decide

It took eight months for the French Academy to bring Jim Carrey to Paris. It took the Internet eight hours to decide that it wasn’t him

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On February 26, Jim Carrey received a prestigious Honorary César for his entire career in Paris, after years of semi-retirement. But what was born as a touching emotional tribute at the center of a conspiracy theory: was it really him who took the stage, or an impersonator with prosthetics? The story of how an Instagram post unleashed chaos (and how it ended up being denied). A tribute. Jim Carrey has received this year’s Honorary César: the French Oscars rewarded his “exceptional versatility” with an award that Julia Roberts, Christopher Nolan and David Fincher had already received. It also arrived at a time when Carrey’s career was at a peculiar point: in 2022, at the press conference for ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ he announced that he retired. But he came back three years later. with brutal honesty: “I have bought many things and I need the money“Frankly.” Therefore, Carrey arrived in Paris after a false retirement that had made him partially disappear, yes, from the red carpets and premieres. And now he was on the most elegant stage in European cinema. He had not disappeared from the public light, however: in November, had been seen at Soundgarden’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles. But his appearances have always been, in recent years, spaced out in time and without warning. The delivery. The first unexpected moment of the night came when Carrey, after being introduced by Michel Gondry, and with an aesthetic that left behind the lush beard of recent years, gave the acceptance speech completely in French. The accent was unmistakably American, but it was very worked. As Gregory Caulier, general delegate of the Caesars, would later reveal, I had prepared it for months. In it revealed a connection with France that no one knew: his ancestor Marc-François Carré (the family’s original surname before Anglicization) was born in Saint-Malo and, from there, emigrated to Canada The change. In fact, already at the aforementioned Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony its appearance It had aroused some surprise: it already had the aesthetic that it repeated at the Césars, with shoulder-length hair and slightly different facial features than usual. The first speculations pointed to the cosmetic surgery as a possible reason and some experts on the subject speculated about what those interventions could have been. Dr. Millicent Rovelo speak of an upper blepharoplasty (to remove excess skin from the upper eyelids) and a significant volume of Botox on the forehead. Another surgeon, Dr. John Diaz pointed out to a possible cervical tightening procedure. The very media Dr. Tony Youn pointed out signs of an endoscopic brow lift that would explain the slight displacement of the hairline. and joined the hypothesis of blepharoplasty and Botox. Finally, Dr. Raffi Hovsepian, dissented: The changes in the forehead and eye area seemed compatible with natural male aging, without surgical evidence. Let’s not forget that in 2003, Carrey appeared at the Teen Choice Awards completely blindfolded, wearing sunglasses, pretending to come out of surgery. By then rumors arose about the tweaks to his physique. The mask artist. Four days after the ceremony, Alexis Stone posted a carousel of three images on Instagram. The first two featured Jim Carrey. The third was a latex mask, false teeth, a dark wig, and various makeup materials arranged on a table with the Eiffel Tower out of focus in the background. The caption was simply “Alexis Stone as Jim Carrey in Paris.” Stone is a self-taught effects designer who has built a career on hyperrealistic transformations that have allowed her to pass herself off as Madonna, Jack NicholsonLana Del Rey, Robin Williams’ Ms. Doubtfire or Glenn Close’s Cruella de Vil. Stone usually documents his process in detail, but this was not the case: we only saw a mask that even had details that some users saw themselves as belonging to an AI generationwith excessively perfect contours and a blurry background typical of synthetic images. but when famous like Megan Fox or Katy Perry spread Stone’s posts, the rumor germinated all over the internet: the Césars were not Jim Carrey, but an imposter. Because. The arguments that the conspiracy theorists maintained They appeared almost at the same time as the gala. For example, the color of the eyes, usually dark brown, here a more greenish tone. More: Carrey is left-handed, and several short videos showed him in Paris using his right hand to sign autographs. The third argument was the speech itself: that someone who was theoretically retired and had no active ties to France spoke for ten minutes in French with very elaborate pronunciation, it was, for a part of the public, tremendously suspicious. The interviews that prove it. Of course, this is the moment that conspiracy theorists have been waiting for to bring up interviews from Carrey’s past with ambiguous, philosophical or downright incomprehensible answers. In 2017 declared that he did not believe in personalities, that the fashion party he had gone to and at which he was being interviewed seemed to him “absolutely meaningless” (from a metaphysical point of view) and that “there is no self, there are only things happening” (later the actor himself I would rate the interview “existential experiment”). In a previous interview, he calmly said “I’m dead“, but it was in the context of a conversation about spirituality and ego. We recommend fans of the most disconcerting Carrey to check out the incredible documentary ‘Jim and Andy’, which documents his literal transformation into Andy Kaufman for the filming of ‘Man on the Moon’. Official confirmation. The first official statements came from Marleah Leslie, Jim Carrey’s publicist for decades, with a brief message and that left no room for doubt: “Jim Carrey attended the César Awards, where he accepted his Honorary César Award.” That same day, the aforementioned Gregory Caulier told Variety what the eight months of preparatory conversations had been like and the months that the actor dedicated to working on his French. Carrey went to Paris accompanied by … Read more

International law was written with humans who decide in mind. AI just broke that chain and no one knows who answers now

