attack

“Left click, right click”, this is how the AI ​​decides an attack in war. China, Russia and the US need fewer and fewer humans

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A group of Google engineers signed an internal letter to protest against a project in which your own software was being used by the Pentagon, sparking an unprecedented debate within the company about how far the technology they had created should go. Since then, almost 10 years have passed, an “eternity” with the implementation of AI. The war accelerates… without humans. They counted last week in The New York Times that modern warfare is entering a phase in which human intervention is no longer the center of decision-making, but rather an almost symbolic step within processes dominated by algorithmswhere artificial intelligence systems identify targets, recommend attacks and generate complete plans in a matter of seconds. Programs like Project Maventoday developed by Palantir and integrated with models like Anthropic’sshow the extent to which the decision chain has been compressed: satellite images, drone data and intercepted signals are automatically processed to generate target lists and attack solutions, reducing human intervention to something as simple as selecting options on the screen, in the words of Pentagon officialsit is as simple as clicking “Left click, right click”. Powers in the same race. Because at the center of this transformation are the United States, China and Russia, competing to lead a new arms race based on autonomous systems capable of operating without direct intervention. In China, for example, the development of coordinated drone swarms by artificial intelligence and capable platforms to operate alongside fighters manned reflects a commitment to scale and automation. Meanwhile, in Russia they are betting on systems like the Lancet droneswhich evolve towards capabilitiesand autonomous selection of objectives. For its part, the United States is trying to close the gap by encouraging companies like Anduril to speed up production of autonomous drones, in a race where the speed of development is almost as important as the technology itself. The Chinese WZ-8 drone Ukraine as a turning point. How have we been countingthe war in Ukraine has been the turning point that has turned these technologies on real tools combat, demonstrating that relatively simple systems can evolve rapidly towards semi-autonomous capabilities and changing the balance on the battlefield. Adapted commercial drones, unmanned vessels and data analysis systems have allowed resist a superior adversary, while Russia has responded incorporating automation progressive in their own systems. As pointed out analyst Michael Horowitz, “the battlefield in Ukraine has served as a laboratory for the world,” accelerating a transition that is no longer experimental, but operational. Silicon Valley at war. Unlike previous arms races, the Times I remembered that the role does not fall solely on the States, but also in technology companies and start-ups that are redefining military development. Here are companies like Google that initially participated in projects like Maven before withdrawing due to internal pressures, while others like Palantir or Anduril have occupied that space with a more vision aligned with the defense. In China, the “civil-military fusion” model directly integrates to private companies in the development of military systems, while in the West attempts are made to replicate that dynamism with million-dollar investments and growing collaboration between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon. Algorithms against algorithms. The result is a form of war in which the confrontation is no longer only between armies, but between automated systems that operate at speeds impossible for humans, a scenario that we have counted where drones launch drones to take on other drones and sensor networks connect globally to execute real time attacks. Projects like the Chinese attempt to replicate networks similar to the Joint Fires Network American forces reflect this trend toward an interconnected war, one where a sensor at one point on the planet can trigger an attack on another without direct intervention. At this point, superiority no longer depends solely on the quality of weapons, but on the ability to integrate data, process it and act faster than the adversary. Uncontrolled speed. There is no doubt, this acceleration carries risks that worry even those who pushed these systems, as automation can trigger military responses before humans can intervene or fully understand the situation. Studies such as that of RAND Corporationworks that have shown scenarios in which autonomous systems inadvertently escalate conflicts, while experts warn of a possible “escalation spiral” driven by the decision speed of machines. As recognized General Jack Shanahan, promoter of Maven, the reality is that there is a danger of deploying “untested, insecure and poorly understood” systems in a context of competition where each actor fears being left behind. Less humans, more automation. Thus, the panorama that is drawn is that of a war every time more automatedwhere human intervention is progressively reduced and critical decisions are delegated in artificial intelligence systems capable of analyzing, deciding and acting in seconds, something very different which is do it “well”. From autonomous drones to target analysis platforms, through global combat networks, the trend seems clear, that of a war of the immediate future that will be decided less in offices and more in algorithmsin an unstable and certainly chilling balance, because we are talking about technological speed being on track to surpass the human capacity to control it in the middle of a war. Image | StockVault, Infinity 0 In Xataka | Russia is no longer surrendering to Ukrainian soldiers, but to machines: the rules of war are being redefined In Xataka | China was the power that launched drones. Now he has realized his danger with a decision: close the sky to them

Spaniards, the price war at gas stations has begun. And Repsol is the first to launch its attack

