Euro

A loaf of bread costs one euro in the supermarket. For the same price Europe just bought 18 fighter jets

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A loaf of bread from a supermarket or basic bakery usually around the euro in many cities. An automatic coffee machine in stations, hospitals or universities is also found at that price (okay, not always). In supermarkets, seasonal fruits such as a large apple, a banana or a loose piece of fruit can be around the amount. Even a single bus ticket in some cities is still close to the euro. What we were never going to imagine is that what a loaf of bread costs, 18 fighter jets cost. A strategic transfer. The transfer of 18 F-16 fighters from the Netherlands to Romania for the symbolic price of one euro It is, on the surface, an administrative gesture, but in practice it constitutes a strategic move with direct implications for the European security architecture and for the war in Ukraine. The formalized operation the full incorporation of these devices to the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC), installed at Fetești Air Base 86, in the southeast of Romania, and whose function is train Romanian and Ukrainian pilots in the management of the F-16 under interoperable NATO standards. Further. The presence of these aircraft on Romanian territory no longer depends on Dutch ownership, which allows expand and secure training places, adjust training rhythms to Allied needs and consolidate Romania as a key country on the eastern flank, in a context marked by Russian pressure in the Black Sea and on the border with Ukraine. Romania as a hub. The EFTC has become a space where instructors, pilots and technical personnel from multiple NATO countries and Ukraine work under homogeneous methodsensuring that new F-16 operators not only learn to fly the device, but also to integrate it into air defense doctrines, airspace control and combined operations. The center benefits from a tripartite structure: Romania provides the base, infrastructure and logistical support; The Netherlands provided the aircraft, and Lockheed Martin, as manufacturer, supplies instructors and advanced maintenance. Implications in war. This combination facilitates training of ukrainian pilots in an environment that reproduces real mission patterns and also guarantees constant course rotation without depending on US airspace or dispersed structures. The fact that these F-16s are European AM/BM standard models, the same ones that Ukraine has begun to receive from various allies, allows for immediate continuity: what is learned in Romania is translated without transition to combat operation. Relevance for Ukraine. The nation has received commitments to deliver dozens of F-16s from from Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgiumand its arrival has marked a slow but cumulative turning point in the modernization of its air force, until now dominated by MiG-29 and Su-27 Soviet design. The pilots trained in Romania (and in parallel in the United States) are already operating on defensive missions against Russian attacks with missiles and drones, and the value of the F-16 depends on both its number and the degree of training and the ability to sustain its maintenance and doctrine. In that sense, the EFTC is a structural piece, since it guarantees not only initial learning, but continuous trainingthe accumulation of Ukrainian instructors and the doctrinal integration with allies who have already dominated the apparatus for decades. Furthermore, the future possibility of these same aircraft transferred to Romania ending up in Ukraine is not ruled out, especially as Romania moves towards adoption of the F-35planned for after 2030. Implications. Plus: The strengthening of the EFTC reflects a broader shift in European defense: The progressive reduction in the number of F-16 operators in Western Europe, replaced by the F-35, has left room to reorient these aircraft to training, interoperability and reinforcement functions on the eastern flank. Romania, together with Bulgaria and Slovakia, is part of the group of new F-16 operatorsbecoming recipients of capabilities previously concentrated in northern and western countries. This geographical shift of air capabilities towards the east is significant because it accompanies the shift from the center of gravity strategic of NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Training, maintenance, doctrine and response capabilities are now concentrated in territories closer to the possible confrontation. Other transfers. The symbolic sale of weapons between allies has relevant precedents that show how the financial price can be irrelevant compared to the strategic objective. The best known case is the transfer of 22 fighters MiG-29 from Germany to Poland in 2002 for one euro per unit, an operation that allowed Polish air capacity to be maintained while Berlin advanced in its modernization and that, years later, facilitated the shipment of those same devices to Ukraine. Another example is the transfer of former Hamilton class coast guard cutters by the United States to the Philippines. for a dollarwithin the program Excess Defense Articlesstrengthening Philippine naval capabilities in the South China Sea without a prohibitive cost. Added to this is the howitzer transfer self-propelled M109L from Italian arsenals to Ukraine, also under symbolic conditions, when the priority was no longer their accounting value, but rather putting proven, repairable and compatible systems with available ammunition in the hands of the Ukrainian army. At one euro. The sale for one euro It is not an isolated symbolic gesture, but the formalization of a capacity transfer process that consolidates Romania as NATO strategic node in air training and preparation, reinforces the technical base of the Ukrainian air force in transition, and reflects the structural readjustment of European defense to the east. He EFTC It provides not only pilots, but also doctrine, interoperability and operational continuity at a time when the stability of the eastern flank depends both on the number of aircraft and the quality and consistency of those who operate them. Image | US Air Force, Dutch Ministry of Defense, Romanian Ministry of Defense In Xataka | A very dangerous idea is gaining strength in the corridors of Europe: paying Russia in kind In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has triggered delays and canceled flights. And Europe has the solution: a wall of drones

