A Nazi officer has been watching you for two hours while you study, and has five million views on YouTube

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An austere room with an open door. Every three or four minutes, an SS officer entershe stares at the viewer and sees that he is doing exactly what he is supposed to do: studying or working. Except for a few threatening opening words and a sullen farewell, there is nothing more. With small variations (a Soviet officer, times that vary between one and four hours, setting in a sinister basement in some other video) we are facing a successful experiment with five and a half million views. Which connects with one of the most unique traditions of YouTube. The origin. It was published in September 2023 by the German channel Radical Living under the title “2 hours from a WWII German officer to help you study/work/focus.” The description, a laconic “Study with me.” The video accumulates more than five million views and carries, at the end of its description, the inevitable warning that “this work should only be seen as satire” and that the author condemns Nazi ideology. In March 2026 the same channel uploaded the soviet version: same formula, different uniform. Study with me. Having someone on the internet accompany you while you study is not new. The format is on YouTube since around 2014 and began to gain real traction around 2018, when creators around the world began posting recordings of themselves studying in real time, usually with lofi music in the background and visible timers, imitating the also inevitable Pomodoro technique. The mechanics are deliberately simple: the viewer puts on the video, sees someone working in silence (or, in this last variant, someone watching him) and that helps him to work too. Long live Lofi Girl. The absolute reference of the genre is Lofi Girlthe French channel created by music producer Dimitri, launched in February 2017, and which showed the continuous broadcast, livelofi music with an anime girl studying by the window. The channel exceeded 15 million subscribers in 2025 and the image of the girl with headphones has become one of the most recognizable icons of productivity culture on the internet. In July 2025 the character symbolically “graduated” with a video on TikTok showing her wearing a mortarboard and a laptop with the phrase “THE END.” Thus closing the era of the character’s continuous stream, which had lasted more than seven years. More variants. The success of Lofi Girl generated multiple imitations: the subgenre “dark academy“It brought gothic atmospheres, fireplaces, rain, dark wood and a fanfare of violins for those who prefer to study imaginatively in a Victorian castle (the success of ‘Wednesday’, in fact, did not come out of nowhere). Then came the fantasy environments: the library of Hogwartsa elven forestthe spaceship…Each variant adds layers of schematic roleplay, a narrative excuse for the viewer to “get in the mood.” The Nazi or Soviet officer is the latest mutation of that logic, taken to the point of absurdity (and of course, there is a Spanish version with Pepe Viyuela, who is already a subgenre in its own right) Why we like to be watched. There is a technical concept that may explain why these videos work: the body doubling. It emerged in the ADHD community to describe the fact that performing a task in the presence of another person (even if you don’t interact, review your work, or do anything specific) significantly improves your ability to concentrate and get started on tasks. There are already studies that talk about how body doubling It generates a feeling of responsibility that helps you stay on task. The presence (real or not, that doesn’t matter) of someone creates an external structure that the brain uses to regulate itself, something especially valuable for those who have difficulties with executive self-regulation. and the theoretical foundation It goes back even further: the psychologist Robert Zajonc described in 1965 “social facilitation”, that the mere presence of others increases the level of alertness and performance on tasks that we already master. That’s why it works to go down to work in a cafeteria, where no one knows each other. That’s why Lofi Girl works, and that’s why, in its own twisted logic, the SS officer works. In Xataka | We are experiencing a crisis of concentration. Experts are beginning to think that the problem is not mobile phones, but the algorithm

A meteorologist has analyzed 30 years of Spanish skies to see if you should worry about not seeing the eclipse on August 12

