faces

Funko literally produced more dolls than it could afford. And now it faces the biggest crisis in its history

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It seemed that this moment would never come, but it did: the Funko Pop They are in crisis. In popular culture everything is cycles, and if now it is an inevitable topic in the conversation the “superhero fatigue“, after having lived through years in which it seemed that there was going to be nothing but superheroes in the cinema, now it is the turn of the Funko Pop. All after an overwhelming success, which has turned these dolls cut from the same pattern into inevitable passengers in any conversation about the pop panorama. The data. The company recognized in its last quarterly report that there are “substantial doubts” about its ability to continue operating for the next twelve months. Funko carries $241 million in total debt while maintaining just $39.2 million in cash reserves, a ratio that puts the company on the brink of the financial abyss. In the second quarter of 2025, Funko lost $41 million, and although the third quarter showed an improvement with losses of less than one million, these contrast with the $8.9 million profit in the same period just a year earlier, in 2024. The reasons. Sales fell from 292.8 million to 250.9 million year-on-year, a 14% drop that originated mainly in the US market. In 2023, the company destroyed between 30 and 36 million dollars in excess inventory, literally sending millions of figures to landfills because it was cheaper to eliminate them than to pay for storage. The crisis has multiple culprits: the Trump administration’s trade tariffs have hit toys with the nature of Funko hard: cheap items made abroad. But the fundamental problem is structural: overproduction. Funko has systematically and for years produced more than the market has been able to absorb, believing that demand would be infinite. This has led to the company’s debt growing from 182.8 million at the end of 2024 to the current 241 million, an increase of 32% in less than a year. The signs told us. There were different crises that made it clear that problems could come for Funko Pop. In 2021, the pandemic led to a boom and the company achieved record sales of one billion dollars, an increase of 58% over 2020. But like the entire economy that emerged during the pandemic, it was temporary. The post-pandemic drop (losses in the fourth quarter of 2022 of $47 million) should have served as a warning. Then, in 2023, the massive destruction of inventory confirmed that Funko Pop was generating material beyond its capabilities. 40 different Grogu dollsIf nothing woke us up before, it should have been a warning to sailors. And what about collectors? The company crisis is not just a problem of corporate mirage: it is the collapse of a dangerous aspect of collectingwhich is done by mere accumulation of assets that it is believed that it is going to revalue in the future. We have seen exclusive figures for the San Diego Comic-Con that They were resold for 200 or 500% above their original price (and the same phenomenon repeated at the recent Comic-Con in Malaga). And we have seen sets reach impossible prices (especially mythical isWilly Wonka quele in 2022 which reached $100,000). Now, second-hand sales platforms show Funkos that sold for $200 languish at $10. Even discontinued figures can be found at bargain prices, all due to overproduction, which made the “exclusive” or “limited release” label lose its value. There are those who compare what is happening with the phenomenon of Beanie Babies, highly coveted a couple of decades ago by collectors in the United States, and whose bubble ended up exploding. Plastic mountains. AND eye on environmental impactwhich goes beyond a few (many) collectors with shelves full of products that have lost their value. The aforementioned between 1.4 and 3 million vinyl figures that were sent to landfill They were only the first phase of mass destruction. The material Funkos are made of, PVC, can remain in landfills for centuries because it is not biodegradable. And hundreds of millions of units are produced every year, which in the United States are deposited in landfills perfectly legally (in countries like France, companies were prohibited from destroying unsold non-food merchandise, forcing them to donate or recycle). Header | Photo of Z Graphica in Unsplash

NVIDIA and OpenAI know that the AI ​​bubble can burst in their faces. His solution: let dad pay for the state