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The price of gasoline has skyrocketed. Diesel is through the roof. It has already been dropped that The Government has studied discounts on purchases of fuel as it already did in 2022. And while the Spanish are looking for the cheapest gas stations to refuel, service stations have just opened a war to continue attracting customers. through the clouds. If we talk about average prices, we are still far from the figures that we end up paying for gasoline and diesel in 2022. In the days that followed the first stages of the Ukrainian War, gasoline came to reflect an average price in Spain of 2.152 euros/liter and diesel 2.106 euros/liter, according to the portal dieselgasolina.com which monitors the price of all service stations in the country. Today, March 19, gasoline reflects an average price of 1,784 euros/liter on average. 98 gasoline already scales at 1,938 euros/liter. The basic diesel is already paid at 1,906 euros/liter and the “premium” at 1,988 euros/liter. With these data, gasoline is about 40 cents/liter of what was paid in 2022 but diesel is already at 20 cents/liter. Not only that. If we look back we find a brutal increase in prices. On March 1, the average price of gasoline was 1.495 euros/liter. That is, in 19 days the average price has increased by almost 30 cents/liter. Diesel is even more worrying, rising almost 50 cents/liter from the 1,447 that it reflected on average on March 1. A relief to the pocket. At least cosmetically. That is what happened in 2022 when the Government applied a fuel reduction of 20 cents/liter. It was a flat rate for all drivers which partially alleviated the effect of rising fuel prices, without taking into account if the client was doing it for recreational useto go to work or because he was a professional who needed it to provide his services. However, prices continued to rise and just a few days after the aid began to be applied, which arrived when gasoline was 1.84 euros/liter, we were already paying the same than before the subsidy. Did the marketers take advantage to continue raising prices and increase their business? The CNMC suspected so. Repsol tightens. Although rumors point to a possible subsidy again, oil companies have already begun to take positions in the face of a new price war. The most ambitious has been Repsol, which has in its Waylet program the best tool to build customer loyalty. The company has announced that double your discounts with Waylet. That is, now they deduct 10 cents/liter for each refueling. But Repsol has turned Waylet into its own ecosystem from which it is difficult to get out. If you have electricity contracted with Repsol, the savings double and go from 10 cents/liter to 20 cents/liter. And if you have other contracted services, such as car or home insurance, the discount is 40 cents/liter. Added to this are the discounts with every electric car recharge and domestic rates or subscriptions outside the home, which is why they have managed to position themselves as a very attractive option for those who have both technologies at home, combustion and electricity. A price war. Repsol, yes, is the company that has the highest prices on the market, according to dieselgasolina.com. On average, gasoline at Repsol costs 1,763 euros/liter and diesel 1,861 euros/liter. Moeve, the second most expensive supplier, is very far away, with an average price of 1,693 euros/liter and 1,760 euros/liter for gasoline and diesel respectively. The gap with low cost is gigantic. Alcampo currently sells gasoline at 1,594 euros/liter and diesel at 1,706 euros/liter. However, Repsol has a reason to push: low cost. They explain in Expansion that these service stations are more sensitive to price increases because the volume of each purchase is smaller. They do not have the storage capacity of large companies, which forces them to buy more often and, therefore, increasingly more expensive when the price skyrockets. This reduces your profit margins. And although in the middle they assure that the low cost ones continue to be cheaper, the truth is that the margin is narrowing. When the difference is small, it is easier for Repsol to gain followers and build customer loyalty with large discounts since “cheap gasoline” loses much of its appeal. This loss of competitiveness translates into the results of dieselgasolina.com that collects that Ballenoil has, right now, gasoline more expensive than Moeve, just one step below Repsol. under the magnifying glass. The aggressive discounts on gasoline have fueled the debate about the extent to which oil companies are taking advantage of the situation. In 2022, Repsol has already taken the opportunity to make aggressive discounts. Those, according to the CNMCthey took advantage to try to take smaller gas stations out of the market. Those days, low-cost service stations already assured that the Government subsidy was suffocating them due to the particularities of their business model. Just a few days ago, The OCU has already filed a complaint with the CNMC that the increases that were occurring in the price of fuel were being abusive. They noted that according to the Official Gazette of the European Union, Spain was the third country in which prices had increased the most and that the cost of diesel was higher than the European average. As in the case of Expansion According to his calculations, the low cost ones were the ones that reflected the most striking increases. It remains to be seen what the response of the rest of the service stations is. Repsol has already shown that it has room for maneuver. In 2022, the oil companies that entered the game did so in the same way, with wide discounts within their loyalty plans. And that has some clear losers: the low cost ones. Photo | Juanedc In Xataka | Fear of gasoline at 2 euros per liter: the sector is already preparing for the worst after the start of the war in Iran

Iran’s Achilles heel is a tiny island located 25 km from its coast. The question is whether the US will dare to attack it

