It’s just what the military power wanted

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We are experiencing a very well-funded nuclear renaissance thanks to the small modular reactors (SMR). The recent agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom to build 20 of these mini-reactors is just the tip of the iceberg. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft They have bet on them. They are said to be faster to build, more flexible, cheaper, and vital to decarbonizing the grid. But the numbers don’t quite add up. There is a cat trapped. As researchers from the University of Sussex point out in an analysis for The ConversationSMRs are not only “the most expensive source per kilowatt of electricity generated” when compared to natural gas, traditional nuclear and, above all, renewables. Many designs have not yet left Power Point. So, if they are not the best or the cheapest option, if the majority of designs have not been commercially built anywhere in the world, why this political and financial boom? The answer has little to do with the electricity bill and a lot to do with military power. Subsidies. The markets already know all this: they support SMRs because they are a way to take advantage of billions of dollars in government subsidies. The factor that is ignored in almost all energy debates is the military’s dependence on the civilian nuclear industry. Maintaining a nuclear weapons program or a nuclear-powered submarine armada requires constant access to reactor technologies, specific materials and, most importantly, highly qualified personnel. Without a civilian nuclear industry, supporting this military capability becomes astronomically more expensive. Submarines. The United States operates 66 nuclear submarines; the UK has nine. These vessels require a robust national and nuclear industrial base. This is where a company like the British Rolls-Royce becomes the key player: it already builds the reactors for British submarines and is ready to build the new civil SMRs. Rolls-Royce he openly admitted it in 2017: a civilian SMR program would “free the Ministry of Defense from the burden of developing and retaining skills and capability.” With a strong industry, military costs are “masked” under civilian programs. Thus, the money to maintain the submarine fleet does not come entirely from defense budgets, but from energy budgets, paid for by taxpayers and consumers through higher electricity bills. A global pattern. In the United States, the Pentagon sees mini nuclear reactors as an essential part of its future energy strategy on the battlefieldas well as space infrastructure and the development of new high-energy weapons, such as anti-drone and anti-missile laser systems. But the military push of the SMR is not exclusive to the Anglo-Saxon world. It is the modus operandi of all nuclear powers. In China and Russia they do not even hide the inseparable links between its civil and military programs. And in France, President Emmanuel Macron put it bluntly: “without civil nuclear energy, there is no military nuclear energy; without military nuclear energy, there is no civil nuclear energy.” And the renewable ones? The irony of this matter is a letter that has just been published Guardian signed by retired senior European military commanders. It is a letter in favor of investment in renewable energies coming out of the Defense budgets. These former NATO leaders argue that the climate crisis is a threat to national security. They maintain that investing in solar and wind energy would make us more resistant to threats from aggressor countries like Russia. “We must end our dependence on foreign oil and gas,” they write. “A dependence on fossil fuels makes our countries less safe.” Energy sovereignty, after all, is a matter of national security. Image | Rolls-Royce In Xataka | The reason why China is winning the nuclear race: it takes half as long to build and costs six times less

It is something more worrying for Spain

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“This is not just an Atlantic storm,” they said in Meteosureste and, despite the skepticism of some, they were right. Although the models had been warning for days of a possible storm with subtropical characteristics, no one seemed to believe it. And, in fact, no agency has decided to name it. However, on the morning of October 29, things have accelerated. What has happened? It is no longer that an organized convection has been transformed into a mesoscale convective system with clear tropical characteristics (signs of internal circulation and bands of precipitation rotating about its center); is that, as MeteoBadajoz has been explaining, the system has started to become in a whole “convective train” with a line of storms in crescendo from the coast AEMET has activated the red notice and, as we speak, a good number of municipalities on the Huelva coast are suffering its impact. Why is it interesting? As explained Adrián Corderocoinciding with the anniversary of DANA in Valencia, “the atmosphere, capricious, leaves us a new convective chimney that, from the satellite, is very reminiscent of the one from a year ago.” Fortunately, as he also explains, “the orography and hydrology of both areas are not comparable.” It is not something comparable to Dana neither in intensity nor in its consequences: however, it is not a minor phenomenon. The ‘tropicalization’ of Andalusia. That area of ​​the Gulf of Cádiz is prone to low convergences that, with adequate shear and sufficient humidity, They organize convectively very easily. That is to say, it is nothing strictly new: but it does represent a warning to sailors. After all, mesoscale convective systems are very efficient rain “factories” that can anchor bands of precipitation over the same territory for hours, multiplying the accumulation and the risk of rapid flooding. As connections with the Gulf of Mexico (the famous ‘rivers of moisture’) become more common, these systems will become more frequent and more intense. And worst of all: it’s a matter of time before a dangerously tropical storm is planted at the gates of Doñana. In Xataka | The threat to Spain brought about by Hurricane Danielle has a name: extratropical transition

