crazy

The war in Ukraine has entered such a crazy phase that soldiers are shooting at their own drones

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In 1943, during a night mission over Europe, several British pilots returned convinced that they had been pursued by strange luminous objects that appeared and disappeared around their planes. Some thought it was a secret German weapon, others thought it was nervous breakdowns caused by the stress of combat. Decades later, that aerial confusion He continues to remember a disturbing idea: there are moments in wars where the problem is no longer just the enemy. A schizophrenic heaven. They counted on Insider that the war in Ukraine has entered such a phaseDrone Aturation that, in many sectors of the front, soldiers no longer know what aircraft flies over their heads or who controls it. The consequence is an almost absurd situation even by military standards: Ukrainian troops shooting against their own drones for pure survival, operators cutting with scissors fiber optic cables without knowing if they belong to the enemy or a friendly unit and electronic warfare systems blocking any signal that appears in the air even if that means disabling their own equipment. The battlefield has become so crowded with small flying devices, jammers and data links that distinguishing between ally and enemy takes mere seconds. If something approaches too quickly, the automatic reaction is to destroy it first and ask later. Disposable drones due to excess. Part of the problem stems from how both sides have transformed the drone into a mass consumption weapon. These are no longer expensive and scarce platforms like those used by Western powers a decade ago, but rather relatively cheap systems manufactured at enormous speed and designed to be constantly lost. Russia and Ukraine consume drones in such gigantic amounts that losses due to friendly fire have been integrated almost as another operational cost. Units expect to lose devices due to interference, coordination errors, enemy jamming or simply because a nervous soldier open fire against any object that buzzes near your position. The result is a combat environment where technological saturation has begun to generate chaos even within one’s own side. The new logic: destroy them before they exist. This uncontrolled explosion in the use of drones is also pushing the war towards a new strategic stage: attack the factories before the devices in flight. Russia and Ukraine have understood that intercepting drones one by one is no longer enough when both produce thousands of systems continuously. That’s why the long range attacks attacks against industrial plants, logistics centers and component manufacturers have multiplied in recent months. Ukraine is hitting Russian facilities linked to Shahed drones, sensors, navigation modules and jam-resistant electronic systems, as Russia seeks destroy Ukrainian workshops where FPV drones or long-range attack devices capable of penetrating hundreds of kilometers into Russian territory are assembled. The logic begins to look less like a conventional war and more like a permanent industrial hunt. Electronics don’t keep up. The problem for both sides is that technological adaptation it moves too fast. Each defensive upgrade generates an immediate modification to enemy drones. Interference systems stop working when faced with fiber optic links. GPS locks lose effectiveness against new navigation modules. Drones incorporate more autonomy, greater processing capacity and increasing resistance to electronic countermeasures. In parallel, Ukraine and Russia they use satellite intelligencepattern analysis and constant recognition to locate production centers, antennas, warehouses and logistics chains. The front already It doesn’t end in the trenches.: continues hundreds or thousands of kilometers behind, inside factories, industrial parks and supply networks that have become priority military targets. A machine out of control. The most disturbing thing is that this dynamic gives the sensation of having partially independent of the soldiers themselves. There is drones attacking dronesautomatic systems jamming any available signal, operators trying coordinate safe corridors so that their own devices are not demolished and entire factories turned into objectives daily to sustain a rate of losses that seems impossible to absorb. If you like, the war in Ukraine is still a war of artillery and attrition, but it is also transforming into something much stranger: an aerial ecosystem saturated with cheap and disposable machines where survival depends on react before identifying. And when an army ends up shooting at its own drones because there are too many devices in the sky to distinguish them, it means that the conflict has crossed a whole new frontier. And crazy. Image | mod-gov-ua In Xataka | Ukraine has found a new way to assault buildings occupied by Russia: sending a robot with a 300-kilogram surprise In Xataka | The war in Ukraine is being filled with “Mad Max” ships: metal screens and nets against FPV drones in the Black Sea

Japan has plunged into a crazy spiral of aging that is claiming an unexpected victim: the yakuza