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Until practically the day before yesterday Kharg island It was unknown to the vast majority of Europeans. Normal. To begin with, because it is thousands of kilometers from the heart of the EU, in the Persian Gulf, about 25 kilometers from the Iranian coast. It’s not particularly big either. It measures about eight kilometers long and 4.5 km wide. Despite all that, Kharg is perhaps the point that attracts the most attention. is hoarding (from Europe, but also the United States, China and Russia) in the convulsive geopolitical board with which March has started. The reason: the island is the key link of the Iranian oil sector. In a place in the gulf… Kharg Island is not exactly big. It measures 22 km2. What it does not have in surface area, however, it makes up for with its location. Located just 25 km from the Iranian continental coast and a few hundred kilometers from Strait of Hormuzis a strategic point for the global oil industry. The reason: that tiny island channels almost all of the crude oil exported by Iran. And those are big words if we take into account that, according to OPEC calculations, it is estimated that the Islamic Republic has confirmed reserves of 208.6 billion barrelsalmost the 12% of the total world. Is it that important? Yes. Iran enjoys a strategic position that (among other things) allows it to control the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic point for the commercialization of Middle East oil. In fact, it is estimated that almost a fifth of the world’s crude oil and gas pass through that narrow strip of a few tens of kilometers. However, not all are advantages for Tehran. Most of the Iranian coastline is bathed by shallow waters that complicate the movement of oil tankers. To operate with them, companies need to rely on Khrag, an island equipped with deeper docks and which since the 60s has had a powerful infrastructure built with the help of the firm. Amoco. Today it is the largest terminal exporter of the country. A percentage: 90%. Kharg’s role is best understood by dealing with various data. The main one is the volume of merchandise that it channels. It is estimated that almost 90% of Iranian oil exports pass through there, a bottleneck through which black gold flows before being shipped to the Strait of Hormuz. It may seem like an exorbitant percentage, but the island has the necessary infrastructure to charge seven million of barrels daily. Added to this are underwater pipelines connected to the country’s oil fields, storage tanks and housing for the complex’s operators. In the spotlight. Khrag has become the key link in the Iranian oil trade, but it also represents a kind of ‘Achilles heel’. Hitting the island means hitting the Iranian oil industry squarely. It’s nothing new. In the 80s Kharg has already suffered Iraqi bombings. The big question on March 9, 2026, with the US and Israel attacking the Islamic Republic is… Does Washington have any plan that involves controlling the island in one way or another? It is not a whimsical question. The Israeli army already has attacked several crude oil deposits and an oil transfer center located in Tehran and Alborz. The Axios weekend wakefulness In addition, Israel and the US have discussed sending special forces to Iran for various purposes: the main one would be to secure uranium reserves, but Kharg would also be in their sights. Ground operation? However, it is one thing to attack oil deposits and another to invade the island. For a start, remembers CNBCbecause it would require going one step further in the offensive in Iran and undertaking a ground operation. A hypothetical attack could also add more volatility and uncertainty to the industry at a time when a barrel of oil has risen to around $100. In the last hours the Brent even it touched 120. Cutting off the tap. The maneuver would also have advantages for Washington and Tel Aviv, especially when it comes to putting pressure on Tehran. Petras Katinas, an expert in energy and defense, recalls that if the United States controlled the island it could cut off “the oil livelihood” of the Iranian regime. “Looking ahead, confiscation would give the US leverage during negotiations, regardless of which regime is in power once the military operation ends,” insist. “It would deal a severe blow to the regime, since it would deprive it of a crucial source of income,” adds Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM, who draws a parallel between what happened in Iran and the US intervention in Venezuela. in january. Why doesn’t the US act? For several reasons. We mentioned two (fundamental) before. Experts point out that taking Kharg would require a ground operation. And that, among other issues, could lead to even more instability in the region and the oil market at a delicate time. “Kharg could focus a multi-week attack campaign with Iranian drones and the island has mines and soldiers,” remember Marc Gustafson, who warns that an intervention of this type would not be without risks for the United States. He even mentions the possibility that, if the situation escalates, Iran will destroy its oil pipelines. One island, many drifts. If the US and Israel decide to comply with Kharg, Tehran could also see legitimacy to hit the oil infrastructure of other Gulf countries. That’s not counting, insists Michael Doran (from the Hudson Institute) in that it could complicate the post-war Iranian economy and the stability of any new government that takes the reins of Iran once the war ends. Images | Google Earth and Wikipedia In Xataka | Satellite images have revealed that Iran knocked down four of the US’s eight unique defense systems. If they reach zero a new war begins

The US has had a grain for “Iran”. The United Kingdom does not allow its bombers to enter a secret island that is key to the attack

