that acknowledged that US farmers “look at photos of Chinese farms and just scratch their heads and say, ‘We would never dare do that.’” The truth is that buildings like those of Muyuan or the 26-story towers driven by Hubei Zhongxin Kaiwei Modern Farming in Ezhou have their advantages. This is what its promoters defend, at least, who present it as another step towards industrial agriculture. The same one that has also opted for the vertical farming farms. By thinking vertically, instead of the traditional horizontal model, they basically seek greater biosecurity and more efficient management. Why’s that? In the Ezhou skyscrapers, for example, they boast of incorporating thousands of automatic feeding points and a system capable of collecting, analyzing and using livestock feces. Not to mention that by betting on high-rise models, macro farms such as those in Muyuan, Zhongxin or Guangxi Yangxiang make it possible to address one of the sector’s biggest problems: the availability of land is limited, especially in populated areas. Of course, the tall model also has significant risks. The main one: that diseases spread more quickly through ventilation systems. Now, as Beijing tries stabilize the livestock herd China to avoid surpluses and prop up prices, the country is considering taking vertical macro farms beyond its borders. Images | China-Singapore Kaiwei Modern Animal Husbandry WeChat In Xataka | The new Spanish farmer no longer lives in the town: his name is John, he studied at Wharton and manages olive trees from New York

Arab countries are taking it away

by

What we understand by luxury It is no longer what it was. Its meaning has evolved, and with it our way of consuming. We prioritize the result —a search for outstanding in an almost arithmetic sum of factors such as price, quality or experience— more than the historical lineage of a great house French like Dior or Chanel. The truth is that the young consumer does not have as much attachment to the heritage of the brands that, perhaps, they hope to have by divine mandate; However, that does not stop us from continuing to pay attention to the high-end of iconic brands with cosmetics for one hundred euros. The difference is that today we can find an alternative on the market that provides us with a similar experience (the already famous dupes) has become a small personal triumph. So much so that not hesitating to publish the experience on networks ends up creating a call effect more powerful than twenty advertisements on Christmas Eve. Not so long ago, any allusion to “imitation” had connotations that we tried to avoid, but the reality is that the consumer now has no complexes. And the same thing happens in perfumery. A few years ago, talking about olfactory luxury automatically led us to French names, campaigns with the actors of the moment and bottles that easily exceeded one hundred euros. Today, however, we are directly witnessing a democratization of luxury, specifically in the field of perfume. Success comes from the Arab world On this occasion, this democratization does not come from perfumery dupes, the classic versions inspired by iconic fragrances and at more affordable prices that help remove the thorn of that high-end perfume or niche. The novelty is that the revolution comes, in large part, from the Emirates (they have not stopped with the Dubai chocolateno), with proposals for original perfumes that maintain the sophisticated aesthetic and olfactory character, but in which, in addition, the price is not a barrier at all. Thus, Arab perfumes have burst onto the market with force and have established themselves as a phenomenon that has filled cities with stores specialized in the sector and social networks of recommendations from these brands. Now brand names like Amouage, Afnan or Lattafa rub shoulders with classics like Dolce & Gabbana or Burberry and lead this transformation. According to data from Circana, global perfume sales grew by 17% in the first half of 2025 largely thanks to demand for Arabic fragrances. Lattafa herself increased its sales on TikTok Shop at the end of 2025 174% compared to the previous year, while the Omani house Amouage reported a 30% increase in sales in 2024 compared to its figures from the previous year. These numbers support a success that is based on a compendium of multiple factors that match current consumer trends. The keys to the global consolidation of Arab perfumes are clear: long-lasting and intense thanks to raw materials such as oud or musk, their pompous design and a price within reach of most pockets (around 30-40 euros). But, without a doubt, another of the factors that has consolidated the triumph of these perfumes is their massive presence on networks. Influencers continually recommend fragrances from these Arab houses, generating an appeal that, in combination with that price, favors impulsive purchasing by consumers, also sponsored by the striking and novelty of the product. In fact, searches on TikTok and Google for the term “Arabic perfumes” have grown more than 60% in 2025. The networks tell you how you should smell Until now it was very common for the algorithm to stuff us with hauls clothing, recommendations outfits or miracle makeup products like a base that lasts all day. Now there is an influencer sector that has been able to identify this new demand in the market and our way of consumption, making perfume recommendations for each occasion, depending on the intensity or olfactory notes that we are looking for. @marcelperfumes 5 Arab Perfumes You Must Have: 1. Mahd Al Dhahab 2. Rayhaan Terra 3. Kayaan Terra 4. Titan Khadlaj 5. Ravine Ginger #perfumes #Perfume #marcelperfumes ♬ peace – mindset So, it doesn’t hurt to say that yes, the algorithm is redefining perfumery. The call blind buywhich is nothing more than blind shopping on the internet, is no longer limited to clothing but also to perfumes. The reality is that many users decide to choose an Arabic perfume that appears in their “for you” because the bottle is beautiful and their trusted influencer claims that it will smell like lemon cake or give off notes of vanilla. We already know the benefits of accessing quality products in exchange for an affordable price, but also its risks. As happens with the skincare or makeup low costthe attractive price can lead us to spend even more. If we get a dupe of a lipstick that costs 40 euros for only 5, that feeling of savings leads us to complete the entire set and end up falling into the trap of micro spending. With perfumes, especially thanks to being a trend on social networks, exactly the same thing can happen. It is true that these Arabic fragrances are reasonably priced, but the context in which they are consumed has completely changed. For example, on TikTok videos about layeringThat is, combining several perfumes to create your own aroma with notes that you want, or enhancing the one you like the most and, to achieve this, you obviously have to add several scented products to the cart. @dyanbay Why should you mix your perfumes? And how to do it like a professional?😏🔥 Here I teach you everything I have learned studying in Paris and in the masterclass in Milan so that you don’t get confused. Tell me what combinations you make✌🏻💛 #dyanbay #perfumetok #humor #deinfluencing #antihaul ♬ original sound – Adrián Carrera👃🏻🩷 Perfume has become something totally modular and from networks we are encouraged to vary the fragrance according to our mood or the weather, as if … Read more

