Europe

The cheap mobile was seriously injured in Europe. The energy label can advise the coup de grace

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Today, June 20, 2025, it is a before and after for those phones that are sold in Spain. From this date, every manufacturer who wants to distribute their new products in Europe will have to add The energy label in its box. It is an effort at European level to guarantee compliance with Regulation on Ecological Designaffecting mobile phones, wireless landlines and tablets. In addition to forcing manufacturers to introduce this label, changes relating to the support years arrive They will have to give to every new mobile. These changes in the design, software and product life of the product paint well. But the question is who is going to pay the duck. What changes. From now on, manufacturers have to introduce the new energy labeling in every mobile that they want to put on sale. In it, they are collected data related to the energy efficiency of the samereliability in free fall, autonomy measured per cycle, supported battery cycles, Water and dust resistance protocols and repair index. In addition to informing about ecological design, manufacturers will be obliged to make draft changes throughout the chain process: from how they manufacture the phone to What happens to him with the guarantee time. The updates. Smartphones manufacturers will have to guarantee five years of updates (dry updates, not mandatory version jump) for each and every one of their phones. It is something that great manufacturers such as Samsung, Google, Honor, Xiaomi and Motorola They were already doing with some of their most recent mobiles. The key is precisely in that “some.” Each system update, however small, entails: A team of active software engineers dedicated to the project Quality control processes (internal tests, Google certifications to meet the requirements of each update) Operator certifications in the event that the phone is distributed through a third party Keep the ota infrastructure alive Costs that, in the case of low and medium -end devices, disappeared after the two years that used to be updated. Duplication support will entail an additional expense to companies on devices that leave tight margins: a device of less than 100 euros updating for five years does not seem the best business. And this is just a part of the cake. The new manufacturing standard. The EU focuses on the manufacture of the device. Manufacturers will be obliged to be more resistant to falls, scratches, splashes resistance, and batteries that promise a minimum of the 80% of its total capacity after 800 load cycles. Similarly, spare parts must be guaranteed for at least seven years since the product stops selling. Each and every one of the necessary components to repair the phone must be available to surrender within five to ten days. In summary. Consumers are going to win in two pillars. We will have better phones in the market. We will be able to inform ourselves in a single view of the quality in the ecological design of each of them. The problem is precisely what. Manufacturers will have to support five years. Manufacture, distribute and guarantee spare parts for seven. Introduce better batteries. Create phones more resistant to falls and scratches. Ensure compliance with splash resistance protocols Who pays it. In Europe we are buying increasingly expensive mobiles. So much so that there are more users buying phones of more than 800 euros than users buying mobiles of less than 200 euros. In fact, one of the main reasons why shipments in Europe fell into the first quarter of 2025 has to do precisely The fall in the input range mobile demand. The lowest volume in this segment in the last decade. This segment is precisely one of the most affected will be seen by the normative change: mid -range devices (strip between 399 and 799 euros, according to consultants) and superiors already met a good part of the demands of the European Union. The big question is whether manufacturers will try to absorb these additional costs through the margin in more profitable ranges, or if economic ranges will face slight increases to continue fighting for positive yields. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Apple puts the longevity to repairs. And he has justified it with a 24 -page document

The “rearme” in Europe has encountered an obstacle that neither US imagined: Spain

