expensive

ASML sells the most important machines in the chip industry. Now everything indicates that they will be more expensive

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ASML, the only company in the world capable of manufacturing lithography equipment extreme ultraviolet (EUV) needed to produce the most advanced chips, is preparing for a rise in costs in its machinery. And the first to stand up has been, precisely, its most important client: TSMC. And according to has revealed The Information, the Taiwanese manufacturer is beginning to resist negotiations. Why is it important. ASML is the bottleneck of the entire semiconductor industry. Without their machines, neither Nvidia, nor Apple, nor TSMC, nor Samsung would be able to manufacture the chips that fuel the artificial intelligence boom. That it decides to raise prices, something The Information says it has rarely done in its history, is a sign of the extent to which demand for AI has given the company bargaining power it didn’t have before. In detail. ASML’s plans affect its two large families of machines. On the one hand, according to has confirmed The company’s own financial director, Roger Dassen, during the presentation of second quarter results, there is a way to increase the price of low numerical aperture (Low-NA) EUV systems, its most in-demand technology. On the other hand, ASML has already told several customers, including Chinese manufacturers, that their DUV (deep ultraviolet, somewhat less advanced but still essential) equipment will cost 10% more, according to share the middle. Some Chinese clients have already agreed to pay that extra cost; TSMC, on the other hand, has not wanted to jump through hoops for the moment. Each new generation of ASML machines processes more wafers per hour and improves etching precision, which means more and higher quality chips for its customers. It is what the company itself calls “value-based pricing”, since the logic that follows is that if its equipment generates more economic benefit for the factories that use it, ASML wants to keep a part of that additional benefit, as Dassen explained in the conference with analysts. Between the lines. TSMC’s anger has its explanation. And the Taiwanese manufacturer has been defending for years that You do not need to jump to the very expensive High-NA equipment (which exceed 350 million euros per unit) and that can continue to squeeze out its cheaper Low-NA machines through design improvements and computational photolithography techniques. In fact, according to they count From Tom’s Hardware, its entire manufacturing roadmap until 2030 is based on that premise. If ASML makes precisely those Low-NA machines more expensive as their performance improves, the cost advantage that TSMC had built with that strategy is reduced. Additionally, TSMC needs to buy dozens of these machines for its new plants in Taiwan, the United States and Japan, so even a moderate increase can add billions of dollars to its investment. It is also worth noting that ASML has practically sold its production capacity until 2027 and a good part of 2028, with prices already agreed in those contracts. That means that, in practice, the company could only apply the new rates to orders delivered from the second half of 2028. TSMC will not notice the blow immediately, but it knows that what is negotiated now will mark the price of hundreds of machines in the coming years. And now what. The pulse comes at a time of historic results for ASML. And on Wednesday the company raised its sales forecast for 2026 to a range of between 43,000 and 45,000 million euros, well above what the market expected, according to collect Bloomberg. Gross margin will also improve to 56%, up from 53% previously forecast. To meet demand, ASML plans to increase its manufacturing capacity of its most important EUV machines by 30% this year, and is studying another similar increase for 2028. Cover image | ASML In Xataka | The war in Iran and the Chinese veto redraw the world map of helium for semiconductors

I have tried a high-end stroller that rocks on its own. And how expensive stops seeming so when you look at its competition