build 2,000 apartments on top of other houses

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The Basque Country wants more public housing. Quite a bit more. And you already know how to get it without having to go through cumbersome bureaucratic procedures that take forever in the offices. The Department of Housing and Urban Agenda just announced which will triple its current supply of accommodation, expanding the height of 65 VPO buildings that already exist. That is, to the current 937 apartments (and 253 under construction) another 2,000 will be added that They will ‘sprout’ on the roofs. To achieve this, it will rely on construction with wood and modular parts. What has happened? That the Basque Country has found a formula to reinforce its public housing stock in an agile and fast way, without the need for complex administrative procedures that would lengthen the deadlines. The announcement was made this week by the Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Denis Itxaso, who explained that what the Basque Government is considering doing is building new apartments on the roofs of public buildings that are already built. To be more precise, the Executive has set its sights on 65 properties in which, it estimates, it will be able to build 2,000 accommodations. What exactly do you want to do? Gain endowment housingflats built on public land and which usually offer temporary accommodation to vulnerable people. Right now the Basque Executive has 937 in use and another 253 under construction. Its objective is to boost this supply with 2,000 new homes spread over the roofs of 65 public blocks already built. It is not just theory or a statement of intentions in the medium or long term. The Department of Housing and Urban Agenda is working on six pilot projects that will allow it to create between 210 and 250 new accommodations (about 10% of all those planned) for temporary and rotating rentals, housing designed especially for young people who have just emancipated themselves and are looking for employment. Of these actions, two are distributed in Vitoria-Gasteiz, another two in Bizkaia (more specifically in Bilbao) and the remaining two in Gipuzkoa. The measure has been adopted after technicians have confirmed that in “most” of the public rental buildings with flat roofs it is “viable” to add heights. “In most cases around two floors set back.” Why is it important? Because it opens a quick and agile way to expand the housing supply, a message that the Basque Government has been responsible for underlining. The formula, however, is designed for a very specific type of housing: public and for rotational rental. “These residential units, being considered residential equipment, do not increase urban buildability and, therefore, can be undertaken without the need to modify the general planning,” clarify. How is it possible? The project is contemplated in the Law on Urgent Measures for Housing, Land and Urban Planninga legal framework that is already being processed in the Basque Parliament. “The new rule provides that these lifts can be carried out through a detailed study, the processing of which is simpler and more agile than the approval of a special plan, as is currently required,” Itxaso clarified during his speech at the Regional Chamber, where he spoke of “a novel way.” “In short, it is an initiative that will allow us, without consuming land or modifying planning, to triple the number of public accommodations. Two thousand new accommodations for young people will be possible thanks to the reforms introduced by the Law on Urgent Measures for Housing, Land and Urban Planning”, the leader insistswho claims that the commitment “combines innovation, sustainability, social cohesion and effectiveness in the public response to the challenge of access to housing.” Do you know anything else? Yes. Beyond the regulatory framework, the figures and the selection of the first properties in the program, the Basque Government has explained how it plans to build its new endowment offer. It will opt for industrialized housing, a formula that the Executive has stood out already in the past. “We have opened a line of collaboration with the kabian projectlinked to social initiative cooperatives, which proposes a light and modular construction system in wood” explains Itxaso, who trusts that the use of industrialized techniques will allow “reducing costs, execution times and impact on the environment.” And beyond Euskadi? The Basque Country is not the only one that has looked at the roofs of buildings to gain housing. At least with a social focus. A few months ago the PSPV proposed in the Urban Planning Commission of the Valencia City Council to touch up the local planning so that the buildings could grow taller to add public housing. The plan did not prosper, but according to the calculations of the socialists it would allow the construction of more than 70,000 protected apartments. The height and the possibility of reinforcing the housing supply have also been raised in other large cities, such as Palm, Madrid or Barcelona, ​​where they have granted licenses to increase the buildability of existing blocks. Images | Yves Alaire (Unsplash) and Neil Martin (Unsplash) and Irekia In Xataka | A 40m2 “capsule” for 25,000 euros: the Chinese solution to housing that is beginning to gain followers in Spain