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Can you imagine spending a fortune on a trip? to emptied Spain to enjoy a show that will only last a couple of minutes and at the moment of truth the clouds arrive and prevent you from seeing it? That will be what will happen this summer if we are unlucky enough that the skies in the totality zones of the August 12 eclipse become cloudy. Unfortunately, until 3 or 4 days before we will not know what will happen. Weather predictions cannot be made any further in advance, what more would we like. However, you can do an analysis of what has happened in previous years, right in that place and on that date of the year. The meteorologist Benito Fuentes has been in charge of doing it and we can see the results in your X account (formerly Twitter). 30 years of observations. The meteorologist has analyzed what happened on August 12 at 8:00 p.m. in the Spanish skies over the last 30 years. Although the totality of this year’s eclipse will be reached around 8:30 p.m., the eclipse itself will start at 7:30 p.m.. That’s why he chose 8:00 p.m. The bad thing is that in your analysis you can see that in some of the points of the totality strip, half of August 12 have had too many clouds to be able to see an eclipse with peace of mind. Not all clouds are the same. The meteorologist has paid special attention to medium and low cloudssince the high ones allow the passage of light, so that it could be seen when the eclipse “turn it off”. Just a little cloudy skies. Another important fact that the meteorologist clarifies is that, due to the time at which the eclipse will take place, quite close to sunset, a few poorly positioned clouds are enough to ruin the show. It is not necessary for the skies to be completely cloudy. He has used 35% cloud cover as a threshold from which to start worrying. Not all positions are equal. Precisely also because of the time close to sunset, the clouds that would spoil the eclipse are those that are towards the west, where the sun sets. A few clouds to the west would be much worse than a completely closed sky above our heads. Don’t panic. These data are not a prediction, far from it. Just because half of the August twelfths have been problematically cloudy in the last 30 years does not mean that this year will be cloudy as well. With the predictions that can be made in the previous days, it will be possible to recalculate to a certain extent. the place to observe the eclipse. It’s not worth worrying ahead of time. That little bit of mystery and uncertainty also makes what is to come very interesting. And the good thing is that, if we can’t see it, we can always go hunting for the other two components of the Iberian trio of eclipses. Image | Magnific/NASA In Xataka | A third of Spain will be completely dark for a minute or two. The astronomical event of the century is approaching

do an “Erasmus” in Zambia

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Kakegawa, in Shizuoka Prefecture, is one of the major tea-producing regions of Japan. In fact, the FAO recognized its good work with its traditional semi-natural grassland cultivation system called Chagusaba and granted it the distinction of being a World Agricultural Heritage of Global Importance, a distinction reserved for those agricultural systems with exceptional cultural and ecological value. But that landscape is disappearing: between 2010 and 2020, the number of tea farmers in the city plummeted from 1,400 to fewer than 550, down 60% in just a decade, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The particular thing is not the crisis, it is how Japan is solving it: with a trip to the heart of Africa. Why is it important. This case reverses the usual direction of agricultural technical cooperation: it goes from south to north and not the other way around, that is, a Japanese farmer learns in Zambia a philosophy of land use that he later applies successfully in one of the most threatened traditional agricultural systems in Japan. On the other hand, this shift in an industry as traditional as Japanese tea serves as an alternative model to modernize a sector beyond techniques known as subsidies or improvements in market price, but rather to diversify the economic function of the territory. Japanese Erasmus. Japan has an international volunteer program run by JICA called Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers. Since its founding in 1965, more than 50,000 people have participated in it, working in agriculture, health and engineering in developing countries. This is precisely what Hirano Koshi did: in 2012 he was in his early 20s and had little desire to dedicate himself to the family business of growing kiwifruit, so he left Lusaka (Zambia). He returned determined to become a farmer and apply everything he had seen in his African adventure. Context: traditional Japanese tea is in crisis. The decline of the tea sector in Kakegawa is due to a change in consumer habits: ready-to-drink bottled tea available in stores throughout the country is triumphing, but traditional leaf tea is at a minimum, as account Hagita Yoshihirosection head of the city’s tea promotion division. This led to a drop in prices for the producer and, if there is no profitability, business continuity becomes impossible: no one wants to inherit farms that do not rent. According to the FAOthe unviability of small agriculture is not a question of productivity, but of the market structure and lack of diversification in income. Kakegawa is a magnificent example: the tea produced is of world-class quality, but the price received was insufficient to maintain the activity. What he learned in Zambia. What Hirano observed there is that agricultural land was also the center of social life, the plantation was more than just a means of production. His first idea upon returning was to recover the field as a meeting place. The second question a Zambian doctor solved it: “If farmers grow delicious vegetables and people eat well, that becomes the most effective medicine.” Dignifying the profession of farmer is essential for a healthy diet, something that, by the way, science had already shown. The revitalization of the Japanese tea industry. Agrotourism has become one of the great weapons to stop abandonment, or in other words: turning tea fields into an experience. Hirano set up camp on abandoned plots and designed educational programs for students and companies from Tokyo, who come to Kakegawa to learn about the sector. An alternative means of income and generating interest in the territory. In addition, it has served as an incentive to improve the maintenance and conservation of the landscape. Kakegawa’s case is not isolated: it is also in Wazuka (Kyoto) there is a similar tea plantation tourism initiative that is very well received. In parallel, there is another boom that is proving key: that of matcha tea, which goes hand in hand with the revaluation of Japanese tea of ​​certified origin. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan has registered an almost three-fold increase in matcha production by 2023, reaching 4,000 tons compared to 1,500 in 2010. If the world wants more and more matcha, factories need to buy more leaves, so prices put upward pressure at origin and allow farmers to exceed the profitability threshold. In any case, the matcha tea boom points to a fashion and Hirano’s model, without solving the sector’s crisis on its own, does point in the right direction: diversifying income so as not to depend on the market price. In Xataka | Japan’s great technological delay: how it went from being a pioneer in the sector to being frozen in time In Xataka | The tea that was born to stop time now runs against it: the matcha crisis in Japan Cover | Vije Vijendranath and Motoki Tonn