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A few days after the NATO Summit in The Hague is held, the main concern among allied leaders does not revolve around To Ukraine or Russiabut how to prevent Trump from dynamite. The US president has become the axis around which he orbits the transatlantic policy, and in an effort to maintain their support (or at least their neutrality), the organizers have compressed the format less than two days. What nobody expected was the “bomb” that It had Spain. Spain and the rearme. Yes, the planned summit has been involved in a strong tension After the firm opposition of the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the new objective of military spending that the United States seeks to impose. In a categorical letter sent to the Secretary General of the Alliance, Mark Rutte, Sánchez qualifies “Irrazonable” The claim to raise the 5% defense expense of GDP, a requirement promoted by Trump under the threat of withdrawing US military protection to countries that do not comply. The Spanish refusal is not symbolic: it calls into question the political foundations of the summit and could dynamite a consensus that It was assured Among the 32 members, at a time of deep uncertainty About him future commitment Washington with European security. The Spanish model. Sánchez argues that a hurried adoption of such a threshold would have negative consequences both economic and social. In his opinion, fulfilling 5% would force Increase taxes On the middle classes, drastically reduce essential public services and sacrifice high economic impact investments in sectors such as education, health, technological research or ecological transition. Sánchez and two dangers. The warning according to Spain is double: on the one hand, Budgetwarning of a brake to growth derived with greater indebtedness and inflation. On the other, policypointing out that this sacrifice would fall on structural pillars of the welfare state. In Your letterthe president also emphasizes that this imposed goal would lead to countries to make hurried military purchases that would only increase the dependency of non -European suppliers and would erode the industrial base of defense of the continent. Beyond the economic, Spain exposes a strategic concern about the Interoperability and operational cohesion Within the alliance if the Member States begin to rearm without a common road map. Fracture within the alliance. The Financial Times counted that the Spanish position coincides with the resistance of few other members, although most have given their support to the Rutte proposal to reach an expense of 3.5% of GDP in direct defense plus 1.5% in critical infrastructures and cybersecurity, configuring a total equivalent to 5% required by Trumpbut more nuanced. However, the Negative of Spain It arrives at a time of special institutional fragility: Trump has demonstrated manifest disinterest by multilateral summits, leaving a G7 meeting after disregarding the meetings with Zelenski and showing irritation to Macron to hinder their aspirations on Greenland. European makeup According to the New York Timesthe (re) flag -bearer definition in the matter of “rearme” has generated a mixture of confusion and discomfort among the defense ministers, many of which are not clear about what can be included or when the objective should be achieved. The result is, in the words of European analysts, a makeup operation Political: an inflated figure with inaccurate concepts to satisfy Trump without really compromising the economic and social model of several countries. According to Nathalie Toccidirector of the Institute of International Affairs of Italy, “3.5% is real and responds to the needs of NATO, 1.5% is pure theater to calm Trump.” Without compass club. The scenario also reflects other tensions. The main one: the debate has revealed deep divisions Within the alliance. Some border countries with Russia demand Accelerate spending To dissuade a possible Russian offensive in the next five years, while others (such as Canada, Italy, Spain or Luxembourg) barely have just achieved the 2% target set a decade ago (Spain or that). Germany asks A “realistic commitment” between what is necessary and the feasible, while Luxembourg denounces that the figures should not guide securitybut real capacities. The Rutte proposal Nor has it managed to clarify whether part of military aid to Ukraine can Computing as an expense Internal defensive, a key aspect for countries that wish to sustain their contribution without weakening their own national capacities. This ambiguity has led to debates about what is considered military investment and what enters the “related” spending category, leaving the land paid to opportunistic interpretationsdouble computations and/or statistical divergences that can erode mutual trust. Europe under pressure. Even if governments promised to spend more, it is not clear that the defense industry (neither European nor American) can absorb quickly Those funds. The bottleneck It is not just prosecutorbut logistics, industrial and technological. In addition, increasing spending without a common strategy could be translated In precipitated purchasesuncoordinated and focused on external suppliers, aggravating operational fragmentation. While, I remembered the Times that the Russian threat is still tangible. NATO’s intelligence services estimate that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Moscow could reconstitute an offensive force capable of directing directly to the eastern flank of the alliance within five years. We have already told it, countries as Estonia or Finland consider that There is no time to lose and demand immediate actions. However, the United Kingdom will not reach 3% to 2034 And other allies continue to drag Structural delays that question their real commitment. The structural challenge. So, Spain, one of the few allied capitals that has not even reached the current threshold of that 2%, is now in the center of a pulse strategic that transcends the budget. The Sánchez letter raises Two outputs A RUTTE: to be exempt from any new approved objective or allow a flexible formula that volunteers will volunteer the 5%goal. Thus, what is at stake is not only spending, but Shared Defense Model and the principles of balance and proportionality between allies. Historical Summit. In short, Sanchez’s letter reveals a deep crack between the strategic priorities of … Read more