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Pete Hegseth’s threat to Dario Amodei has a subtext that goes far beyond the $200 million contract that the Pentagon can cancel: If the US military deploys AI-controlled autonomous weapons without the safeguards that Anthropic requiresyou will have removed the only firewall that has historically prevented an illegal order from being executed. Why is it importantand. The entire legal and ethical system of the US military rests on a principle that seems obvious but has important consequences: a soldier can and should disobey a manifestly illegal order. It is the mechanism that, in theory, prevents war crimes. A drone AI-controlled autonomous vehicle does not have that mechanism. You can’t refuse. You can’t hesitate. He cannot be tried in a court-martial. Between the lines. Amodei speaks of “autonomous weapons that fire without human intervention” to point out a legal vacuum. If an AI makes the decision to kill, who is responsible criminally? The programmer? The general who activated the system? The president who signed the order? International humanitarian law (including the Geneva Conventions) was written with human beings making decisions in mind. And now AI dissolves that chain of responsibility. The backdrop. The mass surveillance argument is also a bitter pill to swallow. The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution protects citizens from warrantless searches and interventions. It works, among other reasons, because the State has never had the physical capacity to process everything that happens in public spaces. And in the same way, with AI that operational limit disappears: we move to millions of conversations recorded in real time, transcribed, classified and connected in just seconds. What was previously impossible due to lack of human resources becomes routine with a LLM. Constitutional protection until now has depended, in part, on the inefficiency of the State, its limitations. Yes, but. The Pentagon has an argument that cannot be ruled out: other democracies are also developing these capabilities, and China or Russia are not going to wait for the United States to resolve their ethical dilemmas. The practical question is whether having those unrestricted capabilities makes you safer or simply more dangerous to your own citizens. The big question. OpenAI and Google have accepted the Pentagon’s conditions“all legal uses” without specific exceptions, and xAI has just been cleared to operate on classified systems. Anthropic has been left alone in its position. And what is at stake now is not whether Claude survives as a military supplier or not, it is whether the AI ​​industry is going to set some limit on what it sells to the State, or whether that debate will be settled directly by Congress, the courts or, in the worst case, the first serious incident that no one could have foreseen. It seems like a matter of time. In Xataka | AI is already a battlefield: Anthropic has just accused DeepSeek and other Chinese companies of “distilling” Claude Featured image | Xataka

decide how and what the world learns

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In recent weeks we have seen Elon Musk rising as champion of the neutrality of knowledgealthough paradoxically he does so by offering his own vision of history through an AI that only he controls: Grokipedia. Just like they stood out in The SixthMusk’s has not been the only case of a millionaire who has wanted to impose his interests on the interpretation of culture or how it is accessed. For more than three centuries, millionaires have sought to influence in the way the world accesses knowledge, leaving traces that range from the Enlightenment to today’s digital world. Forms and formats change, from printed encyclopedias to artificial intelligence algorithms, but the intention to dominate the narrative persists. Chrétien-Guillaume de Malesherbes and the Encyclopédie In the 18th century, the European political and religious context was restrictive and censorious with respect to knowledge that questioned religious dogma. Chrétien-Guillaume de Malesherbeswas a wealthy and influential French official who, in his role as director of the Royal Librairie, took on the challenge to protect a work that challenged that order: the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert. This ambitious project not only compiled human knowledge, but did so from a scientific and rational vision, displacing religious dogma from the center of knowledge. The Encyclopédie became a symbol of the Enlightenment, an ideological statement that sought to liberate the human mind through reason and empiricismgenerating a profound cultural change against the dominant monarchical and ecclesiastical structures. Malesherbes faced censorship and prohibitions, but from his position of influence he defended evidence and science as bases for intellectual emancipation. Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert This approach not only transformed the way knowledge was understood in Europe, but also established a precedent: access to knowledge could be a tool for freedom and social criticism, very aligned (and even advanced) with the air of freedom that ran through France at the end of the 18th century. The Encyclopédie It was the first major initiative that reflected how knowledge could be a political and cultural weapon, shaped by those who had the influence to protect and disseminate it. Andrew Carnegie and public libraries In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Andrew Carnegie brought the democratization of knowledge to a more tangible and accessible concept: free public libraries. As and how do they count at the BBC, Carnegie was born into a working-class family in Scotland and emigrated to the United States where he amassed an immense fortune thanks to steel industry and demand for steel for railway construction. During his youth, Carnegie faced the reality that many private libraries charged fees that prevented access to the poorest, including himself, which motivated him to invest a good part of his fortune in establishing free libraries. Andrew Carnegie in 1878 However, beyond his apparent philanthropy, Carnegie complained that many workers were not sufficiently trained, so his investment sought to bring that knowledge to the greatest number of people to create an educated and capable workforce. Carnegie financed the construction and equipment of between 2,500 and 3,000 libraries leaving the communities responsible for its maintenance and operation, thus ensuring its sustainability. His vision was for the library to be an open-access community center so that everyone could educate themselves, so that foreigners could learn the language and acquire skills to boost industrial productivity. Bill Gates and Encarta: knowledge in the digital age With the computer boom in the early 90s, Bill Gates envisioned a new way to access knowledge: the multimedia encyclopedia. In 1993, Microsoft launched Encartaa CD-ROM encyclopedia that contained thousands of articles, audios, images and interactive maps accessible from a personal computer. This product represented a radical change with respect to printed books and physical libraries, bringing information closer to homes around the world through technology. But Encarta was not an altruistic work to bring knowledge to users, but rather it set a clear commercial strategy: you needed a PC with Windows to use it, which promoted the influence of Microsoft’s operating system on the consumer. Encarta was presented as an educational, useful and visually attractive tool for a diverse audience, reflecting the transition towards digital knowledge in the emerging Internet era. With this new product, Microsoft took a step back in the free access to knowledge for which Carnegie had fought: to learn with Encarta you had to pay a license between $395 and $22.95, depending on the year. Finally, Wikipedia came to break that economic barrier again by offering free and banishing Encarta. Rupert Murdoch and the media narrative While other models relied on encyclopedic or educational knowledge, Rupert Murdoch built a media empire focused on a more current concept: shaping public perception through ideological narratives. Murdoch, the son of an Australian publisher, expanded his influence by controlling newspapers and television networks such as The Times, The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. His project was neither neutral nor purely informative, but rather a business model based on making the business profitable. opinion and ideological bias. During the 1980s and 1990s, Murdoch built a media structure that made him tremendously rich. Instead of keeping informational neutralityshowed the news according to very defined ideological frameworks, with a focus on the interpretation of facts to influence public opinion. After all, it is another way of offering knowledge according to the point of view of whoever finances the medium. Elon Musk and Grokipedia In the 21st century, information flows in abundance through online channels, but even in this hyperconnected scenario, some millionaires continue to feel the need to show knowledge according to their own prism. As part of his personal offensive against Wikipedia, Elon Musk has launched Grokipedia through his company xAI, presenting it as an alternative “without ideological restrictions or cultural biases” to Wikipedia. Musk accused Wikipedia of having a “woke patina”, that is, a progressive cultural bias, and proposed Grokipedia as a project capable of offering “objective facts” generated by AI. However, Grokipedia has been criticized for reproducing specific political biases and by the lack of transparency in its sources … Read more