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From the creators of “I have pricked a glucometer without being diabetic” either “I have gone out into the street with an exoskeleton“, everything is for workcomes now “I have had a daughter to be able to go one step further with this type of articles.” It may not have been exactly like that, but the truth is that I have been pushing the Cybex e-Gazelle S, an electric baby stroller, for eight weeks. It rocks itself and helps you on slopes. I have been carrying it since my daughter was born and always in individual mode: I have not mounted the second seat or the tandem carrycot that this model promotes, only the Gazelle S Cot carrycot that came in the pack. I say this because there is reviews out there they value their behavior in double, with two children and purchases on top, and I can’t talk about that. I’m talking about what I’ve experienced: a stroller for a newborn in Valencia, without impossible hills or epic due to a double upbringing (parents of twins, you have my full appreciation). And yet it has given me much more to think about than I expected. Because the e-Gazelle S is, above all, a good stroller. And only later, one that rocks alone. First the car, then the engine It’s easy for the word “electric” to take over the rest of the spec sheet, and I think that would be a mistake. The e-Gazelle S is large, comfortable and built with a solidity that is noticeable in the hand: aluminum chassis, wheels that absorb potholes and poorly graded sidewalks well, huge lower basket plus a removable shopping basket that I plan to use as soon as my xiqueta can go to the stroller. The chassis with the chair (not the carrycot) weighs 14.7 kilos, almost two more than the “normal” e-Gazelle (12.9 kg), somewhat heavy when it comes time to put it in the trunk of the car, figures very similar to those of the most similar stroller in the competition, the Bugaboo Donkey, which I will talk more about later to compare them. Folding and unfolding is quite simple once you remember everything to touch at once. Image: Xataka. Overall maneuverability is good. It turns easily, is controlled with one hand when the other is needed for whatever, and the carrycot, with its XXL hood, is one of the most successful I have tried. My daughter is comfortable in there, and that, at eight weeks old, is the only thing that really matters to me. Although in reality I also care about my comfort wearing it: I’m 1.90m tall and not all of the strollers I tried a few months ago seemed designed for my height. Some made my lower back work and made me walk with a bump. It might be harmless for two minutes, but it would certainly be hellish for a long walk. This car has an adjustable handlebar that when fully deployed reaches 1.10 m in height, at the top of the models I reviewed. Comfortable, great, it lets me walk straight. Image: Xataka. But there is a ‘but’ that I think is not usually mentioned: The rear wheels, the large ones, protrude beyond the width of the chassis, as can be seen in the image above this paragraph. In large spaces nothing is noticeable. The problem appears in the tight maneuvers of everyday domestic life: a turn between the sofa and the living room furniture, leaving or entering the elevator, avoiding a door jamb, etc. There, more than once, especially in the first few days, I have accidentally hit something with that wheel that sticks out a little more than the eye calculates. It’s not serious—nothing has happened—but it’s the type of daily use friction that I haven’t seen mentioned and that can only be discovered by living with the stroller, not by trying it for a while in the store. I think that’s my only real ‘but’ to this stroller. The rocking chair, put to the test This is where the e-Gazelle S differs from any other stroller I’ve tried. You lock the front wheels, brake the rear, turn on the engine, hold down the rocking button until you choose the intensity (there are three) and the stroller It begins to swing on its own, back and forth, like your own hand would do on the street holding the handlebars.. With less grace, yes. One nuance: at first you turn it on accidentally from time to time. Holding the handlebar in one hand to maneuver without looking at it too much makes it easy to end up accidentally touching the button. Although nothing happens, you get used to avoiding pressing that area. But when the stroller falls into the hands of a family member who wants to take it, again it is easy for them to hit it and you will find it turned on. It’s a minor issue, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it. From those two buttons on the handlebar you control its electrical part. Image: Xataka. The first few weeks my daughter didn’t quite give in to the invention. He found it difficult, he preferred human movement in general and holding her in his arms in particular. But in recent times she has changed her mind, and there is one afternoon that I remember well: I was especially upset on the terrace of a cafeteria, for no apparent reason, and I tried the rocking chair almost without faith. He calmed down and stayed that way for a long time, much longer than I expected. In fact, I had the idea (untested, just intuition) that the battery would last about 20 minutes of use. It stayed active much longer than that. lThe autonomy reaches just over a continuous hour depending on the rocking level. Rocking at its lowest intensity. Image: Xataka. And the rocking at its greatest intensity. Image: Xataka. I cannot speak with the same reliability about the … Read more

Your residential antenna is large and expensive. The new generation arrives to correct it