Europe has perfected missiles for decades. His new weapon is designed to sacrifice before touching the ground

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Europe has been betting on precision missiles. He Taurushe Meteor or the Aster 30 They are a good example of this: expensive systemscomplex and refined to the millimeter, designed to get it. But the war has changed. It is no longer enough to have better missiles In it Aeronautical Hall of Paris, MBDA has presented Your answer. It is not a drone to show off, nor a weapon for surgical missions. The One Way Effector does not return, does not shoot: it is made to fall. And in that act, fulfill your mission. His role is to saturate. Fly in mass, force reactions, shoot alerts. Overwhelm the enemy based on volume. It does not seek to go unnoticed. Seeks to force you to react The One Way Effector does not fit at all in the best known categories. It is not a cruise missile, although it travels hundreds of kilometers. It is not a recognition drone, because is not designed to return. It is an disposable aerial ammunition, propelled by a small turbophah, whose mission is one: wear defenses. The approach reminds of the Shahed-136 Iranian that have redefined the Ukrainian front: Waves of cheap ammunition against very expensive interceptors. But MBDA has taken the idea one step further: greater speed, greater difficulty of interception and an explosive load would be enough to not be able to ignore it. Because that is logic. If the drone impacts, he has fulfilled. And if they demolish it, also: the enemy has had to spend a missile, activate a radar or turn on an alarm. The system is designed to operate in Salvas. We do not talk about one or two drones, but of tens thrown simultaneously from the ground or from the back of a vehicle. Each unit Follow your route via GPS guidancewithout the need for communication between them or coordination algorithms. They move in a group, enough to saturate the enemy response. Conceptual image of the One Way Effector It reaches speeds close to 400 km/Hy transports a 36 kg eye, equivalent to that of an artillery projectile of 155 millimeters. Has an estimated scope of 500 kilometers And a cost that MBDA describes as “a fraction of a cruise missile.” It is not stealthy, nor does it intend: its effectiveness happens to be visible, for forcing the enemy to act. If no one reacts, the drone arrives. And if someone does, it is exposed. The idea is that each defensive shot destined to demolish a position. Each lost interceptor reduces the response capacity. That is the game. The One Way Effector is not an experiment or an exotic prototype. MBDA wanted it to be, from the first day, a chain manufacturing product. To achieve this, he has signed an alliance with the French automobile sector that allows you to produce even 1,000 units per month. A Taurus missile To climb that production, the design has been simplified to the extreme. Body of compound material, commercial pieces, modular construction. No terminal guidance sensors or technologies difficult to maintain. His great asset is the volume. This does not mean that Europe is renouncing its precision arsenal. On the contrary: One Way Effector does not replace Taurus or the meteor or Aster 30. Is designed to accompany themto open their way. Taurus is a cruise missile that travels hundreds of kilometers and seeks to penetrate defensive layers with precision. The meteor dominates the Aire-Aire combat with its reach of more than 100 kilometers and its ability to correct real-time trajectory. Aster 30 protects airspace as part of a high efficiency antimisile system. But there is a common point: all are scarce and extremely expensive. Each launch is a strategic decision. The One Way Effector, on the other hand, is intended for the opposite: to be launched without hesitation. If the deadlines are met, the first test flight It will take place between October and November, and Production will start in 2027 With the first operational units. Images | MBDA | Saab In Xataka | Russia recalled a threat that appears in the war between Iran and Israel: the possibility of a nuclear disaster

The National Police has arrested Major Cibernarco in Europe in Barcelona. And he has left a video message for cybercriminals