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Since the Cold War, many of the great powers have understood that modern wars do not begin when the first plane takes off, but when secures access to the bases from which it will take off. Sometimes the deciding factor is not so much firepower, but the key that opens or closes a key clue at the exact location on the map. That is happening right now on a lost atoll. A problem with name and surname. The United States has had a major problem for “the Iran thing” and it is not in Tehran, but in the Indian Ocean. United Kingdom refuses to authorize the use of Diego García Island and the RAF Fairford base for a possible air campaign against the Islamic Republic, alleging that it could violate international law if it is a preventive attack. Without that permission, Washington loses two key platforms to project its long-range air power, just when the president has given an ultimatum to Iran and has hinted that in a matter of days he could decide between an agreement or a military operation. The secret island that sustains long wars. It we count some time ago. Located halfway between the east coast of Africa and the west coast of Indonesia, The island was part of the Chagos Archipelago. During the 18th century, it was colonized by the French as an agricultural settlement. So they took the Chagossians, descendants of slaves from Africa and India, to the islands to work on growing coconut trees for the production of copra (dried coconut meat). Over time, the locals developed their own culture and dialect, known as Chagossian Creole. By 1814, after Napoleon’s defeat, The island came under British control as part of the Treaty of Parisintegrating into the colony of Mauritius. Throughout the 19th century, life on the island continued with a small population dedicated to agriculture and fishing, but things were about to change with the beginning of the new century. The agreement. During the Cold War, The United States and the United Kingdom sealed an agreement. Both nations saw the island as a strategic location for a secret military base in the Indian Ocean. In 1965, the British separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius, thus forming the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which also includes the other 57 islands of the Chagos Archipelago. By 1966, he signed a secret agreement with the United States, allowing the construction of the “secret” military base. Key node. Since then, Diego García is anything but any base, because he is one of the more strategic enclaves of the Pentagon in the Indian Ocean. Its central runway, its port capable of hosting nuclear submarines and its logistics infrastructure allow strategic bombers to be deployed, maintained and rearmed in sustained cycles. Without going too far, last year it already served as a pressure platform when several B-2s arrived in a clear message to Iran, and precisely that type of deployment is what is now conspicuous by its absence. That there are no visible bomber movements towards the island reinforces the idea that the british veto is conditioning military planning. Without bases there are no prolonged campaigns. The geographical difference is abysmal and explains the tension. From Diego García to Iran there are around 2,300 kilometers, from the United States more than 6,000. That distance sets the pace of departuresthe wear and tear of the crews and the intensity of the offensive. For a one-night operation you can fly round trip from Missouri, as was the case in previous attacks, but for a campaign a week or more against nuclear installations, military commands and missile launchers, advanced bases are needed that allow constant sorties to be generated. In other words, without access to the island and Fairford, the role of the B-2, B-1 or B-52 is greatly reduced and the plan loses volume. A clash between allies. The disagreement is not only technical, it is deeply political. London maintains that supporting an attack could implicate it legally if it knows the circumstances of an action considered unlawful, and the prime minister has marked distances with the White House. Washington, for its part, has responded hardening the tone and linking the refusal to the dispute over the future of Diego García within the Chagos Archipelago, whose status and possible transfer to Mauritius have opened a diplomatic rift. Thus, what began as a legal debate has led to a strategic struggle between historical allies. The war that is amplified without the key piece. Meanwhile, the United States continues to accumulate fighters, electronic warfare aircraft and resuppliers in the region, preparing the board as if the military option was still alive and imminent. It turns out that the heart of a prolonged air campaign is not the F-22s in transit, but those strategic bombers operating from a secure and nearby base. Yes UK maintains the vetoWashington will have more distant and less efficient alternatives, which would force the scope and intensity of the blow to be redesigned. In short, in full escalation with Iranthe piece that could do it all more simple For Washington it is precisely the one that blocks the movement today. Image | Department of DefenseRoyal Air Force, US Air Force In Xataka | One of the most remote islands was taken 60 years ago by the United Kingdom and the United States. Since then, what happens there has been a secret. In Xataka | If the most advanced US nuclear aircraft carrier maintains its speed, it will reach its destination on Sunday. Not good news for a nation

We don’t know if the US is going to attack Iran. We do know that it is carrying out the largest military deployment in the Middle East since Iraq

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In major international crises there is a almost imperceptible moment in which the tension stops being rhetorical and begins to be measured in real movements. History shows that when the pieces begin to be placed with that precision, the outcome It rarely depends on words alone. Therefore, when they pass 20 tanker aircraft across Europe in a single day and the maps tell us that the largest aircraft carrier in the United States is four days to reach its destination, the outcome can only be an ockham razor. A display that is already historic. Of course, we don’t know for sure whether the United States is going to attack Iran. What we do know is that it is running the largest air deployment in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a concentration of power which cannot be explained as simple diplomatic pressure. There are currently dozens of stealth fighters, command and control aircraft, anti-missile systems and two aircraft carrier groups taking up positions while the White House insists that diplomacy still on the table. The question is not whether Washington has the capacity to strike, but when and to what extent it would decide to do so. And if the satellite maps they don’t lieon Sunday morning everything would be ready. Stealth fighters in motion. The radars have indicated For several days now, the F-22, F-35 and F-16 have been crossing the Atlantic in waves, reinforcing bases in Jordan and Saudi Arabia that are becoming launching pads for a sustained campaign. Them F-15E are addedelectronic warfare aircraft and air communications nodes that allow complex operations to be coordinated. It is not the pattern a specific attack like the one perpetrated in Iran with the Operation Midnight Hammerbut rather the architecture of a “heavy” and prolonged air war, one capable to last weeksbut more, with targets ranging from nuclear facilities to missile depots and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps centers. AWACS to the limit. There are six Boeing E-3 Sentry, That is, almost 40% of an aging fleet with low availability, warning and control systems that have been sent to Europe and the Middle East. We talk about the floating brain that manage air combatcoordinates interceptions and detects drones and cruise missiles at low altitude. Its massive deployment indicates that planners are setting up an environment “high intensity battle”but at the same time it reveals a structural vulnerability of Washington: the United States depends on a small and old fleet to direct one of the most complex campaigns on the planet. U.S. Ford Patriots, THAAD and defending against retaliation. There is no doubt, in such a movementreinforcement is not just offensive. Patriot Systems and THAAD They have come forward to protect the surrounding 30,000-40,000 soldiers Americans scattered in the region and allies like Israel. This gives us an idea of ​​what to expect. Washington assumes that any attack would trigger a response with ballistic missiles, kamikaze drones and possibly attempts to close the Strait of Hormuz. The deployment seeks to ensure that, if retaliation comes, it can absorb the blow without paralyzing the operation. Two aircraft carriers and a “navy” visible in space. He USS Abraham Lincoln already operates in the area with Aegis destroyers and nuclear submarines, while the USS Gerald R. Ford keep it up from the Atlantic after crossing near Gibraltar. As we said, if it maintains its current speed, it will be off the coast of Israel on sunday morning and will be able to reinforce air defense in the event of an immediate Iranian retaliation. Two combat groups with F/A-18, F-35C and electronic warfare aircraft provide mobile power, missile defense and sustained strike capability. That is to say, it is not a symbolic presence, it is an unequivocal sign of preparation for real combat. Trajectory of the American aircraft carrier US Ford Tehran, Moscow and Beijing for internships. While Washington concentrates forces, Iran is currently carrying out naval exercises with Russia and China in the Strait of Hormuz. The presence of Russian and Chinese ships does not alter the military balance against the United States Navy, but it adds a layer if you want. politics and risk which requires planning with greater caution. In this regard, Iran has also closed parts of the strait for maneuvers with anti-ship missiles and drones, stressing that any war would not be a limited exchange, but an escalation with global impact on the oil and sea routes. An outrage for ambiguous objectives. The accumulation of forces It allows, a priori, multiple scenarios: from a limited attack against nuclear facilities to a campaign aimed at degrading missile capacity or even weakening the regime. Be that as it may, technological and aerial superiority does not resolve the political mystery of what would happen next. Without ground forces or a broad coalition, a protracted war would depend almost exclusively on air and naval power. In that regard, The New York Times said that the White House has received plans designed to maximize the damage, but has not yet made a final decision. Pressure as a strategic weapon. With such a scenario there are not many options. Either the deployment is a prelude to an attack, or we are dealing with a tool unprecedented pressure aimed at forcing concessions at the negotiating table. Some analysts believe that the show of force they have in front of them right now could convince to Tehran that Washington is going all out. Others warn that the same preparation that increases military credibility also reduce the margin to retreat without any political cost. One thing is clear: at this point, the movement of parts It is already historical and hyperbolic, and the only thing left is to know if it will remain a threat or will become an open war of unpredictable dimensions. Image | TREVOR MCBRIDE, US Army Aerial, RawPixel, BORN In Xataka | Tension in Iran is so high that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. And that will have consequences when … Read more