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Too big to fail or, in English, “too big to fail.” It is a theory of economics and finance which argues that certain corporations, especially banks, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would have catastrophic consequences for the global economy and therefore must be rescued by governments. The speech gained traction in the 2008 financial crisis and is beginning to sound again from the mouths of NVIDIA and OpenAI, no less. Government support. At an event of WSJSarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI, stated that the company will not go public in the short term (she says until at least 2027) and that its priority is growth and investment in R&D, above profitability. The most striking part of his speech was when he said that they hope that the government will support the financing of future agreements related to data centers. That OpenAI is burning astronomical amounts of money to lead the AI ​​race is something we have been discussing for a long timebut it is the first time that they directly appeal to the state to guarantee it. Shortly after, Friar collected cable in a post on LinkedIn: “OpenAI does not seek government support for our infrastructure commitments. I used the word ‘support’ and that confused the message,” but the seed was already planted. Depreciation. OpenAI is closing deals to secure computing capacity. We have seen it with his alliance with NVIDIAwith amdwith Broadcom and more recently with amazon. The complexity of the situation is that the depreciation rates of AI chips remain uncertain. As it says Washington Post’s Gerrit de Vynck in XOpenAI is going to need the best chips to be at the forefront of the AI ​​market, but financing this demand is not the same if the life cycle of the chips is seven years, as if it is only two years. The money is flowing, the question is for how long. In this uncertain scenario, government support would act as a safety net so that banks and private equity firms would feel more comfortable and continue releasing billions for OpenAI. China will win. NVIDIA is also appealing for government involvement in subtle ways. In a Financial Times event in London, Its CEO Jenshen Huang has warned that “China is going to win the AI ​​race.” Their arguments are that China has more flexible regulation and government subsidies for the energy your data centers needthat It is not little. This energy advantage allows China to compete even if they cannot buy NVIDIA’s most powerful chips. Huang doesn’t say it directly, but it is a clear wake-up call: either you subsidize the energy our data centers need or China will win. The fear. The question has been hanging over the air for a long time: Are we witnessing a new bubble? The investor Michael Burry thinks soand he is not just any investor, he was the one who made gold when the real estate bubble burst in 2008 (the movie ‘The Big Short’ is based on his story). The thing is, Burry just bet short against NVIDIA, which recently It was valued at 5 billion dollars. Fear of the bubble continues to grow, according to a Coatue report and the number of fund managers who believe we are in a bubble increased to 54% in October, up from 37% in July this year. 48% of the S&P 500 index corresponds to AI-related stocks. Fountain: Bianco Research Numbers. The fear is not at all unfounded and all you have to do is take a look at the numbers. Account Tomás Pueyo in Uncharted Territories that the economy should be in recession, but the numbers show the opposite and AI is behind this growth. The S&P 500 index is through the roof and 48% of this growth corresponds to AI-related stocks. The share price is far above what it was in the dotcom bustall with ridiculous benefits. And that’s not all, the economic growth of the United States in 2025 is due almost entirely to the construction of data centers for AI. According to the Economist Jason Furmanwithout taking data centers into account, the GDP of the United States would have grown only 0.1% in 2025. The creator of the newsletter Today in Tabs He gave a very graphic example: “Our economy could be reduced to three AI data centers in trench coats.” Tightrope. Returning to OpenAI, its financial director assured the Financial Times that it could be profitable simply by stopping investing too aggressively since it has a “very healthy” margin structure. The thing is, they can’t do it. OpenAI needs to achieve AGI, its great promise and the only thing that could justify this insane investment. If it fails, will cause a shock wave that can impact NVIDIA, AMD, Oracle… and end up dragging down the global economy. The competition tightens, Anthropic is eating the business market’s toast and Google is not only winning every time more users with Geminireached record revenue in the last quarterwhile OpenAI lost $11.5 billion in the same period. It doesn’t look good. Images | Wikipedia In Xataka | NVIDIA will invest 100 billion in OpenAI so that OpenAI buys chips from NVIDIA. And it’s a disturbing sign