Something big is coming in European money. The ECB has set a date for a key step towards the digital euro

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The European Central Bank has made a move in one of the most sensitive projects in its recent history. After two years of preparation, the organization has decided to move on to the next phase of the digital eurothe initiative with which it seeks to adapt public money to the era of electronic payments. It is not a launch, nor a final decision: if the European regulations are approved in 2026, there will be a pilot starting in 2027 and the Eurosystem wants to be ready for a possible first emission in 2029. The decision comes after a preparation stage started in November 2023in which the ECB and the national central banks defined the technical and operational pillars of the project. In these two years, progress was made in the draft of the operating regulations, in the selection of technological suppliers and in tests with market participants. Political momentum has also been key: euro leaders called at the October 2025 summit to accelerate work to ensure that Europe retains its own capacity in digital payments. A pilot to get out of paper. The announced step opens a phase aimed at validating that the system can work in practice, both from a technical point of view and from real use. The ECB talks about a pilot in which Banks, technology providers, businesses and consumers would participate, with tests on payments in everyday situations and security controls. The objective is to verify that the digital euro, if it exists, can operate reliably and offer a simple experience for the user. Despite the progress, this does not mean that the digital euro is ready for launch or that it will replace paper money. The institution emphasizes that the cash will continue to exist and that the project requires legislative support before any final decision. Furthermore, it is neither a decentralized token nor an experiment to displace the banking sector. The proposed architecture, they assure, maintains banks as the main access and operation channel for citizens and businesses. Three points before starting. The digital euro roadmap is supported by three conditions: legislative progress, technical validation and the formal decision of the ECB later. The European Regulation will establish the rights, limits and obligations of the system, including the way in which financial institutions participate. In parallel, the architecture will be deployed in modules to adjust development as results are obtained. Nothing in this phase implies committing unlimited resources or guarantees the final emission. A project that still needs to convince. Initial support for the digital euro is not homogeneous across Europe. In Germany, a survey prepared for the Bundesbank In April 2024 it showed that half of citizens “could imagine using it” and that 41% already knew about the project. In Spain, a study by Monitor Deloitte In 2024, it indicated that 61% would not adopt it for now, largely due to lack of knowledge and satisfaction with current methods. At European level, a survey published by BEUC In 2025, it indicated that privacy is a priority for 81% of those surveyed, along with security and the absence of commissions as essential elements. From now on, progress will be as technical as it is political. As we say, the ECB wants to have the pieces ready for a pilot in 2027 and to consider a possible initial emission in 2029, provided that the European regulation is approved and tests confirm its viability. The process will be gradual and reviewable, and therein lies its importance: Europe is preparing for an option that could expand its autonomy in payments Images | ECB | omid armin In Xataka | The world seemed unprepared for the end of cash. The digital euro makes it clear that yes

In 2016, a construction manager lost his 16,000 euro Rolex in a concrete pour. So he sued his company