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For years, connecting to Internet via satellite has meant accepting a fairly clear trade-off: getting where fiber doesn’t, but doing so with larger, heavier, and more energy-demanding equipment. It is something that we have seen both in isolated homes and in temporary installations, where each kilo and each watt counts for more than it seems. starlink He has been fine-tuning that formula generation after generation. Now, his next step is not to promise dazzling speed, but to correct just those physical limitations. The new residential kit. Starlink V5 It is the next generation of equipment that SpaceX offers to connect homes to its satellite constellation. The package retains the configuration intended for fixed installations, with an outdoor antenna and an independent router included to distribute the connection within the home. The redesign also does not seek to increase the peak speed announced for the previous generation. The renovation focuses, above all, on transforming the size, weight and efficiency of a fundamental part of the system. A more manageable antenna. The change is first seen in the figures. The Starlink V5 weighs 1.1 kg, compared to 2.9 kg for the Standard 4, an approximate reduction of 62% that leaves it at the same nominal weight as the Starlink Mini. It also goes from dimensions of 594 × 383 × 39.7 mm to 384 × 306 × 34 mm, although it retains a field of view of 110 degrees. For those who are going to install it on their own, transporting it, placing it on a stand or changing its location should be easier. Almost half of consumption. According to specifications published by Starlinkthe V5 operates with an average of between 35 and 50 W, compared to the 75-100 W of the Standard 4. The reduction becomes especially important in installations powered by batteries, generators or portable stations, where each hour of autonomy depends on the accumulated expenditure. It can also allow a backup source to maintain connection for longer when the mains fails. Less speed, but just barely. Starlink puts the V5’s advertised peak download at 375+ Mbps, compared to 400+ Mbps for the Standard 4 and 300+ Mbps for the Mini. There is a 25 Mbps difference between the baseline figures of the two residential devices, not a guaranteed loss on all connections. Although actual performance will also depend on the contracted plan, time of day, available capacity and local congestion. Prepared for the outdoors. Despite being much lighter, the Starlink V5 increases the supported operating wind speed when mounted from the 96 km/h of the Standard 4 to 265 km/h. It also maintains the IP67 Type 4 environmental classification and can operate in temperatures between -30 and 50 degrees Celsius. Its deicing system reaches 40 millimeters of snow per hour, the same figure as the previous generation. Two teams for different uses: Although the V5 is close to the Starlink Mini in weight, SpaceX orients them to different needs. The new terminal is part of a residential kit for permanent installations and works with a separate router that is included. The Mini, on the other hand, integrates its own Wi-Fi connection and can work without that additional device, an advantage when the user needs to move the equipment between locations. The V5 does not directly replace the portable model, but rather renews the alternative designed to remain installed in a home. A still limited release. The new Starlink residential antenna is not officially available in Spain. Its marketing has begun among residential customers in the United States and the company has only announced that it will reach other markets as production increases, without publishing a specific calendar. What the V5 does make clear is the direction chosen by SpaceX: a more compact antenna and much lower consumption, although it is not faster. Images | starlink In Xataka | “The idea of ​​making a cell phone makes me want to die,” said Musk. Two years later, it is very deep with its prototype of a mobile phone with AI

We have been cooling homes for decades with increasingly expensive machines. The Persian method has not consumed a single watt for 2,500 years