The machines coordinate and decide when to attack

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The scene It took place a few weeks ago and was an unprecedented fact in military history. The Ukrainian forces announced that they had managed to capture Russian soldiers Without using infantry human Indeed, that was not a lantern. For the first time in history, they had used exclusively air drones and terrestrial robotic platforms, machines that were the immediate receptors of the surrender, an event that until now belonged to the science fiction. In fact, machines practically do not need the soldier. AI becomes strong. In the Ukrainian front has confirmed The routine use of dwellings of coordinated drones through artificial intelligence, a technological leap that for years was seen as prophecy and that today becomes In fact. Under software developed by the Swarmer local companysmall UAV groups are able to communicate with each other, assign functions, decide which one first attacks or adapt if one fails, all from a goal marked by the human operator. This ability to “Shared autonomy” It reduces from nine to three the number of people necessary for a mission and allows a single pilot to handle several devices, which helps Ukraine compensate for the inferiority of personnel against Russia. Although still far from a swarm of hundreds of drones, as some theorists anticipated, it is the first constant use of this technology in combat. From theory to practice. The Ukrainian army has used the system more than a hundred times, According to military sourcesusually in combinations of three drones (one of recognition and two bombers) To attack trenches, artillery positions or Russian equipment. The exploration drone traces the route and detects the target, while the other two distribute the attack autonomously. The proximity between devices reduces vulnerability to the Jamming Russiannot depending so much on easily interferible remote links. Swarmer has already tried swarms from Up to 25 drones And he prepares to experiment with more than 100, in line with parallel developments from the United States, China, France or South Korea. Unlike previous exercises (such as swarms launched by US fighters in 2016 or specific tests of Israel in Gaza), the novelty is persistence: Ukraine integrates these operations as routine In a high intensity conflict. Technical challenges and cost. The Wall Street Journal counted that the road has not been free of problems. In early stages, the drones exchanged too much information and saturated the network, forcing the refine the communication protocols. In addition, the incorporation of Ia makes each device more expensive in a country that already produces More than 1.5 million of drones a year and assumes that many will be consumables on the battlefield. Data management, link reliability and scalability to larger swarms They are still challenges. However, even with small groups, the advantage is palpable: speed in execution, savings of personnel and ability to attack simultaneously and flexible in multiple points. The new paradigm. Entry on stage of autonomous swarms Raises strategic and ethical issues of global scope. On the military, the possibility of launch dozens or hundreds Coordinated drones could saturate aerial defenses and transform the logic of deterrence: a single white, from a war ship to a critical infrastructure, can be overwhelmed by a volume of threats impossible to intercept one by one. It already happened With Spiderwebin fact. On the political level, software proliferation like Swarmer’s It marks a before and after: a company that works in a suburban garage, financed with US capital, produces a war capacity with international implications. The ethical dimension. Plus: the growing autonomy From weapons it generates a deep debate: to what extent does the decision to attack and kill? Swarmer He affirmed to the WSJ that a human continues to authorize The final shotbut the intermediate process (location, allocation of objectives and coordination) is already in the hands of machines. In fact, the United Nations He has asked for regulation On lethal autonomous weapons, while Washington and its allies maintain the requirement that there is a human operator in the “death chain.” Even so, the Ukrainian precedent accelerates the dilemma: the more effective these systems are shown, the greater the temptation to reduce human supervision to maximize speed and surprise. A border to redefine. In short, the conjunction of drones and algorithms It opens a land in which the quantity and artificial intelligence weigh more than individual sophistication. Ukraine, forced to innovate by necessity, is placed at the forefront of A historical change In the art of war, with implications that reach the great powers and the ethics of future conflicts. If you want also, the “swarm” has ceased to be a laboratory concept to become a real combat tool, transforming not only the tactic into the front, but also the worldwide reflection on how far the autonomy of machines should reach the machines in life or death decisions. Image | Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine In Xataka | We had seen the drones of Ukraine do everything, but this is new: they are arriving lost to countries outside the war In Xataka | Ukraine has entered a phase so deranged with the drones that his drones are knocking themselves to themselves

