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The biggest barrier to improving your running times is not your body: it is your worn-out shoes.

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I don’t want to put pressure on anyone, but there are 24 days left until the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich 2025 Marathon. It is, probably, the most important event of the year for marathoners on the national scene. Valencia has become a reference inside and outside our borders for the most advanced runners. But it has also become the perfect showcase to continue gaining followers in a world where groups of runners for all levels multiply, specialty coffee shops with running clubs and, phone in handthe new followers of a religion that seems not to reach its ceiling. New faithful who are bombarded with new training plans, with the benefits of the Norwegian methodclothing brands that have understood the concept with a clear turn towards design and fashion or with YouTube channels in which the latest shoe, the latest revolutionary foam and the most complex carbon plate are analyzed. And among numbers that already exceed three figures, the next generation GPS watch and the t-shirt that weighs 35 grams, sometimes we forget that running, which is running, is run with our feet. And what we wear is key to avoiding injuries. This is what Marta Molina, a doctor in traumatology, maintains, who in statements to ABC warns: we must change shoes every 700 kilometers. A big “it depends” “Each runner has different biomechanics. Detecting imbalances or poor support technique can prevent future injuries (…) The most frequent injuries that we see in consultation during these weeks (prior to the Valencian appointment) are Achilles tendinopathies, overloads in calves, plantar fasciitis or discomfort in the knee and hip derived from excessive training or inappropriate footwear” As a runner with a decade under my belt, I will say that I have gone through each and every one of those concepts at some point. In the form of injuries or discomfort, but I have not missed any of those diagnoses along the way. And what’s worse, I have the feeling that most of those who start in this sport go through some type of discomfort of this type. It shouldn’t be like this but usually we don’t realize the mistake until we have hit the wall. Molina talks about inappropriate footwear and change it after 700 kilometers. And yes, it is a common problem. Either for investing little initial money or for wanting to stretch the gum of a product (that of running shoes) whose RRP has settled above 150 euros in a good part of the market. Dani Navarro, a worker at Bikilaone of the most renowned stores in the country. “Our feedback from customers is that training shoes usually last between 700 and 900 kilometers. There can always be exceptions due to pure biomechanics, runners who do not reach that mileage or who, due to having a very refined technique, far exceed them.” In Runneaa media specialized in this sport, echoed a study in which they pointed out that training shoes began to lose part of their properties and effectiveness after 400 kilometers but that runners did not perceive the decrease in performance until 640 kilometers. The problem is that the first warning is usually discomfort. Navarro also points out two important details. The first thing is that it talks about “training shoes”. The second thing is that it puts the focus on the foams. “The mileage could be extended a little if the shoes are rotated, especially for those who run daily. This way the materials don’t wear out as much and they don’t crush the materials as much.” These two points are key, especially with the arrival of the new foams that offer a much softer and more reactive touch but whose useful life is also in question. The so-called “training shoes” are recommended for people who are starting out in sports because they are the ones that protect the muscles the most and are the most comfortable for going at slow paces. They are also used by experienced runners when they want to accumulate kilometers in preparation. The lower the weight and the better the technique, the more kilometers you can get out of the shoes. The catalog is very wide and varied, from the classic Saucony Triumph or Brooks Glycerin with a slightly firmer feel to the ubiquitous and very soft Nike Invincible, which have earned a place in hearts for their endless padding. But both Molina and Navarro agree on the same point: exceed mileage of shoes increases the risk of injury. The shoe is more likely to become more unstable and the joints and muscles will face a greater challenge. In addition, you have to take into account what you buy and why. Navarro remembers that there are “mixed sneakers” designed to run a little faster, face training plans with series or changes of pace (the famous fartleck). These shoes are predicted to have an average useful life of about 600 kilometers. Sneakers among which we find classics such as the Adidas Adizero Boston, the legendary Nike Pegasus or the more modern New Balance Fuelcell Rebel. At the higher end in price and muscular demand are “competition shoes”, items designed to perform to the maximum of our possibilities but with a very short useful life “of 300 or 400 kilometers” estimates the Bikila expert. The maximum representative of this last option were the Adidas Adizero Pro EVOsneakers weighing 138 grams with which Tigst Assefa breaks the women’s marathon world record and that the German company itself warned of a useful life of a single competition and the prior filming for the adaptation of the runner. Starting price: 500 euros and limited units. A category that was previously dominated by aggressive flyers with half-toe midsole and where now foams of wild sizes reign and carbon plates, a new trend that was inaugurated by the Nike Vaporfly and that competitors have replicated with the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro, the Saucony Endorphin Elite or the most striking Hoka Cielo X or the galactic Puma Fast R Nitro Elite. … Read more

Funko literally produced more dolls than it could afford. And now it faces the biggest crisis in its history