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The story of a construction manager in Parma (Italy) has hit the local media for having lost a luxurious watch Rolex Daytona valued at around 16,000 euros while working on one of the construction sites that he had to supervise as part of his job. As if it were not striking enough that a construction worker (no matter how much of a construction manager he was) I had a Rolexand took him as if nothing had happened to an environment as hostile as a work in progress, the employee decided to add a twist to the drama of the story: sue the company, accusing it of being responsible for the loss of the valuable watch. Two courts had to show him what seemed obvious. Luxury formwork In May 2016, the person in charge of a construction site in the Italian city of Parma carried out the usual prior verifications when pouring concrete necessary to build the foundation of a building. Apparently nothing out of the ordinary in the reality of thousands of works anywhere in the world, except for the detail that this employee wore a Rolex Daytona on his wrist. In one of these verifications, the person in charge detected that one of the pumps in charge of pumping the concrete into the intended hole was not working properly, which prompted him to take control himself at that precise moment and personally manipulate the nozzle of one of the machines to instruct his colleagues on how to pour it correctly. While holding a metal chain anchored to the end of the concrete mixer chute to control the direction in which the material should be poured, he waited for the staff to reactivate the pump. It was then that, when the spill resumed, something happened that triggered the loss. According to the witnesses called to testify in the trial: “Within minutes of resuming concrete pouring, while still holding the supply pipe as described, another sudden blockage occurred. Without giving him time to break free and move away, the pipe moved with a sudden and violent jerk, with such force that it lifted him off the ground and threw him several meters away.” After the incident, the construction manager composed himself and warned that his Rolex Daytona had disappeared from his wrist: everything indicated that the valuable Swiss watch had disappeared in the middle of the quick-setting concrete. At that same moment, exhaustive searches were launched, even within the mix, but the watch was never recovered. Outraged by the mishap, the employee blamed both the company and the machinery for the accident and filed a lawsuit requesting full compensation for the lost watch due to the malfunction of the concrete pumping system. According to collect The Italian newspaper Corriere di Bologna, in its statement, stated verbatim: “You owe me my Rolex Daytona for 16,000 euros; it is your fault and the machine’s fault.” Common sense two courts Italian justice was clear, and it was clear on two occasions: the responsibility fell on the construction manager for not being sufficiently cautious. After lose the lawsuit In the first instance, the construction manager submitted the first ruling to the Court of Appeal of Bologna, which determined – for the second time – that “it is seriously unsustainable that directing the trunk of a concrete mixer to direct the pouring of concrete on foundations under construction is an activity that can be carried out wearing a 16,000 euro watch”, as literally stated in the ruling signed by judges Rossi, Gaudioso and Mazze who formed the court. In their resolution, the magistrates concluded that the employee did not adopt the essential “expertise and diligence” measures, which made any claim against the company inadmissible. For this reason, the employee not only lost the valuable watch, but was also forced to pay an additional 2,500 euros in legal costs. The Rolex it cost him money even after losing it. In Xataka | Rolex is tired of theft and counterfeiting: they want to use NFT chips and blockchain-based certificates of authenticity Image | Rolex, Unsplash (Troy Mortier)

Nvidia will invest 100,000 million dollars in OpenAI. Actually a single euro will not be spent