decide if you want forests before or forests of the future

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Spain has been facing a wave of historical forest fires for weeks that has raised more than 415,000 The hectares razed since the beginning of the year, but ahead has an even more complicated challenge: decide what to do as soon as the fire is extinguished. Restock? Let nature follow its course? And if you choose to restore forests, how to do it, with what species and what to take into account? These are new questions that can be summarized in A dilemma Simple: Do we want the ecosystems before the fires or others adapted to the future? A figure: 415,000 hectares. It is not being a good year for the mountains of Spain. Especially for those of the northwest. The tables of Effisthe European Fire Information System shows that so far from 2025 they have burned in Spain more than 415,000 hawhich exceeds the calcined surface in other countries, such as France, Portugal or Italy. The flames have devoured homes, farms and places like the medulla. They have also left a question: And now, what? “Look for something different”. The previous question may seem simple (recovering the mountain, right?), But it opens the door in turn to many other issues. What is the best way to act in the devastated forests? Is it the same mountain in which we have today that the one that had been half a century ago or the one in another 50 years? Should it be? “It costs us a bit to accept that there are species that are no longer adapted and they will not return, such as chestnuts,” Reflect in The world Ruth Domènech, fire expert at the University of California. “The species are adapted to climatic features that, if they do not have, cannot resist. And that is a change that comes with climate change and we must acepar,” abounds. In a very similar line, Víctor Resco, Professor of Forestry Engineering by the University of Lleida (UDL), insists that there is an even more important issue than when forests will recover the state they had before the fires. “The question of the times is a bit trap because we don’t have to think about recovering what we had, we have to look for something different.” Much more than fire. Forest fires affect the mountains, but they are not the only element that enters the equation. Talking about reforestation also implies making changes in meteorology or even native or alóctonian species, a topic that is frequently spoken. “But what native? What was there when the Romans were? What do we see on television, that idyllic image of Central European forest?” Doménech points out in The world. “We demonize certain species, such as eucalyptus or Carrasco pine reason The expert, in favor of “leaving the species that are already adapted, which are the ones that will grow.” It is not the only one who insists on the relevance of these issues. In 2021 resco warned already that pines and eucalyptus were being used as “scapegoats.” THE GREAT KEY: THE CLIMATE. In An article Posted three years ago The conversation in which he warned about the dangers of “deforestation and scrub”, especially given the growing threat of Megaincendiosthe UDL teacher stressed that before reforesting the former is to consider what he wants to get. “We must clarify what type of forest we want to restore: the ecosystem from before the fire or one adapted to the climate of the future? And, to choose the latter, to what future? To the year 2050, 2100 or another even further?” “The forest restoration has always looked back, sought to establish the most mature forest type possible, based on the soil available and past climate. The word itself restores to recover or put back in the state that it had before,” Comment. “But in a changing climate scenario, the melancholic reincarnation of a past that will not make it meaningless. Nor does it have it to create the ecosystems that have brought us to the current situation. What can we do? And what is the answer? That is the million dollar question. Resco Recognize that there are certain cases, such as the areas punished by erosion or lands of land, in which repopulation after fires is “an urgent need”; But he warns: “When there is no urgency, it is convenient to give a chance to natural regeneration and wait a few years.” About species, its posture is clear. “It has been discussed for the repopulations must be with native or foreign species. Under a climate change scenario this debate is meaningless. If we plant the species adapted to the climate of the past, we run the risk that they die in a few decades. Therefore, we must select the plants adapted to the climate to come, which can be species that currently do not grow in that site, but in others hot Add the expertwhich slips options such as opting for species from warmer areas or the so -called “assisted migration.” And natural regeneration? Even in those cases, the professor warns, the recovery of the forest will face the “future climate dilemma.” As an example, remember what happened after tragic fire that Guadalajara shook in 2005, a “fire hurricane” that devastated 13,000 hectares and left 11 dead. The oaks recovered before the Pinos thanks to their ability to rebound and in fact the latter were in a delicate position against new fires. The problem is that future projections show that in just a few decades the heat and drought in the region will lead to the oaks “beyond the limit”, so that the fire will end the pines and the global warming will do so with the oaks. Environmental diversity. There is another factor that comes into play: not all species are equally adapted to the flames. In fact, like remember The Pau Costa Foundation, in the Mediterranean forests there are many organisms so accustomed to the fire that have ended up adapting to it. “Some species … Read more

