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How to ask for European aid that almost no one takes advantage of and ends in June 2026

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There are still a few months left for the stifling heat, but to insulate ourselves from both the cold of winter and the high temperatures of summer, it is vital to have efficient windows. We know it is not a small investment. However, there is a lifeline: an EU-funded Next Generation EU grant program that pays you up to 40% of the bill for changing your old windows. The problem is that perhaps you had not heard about this and the general deadline to execute the works sets a non-negotiable limit of June 30, 2026. What are the conditions? At the state level, aid is framed in the Aid program for actions to improve energy efficiency in homes. As explained by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agendathe objective is to reactivate rehabilitation in a country where more than 81% of buildings have a poor energy rating (letters E, F or G). The program’s numbers are resounding and go straight to your pocket: The subsidy covers 40% of the cost of the action, with a maximum limit of 3,000 euros per home. The minimum investment must be equal to or greater than 1,000 euros. The requirement is that the home must be the habitual and permanent domicile of the applicant (owner, usufructuary or tenant), which is accredited through the registry. The technical objective is to achieve a reduction of at least 7% in the energy demand for heating and cooling, reduce the consumption of non-renewable primary energy by 30%, or replace elements of the façade in compliance with the Technical Building Code (CTE). The good news is that simply replacing old windows with PVC or aluminum models with thermal break and low-emissivity glass is usually enough to comply with the CTE route without having to undergo a comprehensive renovation. But is it as simple as it seems? Here come the problems. The main obstacle to this aid is purely bureaucratic. The most common and tragic mistake that users make is starting the work blindly. The usual process is usually: the owner calls the installer, changes the windows and, with the work already finished, calls a technician to do the energy certificate, thinking that that is enough. Big mistake. The guidelines are non-negotiable: to justify the subsidy it is mandatory to have an energy efficiency certificate prior to the work and another one afterwards. Both must be signed by a competent technician and carried out with the same official program. Without this documentary demonstration of the “before and after”, help is lost suddenly. The aid map in 2026. The distribution of this program works under the “simple competition” model: whoever arrives first and meets the requirements gets it, until the funds are exhausted. Being managed by the Autonomous Communities, the map is a puzzle. According to the data collected by the regional resolutions, this is the scenario of the main windows that remain open: Aragon: Keep your call active until June 29, 2026but with a specific provision aimed at municipalities of up to 5,000 inhabitants and for buildings prior to the year 2000. Canary Islands: They keep direct aid and tax deductions in force, remembering that the action must be completed before June 30, 2026. Estremadura: They have a specific regional program for rural areas (municipalities with up to 10,000 inhabitants) open from March 1 to June 1, 2026. They cover 50% (extendable to 70% due to vulnerability or young/large families) with limits of up to 14,000 euros for single-family homes. Rioja: Its call opened on February 17 and will last until June 29 2026. Pay attention to the information: here the actions must already be completed at the time of requesting help. The Basque Country: Play in another league. It has its own aid for particular works unrelated to the Next Generation framework, with deadline open until December 31, 2030. For their part, the communities of Andalusia, BalearicsCastilla-La Mancha, Valencian Community, Galicia, Madrid, Murcia and Navarrethe windows are already closed. The perfect move: how to combine aid with personal income tax. For those who arrive on time, the operation is round. According to the Royal Decree-Law Approved by the Government, these direct subsidies are fully compatible with tax deductions in the income tax return (IRPF), valid until December 31, 2026. How does this double advantage work? Imagine that changing the windows costs you 8,000 euros and you receive the maximum subsidy of 3,000 euros. When filing your income tax return, you can apply a deduction (20% or 40%, depending on the energy savings achieved) on the remaining 5,000 euros that you have paid out of pocket. The only legal limit is logical: you cannot deduct from the Treasury the money that Europe has already financed you. From insulation to forced ventilation. Taking advantage of this injection of funds is a golden opportunity, but isolating as much as possible has consequences. By installing ultra-efficient windows, the home becomes so airtight that The regulations already require mechanical ventilation systems to renew the air without losing the accumulated heat. In short, the bureaucracy is clear and the clock is ticking. Changing your windows before the funds run out is not just spending 3,000 euros, it is the definitive step to turn your house into a thermal shelter Image | freepik Xataka | The US has resurrected a part of the Manhattan Project that had been abandoned for decades: purified enriched uranium

The good news is that AI models are becoming more powerful. The bad thing is that everyone ends up saying the same thing.