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the yakuza it’s news in Japan. And not because of his coups, a particularly successful police raid or a change in policy by the Government of Sanae Takaichi to combat the criminal network that takes centuries filtering into Japanese society. No. The yakuza is in the news because after several years of seeing its ranks decimated, it has reached an all-time low. According to police statistics, in 2025 their criminal groups numbered about 17,600 people (among members and allies), far from the more than 80,000 just a decade and a half ago. This loss of strength is explained by the control of the police and a turn in the underworld towards new criminal networksbut also because of a trend that affects the rest of the country: the yakuza ages, just like society ages Japanese. The yakuza is shrinking. These are not good times for the yakuza. Not at least as far as follow-up is concerned. Statistics from the National Police Agency show that Japan’s quintessential criminal institution (and one of the best-known in the world) has seen its member and affiliate base fall to a minimum. In 2025 They totaled 17,6001,200 less than the previous year. If we look only at the hard core, the full members, the figure is even more devastating: it remains at 9,400, the lowest since there are records. Is the data so bad? Yes. The problem is not that 2025 has been a particularly bad year for the yakuza, but that it maintains a trend that goes back a long time. Nippon explains that the institution has been seeing its ranks thinning little by little for at least 21 years, tracing a negative curve that has no signs of improving. For reference, the newspaper recalls that until 2009 the yakuza had more than 80,000 people spread throughout the country. If we go back to the 1960s, that support base was considerably higher. The crisis also seems to be affecting (to a greater or lesser extent) the different organizations that make up the yakuza. Nippon appointment half a dozen entities that have either stagnated their social mass or have lost members. The worst stop is Sixth Yamaguchi-gumiwhich in 2025 remained at 3,100 members and 3,200 affiliates. They are 200 and 400 less respectively than a year before. Curious yes, new no. The 2025 data is revealing, but will probably surprise few people in Japan. The country takes years reading headlines that report the gradual loss of base of organized crime networks. In 2022 the Police Agency already revealed that the number of members and associates of mafia groups had fallen to 24,100, the lowest figure since at least 1958, the first year with statistics. Only a few years later the ranks of the yakuza fell below the 20,000 barrier, a new low. What is the reason? As is often the case with all social phenomena, whether related to crime or not, this trend is explained by a combination of factors. In the case of Japanese bands, however, there is one particularly interesting one: age. The Japan Times reveals that one of the theories that the authorities use to explain this decline is the aging suffered by organized groups. The yakuza is getting older, just like japan. In 2022, the Japanese police estimated that 30.8% of members They were between 50 and 59 years old, making it the largest cohort. People between 60 and 69 years old represented 12.5% ​​and septuagenarians 11.6%. More than 50% were 50 or older. In general, the average age of the members was 54.2 years, seven more than a decade before. Members between 40 and 30 years old accounted for 12.9% and those in their twenties did not exceed 5.4%. An increasingly aging country. That the ranks of the yakuza are aging can be explained for several reasons. A key one is that Japan in general is getting older. The country has been immersed in a serious demographic crisis which has plunged its birth rate and raised the average age of the population. According to the records According to Statista, in 1950 this indicator marked 21.3 years, in the mid-90s it had already risen to 39 years and in 2020 it was close to 48. Their forecasts assume that at the end of this century the average will comfortably exceed 50 years. The result of that drift? Japan presents one of the worst percentages of population over 65 years of age: represents more than 29%. Click on the image to go to the tweet. One word: tokuryū. There is, however, another factor that explains why the organizations that make up the yakuza are increasingly aging. It is not that crime is fading in Japan, rather it is transforming and it is doing so by leaning towards a new format: the tokuryūcriminal networks that flee from hierarchical and well-structured models, such as the yakuza. The tokuryū (the word is the sum of tokumeik“anonymous” and ryūdo“fluid”) often operate as groups of criminals who form for coups, without structure, codes, organizational rigidity or bonds. That nature deprives them of some of the advantages of the yakuza, but it also has its strengths. The police find it difficult to deal with such loosely knit groups. And they also seem to offer an attractive model for younger offenders. The Japan Times assures that last year 12,178 people related to tokuryū were arrested, 2,073 more than in 2024. Many of them were under 40 years old or even in their twenties, which gives another clue about the changes that the underworld world is experiencing. “The younger generations’ aversion to yakuza organizations, with strict codes of conduct and hierarchies, is a contributing factor to their decline,” precise the diary Sankei Shimbun. Fighting crime. When explaining the bleeding of the yakuza, the authorities point to another factor: the work of legislators and police. Specifically, they point to greater application of the law and ordinances that complicate the participation of companies and individuals in organized crime. To combat crime the … Read more

The largest naval project in German history since World War II is turning out to be a crazy disaster