If the question is how to deflect projectiles without skyrocketing military costs, China has found the solution: crocodiles

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In recent years, the US military has even tested fibers inspired in spider silk for future bulletproof vests. The reason was simple: some natural materials achieve absorb impacts and deform better than many modern artificial compounds. The idea of ​​using animals. The search for more effective shielding has been inspired by natural solutions for decades. Since the Second World War, different armies have studied biological structures capable of absorbing impacts, distribute energy or resist attacks better than expected. China has just joined this tradition with a peculiar proposal: armor inspired by the crocodile scales. The logic behind the project is simple. Instead of relying solely on making armor thicker, heavier and more expensive, researchers are trying to modify the way projectiles hit the surface to force them to deflect, lose stability and fragment before passing through. How it works. The Ningbo University team replaced the traditional hexagonal plates used in many armors composed of small rhomboidal ceramic pieces placed at 45 degree angles. The arrangement imitates the irregular, overlapping structure of crocodile scales. During testing, the design was able to more effectively reduce the residual velocity of hardened steel projectiles and increase fragmentation of the ammunition upon impact. The objective is not only to withstand the shot, but to alter the physical behavior of the projectile at the moment of contact so that part of its energy is lost before reaching the main armor. The obsession with reducing costs. The most relevant thing about the project is not only the additional protection, but the attempt to make it cheaper. Chinese researchers they insist in that any structural improvement that allows the same materials to be used with better results can greatly reduce the manufacturing cost. There is no doubt, this obsession makes a lot of sense in modern warfare. Shielding vehicles, helicopters or troops against increasingly powerful ammunition requires enormous amounts of advanced materials and gigantic budgets. From that perspective, if a relatively simple geometric modification achieves better results without increasing weight or industrial complexity, the economic impact can be enormous on a large scale. Logic born of recent wars. If you like, the Chinese research also reflects a broader change that is already seen in Ukraine and other recent conflicts: it is increasingly important economic efficiency of weapons and defenses. For years, military innovation was dominated by extremely sophisticated and expensive systems. Now many countries are looking for solutions that are sufficiently effective, easy to manufacture and sustainable in long wars. In this sense, Russia already demonstrated how relatively simple glider bombs could cause enormous problems at low cost. Ukraine responded with cheap drones capable of destroying much more expensive equipment. The shielding crocodile inspired fits perfectly into this new logic: trying to unbalance the relationship between cost and effectiveness without having to resort to futuristic technologies that are impossible to mass produce. Future battlefields. For now, the Chinese system remains in the experimental phase and still needs much more demanding tests, including multiple impacts and firing from different angles. Still, researchers believe it could end up being used in armored vehicles, helicopters, ships and even light aerospace structures. What is interesting is that China does not present the project as a spectacular technological revolution, but rather as a pragmatic improvement based on simple principles. geometry and materials. An idea that pretty well sums up where part of current military innovation is heading: less obsession with creating impossible weapons and more interest in find smart ways and relatively cheap to survive in an environment where each projectile and each armor cost more and more money. Image | David Shackelford, PXHere, Unsplash In Xataka | China is manufacturing missiles at an unprecedented speed. And the final objective is not Taiwan, it is another island 3,000 km away In Xataka | China has made a science fiction dream come true: an electromagnetic cannon capable of reaching 3,000 shots per minute