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We have artificial intelligence. What we don’t have is artificial diversity. That is the conclusion reached by a group of researchers who did a relatively simple test: they asked 25 different AI models a bunch of questions to see what they answered. And that’s the bad thing: who answered things that were too similar. “Artificial hive mind”. Scientists from the University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University, among other institutions, have published an interesting joint study. In it they reveal how after various tests it seems clear that although AI models are becoming more and more advanced, the problem is that they all seem to have developed a kind of “artificial hive mind”: no matter what you ask them, they answer in a suspiciously similar way. When asking all these models “what time was”, many responded with the phrase “time is like a river”, while another group of models answered that “it is like a weaver”. time is a river. One of the questions asked of these models is “What is time?”and although that question leaves clear room for very different answers, the worrying thing is that they were not. Several models responded with the phrase “time is a river” and then developed it a little, while others responded with “time is a weaver (of moments).” That similarity when it came to responding turned out to be a constant. The illusion of abundance. We believe that when we consult something with an AI we access a whole world of conversational possibilities, but the study reveals that in reality we are facing a system that proposes very similar outputs. Although language models promise limitless creativity, they tend to converge on that hive mind where diversity is sacrificed for statistical consistency. It is reasonable, especially considering that large language models They are based on the concept of transformera probabilistic system that tries to find the next “best” word as it answers us. Same script. The researchers created a large-scale data set with 26,000 queries from real users that theoretically allowed the models to generate multiple valid and creative responses. They called that data set “Infinity-Chat” and divided the questions into six main categories and 17 subcategories. IA, you repeat yourself more than a broken record. During the tests it was observed that the same model tends to repeat itself, generating very similar responses. In fact, even when special parameters were used for questions designed to encourage diversity, the same effect was produced. This is what researchers call “inter-model collapse.” Too similar. These tests made it clear that the semantic similarity, how similar the responses of the different models were, was worrying. According to the study, this similarity ranged between 71% and 82%, and in some cases certain models managed to generate identical paragraphs word for word. The training problem. It is not only that they all generate text in a similar way due to their design, but there is also a training problem. The authors suggest that this homogeneity of responses could be due to several reasons: Training data sources end up being shared: models They are trained with similar “datasets” and for example they are based on similar texts and knowledge that come, for example, from Wikipedia or a very similar set of books. Contamination effect due to synthetic data generated by other AIs: they also use synthetic texts generated by other AI models. Rewards: The models used to reward these models are calibrated to reward some notion of “consensus” quality. Thus, creative and individual diversity is punished. AIs are “educated” to be precisely very similar to each other. Problem in sight. All of this makes researchers explicitly warn about two clear risks when using these AI models. We will think the same: if we users do not stop using AI models that answer basically the same thing, our own ways of thinking on those topics and problems will be “homogenized”and it will also make our responses more uniform. Point of view reduction: The other danger follows from the first: if the AI ​​ends up converging and answering the same thing, points of view are eliminated. Here the biases for example from the western world will be evident in Western models (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude), and the same will happen with the oriental ones, for example. This would cause the potential suppression of alternative worldviews, of perspectives and “looks” that are different from our reality. Image | Solen Feyissa In Xataka | The scientist who made the AI ​​we know today possible has just raised 1 billion. His new goal is to teach him to see space

Esperanza Gracia had an early morning horoscope for 30 years. His reign ends because the predictions are already in other places