The case of mathematics shows that the hype threatens to explode in their faces

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A group of OpenAI researchers claimed to have “found solutions to 10 previously unsolved Erdös problems, and progress has been made on 11 others.” The statement seemed to indicate that GPT-5 had made an important qualitative leap in the field of mathematics, but the reality was very different. In fact, it all turned out to be an exaggeration that may harm OpenAI’s reputation going forward. what has happened. The OpenAI engineers’ claim was promising, but exaggerated. The original message from Mark Selke, one of them, was added to those of other researchers such as Boris Power—who he apologized after realizing that they had screwed up—or Sebastian Bubeck—who also ended up modifying the tweet and acknowledged the error—. The original tweet seemed to make it clear that GPT-5 had managed to solve several of the famous Erdös mathematical problems. I hadn’t really solved them. GPT-5 served to find solutions. The mathematician Thomas Bloom, who is precisely in charge of managing the website where all these open problems are managed, quickly clarified the situation. As explained on X/TwitterOpenAI’s claims were “a dramatically misinterpretation.” When he talks about “open” problems on the website, what he means is that he doesn’t know the solution, not that the problem has not been resolved. The only thing GPT-5 did was find recent research and studies that Bloom had not found. Here we must say that AI has managed to make striking mathematical advances recently: Meta AI, for example, managed to generalize the Lyapunov function. Demis Hassabis and Yann LeCun criticize OpenAI. Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, indicated in X that this event had been “shameful”, while Yann LeCun, one of the top AI managers at Meta, highlighted how OpenAI had believed its own hype sales message with the message “Hoisted by their own GPTards”, which plays on GPT and “tards” (a suffix derived from “retards”), in reference to the gullible expectations that OpenAI usually sells. Expectations are everything. Although OpenAI researchers and engineers admitted their mistake, what we see here is a dangerous pattern: one in which even the company’s own employees—or the enthusiasts who follow it—can end up falling victim to those expectations. It is very likely that internally the pressure to achieve great advances with their models is enormous, but that can lead to oversights and exaggerations like this that can cost the company’s reputation dearly. GPT-5 didn’t do badly at all. Although the role of GPT-5 in this process was exaggerated, what must be recognized is that this model demonstrated its ability to become a very valuable assistant for researchers. Thus, this AI model can search the Internet and scientific study libraries in a very powerful way, and can “find solutions” already published where academics had not yet seen them when trying to solve related problems. Research assistant. For mathematician Terence Tao, this is precisely a very striking element of these AI models: they may not solve the most complex mathematical problems, but can speed up tedious tasks such as those of the search for academic literature that helps solve them. For this expert, AI can help “industrialize” mathematics and act as a catalyst or “lubricant” for mathematicians’ hypotheses and theories. But this is important. OpenAI is a machine for creating expectations, and its CEO, Sam Altman, does not hesitate to make vague and impossible to verify promises to attract more interest in his generative artificial intelligence models. A year ago promised that the AGI would arrive “in a few thousand days”something that sounds like one of those “Musk’s promises”. risky bet. In recent weeks we have seen how OpenAI has reached unique circular financing agreements with NVIDIA, amd either Broadcom to create data centers, but the reality is that all these projects focus on one promise: that AI will be a fundamental part of our lives sooner rather than later. That can happen, of course, but if it doesn’t, the domino effect can be an absolute catastrophe given the tens of billions of dollars invested in such projects. Image | Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | If the question is whether there is an AI bubble, Sam Altman has just given the answer. One with which he wins

