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One of the biggest box office failures in film history will have a second chance. A totally different one

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The year was 2012. Facebook bought Instagram, Apple launched the iPhone 5we all sang ‘Gangnam Style’, we were afraid that the world ended because of a Mayan prophecy and Disney launched its next great franchise: ‘John Carter‘. He did it with great aspirations, with the aim of ushering in a new era of science fiction (after all, it is a story with 11 much-loved novels), but it ended up being quite the opposite. The bases weren’t even that bad. ‘John Carter‘ is an original literary work by Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of ‘Tarzan’, and has influenced great titles such as ‘Star Wars’, ‘Dune’, ‘Super Man’ or ‘Avatar’. The ingredients were there, but they didn’t work. With John Carter, Disney signed one of the biggest financial disasters in film history. That is why it is striking that they are going to try again, not with a live-action film, but with an animated series. Context: the John Carter disaster The story of John Carter is curious. It’s not that the movie was bad, but the desire to eat and hunger came together. On the one hand, the feature film had an excessive budget of approximately 300 million dollars, to which about 100 million had to be added in marketing. That already sets the bar very high as far as box office is concerned, so high that 284 million were not enough. On the other hand, its director, Andrew Stanton, had just made ‘Finding Nemo’ or ‘WALL-E’ and I had no experience directing films with live actors. Filming an animated film and a live-action film is totally different in terms of filming, effects, repeating scenes, etc., which also raised the final cost. Finally, it never hurts to remember what happened to the name. The original work is titled ‘John Carter of Mars’, and Disney, at that time, was not in the mood to go back to betting on things from Mars after the failure of ‘Mars Needs Moms‘. He chose, therefore, to leave the title in ‘John Carter’, which, together with some most confusing trailerscaused the public to not understand the film. The production left the Mickey Mouse company a hole of about 180 million euros ($200 million). That’s more than enough for the movie to appear. in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest box office failure in history. ‘Brave’ live returns to Mars More than 14 years after this disaster, John Carter will have a second chance. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company that manages the copyright, is developing the animated series ‘John Carter, Warlord Of Mars’. This time the approach is totally different: instead of a movie for theaters, it will be a series; and instead of real action, we will bet on animation. Although the project was initially announced in 2025, it is now that it has taken its most important step. Mark Andrews, an Oscar-winning animation specialist, has been hired as lead director and co-showrunner. Andrews already knows John Carter very well, since he was one of the screenwriters of that failed Disney film. Mark Andrews directed alongside Brenda Chapman the Pixar film ‘Brave‘, which won the Oscar for best animated film in 2013. In ‘John Carter, Warlord Of Mars’ he will work closely with Michael Kogge, known mainly for his ‘Star Wars’ novels, who will serve as main scriptwriter and co-showrunner. Andrews has assured that he has been passionate about the John Carter universe since he was a child, especially for its mix of science fiction and fantasy. The new series aims do justice to the scale of the original work thanks to the possibilities offered by current animation: “Animation is the perfect medium to bring Burroughs’ world to life,” he explained, justifying why he believes that the result will be very different from that of three decades ago. This new project is not, under any circumstances, a sequel to the Disney film. The series will be based directly on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and will rewrite the story completely independently. At the moment the voice actors, the visual style or the platform on which it will be distributed have not been revealed, nor is there a planned release date. Via | filmstarts Image | disney

The future tallest tower in the world has grown again. His biggest obstacle was not in the concrete