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It seemed that this moment would never come, but it did: the Funko Pop They are in crisis. In popular culture everything is cycles, and if now it is an inevitable topic in the conversation the “superhero fatigue“, after having lived through years in which it seemed that there was going to be nothing but superheroes in the cinema, now it is the turn of the Funko Pop. All after an overwhelming success, which has turned these dolls cut from the same pattern into inevitable passengers in any conversation about the pop panorama. The data. The company recognized in its last quarterly report that there are “substantial doubts” about its ability to continue operating for the next twelve months. Funko carries $241 million in total debt while maintaining just $39.2 million in cash reserves, a ratio that puts the company on the brink of the financial abyss. In the second quarter of 2025, Funko lost $41 million, and although the third quarter showed an improvement with losses of less than one million, these contrast with the $8.9 million profit in the same period just a year earlier, in 2024. The reasons. Sales fell from 292.8 million to 250.9 million year-on-year, a 14% drop that originated mainly in the US market. In 2023, the company destroyed between 30 and 36 million dollars in excess inventory, literally sending millions of figures to landfills because it was cheaper to eliminate them than to pay for storage. The crisis has multiple culprits: the Trump administration’s trade tariffs have hit toys with the nature of Funko hard: cheap items made abroad. But the fundamental problem is structural: overproduction. Funko has systematically and for years produced more than the market has been able to absorb, believing that demand would be infinite. This has led to the company’s debt growing from 182.8 million at the end of 2024 to the current 241 million, an increase of 32% in less than a year. The signs told us. There were different crises that made it clear that problems could come for Funko Pop. In 2021, the pandemic led to a boom and the company achieved record sales of one billion dollars, an increase of 58% over 2020. But like the entire economy that emerged during the pandemic, it was temporary. The post-pandemic drop (losses in the fourth quarter of 2022 of $47 million) should have served as a warning. Then, in 2023, the massive destruction of inventory confirmed that Funko Pop was generating material beyond its capabilities. 40 different Grogu dollsIf nothing woke us up before, it should have been a warning to sailors. And what about collectors? The company crisis is not just a problem of corporate mirage: it is the collapse of a dangerous aspect of collectingwhich is done by mere accumulation of assets that it is believed that it is going to revalue in the future. We have seen exclusive figures for the San Diego Comic-Con that They were resold for 200 or 500% above their original price (and the same phenomenon repeated at the recent Comic-Con in Malaga). And we have seen sets reach impossible prices (especially mythical isWilly Wonka quele in 2022 which reached $100,000). Now, second-hand sales platforms show Funkos that sold for $200 languish at $10. Even discontinued figures can be found at bargain prices, all due to overproduction, which made the “exclusive” or “limited release” label lose its value. There are those who compare what is happening with the phenomenon of Beanie Babies, highly coveted a couple of decades ago by collectors in the United States, and whose bubble ended up exploding. Plastic mountains. AND eye on environmental impactwhich goes beyond a few (many) collectors with shelves full of products that have lost their value. The aforementioned between 1.4 and 3 million vinyl figures that were sent to landfill They were only the first phase of mass destruction. The material Funkos are made of, PVC, can remain in landfills for centuries because it is not biodegradable. And hundreds of millions of units are produced every year, which in the United States are deposited in landfills perfectly legally (in countries like France, companies were prohibited from destroying unsold non-food merchandise, forcing them to donate or recycle). Header | Photo of Z Graphica in Unsplash

SoftBank abandons NVIDIA in its prime. What comes next is the biggest bet in its history