Microsoft no longer sells software: it sells inevitability

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OpenAI is no longer an entity with hybrid control and is now a fully fledged company. That is, for profit. Microsoft, which had special rights and a seat on its board, give up that position in exchange for something more stable: Guaranteed and perpetual access to OpenAI models (current and future). Freedom to create your own foundational models without restrictions. Gain independence without losing technology. Why is it important. This does not make Microsoft the owner of OpenAI, but rather the platform that turns its AI into a mass product. OpenAI can continue investigating, but Microsoft remains the one who controls access to users and companies. Distribution defines power today, even above invention. The general overview. Microsoft has been transforming its business from selling licenses to selling continuous dependency for more than a decade: Office 365 eliminated or relegated the option to purchase the software only once. Windows 10 introduced mandatory updates that turned the operating system into permanent service. Azure has tied enterprise infrastructure to its cloud. The pattern is consistent: turning tools into platforms, products into subscriptions, and options into inevitabilities. The agreement with OpenAI is not an exception, it is the culmination. In detail. Microsoft maintains something that no other actor has: Direct integration of Copilot in Office, Teams, Outlook and Windows. Large-scale business contracts that turn AI into the structural cost of digital work. Control over the point of entry: the place where millions of people work every day. The new agreement ensures that OpenAI cannot turn off the tap, and that Microsoft can expand or replace its models without depending on third parties. The strategic background. Until now, Microsoft could not develop its own AGI. Now yes. This allows you two parallel routes: Use OpenAI models in your ecosystem. Develop your own (or integrate with others) if OpenAI gets sidetracked or delayed. Gain technological freedom and commercial stability. But above all, you gain something more valuable: the certainty that AI will not be optional in your software. Between the lines. The move consolidates Microsoft as the main consumer channel for AI at work. Not by contract, but by market position. Millions of users already pay for Copilot without expressly choosing it. Companies assume it as part of the normal cost of productivity. There is no real alternative: if you work in Word, you use Copilot. If you manage emails in Outlook, you use Copilot. If you coordinate teams in Teams, you use Copilot. Yes, but. This is not the traditional technological domain. Microsoft doesn’t need to have the best AI. You just need to have the most integrated one. OpenAI can be brighter, Google can be faster, Meta can be more open (or not so open). It doesn’t matter, because none of them are inside the software where the work is done. AI is no longer an add-on. It becomes invisible infrastructure. The contrast. Other technological giants continue to bet on the excellence of the model: Everyone competes to have the best technology, but Microsoft competes for something else: to be the place where that technology is used, regardless of who created it. In summary: OpenAI is freed to grow as a company. Microsoft makes sure that no matter what happens, AI runs through its software. The rest of the industry competes to invent. Microsoft has won by distributing. Does not sell AI. Sell ​​inevitability. In Xataka | AI works better if you are edge Featured image | Microsoft

Breathing through your ass is safe (according to science)

