ecosystem

a domestic ecosystem that you cannot escape

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We are in Munich to attend the presentation of Xiaomi. There are spotlights illuminating Xiaomi 15t Pro And at the entrance of the auditorium it is the pair of Su7 ultra Those who wear all eyes. But something catches my attention: At the door there is a huge Trojan horsewhich leads these lines. Remember this data. In the presentation, the brand shouts its specifications: Collaboration with Leica. Periscopic telephoto. 3,200 brightness nits. “Interesting, but secondary,” I think. The biggest announcement that Xiaomi is doing here is not measured in pixels or focal lengths, but in The cubic meters of conquered domestic space. Xiaomi has just entered the European appliance market. Neveras, washing machines, air conditioners. Far beyond air fryers and whippers. It is part of the great jump that the company is making. Those who a decade ago sold regulators at 150 euros and competed in price, five months ago They left me speechless with their ultra Exposed in Shanghai, competing from you to you with Porsche. And now you are executing a maneuver that reminds a lot of Huawei’s story After US sanctions: The construction of a self -sufficient and vertically integrated technological universe. Huawei responded to need: sanctions forced him to create Harmonyos and its own ecosystem. Xiaomi acts, rather, from what we could call an “calculated ambition”. We have been seeing this slide in their presentations for years, with a somewhat oversized pride: The photo is from the Munich event and the 15T, but this same mantra we have been watching it for a long time in all Xiaomi presentations. Image: Xataka. Oversized because ‘Human X Car x Home ‘stayed somewhat lame in the last two areas. In 2024 they solved the second and now they just solved the third. They just announced a fridge, the Mijia Refrigerator Cross Door 502L. In addition to a fridge, it is a 502 -liter data terminal installed in the kitchen. A space that was previously foreign to the brand. It is important because Xiaomi is well understanding human behavior and technological inertia: When you install an Xiaomi fridge that communicates perfectly with your washing machine, which in turn is synchronized with Your vacuum robot And with your TV, you have crossed a psychological and economic threshold that it is difficult to return. The cost of that change – Substack is crowded with Reflections on the famous’Switching Cost ‘– It is not calculated by the price of the new mobile, but in the complete disintegration of your domestic ecosystem. What Apple is doing with devices, wearables and services, but applied to ‘HUMAN X CAR X HOMand‘. With the car we saw something similar, and with the glasses, too. As with the best ecosystems, CAda device is a node that reinforces general architecture. The smartphone (now that 15t pro that monopolizes holders) is only the epicenter, but intelligence is distributed throughout the rest of the house. The one that captures and processes the flow of data that emanates from everyday life. Each interaction with the fridge, each washing cycle, each thermostat adjustment, feeds a system that learns, predicts and at some point will anticipate needs. The comparison with Huawei is inevitable. Both have demonstrated transformation capabilities. Huawei building its strength in response to an external siege. Xiaomi, executing its planned territorial expansion. His entry into Europe with this range of “Aiot appliances” shows an ambition that goes beyond the market share: they want to change the nature of the connected home. Image: Xataka. Europe has a fragmented appliance market. It is dominated by centennial marks like Bosch and Siemens, there are local phenomena like Balay, the arrival of Hisense has noticed and Samsung pushes, with more insistence than Tino, focusing on technology. Unique opportunity, especially if The European consumer, traditionally conservative choosing large appliances, begins to value more connectivity and energy efficiency (Xiaomi proudly exhibits the A +++ certificates in their air conditioners) above the brand tradition. If someone believes that the European consumer clings to their trusted brands, and more if they are local, you just have to remind you What happened to BQ in 2018: He clung to that idea as an argument against the arrival of Xiaomi and that was one of his last decisions before he died. In addition, Xiaomi’s great danger comes from its execution speed. In three years they went from having no automotive division to produce the SU7a vehicle that not only competes but in many aspects surpasses the giants of the sector. Now, that same speed is applied to the home. The vacuum robot with 20,000 pa for suction. The washer with AI that adjusts the cycles according to the type of tissue. The refrigerator with customizable temperature areas. Everything points to a future where the distinction between intelligent device and traditional appliance simply disappears. But there is a more disturbing dimension in this conquest: the concentration of technological power in the hands of a few companies – mainly Chinese and American— Ask questions about privacy, digital sovereignty and technological dependence. When your fridge, your washing machine, your car and your phone respond to the same company, you have given a level of control over your daily life that would have been unthinkable makes a generation. The data that flow from these devices are information, are power. AND In that technological crossroads is Europto. Without its own technological giants capable of competing in this new scenario of total integration, you must choose between American ecosystems (Google, Apple, Amazon …) and the Chinese (Xiaomi, Huawei … and soon perhaps Byd with their own home automation ambitions). Each choice implies more than a preference for consumption, it is an implicit geopolitical alignment. Today’s technology is much more complex than ten years ago. That is why this presentation in Munich will be something that I will remember within a few years. It is not so much the launch of new products, as any other presentation, but The turning point in the way Chinese technology continues to … Read more

Someone forgot a bag of cheetos in the largest cave chamber in the US. The problem is chaos to the ecosystem that comes after