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A 30 -year -old German citizen coordinated from Barcelona the largest drug market in the Dark Web European Archetyp Market has been functioning as an online narcotic supermarket for more than five years. Now has been arrested by the National Police. Why is it important. This platform had achieved what few illegal markets achieve: scale, longevity and reputation. It has reached 612,000 registered users and 3,200 active vendors. It had become a key piece of European drug trafficking. The figures: The business volume has reached 250 million euros in transactions. The store has marketed 17,000 lots of narcotics, from heroin and fentanyl to cannabis and synthetic drugs. Payments were made exclusively in Moneroa cryptocurrency specially valued by its anonymity guarantee. In 2018 we count on Xataka How easy we found to access this type of marketswhere in addition to drugs we could find weapons or guns. In detail. The administrator, known as “Roger” and with multiple digital alias, directed a complex structure. The servers were located in the Netherlands. He operated from Catalonia. His profile fit with the new drug trafficker: technologically sophisticated, businessly efficient, mediately active. Message that appears in the domains intervened in this operation. Image: Eurojust. Between bambalins. Operation Deep Sentinel involved 300 agents from six European countries. The German authorities first identified the suspect, but needed international cooperation to dismantle the entire network. Technical complexity required specialists in Dark Web and cryptocurrency analysis. Archetyp had filled the void left by other dismantled markets such as Dream Market and Silk Road. His longevity contrasted with the typical short life of these platforms, usually closed in months by the authorities. In the video of the operation, published by the National Police, you can see the multiple currencies that the detainee was handled at his home: Deepen. The operation included important seizures: high -end vehicles, luxury watches, 7.8 million euros in cryptocurrencies and several computer devices. The authorities confiscated complete digital infrastructure. Security forces have left A notice and a video message in the intervened domainswarning that the anonymity of the Dark Web It is not impregnable. In Xataka | One week on the Deep Web. This is what I found Outstanding image | National Police

While Europe desperately seeks alternative to Russian gas, a Spanish province has already found it: Burgos

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A few days after summer begins, Europe has an eye on winter. Not because he wants to omit a hot summer, but for a real concern: gas reserves are almost empty. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced That community leaders will discuss new measures, including the possible definitive closure of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. So, while in the high spheres geopolitical strategies are designed, a solution is consolidated in a small town of Burgos: biomass. And they found the key. In Doña Santos, a Burgos town of just over a hundred inhabitants, is the headquarters of children of Tomás Martín, a family business that has been linked to the use of wood. However, it was not until 2011, which under the Burpellet brand, They started producing pellet to take advantage of the waste of the sawmill. Ten years later, they expanded their activity with a second floor in Huerta del Rey, which today has a capacity of 150,000 tons per year – the equivalent of five million bags – consolidating itself as the largest national producer and one of the main European referents in biomass. Heat in unstable times. While electricity prices and fossil fuels are in a roller coaster, the pellet has found its balance. According to Avebiom (Spanish Biomass Energy Valuation Association), the Pellet It is maintained As one of the most competitive energy options, with an average cost of 7 cents per kWh, below natural gas, heating diesel and well below electricity. In other words, a 15KG bag would come to € 5.04, a 2.6% decrease compared to the previous quarter. The global energy storm. Only this year, Europe must spend 10,000 million euros more than in 2024 to replenish its gas reserves, pressured by a colder winter and strong global competition, According to the Financial Times. And although prices remain above 2024, they have remained surprisingly stable in recent weeks. According to Bloomberg, China who was one Of the great global buyers of LNGhas reduced its imports for the fourth consecutive month, weighed by a weaker economy, tariff tensions with the United States and a rebound from internal sources. However, nothing is guaranteed because in the months of July and August extreme temperatures are expected on the horizon, which could change the board. In addition, countries like Egypt could enter the market strong They have explained In Bloomberg. Geopolitical pressure, an unstable global market and the delay in the transition to technologies such as hydrogen convert energy supply into a topic of higher priority for Brussels. A good path. Despite the thrust of the LNG and the promises of green hydrogen, immediate solutions do not always come from new technologies. Sometimes they are already working, far from the spotlights. In places like Mrs. Santos. While Brussels projects the energy future of the continent, in the forests of Burgos there is already an answer working: stoves, boilers and heated buildings with compacted wood chips. It does not sound as modern as hydrogen, but it is clean, efficient and local. Image | Rawpixel Xataka | After two years of vertiginous increases, the price of pellets has done something unpublished: start going down