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Esperanza Gracia has announced the closure of its nighttime space in Telecinco alleging lack of hearing. The underlying reason for this cancellation is not precisely the decline of astrology, a phenomenon that is enjoying its best health in decades, but the collapse of the model that supported it: linear television in the early hours of the morning. Goodbye, Hope. Last Sunday, Esperanza Gracia sat down on the set of ‘Fiesta’ to announce that her very long journey presenting ‘El Horóscopo de Esperanza Gracia’ in the early hours of the channel was ending. Thirty years that were ending for a reason that the presenter made very clear in the interview: “At 2:30 in the morning, the older people who saw me are no longer there, neither is the next generation because they see other things, and the millennials and the Z see me from another side. So I have no audience whatsoever.” Reference astrologer. Funny He spent about seven years on TVE before joining Telecinco alongside María Teresa Campos: first in ‘Día a día’ and then in ‘De Sunday to Sunday’, with Belinda Washington. His own program started in 1999 and has been on the air for 27 years (which adds up to 30 in total with the network), becoming one of the longest-running programs on Spanish television. His question “Is there something that worries you, torments you or disturbs you?” became a pop catchphrase, one that she herself admitted “everyone started copying.” Astrology is not dying, it is moving to mobile. Just because Gracia leaves television does not mean that her audience has stopped consuming astrology. He simply does it somewhere else. On TikTok, the hashtag #astrology accumulates 4.5 million videoswith Generation Z as the main driving force. Gracia herself had already colonized that terrain: several of her videos on TikTok have more than a million views and on YouTube he has 78,000 subscribers with an average of 30,000 views per video. The same television format, the weekly ranking of signs, works vertically and in thirty seconds. There is business. The astrology app market reflects this migration with figures that are striking for an often ignored, but very profitable sector. Co-Star, the American app that combines NASA data with personalized astrological readings, went from 7.5 million users in 2020 to 30 million in 2023 The global market for this type of applications was valued around 3 billion dollars in 2024 and projects to reach 9,000 million in 2030, with an estimated annual growth of 20%. What does Gen Z like? The boom does not respond to a return to superstition. Generation Z consumes astrology with a different frame than previous generations: not as a prediction of the future but as a tool for introspection. A survey from February 2024 Among more than two thousand American adults, it was detected that 70% believe in astrology and that 85% have positive or neutral feelings towards it. 61% consider it a source of comfort in times of uncertainty. On the same date, another study reported that 63% of users belonging to Generation Z stated that astrology has had a positive impact on their professional decisions. As they explained, astrological content “does not need to be searched, it appears in the feed.” Like a fixed program on TV at 2:30 in the morning. Heirs of late-night television. For decades, the dawn of Spanish television was the Comanche territory of cathodic low cost: teleshopping, old movies, calling contests, tarots and moorings, contacts, jazz-pop groups. They accompanied insomniacs and night shift workers. This function has ended up being absorbed by Netflix, YouTube and TikTok itself, available without a grill and without time restrictions. Times change, Geminis with an ascendant in Capricorn continue. In Xataka | Horoscopes and other lies: why reading the horoscope (sometimes) makes us feel better

After launching the cheapest Mac in history, Apple is preparing three ‘Ultra’ products. Wants to go for both ends of the market

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A few days after the arrival of MacBook Neothe cheapest Mac in history, we know thanks to Mark Gurman in Bloomberg that Apple is preparing three products for this year. All three aspire to be the most expensive in their category. And that contrast says a lot about Apple’s strategy for the immediate future. The panoramic. Gurman is the journalist with the best history of leaks about Apple. And he has published in his newsletter Power On that Apple plans to launch at least three products with the Ultra surname, or at least with its essence (the most powerful and expensive in its range): A foldable iPhone. We have been listening to it for years and It seems that 2026 is going to be the year. Expected price of around $2,000. It does not replace the Pro Max, but rather points to another form factor and to those who want to have the most advanced device in the line. AirPods with camera sensors. They would be above the AirPods Pro in price. Its differential would not be in the audio but in space capabilities that the cameras would provide. Macbook Ultra. Although it is not confirmed that it will be called that. With OLED touch panel and M5 Ultra chip. It would be the most expensive and powerful laptop ever launched by Apple, aimed at those who already spend similar amounts on a mac studio plus a monitor. All this in the same year that Apple launches the MacBook Neo for $600. He counted. They are complementary movements. The Neo lowers the barrier to entry into the Mac ecosystem, and the Ultra raises it for those who are already inside and can (and want) to go further. Apple has been trying a similar logic for some time. He first Apple Watch Ultra It arrived in 2022 for about double the price of the current Series. Without being a radically different product, it found its buyer: who wanted the best Apple Watch possible without the price being a major obstacle. It worked. Between the lines. The touch screen on a Mac deserves separate attention, because Apple justified not incorporating it a few years ago, when there was some pressure for it to do so, explaining that touching a computer screen is uncomfortable due to the position of the arm. The question. Just because the strategy is coherent on paper does not mean that all products will be able to sustain it. The foldable iPhone will arrive after seven years with other foldables on the market, without anyone being able to turn it into a bestseller. AirPods with cameras are going to have to offer something that justifies the spending premium, not just a gimmicky demo for the first few days. And the MacBook Ultra will have to justify its price with something that only that laptop can deliver. Apple knows better than anyone that a premium line demands that premium products truly deliver. In 2026 we will see if it is up to the task with this new shipment that seeks to raise the ceiling of several lines. In Xataka | Apple has only found one option to make a cheap laptop: make it a mobile Featured image | Tatiana Steve, insung yoon, dlxmedia.hu