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Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates shared a regional agenda and a particularly close relationship between their leaders for years. Over time, this cooperation began to coexist with an increasingly visible rivalry: both compete to attract investment, gain regional influence and develop economies less dependent on crude oil. If we want to observe that race without resorting to macroeconomic figures, just look at its urban horizons. He Burj Khalifa it turned Dubai into a world reference; A project called to surpass that mark began to rise on the Saudi coast. That project is Jeddah Tower and, after years in detention, it has regained height. The new contract to complete construction It was signed on October 2, 2024but the return of the works also began to be seen on the ground when the structure officially surpassed 100 floors and 400 meters on April 20, 2026. The most recent update from Thornton Tomasetti, published on June 18placed it close to the 104th floor. The work is progressing again; What we have to understand now is why he stopped doing it for so long. The scale helps to understand why the project seemed capable of getting bogged down for purely technical reasons. Jeddah Tower was designed to exceed one kilometer in height and reach 157 plantsleaving behind the 828 meters of the Burj Khalifa. To support it, the engineers proposed a five-meter-thick foundation slab supported on 270 piles, some sunk up to 105 meters. Above, a network of interconnected concrete walls must distribute the building’s loads and limit the effects of wind without resorting to a conventional structure of columns and large beams. Jeddah Tower construction status in May 2026 The project had begun long before Saudi Arabia presented Vision 2030. The tower was announced in 2011 and work started in 2013 with a clear ambition: to build the tallest building in the world in Jeddah and turn it into the center of a new urban development. During its first stage, the structure reached 63 of the planned 157 floors before being stopped. Its revival can now be read in the context of Saudi diversification, but the project was conceived five years before the kingdom presented its major economic transformation program. Jeddah Tower construction status in May 2026 The stoppage came in the midst of a business and financial crisis that affected two fundamental actors of the project. In 2017, Saudi anti-corruption campaign led to arrest of Alwaleed bin Talal, linked to the promoter through Kingdom Holding, and of Bakr bin Laden, then president of Saudi Binladin Group. The contractor was also going through financial difficulties and construction ended up halted in 2018. Jeddah Tower construction status in May 2026 The return needed more than just new announcements and calendars on paper. The completion of the skyscraper was once again in the hands of Saudi Binladin Group, the same contractor that had participated in its first stage, with a planned period of 42 months. If completed without further delays, work should be completed around April 2028, although there is no firm opening date yet. The decisive test came later: the pace of construction was maintained throughout 2025 and into 2026. After years of uncertainty, the project has gotten underway again. Growing back doesn’t mean being close to done. Although the cladding of the façade and the first mechanical, electrical and plumbing installations are already underway, Much of that work still needs to be completed.in addition to the elevators, security systems, finishes and all the necessary tests before opening the building. Until then, the Burj Khalifa will officially continue to hold the world record. Saudi Arabia has already shown that it can return the tower to activity; The next challenge will be to maintain financing and finish the work. Images | Thornton Tomasetti | Saudi Binladin Group In Xataka | In Italy they were promised happiness with a new Roman amphitheater from the 4th century. Until it was discovered that it was a “fake” concrete

Argentina 6 – Peru 0: the story of the alleged biggest fixing of the World Cups between dictatorships and missing persons

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In the context of a dictatorship that made opponents disappear daily, the 1978 World Cup was held in Argentina, an embarrassing chapter in the history book of football. “I knew what was happening to those who governed, but I could not imagine that cruelty towards the disappeared,” he said. would justify years later César Luis Menotti, Argentine coach from 1974 to 1982. While the Videla regime used the championship as propaganda Facing the outside world, the Albiceleste team, immersed in the competition and oblivious to the country’s political climate, was overcoming rounds supported by an enthusiastic public. In the decisive match against Peru, Argentina needed four goals to reach the final. He scored six and the controversy that that result raised is still alive today. Since the dawn of the World Cup, Argentina had pursued its organization. Finally, at the FIFA Congress on July 6, 1966, the South American country was chosen as the host country for the 1978 edition. At that same meeting, it was agreed that West Germany would host the 1974 World Cup and Spain would host the 1982 World Cup. Argentina had 12 years ahead of it to properly prepare the event. However, two years before the World Cup was held, events were going to take an unexpected turn. Football to whiten infamy On March 24, 1976, Jorge Rafael Videla carried out a coup d’état that overthrew the democratic government of María Estela Martínez de Perón, popularly known as Isabelita. Videla assumed the head of state at the head of a Military Junta, initiating the cynically called National Reorganization Process, which included a systematic plan to remove anyone suspected of dissidence from circulation. Videla swearing in as president of Argentina in 1974. (Eduardo Di Baia/AP) At first, the blow put the celebration of the championship in check. Belgium and Holland offered themselves as alternative venues, but the time margin was limited and FIFA estimated the show had to go on. Like Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games or Mussolini in the 1934 World CupVidela used the World Cup for propaganda purposes. The tournament was an instrument to convey to the world the image of an open, advanced and plural Argentina, of a thriving football and political nation. No expense was spared for this: it is estimated that the organization of the tournament ultimately cost ten times what was budgeted, although no accounts were ever rendered. However, the situation in the country was far from the happy Arcadia that the military intended to portray. Kidnappings, torture and murders They were common in the development of relentless repression directed at all those suspected of not being sympathetic to the regime. It is estimated that up to 30,000 citizens He made the Military Junta disappear during those years. On June 1, 1978, a speech by Videla inaugurated the championship: “Within the framework of friendship between man and people, and under the sign of peace, he officially declared this eleventh (sic) World Football Championship 78 officially inaugurated.” At the same time that the ball was rolling in the opening match between West Germany and Poland, The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo metlike every Thursday at 3:30 p.m., to cry out for their missing children. While the Argentine people celebrated Kempes’ goals, thousands of people were silently retaliated against. The screams from the River Monumental Stadium reached the Navy’s Higher School of Mechanics, converted into a detention and torture centerwhich was a few blocks from the stadium. There are many detainees They faced a contradiction: His fan heart longed for the victory of his team, but reason dictated that victory would serve to consolidate the dictatorship. Finalists after beating Peru In terms of football alone, the Argentine team passed the first phase without problems and reached the last game of the second tied on points with Brazilwith Kempes becoming progressively more toned as the tournament progressed. According to the strange format of that World Cup, the winners of the two groups of the second phase went directly to the final, without semi-finals. The Netherlands won in group A, reaching the final for the second consecutive World Cup, despite the enigmatic absence of Johan Cruyff. In group B, Brazil and Argentina played everything on one card in the last match, but the locals played with the advantage of playing their match three hours later, and thus knowing the result of Brazil (FIFA had not yet unified the schedules of the first phase, a measure taken after the El Molinón pact). Brazil did its job and won 3-1 against Poland, a result that forced Menotti’s team to win by a margin of four goals against Peru. The Peruvians had had a formidable first phase, achieving first place in their group ahead of the Netherlands, but they had deflated in the second group and reached the last game without anything at stake. The Argentines dominated the match from the beginning, and at half-time they were already winning 2-0. After the restart, the Albiceleste team came out in a rush and 5 minutes into the second half they had already achieved their goal (4-0) against a Peru that seemed knocked out. Two more goals still fell and, midway through the second half, the scoreboard already showed the final 6-0. Objective achieved: Argentina was in the final of his World Cup. The shadow of a fix From the first moment, Argentina’s massive victory against Peru was surrounded by a halo of suspicionwith different and complementary versions, and crossed accusations between some protagonists. The passivity of the Peruvian defense during some goals raised suspicions, as did the signing of Peruvian defender Rodulfo Manzo for the Argentine team Vélez Sarsfield at the end of the World Cup. The first to raise the hare was Ramón Quiroga, the goalkeeper who defended the Peruvian goal that afternoon at the Gigante Stadium in Arroyito. In an interview with the newspaper La Nación in 1998, Quiroga, Argentine by birth but naturalized Peruvian, revealed his misgivings about the referee (“I think he … Read more