The United Kingdom has always been a country of pets, but fear has triggered a dangerous demand: dogs ready to attack

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The proverb says that the dog is man’s best friend. In United Kingdom more and more people He believes he can be something more: his best protector. At least that is the feeling conveyed by dog ​​training companies, which have found a curious increase in demand thanks to the visibility that networks and networks are giving them. celebrities. They are not cheap, they carry many more responsibilities than a ‘conventional’ pet and they operate within a complex legal framework, but that does not prevent the fact that on the other side of the English Channel it is increasingly easier to come across dogs ready to jump at the command of their owners. There are those who prediction even that personal defense dogs are a billion-dollar market that is rapidly expanding in the United Kingdom. What has happened? That the training of defense dogs is becoming an increasingly profitable business in the United Kingdom. We know it thanks to Guardianwhich a few days ago published an extensive report in which he explains that this type of pets, ready to obey the orders of their owners and defend them with hooves and teeth (in the most literal sense of the expression) if necessary, is experiencing considerable growth. There are not many statistics or official data that corroborate the trend (Guardian does not provide them at least), but of course the message from the sector is clear. “Demand has increased, without a doubt,” confirms Alaster Bly, founder of K9 Guarda company specializing in “highly trained security guard dogs.” There are even trainers who offer special courses to train pets that people already have in their homes. Has demand increased that much? A quick search Google shows a good number of British companies and blogs dedicated to the same thing: selling or informing about defense dogs. And that’s not the only clue. There are even market reports that assure that it is a business in full expansion. A recent study published by AdAstra Solution estimated the size of the British protection dog market at 1.2 billion dollars in 2024. Its forecast is that in just a decade it will rise to 2.5 billion, with a growth rate CAGR of 9.2%. The key is not only that these pets arouse more interest, but that they are expanding their demand base. What does that mean? That dogs trained to serve as bodyguards seem to be ‘becoming popular’ in the United Kingdom. They are far from being a mass phenomenon, but something has changed: they are no longer a ‘whim’ of the wealthiest families or professionals in the security field. According to confirm Guardian After interviewing professionals in the sector, the panorama is changing little by little, as demand increases. Bly acknowledges that the majority of his clients are still wealthy people, but he has also seen growing interest from families who are not wealthy and simply want to “invest in security.” The reasons for this change? There are two that seem key. The first is concern about crime. Although official statistics can be contradictoryStatista tables reflect that the number of violent crimes against people recorded by the police in England and Wales have increased in recent decades. And clearly. In fact, although they have decreased in recent years, they continue to remain well above the snow levels of the beginning of the 21st century. Are there more reasons? Yes. The networks. British reporter Elle Hunt remember that the increase in demand has gone hand in hand with greater media exposure of this type of dogs through various means. One is celebrities. In recent years, personalities such as Rochelle and Marvin Humes, Molly-Mae Hague, Katie Price, J.Terry…actors, singers, footballers and television personalities with well-identifiable faces in the United Kingdom. In the sector, there are those who remember that the increase in demand coincides with greater visibility through Instagram or TikTok of defense dog exhibitions and competitions. Schuzthunda canine agility sport. And how much do they cost? Much more than a ‘conventional’ dog. A trained dog requires considerable work that, sometimes, begins even before the dog is born. Bly works, for example, with hybrids of German and Belgian shepherds, a “very specific genetic mix” that allows it to adapt to its function. Hence they are not cheap. They cost (at least) £32,000. However, price is only one of the factors that the owner must take into account. ¿Is there anything else? Yes. Another factor, even more important, is the care and responsibility that comes with having a dog specially trained for defense. Guardian remember that these personal protection dogs have a complex legal framework, since they are not under the Guard Dogs Law, which does regulate animals in charge of protecting premises or professionals. “They receive the same treatment as any other dog,” explains a criminal lawyer. The problem is that standard home insurance policies can leave them out of your coverage. An important factor in a country that has seen how in recent years attacks increased of dogs recorded by the police. Images | Bignsmall Paws317 (Unsplash) and Wikipedia Via | Guardian In Xataka | Asturias has been fighting for years to have a decent train connection. And now he is also fighting to include his dogs