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SoftBank has sold its 32.1 million NVIDIA shares for $5.83 billion, completely liquidating its position in the chipmaker, according to CNBC. It has also divested part of its stake in T-Mobile for another 9.17 billion. Why is it important. The sale speaks of a radical strategy: SoftBank is abandoning the physical infrastructure (chips) to bet directly on the application layer (AI models). This is not necessarily a lack of trust in NVIDIA (although that is not a great sign), but an extreme concentration of capital in OpenAI, where it has committed up to $40 billion and leads the stargate project of 500,000 million for data centers. The facts. SoftBank announced profits of $16.3 billion in its fiscal second quarter, driven primarily by your investments in OpenAI through the Vision Fund. The fund earned 19 billion in the July-September period, offsetting losses in other positions such as another AI giant: Alibaba. Between the lines. This is not the first time that SoftBank has sold NVIDIA. He already did it in January 2019, then liquidating a position of 4,000 million acquired in 2017. That move, made when NVIDIA shares had fallen more than 50%, received a lot of criticism for its timing. Now it repeats the move, but in a radically different context: NVIDIA is at all-time highs and dominates the AI ​​chip market. The difference is that in 2019 SoftBank sold due to the need for liquidity after the WeWork fiasco. In 2024 he sells by strategy: he needs a lot of cash to finance his bet on OpenAI and he cannot do so without liquidating winning positions. In any case, the reading is clear: when it comes to AI, SoftBank believes more in the profitability of the models than in that of the infrastructure. The money trail. SoftBank has already invested 9.7 billion in OpenAI through Vision Fund 2 since September 2024. The company will lead the Stargate project with OpenAI, contributing 19 billion of the initial 100 billion (OpenAI will put in another 19,000). Each firm will control 40% of the project. To contextualize the magnitude: SoftBank’s total commitment to OpenAI (40 billion) is equivalent to almost seven times the value of the NVIDIA shares it just sold. The contrast. The really surprising thing is not that someone is selling NVIDIA at maximums, but that that someone is precisely SoftBank. Masayoshi Son He has built his reputation as one of the most aggressive investors in the tech world, known for holding positions even when the market turns against him and for doubling down on bets in times of uncertainty. This sale of NVIDIA, the most coveted asset of the moment in technology, would have made more sense coming from conservative funds or traditional institutional investors looking to secure profits. But SoftBank is not that type of investor. That it is precisely the Vision Fund that abandons the star AI stock says more about the magnitude of its commitment to OpenAI than about its vision of NVIDIA. Yes, but. SoftBank remains indirectly linked to NVIDIA. The Stargate project will rely heavily on NVIDIA chips for its data centers. The company also maintains its majority stake in ARM, whose architecture competes with NVIDIA’s in certain segments. In addition, Son’s record in big bets is lime and sand: the Vision Fund lost 27.4 billion in 2022 due to failed investments like WeWork (100 million invested) and FTX. OpenAI could be your great redemption. Or your biggest mistake. At stake. SoftBank’s bet represents a clear hypothesis about where value is captured in AI: not in making the chips that train the models, but in owning the models and the infrastructure that runs them. It is choosing to be OpenAI rather than being the provider of OpenAI. Time will tell if they were right to change picks and shovels for the mine itself. In Xataka | AI is a bonfire of money and the ‘big tech’ have just decided that they are going to add even more fuel to it Featured image | Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons

Russia’s biggest threat in Ukraine is not a drone or a missile. It is a film agency with 30 secret floors

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That the war in Ukraine has become the largest drone laboratory combat power on the planet is beyond any doubt. In fact, both Russia like, to a greater extent, Ukraine, have elevated these devices to configure a war industry unprecedented that places machines as the army of the future of any conflict. What was not so well known was where most of Ukraine’s drones came from. Origin and metamorphosis. What started three years ago as a location and props agency in basements and garages has mutated into a war industry on an almost industrial scale: Fire Point, whose owner and executives come from from the world of cinema and the construction of outdoor furniture, has gone from assembling drones with commercial parts to producing, according to its executives, hundreds of propelled and long-range munitions from at least thirty secret locations scattered throughout Ukraine. But there is much more, because the company has grown so much that it has currently consolidated itself with contracts for around billion dollars in a single year. A transit that reflects the rapid professionalization and commercialization of initiatives born out of patriotism and urgency in February 2022, when improvised underground workshops became an effective (although precarious and fragmentary) response to a large-scale invasion. Production, design and employment. Fire Point products, such as your FP-1 droneare simple machines in materials (polystyrene, plywood, plastics, and carbon fiber from cycling) but assembled with a logic of volume production: rocket-assisted takeoff, two-stroke engine, range measured in hundreds of kilometers and warheads of more than fifty kilos in some designs. Its catalog also includes the promising Flamingo missilea larger device, with a jet engine and a theoretical autonomy and load that, if confirmed at scale, could reconfigure the Ukrainian capacity to hit deep targets. The Ukrainian industrial philosophy here is clear: cheap, disposable, massive. Efficiency does not require reprocessing or longevity, only that some specimens cross the defense networks and fulfill their unique mission. An FP-1 Military strategy and effects. The proliferation of these munitions has allowed Ukraine to sustain a systematic campaign against energy infrastructure Russian companies (refineries and logistics nodes) seeking not only a tactical effect but also strategic pressure and leverage in eventual negotiations. In fact, the multiplicity of manufacturers domestic forces and technical adaptability have forced Russia to face a daily erosion of its apparent air immunity, forcing it to reallocate defensive resources and contemplate low-cost warfare as a decisive vector. Transparency and control. Fire Point’s meteoric rise has not been free of shadows: Public complaints and audits point out opaque awards, absence of mandatory price negotiations, questions about initial technical quality and the possible involvement of actors linked to the media and business environment close to power. In fact, the National Anti-Corruption Agency has inspected links with figures associated with the presidential circle and there are parliamentary calls to investigate pricesspecifications and the destination of multimillion-dollar benefits. Despite this, the public narrative combines suspicion and exaltation: national heroes and strategic businessmen who have shored up the defensive capacity, while activists and analysts demand more controls and transparency in war contracts. Industrialization and ecosystem. The phenomenon is not an isolated case but the center of an industrial revolution: Thousands of companies, hundreds focused on long-range drones and dozens competing for contracts, attract foreign funds, partners and joint venture projects. State agencies charter incentiveswhile international funds (such as the recent Norwegian-Ukrainian vehicle) show that the ecosystem is beginning to professionalize and seek commercial and technological legitimation beyond the emergency. For European and North American defense, Ukraine now offers a unique experience in unmanned missions and rapid design, which arouses interest both military as industrial. Ethical dilemmas. There is no doubt, the balance raises dilemmas: the domestic war economy reduces dependence on allied donations and scales offensive capacity, but it raises questions on democratic control, accountability and the risk that lucrative war businesses are perpetuated beyond strategic necessity. Plus: the proliferation of cheap and massive systems exacerbates the asymmetric nature of the conflict and poses risks of escalation and diffuse responsibility for selective objectives and collateral damage. Perspectives. In sum, the Fire Point history summarizes the Ukrainian phenomenon: industrial creativity (in many cases, they have no other choice) converted into a strategic muscle, an industry that emerged from volunteering transformed into key actor of the military apparatusbut also in focus of controversy due to its speed, its margins and the opacity typical of a country at war. The future challenge is twofold: to consolidate technological and productive capabilities that continue to perform in combat, and at the same time insert this thriving sector into frameworks of governance and transparency that prevent war efficiency from evolving towards economies of corruption or political capture. How Ukraine resolves this binomial will define whether its revolution dronistics It remains a collective merit or becomes an institutional burden. Image | xMezha In Xataka | They call it Skyfall, Burevestnik, or flying Chernobyl. The problem is not the name, it is what Russia’s latest missile does In Xataka | The war in Ukraine was a drone war. Now it is a war of drones that are not actually combat drones