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For decades, air conditioning has been the great response to heat. The more the temperatures rose, the more powerful the machine we installed was. However, more than 2,500 years ago, in a city in the Iranian desert, someone proposed an idea completely different: Maybe the problem was not how to cool a house, but how to build it so that it never got too hot. The heat has a new enemy. The planet is going through an escalation of unprecedented temperatures and the buildings are starting to pay the bill. Glass facades turn offices and homes into veritable greenhouses, concrete accumulates heat for hours and cities radiate energy at night. absorbed during the day. The consequence is an increasing dependence on air conditioning. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, cooling systems already consume about 20% of all the world’s electricity, a figure that will continue to grow as heat waves become more frequent. The Persian redesign. In the heart of the Iranian plateau is Yazda city where summer temperatures easily exceed 40 ºC and where survival was never a question of comfort, but engineering. There appeared one of the most sophisticated passive cooling systems ever conceived: he badgirknown as a wind catcher. His approach was radically different from the current one. Instead of combating the heat once it had entered the house, the architecture itself took care of it. to capture the fresh airexpel the heat and maintain a habitable interior without consuming electricity. Yazd The “Persian method”: a way of thinking. At first glance, a badgir It looks like a tall, decorative chimney jutting out from the rooftops. In reality, it is a carefully calculated system to take advantage of two natural phenomena. On the one hand, it captures the air currents that circulate several meters above the ground and channels them towards the interior. On the other hand, even when the wind hardly blows, it acts as a solar chimney: Hot air rises through the tower and, as it escapes, creates a depression that draws cooler air into the building. In many homes, this flow also passed over underground water tanks or connected channels. to the qanatsfurther increasing the cooling effect. A bâdgir in Yazd A city designed for the climate. The truly extraordinary thing about Yazd is that the badgir It did not work in isolation. It was part of an architectural ecosystem where each element fulfilled a function. The thick adobe walls slowly absorbed the heat. The inner courtyards they created microclimates protected from the sun. The qanats They transported groundwater from the mountains and helped cool the air. There were even the yakhchalenormous structures capable of manufacturing and preserving ice for months in the middle of the desert. The result was a city designed to work with the climate, not against it. Yakhchal in Yazd And the air conditioning arrived. During the 20th century, much of the Middle East and other warm regions embraced imported architectural models that had little to do with their climatic conditions. Concrete replaced adobe, glass facades replaced solid walls and passive solutions were giving way. to mechanical systems. Many badgir they were abandoned due to the lack of maintenance, due to the entry of dust or insects and, above all, because the air conditioning offered an immediate response. The problem is that it also moved energy consumption to the center of the equation and made cooling a permanent necessity. The irony of the West. As many wind towers fell into disuse in Iran, their principles were beginning to reappear discreetly in other parts of the world. Between the end of the seventies and the mid-nineties, thousands of modern versions of wind sensors in British public buildings. Shopping centers, hospitals and schools incorporated ventilation systems inspired by those ancient designs. In the United States, the Zion National Park visitor center was able to drastically reduce the need for air conditioning thanks to passive cooling strategies based on the same concept. Today architects and engineers they resort to simulations by computer to optimize a technology that was born centuries ago simply by observing how the wind moved. The future may not be in more efficient machines. Contemporary architecture begins to take on an idea that for decades was relegated to the background: the building is also part of the air conditioning system. Recent regulations in countries like uk They prioritize shade, natural ventilation and reduction of solar gain before resorting to mechanical solutions. Exterior blinds, slats, vegetal covers, materials with high thermal inertia or patios return to gain prominence. Even those who defend the use of air conditioning agree that these measures can significantly reduce energy consumption. The big lesson: don’t repeat the same mistake. The history of the Persian method and its badgir It does not prove that we should give up air conditioning. prove something much more uncomfortable: For decades we have tried to solve heat by adding machines to buildings that, in many cases, were designed as if the climate did not matter. The Persians followed the opposite way more than two millennia ago. Before thinking about how to cool a house, they thought about how to build one that needed to be cooled as little as possible. Perhaps the most revolutionary technology to face the next heat waves is not a new machine, but recover an old idea that had been waiting for centuries on the rooftops of the desert. Image | Mohammad Hosseini, Diego Delso, Pastaitaken, Dinkun Chen In Xataka | In 2020, a Chinese billionaire bought the most expensive and luxurious home in London. Then his nightmare began. In Xataka | In 1972 Italy wanted to put an entire city in a one kilometer building. Half a century later he is still paying the consequences

“Check the insurance coverage carefully. You don’t always need the most expensive one”