The DGT ends the extension and anticipates mandatory insurance for 4 million vehicles

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They wanted to launch it on January 2, 2026 but at the end of December last year They confirmed that it would not be possible. Now, the DGT returns to the fray to try to organize everything related to light personal vehicles. That is, the scooters and derivatives that circulate on our streets. This time yes, this time there will be registration. Start-up. The DGT has confirmed that users of personal mobility vehicles (VMP) will have to register in the electronic traffic headquarters their electric scooters if they want to circulate in accordance with the law. Traffic wanted to have this measure ready with the start of the new year but it was today that the Council of Ministers gave the green light to the measure. In its last meeting, the Government approved the royal decree that regulates the operation of the Registry of Light Personal Vehicles to “comply with the first additional provision of Law 5/2025 of July 24, which modified the law on civil liability and insurance in the circulation of motor vehicles to introduce the obligation to insure all personal mobility vehicles, which came into force on January 2 pending the launch of the registry.” What does this mean? In short, if you have an electric scooter you will have to register it with Traffic. The measure is taken to have control of, according to the DGT, the four million personal mobility vehicles that circulate on our streets. The procedure is slightly different, as we will see later, depending on the age of the electric scooter but it is key because it is the first step to force the user to have insurance for your vehicle. The DGT already warns that not having it will be grounds for a fine “According to the provisions of the law on civil liability and insurance, lacking it will be penalized with between 202 and 610 euros and driving with a VMP without insurance with between 250 and 800 euros depending on whether it is considered a light personal vehicle or motor vehicle (more than 25 kilograms in weight and more than 14 kilometers/hour) by the aforementioned Insurance Law. They already have a certificate. In addition to registration and insurance, electric scooters must have a certificate in which all the technical characteristics of the electric scooter are collected. This allows an agent check if a scooter is complying with regulations or, on the contrary, it has been tricked to circulate above the maximum authorized speed of 25 km/h. This certification is collected with a plate on the chassis of the vehicle and is present on all electric scooters sold in Spain since January 22, 2024. The DGT itself, as happens with the V-16 beaconshas on its website a list with all approved scooters to be sold in our country. In this case, if the electric scooter already has this certificate, in the electronic office it will be enough to fill in the certificate number and the serial number. Then a digital registration certificate is issued so that our vehicle is registered as registered. Does not have certificate. In this case, you have a problem. First because the DGT requires that these scooters also be registered although at the time of purchase it was not mandatory to have the certificate. To do this, it is mandatory to have an invoice or technical sheet from the VMP and a photograph. If you do not have an invoice, the only possible procedure is to homologate the vehicle by going through a laboratory certified by the DGT to obtain the technical sheet. Once the certificate is obtained, the DGT issues an identification sticker that must be affixed in a visible place, as is the case with environmental badges on cars. And keep in mind that if you want to keep your scooter it is worth it. Without a certificate registration is not possible and without registration it is not possible to insure the electric scooter. The DGT opens an extension to certify all these scooters until January 22, 2027. From then on it will not be possible to circulate with a VMP without a certificate. How do I do it? As we said, the DGT will enable a space in its electronic headquarters where the entire process can be carried out. At the moment, this space is not open but Traffic assures us that it will be available “in the coming days.” In addition, the DGT assures that they will enable a channel to register the electric scooter when contracting the insurance and that they are working to be able to register it at the time the scooter is purchased at the establishment. Will they fine me? According to the press release, yes. As we said above, with fines of between 200 and 800 euros. However, Traffic does not specify in its press release from what date it will be mandatory to have a registered vehicle and insurance to avoid receiving the fine. Right now, we only know that scooters without a certificate have until January 22, 2027 to obtain it. When asked about this, the DGT has not given us exact dates or deadlines either. Traffic limits itself to stating that it will be informed about this and that the platform will be available “in the coming days” but there is no date indicated on the calendar. Photo | Marek Rucinski In Xataka | $25,000 fine for driving a souped-up electric scooter: Toronto has decided to apply a heavy hand to them