In full birth crisis, Japan faces an extra challenge in 2026: a superstition

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Japan is a country with several calendars. The Western, or Gregorian, is common in the Asian country, which also has its own calendar, based on the “Eras”, the reign periods of its emperors. But in the culture of the country there is still the embers of another calendar, the one based on the traditional Chinese calendar. In 2026 we can verify to what extent this embers is still alive in the Japanese archipelago. To understand why we have to go a complete cycle behind, the year 1966. That year Japan experienced A significant phenomenon: a Fall marked in birthan abrupt contrast with the historical series. If in 1965 around 1.82 million children were born, in 1966 the figure was 1.36 million, 25% less, according to Explain Japan Times. The births were immediately recovered: in 1967 they rolled 1.94 million. The collapse in birth can also be seen in the Japanese health ministry data. As explained by the international agency, the fertility rate went from 2.14 in 1965 to 1.58 in 1966, to “bounce” up to 2.23 the following year. The data was not the result of a statistical anomaly or a disaster, neither natural nor created by the human being. We can see this reflected in an increase in induced abortions in the country, which was recorded A study Posted in 1974 in the magazine Annals of Human Biology. It was the fault of a superstition. The year 1966 corresponded (approximately) to the year of the horse of fire in the cycle on which the traditional Chinese calendar is based. The calendar based on the sexagesimal cycle used in some Asian countries relates each of the 60 years of its cycle with one of Twelve animals (which includes the rat, the tiger, the dragon and also the horse), and one of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). And what is special for the year Hinoeuma? According to Japanese superstition, women born during the Fire horse year They will kill their husbands or, according to translations, will be at least the cause of the death of their spouses. This would have taken many couples of childbearing age to avoid pregnancy (or even interrupt), at a time when, as Emi Suzuki and Haruna Kashiwase explain in An article For him Data Blog of the World Bank, there was no possibility of a selective abortion depending on sex. Another important detail mentioned in its article is that the phenomenon occurred more marked in rural Japan and not so much in the urban context, which reflects the greatest follow -up that this type of superstitions used to have in the rural world. 60 years of change 60 years is a long time and Japanese society is no longer the one. Will something be repeated again similar in 2026? There are two reasons why it can be suspected that, if the fall in birth rate occurs, this will be of a minor magnitude of experienced in 66. The first reason is in the slightest weight that today has the superstitious in society. Japan lived an abrupt transition series between the end of the EDO era and the present. One of the most vertiginous progress is the one that led a country ravaged by war to become a worldwide technological innovation pole. 1966 It can be seen as a year of transition in this context, 2026 not so much. In any case, the peculiar relationship between Japanese tradition and modernity is often difficult to understand from the western point of view, so it is not convenient to venture into this direction. However, there is another fact that takes us away from that year 1966: 1.15. We said at the beginning that between 1965 and 1966 the Japanese fertility rate went from 2.1 to 1.6. The fall associated with the year Hinoeuma It was punctual and was reversed the following year, but if we looked at the set of the Historical data we see that it is a small detour in a curve with A marked trend: Japan He runs out of birth progressively. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health cited by Suzuki and Kashiwasethe Japanese fertility rate was descending throughout the second half of the twentieth century, first quickly and then slower. In 1989 the birth rate would be located again in 1.58 and has not been recovered or expected to do so. It was known as he “shock of 1.57 “ When the rate fell below the year Hinoeuma. Today the rate It is already 1.15. A few years before, in 1987, Japan celebrated a kind of “Fiesta de Quintos”, a celebration in honor of the generation that had turned 20 in the previous months, those born in Hinoeuma. The newspaper The New York Times It echoed of that celebration and superstition that had diminished the generation held that year. Then it seemed clear that the “fifths” of 86 would be the smallest promotion in history, but they would only be for a short time. In Xataka | While the population of Japan sinks irremediably, Tokyo grows. There is an explanation: Ikkyoku Shūchū Image | Evgeny Tchebotarev

Sinai is one of the most iconic places in all Christianity. Now faces the threat of touristification