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In Europe, large military programs often take more than a decade to be completed and, in many cases, end up costing several times more than initially anticipated. It is not uncommon for complex projects to accumulate thousands of technical requirements and go through multiple reviews before reaching production. In this context, some plans are born as emblems of modernization… and end up becoming examples of how difficult it is to bring them to fruition. From something historic to something unsustainable. He program F126 was born as the great symbol of German rearmament and largest naval project of the country since the Second World War, but over time it has become quite the opposite: an example of how an ambitious plan can derail to the point of collapse. Conceived as a latest generation frigateflexible and prepared for decades of service, the project has not only accumulated delays and cost overrunsbut has called into question Germany’s ability to execute large military programs at a time when it aspires to lead European defense. Technical errors and chaos. He told in an extensive report the financial times that the origin of the problem seems as modern as it is devastating: a failed bet on a new software design that was not ready for a project of this scale. What should have been an advanced tool ended up generating cascading errors, from cables incorrectly located on the plans to steel parts manufactured with incorrect shapes, forcing manual corrections and slowing down the entire production. The result was a system that was moving at just a fraction of its planned pace, with delays that pushed the initial delivery several years later than planned. A culture shock. It turns out that the problem was not just technical. Apparently, the media reported that the project was trapped in a deep shock between the Dutch shipyard’s way of working and the German contracting system, known for its extreme rigidity. Thousands of specifications detailed even the smallest elements, while approval processes were they dragged on for months within a complex bureaucracy that required paper documentation and rejected even plans in English. This combination made collaboration a slow, frustrating, and, in many cases, unproductive process. Skyrocketing costs and limit decisions. As the problems piled up, so did made the invoice: The project, initially valued in the billions, began to go off track with significant cost overruns and structural delays. As it is, Germany now faces critical decisions ranging from replacing the main contractor to accepting billions already invested. as irrecoverable losses. At the same time, faster but less ambitious alternative solutions are being studied, reflecting the extent to which the original project has lost credibility. Notice to sailors of rearmament. If you like, the case of the F126 goes beyond a simple industrial failure: it reveals the limits of European military cooperation even among closely integrated countries and raises questions about the continent’s ability to implement complex joint programs. In a context of increasing of defense spending and increasing strategic pressure, the project has become a clear warning: It is not enough to invest more, you also have to know how to manage better. Because otherwise, even the most important projects can end up being, as in this case, a costly and lengthy example of what not to do. Image | Give me In Xataka | Germany is experiencing a new “industrial miracle” that it already experienced 90 years ago: that of weapons In Xataka | Germany was a sleeping military giant: now it has been awakened and it is already surpassing the US in bullets produced per year

Amazon was already using robots like crazy. Now you have a 42-inch humanoid robot that dances and picks up toys from the floor

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Amazon has been using robots in its logistics centers for years, but although these robots have demonstrated a brutal automation capacity for certain processes, they were “limited” to moving boxes and managing orders. Last week this technology giant took another step in this area: acquired the company Fauna Roboticsa New York startup developing a humanoid home robot called Sprout. Now the question is: what will Amazon do with it? Hello, Sprout.. The Fauna robot has a very different profile from the industrial robots that until now dominated Amazon’s logistics centers. It is not designed for factories, but for living rooms and kitchens. The startup describes it as a housework assistant. If the children don’t clean up the room, he will do it. Sprout is able to pick up toys from the floor, bring food from the pantry, and interact with children and pets. It works when you call it by name, it recognizes faces, it creates a memory over time and it has an interchangeable battery with an autonomy of about three hours. Its current price: $50,000, and its “heart” is NVIDIA’s Jetson Orin robotics platform. From Astro to Sprout. In September 2021, Amazon presented AStro, a home robot that I wanted to be more than just an Alexa on wheels. That model hardly caught on and in fact raised certain suspicions about the threat posed to privacy. The difference with Sprout is that this robot has limbs and instead of “rolling” it walks. It also has social interaction capabilities that Astro did not have. Alexa+, candidate to be part of Sprout. Amazon has been trying to boost its ecosystem with AI solutions for a long time, and its latest attempt is Alexa+an intelligent assistant whose deployment is being especially gradual. Months after its launch, it is still available on a limited basis in some company products such as your Echo speakers or your Echo Show smart displays. The question is whether this new assistant will be an integral part of Sprout. An increasingly lively race. The acquisition of Fauna makes Amazon the latest major protagonist in a race in which more and more large technology companies are involved. Tesla has Optimus, for example, while others like Figure AI or Boston Dynamics are aiming high. Apple, Meta and Google have expressed interest in this field, although none have presented specific projects and they are all rumors. A decade ago everyone wanted to have smart speakers. Now everyone wants to have humanoid robots, but there is a problem. China. Although Western companies are advancing, those that are clearly leading the way in this market are Chinese humanoid robots. The Asian giant manufactures 90% of the world’s humanoid robotsand the spectacular demonstrations that we have seen in recent months seem make clear that their progress is really promising. Unknowns. At the moment Amazon does not seem to be clear about the marketing of these robots. Fauna will maintain its name and apparently some independence. Its 50 employees will join Amazon, but Amazon will not use Sprout for its logistics operations and has not confirmed whether it will be sold to end users. It seems more of a bet on the technology of Fauna and his team, and a more defensive move. If humanoid robots end up taking off, Amazon has a good starting point here. Image | Wildlife Robotics In Xataka | We have been living with robots for years that beat us at chess. Now we have robots that beat us at tennis