that one of the European AI gigafactories ends up in Spain

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If the European Union wants to compete with the United States and China (which has a very detailed plan) in the artificial intelligence race, you don’t just need good models and specialized companies: you also need AI gigafactories. And the EU already has on its roadmap the construction of up to five plants throughout the continent. Where will they be mounted? The decision has not yet been made, but one thing is clear: Spain has submitted his candidacy in the form of a binomial between Madrid and Catalonia. The Madrid – Catalonia proposal. This candidacy combines the storage capacity and the Madrid network with the experience in Catalan computing architecture. On the other hand, the Spanish state has one of the most solid renewable energy networks on the old continent, a critical requirement for approval. Thus, it is based on a Madrid – Catalonia axis that connects the Barcelona Supercomputing Center with a new node in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) and the previously planned massive installation of Móra la Nova (Tarragona), which would take advantage of the area’s energy infrastructure. What does a factory have to be “giga”? Last February Ursula Von der Leyen announced InvestAI, a project that will mobilize 200 billion euros for artificial intelligence, of which a fund of 20 billion will go to gigafactories, which are essentially large data centers with at least 100,000 advanced AI chips. The fundamental differences between a simple AI factory and a gigafactory according to the action plan are scale and purpose: while a factory is a supercomputing center optimized for fine-tuning AI models to specific tasks, a gigafactory is a much more powerful massive infrastructure designed to train models from scratch. At the hardware level there are also differences: the EU standard for factories is around 25,000 chips. Furthermore, while factories are often integrated into existing data centers, such as MareNostrum 5 in Barcelona, ​​for gigafactories they usually require their own They require their own high-power electrical substation. The list of requirements. The construction of up to five gigafactories in the EU is part of the action plan “AI Continent” from the European Commission. At the beginning of this year and after some delay, the formal call for proposals has already been opened. Regarding the requirements, the proposals must guarantee a capacity of more than 100,000 next-generation chips and the redundant architecture is positively valued, advanced liquid cooling systems, total sustainability and the capacity of a dedicated high-power electrical substation are required. Majority control must be European capital, although the financing model is public-private. Deadlines and budgets. If the EU approves the project in the coming months, construction would begin in 2027 to be operational between 2027 and 2028. As detailed Óscar López, Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, “the joint public-private investment could exceed 4,000 million euros to make this gigafactory a reality.” The public part of the financing would come, among others, from the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation. In Xataka | If we ask Spaniards how they feel about AI, the answer is simple: more productive In Xataka | If anyone thought that Europe had no role in the race for AI, Mistral has something to tell them Cover | chaddavis.photography and Daria Borysenko

Five technology offers to take advantage of MediaMarkt’s VAT-free Day that ends in a few hours