ChatGPT Atlas is here. It’s the biggest nightmare in the history of Google

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OpenAI has launched Atlas, your first browserand Alphabet has seen $150 billion in market capitalization evaporate in a matter of hours. Shares fell 4.8% shortly after the announcement, recovering slightly to close down 2.4%. The market reaction was no coincidence: Atlas is not (just) Chrome with a chatbot stuck on top, it is a browser designed from scratch around ChatGPT. Why is it important. For two decades, Google has controlled how we access the Internet through a lethal combination: Chrome as a gateway and Google Search as a mandatory destination. Atlas breaks that logic. If your browser has an AI assistant with memory that remembers your preferences, performs complex tasks for you, and directly answers your questions, the traditional search bar no longer makes sense. It is therefore not an incremental improvement, but rather a paradigm shift in the way we navigate. In detail. Atlas eliminates the address bar as the nerve center of the browser and replaces it with ChatGPT. Users can open a side panel in any window to summarize content, compare products, or analyze data without switching tabs. But the star functionality is the “agent mode“, currently reserved for paying subscribers: ChatGPT literally takes control of the mouse and keyboard, surf the web on your behalf, fill out forms, research travel options, add ingredients to the shopping cart. In yesterday’s demo, an OpenAI developer showed how the agent found a recipe and automatically purchased all the ingredients, a process that took several minutes but required no human intervention. “Browser memory” is another key piece. Atlas can remember what you’ve searched for before, what sites you’ve visited, and what projects you have in hand, using that data to suggest actions or automate routines it detects in your behavior. Everything is optional, but the message is clear: OpenAI wants Atlas to know you better than you know yourself. Nothing new with AI. The figures. OpenAI has 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, double the number in February. Chrome has 3 billion and 71.9% global share. Google controls 90% of the search advertising market. Atlas sounds like a prelude to advertising coming to ChatGPT. Somehow they have to monetize the free users, who not only don’t pay OpenAI, but cost them money. And if OpenAI enters advertising, Google has the most to lose: it could be revenue that stops coming to them. Yes, but. Initial tests of ChatGPT agents have shown slow and imprecise results, where it is very effective to see the browser do tasks for us, but also much slower than if we take care of a few clicks. Plus, the hallucinations are still there. Google has a structural problem– Your business depends on people clicking on ads. If Atlas delivers direct answers without visiting web pages, Google loses. It has integrated Gemini into Chrome and added AI summaries to the results, but the basis of its model remains the same. Internet Explorer seemed invincible in 2007. Within five years, Chrome had surpassed it by offering something substantially better. The 150 billion drop in Alphabet’s capitalization is a sign that investors believe there is a chance that history could repeat itself. In Xataka | Privacy is dying since ChatGPT arrived. Now our obsession is for AI to know us as best as possible Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

OpenAI is building the biggest house of cards in history. Its “circular financing” aggravates the threat of the AI ​​bubble