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That humans can generate The biggest chaos in ecosystems that surround us I think it is out of any doubt. However, already a difference from other animals, no matter how large the error is, We are able to repeat it In a short time. Therefore, what happened in one of the most fascinating areas in the United States is a good example. Even if it is A simple check of Cheetos. The importance of Carlsbad’s caverns. Located in the state of New Mexico, it is about A set of more than 119 underground cavesof great geological and ecological importance. Formed by the acid water action that dissolved the limestone over millions of years, these caverns stand out for their vast network of passages and cameras, including the famous “great room”, one of the largest underground cameras in the world. These unique geological formations include impressive stalactites, stalagmites and columns, hence it is of great scientific interest to study the processes of training of caves and the geological history of the southwest of the United States. However, this enclave named World Heritage by UNESCO has also become a must of mass tourism. A bag. As The National Parks Service explained in an article (NPS), what happened should make all future tourists think after a distracted visitor left a bag of Cheetos in the depths of the Carlsbad caverns. Apparently, the snack dropped into the historic great room, the largest cave chamber by volume in North America, the same one that can only be accessed by walking around an hour underground. A pump to the ecosystem. Once there, the bag can rot in the wells of the wet cave. In other words, those small “cheese” snacks stranded in the cave can make a small expansive wave through the local ecosystem. “The processed corn, softened by the moisture of the cave, formed the perfect environment to house microbial life and fungi. The crickets, mites, spiders and flies of the cave are soon organized in a temporary food network, dispersing the nutrients to the cave and the surrounding formations. The mold extends to the nearby surfaces, gives fruit, dies and smells bad. Count the NPS In a publication. A much bigger problem. In the same article it is denounced that “at the scale of the human perspective, a spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but for the life of the cave the world can change,” they emphasize. “Great or small, we all leave an impact wherever we go. Let’s all leave the world in a better place than we find,” adds the center. Apparently, the rangers had to perform an arduous follow -up task to carefully eliminate any rest of the garbage and mold from the surface of the cave, hoping to avoid any lasting impact on the cave. Garbage and natural environments. One of the great scourges of The National Parks of the United States It has to do with what visitors “bring” and leave when they leave. That garbage throws chilling numbers: more than 300 million people visit the national parks every year, generating almost 70 million tons of garbage. And of all enclaves, the caves take the worst part. The reason? They are more vulnerable because they are isolated from the outside world and house a rich variety of highly adapted, endemic and sensitive organisms. If a new seasoning is added to the equation, call cheetos or similar ones, the result can radically alter the balance of biodiversity. The example of the Lascaux cave. Possibly, it is the most famous case and the clearest example of how we are capable of alter an environment of this type. Discovered in France in 1940, they immediately became famous for their cave paintings dating from 17,000 years ago, one of the best samples of prehistoric art. However, after opening to the public in 1948, mass visits began to negatively affect the delicate microclimate of the cave. Apparently carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors, along with moisture and changes in temperature, began to cause visible damage to paintings, such as the appearance of fungi and algae on the walls. These changes put at risk the conservation of paintings, some of the most important in humanity. Closed forever. Faced with this deterioration, in 1963 the French authorities made the decision of Close the Lascaux cave to the public To protect the paintings. Since then, only a very limited number of scientists and conservation experts have had access to it. In fact, to allow the public to continue appreciating the art of Lascaux, a replica known as Lascaux II was created, which reproduces the main cameras and paintings of the original cave. This measure, protecting the historical value of the caves with steel doors and security cameras, has allowed to preserve the artistic heritage of Lascaux while maintaining its educational and cultural value. Maybe we should do the same with all caves with historical value. Although before it should be reviewed that no one has left a snack. A version of this article is PUblicó in 2024 Image | Ken LundCarlsbad Caverns National Park In Xataka | We have been recycling the garbage we produce. Experts say it has not served at all In Xataka | In the US, a woman used an AirTag to check if recycling served something there. It turned out that it did not work

Spain is no longer the ugly duckling of the European technological ecosystem. Now has the opposite problem

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Spain is ceasing to be the lagged technological ecosystem of Europe. The venture capital funds have invested just over 1 billion euros in 95 Spanish startups only in the first quarter of 2025. That represents an 184% increase on the sum collected in the first quarter of 2024, according to a long report published by Sifted. Why is it important. Spain is already the Fourth European country in technological financing this yearand its operations count is already close to Germany and France, with populations and income per capita notably higher. The context. This moment is not accidental, but arrives at the confluence of three factors that have created the perfect storm: The gold fever that is being AI worldwide. Government movements favorable to technology, such as generous fiscal disasters, Visas for Startups and Digital Nomads wave Sett. The appearance of the so -called ‘Mafia founders’: those that have experience in large Spanish companies such as Cabify, Glovo and Job & Talent. There is a turn here: recent rounds are larger and faster to run than before, according to Sifted in statements from sources in the sector consulted. In figures: 95 capital rounds. 910 million euros collected in what we have of a second quarter … … which is 90% more than in the second quarter of 2024. And the trend accelerates: more than half of all financing operations in Spain had at least one foreign investor. The accumulated in what we have of the year is more moderate if we attend to the figures of The referentwhich reach 1,774 million euros compared to 1910, depending on the methodology and type of operations included. In any case, the amount is higher than that of any year except 2021, 2022 and 2024. And we have not even reached the 2025 Ecuador. In the foreground. The big names are here: Between the lines. It is a change that goes beyond money: that there are Spanish founders contacting large investors is a double sign: Increase confidence in your own startups. They look for better conditions than those offered by Spanish funds. This contributes to the gap between British and Spanish equivalent rounds, to give an example, reduce. Yes, but. The background question is whether there really is a change in the trend or if we are simply seeing the consequence of large funds looking for destiny to your money. And that arrival of foreign funds also represents a dilemma for national risk capital: More legitimacy for the ecosystem. But also more competition. Spain has gone from being ignored by the great international funds that its own founders often prefer the conditions that foreign investors can offer. Spanish funds now face a competition that previously existed. The problem contrary to the one they had five years ago. In Xataka | The worst nightmare for governments is to have more pensioners than workers: in Galicia it is already happening Outstanding image | Per Lööv in Unspash

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