In a few weeks, cinemas will receive the most nostalgic fantasy of the year

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Today many speak of it as one of the most anticipated releases of the summer, perhaps as a familiar and colorful contrast to denser proposals such as ‘The Odyssey‘. And yet, ‘Masters of the Universe’ has a history of war of rights, box office failures and various confrontations behind it that has turned it into a feat worthy of one of its most tumultuous adventures that, four decades after its creation, this Conan in space reaches the screens. Failure after failure until the final victory. In August 1987. Cannon Films, the Israeli-American production company that had built its reputation on low-budget action films in franchises such as ‘The American Warrior’ or ‘Missing in Action’, bet heavily on ‘Masters of the Universe’ as an entry ticket to the Hollywood of the big studios. With a budget of $22 million (huge by Cannon standards) and ambitious marketing campaigns that presented it as capable of rubbing shoulders with ‘Star Wars’, the result was a resounding commercial failure: only 17.3 million in collection, which contributed to the collapse of the company. Fans of the very popular animated series that served as an advertisement for the new releases of the toy line protested against the most discussed decision in the movie: Instead of showing the fantastical world of Eternia, most of the story took place on Earth, far from the magical creatures and epic battles that had fueled the spectacular illustrations on the action figure boxes. The reason for that decision was strictly economic: Eternia was very difficult to bring to life on the screen with the budget Cannon had at his disposal. 39 years of waiting. What came next was one of the longest sagas of frustrated development in modern cinema. The rights to the franchise passed successively through Warner Bros. (2007), Columbia Pictures (2009), Netflix (2022) and finally Amazon MGM Studios. Multiple names were linked to creative teams and cast, such as Jon M. Chu, McG or John Woo, and Noah Centineo was in talks for the lead role. Already with Amazon, Travis Knight was announced as director and Chris Butler as screenwriter. Was the first time in almost four decades that a ‘Masters of the Universe’ completed its production. FBarbie actor. The film comes in a very specific context for Mattel: the company has been trying to become a generator of successful franchises for Hollywood for two years. ‘Barbie’ raised more than $1.4 billion worldwide and won an Oscar, becoming the benchmark for Mattel’s entire film strategy. Since then, the company has more than fifteen announced projects including adaptations of Hot Wheels or Polly Pocket. The comparison with ‘Barbie’, however, falls apart in some respects. They are essentially different franchises and possibly very different films (‘Masters of the Universe’, quite possibly, has nothing of that intelligent pop feminism capealthough it very possibly has the same ironic approach to characters who, without humor, would not support an updated review). The toys are not the same either: Barbie is a ubiquitous brand in global culture, while He-Man is niche generational nostalgia. A nostalgic artifact. Travis Knight’s debut was ‘Bumblebee’, the excellent spin-off of ‘Transformers’ that bathed in adventurous simplicity what in Michael Bay’s installments had been a crazy epic. From his ‘Masters of the Universe’ has said that “we are not making a cartoon, we are making a live-action fantasy film” The cast is one of the strong points of the project: Nicholas Galitzine is He-Man, Camila Mendes is Teela, Alison Brie is Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin is the Sorceress, Idris Elba is Man-At-Arms and Jared Leto is Skeletor. Travis Knight is very aware of the responsibility he has to the franchise’s fans: “When we started envisioning this world, we wanted to do the fans justice,” Knight said, adding that “watching them come to life on the big screen makes you a little emotional.” The challenge. The first box office forecasts They place the domestic opening between 25 and 35 million dollars for the weekend of June 5. With an estimated budget of between 170 and 200 million dollars, they are clearly insufficient. Can the movie get young audiences interested in He-Man, Skeletor, and Eternia in 2026? Without a doubt, a pertinent question, because it can guarantee continuity for other toy franchises or the lock for Castle Greyskull for another four decades. In Xataka | The toys of the future will include AIs to be able to interact with us: Barbie and OpenAI are already taking steps in that direction

While China boasts of its high-speed trains, there are others that go at 40 km/h and are just as important