Tesla wants to keep certain accidents of accidents with her cars. A judge will decide if they should be made public

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The Autopilot and the Total Autonomous Driving Capacity (FSD) have been available in the Tesla sold in the United States for years. Its existence, its commercial deployment and even its general operation are well known. What remains a mystery are some details of the accidents occurred With those activated systems. Tesla does not want this information to come to light, and now he has resorted to court to keep it locked. The origin of the conflict is in a lawsuit filed by The Washington Post against NHTSA, the Federal Road Safety Agency of the United States. The newspaper requests access to the full spreadsheet that compiles the reports of incidents occurred while the Tesla driving assistance systems were activated. According to the medium, the NHTSA publishes some data, but retains “critical details” such as environmental conditions, the location of the claims or the concrete versions of the software that were in use. For the plaintiffs, it is information of public interest that can shed light on the true performance of these technologies. A defense based on commercial secret As Reuters collects, Tesla has responded firmly. This week, he presented a writing before the Federal Court of the Columbia district to oppose the publication of this data. Its central argument is that certain fields of reports contain sensitive information. Specifically, the hardware or software version, the indication of whether the car circulated inside its Designed Operational Domain (ODD) and the detailed narrative of the accident. According to the company, revealing these elements would allow its competitors to evaluate the effectiveness of each version of the system, track the pace of improvement and associate errors with specific versions. It is, says Tesla, “a technological road map” that could cause severe competitive damage. The NHTSSA, meanwhile, has partially backed that position. In a separate writingthe agency coincides with Tesla that these three fields are protected by the Law of Freedom of Information (FOIA). Both argue that it is not only privacy, but of commercial confidentiality, a category that can legally justify that documents are not delivered to the public. The newspaper’s lawyers, on the other hand, have alleged that this information is already partially accessible to the drivers themselves and that their compilation should not be armored by the business secret. Now it is the Federal Court who must decide whether that information comes to light or remains hidden. But the debate is not purely legal; It occurs in full scrutiny of driving assistance systems. As NPR points outNHTSSA investigates FSD’s yield in 2.4 million vehicles After several accidentsincluding mortal in 2023. It also maintains other inquiries on collisions in low visibility conditions and on the function Actually Smart Summon. Although not all collisions are known publicly, the confidential spreadsheet that the Washington Post claims contains the incidents that Tesla regularly refers to the agency, but seeks to delve into the information that is made known. Autopilot, improved autopilot and total autonomous driving capacity are the three levels at which Tesla organizes its driving assistance systems. The first, Autopilot, comes standard in new vehicles sold in the United States and includes functions such as adaptive cruise control and autogyro, which keeps the car inside the lane. From there, the user can pay to access a more advanced package, the improved autopilot, or directly to the total autonomous driving capacity (Full Self-Driving or FSD), the most complete set offered by the brand. In practice, none of these systems converts the car into an autonomous vehicle. Despite his name, Full Self-Driving requires the driver to be attentive, with his hands on the steering wheel and willing to take control at any time. Tesla makes it clear: These are systems designed to attend, Not to replace the driver. That does not prevent functions such as automatic lane changes, assisted parking or the ability to stop before traffic lights and stop signals (in beta) are already available in many cars. They are important advances, but under mandatory human supervision. Images | Tesla (1, 2, 3) In Xataka | It seeks to hunt influencers. Reason: byd pays up to 600,000 euros for unmasking defamatory campaigns