Spain has presumed for decades of consuming more fish than anyone in Europe. Now that has entered into crisis

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Spain is surrounded by almost 8,000 kilometers of coast, it has a profuse cuisine in dishes based on fish and maricos and its fishing sector generates every year tens of thousands of jobs and billions of euros. Not to count on how weird the town (at least in the coastal areas) that does not have a market in which to buy a hake, a golden, trout, mussels or a good fresh lubina. Despite all that, Spain is less and less a country of fish. Its weight on the refrigerators is descending. A lot. And for a long time. A percentage: -4.3%. He last report of the government about fish consumption does not leave good news. In March we Spaniards have bought 2.9% less than during the same month last year, a bad fact that really hides another worst: what has “punctured” really is the consumption of fresh fishing, which has fallen 4.9%. In fact, that percentage has been softened in part due to an increase in frozen fish, which has grown around 4%. The thing does not improve when we expand the focus. If we analyze The last mobile year (from April 2024 to March 2025) The consumption of marine products in general has fallen 2.7% and that of fish in particular 4.3%. The behavior of frozen products during that period was somewhat better than that of fresh merchandise, but still both have lost weight in purchase baskets. The protagonists: cod and gold. The report allows you to go further and take a look at how the different products have responded throughout the last year. And there are some that go particularly poorly stopped. Golden purchases have collapsed 23.5% and mackerel and cod around 21%. In general it has also been a bad year for seafood, molluscs and frozen and fresh crustaceans, although more cooked varieties have been bought. “They click” the preserves and win other products, such as salmon or smoked trout. One question: Is it a punctual fall? No. And that is the big problem. The sector It takes time Seeing how fish consumption falls, which has already taken him to claim to institutions measured to reverse that trend. Under the “fishing products” label enters a range of foods that range from fresh or frozen fish to the seafood or preserves and not all evolve the same, but statistics show that, together, consumption is going back. According to government data, in 2003 the per capita consumption of products related to fishing touched the 27.8 kilos per year And in 2009 he even reached stroke the 30 kg. In 2013 that same data was already in 27.2 kgbefore the pandemic had fallen to 22.5 kgin 2023 marked 18.9 And last year that same average had descended to 17.9. Now the last map report with the March values ​​lead to think that the trend will remain this exercise. A figure: 19 million. Those of the Ministry are not the only data that account for the fall in fish consumption in Spain. In October the statista portal published Another report which reflects the same trend from a somewhat different perspective: that of tons of fish consumed in the whole country. Its tables reflect that if in 2023 consumption amounted to 887.4 million kilos, last year that data had already descended until it was 868.3, which reflects a fall of 19 million In just one year. The consumption curve has been descending since 2009, with a slight rebound in 2020, coinciding with the pandemic. The great unknown: Why do you go down? The million dollar question. And it does not have a simple answer. One of the possible keys is the price. The statistics Officers also show that, on average and in general terms, fresh fish comes out more expensive than meat of the same type. The latest map report also reflects that throughout the last year, between April 2024 and March, the average price of fish -related products had increased 3.5%. The technicians of calculating that in March fresh fish increased 4.9% compared to 2024. Another key: education. Fish is not, however, the only thing that has become more expensive. In recent years he has also done it (and sometimes clearly) The meat. Hence, when explaining the trend It is indicated Often other factors, such as changes in consumption habits, a certain ignorance of the product, the search for more comfortable options or the loss of habit, especially among the youngest, to go to the markets to buy fish. A report On the subject elaborated a few years ago by the Ministry and AECOC in fact identifies four profiles of young people in front of the fish: that of those who reject it flat, who are inclined to other options such as meat, a more “pragmatic” profile that is not willing to invest the time it requires buying and cooking fish and the “distrustful”, with doubts about the origin or conservation. A notice: “It is essential”. With that backdrop a long time ago that the fishing employer demands to institutions that promote fish consumption. In 2023 the Secretary General of Cepesca insisted that it is “essential” to promote healthy eating and support sea food. “We still do not understand why the consumption of fishing products with VAT reduction,” I cried. In his favor the guild has the advice of the health experts, which They advise Eat between three and four rations every week. Images | Grupo Eroski S.Coop (Flickr) and Doğan Alpaslan Demi̇r (Unspash) In Xataka | There is so many demand for fish in China that has opted for drastic measures: two “aircraft carrier” as a hatchery