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Summer is coming, the heat, trips to the beach and doubts in front of the rental car counter. Restrictions, company policies that you had not considered and insurance clauses that you did not imagine and that, of course, you can fix with a few more euros. But the latter is not always the best option. At least, that is what experts consider who are clear about what you should do: read the fine print and sign only if you are convinced. Rastreator, OCU and AXA agree on the latter. The first thing. “The first thing is to check what coverage the insurance offered by the rental company really includes, since, although all cars have mandatory insurance, it does not always protect against all unforeseen events,” he points out. Patricia Carrilspecialist Tracker. The insurance and rental car comparison company is clear that “it is not always necessary to hire the most expensive option to travel with peace of mind. A balanced insurance should cover damage to the vehicle, theft and civil liability, in addition to having an acceptable deductible. The franchise. The excess is the money that we will have to put out of our pocket if the car suffers an unforeseen event. Imagine that you rent a car and that the insurance has a deductible of 150 euros. This means that if the repair costs 80 euros, we will pay the 80 euros. But if the fix costs 1,000 euros, we will only have to face 150 euros. According to the OCU“companies offer Premium insurance by default, making it difficult for customers to find cheaper options” but, even so, there are many occasions in which they “require users to disproportionate bail (and they do not inform about the deadlines and conditions for returning that money)”. The restrictions. Another thing that is solved by reading carefully what we are hiring is being aware of the restrictions to which we submit as drivers. Francisco Olmedodirector of P&C Private Offering AXA Spain is clear that the most frequent are: The age and years of service of the driver: we must know if there are restrictions based on age or years of driving license since we run the risk that the insurance will not cover the damages. Road coverage: it is important to know well what the insurance covers if we have a problem on the road and if there is any type of mileage limitation. Know the criteria for the deductibles: Olmedo assures that “in the event of a blow to the front and another graze on the side, two accidents with two deductibles can be considered” so the driver would have to pay twice Do I add anything? For Rastreator, the most interesting thing is to add window and tire coverage because they are the most common, especially if you are going to drive for a long time, park on the street or travel on secondary roads. “The objective is to find the balance between protection and price; a policy that is too basic can be expensive if an unforeseen event arises,” they explain. In addition, we must be very clear about all the details that may affect our trip. If we are going to cross the border we must point it out because in some contracts you have to pay extra money. We can also add accessories such as children’s seats. An essential. What they are clear about at Rastreator is that theft coverage cannot be missing. “If the car disappears during the rental, the driver may have to bear a very high cost,” they explain. From OCU they point to another essential: knowing what we sign. They remember that in no case should a contract be signed without being clear about what is being signed and that the documents must be clear about details such as when a deposit is returned, how long the money can be withheld and in what amount to pay a deposit or the mandatory requirements to be met when returning the car such as maximum mileage or the level of the gasoline tank. Photo | Sixt In Xataka | $500 for a barely visible mark when handing over a rental car: companies are making a killing with AI scanners

We have turned the absence of demands into the most expensive good on the market. And we call it silence

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Rolls-Royce has an engineering department dedicated exclusively to calibrating how much silence should enter the cabin of a Phantomand what exact type. Not absolute silence, which they found creates nausea and disorientation, but a specific silence: an almost imperceptible residue of engine sound that confirms to the occupant that the power is still there. Only he has decided not to bother him. They call him “engineering silence“and costs almost more than the engine. This gives us a clue as to where the shots are going: silence has never come free. The mansions have walls of one and a half meters, the gardens served as an acoustic barrier and the operas are built so that not even half a creak reaches the neighboring box. The fact that silence is a luxury is not new, it is history, what is new is that it is no longer necessary to buy land to achieve it. Now silence is manufactured. And like any manufactured product, it can be sold, packaged and improved in the next version. Silence has been a side effect of privilege: the rich living away from the noise because they could afford the land and the distance. Now we move to silence as a product designed by sound engineers. The active cancellation headphonesone more simile xatakerothey do not eliminate noise but rather shape it. They generate the reverse wave calculated exactly to cancel out the frequencies of the airplane or the noise in the cafeteria. It is the same logic, but in reverse, that Volkswagen and other manufacturers use when They pump through the speakers a synthetic engine roar so that a stealthy electric car sounds like it has another engine. We make fake noise for those who want to feel powerful and fake silence for those who want to feel safe. In both cases, what you pay for is not the sound or its absence, but the feeling of having control over it. But the silence of a Rolls-Royce and the silence of an unanswered call have something in common that goes beyond sound: they are both, in reality, absence of demand. And control, not silence, is what has become a premium item. The most expensive version of acoustic disconnection is not not hearing the noise on the street, but not even having to respond. The assistant that filters calls, the agenda that decides who deserves your attention and who doesn’t, the possibility of sending someone off with a “my team will contact you” without it sounding like an excuse. This is not sold by Apple, Bose or Sennheiser. It is bought with power. The noise, meanwhile, has stayed exactly where it was: in those who cannot afford to avoid it. The silent carriage of the AVE because the rest is not and no one expects it to be, the neighbor messing around with the drill at odd hours, the bank notifications that you cannot silence in case a danger signal appears at some point, the hum of work WhatsApp groups (another epidemic) who assume that you are available on a Tuesday night, because answering quickly is an obligation for those who do not have the margin not to do so. The silence has been gentrified. Even something else: it has been converted into a subscription. And like any subscription, as soon as you stop paying, the noise returns. In Xataka | There is a generation working for free as a documentarian of their own life: they are not influencers but they act as if they were. Featured image | Xataka