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We have spoken on many occasions about the enormous China’s railway infrastructurewith a very extensive network of high speed trains who serve this colossal country. But in parallel to this technological showcase, China also operates another network of trains that travel at less than 40 km/h, cost less than the price of a coffee and have not raised their prices for decades. And no, they are not a vestige of the past that no one has bothered to dismantle. They are perfectly functional and provide a very important service in the country. What exactly are they? They are officially known as public welfare trains, although many of the population refer to them as “slow trains for the poor.” The Chinese government maintains 81 active routes of this type throughout the country, all of them inherited from the era of Mao (Mao Zedong, who ruled the People’s Republic of China from 49 until his death in 76) and preserved as a social service. According to collect Marketplace, are trains painted in military green with a yellow stripe (the classic image of the Chinese railway before modernization) that stop at each station along the way, including small remote villages that no other transportation connects with the outside. Its prices are so low that the train itself has a sign painted on the side that identifies it as a “slow train in the fight against poverty.” How cheap are they? To give an example, the minimum fare for the train that travels 376 kilometers between the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan is 2 yuan, which is equivalent to about 25 euro cents. The maximum, for the complete journey of more than 11 hours, is 25.5 yuan (less than 3.50 euros). According to People’s Dailythat price has not changed for more than 30 years. What are they really for? The point is that these trains not only transport passengers, they are economic, health and educational infrastructure for communities that would otherwise be isolated. People’s Daily account how some carriages incorporate notice boards with crop prices to facilitate trade between farmers and urban buyers. In several trains, rows of seats have been removed so that farmers can board with their goods (vegetables, chickens, construction materials, etc.) without restrictions. Just like account According to the Xinhua agency, these types of trains are like a mobile artery that takes villagers to the market, transports livestock and allows children to go to school in the nearest towns. Tsocial ermometer. Axi Aga has been working on train 5633 since 1996. He started as a flight attendant when passengers boarded carrying potatoes, corn flour and turnips, and could barely afford instant noodles during the journey. In 2020 explained to the portal of the Chinese State Council (SCIO) that currently sees passengers boarding who are concerned about how they are dressed, wearing traditional costumes on holidays and recording videos for social networks. “The train is like a mobile town in which I have witnessed the changes it has brought to people over the last 25 years,” he told the outlet. According to Aga, girls used to barely appear among the students. Today they represent two thirds of the students who use the train. Beyond transportation. In recent decades, these routes have evolved into something more akin to a service platform. According to People’s Dailysome trains in the north of the country already have shelves of books, study tables with plugs and school supplies for children who do their homework during the journey, with conductors who help them during breaks. They also carry hot water bottles, thermal bags and portable chargers. In winter, the carriages are kept at 20 degrees to protect passengers from the freezing cold. Furthermore, over time they have incorporated air conditioning and progressive improvements without giving up their public service mission. Why the government keeps them at a loss. They are more of a social policy strategy than a commercial one. These routes lose money, since their fares do not cover operating costs and the State subsidizes them directly. The decision to maintain them is simply territorial cohesion, that is, ensuring that the most remote and poorest areas of the country are not disconnected from the rest of China. The Global Times points out that these routes have been in operation for more than 60 years and that the national railway considers them a structural measure to combat poverty, not a residual service. Cover image | Wikimedia Commons and People’s Daily In Xataka | 16,000 passengers per hour, 9.5 billion trips: China is showing the world what high speed is for

In the 16th century, Spain wanted to control the Strait of Magellan by founding a city. It became a cursed settlement

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A coin is a coin. And a compass, a compass. What seems so obvious changes when we talk about the old (and ephemeral) city ​​of King Don Felipea Spanish settlement founded more than four centuries ago by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa on the northern shore of the Strait of Magellan. Its objective was to become a fortress that would reinforce the control of the Spanish Crown in a strategic maritime passage, but the mission became so complicated that the town ended up becoming a death trap for its settlers. Things went so badly that with the passage of time the citadel ended up being renamed ‘Port of Hunger’a name much more in line with what happened there in the 17th century, and its memory it faded in the mists of history. We had to wait until well into the 20th century so that the secrets of King Don Felipe would emerge from oblivion… and the earth. Now the archaeologists have found among its ruins a small piece of silver that in March 1584 Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa himself deposited there during the founding ceremony of the town. In its day it was a simple currency (a real of eight) that was used for ritual purposes. In 2026 it has become something more: a compassa guide that will help researchers better understand the structure and location of the city of Rey Don Felipe, the cursed citadel in the Strait of Magellan that should never have existed. At the ends of the world Today the world lives pending what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. Almost five centuries ago the eyes of the Spanish Crown were directed towards another maritime strait with important strategic value: that of Magellana navigable strip located south of what is now Chile and that stands out as the natural connection between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Since Ferdinand Magellan crossed it for the first time, in the autumn 1520the pass became an object of desire for the Spanish Empire, especially after other expeditions managed to cross it successfully and the English entered the race for its control through late 1570s from the hand of the corsair Francis Drake. To guarantee Spain’s geopolitical plans and its exclusive control of the transoceanic passage, the authorities had an idea: found permanent settlements in the area. The mission fell to Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboaa hardworking sailor who, among other missions, had participated in a (frustrated) mission of the Viceroyalty of Peru to hunt down Drake. Sarmiento first undertook an expedition with two ships in the autumn of 1579 to reconnoiter the coastline of the strait and explore its coasts and, once back in Spain, in 1580 he played a decisive role in getting the Council of the Indies to decide to build citadels and fortifications in the transoceanic passage to America. The expedition left Sanlúcar at the end of September 1581 with a fleet of 23 boats and around 3,000 men, including sailors and future settlers. Despite his enormous ambition, the adventure started badly. And not only because of the differences between Sarmiento and Diego Flores de Valdeswho had been appointed captain general of the Strait Navy. Before even leaving Cádiz, a storm sank half a dozen ships and killed 800 men. What followed next was a journey marked by disagreements between Sarmiento and Valdés, illnesses, the inclemency of the ocean and storms that caused the expedition to lose ships, crew and supplies. After various incidents and vicissitudes, Sarmiento and his men arrived at the strait at the beginning of 1584 and founded a city that they named ‘Purification of Our Lady’. It didn’t work. The location and climate did not help, so Sarmiento looked for a new enclave, near Cape Vírgenes, and founded a settlement which he called ‘Name of Jesus’. Determined to continue with the mission, the sailor chose part of the 340 people he kept and looked for a third location to create another citadel. On this occasion he baptized it with a nod to the Habsburg court (King Don Felipe) and celebrated the founding ceremony in March 1584. We know that Sarmiento himself participated in the ritual. On March 25, he laid the first stone of the citadel church and, with it, in the foundations, buried a real of eight silver. As they explain from the Bernardo O’Higgins University of Santiago, it was “a symbolic gesture that marked the birth of the city.” If the ritual was intended to promote the settlement’s fortunes, it only half worked. It has served archaeologists of the 21st century, who have just found the coin “in place and position” described by Sarmiento in his writings and now, thanks to that clue, they will have an easier time interpreting a map of the 16th century in which the buildings of the town are represented. The one who certainly had no use for the currency was the colonists who settled in Rey Don Felipe city. Theirs was a tragic story from the beginning. a cursed city Ciudad Rey Don Felipe may have enjoyed a privileged location from a geopolitical and strategic point of view, but the truth is that it soon became hell for its settlers. And not only because the crew of the ill-fated (and diminished) Armada del Estrecho arrived in Magallanes at the limit of their strength. In ‘Port of Hunger. Beyond the legend’a work signed by the historian Soledad González and the archaeologist Simón Urbina, a key piece of information is provided: “On board the ships or on land they saw people die or desert. nine out of ten colleaguesfriends or family. As if that were not enough, after founding the Nombre de Jesús settlement, the crew divided into groups to expand towards the Santa Ana peninsula, precisely to establish Rey Don Felipe. Once there, and despite the fact that Sarmiento de Gamboa was quick to lay the foundations of the new citadel (both in a metaphorical and literal sense), things did not improve. The scene looked so bad … Read more