we have prices that are crazy

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One more year, AliExpress is celebrating its anniversary. This is one of the best promotions that this marketplace has throughout the year and that means just what you are thinking: spectacular offers and discounts. There is a lot to choose from, but where we have especially found some spectacular offers is in the mobile section. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Before moving on to these, let’s make a brief note with all of them. discount coupons that are available on the AliExpress anniversary. The only limitation of these is that they cannot be combined. Discount minimum purchase coupon 1 coupon 2 coupon 3 3 euros 15 euros XATAKAES03 PURCHASES03 WEBEDIAES03 5 euros 30 euros XATAKAES05 PURCHASES05 WEBEDIAES05 7 euros 49 euros XATAKAES07 PURCHASES07 WEBEDIAES07 11 euros 79 euros XATAKAES11 PURCHASES11 WEBEDIAES11 20 euros 139 euros XATAKAES20 PURCHASES20 WEBEDIAES20 30 euros 209 euros XATAKAES30 PURCHASES30 WEBEDIAES30 45 euros 319 euros XATAKAES45 PURCHASEES45 WEBEDIAES45 60 euros 429 euros XATAKAES60 PURCHASES60 WEBEDIAES60 70 euros 509 euros XATAKAES70 PURCHASES70 WEBEDIAES70 Now, we are going to see five offers on mobile phones that we found especially interesting: Google Pixel 10 by 453.12 eurosa great price that leaves it cheaper than the Pixel 10a. Realme GT 8 Pro by 608.40 eurosa powerful mobile phone with incredible autonomy. Vivo X300 Pro by 881.04 euroswith one of the best camera systems out there. Apple iPhone 17 by 870.05 eurosthe smallest of the iPhone at a price that we had not seen until now. LITTLE F7 by 216.87 eurosa top quality-price option with very good autonomy. Google Pixel 10 We start with a Google Pixel 10which we can get for 453.12 euros doing two things: using one of the 70 euro coupons we have above (for example, XATAKAES70) and using PayPal as a payment method, which will give us an extra 8 euros. This formula will be the one that we have to replicate in the rest of the phones, achieving prices as good as those of this Google phone, which makes it even cheaper than the Google Pixel 10a. If you like compact Android phones, this one from Google is one of the best options. It is not the most powerful, yes, although it makes up for it with the best Android experience, seven years of updates and a camera system that offers very good results. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Realme GT 8 Pro We now jump to Realme GT 8 Proa mobile phone that has plenty of power thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and its 12 GB of RAM. In addition, it has a screen with QHD+ resolution and a 144 Hz rate, ideal for playing games or enjoying a very fluid experience while reading text, for example. Its camera system also performs great, although perhaps its strongest point is found in the battery: it has 7,000 mAh and 120 W fast charging. With the 70 euro coupon and payment by PayPal, it remains in 608.40 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Vivo X300 Pro We continue with the Vivo X300 Proa device that undoubtedly stands out for its camera system, one of the most versatile and complete on the market right now. In addition to this, it is also worth highlighting its 6.78-inch 120 Hz screen that is compatible with both HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision, which makes it perfect for watching movies. Its battery is 5,440 mAh and it has 16 GB of RAM. With the 70 euro coupon and paying with PayPal you stay in 881.04 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple iPhone 17 We also have Apple phones on this AliExpress anniversary, like this one iPhone 17. This is one of the best options we can buy if we want something with iOS and prefer a compact mobile. Its price has not dropped much since its launch, so we are looking at its historical minimum price: 870.05 euros with a 70 euro coupon and paying with PayPal. It is powerful, has good autonomy and its screen has 120 Hz, the first base iPhone to have this feature. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LITTLE F7 We close with the LITTLE F7 from Xiaomi, a mobile that already stood out for its quality-price at the start, but does so even more now that it costs 216.87 euros if we use a 30 euro discount coupon and pay with PayPal. It has a 6.83-inch AMOLED screen with 120 Hz, 12 GB of RAM and a 6,500 mAh battery that is also compatible with 90 W fast charging. At this price, one of the best Android options we can buy. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Xataka, Google, Realme, Vivo, Apple, Xiaomi In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Buying guide for ultra-resistant mobile phones: certifications and standards, special functions and 11 rugged phones