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Although a priori we have been taught from childhood that the lungs are the organ responsible for our breathingthe reality is that breathing through the ass is also possible. And it is not a theory, but rather it has been put into practice, as a clinical trial has shown published in the magazine Med who has named this technique enteric ventilation. The current situation. When a person is in a critical condition, it is quite common to perform an intubation with the aim that a ventilator can do the action of exhaling and inhaling with the aim also of applying an extra dose of oxygen when there is respiratory depression or simply controlling this route. Although it is also a technique that can be seen in an operating room, in surgery, when anesthesia is applied. The problem is that sometimes intubation is not possible, because the airway is very compromised or simply because the lung is in a state that prevents it from performing its normal function. This forces us to look for alternatives to maintain blood oxygenation, and one of them is this enteric ventilation through another area such as the rectal area, which is presented as support but not a substitute, but is a further advance in emergency medicine. The technique. It has already been tested by the Takanori Takebe research team of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Osaka Universityis presented as a complementary oxygenation pathway in very serious respiratory emergencies. In Takebe’s own words“does not seek to replace mechanical ventilators or ECMO, but rather to offer a temporary means of support to allow the lungs to rest.” The operation. The idea of ​​breathing through the rectum was not born in the laboratory, but in an aquarium. In 2021, Takebe and his group they published in Med a pioneering study in which they demonstrated that animals such as mice, rats and pigs could survive low-oxygen environments if their intestines received oxygenated perfluorodecalin. This liquid, a perfluorocarbon Chemically inert, it can transport oxygen in concentrations much higher than what an erythrocyte can do. And to test it, they introduced it through the rectum, causing the animals to reverse the lethal hypoxia and reduce the need to use the lung as a ‘pump’ to ventilate the body. The administration was enteral, that is, through the rectum. In animal models, intestinal oxygenation managed to reverse lethal hypoxias and reduce the need for pulmonary ventilation. The next step. Once tested on animals, the idea was to move on to humans and see if it was safe. To do this, they recruited 27 healthy volunteers who received one liter of perfluorodecalin not oxygenated by a controlled enema. In this case, none of them had hypoxemia and the goal was not to see if it could be reversed, but to check if they had any strange reaction. And the result was a success: there was only a little diarrhea (a good thing considering what could have happened). But the most important thing is that the results coincided with what was observed in animal experiments, and above all they confirmed that there is no significant damage or inflammation in our intestinal mucosa. What’s coming Takebe’s group is already planning a phase II clinical trial with patients suffering from moderate hypoxemia, in collaboration with hospitals in Japan and the United States. In this case, oxygenated PFD (O₂-PFD) will be used to determine if intestinal absorption can really raise blood oxygen levels as it occurs in animals, although expectations are very high. If we look at the scientific literature, there are already different application possibilities. As published in Frontiers in Physiology in 2023 the potential of perfluorocarbons can be highlighted as alternative oxygen carriers, both for lungs with edema and for emergency medicine where it cannot be easily intubated or the lung is not 100% fit for it. In parallel, the field of liquid ventilation has remained active among critics and intensivists: works such as the one published in Intensive Care Medicine Experimental in 2020, they pointed since oxygenated fluids could relieve pulmonary stress in patients with distress acute respiratory illness, serving as a “bridge” in life support therapies. His comic side. In 2024, Takebe’s group received he Ig Nobel Prize for his research in enteric ventilation, an award that celebrates research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. But, beyond humor, Takebe himself emphasizes that what began as a biological curiosity is giving rise to real biomedical innovation. And although it remains to be confirmed that the human intestine can actually oxygenate blood effectively, accumulated data in animals and the first safety trials put enteric ventilation on the border between experimental biomedicine and advanced critical medicine. Far from being an extravagance, research in liquid oxygenation is part of a growing area that seeks alternatives to invasive mechanical ventilation, especially in situations where resources or time are limited. And if all goes well, in the future a treatment that today sounds unthinkable—injecting liquid oxygen through the intestine—could become another tool in the arsenal of intensive care units. Images | Alexey Elfimov In Xataka | We’ve gone from “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to “I grab something quick and stick with it.” And that has problems

costs less than 380 euros

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If you are thinking of renewing the old TV in your home and you don’t want to spend a lot, at MediaMarkt we have found an offer that may interest you. Now, you can take this Haier Q8 Series H55Q800UX discounted. It has gone from costing 469 to 359 euros. Haier QLED 4K UHD H55Q800UX – 55″ The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A TV with an excellent quality-price ratio Something that this Haier TV stands out for is its panel. QLED 55 inches diagonal with LED backlight and Quantum Dot technology. It offers 4K resolution and is also perfect for gaming, since it has a 120 Hz refresh rate. In the audio section, it integrates speakers that offer an RMS power of 15 W and also has a extensive connectivity section. For example, it comes with Ethernet, two USB ports, four HDMI 2.1WiFi, Bluetooth, optical audio output and also headphone output. The operating system under which it works is Google TVso it integrates Google Assistant and Chromecast. In image, it is compatible with HDR and in audio with Dolby Atmos. This makes it a perfect option for setting up your own home theater. You may be interested in these accessories for this TV Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Hisense HS1000 – Sound Bar 2.0 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Webedia and Haier In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price: which one to buy and seven recommended models from 140 euros

The ChatGPT Atlas agent made my purchase at Mercadona and now I have a pantry full of garlic