Today, at 9 p.m., we are going to pay the most expensive kilowatt-hour of all of 2026. And this is just the first heat wave of the year

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On Sunday, June 21 at 2 p.m., electricity was almost given away: it was paid at €0.02592 per kilowatt-hour, the lowest price in months. In a while, at nine at night, we are going to pay it at €0.89142, the most expensive price in all of 2026. Just over 24 hours difference and more than thirty times the price. What is happening here? The price of light. The wholesale market The price of electricity for today has already been determined: an average of 99.89 euros per MWh. That is, 75.96% more expensive than yesterday. Although the average is misleading (there is a huge difference between 32 at noon and 177 at night), the truth is that it helps to understand the problem. And that problem boils down to the fact that we are going to have dinner with energy prices that we have not seen since the cold wave of January 2025. What is this due to? In principle, three different things: the most obvious is the heat wave. It alone will trigger energy demand 6 GW more than normal, according to the consulting firm Optimize Energy. The second is the taxes that returned at the beginning of the month. And the last one is a small technical change that makes the valleys sink lower and the peaks rise higher. Now the market moves every 15 minutes instead of every hour. This, which, on average, should give the same result would allow the system to better match supply with demand. In theory, of course. The important thing is not the energy that comes in, but the energy that comes out. According to the system, due to the heat and the work schedule, demand will barely decrease until 10 pm. However, little by little, the sun will retreat, forcing turn on increasingly expensive plants. The rest is the market functioning: in a marginalist system, the last MW that enters is the one that defines the price of the rest. This Monday we have a ‘perfect storm’ and, consequently, an exorbitant price. And what can we do? If we have a fixed price, it should not affect us. If we have PVPC (and there are 10 million who have it), it is a good idea to spend only what is essential. But above all, think of this heat wave as a proof of concept. The truth is that this situation will occur whenever heat, little air and overpriced gas coincide. It is time to think about a domestic strategy to survive Spain’s great energy problem: the fact of have a huge amount of sun, but have nowhere to store it. Image | Torpical TidBits In Xataka | Renewable, coal or nuclear: where each country in the world gets its electricity from, in a detailed graph

Commodore has launched a retro smartphone that blocks browsers, Instagram or TikTok. It is garish, original and expensive

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My first computer was a Commodore C64, so you will understand that this news hits a nerve with me. The brand, purchased last year by YouTuber Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson, has now risen from the ashes with the surprising release of Commodore Callback 8020. We are looking at a smartphone with a retro aesthetic that also draws attention for its focus: the idea here is not to compete with the iPhone or the best Android phones, but rather help us not be glued to the cell phone so much since the telephone is above all that: a telephone. Commodore Callback 8020. This launch wants to take advantage of this growing trend of some manufacturers of resurrect “dumb phones”: cell phones that are capped as standard so that we can detoxify a little of that addiction that we usually have to screens. And to do this, this peculiar device does something mercilessly: block access to all types of applications and platforms Neither TikTok nor Instagram. The Callback 8020 has internet access, but by default it blocks both access to web browsers and social networks. It does so according to the company’s announcement “at the system level using a technology that is pending patent.” The device is therefore not a friend of Instagram or TikTok, but it does allow access to other internet services, such as maps or reading QR codes. Banned browsers. The brand also has its own app store, called Commostore, and to limit access to unwanted applications they have a white list, and as Simpson said at Ars Technica“social networks and browsers will never enter that white list.” Nothing about doomscrolling. Not only that: they cannot be installed using common installation methods either. sideloading. Although the current owner of the brand states that other applications can be installed through this process, this will be blocked in the case of social media apps or browsers. According to Simpson, “we’ve drawn a clear line in the sand around any app that is aimed at doomscrolling“. To avoid this at all costs, the firm indicates that they have blocked access to certain services at the DNS level “so even if you manage to install TikTok, you will not be able to access its servers.” Sailfish OS as heart. We are facing a device that uses Sailfish OS as its operational system. This development, created in 2012 by the company Jolla, allows you to install and run Android applications (99%, says Simpson), although its focus is privacy. Thus, it is perfectly possible to use tools such as Spotify, Signal or WhatsApp. The bet is completed with a very nice detail: Commodore includes some games from the C64 era to be able to enjoy them on this mobile. Limited but functional. The mobile’s specifications sheet is modest: it has a MediaTek Helio G81 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB capacity (with microSD slot), 3.25″ internal IPS screen (480×640), 1.77″ external VFD screen, as well as a “Dome-LED” notification system. Connectivity is resolved with LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, and we have a 48 MP rear camera and an unspecified front camera that does have autofocus. The battery is 1,550 mAh and recharges via USB-C. Retro notifications. The mobile allows you to receive notifications, but instead of traditional messages in popup format, the Callback 8020 makes use of a small LED screen on the front cover that displays characters with a very retro design reminiscent of the old calculators from the 70s and 80s. Eighties sounds. Audio includes a music player for the 8-bit SID chip, which was used in the original C64. It also has, of course, an integrated DAC, an F radio and a 3.5 mm jack. There are even in-ear headphones included in the box. Shell format, interchangeable shells. The design of the mobile phone itself is most peculiar: it adopts a clamshell format, which makes the interior screen relatively small in size, and it has a physical keyboard and a small directional pad on top of that keyboard. The outer shell can be exchanged. Commodore Callback 8020, in its Founders Edition variant, at $640. Source: Commodore. lor retro is not at all cheap. The price ranges between $500 and $640 depending on the variant chosen — the most expensive is the Founders Edition, with gold tints. It is a high price if one only looks at the specifications and design, but that is not what you pay with this mobile. What you pay is more for the nod to nostalgia and for the system that tries to prevent us from being glued to the screen. We are faced with a different concept, which may be shocking and strange, but which tries to solve a problem and also do so with an original approach. I don’t know if the original Commodore would have made a mobile like that, but one thing is certain: the launch is, to say the least, original, loud and brave. That’s something. In Xataka | While the Spectrum and Commodore 64 were triumphing around the world, there was a terrible problem in Japan: kanji