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Few places in the world can boast of having the load of history and symbolism of Mount Sinaithe place where (according to the Judeo -Christian tradition) God delivered his ten commandments to Moses and where he stands The monastery that more time has managed to preserve its original function, an architectural jewel of the seventh century. Now both one and the other face radical changes while the Egypt government is committed to a new Tourist megaproject In the region. The debate is served. What happened? That tourism development and heritage conservation, two realities not always easy to combine, have unleashed a controversy in Egypt. And he has also done so in an especially sensitive area for its symbolic, cultural, historical, religious and even geopolitical value: Jabal museMount Sinai. There, where according to the Judeo -Christian tradition God delivered the tables of the commandments to Moses, a tourist megaproject called ‘Great transfiguration project’ and that the Egyptian authorities They present as “a gift” from the country “to the entire world and all religions.” Not all They see it that way. What do you want to do? The project is not new. He presented it In 2020 The President Abdelfatha el-Sisi And his name gives an idea of ​​what is his purpose. The ‘great transfiguration’ aspirates, In words of the Egyptian executive, to “develop” the city of Santa Catalinaa small population located in the Peninsula of the Sinai, “placing it in the place that corresponds to it, taking full advantage of its tourist attractions, as well as its rich archaeological and religious heritage.” The initiative includes 14 projects different in the area capable of arouseing the interest of Tourist operators and the development of the local airport. The Egyptian government It usually cite it in fact as one of his great tourist bets. Is more known? The idea is to turn Santa Catalina into A Tourism Pole Religious and environmental, with places, commercial spaces, luxury hotels, villas and infrastructure. The BBC Point out which even includes a cable car. “The project will provide all tourist and recreational services to the visitor, will promote the development of the city and its surroundings, at the same time preserving the environmental, landscape and patrimonial character. It will also contribute accommodation to those who work in their development,” celebrated In 2024 Minister Sherif el-Sherbiny. Is it just a project? No. It is already a reality underway. Over the last years the Egyptian authorities have visited the place to follow the advance of the works in situ and the transformation It is already visible In the plain of El-Raha. Moreover, at the beginning of the year the government came to affirm that the level of execution 90%. Shortly before, at the end of 2024, World Heritage Watch (WHW), very critical of development, he published A statement in which it included an image of how the environment was before and how it is now, with the buildings already advanced. Why is it controversial? For several reasons. One of the main ones is how it will affect the area, both at the environmental level and in what affects the locals. “Natural landscapes have suffered serious damage and the rights of the natives have been violated. The Bedouinos Jebelya of Santa Catalina have lost important parts of their old tribal territory. Houses have demolished. Places of special cultural sensitivity have been destroyed, such as a cemetery,” Whw complaint. “An urban world is being built around a town of nomadic roots.” The organization regrets that the Egyptian authorities “have ignored” recommendations from the United Nations and “act in a clear challenge to environmental laws” that protect the environment and the communities that populate it. Everything insists, while development captures the interest of private corporations as a popular hotel chain based in Germany. Meanwhile, whw and Other voices They warn of the negative impact for native populations, the government insists in which the megaproject will be “a gift to the world and religions.” Why is it so media? The megaproject of Mount Sinai has been on the table for some time. If in recent days he has starred in media such as The country, The BBC either The Art Newspaper It is because there is not only the population of Santa Catalina. Very close an icon of Christianity stands: the Santa Catalina Monasteryfounded in the seventh century and that has the honor of being the oldest Christian monastery inhabited by monks uninterruptedly. “Its walls and buildings are of great value for the study of Byzantine architecture and hosts a highlight collection of manuscripts and primitive icons,” Remember Unescothat in 2002 he declared him a World Heritage. It is not just that the monastery of Santa Catalina is in the same environment of the tourist megaproject. It is that over the last years he has lived his own judicial soap opera with the Egyptian State, which has raised suspicion. After years of disputes and lawsuits for the ownership of the land that occupies, in May a court He ruled that the religious enclosure is located in state land. He is recognized the right to use his soils and archaeological enclaves with religious value of his surroundings, but still the decision that has generated a remarkable dust. What does the sentence say? As you need The countrythe verdict granted to the monastery the rights of usufruct (not property) over 57 plots, but ordered to evict another 14 that were also in dispute. The problem is that part of the plots claimed by Egypt have a role in the day to day of the religious enclosure, linked to the Greek orthodox church and where monks live. “Many of the expropriated monastic properties are very old and were built and have been maintained by the monastery,” Ben Hoffler warnsfamiliar with the area. The monks will be stripped of orchards and fountains. What does one thing have to do with the other? Is it a coincidence that the sentence has arrived just when the new tourist … Read more

The Church faces the challenge of a future without priests. At the moment he already knows how to allow women to give “Mass”