Running clubs have become Gen Z’s favorite dating app

by

Dawn breaks and the parks begin to fill with runners. The alarm clock has rang early, it’s time to lace up your sneakers and go out to add kilometers. At the end of the route, still with heavy breathing and sweat on the forehead, the modern ritual demands to open the phone. But the goal is no longer to swipe profiles on a dating app from the comfort of the couch, but to upload the workout to Strava accompanied by a selfie or a clever title. Those who do it know perfectly well that there is someone on the other side paying attention. As a young runner confessed In a report published by the magazine ellethe intention to be seen is undeniable: “One hundred percent. Whether it’s a long run or a pretty outfit, there have been times when I’ve thought: he’s going to see this.” This scene, which is repeated every morning and afternoon in any city in the world, illustrates a massive paradigm shift. In a world where love seemed to have been trapped in algorithms, paywalls and cold screens, Generation Z has decided to return to the streets, the asphalt and the sports clubs. At first glance, Strava is a tool purely technical: GPS maps, average paces and gradients. However, the data confirm a sociological phenomenon. According to the Year in Sport: Trend Report from 2025 issued by Strava itselfone in five Gen Z respondents said they have gone on a date with someone they met through a club running. The same document reveals that the creation of new clubs on the platform multiplied by 3.5 in the last year. The transition from miles to romance has its own mechanics. As the German edition of Runners Globalgive a Kudo (the equivalent of a “like” on Strava) has become the new super-like. Tyler Swartz, founder of the Endorphins running club, points out that “Having multiple points of contact with someone is a great way to build trust.” After a group run, following each other on the app allows you to stay on each other’s radar without the pressure of an exchange of phones. The platform itself has witnessed (and facilitated) this shift. When Strava introduced direct messages (DMs) at the end of 2023 Intended to “coordinate flings,” it took younger users just a couple of hours to turn it into a new avenue for flirting, coining icebreakers like, “At your pace or mine?” Unlike Tinder’s visual catalog, seduction here is behavioral. A report from Trail Info highlights that in this network “People observe before they speak.” Knowing that someone runs four times a week at 6 in the morning says much more about their lifestyle, their discipline and their perseverance than an empty 150-character biography. The collapse of dating apps and the search for the authentic This exodus towards asphalt cannot be understood without analyzing the collapse of the previous model. Young people are tired of swiping profiles. According to a survey of Forbesmore than 75% of Generation Z suffer from burnout by using dating apps, feeling like they are not making genuine connections. Even Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Match Group (parent of Tinder and Hinge), admitted that these applications They are perceived today as a “numbers game” that prioritizes metrics over experience. The financial consequences are palpable. Tinder has experienced a decline sustained in its paying users, falling below the 10 million barrier, dragging Match Group shares into a free fall from their 2021 highs. The exception to the rule, paradoxically, It’s Facebook Datingwhich is gaining traction among 18- to 29-year-olds, primarily because it is completely free compared to its competitors’ subscription models. In contrast, the social sports business is flourishing. A report of Financial Times details how Stravawhich closed the year with 180 million users worldwide, is preparing its IPO on Wall Street under the leadership of its new CEO, Michael Martin, with a valuation that already exceeded $2.2 billion in previous rounds. The British media Guardian frame this phenomenon in the rise of calls Hobby Apps (hobby apps). Platforms like Letterboxd (for movie buffs), Goodreads (for readers) or Strava itself are absorbing users who are fleeing the toxic public square of X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok. They are friendly spaces, strongly moderated by their own common interests, where the debate focuses on passions and not on cultural wars. All this has changed the rules of seduction. Today, asking for a face-to-face date terrifies a generation paralyzed by the fear of rejection. We live in what is defined as the “paradox of preparation”: 80% of Gen Z want to find true love, but only 55% feel ready for a relationship. They are terrified of “public failure”, preferring the eternal groping on Instagram or the soft launch (announce a couple ambiguously on social networks to avoid giving explanations if they break up). Serena Kerrigan, content creator, sums it up perfectly: the apps dating dan cringe (grima) because they feel “like a job interview.” In real life, traditional flirting is mutating into absolute pragmatism. In fact, a trend on the rise is the choremancing (the union of chore —task— and romance). New dates no longer consist of going to a candlelit dinner, but rather going to the supermarket together or assembling an Ikea piece of furniture. It’s the ultimate filter: seeing how the other person manages stress, logistics, and teamwork in the real world. In this context, running clubs fit perfectly. As one attendee relates for the magazine MensXPshowing up sweaty and out of breath instantly breaks the ice. There are no Instagram filters to help when you’re trying to catch your breath; the façade disappears and authenticity takes over. Wellbeing as a new rebellion: the natural ecosystem of Gen Z It is quite complex to decipher Generation Z (and even more so from the perspective of an editor millennial), but there is a common thread that explains everything: well-being has replaced the culture of the night. Strava’s annual report sheds devastating information for the traditional leisure … Read more