Carnival’s next megacruise will be huge. Your biggest change will be in how the sea will look

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A mega cruise can offer so many attractions that at times it’s easy to forget you’re sailing. Carnival aims to respond to this contradiction with the Carnival Destinya ship of enormous dimensions whose proposal will not be based solely on volume, capacity or the number of spaces on board. The shipping company wants its distinctive feature to be its relationship with the outside world. To achieve this, it has proposed an open architecture, with more glass surfaces, wide perspectives and areas designed to keep the ocean within the field of vision. Carnival Destiny will be the first member of the new Ace class, a family of three ships with deliveries scheduled for 2029, 2031 and 2033. Its construction formally began with the steel cutting ceremony at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, where a 3D hologram was also shown with the first preview of its design. Delivery is scheduled for summer 2029, after which she will sail to destinations in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Mexico. By size, the Destiny will enter directly into the highest category on the market. Its approximately 230,000 GT of gross tonnage and its capacity to around 8,000 passengers They will place it close to the largest cruise ships built, although it will not lead the classification by volume. Royal Caribbean’s Icon class ships, such as the Icon of the Seas and the most recent Legend of the Seasare around 250,800 GT and can accommodate around 7,600 passengers at full capacity. The new Carnival ship will therefore compete in that same league, but with a different proposal. A giant who does not want to hide the ocean Once its scale is located, the difference that the company wants to highlight appears in the design. Carnival has not yet presented a main attraction or a large thematic space that defines the ship, but rather a different way of organizing it around its relationship with the outside. The company describes it as the most outward-oriented megacruise ship on the market, a promotional claim it will yet have to prove. The intention, in any case, is clear: that the ocean functions as a constant reference and not as a secondary element. To materialize this idea, the project will use more than 18,200 m² of glass surfaces. Among the elements already announced there will be multi-story glass wallsmore open lines of sight and a greater presence of spaces facing the outside. It is not just about adding windows, but rather organizing part of the architecture to reduce visual obstacles and extend views across the ship. Carnival has not yet shown the complete design, so the real scope of that transformation remains to be known. This image shows Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas, not the future Carnival Destiny. Delivered in June 2026 as the third ship of the Icon class, it represents the current reference against which Carnival will place its new giant Another of the pillars will be in the cabins and on the outer decks. The company maintains that the Destiny will have an unprecedented number of accommodations with balconies and sea views, but has not published a figure to verify the scope of that claim. It will also redesign the Lanaian exterior cover designed to create a more continuous connection with the ocean. With this, the shipping company intends that this relationship does not depend solely on the large panoramic spaces. The changes will not end in the architecture, although the rest of the new features are still difficult to measure. According to Carnival, more than 70% of the spaces and attractions will respond to concepts that the brand has not used beforewith proposals planned for restaurants, bars, lounges, entertainment and outdoor areas. The figure is striking, but it is not yet accompanied by names, plans or detailed descriptions. Until these announcements arrive, it can only be stated that it is preparing a broad renewal of its offer, not that each proposal will be unprecedented in the sector. The Destiny proposal is based on a contradiction: the more cruise ships grow and the more activities they concentrate, the easier it is for the sea to be relegated to the background. Carnival will try to correct this with balconies, exterior routes, large glass surfaces and a layout designed to expand the views. The idea has already been defined, but it still remains to be seen how it will work on a ship prepared for around 8,000 passengers. Until 2029 we will not know if this architecture will really change the experience or if its greatest effect will remain in the promotional field. Images | carnival In Xataka | A technology created to avoid collisions at sea blows millionaires’ minds: it allows them to locate their yachts in seconds