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a week ago I tried the new ChatGPT Atlasthe new OpenAI browser and, although it has a lot to improve, it seemed like a threat to Google’s dominance with Chrome. Today I put it to the test again, this time with a Plus subscription, and I wanted to check if agent mode is capable of hmake the purchase at Mercadona. Posing the situation It was the first time I used ChatGPT for something like this and I didn’t want to just give you a list. of the purchase, so first I asked him for ideas to make healthy recipes that are delicious. He offered me several options and when I decided on one of them, I activated agent mode and asked him to buy the ingredients at Mercadona. We have already talked about AI browsers are vulnerable to prompt injection attacks and OpenAI knows it. Before starting, a message appeared alerting me that using agent mode carries risks and I could use it with or without the session logged in. In my case I have chosen the logged in session because I wanted to see it work more easily, but as a precaution I have first deleted my payment details on the Mercadona website. Making the purchase Once the risks have been accepted, agent mode has been activated and the mouse has started to move through the Mercadona website interface. The sidebar shows the model’s entire thought and decision-making process while buying the ingredients to make a chickpea curry. In the video you can see the entire purchase process. The agent has been making decisions when he has found several items to choose from. For example, the recipe required an onion, but decided that it was more practical to buy a 1kg package. However, when choosing spinach, he decided that a package of baby spinach was better than the large package that is much cheaper. When he finished choosing ingredients he asked me to check it and I asked him to change the spinach. He has done it without question. The process has stopped when it has run into an insurmountable obstacle: it only had 10.28 euros and the minimum order on the Mercadona website is 50 euros, so I asked it to also include the ingredients of another of the recipes that it had suggested to me at the beginning, one for baked salmon. Since that one didn’t reach the minimum order either, I told him that I wanted to make it for four people and please don’t give me frozen salmon, but fresh ones. The agent adjusted the quantities and changed the salmon for a fresh one, but it still didn’t reach 50 euros, so I asked for something more creative.: to look for the most viral Mercadona products recently and add them to the basket. The purchase is made for you, but there is a problem When he was done, it was time to check the basket. I found that I had added garlic and also purple garlic. The normal garlic was fine, but the purple ones? I have reviewed the chain of thought and he was confused looking for purple onion. Mercadona calls it “red onion” and the agent has decided that it was better to add purple garlic because the color matched, even though they were a different ingredient. Regarding the viral products, I have chosen an advent calendar with makeup, smoked raclette cheese, cookie nougat and pistachio cake. The total amount was 66 eurosit is true that I have not expressly told you to adjust to 50 euros, but it seems to me that you have gone a little overboard. The agent has taken control of the browser and done exactly what he wanted: make the purchase for me. However, there is a problem and that is It’s very slow. I haven’t helped much either. Not having anticipated that there was a minimum order and the additional requests that I have been making, such as changing the quantities or choosing products by itself, has made it even slower. In total he has been thinking for almost 15 minutes, but if we take into account only the first part of the purchase for the chickpea curry, it has taken 2:14 minutes. More than two minutes to add eight items to cart. All the time I had the feeling that I would already have the order finished and paid for. Regarding reliability, I have to say that He has made fewer mistakes than I expected, but it is still necessary to check what you have added to the basket at the end because you can sneak in some garlic instead of onions, and I already have enough garlic in the pantry. Much more practical in other scenarios One of the use scenarios that OpenAI gave in the presentation of its new browser was precisely to make the purchase. After trying it, it is clear to me that the ChatGPT Atlas agent mode has a lot of potential, but not for making the purchase, that’s why I have tried another scenario where it can be much more useful: organize a trip. I asked him to find places for me to go on a getaway over the December long weekend, that were less than 2 hours by car from Valencia, with a specific budget and to look for them on Booking and Airbnb. In six minutes he gave me options for two different destinationsorganized in a table with price per night and highlights. Once I have decided, I only had to give him the personal information to complete the reservation. To organize a trip it is practical. Making the purchase is simply adding things to the cart, a much more mechanical process that we can do manually in a very short time. If we also encounter obstacles such as the minimum order or we are not completely clear about what we want, we end up losing more time than gaining it. Where the agent does offer more … Read more