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If after Christmas you are looking for a good mobile phone, headphones or a reader to devour digital books, for a few hours MediaMarkt will have its particular campaign active Day without VAT. It ends tomorrow, January 13 at 9:00 a.m., so in this article we are going to review the five best deals on technology that are available. Sony WH-1000XM5SA by 189.26 eurosa very reasonable price for one of the brand’s best headphones. Google Pixel 10 Pro by 751.24 eurosthe best price the store has had (without coupons) on this Google mobile. Kindle Paperwhite by 139.67 eurosAmazon’s eReader with the best quality-price ratio. Samsung Galaxy Watch8 by 230.58 eurosa very elegant smart watch. Samsung TQ55S85FAUXXC by 774.38 eurosa TV with a very low price to include an OLED panel. Sony WH-1000XM5SA If you are looking for good headphones, MediaMarkt has them right now. Sony WH-1000XM5SA with one of the best prices we have seen to date. By 189.26 euroswe are talking about a model that offers a very good active noise cancellationThey are very comfortable and their battery offers a range of approximately 30 hours of use with ANC. In this case, it includes a soft carrying case. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Pro Google mobile phones have been dropping in price in recent months and now we can find one of the best discounts on the Google Pixel 10 Pro. On the Day without VAT it remains for 751.24 euros and it is ideal if what you are looking for is a small size with a 6.3-inch screen, that has a very elegant design and a photographic section with an excellent camera configuration. Google Pixel 10 Pro (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Paperwhite One of the most popular eReaders on Amazon is the Kindle Paperwhitesince it has the best quality-price ratio, especially when it is on sale. Now, during the Day without VAT, it remains for 139.67 euros. Set up a screen seven inchesso it is a good size for reading at home or taking on a trip. It also offers a good autonomy of up to 12 weeksits screen is anti-reflective and is water resistant (IPX8). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy Watch8 If what you are looking for is a good smartwatch, the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 in its 44 mm Bluetooth configuration has dropped to 230.58 euros. It comes with a good assortment of sensors to monitor physical activity, has 32 GB of internal storage and its operating system is WearOS. In addition, it incorporates a pair of side buttons, includes Google Gemini and has more than 100 sports modes. Samsung Galaxy Watch8 (44mm) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung TQ55S85FAUXXC Today we can find some televisions with OLED panels for less than 1,000 euros, as is the case of the Samsung TQ55S85FAUXXC which on MediaMarkt’s VAT-free Day has dropped to 774.38 euros. It is a 55-inch smart TV that incorporates a anti-reflective panel with OLED technologyin addition to a 100 Hz refresh rate, compatibility with HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos, Alexa and HDMI 2.1. 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 | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Sony, Google, Amazon, Samsung In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | The best smartwatches (2026): their analyzes and videos are here