Albarracín is one of the best places in Spain to see the eclipse. And also the biggest cartographic hell in the country

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What if when you changed streets in your town you moved to another? How does this affect the cadastral level? What demonym do you use if in reality your region is “kidnapped” by others? In Spain there is a riddled place in its cartography and that place is called Albarracín, a municipality in the province of Teruel (Aragón) which, for centuries, was surrounded by villages that sought autonomy, organized themselves into their own community and ended up purchasing their independence in 1689, which fragmented the term into 24 municipalities that today act as enclaves within their territory. A political-administrative delirium that goes from the medieval to the modern and leaves us with an impossible map that on August 12 will also be one of the best viewpoints of the total eclipse. A map full of holes. To the southwest of Teruel and with just over a thousand inhabitants, Albarracín is one of the strangest terms in Spain. Within its term there are “islands” that do not belong to Albarracín, but to villages separated centuries ago. 24 independent municipalities, just like that. These fitted pieces de facto delimit the territory, generating a network of villages that turns the map into a puzzle. And how does this affect day to day life? For example, selling a plot of land in Albarracín requires surgeon-like precision. Before closing the operation, it is necessary to check with a magnifying glass which municipality governs that land, if the plot matches exactly between Cadastre and Registry, and if its boundaries have changed due to the history of the municipal area. In such a fragmented area, the problem is usually not “the sale” itself, but the identification of the property: if there are discrepancies in area, space or limits, if rectifications, annexes or extra certificates appear and, sometimes, topographic measurements to prevent the buyer from inheriting a lawsuit or a tax surprise. Something as obvious as in which municipality the IBI is settled is here a geological escape room. At a legal level, Any conflict of boundaries, easements or discrepancy between Cadastre and deed may delay the signing. A problem of mountains and boundaries. First it was an independent manor (that of the Azagra). Later, after the conquest by Pedro III in 1284, the Christian repopulation of the area and the definitive incorporation of the city to the Crown of Aragon around 1300, Albarracín remained the center of a large mountain territory. At the beginning of the 14th century, the towns of the mountains began to organize themselves into a supra-municipal entity distinct from the city to manage mountains, pastures and taxes and, above all, to gain margin against the Albarracinense tutelage. That early structure had few powers at first, but over time it reinforced its autonomy and prepared the ground for jurisdictional rupture. Buy independence. In 1689 the point of no return arrived, when that entity was formalized as the Community of Villages of Albarracín. A jurisdictional separation granted by Charles II himself. Thus he managed to definitively separate from the city. The villages paid 45,000 ducats to achieve full jurisdictional separation, becoming their own municipalities under the umbrella of the Community. From this process, among others, Bronchales, Gea de Albarracín, Orihuela del Tremedal, Tramacastilla, Griegos, Jabaloyas or Villar del Cobo were born, which today circumvent or directly pierce the original terminus. It’s sesmas time. To understand this community we must talk about its four “sesmas” (Jabaloyas, Bronchales, Royuela and Frías). These blocks grouped villages and resources into subdistricts. Each municipality inherited scattered plots, hills and pastures, creating a mosaic that makes you laugh at private property in Ireland. Small portions nested within each other whose seal, under political geography, has its own administration: they are defined as enclaves. And in Albarracín they are counted in dozens. Wars and Carlists. The Community of Villages remained a public law institution for almost two centuries, coexisting with the city of Albarracín. Until the Carlist Wars and their great liberal provincial reform dissolved it, in 1833. The Spanish administrative map was reorganized and Albarracín, with a Carlist tendency, was occupied by liberal troops, punishing the region for a conflict that neither went nor came to them. But no one beat the stubborn ones and the new division maintained the multiplicity of municipalities. Decades passed and these municipalities continued to function independently within the province of Teruel. We are already talking about the 20th century and even the 21st: Albarracín is a heritage and tourist reference. In 2003, the Government of Aragon created the Sierra de Albarracín region through Law 1/2003which once again grouped Albarracín and its 24 municipalities into the same regional entity. The region respects the municipal boundaries, so the cartographic hell persists, but with a layer of supra-municipal coordination that is reminiscent of the ancient medieval community. Total eclipse over the labyrinth. As the great Bonnie Tyler sang, may she rest in peace, the “total eclipse” will bathe these lands. Cartographic irony wants the total solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 to cross Spain from west to east at sunset and cross the Sierra de Albarracín. This area is, without a doubt, one of the best viewpoints in the entire world. In Albarracin, The partial eclipse will begin around 19:36:45totality will begin at 20:30:59, reaching its maximum at 20:31:46 with the Sun only 6 degrees high and magnitude 1.032. It will end at 20:32:32, with the end of the partial around 21:04, already close to sunset. And what are the best viewpoints? Note: the natural space of Rodeno, that of Muela de San Juan in Griegos, that of Santa Barbara in GuadalaviarEl Batán in Tramacastilla and Carrizuelo in Villar del Cobo, although Santos de la Piedra in Pozondón and Alto Cabezo in Saldón are also great. Let us keep in mind that, for the eclipse, what is important is the west orientation, the height and a clean horizon. The Sierra de Albarracín starts with that natural advantage: little light pollution, high relief and a network of ideal … Read more