Jaén conquered Spain for its olive oil. Now he has conquered Europe with his drones

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Jaén has achieved a New milestone related to drone flight at European level. For the first time in Europe, a control transfer operation (Handover) has been carried out in full flight without interruptions in the link. The importance of the operation lies not only in crucial applications that have this type of flights for the transport of medical supplies in remote areas, but in how they have achieved it. What happened. In the Jiennense olive grove, between Beas de Segura and Villacarrillo, its Atlas Alpha and Atlas Bravo centers have carried out successfully The first European drone control transfer operation. Those responsible for the project describe a flight in which a protagonist has participated a UAS Tarsis (non -manned fixed -wing system) of 75 kilos, accompanied by two multi -pile drones and three Spanish flight teams, in collaboration with the University of Seville. The goal? Show the viability of unmanned air systems in transport of health material in remote or difficult access areas. But the key is not in the objective of use, it is on the flight itself. Why is it important. It is the first time in Europe that an operation of this draft is performed. Until now, it had never been possible to transfer the full flight control of a fixed wing drone with these dimensions between two stations separated by 23km. This flight represents an important advance in the future of drug transport in remote areas and a break between the barriers of distance: the limitations cease to be a problem if the transfer of the drone is successful. Why is it so difficult. Dron’s operations are limited by their radius of scope: If the aircraft moves away from its control stationGoodbye flight. Hence the importance of achieving a real -time control transfer and without interruptions. But this goes beyond the technical side. The milestone here is not the distance, it is the relay. The “Handover” is not just a transfer of flight mechanics, it is a transfer of legal and operational responsibility. This project shows that, in the future, a drone managed by a company A can go through space and transfer flight responsibility to a company B. The U-Space. To make this transfer possible, the European Union has a set of services and procedures framed within what it calls U-spaceits traffic management system for drones. When operating under this framework, each operator must register their drone, present their flight plan and obtain real-time digital authorization through the U-Space system, under the supervision of the common information provider (CISP), in this case the Spanish ENAIRE. This flight was not a simulation, but a real test with multiple actors of how it is possible to coordinate a control transfer operation under an U-SPAC infrastructure. It shows that it is viable to climb this model to other missions with low altitude drones, from health logistics to surveillance, agriculture or emergencies. Europe had not achieved it. Jaén has been the first to achieve it, although in Europe efforts are being focused to minimize reach losses on long distance flights. Galicia has designed U-Space cells in the ports of A Coruña and Malpica To connect two points in the same management and Valencia space too Drones for logistics operations in its ports. The Jiennense project will not be the only one. This is a project at European level, and it is planned to develop throughout eight Spanish autonomous communities: Andalusia, Aragon, Canary Islands, Catalonia, Valencian Community, Galicia, Madrid and Navarra. Image | ENAIRE In Xataka | China conquered us with its cheap drones. Now the price of its pieces is shooting for a reason that is not accidental

This map distributes the “heart” of Europe over the Iberian Peninsula. And reveals the key to the success of the region