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Yesterday OpenAI and Broadcom announced a collaboration agreement that will see both companies design and deploy 10 GW of custom AI chips over the course of four years. It’s a new episode of that unusual strategy that OpenAI has carried out and which is summarized in an increasingly disturbing concept: that of circular financing. Multimillion-dollar agreements. In recent weeks we have seen how OpenAI has reached new agreements worth billions of dollars with large companies in the semiconductor sector. Thus, we have: Circular financing. All these advertisements respond to a unique circular financing strategy in which chip companies (the suppliers) not only sell their products to an AI startup (customer), but also invest capital in that startup, which in turn uses that capital to buy more products from its investor. In reality, the supplier “does not invest” as such, because that money ends up going back into purchases of its products and services. It is in fact something similar to what OpenAI did with Microsoft when the latter invested $13 billion in it. Rather than investing them, it allowed him to use a kind of subscription for that amount to use his cloud, Azure, and its computing resources. It’s a win-win for some and for others. OpenAI wins. These agreements allow OpenAI to have guaranteed access to computing, something you need like eating. The startup spends billions a year and still not profitablebut thanks to this strategy he obtains a massive flow of capital. In the case of Broadcom, it also manages to collaborate in the design of customized chips for minimize future dependence on other partners (such as NVIDIA or AMD) and thus enjoy a lower total cost of ownership in the long term. And by signing with three different semiconductor suppliers, it encourages competition and improves its bargaining power. Bright. Suppliers win. The circular strategy also benefits NVIDIA, AMD and Broadcom. All of them gain a customer with almost unlimited demand, and can register immediate income from the sale of chips while the cost of the investment is amortized over time. NVIDIA also manages to maintain its dominant position, while AMD and Broadcom manage to expand in this market. If there are also actions involved, all of them are revalued and participating in each other is another element of interest in these financial operations. They reinforce and grow larger among themselves, and while they weaken all the others. A gigantic house of cards. But compared to that strategy, reality. And the reality is that this circular flow of capital is creating artificial demand in which the supplier pays itself. The systemic risk is enormous: if OpenAI fails or AI growth slows, the domino effect can significantly affect these vendors and their investors. We are facing a huge (and fragile) house of cards that, if it collapses, will have equally enormous consequences. The AI ​​bubbleif it really exists, continues to grow and grow. Total uncertainty. There is also absolute uncertainty about the promise of AI: will we really use it as much as these companies think we will? Will OpenAI be able to deliver on its promise and turn a profit in 2030? It is impossible to know. Finally, another problem: these circular agreements make these companies larger, but they make the entry of new competitors in both markets increasingly complicated. There are winners, but also losers. While all this is happening and the shares of these companies are skyrocketing, the reality is that there are also losers. The retail investor is blind to these events—and suspicions about cases of insider trading They are inevitable. And of course when talking about competition we are not talking about new competitors, but also current ones. Anthropic or Perplexity, with already established businesses, now finds it more difficult to compete. Google, Microsoft or Meta have plenty of infrastructure and economic resources, but they are still seeing how OpenAI is getting bigger and bigger without being able to prevent it. If successful, OpenAI may end up being above all of them, because it seeks the same thing that every company seeks even if it does not admit it: become a monopoly. Image | Xataka with Freepik – Gemini In Xataka | You thought you had an amazing connection on Tinder, but you were actually chatting with ChatGPT

China’s biggest problem is not the US. It is a “virus” that advances at an unprecedented speed and threatens to empty its factories