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Openai has signed a “strategic agreement” with Nvidia. According to this agreementNvidia “intends to invest up to 100,000 million dollars” in OpenAI gradually, but the truth is that this investment is misleading. Especially since Openai will spend those 100,000 million dollars to buy GPUS to Nvidia. Everything remains at home. What happened. These two companies have initiated the procedures to complete an agreement with a clear objective: create and display AI data centers With a joint gigantic computing capacity: 10 GW. The investment will be made gradually and will be completed “as each gigawatt” of computing capacity is installed in those Data centers. Nvidia will thus become a “computing partner and strategic connectivity” for the development plans of new data centers, says Openai. Millions of Gpus. According to Jensen Huang statementsCEO of Nvidia, that represents between four and five million gpus. Or what is the same: it is the number of units of their GPUS of ia that they expect to distribute this year, and “twice the ones we distributed last year.” The strategy “seller finances buyer”. This agreement is not a simple investment, but a strategic association in which the hardware provider invests a massive amount of money in its main client. In return that client undertakes create a mass infrastructure With supplier technology. It is nothing more than a closed cycle: Nvidia gives OpenAi money, and OpenAi uses it to buy Nvidia products. This sounds like a bubble. There is Several analysts that They speak How this remembers once again The bubble of the Puntocomwhere companies lent money to buy products from the other. That raises suspicions and questions about the long -term sustainability of these agreements. Companies becoming stronger among them. The circular agreement serves in fact to strengthen both companies and solidify their positions as dominant and indispensable actors in the AI ​​industry. In fact, this strategic alliance makes rivals like AMD or Intel very difficult. Nvidia is worth 170,000 million dollars more. The announcement caused immediate reactions in the NVIDIA assessment, whose shares increased almost 4%. The stock market capitalization of the company of Jensen Huan grew by 170,000 million dollars in that session and already touch the 4.5 billion dollars, and manages to distance itself even more from Microsoft, Apple or Google, which already exceed three billion. Long live Hype. Here once again there is a reinforcement of the speech of expectations and Hype. The confidence of these companies in the future of AI is patent, but they are interested and for now Openai’s income – no rivals – are well below spending They are doing in these technologies. Energy challenge. The plans to create infrastructure with 10 GW capacity are also astronomical. According to Some estimatesthose 10 gigawatts They are equivalent to the production of about 10 nuclear reactors, which normally provide a capacity of 1 GW per plant. A colossal cost. The current data centers range between very modest capabilities of 10 MW and other extraordinary 1 GW. Openai’s plans would leave those facilities very behind in computing capacity. In August Huang told investors to create a 1 GW data center is a cost of between 50,000 and 60,000 million dollars, of which about 35,000 are dedicated to Nvidia chips. With those figures, the total cost of those 10 GW of joint computing power would amount to more than 500,000 million dollars, a figure that – one—curiously— It coincides with that of the Project Stargate. Image | Flikr (Techcrunch) | Nvidia In Xataka | 5,000 “tokens” of my blog are being used to train an AI. I have not given my permission

Roborock opens with a 1,500 euro washing machine

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Roborock is One of the best known brands in the vacuum robots segment And he has just expanded his catalog with new products. Hand vacuum cleaners, a new high-end robot, a corteped robot and the one that concerns us: its first high-end washer. It is called Roborock Zeo X and marks a trend: that of Chinese brands entering the large appliance sector. Chinese technology brands want to conquer the home Chinese brands that manufacture appliances there were already many (Haier, Hisense, Measure …), but recently we are seeing as other purely technological brands are going to this category. We have the precedent with the alliance between Midea and Huawei. In 2020 they announced a series of appliances that worked with Harmonyosalthough it did not leave China. A clear recent example we have in Xiaomi, which had already conquered mobile phones and has long expanded its ecosystem to other segments: out of home, The car. Inside, Large appliances. We saw it in its event to celebrate the fifteen anniversary that was held last May. Within their Mijia range they announced airs conditioned, refrigerators, washing machines and even an intelligent tap. For now, Only air conditioner has arrivedbut the plan is to bring the fridge and the washing machine before the end of the year. Now, Roborock follows his steps. Roborock Zeo X: Lava and Dry with a design that does not look like a washing machine Earlier this year they already made their first foray into the washing of clothes with the Roborock Zeo Lite and Zeo Minibut this is its first high-end washing machine and consolidates its entry into a segment that until recently was unknown. Roborock Zeo X has a embedded design that moves away from the classic front front. The door is tactile and the controls are found in the glass itself, but when we are not using it they are not seen, leaving a clean front that does not seem like a washing machine. A Chinese company that you do not know manufactures 35% of all microwaves in the world. Probably yours too To ensure deep and efficient washing, it has a technology called Finefoam that allows you to better penetrate tissues, while reducing water consumption by 32% and energy by 20%, always according to Roborock. As for drying, its ZEO-CYCLE function uses a natural zeolite mineral to dry at low temperatures (between 37 and 50 degrees), so that problems with delicate tissues are avoided. Of course, intelligent functions could not miss. Its algorithm automatically adjusts the amount of water, drum speed and drying temperature. It also has a detergent tank that is adjusted automatically and avoids us having to fill it every time. It will cost 1,499 euros. In Xataka | We are experts in technology, but it is time to buy a washing machine and we suffer