the biggest bet in its history to national chip manufacturers

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China has defined a series of steps to become the first world power. Technological sovereignty falls within this roadmap and, to achieve the objective, a greater investment in local technology is necessary. The current battlefield is that of AI chips, a segment that Nvidia dominates with an iron fist, but if there is a way to change the trend it is with technology and money, a lot of money. And China has found its three winning horses. In short. China is a giant market for Nvidia. With Western Big Tech in his pocket (although Anthropic and Meta are looking favorably at Samsung for inference chips for the age of agentic AI), Nvidia was missing the other big pie. China is a market valued in 50,000 million dollars for whoever manages to position itself as a leader in the AI ​​chip segment, but the problem for Nvidia is that it is not easy at all. Due to bureaucratic problems on the part of the US and China itself, Nvidia is a bit in no man’s land. Meanwhile, national companies have been positioning themselves, presenting their alternatives and GPUs for training this technology. And with the order to bet on the national product, Chinese companies are clear about it. As we read in Business TimesChinese Big Tech currently invests 30% annually of its budget in national AI accelerators, but that spending will increase to 46% over the next twelve months. The horses. Some of these Big Techs are creating their own chips, or already have them. This is the case of Alibaba or Tencent, which would be a kind of Meta or Google: they offer a product to the user, to other companies and, in addition, they have their own data centers with their home-made chips. However, there are other companies that are more focused on creating the hardware to power the internal data centers of those other large companies. This is the case of Hygon Information Technology or Cambricon Technologies, but also of Huawei. All three offer AI platforms that are becoming increasingly important in a context in which Nvidia H20 chips designed specifically for China They are increasingly difficult to find due to that national order to prioritize homemade hardware. The advantage of these companies is that it is no longer about raw power, which is one of the advantages that Nvidia had (although Nvidia is much more, since it also has a complete software suite and so on), but about speed and low latency. For agentic AI, high bandwidth for fast data transfer is essential, and that seems to be a point that Chinese hardware companies are focusing on. The Ascend. The interesting thing is that this strategy is not a future plan and is already being put into practice. Zhipu AI, for example, is a company that has already trained its GLM-5 model on more than 740 billion parameters entirely with the Huawei Ascend 910C. In addition, the Chinese company is working on the development of the Ascend 950 and 960 chips that promise to achieve parity with Nvidia’s most modern architectures. And the supernodes. On the other hand, Huawei continues to push the Atlas 950 supernode. Presented a few months ago, it is a cluster of up to 9,192 Ascend 950DT NPUs per system with up to 1,152 TB of unified memory. It is, according to the company, a direct competitor to Nvidia’s NVL144 rack, achieving 6.7 times more computing power than that of the American company. It is designed for both training and inference and, although it raises doubts about the energy efficiency per computing unit compared to that of Nvidia, what is clear is that it is a product that Chinese Big Tech They will be able to ‘shoot’ for their future models. Huawei is taking the platform around the world and its next appointment is at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2026 in Shanghai. Whether Nvidia solutions are used or not, what is clear is that the intention is to prioritize national hardware. China is going to invest nearly $300 billion to build data centers over the next five years to boost AI across all sectors of society. For its part, at least 80% of the basic technologywhere the chips come in, will be supplied by national companies. As several have already pointed out (Jensen Huang among them), the US veto of China It was the worst move they could make. because they only achieved one thing: give wings to their accelerated technological development. In Xataka | Huawei is very close to a great technological milestone. And he is very clear about what has allowed him to do so: the US veto