Razer has had a crazy idea and that is to put AI cameras in headphones. I have tried them and they have given me something to think about.

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Project Motoko. I like to think it’s a reference to Motoko Kusanagi, the protagonist of ‘Ghost in the Shell‘, but in any case, that is the name given to Razer’s new concept. Indeed, they are headphones with two cameras and artificial intelligence whose proposal is quite interesting: what if, instead of smart glassesShould we wear smart headphones? The company has taken advantage of the MWC 2026 that took place these days in Barcelona to show them and I have had the opportunity to get my hands on them at the Qualcomm stand (we will see why later). At the moment, the prototype, because that’s what it is, a prototype, has certain rough edges to iron out, but I really liked the underlying idea. Let’s go in parts. Project Motoko by Razer | Image: Xataka The background idea. As is obvious in the photos, I wear glasses. Normal glasses, although prescription ones. If I wanted to use connected glasses I would have to change my glasses and buy a frame, which is not cheap, in addition to prescription lenses. Well, like me, half of the world’s population. That is to say, smart glasses have a small penetration problem: They have to convince glasses wearers to change their glasses. They have to convince those who don’t wear glasses to wear glasses. Razer’s idea. It may be easier to convince the user to use smart headphones instead of glasses. These devices are agnostic about whether people see better or worse and, in reality, they can offer a similar and even better experience in certain aspects, because being larger they can offer more autonomy and power. Currently, the Meta Ray-Ban 2 They move in the eight-hour range, for example. This is what the Project Motoko prototype looks like | Image: Xataka The trade-off, of course, is wearing big headphones all day. They are less concealed and you are not going to wear them at important moments in your life (or yes, we listen but we do not judge). Be that as it may, the glasses have an advantage there, but that does not make Razer’s proposal make any less sense and may even have a fit not in gaming or in everyday life, but in terms of accessibility. What is this about?. Project Motoko are over-ear headphones (quite comfortable, I must add) with two 12-megapixel wide-angle cameras at eye level, one on each side, and several far- and near-field microphones. It’s like having a pair of eyes connected to AI that see what we see. The experience will obviously vary depending on whether we are paid or free users of chatbots. Instead of using proprietary AI, the device can connect to all platforms, namely Grok, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and even Perplexity. Part of the process is done in the cloud, but thanks to an undetermined (for now) Qualcomm chip, there will also be local processing capabilities for certain commands. The cameras are at eye level | Image: Xataka The operation is simple. You look at something, say a restaurant menu; You ask the AI ​​something out loud and it answers you. During the demo we asked the headset if an ingredient on a table was suitable for lactose intolerant people, and even what we could make with the objects in our inventory in ‘Minecraft’, and it responded without problems. It also recognized buildings, places and text, translating a Japanese menu and giving us recommendations based on our preferences. The prototype is still missing, but it works, it works. Razer is still ironing out some connectivity and interaction issues, but the company is positive that they will release it at some point. They are not clear when, but the product is moving in the right direction, as explained by Razer. Detail of the position of the camera and microphones | Image: Xataka The rough edges. The demo had some flaws, such as the headphones were not capable of recording live video and did not capture the image if we did not ask them to, let me explain. To generate a recipe with the ingredients on a table, you had to expressly tell it to take a photo and then the command. That is not natural language. It is not natural to say “take a photo and tell me yes”, but a normal interaction would be “hey, what can I do with this?” The idea is that we invoke the AI ​​using a button located on the headphones, so it would make sense that, in a final product, when you press that button the headphones begin to record the live image. Not a static one, but a video feed like Gemini Live does. And in that sense, the warning for third parties that they are being recorded with the headphones is not defined at the moment either. A white light turns on in Meta’s glasses when you record, for example. In any case, it doesn’t seem like something that can’t be fixed via software for a final product. The release date is not confirmed, nor is the price. Project Motoko | Image: Xataka Maybe the chicha is not in everyday life. Although it is tempting to think of a companion product for everyday use, especially if you work with headphones or usually wear them on the street (not my case), where I think Project Motoko could have a huge impact is in two areas: video generation to train humanoid robots and accessibility. On the one hand, headphones capture what we see (more, in fact, as they have a greater field of vision), so by recording how a manual industrial process is carried out, the necessary resources could be generated to train machine learning algorithms focused on robots. After all, an AI learns by watching the same action thousands, millions of times, but for that to be possible it has to have videos, many very specific videos which, of course, are not abundant. On the other hand, people with vision problems have a powerful ally in … Read more