In its leap to electric cars, Europe fears total dependence on China. Your solutions arrive (quite) late

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The rope tightens. This time it is Europe that pulls to its side. Or, at least, that is what he wants according to what is stated in Financial Timeswhere we read that the European Union wants to force car manufacturers to reduce their level of dependence on China. Now, forcing them to buy fewer components from their suppliers. A new goal. It is, according to Financial Timeswhat the European Union wants to impose on companies in key sectors such as automobiles, industrial machinery or the chemical sector. In the newspaper’s information we read that European institutions are looking for tools to put pressure on their own companies. In the information, which is attributed to two European officials familiar with this project, the objective is to put a limit on the percentage of components that can be supplied to a single country. That is, if a company wants to manufacture a product in Europe, it could not buy all of its components (or the vast majority) from China. To distribute the purchases. If the project goes ahead as we read in the British media, a company could only buy between 30 and 40% of its components from the same country. It is sought that, at least, the origin of the parts that, in this case, make up a car is from three suppliers and from at least three different countries. This would not be much of a problem if it were not for the fact that the 30-40% barrier could not be overcome. “Gradually dependent”. “In many areas we are gradually becoming dependent on China’s exports,” the words are from a senior European Union official consulted by the newspaper. According to Financial Timesthe organizations are very aware of the extent to which a stoppage of Chinese factories or exports can damage the European economy. In fact, last summer some factories had to stop or saw their production compromised after China put greater impediments to export of products in which rare earths are used such as the magnets in electric car motors. Just a few months later, The Nexperia crisis once again set off the alarms of possible interruptions in the supply chain since a good part of the chips used by the European industry uses components from this company. They are not key products for its operation but without them, a car cannot be sold because They are essential for auxiliary but basic functions How to raise and lower the car window. 1 billion. That is what, according to Financial Timesthey calculate in the European Union that we lose to China. 1,000 million euros of deficit in the trade balance. 1,000 million. Diaries. The figure has been floating for two years now. and the automotive industry is one of those that has suffered the most. According to the European Union, they have achieved this with a doped industry, which has led to the lifting of tariffs on electric cars arriving from China. And the Chinese manufacturers have wanted to land abroad on our continent but also the Europeans have wanted to manufacture in China because it was cheaper. Spain? According to Anfac dataIn Spain we have a deficit in our trade balance of 5,000 million euros annually if we talk about components. As the second largest car producer in Europe, our auxiliary fabric is not enough and we need to buy components worth 16,893 million euros when exports exceed 11,525 million euros. There is no data on the origin of these imported components but we do know that The second country that exports the most cars to Spain is China. Last year, 9.2% of cars purchased in our country from outside our borders arrived from China. Very far, yes, from the German 26%. The problem is that despite importing cars worth almost 2.7 billion euros, China does not appear among the 10 countries to which we export the most cars and we barely place 658 million euros in exports to all of Asia. The game of balance. Yet the European Union is discovering that perhaps it has arrived late to the trade battle. Yes, it has lifted tariffs on electric cars sold from China but the country’s tentacles reach deep into vehicles made in Europe, producing all kinds of cheap components but also producing key technology such as semiconductors or batteries of electric cars. China is aware that it can squeeze European industry but it also needs our trade to export all the cars that are already surplus there. It is no coincidence that Europe has not imposed tariffs on cars arrived with combustion engines and? have negotiated with China the possibility of lifting trade barriers to electric cars. The Band-Aid. Until now, a very important part of the components used in European cars had their origin within the borders of the European Union itself. However, China’s weight has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2024, China has already become the main exporter of cars to Europe and the weight of its components within the cars manufactured here is increasingly greater, which reduces the competitiveness of our exports, according to this report BBVA. This imbalance is doubly worrying because the European Union is trying to reduce Chinese dependence now that it is seeking to make the definitive leap to the electric car, a technology where the Asian country dominates the supply chain. In recent months, Europe has tried to curb dependence promoting mineral mining on our soil or battery production but Chinese dependence remains evident. Photo | Michael Fourset and Sou Jest In Xataka | Japan has been charging a 0% tariff on foreign cars for half a century. It will be very difficult for you to find one on the street.