Europe wants to decide what is irreparable and what is not

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Europe is in full crusade with the old vehicle. In the main cities of Spain They can no longer circulate. The entry into force of the environmental badges leave out all gasoline cars before January 2001 and diesel prior to 2006: they cannot circulate through Low emissions areaswhich will be extended until the environmental objectives imposed by the EU will. There is a type of vehicle exempt from this age punishment: The classic vehicle. A culture also relevant in the world of motorcycle, and that according to the Federation of European motorcyclists associations It is at risk. Or maybe … not so much. Recycling objectives. The European Commission is in the process of reviewing its directive on vehicles at the end of its useful life (ELV). A legislation in which the objectives of recycling, reuse and elimination of materials in vehicles that reach the end of their life cycle are collected. The objective, on paper, is to foster the circular economy. This old woman Directive 2000/53/ECuntil now only applicable is close to being replaced by a new one planned by 2026 and with a vote in June 2025. If approved, it would cease to exclusively affect cars and light vans, to also affect motorcycles. The new regulations. The proposal on THE NEW REGULATION COM (2023) 451 On the new circularity requirements applicable to vehicles includes new categories, including motorcycles, to create regulations that harmonize recycling between virtually all types of vehicle. The text makes it clear that a deep review of how vehicle recycling and manufacturing processes is necessary, focusing on the focus on which this industry is one of the ones that consumes the most resources. The impact. If this new proposal was approved, the processes to reuse components, the requirements of homologation and the doubt (in certain scenarios) of whether or not or not a vehicle are a vehicle at the end of its useful life. “For the purposes of transferring the property of a used vehicle, the vehicle owner must be able to demonstrate to any natural or legal person interested in acquiring the property of the vehicle in question or the competent authorities that are not a vehicle at the end of its useful life. When assessing the situation of a used vehicle, the owner of the vehicle, other economic operators and the competent authorities will verify if the criteria established in the Annex I are fulfilled. A vehicle at the end of its useful life. “ Criteria and discord. Said Annex I, in which the points that determine what a repairable or not, show certain shadows in the case of motorcycles are collected. And Europe will consider that a vehicle is technically irreparable if it meets one or more of the following criteria. It has been cut into pieces or disassembled (“disassembling” a motorcycle is necessary for virtually any deep modification). Its repair requires the replacement of the engine, the gearbox, the body or assembly of the frame, which results in the loss of the original identity of the vehicle. He has not carried out the National Technical Inspection required for more than two years from the date on which it was last required. They are just some examples that would supposedly put in check the identity of the classic motorcycle, in which it is more than common to replace or repair components such as the engine, body and gearbox. The matter of Do not pass ITV: Many of these classic vehicles are projects that do not circulate by road until they have ended (they can last years). Not what you are thinking. So far, it is not unreasonable to think that the EU has lost its head and wants to end any used or classic vehicle. But the key is to interpret the text well. Which, in its first paragraph, makes clear the objective: “New measures to address EU’s exterior environmental footprint Linked to export of vfu and used vehicles. “ In other words, what Europe wants is to create a solid regulatory framework in which there is a clear distinction between what is an apt vehicle and not suitable for its export. For example, prevent a motorcycle from without ITV and that requires motor replacement, can be exported abroad. Something that would not prevent, if it has the ITV per day and the corresponding replacement of an approved motor, it can be sold without problem. In the requirements of Section 2, related to the controls and requirements related to the export of used vehicles, the previous references are made, but for the moment there are no criteria beyond those related to the sale outside of Spain. What does FEMA ask. FEMA’s request is clear: that motorcycles are outside this directive Or, in case they are applied, to play with their own rules. In Spain we consider everything with at least 30 years as a classic vehicle. Some of them, far from reaching the end of their useful life, enjoy a second life thanks, precisely, to the replacement of components. Doubts are lawful about whether a classic, fully functional and restored vehicle will cease to be considered repairable or valid for export after application of the new regulations. One that, by the way, must still be voted, approve, and get ahead with more than possible modifications in the text. In Xataka | Chinese motorcycles are sweeping in Spain: who is who in this brand puzzle

Modern algorithms decide for us to see. YouTube is the last redoubt where the algorithm does not choose for you

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The 2025 Internet is dominated by algorithms that seem to know each other better than ourselves. They were only missing Chatbots with memory than adding to your ability to read between the lines. In this scenario, YouTube is increasingly a beautiful anomaly. While Tiktok, Instagram or X drag us from one subject to another according to the whims of a system that optimizes engagement Pure, Google’s video platform maintains almost anachronistic respect for our choices. It is the last redoubt where what we are looking for still matters more than what makes us react. The difference is in Its algorithmic architecture. YouTube recommends mainly within the thematic ecosystems that we have already chosen. Tiktok, on the other hand, can launch us from vegan recipes to conspiracy theories at a time if that keeps our thumbs sliding. This thematic verticality It is not altruism, it is part of its business model: You need to maintain long sessions within specific issues, where segmented ads have greater value. Only its consequence is positive for the user. Or at least more positive than the rest. The best way to understand what makes YouTube different is to live it as a user. When I am looking for videos of Valencia, the algorithm keeps me in that world: post-part interviews, gatherings, montages of the best goals of the season and usually memories of a better past. It does not suddenly jump to polarizing politics or drag me to incendiary content it happens to provoke my outrage. YouTube respects the thematic ecosystem that I choose. Amplify our searches, do not try to manipulate us better. The user experience reinforces this sense of control: A prominent search bar. Channels to subscribe. Lists we actively build. A history that we can manage. They are vestiges of an internet where we sailed with purpose, not where we were navigated. It is also fair to indicate that YouTube belongs to Google, one of the great architects of the current algorithmic Internet. It is not immune to problems – the clickbait it blooms and its own attempts with YouTube Shorts They show that it is not above the market. However, it maintains a different balance. And the question is obvious: if this more balanced model works for the world’s largest video platform, why do the rest of the industry opt for systems that virtually annul our agency? YouTube also has serious problems. Their Rabbit Holes (Something like ‘Backgroundless wells’) They can take us on paths cobbled by radicalization. Its monetization system favors the extension and recurrence of quality. We are not facing a hero, but before a survivor who has found a niche where he prosper without completely eliminating our autonomy. In the end this this chronology of the evolution of the Internet. The web (yesterday Gloria, today survival) was originally a space where we chose our destinations. Today algorithms decide for us. YouTube retains vestiges of the previous model while adapting to the new one, becoming a kind of “Internet inside the Internet.” This “limited algorithmic autonomy” allows something not only good, but almost sacred: predictability. We can anticipate what we will find, creating a more satisfactory experience. It also allows the fragmentation of communities focused on specific interests, without forcing that everything competes in a single Feed homogenized, which is The great evil of the current X and the perennial identity of Tiktok. YouTube is not perfect – no one is – but it makes us question if we can design platforms that serve users who want to enjoy healthy, without being hooked or dragged where they do not want, and not just advertisers. YouTube, with all its contradictions, is a sign that an intermediate path is possible. Where there is some algorithmic manipulation (it is the market, friend), but that coexist with the total user agency. In Xataka | Podcasts are living their great revolution, but not in Spotify or Apple Podcasts: YouTube is winning the game Outstanding image | Xataka with Mockuuuups Studio