It is a gigantic jug of cold water for Spain

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Production of the current Citroën C4 and C4 in The Automotive Tribunewill move to Kenitra, in Morocco. It is a hard blow for automobile production in our country. what has happened. According to “solvent sources” cited in this specialized newspaper, the new generation of these vehicles will begin production in December 2029 at the Stellantis plant in Morocco. The company has not confirmed the date, but has indicated that “the C4, like any other vehicle, has a life and production cycle, but that does not mean that the factory does not have other possible projects on the table that guarantee its viability.” New platform, new strategy. This fourth generation of the C4 and C4 X will be mounted on the platform STLA Small —the last of that family— and will foreseeably start at the end of 2029. This platform has already been awarded to the Vigo and Zaragoza plants, but in a official announcement January 2025, those responsible for Stellantis pointed out that “the Madrid plant will have a future in Villaverde beyond the current Citroën C4, for which the Group is working on several scenarios that will be communicated in due time.” Villaverde’s future is uncertain. The future of the Stellantis plant in Villaverde (Madrid) now seems more uncertain than ever. The company has not given details about that future, but several hypotheses are being considered. On Autoblog they point out that the group plans to transform this plant into a satellite structure of the Figueruelas plant (Zaragoza), as the one in Mangualde (Portugal) is in Vigo. That would see the adoption of the STLA Small platform dedicated to compact electric vehicles. But there are favorable comments. At least if we pay attention to the statements that Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, made a year ago expanding. He then commented that “Madrid is a very good example of a factory that over the last ten years has made a great transformation to improve costs, quality and performance.” The then CEO of Citroën, Thierry Koslas—relieved this summer by Xavier Chardon—agreed with these assessments, stating that this plant “is taken as a reference in costs and quality.” The same thing already happened in Italy. In summer we already reported how Stellantis had announced an investment of 1.2 billion euros in Morocco to expand the production capacity of its plant in Kenitra. The objective: to be able to produce 535,000 cars a year there, which would place it at the level of Vigo. The company already produces the Citroen AMI either Fiat Topolinoand the latter, by the way, began their journey with controversy. Stellantis, which has historical brands like Fiat or Alfa Romeo, has gone leaving aside car production in the transalpine country. Why Morocco. The transfer of the manufacturing process to Morocco seems to respond to the search for a stronger presence in the Mediterranean region and also in its intention to increase its competitiveness. Or what is the same: rationalize production costs and capacities. The European industry is moving towards countries with lower labor costs, less strict regulations and greater tax advantages, and Stellantis is no exception. Already in 2022 they had invested 300 million euros to update the Kenitra plant and introduce the Smart Car platform. Morocco is positioning itself as a rival to beat when it comes to manufacturing cars at a very low price, and even China is taking note. In Xataka | Europe has been filled with Stellantis cars that are not selling. And Madrid and Zaragoza will pay the consequences