The greatest Japanese railway dream is a train that would connect Madrid and Barcelona in 75 minutes at 600 km/h. It’s also your biggest nightmare

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Year 2027, Japan prepares for the first trip of its new Maglev. The train that works by magnetic levitation runs at a speed of 505 km/h and has exceeded 600 km/h in its testing phase. It will barely take 40 minutes to travel between Tokyo and Nagoya, cities that are currently separated by more than an hour and a half of travel. If we move it to Spanish soil, the new Maglev that is about to leave Tokyo station would link Madrid and Barcelona in 75 minutes. Today, the fastest train takes 182 minutes and work is being done to reduce travel time to less than two hours. But all this is a dream. A nightmare, more like. And it is that Japan has been dreaming for years with once again taking the initiative in high-speed rail worldwide. Despite being the pioneers in offering trips on what are known as “bullet trains” and demonstrating to the world in 1964 that they were decades ahead of any competitor, China has surpassed them. A project aims to return them to the top. It is the Chuo Shinkansen line operated by a Maglev. But that project is taking hold and, at the moment, things are not looking too good. A decade of delay and shovelfuls of money When in 2015 the Maglev exceeded 600 km/h We thought that today we would travel by train much faster than we do. Japan then presented a seven-car prototype known as the L0 Series. It was one of the first steps to connect Tokyo and Nagoya in just 40 minutes. He calendar projected the dream described above. In 2027, Japan would have a line operated by trains capable of reaching 505 km/h. It would be a punch on the table on a board, that of high speed, which China dominates right now. The neighboring country and great rival has managed to establish itself as the place where the trains travel the fastest, move more people and They have more kilometers of roads available. But all these plans have been delayed and the new date points to 2036. They explain in the specialized media Japanism that the Chuo Shinkansen was designed as a fast route to link the large cities located on the Pacific coast. Currently, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka are already linked by the Tokaido Shinkansen, but this new line would serve to decongest roads that circulate at their limits and, at the same time, offer the fastest route possible. So much so that Tokyo and Osaka, today separated by a trip of at least 202 minutes, would become connected in just 75 minutes. That is, an hour and a quarter. This alternative obviously requires the construction of an entire railway infrastructure that is encountering a multitude of problems. One of the big secrets why trains in Japan are so fast and punctual is that they use different infrastructure for their high-speed trains and conventional ones. With the Chuo Shinkansen it would be even more necessary since the train works by magnetic levitation. The Maglev is an old Japanese railway dream that has its roots in the 70s when research began on whether a train could operate using magnetic levitation. The idea is that the train “floats” on the tracks traveling at a very high speed, held by powerful magnets. This way friction against the tracks is eliminated and the ride should be smoother and quieter. Obviously, this prevents the current roads from being reused. To carry out this new infrastructure, Japan has proposed launching its trains underground for about 250 kilometers. Tokyo and Nagoya are separated by 286 kilometers and the project involves burying 90% of the route. And to reduce travel times, the train would go underground in the interior of the country, instead of continuing near the coast like the current Tokaido Shinkansen. High-speed trains have a problem: tunnels. The speed of trains in Japan is limited by the numerous holes that the country has had to make in its mountains to carry out its high-speed lines. With each entry into a tunnel there is a change in pressure that generates discomfort for passengers and enormous noise outside, as well as challenges for the movement of the train itself. The idea with Maglev is to eliminate these entrances and exits with a train that almost always runs underground. In this way, it can also work in vacuum conditions, which reduces the energy needed to reach speeds of more than 500 km/h. This idea has faced countless problems, they explain in Japanism. The project began to take shape in 2011 but has experienced constant delays and setbacks. First there was an important political struggle to decide what the final itinerary of the line was and it was not until 2015 when the ground began to be excavated. The problem is that the new tracks circulate, in some sections, next to current high-speed tracks. They explain in the middle that in the Shinagawa area the conventional train tracks are being replaced by magnetic levitation sections but that they can only advance 12 meters a day because there are only four hours of work left free, which is the interval between the last train of the day and the first of the next day. All this, added to the fights with the land owners and the technical difficulties, has increased the cost of the project. It was estimated that the line between Tokyo and Osaka would cost 9 billion Japanese yen, of which 5.52 billion yen would have to be spent between Tokyo and Nagoya. However, cost overruns have skyrocketed the final figure and in 2025 JR Central, in charge of the project, already estimated the cost of this last section in 11 trillion yen. All these cost overruns and technical problems (barely 2% of traffic will move on land, 86% of the time will travel underground and the rest on viaducts and bridges) have caused interruptions in construction and, as we have seen, an increase … Read more