attack the trident that dominates the market

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One more day, new bad news related to the RAM memory crisis. If you were expecting a Steam Machinenow you can expect it to be more expensive. The rise of AI is causing a component crisis that has no clear end. The SSDs have gone up in price a lot and have 32 GB of RAM on your PC It is the new “I have land.” All Big Tech needs more and, in the absence of it, Intel has chosen to get into it like an elephant in a china shop. Hand in hand with SoftBank to create its own memory chips for data centers and, in the process, take a bite out of the South Korean industry that controls the scene. No end in sight. Intel has been covered several times in recent days. Like a phoenix, it seems that the crisis is behind us and, after years of promises, realities begin. They are ready to start producing its new generation of processors, but also its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, has commented that They will start producing GPUs for data centers. With that they want to take a bite of the cake that NVIDIA is eating almost alone, but also, the executive let a more bitter pill: “there is no relief in sight for the end of the AMR crisis.” So it points out that does not see a horizon for this price escalation before 2028, and it makes sense if we take into account recent forecasts or possible ‘strange’ movements by some companies. Intel 🤝 SoftBank. Market estimates such as those of TrendForce They point to a memory price increase of between 90 and 95% quarter-on-quarter in this first quarter of the year, but it is not the only thing: SSDs will also rise between 55 and 60% due to one of their components, NAND memory. It is a bad time to build a PC, although companies are moving to open RAM factories, but not for you: for the AI. And here Intel, as we already saidhe doesn’t want to be left behind. A few months ago, Intel partnered with Japan’s SoftBank to find a replacement for HBM memory for data centers. Fix a problem. HBM memory (high bandwidth memory) is ideal for data centers. They allow a large amount of data to be temporarily stored, and they do so at high speed. The problem is that they get very hot and are complex to manufacture. It is one of the key components of GPUs and requires both large amounts of power and optimal heat dissipation. What Intel and SoftBank are looking for is to create an alternative based on stacked DRAM chips. They are not that optimal, but the idea is to find a way to wire them as efficiently as possible so that they are a threat to the HBM memory monopoly. “Monopoly“The idea is to have a prototype in the short term with the aim of starting to market it by 2030. We will see if AI fever lasts so long. But anyway, if the experiment goes well, it could be a significant blow to the South Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix, as well as the American company. Micron. They are the three companies that they practically control the market for both RAM like HBM chips. And something as important as it is symbolic: it will be the first time that Japan aspires to return to the throne of memory chip manufacturers that it ruled in the 80s and that it lost to South Korea. Although be careful: Samsung is also investigating these stacked DRAM memories. NVIDIA and its demands. In the end, they are all moving. The big producers have already detailed its roadmap for the development of RAM for the next five years. And the whales that are taking over the product -NVIDIA-, are ‘encouraging’ the production companies let’s get the batteries. Without going any further, a few days ago Jensen Huang, boss of NVIDIA, met with representatives of the Taiwanese industry (TSMC, Asus or Foxconn) and told them that this year he needed a lot of memory and a lot of wafers. Also I know it has told Samsung. As we said in the first lines, if you were hoping for a quick solution to the crisis or wanted to build a PC, the news is not good. And all the movements that we are seeing in the industry to expand production and find solutions point to the same direction: continue powering data centers. Images | Intel In Xataka | TSMC’s only problem was that it was in Taiwan. So the United States has decided to get her out of there