features, price and technical sheet

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Nothing does not want to stop competing in one of the juiciest and most complicated segments in the world of smartphones: the affordable mid-range. The firm, which recently launched its first high rangechanges course completely with the Nothing Phone (3a) Litea terminal that seeks to offer the design that so characterizes the brand at a much more affordable price than its older brothers. And the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite is a missile to the waterline of the rest of the manufacturers, since for 239 euros this device offers a different design, AMOLED panel, a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro very capable and a sufficient camera. With the introductions made, let’s get to know him better. Data sheet of the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite Nothing Phone (3a) Lite dimensions and weight 164 x 78 x 8.3mm 199 grams screen 6.77-inch Flexible AMOLED FullHD+ resolution (2,392 x 1,080 pixels) 387 dpi 10-bit color Refresh rate: 120 Hz adaptive Touch sampling: 1,000 Hz PWM Dimming: 2,160Hz Billo peak: 3,000 nits Maximum brightness: 1,300 nits processor MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G Mali-G615 GPU RAM MEMORY 8GB Virtual RAM: up to 16 GB INTERNAL STORAGE 128/256 GB expandable with microSD cards REAR CAMERA Wide 50 MP, f/1.88, OIS+EIS, PDAF Wide angle 8 MP, f/2.2, FOV 119.5º front camera 16MP f/2.45 battery 5,000 mAh 33W fast charge 5W reverse charging OPERATING SYSTEM Android 15 with Nothing OS 3.5 3 years of major updates 6 years of security updates CONNECTIVITY 5G NSA/SA Bluetooth 5.3 NFC Wi-Fi 6 GPS USB type C OTHERS Fingerprint sensor on screen Glyph interface IP54 certification Essential Key Essential Space PRICE 8/128 GB: 239 euros 8/256 GB: 279 euros As striking as its brothers, but cheaper Nothing Phone (3a) Lite | Image: Nothing The Nothing Phone (3a) Lite has a thickness of 8.3 millimeters and its weight remains at 199 grams. As is customary in Carl Pei’s brand, its back is anything but discreet, with an industrial and transparent finish in which the Glyph interface stands out. This time it is not a set of LEDs that illuminate in full color, but a more modest and discreet implementation: an LED in the corner whose lighting patterns we can customize. The screen consists of a fairly generous AMOLED panel in size with FullHD+ resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. However, the most striking thing is its brightness level: 1,300 nits indoors and peaks of 3,000 nits outdoors, figures more typical of the high range than a 240 euro terminal. On paper, the truth is that it doesn’t look bad, although yes, no HDR technologies, for example. Nothing Phone (3a) Lite | Image: Nothing Inside we find a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor, an eight-core SoC with a maximum speed of 2.5 GHz. It is combined with eight gigabytes of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage which, in 2025, are expandable with microSD cards. A rare bird, definitely. With this combination, performance should be sufficient for everyday tasks and gaming. The operating system is Android 15 with Nothing OS 3.5, although Nothing OS 4 (and surely Android 16) will arrive in the first half of 2026. In that sense, it is worth noting that Nothing is committed to offering three years of major updates and six years of security updates. AI, of course, makes an appearance again through the Essential Space that we already saw in previous models. Nothing Phone (3a) Lite | Image: Nothing Regarding the battery, 5,000 mAh with which Nothing promises up to 9.5 hours of gaming and 22 hours of YouTube playback. In any case, we already know that autonomy depends a lot on the use we make of the device. As for charging, 33W which, according to Nothing, charges half the battery in 20 minutes. Finally, and with regard to the camera, the terminal has a simple set: a 50-megapixel Samsung sensor under one angle and an eight-megapixel sensor under a wide angle. The most striking is the first, since it has OIS and EIS (something that is not seen every day in this range) and is compatible with Ultra XDR, the standard co-developed with Google. It is not the most complete camera, but it is enough for basic use. Versions and price of the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite Nothing Phone (3a) Lite | Image: Nothing He Nothing Phone (3a) Lite It can be purchased starting today, October 29, in two colors: black and white. The model with 8/128 GB costs 239 euros and the higher one, with 256 GB of storage, amounts to 279 euros. Images | nothing In Xataka | I had no idea what the future of the smartphone is. Until I spoke to Carl Pei

Microsoft seemed to be the ‘paymaster’ of the AI ​​industry. His divorce from OpenAI is proving just the opposite

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OpenAI now has completed its transition to a for-profit organization after years after that, and Microsoft has in the process sealed the agreement that redefines their relationship. It maintains a 27% stake (valued at $135 billion) and also gains something potentially more valuable: autonomy to develop AGI on your own. Why is it important. Microsoft has gone from being a kind of AI “pagafantasy”, seeing how OpenAI was the one who took the spotlight day in and day out, with the only benefit of Azure rise; to become the player best positioned to dominate its infrastructure, its models and its commercial application. You have paid for access… and you have ended up buying independence. In detail. The new framework extends Microsoft’s intellectual property rights until 2032, including on post-AGI models. You will also be able to use some of OpenAI’s intellectual property to advance your own projects—albeit with computational limits—and collaborate with third parties. Before I couldn’t. Now yes. The panoramic. Microsoft stops depending on the rhythms, decisions and crises of OpenAI. It remains its main infrastructure partner (with an additional contract of 250,000 million in Azure, a quarter of a billion with a ‘b’ for ‘barbarism’), but it no longer needs to wait for Sam Altman to declare that it has reached the AGI. You can do it on your own. Or better yet: with others. The pact buries the clause that most irritated Satya Nadella: the one that prevented him from competing for the AGI. That limitation turned Microsoft into a kind of patron with its hands tied. It is now a co-owner, supplier and potential competitor. In perspective. The turn does not break the alliance, in fact it consolidates it: OpenAI gains freedom to raise capital, essential to finance his 1.4 billion plan in data centers. And Microsoft maintains preferential access to its models until 2032. Both companies, in any case, are preparing for the phase in which AI stops being software and definitively becomes infrastructure. In Xataka | OpenAI started out as open and non-profit. That company no longer exists, and Microsoft has gained from it Featured image | Xataka

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