Telefónica is 100 years old but it is now when you have to decide what you want to be older. Is facing its greatest existential dilemma

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Few companies become hundred. Of those who achieve it, few have survived as many transformations as Telefónica. Founded when the phone was a luxury, a civil war, world war, dictatorships, democracies, republics and monarchies, privatizations, technological bubbles and digital revolutions has lived. But He has never faced a crossroads as existential as the current: Define your identity for the next century. He Mobile World Congress 2025 It has been the scenario where Marc Murtra, in his first months as president, has presented his vision for Teleco. A stand of almost a square kilometer encapsulated this Identity search. The Valencian artisanal spheres that decorated the space – a beautiful wink four months after the Dana tragedy – represented something halfway between tradition and modernity. A Perfect metaphor of a company trapped between two worlds: The conventional teleco that is seeing how its margins are eroded, and the technology company in which it aspires to become. Above, Valencian artisan spheres connected to the failed world to decorate the stand. Below, the Autonomous Drone connected by 5G that starred in a part of the MWC of the Teleco. The metaphor of the two worlds among which Telefónica trapped: tradition (the pure telecation business) and modernity (the technological company in which it seeks to become). Image: Telefónica. An operator in a hostile world The European context does not help. While the United States has three main operators for 335 million people, Europe has 34 for 450 million. This fragmentation, praised by regulators as a low price guarantor, has created an ecosystem where no operator has the critical mass to compete globally. Murtra was not subtle in Barcelona with Your Opening Speech: “It is time for large European telecommunications companies to consolidate and grow to create technological capacity.” A warning: “Europe’s position in the world will continue to decide and will not have the capacity to decide its future autonomously.” What until recently was a business debate has now climbed to geopolitical matter. The new president draws the battle with a sports metaphor: “We operate in a fragmented market, it’s like playing football with a hand tied behind our backs. If we unleash our hands, we will mark a few goals.” A GRADE OF Aid Shared by the CEOs of Vodafone, Orange and Deutsche Telekom, who joined the choir In Barcelona with an unusual voice. Pallete left a perfect paradox on the table: He reduced the debt in half (from 53,000 million to less than 29,000) while the stock value collapsed 57%. The equation is clear: Financial sanitation is no longer enough to seduce markets. The investment seeks growth stories, not survival. And that is where the technological jacket feels better than that of Teleco. And for her they go. The MWC as a declaration of intentions The demos that Telefónica presented in Barcelona are the anticipation of their future bets. It is no longer limited to talking about connectivity, but goes into more complex territories: Autonomous drones integrated with Open Gateway APIS, Security in the face of quantum computing challengesand its digital operations center for cybersecurity. It is striking that the Teleco did not simply show its 5G network, but the applications that can be built on it. Your demo drones He showed cases of health, environmental and logistics use. An effort to be in the value chain beyond the “tube” of data is appreciated. Beyond the dreaded Commoditization. The presentation of its technology Quantum-Safe Networks He anticipates threats that have not even arrived yet, but they will do it when quantum computing is more present than future. The announcement of an excellence center in this field, although without detailing investment or template Xataka On this matter, it shows its intention to become a strategic security provider. Enrique Blanco, outgoing Ctio after four decades in the company, has indicated that they have been working in this field for a decade, conducting limited tests in areas such as Madrid or Vizcaya. But perhaps the most important bet is Open Gateway. Chema Alonso, visible face of digital transformation (although An uncertain future), has presented Agreements with Tiktok, Cabify, AWS, Google Cloud and the Community of Madrid. The goal is convert their networks, so far mere highways, on platforms that generate income. Telefónica wants to monetize its privileged position as an identity validity and position itself as a technological intermediary between citizens and services. However, Under these modernity signs, the structure of a company born to another world persists. Its corporate culture, molded for decades as a national monopoly, collides with the agility that innovation requires. The More than 100,000 employees that still maintains the group contrast with lighter operators. Not to mention the great technological ones. The impossible referents When telecos have tried to reinvent themselves, the results have been lime and sand. AT&T opted to become a media company acquiring Warnerjust to end selling it years later. Verizon bought Yahoo and Aol, and then detach from both in half of what cost them. Deutsche Telekom, perhaps the greatest success case, has managed to better balance its transformation, but as its CEO Tim Höttges explained in Barcelona, ​​”today we make 65% of our income in the United States.” Telefónica’s case is more complex. Its international expansion gave it global scale, but also dispersion (a few days ago He sold his Argentine subsidiary for 1,000 million). And its telephone division Tech points to diversification towards cybersecurity, Cloud and IoT, but still represents a small fraction of total income. In the agora of their stand in Barcelona, ​​where more than one hundred managers have paraded tensing during the fair, Telefónica has sought to project a technological leader image. The problem is that the market continues to see it fundamentally as a teleco with aspirations technot as a true technological company. The transition is a long process. The absent host paradox The MWC has put another painful irony on the table: Spain organizes the largest technological fair in the world While your participation in the development of the … Read more