there is a type of attack that is impossible to block

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The browser is no longer just a window to the Internet and is becoming a tool that also operates within the web. In the case of Agent Mode in ChatGPT AtlasOpenAI explains that its agent views pages and can perform actions, clicks, and keystrokes within the browser, just as a person would. The promise is clear, to help in everyday flows with the same context and the same data. The consequence is also, the more power we concentrate in an agent, the more attractive he becomes to whoever seeks to manipulate him. What is a prompt injection. In simple terms, a prompt injection is a technique that seeks to sneak malicious instructions into apparently normal content so that an artificial intelligence system interprets them as legitimate orders. IBM describes it as a type of cyber attack against language models in which malicious inputs are camouflaged as valid prompts to manipulate the behavior of the system. The objective can range from forcing inappropriate responses to causing information leaks or diverting a task, without the need to exploit classic software vulnerabilities. The root of the problem is less “magical” than it seems and more structural. Many language model applications combine developer instructions and user input as natural language text strings, without rigid separation by data type. The model decides what to prioritize based on learned patterns and the context of the text itself, not because there is an infallible boundary between “order” and “content.” If an external instruction is formulated convincingly, it may gain weight even though it should not. When the context becomes unfathomable. The risk is amplified when the agent does not process a single message, but rather goes through very different sources within the same order. OpenAI warns of a practically unlimited surface, emails and attachments, calendar invitations, shared documents, forums, social networks and arbitrary web pages. In that journey, the agent may encounter unreliable instructions mixed with legitimate content. The user doesn’t always see every step, but the system does consume it, and that’s where manipulation can creep in. The disturbing thing is that this can fit into ordinary workflows without raising any obvious alarm. The AI ​​signature describes an example where an attacker “seeds” an inbox with a malicious email, and later, when the user requests a harmless task, the agent reads that message during normal execution. In one case, the result is intentionally extreme, the agent ends up sending a resignation email instead of composing an automatic response. All this thanks to an external attack. Why there is no perfect shielding. In cybersecurity there is a widely assumed idea, no system is completely secure, and OpenAI frames prompt injection as a persistent problem. In his text he formulates it like this: “We hope that attackers continue to adapt. The injection of prompts, such as scams and social engineering on the web, will hardly be completely resolved.” The objective, therefore, is not to promise invulnerability, but to raise the cost of the attack and reduce the impact when something fails. In this context, those led by Sam Altman explain that it has deployed a security update for the Atlas agent motivated by a new class of attacks discovered through network teaming automated internal. The company says the delivery includes an adversarially trained agent model and strengthened safeguards around the system, intended to improve its resistance to unwanted instructions during navigation. What we do still matters. OpenAI recommends using the offline agent when you don’t need to access sites with an account, and calmly review confirmation requests for sensitive actions, such as sending an email or completing a purchase. He also advises giving explicit and limited instructions, avoiding overly broad assignments that force the agent to go through large volumes of content. It does not eliminate risk, but it reduces opportunities for manipulation and helps existing controls work as designed. Images | OpenAI In Xataka | How often should we change ALL our passwords according to three cybersecurity experts

the first “drone” attack in history

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If the war in Ukraine has shown us anything, it is that the rules of the game have changed. The drones dominate the battlefield and they don’t have to be cutting-edge creations: commercial and recreational drones They can perform precision attacks. However, the technical and even psychological foundations were laid more than 175 years ago, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire carried out the first bombing with unmanned vehicles of history against Venice. In the mid-19th century, today’s Italy did not exist. The territories were fragmented into a series of kingdomss, but within the framework of the liberal revolutions of 1848, some of those kingdoms tried to become independent from the control of the Austrian Empire. That same year, Venice rebelled and proclaimed itself the ‘Republic of San Marco’. It was a symbol of resistance to Austrian rule and, evidently, the Empire was not going to let it pass. Led by Marshal Radetzkythe Empire carried out a siege of the city, but as you might already guess, Venice is not an easy city to attack due to the “natural” defenses of the canals. Yes, in a war of attrition, disease and famine would take their toll on the population, but the Austro-Hungarians were in a hurry. Faced with the impediment of bombing and attacking the city in a conventional way, someone came up with an idea as crazy as it is tempting: bomb it with drones. Well, with the drones of the time. The UAVs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Venice The key name in this story is Franz von Uchatius. He was an artillery lieutenant who was also an inventor. Nothing like what he proposed had ever been done and I would have loved to have been in the room when he presented his idea, but basically the plan was loading hot air balloons with explosivesand control them in some way so that they would release the bombs on the city. Specifically, what von Uchatius suggested was launch 200 balloons both from the ground and from the SMS Vulcano (which we could consider as the first aircraft carrier in history), each loaded with about 15 kilos of explosives and a detonation system based on continuous combustion fuses (coal and cotton with fat). Each of the ‘drones’ It would have an activation system using copper wires and, in the case of some prototypes, galvanic batteries. Remote control? The wind and a series of estimated flight calculations, as well as a very strong desire for each of the balloons to fall where they had to fall: on the city’s population. On July 12, 1849 began the deployment of Austro-Hungarian drones, the first time humanity experienced that remote aerial threat. Now, the result was very different from what the attacking forces expected. Military failure… BUT Although they did the calculations, the balloon-bombers had no real guidance: they were pushed randomly by the wind. And the result was devastating for both forces, as impossible as it may seem. The first thing is that few bombs hit the city and the material damage was practically non-existent. In fact, changes in the wind and failure in those calculations caused some of the explosions to affect the Austro-Hungarian forces. Basically, the balloons were unpredictable. But do not think that the Venetian population had reasons to rejoice about this, since, although we may intuit that they would rejoice to see how the weapons of the enemies “revealed” against them, the truth is that the Venetians added a new concern to those they already had: an unlikely attack. The possibility of being attacked from the sky by devices like this It shocked the population and, although it was not the reason why the city capitulated days later (most likely it was due to the desperation caused by the siege), it was surely another item to add to the list of concerns. Although useless militarily, it was the conceptual germ of an unmanned aerial attack, something that was also used in the war between the US and Spain of 1898, later it was continued exploring in the World War I (where chilling new ways to kill each other were invented) and perfected in the modern era. Although the use of balloons with dangerous cargo has not stopped being used, and an example of this is the balloons with excrement that are thrown between North and South Korea. With all that this implies at a security level, since a few months ago they were feces, but they could perfectly have been explosives. Images | Timetoast National Library of France In Xataka | Using aerial balloons to smuggle tobacco is common in Eastern Europe. And then the airports have a problem