A free program was the snitch I needed on my PC to see what was stealing my storage

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Windows can be fine for many things (although it is understandable that more and more users have your doubts taking into account the state of the operating system), but its waste management is questionable. Mac (and now Linux) are my main computers, but I have a laptop to play and edit video with Windows 11 and it is torture to see that the disk fills up more and more… and I don’t install as much either. You go to the uninstall applications section and you don’t want to remove any because you use them, but what you see doesn’t add up and you start searching through folders seeing, manually (by clicking on ‘Properties’) how much the suspicious folders weigh. After a long while, you find something: a game you uninstalled two years ago keep taking a good bite out of your SSD and you wonder why the files weren’t deleted when you uninstalled it and why you hadn’t seen it until now. And searching I have found a couple of tools to free up space ghost on your PC in a very visual way that is so useful… that it does not surprise me that current Windows does not include it as standard. Your PC’s trash tree The applications are WizTree and TreeSize Freealthough there is also another one called WinDirStat. They both do the same thing: analyze very quickly the space occupied by everything you have in your PC storage. Both show it in various ways and both have something special: the “tree” view. To clean the PC I have used both although the screenshots are from TreeSize, but in fact I recommend WizTree because while TreeSize is an app with trial periods, WizTree is free and you decide if you donate to the creators. There I see that I have large folders like Twitter history or Nintendo Satellaview files. I don’t want to delete them, but I have already missed some GoG games that I haven’t deleted and I am interested in deleting them That said, what makes these tools special and more useful than a list with weights is that they actually show the size that files and folders are taking up on your PC. For example, if you have a PC with a 512 GB SSD and you install ‘Forza Horizon 6‘ and its almost 120 GB, that folder will appear taking up a quarter of the screen. In that case, you can easily identify which folder is eating up the PC storage and you can act accordingly, but what I was most interested in was seeing where did those GB come from? that they were slowly colonizing the SSD without my being aware. After the first pass, which takes no time at all, TreeSize identified and classified all the folders and files on the PC. By default it does not do so in that tree view, but in a more traditional list of folders ordered by weight, but in the options at the top you can choose to show the tree view and indicate how many files it has, the percentage it occupies in your storage or what I prefer: GB. And yes, I saw known evils (the Windows folder takes up a lot), but I also saw what I wanted to see: what was eating up my storage. There were a couple of residual folders of games with several MB and even some silly GB, but the rest of the ‘garbage’ I have to admit was my fault. Almost 16 GB of Steam clips folder on laptop Before delete TwitterI downloaded my file with photos and it turns out that I left it there, taking up a whopping 12 GB. I had completely forgotten about it and it was eating up the space of a couple of good indie games. On the other hand, there was a Steam folder of almost 60 GB on a PC and about 16 GB in another that did not correspond to installed games: they were captures and recordings. How to do screenshots with Steam It is the app itself that manages them in internal folders within its directory (and each video file is divided into several files because they use a peculiar format), I had not realized that, little by little, that folder was filling up. I also had there the files of a prototype game that I downloaded years ago and they were taking up 5 GB and something that bothered me: the PC hibernation file. On the laptop it took up about 6 GB, but on the desktop it was almost 10. The laptop was good, but I almost never left it idle on the desktop, so I deleted it and deactivated hibernation (because if you delete the file and don’t deactivate hibernation, it creates it again). The first impression is that of a somewhat dense app, but as soon as you have been using it for a while you begin to know how to “read” the interface So… well, the space freed up on the two PCs is not bad. a way that Windows natively does not offer me. And I can’t complain because in the end a lot of the garbage that was on my PC was my fault, but looking for information about these applications I came across this article by MeinMMO where they had uninstalled a game years ago, but it was still taking up 62GB on the SSD. The game is ‘Wild Hearts‘ and they say that they played it the way you can play Electronic Arts games (unfortunately): through the EA application. He uninstalled it in 2023, but although it no longer appeared as installed in Windows space management, it seems that the entire game was still on his hard drive. He details that it was not just the profile configuration or data like that (which would still be stupid), but the entire game. It is not the only game that left residue: 20 GB of modsArk: Survival Evolved‘ … Read more