When the war in Ukraine ends, Russia has a plan for Europe

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A week ago and in the midst of the peace negotiations that the United States has tried to lead between Russia and Ukraine, the president of Finland issued a warning to the old continent. If peace comes to Eastern Europe, it will be the end of the war, but also, possibly, the beginning of another. Now it has been Washington’s intelligence that seems to be on the same line. The ultimate goal. counted this week Reuters that US intelligence reports have been conveying a less than reassuring message for more than two years: Putin’s objectives in Ukraine have not been moderated or reduced, despite military attrition, economic sanctions and ongoing diplomatic talks. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, the assessment of US agencies has been that the Kremlin aims to subdue all of Ukraine and, beyond that, to restore a sphere of influence over territories that were part of the former Soviet bloc, including countries that today they are part of NATO. This reading is neither punctual nor cyclical, but rather a line of analysis sustained over time that agrees widely with the conclusions of the European intelligence services and with the strategic perception of countries especially exposed as Poland or the Baltic Stateswhich are considered the next potential targets if Moscow manages to consolidate its position in Ukraine. Between intelligence and speech. This diagnosis collides head-on with the narrative promoted by Trump and his negotiating team, who maintain that Putin wants to end the conflict and that a peace agreement would be closer than ever. For intelligence analysts, that view ignores both the Russian leader’s own public statements and the logic of your actions military and political. From Washington it is emphasized that Putin has denied repeatedly be a threat to Europe, but the facts (the annexation of territories, sustained military pressure and the refusal to renounce maximalist demands) contradict that discourse. Even voices within the US Congress, such as that of the Democratic congressman Mike Quigleya member of the House Intelligence Committee, have insisted that the conviction that Russia “wants more” is shared by allies key in Europe and is based on solid information, not assumptions. Territorial control. On the ground, Russia controls approximately 20% of Ukrainian territory. This domain includes almost all of the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, the industrial heart of Donbas, large areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and the Crimean peninsula, a strategic enclave in the Black Sea. Putin does not present these conquests as provisional or negotiable: he has formally declared that Crimea and the four occupied provinces belong to Russiaa statement that sets a clear red line for any negotiation. This position turns the territorial debate into the main obstacle of diplomatic contacts, since accepting these demands would mean, de facto, legitimizing a war of annexation and setting a dangerous precedent for the post-Cold War European order. Pressure on kyiv. In this context, Washington’s pressure on kyiv has been increasing. According to sources familiar with the talks, the US proposal would include Ukraine withdraw your forces of the areas of Donetsk that it still controls, as part of a peace agreement. For Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the majority of Ukrainian society, this concession is unacceptable. Not only would it imply ceding sovereign territory under military coercion, but it would call into question future viability of the Ukrainian State and its ability to defend itself from new aggression. kyiv insists that any agreement that does not include real and credible security guarantees would be equivalent to freeze the conflict on terms favorable to Moscow, leaving the door open to a resumption of the war when Russia feels stronger. Security: the great debate. The negotiations led by Trump’s entourage, with figures such as Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, have advanced in defining a package of security guarantees backed by the United States and generally accepted by Ukraine and several European countries. These guarantees would contemplate the deployment of a security force mainly European in neighboring countries and in areas of Ukraine far from the front, with the aim of deterring and responding to future Russian aggression. The scheme would also include a limit on the size of the Ukrainian army, set at around the 800,000 troopsalthough Moscow is pushing to reduce it further, a demand to which some American negotiators are open. To this would be added intelligence support by the United States, air patrols backed by Washington and the ratification of the agreement by the US Senate, which in theory would give the commitment greater political solidity. Mistrust and Russian mystery. Despite these advances, Zelenskiy has publicly expressed your doubts about the real effectiveness of those guarantees, wondering what would prevent Russia from attacking again in practice. Uncertainty worsens because Putin has rejected the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine, even as part of a peace agreement. In parallel, the Russian leader has not offered signs of flexibility: although he declares himself willing to talk about peace, he insists that his conditions must be met and boasts of the territorial advances achieved by his forces, which he estimates at about 6,000 square kilometers in the last year. The lack of a clear response from Washington to these demands fuels the perception that Moscow could be using the talks as a tactical tool to buy time and consolidate positions. Strategic risk. From the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has qualified that Russia, in its current state, lacks the military capacity to conquer all of Ukraine or to launch a full-scale offensive against Europe. However, the reports themselves emphasize that the lack of immediate capacity does not equate to a strategic renunciation. Putin’s political intention, according to US intelligence, remains being expansiveand their calculation seems oriented toward a long war, in which the attrition of Ukraine and the political fatigue of the West work in their favor. That combination of unbroken ambition and strategic patience is what explains the caution (also, if you will, skepticism) of the intelligence services regarding … Read more

This is the new offer that ends in a few hours

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He Apple Watch SE It was born in 2020 with the premise of being an Apple watch with the most basic functions and a much more reasonable price. But the latest generation has taken a step forward by incorporating many functions until now available in more expensive watches. He Apple Watch SE 3 It is a good gateway to the brand, especially now that you can buy it at MediaMarkt for 299 eurosthe store’s lowest price to date on its LTE configuration. Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS+LTE, 44mm M/L) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A cheaper Apple Watch He Apple Watch SE 3 It is the watch from the SE range that the brand launched this year (in fact, a few months ago). It has a most elegant design and incorporates some functions that until now we only saw in models of the Series range. In this sense, the Apple Watch SE 3 comes with always on screenits battery supports fast charging, incorporates Apple’s S10 chip with advanced gestures, comes—in this case—with WiFi and LTE connectivity and includes a good assortment of health sensors, temperature measurement or health notifications. sleep apnea. Among other things, it should be noted that the Apple Watch SE 3 mounts a Retina LTPO OLED display which offers a brightness of up to 1,000 nits, has 64 GB of internal storage, offers water resistance (IP6X) and its battery offers a range of up to 18 hours of autonomy. According to Apple itself, its fast charging offers an 80% charge in 45 minutes. You may also be interested Spigen NeoFlex Screen Protector compatible with Apple Watch SE 3/2/1 (40mm), Apple Watch 9/8/7 (41mm), 6/5/4 (40mm), 3 Pack, TPU Film, Wet Installation, Full Coverage The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancellation, Wireless Headphones, Bluetooth, Adaptive Audio, Ambient Sound Mode, Custom Spatial Audio, USB-C Charging Case and Wireless Charging 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 | Pedro Aznar in Applesfera, Apple In Xataka | Best sports watches with GPS. Which one to buy and most recommended models from 199 euros to 749 euros In Xataka | Best wireless headphones. Which one to buy and 21 models from 15 euros to 470 euros