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Maps are useful, fascinating and sometimes almost almost An art form. However, they do not always allow us to understand real dimensions and distances well. Especially when we talk about broad territories. A map published in Urbanity.one (and shared by Madrid projects) With a peculiar approach: its author has taken some of the main cities of Central Europe, the metropolis of the one known as “Blue Banana”and has distributed them on a plane of the Iberian Peninsula respecting The real distances. The result reminds us of two things. The first, the considerable size That has Spain. The second, how close the cities of Central Europe, a crucial factor to understand the history and economic development of the region. As a picture is worth more than a thousand words, at the end of the 1980s the Geographer Roger Brunet decided to invent A visual metaphor to refer to the most populous and urbanized region in Europe. He called her The “Blue Banana”. Maybe it sounds strange, but it makes enough sense when a map is taken. If the cities of the European industrial axis are connected, covering from England to the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and northern Italy, that is: the drawing of A huge banana Located more or less between Manchester, Munich, Zurich and Rome. How big is that “Banana” imaginary? The first response to mind is obvious: very much, right? In Madrid it projects They have shared However, a map that helps to understand that this abstract axis is actually much smaller than what intuition suggests. At least if we compare it with Spain. The reason is very simple. Its author has selected the metropolis that are distributed by that theoretical axis that structures Europe Central and has arranged them on a map of the Iberian Peninsula respecting the real distances between them. The result It shows that Cambridge would be more or less where Vigo is, Rotterdam would stay up to Valladolid, Bremen in Pamplona, ​​Stuttgart almost where Alicante is and Paris would more or less occupy the place of Badajoz. In the center of the Peninsula, in Madrid, it would be located (kilometer up, kilometer down) Düsseldorf and the Barcelona space would occupy by Linz, an Austrian city. The cast may be striking, but it arrives with pulling Google Maps and its measurement tool for Check the distances. Between London and Paris there are about 340 km in a straight line, just under those that separate Madrid and Granada. If we pull a straight line from Rome to Munich would measure approximately 700 kilometers, a little less than Barcelona to Córdoba. Comparisons are interesting for several reasons. The main one is that they remind us The great size of Spain. The Iberian Peninsula measures just over 583,000 km2 and Spain occupies approximately 505,000taking into account the 12,500 km2 of island surface. That makes our country one of the most extensive of the community club, together with France and Sweden and Germany. A wide disposition of land is both an opportunity and a challenge in aspects as a distribution of the population or provision of services. The other great conclusion left by the map Shared by Madrid projects It is the close thing that are actually the Central European metropolis and their main industrial poles, population centers and strategic axes of political decision -making, a proximity that has influenced the development and integration of Europe. Images | Urbanity.one and Madrid projects (x) In Xataka | The demographic debacle in Europe, exposed on this map with a misleading guest: Monaco

Malaga gets fully into the chips industry. It is due to IMEC, the most important laboratory in Europe

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The Interuniversity Microelectronics Center or IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) It is not a research center. It is the most experienced laboratory in the tuning of New integration technologies to manufacture integrated circuits and nanotechnology that we have in Europe. In fact, its engineers They work side by side with ASML techniciansTSMC, Intel or Samsung with the purpose of jointly developing new semiconductor packaging technologies or avant -garde photolithography techniques. This research center is housed in Leuven (Belgium), but in 2030 it will have a new laboratory that will be located in Malaga Techpark, an ambitious technological park installed in this Andalusian capital. José Luis Escrivá, the former Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, announced the arrival of Imec to Malaga In January 2024, but a year and a half later we have more important information. According to Malaga today The total cost of these facilities will amount to 615 million euros. The central government will contribute 500 million and the Junta de Andalucía the remaining 115. On the other hand, the Malaga Center of IMEC will have a total area of ​​51,300 square meters, and, more importantly, it will use 200 people of high qualification. After all, these researchers will participate in the search for alternatives to the silicon in integrated circuit production processes, as well as in the development of new photolithography technologies that will pursue make possible the manufacture of chips below 1 Nm. However, in addition to these direct jobs, this research center will attract Malaga to other important companies involved in the semiconductor industry. This is the most ambitious IMEC project: to manufacture 3 angstroms chips According to Imec In 2035 integrated circuit manufacturers will begin large -scale production of 3 angstroms chips (0.3 Nm). This milestone is very important because presumably these will be the first semiconductors made of the UVE Hyper-á lithography equipment in which ASML is already working. However, of course, these machines will not arrive that year; They will be ready much earlier. That will be the time when Chips manufacturers will start large -scale production, but possibly this machine will be prepared at the end of this decade. In 2039 chips manufacturers will go beyond the 2 angstroms Anyway, the interesting thing is that the opening of the optics of these avant -garde lithography equipment will be, again according to IMEC, of ​​0.75 in the face of the opening of 0.55 UVE UVE MACHINESor 0.33 in Conventional UVE teams. In any case, the itinerary of this laboratory anticipates that In 2037 the integrated circuits of 2 angstroms will arriveand in 2039 chips manufacturers will pass this barrier and go beyond the 2 angstroms. In the article we dedicate to Rayleight criteria We explain in a lot of detail what the ‘Na’ parameter consists (Numerical Aperture), But in this text it is enough to know that this variable identifies the opening value of the optics used by the lithographic equipment. In this context this parameter essentially reflects the same as the opening value when we talk about The optics of a photo cameraso it conditions the amount of light that the optical elements They are able to collect. As we can intuit, the more light gathens, the better. Image | Laura Ockel | Wikimedia More information | IMEC In Xataka | China needs to develop a new type of immune chips to US sanctions. And their scientists have just achieved it