ByteDance has decided that Intel and AMD are too expensive. So you’re going to make your own CPUs

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ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has been purchasing the processors it needs for its data centers from Intel and AMD for many years. He’s going to stop doing it. And this Chinese company has decided that this model has just come to an end. According to Reutersis already developing its own processors with the purpose of supporting its infrastructure. artificial intelligence (IA) in response to a combination of supply shortages and price increases that have made dependence on external suppliers unsustainable. The increases are not marginal: Intel and AMD have raised their rates between 10% and 35% quarter by quarter in recent months, a pressure that is difficult to bear for a company that plans to invest around $22.8 billion in AI infrastructure during 2026. However, the underlying trigger is not only the price. The industry is experiencing a structural change in the way AI is used because it has left behind the phase of mass training of models dominated by Nvidia GPUs to enter into the age of inference. That type of workload demands much more from the CPUs, which work in tandem with the GPUs and have become the new bottleneck of AI. The most immediate consequence of this scenario is a shortage of processors that Intel and AMD are not able to meet. In fact, the company led by Lip-Bu Tan has warned its Chinese customers, again according to Reutersthat their delivery times are going to be extended up to six months. And Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, has declared that the global CPU market is stressed and the situation is not going to improve in the short term. ByteDance has two weapons: Arm and RISC-V The strategy that ByteDance has developed involves developing two architectures in parallel: one based on Arm and another on RISC-V, the open source standard that China has embraced with great interest precisely because of its independence from Western licenses. Designing two variants simultaneously is not at all a symptom of indecision: it responds to the usual coverage of large technology companies before committing to large-scale production of a specific proposal. In 2024 ByteDance partnered with Broadcom to design a custom AI accelerator and manufacture it with TSMC’s 5nm lithography ByteDance has been hiring talent specialized in chips since 2022. In 2024 it partnered with Broadcom to design a custom AI accelerator and manufacture it using TSMC’s 5nm lithography, known as the SeedChip. Its mass production is planned for this year. However, the CPU it is developing is a different piece of the puzzle: a general-purpose processor for servers and not a specialized accelerator. Even so, both initiatives point in the same direction: they pursue reduce dependence on external suppliers in a context in which US export restrictions and market volatility make this dependence increasingly costly. This moment is also relevant because of what is happening at the other end of the market. Nvidia has built its dominance on GPUs, but is now entering the CPU market with your Vera processors with the intention of capturing an additional $200 billion market. In March it also presented an inference system developed with Groq technology in a clear attempt to consolidate its positions before the fragmentation of the AI ​​chip market reduces its share. Be that as it may, ByteDance for the moment continues to depend on Nvidia for its GPUs, although it is already playing on that same board with its own cards. Image | Intel More information | Reuters In Xataka | The condemnation that afflicts China: after decades of manufacturing a competitive desktop processor, it is six years behind