The man who failed to transform Siri and the brain of the AI ​​strategy ends his stage

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Apple has communicated that John Giannandrea, one of the most influential executives in its AI strategy in recent years, will begin a retirement process that will culminate in 2026. The company explains that the executive will leave his position as senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, although he will continue to collaborate as an advisor in the coming months. This announcement comes months after a realignment of responsibilities related to Apple Intelligence and Siri. Giannandrea landed at Apple in 2018 as one of its most notable signings, with the task of strengthening the AI ​​strategy and giving Siri a new direction. His team was in charge of areas such as Apple Foundation Models, the internal search engine and machine learning research, technical pieces on which Apple has built much of its recent strategy. He also took on responsibility for guiding the evolution of Siri and coordinating AI projects that affected multiple teams in the company. A project that began with ambition and ended in postponements. Apple Intelligence was born as a profound renewal of the user experience, but the advances were not at the expected pace. The Information detailed that the demo shown at WWDC 2024 did not fully reflect the advanced capabilities that Apple had suggested, and that many of those features were not implemented at the time of the presentation. The pressure increased when the company confirmed that the new Siri with personalized functions would be delayed until 2026. What was supposed to be the new turning point ended up becoming a chain of postponements. Internal war in Cupertino over the direction of AI. Tensions between the AI/ML group and the software team were long-standing, according to The Information. While the area led by Giannandrea opted for a more cautious advance focused on privacy, Craig Federighi defended a more pragmatic approach aimed at tangible results. The clash of priorities became evident when some engineers began referring to the AI/ML team as “AIMLess,” a sign of the accumulated unrest. The situation led to a March 2025 twist that placed Federighi and Mike Rockwell at the forefront of Siri’s new direction. A loss of influence that had been brewing. According to Bloomberg, Tim Cook’s trust in Giannandrea suffered after the numerous delays in the development of the Apple Intelligence functions promised during WWDC 2024. In a meeting with his team, the manager admitted that the delays were “ugly” and acknowledged the shame and anger that this situation had generated among the staff. After the change in leadership in 2025, a good part of his functions began to be left in the hands of other managers, while he maintained other tasks in research into AI and robotics technologies. This shift in operational focus serves as a backdrop to the announcement that he will become an advisor before retiring in 2026. The landing of Amar Subramanya and the new architecture of power. Apple has hired Amar Subramanya as vice president of AI after his time as corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft and 16 years at Google, where he was responsible for engineering the Gemini assistant. According to the official note, Subramanya will take charge of key areas such as Apple Foundation Models, machine learning research and AI Safety and Evaluation teams. He will report directly to Craig Federighi, thus reinforcing his weight in the artificial intelligence strategy. The rest of the organization linked to this area will be under the supervision of Sabih Khan and Eddy Cue, a cast that seeks to align responsibilities with their respective departments. Giannandrea’s retirement and the arrival of new managers mark a turning point for Apple in its artificial intelligence strategy. The company now relies on a more defined structure, with Craig Federighi at the center of the project and Amar Subramanya leading key research areas and foundational models. The challenge will be to convert this reorganization into visible improvements for users and regain competitiveness in a market that evolves at high speed. Images | Apple In Xataka | Huawei has a patent with which to manufacture 2nm chips. The only problem is that it’s just a patent.

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