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In September, and in front to a data offered by the United Nations that put the future of the Chinese economy in check, Beijing defended itself with an opportunity for the future: the AI. In between, it remained to be seen who was right. Because the main problem of the economy that pull the strings of the planet are pure mathematics applied to a near and most uncertain future. One that indicates that, sooner rather than later, its population will to plummet. Against oneself. The demographic crisis that shakes China today is, to a large extent, the result of a policy that worked too well: the birth control campaign begun in the seventies and crystallized in the policy of only child 1979. What began as a state intervention to contain population growth that was considered unsustainable ended up shaping behaviors, expectations, and family structures for generations. Sterilizations, fines and forced abortions not only birth numbers reducedbut they inhibited the cultural habit of mass reproduction, and when the State began to relax the rules (allowing two children in 2016 and three in 2021) the social response was no longer the same: the fertility rate fell from 1.77 children per woman in 2016 up to 1.12 in 2021and the timid incentive measures have barely reversed the curve. The real cost of breeding. Behind the numbers there are everyday decisions. The economic calculation of starting a family in China is, as in so many other places, considerable: studies estimate that raising a child from birth to the end of their college education can cost on average about $75,000and in cities like Shanghai that figure shoots up to approximately $140,000. These prices, together with long work daysmarket expensive housing and professional expectations, explain why many young people (especially women) they choose not to have children. Surveys and testimonials collected show that for many people motherhood today is equivalent to a professional and personal resignation that they are not willing to assume: “I don’t want to think about sacrificing my life,” summarizes an executive from Hangzhou in the Washington Postand that plea for time and personal autonomy is one of the reasons why symbolic subsidies from the government (for example, some 500 dollars a year for the first three years) are insufficient to reverse the trend. Without weddings and solutions. we have been counting. Demographic decline is accelerated by fall of marriage: in 2024 just 6.1 million of couples registered their union, compared to 13.5 million in 2013, a data that works as predictor of future births when the rate of births outside of marriage is marginal. The State not only offers economic incentives and university courses about “how to flirt”, but has returned to intrusive behavior: officials pressure newlyweds about your plans of pregnancy and control the conversation public about marriage in the media. It is a gesture of urgency that clashes with the autonomy of generation Z, increasingly individualisticfor which getting married and procreating are no longer social mandates but options (among many). That tension between pronatalist policy and cultural change explains why coercive measures of the past do not seem to translate into higher births today. Accelerated aging. While fewer Chinese are born, the older population continues to grow: Life expectancy rises and the population pyramid inverts, which poses a brutal rebalancing in public accounts. Projections indicate that in the coming decades the proportion of elderly will doublewith colossal pressure on pensions, healthcare and long-term care financed by an increasingly narrow contributor base. Demographers warn that this phenomenon can trigger a vicious circle: more resources allocated to the elderly imply less public support for young families, which further reduces fertility. By 2100, according to calculations by international organizations, there will be more people out of working life than within it, a scenario with economic and political implications of systemic scope. The factory of the world shrinks. The problem is not only quantitative but qualitative: the workforce that made China the factory of the planet (born between 1960 and 1980, with a disposition for industrial jobs) has no substitute culture in later generations that they avoid factory work. At the same time, the proportion of Chinese manufacturing in the world total (today located around 30%) will necessarily be reduced if demographics exhaust the labor supply. The official short-term answer is automationbetting on robots and investment in productivity, but substitution does not work the same in all sectors: services, care and certain labor-intensive branches will continue to demand humans. The consequence is that manufacturing companies already they detect competitive pressure in prices and labor costs, and some observers point out that the industrial replacement could move to India, Southeast Asia, Mexico or Eastern Europe, with a multiplier effect on global supply chains. Politics and resistance to foreigners. They remembered in the post that a lever that in other countries would alleviate the labor force deficit (immigration) crashes in China with taboos of cultural homogeneity and political considerations that make the adoption of broad immigration policies difficult. That forces the government’s options and forces it to rely on internal incentives and in robotization. The strain between the economic need for labor and the preference to maintain cultural cohesion places Beijing in a strategic dilemma: either it embraces broader migrations (with all the integration challenges that this would imply) or it accelerates productive reconversion and the displacement of sectors that depend less on the labor factor. State measures. Faced with the abyss, Beijing has been introducing measures: relaxation of family policysubsidies, public campaigns for promote marriage and birth rate, and tax programs limited. But the experts they underline that late policies rarely reorder behaviors already fixed for decades. Louise Loo and other economists they estimate that reducing the workforce could take away about 0.5 points percentages to annual GDP growth in the next decade, a bite significant for an economy that needs to grow to absorb debts and finance its modernization. The challenge is that demographics act over long periods of time: cohorts born today … Read more