A Chinese billionaire bought the most expensive house in London. What happened next is a real estate horror movie

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In 2021, the Evergrande collapse It erased more than $300 billion in liabilities and triggered a real estate crisis that shook all of China. Among his most extravagant assets was a record mansion in London that today remains trapped in lawsuits, divorces and frozen accounts: a financial ruin turned into an empty monument. The perfect purchase that went wrong. Year 2020, a Chinese billionaire buys for 210 million pounds number 2-8A Rutland Gate, then the most expensive home ever sold in the United Kingdom. On paper it was the definitive investment: a palace with 45 rooms, four elevators, an indoor pool, 24 marble bathrooms and privileged views of Hyde Park. But what seemed like a prestige move ended up leading to a chain of misfortunes so strange that it seems written like a thriller. Since then no one has lived inside, the real owner was caught in a financial collapse and the building became an empty shell with only one “tenant”. Palace with a cursed past. The history of the building was already coming loaded with symbolism. For decades it was the London palace of Rafik Haririwho transformed it by joining together several Victorian houses and decorating it with almost obscene luxury, from gold-plated trash cans to bathrooms encrusted with semi-precious stones. Hariri was assassinated in Beirut in 2005 and, after passing through the hands of the Saudi royal family, the interior was auctioned piece by piece in 2015. That left the mansion empty, as if it had been dismantled before its next owner arrived. The Evergrande turn. The official buyer of 2020 appeared to be the Hong Kong tycoon Cheung Chung-kiubut later was discovered that the real owner was Hui Ka Yanfounder from Evergrande and for years the richest man in China. And there the descent began. Just a year later, Evergrande began with non-payment of debtsbecame a symbol of the Chinese real estate collapse and ended up collapsing in 2024. Hui ended up declaring guilty of fraud and other financial crimes, while the mansion was trapped in a legal tangle: registered in the name of his ex-wife, with frozen assets and no possibility of sale. The most expensive house in the United Kingdom lost in limbo and a symbol of the real estate gap. Fernstedt at the entrance to the house The empty house and the Swede on the porch. And it is at this point in history where the image appears that changes everything to this day. While inside the mansion there are dozens of empty rooms and millions of pounds tied up, outside, on the same porch, lives Anders Fernstedta homeless Swede who has been living at the entrance for three years. Your “camp” It is made of umbrellas, flowers, broken bicycles and stuffed animals. The paradox could not be starker, because he sleeps inches from one of the most crazy expensive shelters in Europe, but separated by a door that never opens. Ironically, the only stable inhabitant of the house does not have access to it. The fall of Anders. As to the history of man Swedish, is almost as chaotic as the architecture on which it rests. Andres was a technology journalist, then he worked in horticulture, collaborated with people from the Silicon Valley environment and even worked for The Economist as a freelance fact-checker. However, a chain of failed jobs, evictions, attacks and personal losses dragged him onto the streets. He ended up landing in front of the palace purely by chance: He was looking for a covered shelter and found an empty porch. He has since converted that space into a kind of makeshift garden and permanent bedroom. The symbol of a broken city. It had an extensive Guardian report that the story of Rutland Gate sums up a huge contradiction in London. While more than 300,000 homes remain empty in England and hundreds of thousands are waiting for a house, one of the most luxurious properties in the country has been closed for years because it is, in reality, a frozen financial asset. From that perspective, it is no longer a home, it is a figure trapped in offshore companies, lawsuits and bankruptcies. And in front of that door, every night, a man sleeps what represents just the other end of the system: someone with nothing, living in the shadow of a palace that no one can use. Image | Gareth E. Kegg In Xataka | Now that the Pope is in Spain, he should visit this surgeon’s castle. Inside is the smallest church on the planet In Xataka | In 1972 Italy wanted to put an entire city in a one kilometer building. Half a century later he is still paying the consequences

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