NVIDIA has lost hope in China, which is why it has started manufacturing its own next-generation GPUs for AI

by

NVIDIA faces this 2026 a crucial year. They have become one of the largest strategic investors in the AI ​​ecosystem with dozens of billion-dollar investments in other companies, models, infrastructure and robotics. But, in the end, they are a company that supplies chips and, so far, the H200 They set the tone. According to a report by Financial Timesthat’s over. NVIDIA just ordered TSMC to start mass manufacturing Vera Rubinits next-generation hardware for AI. The reason? They have lost all faith in China. In short. With the entire AI industry looking to the future, and NVIDIA that has its Vera Rubin on the starting grid, it was strange that the company continued to invest so much in keeping TSMC working on a chip as old as the H200. Although it has been around for a while, it has positioned itself as unbeatable in the industry due to its price/power ratio, so these are the chips on which it has been built. the AI ​​empire. However, time passes and NVIDIA needs to move. Data centers need more power, new models are more demanding and the spearhead of the software sector – such as OpenAI either Google– have demanded new solutions. According to two sources consulted by the financial media, and close to NVIDIA’s plans, the company has grown tired of “waiting in limbo” and has begun to accelerate the delivery and deployment of Vera Rubin. Yoncomparable. As it could not be otherwise, TSMC is going to be in charge. The Taiwanese foundry would have already been asked to begin diversifying the production line to begin manufacturing the new chips. And if you’re wondering why it’s not enough for Google or OpenAI to simply buy more H200, the answer is because the chips have nothing to do with it. H200 is a more classic GPU for a data center. It is the configuration that AI and computing companies on these servers have been working with for years. Vera Rubin, however, is a paradigm shift made up of new CPUs, new GPUs and designed so that everything works as a single rack-scale accelerator. It has not only more power, but also the latest software and hardware additions from NVIDIA and something very important: incredible bandwidth. The higher the bandwidth on such a system, the more simultaneous data it can handle. This implies greater efficiency when training, but also a lower cost in inference. It is not an update, it is a platform change designed for models with trillions of parameters. Qgoose faith in China. To put it more simply, if the H200 is like a “super powerful graphics card”, Vera Rubin is like a mini data center in itself. And if you’re wondering why they didn’t start production sooner, the reason is… China. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, has been ‘fighting’ with Washington for months to open their arms in the trade and technology war maintained by the US and China. Trump ended up agreeing and Huang commented earlier this year that they had returned to “turn on” all production lines to supply the very high Chinese demand. The problem is that that demand did not arrive. At least, It was not as high as Huang expected. In the presentation of results, NVIDIA’s financial director commented a few days ago that “although small quantities of H200 for Chinese customers were approved by the US government, we have not yet generated any income. And we do not know if imports to China will be allowed.” We already told the problem: The US was leaving for NVIDIA to sell its graphics, butThe Chinese government did not seem so convinced. Your main Big Tech They were demanding NVIDIA solutionsarguing that they need them to keep up with what their American rivals are doing, but the ball was in the court of the Government and Customs. China is promoting AI that is different from that of the US, more focused on low costs and rapid acceptance by the client, and at the same time want to build your own hardware network with companies like SMIC or a Huawei that you already have your supercomputer for AI. complicated swerve. From the Financial Times they point out that the president of China, Xi Jinping, and the president of the United States will meet at the end of March to discuss export controls. The problem is that, according to their sources, even if the barrier is lifted completely and not just for certain companies and China can buy H200s en masse, turning TSMC’s ship around so that it starts producing H200s again would be complicated. It is not as simple as pressing a button and going from producing one thing to another. If this situation occurs, “NVIDIA would take up to three months to reallocate or add capacity to the supply chain to produce H200.” One of Vera Rubin’s PCBs Rebound winner. What is clear here is that NVIDIA is not going to lose from the operation. Huang already argued that the United States could not miss the opportunity to take a slice of a multi-billion dollar market (because the US let the cards be sold… with a 25% tariff), but whether it is the Chinese or the Western industry, it is from NVIDIA that they continue to buy the H200 and, ‘shortly’, the Vera Rubin. And the rebound winner in this operation is Samsung. Of the three companies that manufacture memory (and that have catapulted the RAM and SSD crisis we are in), Samsung is the one that has completed its new generation HBM4 memory. It is the one that has passed the high standards of NVIDIA and the one that is already being mass manufactured to be able to integrate into Vera Rubin systems. Everyone attentive. As we said, NVIDIA has to the entire industry at his feet. Google, xAI and Meta are working on their own chips, but together with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, OpenAI, Mistral and Anthropic they are some of the companies that they … Read more