the Vivo X300 Pro inaugurates the biggest photographic battle in recent years

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China plays in another league. And the new Vivo X300 Pro has just demonstrated that the might of the Chinese mobile industry is far ahead of the competition when it sets its mind to it. with the previous generation we already checked that Vivo is consolidating itself as a total reference in mobile photography. With their new flagship just presented, they have just hit the table again. Let Apple, Samsung and Google take note, because the distance is becoming more and more evident. We have gone to Shanghai to see the Vivo mobiles. These are our first impressions of the Vivo X300 Pro. A brutal mobile that has many numbers to become the best photography smartphone of the year. Because although at the moment it is only official in China, it is already confirmed that it will soon arrive in Spain. Very attentive to everything it offers; The super high range of this end of the year that comes from China is ready to leave behind all the models that we considered leading at a stroke. Vivo X300 Pro technical sheet Vivo X300 Pro Dimensions and weight 161.98 x 75.48 x 7.99mm Screen 6.78″ LTPO 2,800 x 1,260 px 120Hz 2,160Hz PWM Dimming HDR 10+, Dolby Vision processor MediaTek Dimensity 9500 memory 16 GB Storage 512GB Battery 6,510mAh 90W fast charging 40W wireless charging rear cameras Main: 50MP ZEISS Sony LYT-828, f/1.57, 24mm Wide angle: 50MP, JN1, f/2.0, 15mm Telephoto: 200MP, ZEISS APO, Samsung HPB, f/2.67, 3.7x optical zoom, 85mm front camera 50 MP, ZEISS; JN1, f/2.0 Operating system OriginOS 6 Android 16 Connectivity Wi-Fi 7 5G Bluetooth 6.0 NFC Others IP68 resistance USB C 3.2 Stereo speakers VS1+ V3+ image chip Ultrasonic fingerprint reader Price — Once upon a time there was a camera attached to a mobile It was the headline we chose for the Vivo X200 Pro review and I think there is no better way to describe what this series represents. In the Vivo X300 Pro, photography determines everything. We are not looking at an ultra-thin mobile. Nor does it have as striking a design as one of its direct rivals, the Xiaomi 17 Pro. On the Vivo X300 Pro, the circular rear camera module It is your identity sign. There is no rear screen or pronounced curves, but a 6.78″ flat screen, a metal body that conveys solidity and attention to detail and a more traditional aesthetic. Xiaomi decided to go for innovation this year, Vivo revolves everything around the camera and sticks to what it knows works. We are looking at a top flagship in terms of technical specifications. The Vivo X300 Pro releases the new Dimension 9500the processor with which MediaTek measures itself directly against the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. They are accompanied by 16 GB of RAM and storage that uses UFS 4.1 to achieve the best management speeds. As for the battery, it is presented with 6,510 mAh, although this figure could vary in its European version, as We have already seen what has happened on previous occasions.. Taking advantage of the launch, the new OriginOS 6the new version of its operating system based on Android 16 that will allow you to leave behind Funtouch OS and incorporates an aesthetic redesign clearly inspired by Liquid Glasshas considerably improved its fluidity and adds compatibility with PC and Mac for sending files and screen mirroring. Five years of guaranteed system updates will be offered with the Vivo X300 Pro. ZEISS puts the icing on the cake with a 200MP telephoto and a single main sensor In the triple camera of the Vivo X300 Pro, there are two sensors that stand out especially: the telephoto and the main sensor. For the wide angle we have a 50 megapixel, autofocus and 15 mm sensor, signed by ZEISS, like its entire camera. But this is not where we find the great photographic leap. It is in the main and in the telephoto where Vivo puts all the meat on the grill. The telephoto lens of the Vivo X300 Pro is a ZEISS APO sensor with 200 megapixels and 3.7x optical zoom of 85 mm. Vivo is betting on an ISOCELL HPB “Thanos” sensor with 0.56 μm pixels manufactured by Samsung for the occasion. With this addition the new phone becomes at the height of the X200 Ultra model which we had the opportunity to test a few months ago, but it is not so immediate, because Vivo promises that it is a completely new sensor. A new 200 megapixel sensor for the telephoto that promises to eclipse everything seen so far. We have had the opportunity to test it briefly during its presentation and the result in x5 and x10 is astounding. 24mm image (left) vs 2x 48mm zoom image (right) 3.5x 85mm zoom image (left) vs 10x 242mm zoom image (right) And it’s not just the components used, the aggressive AI processing achieves images with extraordinary definition. For me who comes from photography of the Google Pixelthis Vivo X300 Pro is along the same lines and I would even say, without testing it in detail, that it surpasses them. The second protagonist is the LYT-828 main sensor with 50 megapixels, 24 mm and lens with f/1.6 aperture. It is a sensor co-created between Vivo and Sony, signed by ZEISS and that promises a stabilization up to CIPA 5.5a standard on the order of those achieved by gimbals, they say from Vivo. It also has a ZEISS T* anti-reflective coating to try to reduce flare and ghosting. But the advantages of this sensor do not stop there. The LYT-828 is probably the most advanced photo sensor available in a mobile phone to date. It is about the first sensor to achieve a dynamic range of more than 100 dB and almost 17 steps. What does this mean? Mainly that images with exceptional HDR can be obtained; which translates into super vivid images with a very wide range of colors. This commitment to colors also … Read more