It is very likely that charging bar is more false than a wooden euro

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You get home after a long work day, you throw yourself into the couch, you turn on your console, you release the game you are already vitiating. Well, no, because before your avatar, the map and your mount appear before you There is a load bar that must be completed. It’s normal, you’ll think. You have to load the textures, the game or whatever, go to know, but that bar advances, so something will be doing. There is little left. A little less. Oh, how slow, will now be with something heavy, surely. Well, most likely no. Most likely, this load bar will be false and its only goal is to play with your brain. Charging… Load screens, with their bar, an illustration and perhaps a text with advice or some of LoreThey were necessary. They served to entertain the player while the machine was looking for, read and loaded the game information on a console whose power was not, from afar, the one that the current devices have. It was a normal solution, because the other was a black screen or showing a half -load level that would leave a bad impression. Load screen of ‘The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim’ | Image: The Elder Scrolls Wiki However, technology has evolved and, currently, the few bars of progress that we can find in video games have more customs and psychology than useful. That does not mean that there are no load screens, because there are even if they are very well camouflaged, but the speed of the components has allowed us to use alternative methods to avoid them. It is false. If we are in the tail of an attraction in Port Aventura, we calculate how much a trip lasts and we look forward, more or less We can estimate how much is left to ride. In a process that is happening on a computer without us seeing anything, that is much more complex not to say impossible. Load screens and progress bars are the only way that the software has to indicate that something is happening, that everything is going well, but they are false. Progress bars are the only way to tell us to indicate that it is doing something, even if we don’t see it Because? Because players They don’t trust fluid progress bars. A progress bar that moves slowly gives a feeling of bad optimization, but a bar that moves too fast or an instant load could lead to think that something has gone wrong or that is not well done. Mike Bithell, developer and creator of ‘Thomas was Alone’, He already pulled the blanket in 2023 When he confirmed that the cargo bar is fictitious and that, really, it is the pulls that the bar gives that indicate that something is happening. Load screen of ‘Guild Wars 2’. Below right can the progress bar that, in this case, is circular | Image: Xataka Basically, the bottom of everything is that we expect to wait, if that makes sense. Rami Ismail, video game developer and well -known industry disseminator, confirmed In X that he had “worked on projects where we simulate load bars, we extended load times or made the load bars move artificially at unequal speeds.” Raúl Munárriz, executive director of the Now extinct Tequila Workshe also said that “I have never worked in a game that did not have a false load bar. The reais cause anxiety.” Is your whole life a lie? Yes and no. Making a progress bar is something complex because there are many processes that come into play during a load, as many as factors can make it more or less fast. We could make a progress bar based on how many files they have moved from x a y, but it would not be fluid because the files, surely, have different sizes. Nor would it work to do it based on the transferred data, since moving few heavy files is faster than moving many small files. And neither depends on how much it remains so that all the steps of the process are completed because it is enough for Chrome to open so that the state of the PC is altered and the times change. There is no perfect solution. The load screens are still there. Although they are not seen as such, many current video games continue to have load screens. More dynamics, more concealed, but visible. Normally, when a game artificially slows you it is a sign that, in the background, it is carrying what is coming later. A known example is that of the elevators of ‘Mass Effect‘, but we can also think about travel through the hyperspace of’Star Wars: Jedi Survivor‘, any medium of teleport, the time we run through Yggdrasil in’God of War‘, when we receive a call in’Gears of War‘That forces us to walk very slowly or in a kinematics that jumps at the right time to separate one level from another. The techniques for video games not to disappear with a load screen are wide and varied. It is very likely that the game is carrying elements in the background while we do something else without realizing it. Or to load and download the textures in real time depending on the distance and our position. Image | Xataka, VECTEZY In Xataka | The milling of a programmer made a fateful mistake of this classic video game into a congratulation message