Blue Origin’s space tourism numbers have been leaked and they are crazy

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A few years ago I saw a Spanish civilian cross the Kármán line leaving our planet was a generational event. Today, space tourism is about to normalize what was extraordinary and we have the clearest example in Alberto Gutierreza 42-year-old businessman from Valladolid and founder of the platform Civitatis who this Thursday managed to be the fourth Spaniard to theoretically reach space. His story. He did it on board the NS-38 mission from Blue Origina flight of just ten minutes that takes off and lands in Texas, but which represents another milestone in the private space race and consolidates the profile of the “tourist-astronaut” with a high heritage behind him. Because the truth is that it is not something very economical. 10 minutes. Takeoff took place at 10:26 CST (16:26 Spanish peninsular time) from the Blue Origin Launch Site One in Van Horn, Texas. The ship used was, once again, the reusable New Shepard system, a rocket designed specifically for suborbital tourism. All this with a plan that has followed the “Swiss clock” script to which we are accustomed in these missions. At the moment of launch the ship’s engine accelerated until it exceeded the March speed 3, and when it was already at a good altitude, the capsule was undocked and continued to ascend up to 106 kilometers above sea level, exceeding the Kárman line which is located at 100 km altitude. Weightlessness. But the experience sought with this type of attraction is to experience the phenomenon of weightlessness for a few minutes. Specifically, there were 3 minutes in which Gutiérrez was able to unhook himself from his seat belt to observe the curvature of the Earth while he was literally floating in space. It hasn’t been cheap. Although Blue Origin maintains official secrecy about the dynamic prices of its tickets, the sector has quite clear figures. And to enjoy these three minutes of weightlessness you only have to pay $150,000 just for admission to reserve your seat. But it does not logically stop here, since industry sources and leaks Previous estimates place the total cost of the ticket at around one million dollars. A price that not only pays for experience, but also for status. More and more difficult. With this type of space excursions aimed at the richest on our planet, the truth is that an interesting debate opens up about the label of “astronaut.” Although technically the Kármán line has been crossed with this trip, the FAA modified its criteria in 2021 to narrow it down much more. In this case, it no longer provides commercial astronaut wings to space tourists, but opts for a simple registration on its website. That is why for the agency, being a passenger is not the same as being an operational crew, although surely for all those who participate here it is a great life experience that is undoubtedly spatial. It’s not the first. As we have said, with this flight, Alberto Gutiérrez puts his name on a very short list. Before him, only three Spaniards had crossed the space border: Pedro Duque, Michael López-Alegría and Jesús Calleja. Although it is clear that this is an experience that is quite limited to those people who have a large wealth and decide to invest it in a unique experience. Last minute surprise. The NS-38 mission has not been without logistical setbacks. The original crew of six underwent a change just three days before launch, as Andrew Yaffe had to retire due to illness on January 19, being replaced by Dr. Laura Stiles. And there was luck with this replacement, since its inclusion allowed the launch date to be maintained, which had a very limited launch window, in order to guarantee its safety. Images | POT In Xataka | Manufacturing materials to produce chips in space is not science fiction. It is a very real plan that is already underway

The amount of snow that is accumulating in the Pyrenees can only be defined in one way: truly crazy