One of the most advanced yachts in the world keeps its biggest secret below deck: cryogenic tanks at -253 ºC

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At first glance, Breakthrough It could seem like another superyacht destined to attract attention due to its dimensions. It measures 118.80 meterswas built by Feadship and is part of that category of boats in which each meter is usually accompanied by swimming pools, terraces and private spaces. The difference is that here the real claim is not on the external postcard. The point that makes this project something exceptional is below deck: a cryogenic system designed to bring liquid hydrogen at -253 ºC in a luxury vessel. The project was not born as Breakthrough, but as Project 821, the name with which Feadship unveiled it at its Amsterdam shipyard in 2024. The Dutch shipyard defines it as the first superyacht with a hydrogen fuel cell system, a statement that should always be attributed to the company to maintain rigor. The idea was not only to build another large ship, but to explore how far a non-combustion electricity generation technology could be taken within a platform of more than 100 meters. The “secret” of the yacht is below deck Carrying liquid hydrogen on a yacht is not simply about changing one tank for another. Feadship details that Project 821 incorporates a 92 m³ cryogenic tank for about four tons of hydrogen, integrated into a dedicated and very isolated room. The problem is that liquid hydrogen takes up much more space than a conventional fuel when the available energy is calculated: the shipyard speaks of between eight and ten times more volume compared to a non-fossil diesel equivalent. That hydrogen does not burn like a conventional fuel. It passes through 16 PowerCell systems that function like small power plants: They combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, and the exhaust is water vapor. The resulting energy powers an architecture integrated by ABB, with direct current electrical grid, intelligent energy management and Azipod thrusters. This means that hydrogen does not directly move the yacht, but rather produces the electricity that allows it to move and keep its on-board consumption active. As we can see, its most ambitious part is designed not to be seen, but the boat does not give up showing itself as a large superyacht. Feadship highlights that it incorporates more hull openings than any other Feadship to date, with 14 balconies, seven platforms and nine hull doors. The Edmiston listing completes the picture with a swimming pool, three hot tubs, Nemo lounge, spa, cinema, hospital, touch-and-go helipad and three elevators. At this point, the question is obvious: Does Breakthrough always run on hydrogen? No. Feadship does not present it as a yacht capable of doing everything with its fuel cells, but as a hybrid boat that uses that energy in specific scenarios. The shipyard talks about a week of silent operation at anchor or sailing at 10 knots in protected areas without fossil fuels. It is an interesting figure, but it also marks the limit: hydrogen serves to reduce noise and local emissions in certain uses, not to completely replace the conventional system. The reason is physical, not commercial. Even on a 118.80 meter yacht, there is not enough space to carry the liquid hydrogen necessary for a complete ocean crossing. That’s why Breakthrough combines its fuel cells with MTU generators capable of running on HVO, a second-generation biofuel, within a hybrid architecture. The project was also an exercise in integration. Feadship maintains that there were no specific class, Flag State or IMO regulations for hydrogen storage and fuel cell systems on such a project, so it worked with Lloyd’s Register to develop specific equipment, protocols and safety procedures. ABB completes that part from the electrical side: it integrated the 3 MW system with the Onboard DC Grid network, energy management and Azipod thrusters. The other big challenge is outside the boat. It is one thing to design a yacht capable of using liquid hydrogen and quite another to create the infrastructure to safely supply it. Air Products announced in 2025 which had supplied Breakthrough with liquid hydrogen in what was the first bunkering of this type in the Netherlands. The data is important because it remembers that the technology does not depend only on the tank, fuel cells or propulsion: it also needs ports prepared to handle fuel at extreme temperatures. In Xataka The future of war at sea is hybrid: Navantia is clear about how to win it with its new ship for the United Kingdom Breakthrough demonstrates that a technology that is difficult to store, regulate, integrate and supply can leave the laboratory and enter a real ship. It may remain an exception for years, available to very few. Still, its value lies in having brought one of the most complex conversations in maritime energy to a hull that is already sailing. Images | Feadship In Xataka | Norway gives the green light to the construction of the world’s first tunnel for ships: a colossal engineering feat that has been waiting for 150 years (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news One of the most advanced yachts in the world keeps its biggest secret below deck: cryogenic tanks at -253 ºC was originally published in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