almost everything to less than 1 euro

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That the purchase basket It has become more expensive In recent years it is no secret. Consumers seek to save Comparing prices and sometimes moving away from cities to go to surfaces where they have more affordable products. This is what is happening with this 30 kilometers from Madrid after a Video on Tiktok. Low prices. “The cheapest supermarket in Madrid. Almost everything to less 1 euro.” Thus begins the video that has been viralized in question (although There are more). In it, the creator shows us many products that cost less than 1 euro, from melons, watermelons, tuna cans and cleaning products. To olive oil, One of the most expensive productsit costs only 3.39 euros. The paste: it is about 40 minutes by car from the center of Madrid, but that has not prevented many Madrid people from leaving the road to save a little. How do they. The supermarket is called Mermax and has two headquarters in Madrid, one in Griñón and one in Meco, although it is that of Griñón that is mentioned most in social networks. According to The Spanishbelong to the supermarket group the point and, to get those low prices in first brands, they use a wholesale sale model without intermediaries. “It’s like an autonomous cash & carry, but without having a card,” says Cintia Ramiro in his video. In Google’s reviews we see Some comments which says there are also products with next expiration date. Divided opinions. Diving through Google’s reviews we find comments of all kinds. Many Good prices stand outbut others They don’t see it so cheap. In the videos it may seem that all products are worth less than 1 euro, but the comments are intuited that they are only some offers. There are also several clients who point to It is not worth going so farsome even call it “misleading advertising” Influencers Low-Cost. Inflation has made Fill the purchase basket costs more and more. In social networks we find all kinds of tricks and advice to save everything possible, even influencers whose content is focused on maximum savings. This is the case of @diaryofacheapskate (Translated would be “Diary of a tacaña”), an influencer who tells how he managed to pay the mortgage at 32 with tricks such as diluting the milk and never wasting anything, even what has already expired. There is an undisputed leader. Although they arise supermarkets that presume to be cheaper As Mermax, the reality is that they have few already often are only in a very specific area. In Spain there is a supermarket chain that overwhelms And it has stores throughout the country. We talk about Mercadona, which has a 26.7% market share, far ahead of the second since Carrefour occupies with 9.2%. In addition, almost all Spaniards (93%) have ever bought in a supermarket in the Juan Roig chain. Images | Mermax in Tiktok In Xataka | The psychology of spending little money: the best tricks to save endorsed by science

In Euro NCAP they are clear how Chinese cars are

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The Chinese cars They have gone from anecdote to something common on European roads. Great manufacturers such as Byd or Saic have own fleets for bring their cars from Chinabut also They are expanding to manufacture on European land. Some brands are opening concessionaires and, although the market grows, there may be a runrun about whether the Chinese car is As sure as the European, Japanese or South Korean. And who is clear about the answer is the agency that gives the security score in Europe. EURO NCAP. Skepticism. My partner Alberto confesses that one of the Questions that make friends and family more When addressing the purchase of a Chinese car it has to do with security. There is still a certain skepticism due to that belief that the ‘cheap made in China’ translates into some quality. With the new policies promoted by the Government of Xi Jinping, in fact, it seeks consolidate the country as a reference in the Technologies of the futureand precisely they have a lot to say in the battery technology or the electric car. Obligations. Beyond that technological leadership, several things must be taken into account. Chinese companies have been forming joint ventures with more consolidated companies. Geely, for example, has an idyll with Renault. SAIC with Volkswagenso both They share technologies and objectives in areas such as the development of the electric car. In addition to this mutual learning, obligations by regulations come into play. Since 2022, The European Union forces that all new cars approved on continental soil must have a Safety elements series such as emergency braking, the fatigue detector, notices on excess speed, lane outlet or rear camera with cross traffic alert, among other measures. And this is also forced Chinese manufacturers. In fact, due to pedestrian danger, The Tesla Cybertruck is neither expected in Europe. Euro ncap is clear. And apart from the regulations, we have an agency as EURO NCAP. This is the person in charge of performing tests to measure active and liabilities security elements and, when there is a maximum score, it is something that manufacturers use as a marketing element. Surely you have often heard that “Five Euro NCAP stars” Well, the funny thing is that, as we read in Reutersthe organism considers that Chinese cars not only have nothing to envy to Westerners, but are superior to certain models. Matthew Avery is Euro Ncap’s Director of Strategic Development and has been blunt about it: “Forget about what you can think about that the Chinese mean lower quality or worse safety performance. The quality of vehicles models of Chinese brands is better than that of others.”