Europe fails to find the perfect solution for cross -border payments. Bizum and Banco Santander have just put it on a tray

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Santander has become the first Spanish bank that allows its customers Send Bizum to other European countries. It is something that is achieved thanks to the interoperability between Bizum, Bancomat and MB Waya connection that according to the bank will connect 50 million users and 186 financial entities. It is a first step waiting for a unique pawous solution for which no agreement is reached. The first in Spain. Banco Santander has formalized the possibility of sending money through Bizum in a cross -border way. The agreement has been necessary between different payment solutions such as Bizum (Spain), Bancomat (Italy) and Mbway (Portugal), being limited instant payments to these two countries, for the moment. After performing the corresponding successful pilot tests, the clients of this bank will be the first to be able to pay outside Spain. The method will be the usual: we will only have to write the mobile number of the user to which we want to send the payment, and this will be carried out immediately and without commissions. It will not be alone. Santander has been the first to move token, but the possibility of sending Bizum out of Spain will be a standard before summer. Abanca, OpenBank, Caixabank, BBVA and Banco Sabadell are advancing in the implementation of this service, planned for the second quarter of 2025. It has not been thanks to Europe. While Europe Follow in search of a unique solutionthe private company moves record. Cross -border payments are possible thanks to the European Initiative (European Payments Alliance), a joint project initiated by Bizum and followed by both Bancomat and MB Way, with the aim of adopting instant transfers paneuropeas using existing infrastructure. In other words, it has been necessary for those responsible for the platforms to agree, in the absence of a European alternative that encompasses. The European Bizum. The European Central Bank has been trying to advance in a system of instant payments to interconnect the different member countries. But he doesn’t get it. During the last two years we have seen progress as Free transfers in Europe, Tests with digital purseand brushstrokes on a “European Payment Initiative” which has barely advanced since 2022. Countries like Spain They make 95% of immediate payments with Bizumbut this is not the only name that sounds as a candidate for possible means for European payments. There are those who try strongly. Solutions such as Bizum, Bancomat, BM Way or Swish were born as responses to the national need to be able to pay freely and free. The problem for the EU? None have been thought from scratch as a single payment solution. This is where solutions such as Weroa proposal towards “a unique payment solution, all in one, instantaneous and paneuropea, capable of covering over time all cases of payment that consumers and professionals require.” Banks such as German and French They are already promoting this servicenot yet compatible with solutions like Bizum. Nothing clear. The ECB points out that “instead of combining strength and sharing resources to develop paneuropeas solutions, national communities have often preferred to preserve the legacy of the investments made in the past”, an attack on models such as Bizum and a clear look at proposals such as Wero. With many delays and few proposals on the table, the road to a “European bizum” continues to draw distant. But, meanwhile, in Spain we will not take to pay with virtually any bank outside our borders. In Xataka | Bizum and Finance: What changes in transfers control after eliminating the threshold of 3,000 euros

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