the biggest naval battle you’ve ever seen on television

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It’s been two years since the second season of ‘The House of the Dragon‘ in HBO Max will end, just before one of the key moments of the series: the Battle of the Gorge. This is how this third year of the series based on the work of George RR Martin begins, and it does so with extraordinary reviews, which equal the good times of ‘Game of Thrones’. Will the rest of the season live up to this vibrant start? The second season not only experienced a drop in audience with respect to the first one that made one think that the goose that laid the dragon’s eggs was beginning to look suffocated. There were also complaints from many viewers, who had the perception that the entire year had been a preparation for a naval battle that was about to begin just as the season ended. There was a reason: the season reduced its number of episodes from 10 to 8, and the showrunner Ryan Condal had no choice but to leave the battle for the season that begins now. The Battle of the Gorge is the largest naval conflict in the entire history of Westeros, and pits the forces of Rhaenyra Targaryen, under the command of The Sea Serpent, against the fleet of the Triarchy, allied with the Greens, to break the blockade on King’s Landing. Condal acknowledged that the Gaznate sequence took four years to materialize, and that Even with HBO Max’s budget, it was not clear if it could be filmed on the scale it required.: with dragons, ships and multiple combat fronts. And of course, in the tradition of the series, we will see an important character die who will mark the rest of the season. The third season incorporates several characters from George RR Martin’s book ‘Fire and Blood’: James Norton as Lord Ormund Hightower, Tommy Flanagan as Lord Roderick “Roddy the Ruin” Dustin, Dan Fogler as Ser Torrhen Manderly and Annie Shapero as Alysanne Blackwood. Although without a doubt the most suggestive character will continue to be Rhaenyra: Condal said of her that when a character is told that the gods have chosen him to rule and he has the power of six dragons behind him, “at some point he begins to believe his own legend.” Interesting territory to explore this third year. In Xataka | Tomorrow on Netflix, the film that last year caused people to riot in cinemas around the world

The biggest problem for Spanish olive trees is neither costs nor climate change: it is ‘ghost oil’

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Something smells bad in the olive oil market. We knew it for a long timebut it is now with the collapse of prices at source (almost 46%) that everyone has become nervous. The figures do not add up and the bill will not be paid by the large olive oil groups, but by the small producers. For this reason, on June 15, a COAG representative stood in front of the microphones and reported that 81% of olive oil Tunisian was entering Spain undercover. But how do you put 65,500 tons of oil under the radar? It has not been easy to determine, the truth is. But if the organization is right, the oil ship has more than one leak compromising its future. But it doesn’t have it. Always according to the COAGa good part of that oil comes from Portugal. But the ‘Portuguese way’ does not add up: with the data from the 2024-2025 campaign, Portugal produces between 160,000 and 195,000 tons of its own and imported only 3,406 of Tunisian oil. Those 3,406 tons cannot explain the 131,877 that it re-exports to Spain. Some part yes, but not all of it. And then? The problem seems different. It looks like ours, in fact. Because what COAG does seem to be right about is that a good part of the oil that entered the country did so under a special regime: that of active development. It is a formula of the Customs Code of the European Union that allows the importation of non-EU merchandise without tariffs or VAT as long as it is transformed and exported again. What the producers point out is that a good part of the oil that arrives in Spain to be “perfected” ends up being sold in the country without appearing in the statistics (marked, in fact, as community). The consumer does not notice it substantially in the price, but it is noticeable at the source. And a lot. But there is more. A few years ago, honey became a problem. Nobody really knew what they were eating in Europe. The key to this was to mix it up. Above all, because with completely insufficient regulation, it was enough to put “mix” so that there was nothing more to ask. This was attempted to be resolved with Directive (EU) 2024/1438 (the “Breakfast Guidelines“) which has not come into force in Spain until June 14, 2026. Among many other things, Brussels demands that the package states where what is inside comes from. Easy, clean, effective and… …non-existent for oil. The big problem, as almost always, is traceability. Not that we have problems, but that there is almost no real interest in doing it. As we have said many times, the Spanish agricultural market is a giant with feet of clay and now is the time to think if we want it to be something else. In Xataka | Something strange is happening with the price of olive oil and farmers have just denounced it: there are up to 2.8 billion at stake

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