There is a way for a truck to go from Italy to Madrid without spending a diesel euro. Mounting it on a train

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From Italy to Madrid in truck but without stepping on the road. It is the concept of the railway highway that unites the transalpine country with the Spanish capital and that allows moving low -cost merchandise with a reduced impact on polluting emissions. A project that has already been tested in Spain but now seeks its extension even Portugal. From Italy to Madrid. That is the route that the trucks moved by Tramesaa company that keeps an exceptional service in our country alive. Specifically, to put in Madrid some trucks with origin in Italy that on the road have hundreds of kilometers but have not spent a drop of diesel. And it is that these trucks, as explained in The countryThey arrive at the Valencian port where they are collected by a huge crane that deposits them on a railway platform. The truck becomes a merchandise container that travels to Madrid railway. Already in the capital, return to the road to distribute the merchandise. What is a railway highway? This system is what is known as a railway highway. That is, the use of railways to transport trucks that, in normal circumstances, should travel on the road. A system that, currently, is only active between Madrid and Valencia but wants to project to reach Portugal. And makes sense? Yes, and a lot. First because it is a less polluting system. Adif calculates That using trucks as rail containers is almost five times less polluting than circulating along the road, which entails tire wear, brakes … and huge diesel consumption. But, above all, it is interesting for the transport company. And the train trip can be done with or without a cabin. Without it, driver expenses is minimized since trucks travel alone on the train. In this way, the driver handles a tractor head at the origin, deposits the trailer there and a second conductor, already at destination, collects the merchandise with a second tractor head. In this way, the number of hours at the wheel and the distance traveled is drastically reduced. The Spanish case. As we said, at the moment, the railway highway that connects the Valencian port with Madrid is the only one that is active. However, the system is not much less new. In the past we have already had similar attempts and, in fact, we must not retrieve far back in time. In 2019, Renfe merchandise and VIIA, SNCF subsidiary, launched a service with up to six trains by direction and week between Barcelona and Bettembourg (Luxembourg). The project was canceled shortly after with the crisis of Coronavirus and reactivated in 2022. However, ended up closing operations A few months later. In Trenvista They point out that this case is the last but not the only one we have had in our country. At the end of the 80s a railway highway between Madrid and Barcelona was also opened. However, an accident resulted in the closure of past two years. In Europe. Outside our country, the transport of goods using railways is not new either. VIIA, the company that wanted to exploit the connection between Barcelona and Luxembourg, Keep active Four lines that explode exclusively and four other lines in collaboration with other operators. Their business extends almost exclusively by France (they have one that ends in Italy) and most of them collect merchandise that arrives through the Eurotunnel, demonstrating the advantage of the system when combining large ports and cities with good rail connections. In fact, it was in France where a railway highway began for the first time in 1936. After World War II, services would continue to be expanded with the services with the Alpine railway highway which is the one that crosses between France and Italy (already near Turin). And in the future? At the moment it remains to be seen but from the institutions you are trying to close more projects. There are currently a total of 15 in progress that are in different phases. In service with metric width we have Valencia-Madrid and underway you are already working on: Algeciras-Zaragoza Zaragoza-Tarragona Huelva-Madrid-Zaragoza Seville-Madrid-Zaragoza Valencia-Badajoz-Contrancamento (Portugal) Madrid-Badajoz-Contrancamento-Suporto (Portugal) In study phase are: Tarragona-Barcelona Madrid-Valladolid-Burgos-Vitoria Murcia-Madrid Cádiz-Madrid Tamarite of Litera-Irún Zaragoza-Pamplona-Vitoria In addition, a standard width is already underway between Barcelona and Le Perthus (France) and the following lines are projected: Murcia-Le Perthus (France) Tarragona-Le Perthus (France) Vitoria-Irún Photo | Ministry of Transportation and Tramesa In Xataka | Two years after Renfe competition entered, the data indicate something: trains are cheaper than ever