It has rained so much that Morocco has not looked so green for a decade

by

That the first two months of 2026 it has rained a lot It is something that we can say because we have lived it in our flesh, but its impact is such that the Earth, or rather, the portions of it where rainfall has occurred almost continuously, has also suffered a before and after. You may notice that there is more vegetation or that the river is higher, but from space it looks better: this scar in the south of the peninsula It is magnificent proof of this. The European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 continues to patrol the planet to record sea and land surface temperatures, sea level height and ocean color to study climate, oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. And in its sweep it has left a shocking image: the new and green Morocco. Precipitation in recent months in Morocco reached 360 millimeters at the beginning of February 2026, 54% above the average of the last 30 years and 215% more than in 2025, as reported by Swissinfothe international service of Swiss public radio and television. Torrential rains have given Morocco a respite With this rainy season, the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, announced the end of a cycle of continuous seven-year drought that had wreaked havoc on agriculture and livestock. The situation was so critical that Morocco breathed a sigh of relief: the politician explained that with these rains the country was assured of up to three years of drinking water. Of course, like Spain, Morocco also suffered from floods like the one that occurred in the Loukkos basin (they reached maximum flows of almost 3200 cubic meters per second). From drought to orchard in the north of Morocco. Via: Copernicus Sentinel 3 As a picture says a thousand words, above these lines is the northeast of Morocco photographed by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 in mid-February 2025 in the middle of the drought and a year later. In 2025, the scarce vegetation was visible from space and now, after two months of intense rains, the terrain has been transformed into an expanse of green vegetation visible from space. The image on the left corresponds to February 20, 2025 and a generalized drought can be seen in practically the entire area. On the right, just a year later, you can see extensive vegetation. However, on February 20 of this year, available water resources reached 11.8 billion cubic meters, according to the data managed by the ESAwhich represents an increase of approximately 155% compared to the same period in 2025. These rains have also made it possible to fill the reservoirs, which has reached 70.7% of the total capacity of the dams. According to the Moroccan media Le Matinare figures that the North African country had not seen since 2018. Faced with this hydraulic pressure, the authorities have carried out various controlled preventive releases of water to protect the structures. But beyond ensuring its infrastructure, these rains have a direct impact on Morocco’s water economy: from consumption to the agricultural sector through hydroelectric plants. In Xataka | The brutal floods facing Portugal and western Spain, seen from space In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space