The new strategy against Alzheimer’s is not to attack, but to ‘reprogram’ the brain to clean itself

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Alzheimer’s can be resemble a great fortress with a large number of defenses that makes it very difficult for us. One of its most formidable defenses is blood brain barriera biological wall that protects the brain from harmful substances, but, ironically, also prevents the entry of most drugs. In Alzheimer’s patients, this barrier not only blocks help, but also becomes an accomplice to the disease. But we have already found a way to access and attack this pathology. The investigation. A team of scientists has been able to develop a radically new strategy to treat Alzheimer’s. Instead of trying to force entry into the brain, they have created smart nanocapsules that “reprogram” the barrier itself to do its job again: actively cleaning up toxic waste. Something that they have already tested in mice, and they have given spectacular results: a reduction of almost 45% of the amyloid load in just two hours and a cognitive recovery that was maintained for six months. The problem. In order to understand this advance, we must know exactly how ‘access’ to our brain works. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) ​​functions as an incredibly strict customs checkpoint. Like any border, it must have an entry and exit gate and in this case it is the LRP1 receiver. In the case of a healthy brain, LRP1 will be responsible for capturing beta-amyloid proteins and transporting them out of the brain for elimination. But in the case of a brain that is already old, and more markedly in Alzheimer’s, the amount of these LRP1 receptors is reduced, causing beta-amyloid to end up accumulating in our neurons, causing this disease to begin to show signs of presence. The discovery. In this case, the research team discovered that the fate of the LRP1 receptor depends on how it interacts with the molecules that bind to it. This is where the concept of “greedy,” or total bonding strength, comes into play. Very strong union. If a molecule clings too tightly to LRP1 (as beta-amyloid aggregates do in Alzheimer’s), the receptor activates an emergency pathway that sends it directly to be destroyed in the cellular “dumping ground” that is the lysosomes. This makes the problem even worse, as it eliminates the few exit doors left in the brain to take out the ‘garbage’. Moderate union. Or average greed. If the binding is “just right,” the receptor activates a non-destructive express transport pathway (the PACSIN2 pathway). This pathway creates a kind of tubular tunnel that transports cargo through the barrier quickly and safely, preserving the LRP1 receptor so it can continue working. In fact, this pathway even promotes the expression of more LRP1 receptors, which is what interests us most in this situation. The result. Based on this principle, the researchers designed nanocapsules called “polymersomes” (A₄₀-POs). They are tiny spheres decorated with a very specific number of “keys” (angiopep-2 ligands) on their surface. The number of these keys was calculated to achieve that perfect “medium greed”, with the aim of achieving the result similar to that of a moderate union. Results. When they administered these nanocapsules to model mice with advanced Alzheimer’s, the effects were surprising. A massive brain cleanse was achieved in just two hours, causing beta-amyloid protein levels in the mice’s brains to be reduced by 45%. In order to confirm that the protein was not just moving from place to place, its blood levels were measured. The result was an 8-fold increase, which shows that the blood-brain barrier was expelling the ‘waste’. The tests. In order to see the result in practice, behavioral tests such as the Morris water maze were carried out. Here treated Alzheimer’s mice showed significant improvement in spatial learning and memory. In this case, their performance became comparable to healthy mice without the disease. Most strikingly, these cognitive benefits persisted for up to six months after a single course of treatment, suggesting a long-term restorative effect. More than a drug. This work represents a paradigm shift. Most therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s treat the blood-brain barrier as an obstacle to overcome. This new approach treats it as a dysfunctional biological system that can be repaired by adding more exit doors for the organism to maintain this homeostasis. By using these nanocapsules with the “perfect keychain”, not only is the existing beta-amyloid removed, but the brain’s natural cleaning mechanism is reactivated. The treatment was able to restore levels of LRP1 and the beneficial transport pathway (PACSIN2) while reducing the destructive pathway. In essence, nanocapsules are not the drug itself, but a tool to reprogram the biology of the brain so that it heals itself. Although the results have been obtained in mouse models and the path to human trials is long and complex, this research opens a completely new and hopeful therapeutic avenue. The idea of ​​”repairing the barrier instead of just breaking it down” could be the key not only to Alzheimer’s, but also to other neurodegenerative diseases where transport and brain clearance play a key role. Images | Bhautik Patel In Xataka | We have a new “theory of everything” to understand Alzheimer’s. Its key is in some small granules

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