How the city is prepared for one of the biggest tourist events of the year

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Malaga prepares to receive the comic-with next week. From September 25 to 28the capital will become neuralgic leisure center in Spainfranchise One of the most recognizable brands of the entertainment industry. A unique space for half a week that also makes clear its deep union with the city that welcomes it. We have asked ourselves how Malaga has prepared for Comic-Con, we have talked with hotels, restoration and transport and these are the answers. In Malaga better than anywhere else. Since his announcement, the fact that the Comic-Con is celebrated in Malaga has granted a special seal to the event. His first presentation was carried out in the city itself and there was a combination of international pop culture, with Marvel and Star Wars as flagships of the global fandom, with the much more native Malaga style, with dancers between droids and superheroes. Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, president of the Junta de Andalucía, said in that event that “for the Andalusian government, supporting this event is to consolidate Andalusia as a reference of digital art and pop culture.” The intention is clear. It is done in Malaga. Before the final approval of Malaga as the first headquarters outside the United States, a company delegation examined spaces, communications and other infrastructure, according to means like Malaga’s opinion. It is not a banal decision: The first calculations Extended by the organization talk about more than 30 million euros of economic impact, always according to Comic-Con. In any case, the city must be prepared. Hotel occupation. Although September is a month in which the hotel occupation traditionally lowers compared to August, the comic-with could change those figures. The Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (AEHCOS) estimates that the average occupation It could be around 87.65%, which represents a decrease with respect to the occupation of 88.74% last year. All that would change in the last days of the month, thanks to the influx that The organization estimates in 120,000 attendees. For those days, occupancy levels are expected above 90%, which could also extend the demand to nearby municipalities such as Torremolinos, Rincón de la Victoria or Benalmádena. A different tourism. Although tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday are exhausted since last May, Málaga prepares for the arrival of a tourism with a different profile: younger and more specialized, with medium-high purchasing power and therefore, with requirements other than traditional tourism. To the entry with food and drink to the comic-withas well as the possibility that visitors leave and return, a considerable increase in influx to restaurants, coffee shops and bars close to the Palace of Fairs and Congresses is expected, although it has been a decision not exempt from controversy and that has generated FACUA protests. The Comic-Con in the Palace of Fairs and Congresses. According to FYCMA’s own datathis year it is expected that up to 200,000 visitors will pass through the recess, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. More than half of them could be visitors to the Comic-Con. Throughout 2025, FYCMA will organize more than one centers of fairs and congresses, but the comic-with is the “spearhead of its international projection.” According to the organization, the event “is a qualitative leap for its impact and the global scope of its theme.” And to get there. Transportation will experience reinforcements to facilitate access to FYCMA, although we have not been able to specify what will consist of exactly not obtaining a response from the city’s mobility area. If we get more precise data we will include them in the post, but for now we will know that the closest bus lines to the FYCMA (4, 19, 20 and 22) will have reinforced frequencies and greater operability during the event. In addition, the N3 night line will be available from central areas to the enclosure for those who attend activities at that time. As for the Metro, line 1 has a nearby stop (Sports Palace and Carranque), and the frequencies are expected to increase during the days of greater influx nearby, in lines C1 and C2. Although special routes have not been announced, the volume of travelers could lead to reinforcements at peak times. Header | Connor Gan in Unspash / Jesper Brouwers in Unspash In Xataka | This decision of George Lucas about his legacy is so important that he has gone for the first time to announce it

One of the biggest problems in education in Spain is also the most ignored: teachers work too much

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Yesterday, the government announced that I was going to shield by law The reduction of school schedule in the classroom of children’s, primary, ESO and high school teachers. The idea is that the recommendations of the current educational law (the Lomloe, an impaished in 2020) become mandatory norms for autonomies. Thus, teachers would have a maximum of 23 hours per week and institute professors one of 18. In this context, “shielding for Lay” means gathering support in a greatly polarized congress and, of course, that has created a huge public debate. Not only about the government’s ability to realize the measure, but also about the measure itself. And skepticism is understandable. For years, many of the work improvements for teachers have not been exactly aligned with the well -being of students. The best example is continuous day in schools: although the available evidence says that The game is better, More and more Spanish schools implement it. And the pressure of the unions in this regard has been key. However, little by we start looking at the data, everything seems to indicate that the reduction of teaching hours is a good measure for students. The situation in Spain is not good. Especially in primary school, teachers They dedicate 20% more to direct teaching of time that the average European Union: 854 hours throughout the course against 703. This, in part, is an inheritance of the crisis. At that time, Rajoy’s government expanded the hours of direct teaching to 25 in primary school already 20 in the institutes. Over time, some communities have reduced those limits (in Galicia the teachers teach 23 hours and in Castilla La Mancha the teachers, 19), but the reality is that the Lomle recommendations have generally been ignored. And the evidence indicates that downloading to teachers is a good idea. To start because it has no negative effects on students. Almost all workload reduction initiatives report the same results: An improvement in the welfare of workers and no significant negative consequence. To continue, because it is a much more cost-effective measure than reducing the rat of the classes. In the background, although reducing the number of students per class is a good measure, there is a point where the cost of continuing to lower it (the facilities that need to be created for it) do not compensate. Reduce school load for teachers has a similar effect. And, to end, because this type of measure They help to resize The non -school work carried out by teachers. The school bureaucracy is getting bigger and so? Erosion quality of teaching. Classing is the most ‘intrinsically attractive’ task for teachers, but it is also the one that wears the most. Being able to balance the impact of each task on the final workload is key in the best teaching innovation programs. Is it enough? Beyond real viability of the proposal, It is inevitable to ask if it’s enough. Education is “a powerful tool to intervene in the problems of segregation, opportunities, performance and conflict.” But We continue giving bandages Without having any plan on the table. Image | Taylor Flowe In Xataka | Opening schools during non -school hours is a good idea. The problem is that we need much more

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