The problem of buying a house in Spain is no longer just its price. Is that you have less than 73 days to decide

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Two and a half months. Something less even. In a real estate market marked by the mismatch between supply and demand and in which Operations increase of sale that is what lasts on a home in available: two and a half months, 73 days To be more precise. A few years ago that data exceeded the 90 days. They are just that, figures, raw data, but they act as a thermometer of the sector. In fact there are cities, especially those that have tension markets, in which the deadline is even lower. A market for fast. In Spain the real estate market has its peculiaritiestrends and Factors susceptible to interpreting in different ways, but of course something is clear: they buy the fastest. He last report Prepared by Technocasa and UPF, it shows that, on average, in 2024 only 73 days were needed to sell a home. The data is interesting for several reasons. First because it is two days less than in 2023. Second, he delves into a trend that dates back to the beginning of the decade, when the properties took average for more than three months to find a buyer. In 2020 the average was 94 days. Beyond the average. 73 is a statistical indicator, the average of sale for the whole of Spain. If we go down to detail and consult the segregated data at the territorial level we verify that there are locations in which the period in which sales are closed is considerably shorter. In Barcelona that average was only 68 days, in Valencia of 67, 66 in Malaga, 62 in Seville and 61 in Bilbao. The market in which the properties last The Madridwhere the brand is in just 60 days. A market, two realities. The report of Tecnocasa Group and UPF Also verify that not all properties run the same fate in the market. According to their data, 55% of homes have been selling less than half a year. Moreover, almost 37% is announced on online platforms and real estate agencies for just three months. In the opposite pole, almost a quarter of the properties (23.6%) have been available for a year or longer. One of the keys could be its overvaluation. The report estimates that in the most ‘veteran’ homes it exceeds 18%. Why is it important? From what he tells us about the market. The authors of the report verify a clear mismatch between the demand, upwards, and an offer that thinns. Two data arrive to check. While 2024 closed above the 266,000 active purchase applications, which is 80,000 more than during the same period of 2023, and the number of potential buyers grew by 39% in December, the housing offer has moved in the direction opposite The Technocasa and UPF report estimates that it fell 9.3%. City Necessary days for sale Saragossa 76 Barcelona 68 Valencia 67 Malaga 66 Seville 62 Bilbao 61 Madrid 60 “A boiling market”. The study calculates that if in an area with a 5,000 -homes real estate park there was an average of 70.9 properties for sale in the late 2023, a year later that data was significantly lower: it was already around 64.3. The result, points to The country José García Montalvo, Professor of Economics, is “a boiling market”. “What we are seeing is that demand is squeezing much more than the supply, which is still insufficient,” emphasize The UPF expert. Another of the keys that help to understand the market is access to financing. The study detects an interannual increase in the average amount of mortgages, which is added to other indicators on credit. For example, registrars of Spain It carries several months verifying a sensitive increase in mortgages. “It’s a real casting”. The phrase is again from García Montalvo and summarizes the reality of the Spanish real estate market, at least as drawn by the Technocasa and UPF report. “The properties have hardly time to appear in the listings before multiple offers compete for them in an authentic casting,” Comment The expert. In a similar line, the director of Analysis of the Tecnocasa Group, Lázaro Cubero, Explain that last year there was “a very important demand increase.” “A 39% increase in a single year is not usual,” duckin reference to the increase of potential buyers that the report detected with respect to December 2023. The other indicator: prices. The time it takes for a home to find a buyer is not the only clue that tells us about demand and supply. There is another even more eloquent indicator: prices. After calculating the measure of a selection of cities, the Technocasa report indicates that in the second semester of 2024 the M2 stood at 2,802 euros, 12.13% more than during the same period of 2023. The report is also interesting for another reason. Its technicians estimate that the price in the second semester of 2024 was more or less at levels of mid -2005, but still far from the dimensions that were reached during the real estate bubble, between 2006 and 2007. In recent weeks Some experts They have pointed out that the M2 would have already exceeded the 2007 values, although everything indicates that the Sorpasso It focuses only on nominal prices, not real. That is, this calculation obviates the effect of inflation. Does it happen only in sales? No. The sales rate will be increasingly agile in the sale market (at least among the properties not excessively overvalued by its vendors), but pales compared to the tempos of the residential rental market. At the beginning of 2024 idealista calculated that 18% of homes They were leaving in their portal did not last 24 hours free. Moreover, in some cities the percentage of homes with a fleeting step by real estate was even greater: in Tarragona they were 31% and in San Sebastián 29%. Images | ZHIYUAN SUN (UNSPLASH) and Jonas Denil (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | Spain urgently needs to build thousands of homes. In the Basque Country they have … Read more

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