create the mother of all data centers

by

Almost a decade ago we learned about Neom, a Saudi superproject orchestrated to diversify the economy and stop depending so much on oil. Within the ‘crazy things‘ inside Neom, The Line It was the largest: a linear city 170 kilometers long and 500 meters high to house nine million people. The project has been falling apartbut they have found a solution: convert The Line into a data center. You wouldn’t expect anything else, would you? Let’s go with context. Climbing, but downwards. The Line has gone from being the city of the future to something totally different. Over the years, the utopian megaproject of 500,000 million dollars without cars, automated, powered by renewables and that began to be built under strong controversies due to the forced displacement of native tribes it was deflating. Of the 170 kilometers and nine million inhabitants, expectations dropped to 2.7 kilometers long for a population of 300,000 inhabitants. The most recent and independent reports indicated that The Line was unrealizable and that not even a country like Saudi Arabia could bear the cost. There were experts who they pointed that it was something “unmoored from reality.” “New phase”. The problem is that there is already a certain infrastructure built and, being a failure as it already is (and as it is perceived by the rest of the world), the most sensible thing would be to reuse what has already been built to do whatever. And within that ‘whatever’, comes the new gold mine: data centers. In the area where they were going to build the megacity, there is plenty of space to house gigantic data centersbut also some operational advantages. A small part of the land that has already begun to be moved to build The Line. Something will have to be done with the work done From the country they have not said anything because, as we say, swould be accepting a failure of biblical proportionsbut for a few weeks it has been pointed out that this new phase, this conversion to data centers, would allow monetizing what until now has only been a pit of money. They already have the land, the earthworks and part of the electrical connections, and building data centers is easier than ‘pulling’ two skyscrapers kilometers and kilometers long. Neom IA. And this new approach fits with Saudi Arabia’s aspiration to become the global AI node. We have been telling for a few months how Saudi Arabia is investing a lot of money to attract companies that want to build data centers. For example, 7 billion in one fell swoop at NVIDIAhuge investment for build a city-sized data centerand have created a company called Humain in which both NVIDIA and AMD are already involved. The million-dollar purchases are not being restricted to investments in Western Big Tech. In September last year, the Saudi fund (which is ultimately owned by the country) was merged 55 billion dollars in a legendary video game company: Electronic Arts. He didn’t do it for his video games (which, admittedly, are in the doldrums), but to buy cultural influence in millions of homes. It has not been the only billion-dollar movement in the country in terms of video games, since they are now negotiating the purchase of a mobile games company for about 7,000 million dollars. Access to the Red Sea. Therefore, it is evident that the country wants to diversify its economy, even if that means investing astronomical amounts that, admittedly, are still infinitely smaller than The Line’s initial objective. And, apart from money, the Saudis have something equally important: the power to do what they want in terms of energy, territory and access to the Red Sea. data centers They need water to dissipate heat and, although the navy is not adequate (in fact, there is controversy over its freshwater needs), the Red Sea implies an outlet to the rest of the world. As? Through submarine cables. They are deploying cables and that access to the Red Sea would allow the data centers on The Line’s land to be integrated with international fiber optic nodes in Europe or Africa. “We are determined, by the grace and power of God, to achieve the transformation objectives. But we will also not hesitate to cancel or radically change any program or objective if we find that the public interest requires it” – Shura Council on Neom and The Line in September 2025 Challenges. They can also combine gas with renewables like solarwhere it has enormous potential on the ground, although there are some difficulties ahead. For example, temperatures are high and fresh water is scarce, although it could be used in heat exchange systems. Furthermore, the energy required to maintain the humidity and temperature conditions of the server rooms would be tremendous, complicating the design of the infrastructure. Promises and realities. In the end, and as different sources point out in Financial Timesit’s about getting money, diversifying the economy and data centers come into the equation. The location between three continents is good, there is plenty of land and access to both renewable and profitable energy (with projects like that of green hydrogen). And then there is the Red Sea. It certainly seems more likely that we’ll see a gigantic data center before anything else related to the Neom project. Current events are showing that Big Tech They have billions to invest in artificial intelligenceand Saudi pockets are deep to attract anyone. Some of the largest – Amazon, for example, which has just closed its data centers in Saudi Arabia by the Iranian attacks – may be attracted to the sovereign wealth fund. But of course, we will have to see if it is fulfilled. There we have the Jeddah Tower, Mukaabeither pharaonic airportother examples outside of Neom that, for the moment, are nothing more than promises. And Big Tech, with its hunger for computing, needs the data centers of the next decade… for before yesterday. Images | Neom In Xataka | AI is bringing … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.