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If this piece had to be summarized in a single concept, this time it would be easy: lots of snow. A huge amount of snow. Every week, the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation publishes a snow reserve estimate in the basin. Analyzing this week’s data is surprising and, if the forecasts are right, next week is going to be spectacular. So much snow? A lot, yes. As They explained in Northern Meteo“the snow reserve on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees reached the 75th percentile of the 2002-2026 series on January 19.” That means that “in 15 out of every 20 years” there is less snow than what accumulates on the summits right now. Just see how Port del Comte is in the Solsona Pyrenees (or the Puerto de la Ragua in Almería), to realize that this is not normal. After years with a negligible snow reserveseeing the mountains like this is a joy that reminds us of the good times. But, as I say, this is the parrot’s chocolate: taking into account the impact of Storm Harry and the carousel of fronts that comes (with Ingrid at the helm), the models predict that the 90th percentile will be reached throughout this week. If so, “we would touch 1500hm3 of water in the form of snow.” And there is a lot of water coming. It’s better don’t beat around the bush: “the next two weeks will bring very heavy rain, strong winds, snow and rough seas.” But, in addition, it comes accompanied by cold and that, as we have explained, is going to collapse the snow level. In the coming days, it is very likely that we will see snow in most of the inland provincial capitals. It will only take hold in the mountains, but this gives a fairly graphic image of what is coming our way. What can we expect? Since Friday, when the first front knock down the thermometers of the northwest halfwe can expect cold, rain and snow. For Friday Snowfall warnings have already been activated in the interior of Galicia, most of Castilla y León, the Cantabrian mountain range and the Picos de Europa, Guadalajara, Cuenca, the Iberian system, the Central system, the Betic system and the Pyrenees. The accumulated will be more than 20 centimeters in Sanabria, the Ourense mountains and the León mountain range. on saturday are expected snowfall in Navarra, the Basque Country, Cuenca, Aragon, the Betic system and the Pyrenees. Here, as I say, they will be especially intense. Sunday is back, the snow can reach areas of the northern half, and some points of Castilla-La Mancha or Andalusia The great panorama. But beyond all that, what awaits us is an exceptional snow season. Although the rest of the winter will be much calmer, warmer and drier: we will have reserves of snow like we haven’t had in a long time. And that’s a lot more than we thought we could say at this point. Image | Tropical Tidbits In Xataka | Something comes “from the bowels of the Atlantic” to Spain and AEMET is clear about its impact: alert in 14 autonomous communities

OpenAI’s obsession was to train its models like crazy. Now it’s run them faster than anyone else

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OpenAI has signed an agreement estimated to be worth more than $10 billion with Cerebras Systems, a startup that designs advanced AI chips dedicated to one thing: running AI models as fast as possible. It is a unique alliance not only because of that change of focus, but because there is a conflict of interests. what has happened. The firm led by Sam Altman has committed to purchasing 750 MW of computing capacity over the next three years from Cerebras. Sources cited in The Wall Street Journal indicate that this alliance has an estimated value of more than $10 billion. We are therefore facing an operation extraordinary in size, but peculiar in form and substance. What Cerebras does. The firm based in Sunnyvale, California, was founded in 2015 by former engineers from SeaMicro, purchased in 2012 by AMD. The startup designs artificial intelligence chips specifically aimed at the inference stage of AI models, that is, executing them. More tokens per second please. When we use ChatGPT or any AI model, what we are looking at is an AI model using inference. Some “write” faster than others, and that speed of displaying text in responses is measured in tokens per second. Typically NVIDIA chips are great for the training phase, but not so much for the inference phase. Chips from companies like Cerebras —or those of the well-known Groqwhich has just been “bought” by NVIDIA—are precisely designed to run those models at full speed and obtain very high token per second speeds. The AI ​​is already good. Now she wants to be fast. NVIDIA’s recent “purchase” of Groq makes it clear that Jensen Huang’s company wanted the ability to offer those ultra-fast inference chips, and now OpenAI seems to want something very similar with its deal with Cerebras. AI models have already achieved remarkable performance in many scenarios, and although they are not perfect, now companies want them to not only work well, but also work very very fast and their responses, even if they are long, appear almost instantly. OpenAI wants more computing power. This operation also helps Sam Altman’s company with another objective: to obtain (and reserve) as much computing capacity as possible in anticipation of the fact that demand for these AI models will grow non-stop in the coming months and years. According to WSJ OpenAI already has more than 900 million weekly users, and its managers have frequently commented that they continue to have computing capacity problems. Brains grow. This agreement reinforces Cerebras’ position in a market that clearly demands this type of solutions. The firm is negotiating a $1 billion investment round that would bring its market valuation to $22 billion, tripling the current valuation, which is around $8.1 billion. In the past it has raised $1.8 billion according to PitchBook. Conflict of interest. This agreement also draws attention for an important aspect: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is also an investor in Cerebras (he is at the bottom of this Cerebras website) and indeed your company At one point he considered acquiring Cerebras although in the end that operation did not bear fruit. We are therefore faced with an operation that theoretically benefits Altman on both sides, which is worrying. How will OpenAI pay for this party? This new agreement once again triggers the debate about OpenAI’s ability to meet its credit and debt obligations. In 2025 it generated about 13,000 million dollars in income, but that enormous amount remains minuscule if we take into account that the contracts it signed with OracleMicrosoft or Amazon They amount to about 600,000 million dollars that will have to end up getting from somewhere. Where from? It’s a good question. We’ll see if they can end up answering it. In Xataka | The alliance between Oracle and OpenAI is not just about data centers: it is about overtaking Google, Apple and Microsoft on the right