the website that calculates the billions of kilometers you have traveled through the universe without leaving the couch

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At the time of writing this I am 37 years, 28 days, 23 hours, 13 minutes and 18 seconds old. I have traveled around 34,845,000,000 kilometers around the Sun. I have traveled 257,425,000,000 kilometers through the Milky Way. The next time my watch tells me I haven’t taken enough steps, I plan to give it these numbers. Although the truth is that I have not had to take any steps to travel through them, since the credit belongs to the Earth, I have just let myself go. Whatever the case, it’s always good to know. If you also want to know these figures and many curious facts more for your own date of birth, keep an eye on online calculator created by web developer nemo7299. Very easy to use. With this calculator, called Cosmic Odometer, its creator seeks to make us a little more aware of our location in the Universe and everything we have moved through it since the day we were born. To use it, you just have to enter your date and time of birth and the latitude where you are. With that you have enough to read many curious facts. Distances traveled. To begin with, we can see the distance that the Earth has traveled rotating on itself, orbiting around the Sun or accompanying the Sun through the Milky Way. We can also see what has been moved the Milky Way itself through the Universe. You can even see the combined distance of all those movements. Since the day we were born, we have been fellow travelers of the Earth. Therefore, if we calculate the kilometers that the Earth has traveled around the Sun, we will also know how many kilometers we have traveled with it. Age by planets. You can also find out what your age is at different planets of the Solar System. For example, on Mercury I am a centenarian of 153.81 years old, on Mars little more than a teenager who has not yet turned 20 and on Venus I am already close to earning retirement, at 60.29 years old. On the other hand, in Neptune I am a baby of just over 2 months. Logically, if I could travel there I would be the same and I would look the same. However, a year on those planets does not last the same as it does here on Earth. A little physiology. The website also tells us how many times our heart has beaten or we have breathed since we were born. It even calculates how many cells have been renewed in our body in that period of time. Important distances. By viewing this website we can know how far we are from natural or artificial objects as important as probes. Solar Parker, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2the telescope James Webb or Haley’s Comet. If the aliens are looking for us. Another curious fact is that we can calculate how far away an alien would have to be to see our birth if they pointed a telescope at Earth. can be compared. You can also compare your details with a friend’s by entering their date of birth. This way, you will know how far the Sun traveled between your births or how many kilometers you have traveled together since you both existed, for example. It occurs to me that important dates that are not necessarily birthdays could be introduced. For example, the current date and the date you met your partner. What would it be like to tell him that since you met you have traveled a combined 31,679,105 km across the universe together? If it doesn’t look pretty, that’s not it. Your feet are younger than your head. According to the general relativity theory According to Einstein, time moves more slowly in stronger gravitational fields. That is, the closer you are to the massive object that creates that gravitational attraction, the slower time will pass. Our feet are closer to the earth’s surface than our head. Therefore, it can be said that our feet are younger. Time passes more slowly for them. In my case, for example, my feet are 216 nanoseconds younger. A lot more. All this is just a small sample of the many data that can be checked in this calculator. Logically, some are estimates, since more data would be needed to have a more accurate calculation. In any case, with such large distances, these estimates already go pretty well. It’s perfect to hang out and have a laugh. Image | Magnific/Nemo7299 In Xataka | The Earth as it was during its last ice age, illustrated in a wonderful map

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