Technology are asking for “AI Fluency” for their vacancies. The problem is that a euro is not being invested in teaching it

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Recently, Andy Jassy, ​​CEO of Amazon told them In a statement to its employees that, in the coming years, their jobs They will change or disappear If they do not learn to use AI tools. Companies pronounced on the same line Like DuolingoZapier or Shopify. That turn towards the domain of AI tools has made A new concept Start appearing in technological employment offers: “ai fluency” or literacy in AI. The new hiring requirement with which companies ask that candidates come formed from home in the use of AI. What is literacy in AI. The literacy in artificial intelligence or “ai fluency” in its English terminology, it refers not only to the basic use of AI in the workplace (where its main value has been shown It is the translation) but the ability to integrate it into processes work to optimize them. Wade Foster, co -founder and CEO of Zapier, said in his X profile that the company had established a new standard when hiring, and 100% of its new employees should be “fluids” in AI. That meant that all his New employment offersThey were going to have a new requirement: “AI Fluency”, regardless of whether it is for a position in sales, product or development. How to define that literacy. Zapier It is not the only which has decided to add this new concept to job offers. It is enough to happen A lap By Glassdoor or other technological employment platforms to begin finding offers that already claim that literacy in AI together with requirements such as experience or mastery of programming languages. One of the most recurring questions that users made to Foster after their message was how literacy is measured in the candidate. Zapier’s manager He replied After a few days including a table with examples of the level of literacy in AI that the candidates should have based on the expectations of the position they aspired. The basis of this table is the level of complexity and integration of AI in their work that each candidate is able to demonstrate. Touch on the table to go to the original message “5 years of experience” for Juniors. At this point no one doubts that The use of AI It will be a basic requirement in most jobs in different degrees, as is the use of office tools. That leads us to the question about whether this new requirement will become another irrational demand in job offers, such as those that human resources professionals They have been denouncing for years. Ask for five years of experience for a junior job, 10 years of experience in a programming language that was invented five or being graduated from a particular university. The curiosity of employees. The key to this new ability to get a job is based on the employee know How AI models workhow to give the right commands and how to generate correction loops so that the AI ​​itself detects its mistakes. However, all this needs Advanced training that, for the moment, it is borne by employees who use AI tools on their own and learn to use it Back to companies. According to data from ‘Autumn Work Force Index of 2024’ Prepared by Slack, 76% of the employees surveyed are willing to form in the use of AI for their work. However, 48% of them They would feel uncomfortable recognizing that they currently use it. Companies do not train their employees in AI. The current reality of literacy in the AI ​​of companies collides frontally with their desires to integrate this technology into their processes. A recent report In Infojobs ensures that 1 in 3 employees uses some type of AI in their work. Of those who usually use it, only 20% say they have received some type of training to integrate it into their job, while 60% say they have not received it, nor are there plans to receive it in the next six months. He annual report Infoempleo and adecco supply and demand for employment in Spain 2024 is even more devastating with its figures: 84.71% have not facilitated any training in artificial intelligence to its employees. Realistic jobs against scarcity. According to A report From the Bank of Spain, 45.8% ensure that the shortage of qualified personnel is the main obstacle to integrate into their processes. Impose literacy criteria in unrealistic the positions for junior positions or who do not need it, can chronify that personnel scarcity and prevent the access to the labor market To the youngest. Imposing unreal requirements makes it generate A talent scarcity equally unreal, not because There are no professionals trained To develop that position, but because companies are not investing in training professionals for those vacancies and expect them to come from home and fit 100% in their vacancies. In Xataka | Of engineers to keyboard operators: AI is converting software programming into a mounting chain Image | Pexels (Cottonbro Studio)

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