Why has the internet gone crazy shouting rhythmic words at the television?

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Table, strawberry, weight, weight, weight, table, strawberry, table. If your brain has just played a little music and you have read it to the beat, you have also fallen into the latest viral challenge of social networks. You will surely have felt this December that the algorithm has been “hacked” by an infinite loop of rhythmic words and a sound in a language that we cannot identify. But it is not a computer error: it is the definitive viral phenomenon that has transformed our Christmas dinners in a makeshift arcade. The phenomenon that conquered the holidays. What started as a niche game has become the absolute protagonist of the family gatherings of 2025. The challenge, known globally as Say the Word on Beat (or its version adapted to Spanish Say the word with the rhythm), has flooded digital platforms. According to analyzed datathe challenge has gone from being a simple filter to a skill competition that has already accumulated more than 1.2 billion views under its main label. The figures that can be seen at a glance under the hashtags #wordonbeat either #wordonbeatchallenge They exceed thousands of videos that, in turn, garner millions of views. This new phenomenon suggests that its rise is due to the extreme ease of participating, thanks to the CapCut automatic templates either on your own websiteand the ease of the game that brings together everyone from children to grandparents. The science of the mental “short circuit.” But what makes such a simple game so addictive? The answer is in our brain. The challenge is a digital and playful version of the famous Stroop effect. This psychological phenomenon measures reaction time when faced with tasks where there is a cognitive conflict. When trying to say the name of an object while the rhythm pushes us to say a rhyme (like cup, soup, clothes, cup), the prefrontal cortex of our brain suffers a small collapse as it tries to inhibit the automatic response. As professor and virality expert Jonah Berger explains in his theories about the “social currency”this type of content succeeds because it allows us to demonstrate a skill to our circle. Achieving the “Impossible” level is not just about winning a game; It is gaining public validation that the brain rewards with dopamine rushes. Furthermore, these “micro challenges” adapt perfectly to the new consumer habits: They are short, intense and highly competitive. An unexpected origin. One of the most curious aspects of the challenge is its soundtrack. That rhythmic, foreign voice that guides the game is not a creation of artificial intelligence. This is a traditional Thai school song known as “Moo Ma Ga Gai“, which translated would be something like “Pig, dog, crow, chicken.” This audio, originally designed for Thai children to practice the diction and tones of their language, was rescued and remixed by content creator @robgongfriendwho added the metronome and the whistle that we all recognize today. It’s a fascinating example of how digital globalization can turn an elementary school lesson in Southeast Asia into the hit of the new viral challenge. A new family “arcade”. Unlike other TikTok dances that are usually individual, the Word on Beat has made a qualitative leap towards the “phygital” (physical and digital) world. YouTube channels like Rhytup or its Spanish version I Know The Game! have detected a massive peak of traffic from Smart TVs. Instead of consuming content on the small mobile screen, users are projecting these videos on their televisions to play as a group. The living room thus becomes an improvised arcade, replacing classic board games with visual reflex challenges. It is, in essence, the “karaoke” of the new generation: a collective activity that encourages laughter through other people’s mistakes. A party at the stroke of beat. Today, as we prepare for the chimes of New Year’s Eve, it is very likely that the ambient sound is not just that of toasts or party music. Before the grapes, you will hear rhythmic shouts: table, dumbbell, strawberry… It’s not that the networks have hacked our brains, it’s that we have found in the simplicity of a Thai rhythm the most human and fun way to connect. So, if tonight you see your entire family yelling at a screen, don’t be surprised. They are simply trying to keep their brain from jamming before the clock strikes twelve. Image | instagram Xataka | The house as a showcase: how interior design has taken over from fashion

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