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Almudena Suárez Treviño is a woman of Mass. Although not in the conventional sense of expression. She not only goes to the church of her people to listen to the priest on duty, give peace to the rest of parishioners and commune in the Eucharist. No. In addition to all that Almudena officiates religious celebrations in Catholic temples. Almost (almost) as if it were a parish priest. So much so that the bishopric of Tui-Vigo He just ratified it officially in its functions. Your case, enough less exceptional of what it seems, it is actually the finding of a much greater phenomenon: the Vocations crisis. What happened? That the bishop of Tui-Vigo has just published a APPOINTMENT LIST Officers, a kind of internal adjustment in the diocese to “alleviate the current deficiencies of attention “that causes the shortage of priests. Until there nothing weird. Nor does anything that can arouse interest beyond the affected villages. The striking, which has aroused the interest of the parishioners and means of the rest of the community and Spain (including the Galician television), is that this list of priests closes with the name of a woman: Almudena Suárez. And not just that. He Official document Proclamation for those who want to read it that this woman is authorized to direct “the celebration of the word” in seven parishes of the arciprest of Louriña (Pontevedra) as long as its presbyter is not. Actually the announcement of the bishop of Tui-Vigo is a ratification because Almudena has been having an out of the common role in his parishes. So much, in fact, that three years ago Vigo lighthouse He already dedicated him A report. Click on the image to go to Tweet. A cure woman? No. Almudena is not a priest. It is really Biologist and theologianhas a title of religious sciences, a master’s degree and at least until a few years ago she exercised as a religion teacher in an Institute in Pontevedra. That is your professional curriculum, your presentation sheet. 21 years ago, however, one of his theology professors proposed to embark on “An innovative project”an adventure that in practice would lead him to be more than a simple parishioner. What Almudena did was get involved in the Diocesan assemblies in the absence of presbyters in the Galician rural. With the approval of who then act as a bishop in the diocese of Tui-Vigo (a decision that his successors have maintained) assumed a responsibility that basically allows the parishes in the area to become more bearable the shortage of priests and the lack of vocations. But Masses officiate? No. Sundays Almudena go to a series of churches, it is located before the rest of parishioners, read, preach and fulfill in some way the role that a pastor should play, but does not officiate a liturgy. What it does has another name: word celebration. “We arrived, we meet and the first part of the celebration, which is called the word liturgy, is exactly the same as in a mass. We ask for forgiveness, the reading is done, I proclaim the gospel and preach,” Explain to The voice. “We profess faith, pray the creed and do the requests.” That does not mean that it is a kind of priestess or that it takes care of the same rites as a priest. “I want to make it clear that I don’t trade masses”, insists The woman before clarifying that when it comes to communing she is only responsible for distributing the hosts that a pastor has previously consecrated, a task that the Church does not allow her to assume. By providing that service Almudena facilitates life to the priest in charge of the seven villages, serving as support. The two alternate on Sundays in the churches, so that a week the parishioners have Mass and the following, celebration. How do she carry it? Initially he confesses that it was difficult to take pass through his family’s misgivings to “how people would respond.” After spinning, however, he decided to accept the offer and assume a new role in the diocese. “I thought it was a good opportunity, since we are always complaining about women that they do not give us power in the church. I thought it could be good for all of us,” confesses. “In the end I threw myself into the pool and it was as if I touched the lottery.” It makes that more than 20 years, a period during which it has gone through different places where assures having encountered the acceptance and “affection” of the parishioners. “I was the first and I am the only one with appointment (from the bishopric of Tui-Vigo). I have it since 2004. What happens is that this time it has been more evident because, for the first time, breaking glass roofs, the appointment was published on the Bishopric website,” he celebrates. Is it a unique case? No. The role of Almudena may not be common in southern Galicia, but if we expand the focus to the rest of Spain we verify that there are more lay people who exert the same function as her. Including women too. In 2018 The voice revealed Also that to the north of the community, in Outes, there was a group of neighbors who were responsible for ceremonies before the shortage of priests. “It is not the Mass of women, as they say, they are women who make the Sunday celebration for the entire community,” I clarified The parish priest. There are also examples in Burgos, Tarragona either Lionamong other points of The emptied Spain. “The priests in charge, generally, of a good number of rural parishes, cannot go every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist in all of them, so they sometimes have a lay or religious who, on Sundays in which the pastor is absent, goes to direct ‘the celebration of the word’”, They explain from the archdiocese of Oviedo. The Catholic Church in fact offers Formations for laity. A … Read more

The most cool film producer of the moment faces a dilemma: either Milmillonaria or reject the AI

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A24, the producer who has turned the artistic horror (which for a time has been called detailed ‘high terror‘) and the experimental drama in box office phenomena is found in a Existential crossroads. Or accept the millions of risk capital companies or stay faithful to the principles that have made it a rarity within Hollywood: A producer with ethical and aesthetic principles. Humble origins. Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges founded A24 in 2012 with just 20 million dollars. Twelve years later, they were Hollywood envy: they had a brand valued at 3.5 billion dollarsthat transcended production work to become almost a cultural movement. While Hollywood embarked on an exploitation of repetitive franchises, they opted for authors such as Ari Aster, the Sadfie or Barry Jenkins brothers, who gave them their first successes: ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Midsommar’, ‘Uncut Gems’ or ‘Moonlight’. The total turnaround. His first films made A24 prestige and money win, but the real bombing came with ‘All at once everywhere‘, an existential tragicomedy with time trips of 2022, with a modest budget of 15 million dollars and that raised 140 worldwide, and He took seven Oscarsmany of them of the main ones. A24 was in the spotlight, with a cult of the brand that was not born in a marketing agency, but completely organic. In Xataka A face washing for the academy: how A24 has made Aura cinema "Indi triumphs in the Oscars But with success (we talk about an ambitious multimedia plan that has led A24 to organize immersive experiences OA Relauncar classic exhibition rooms), the problems also arrived: those 3.5 billion value demand constant growth, international expansion, and of course, processes optimization. Money calls money (already problems). A24 did not want to become a Lionsgate, acquired by Warner. Or worse: a blumhouse, an indie terror icon that since it was acquired by Universal was immersed in The same dynamics of Majors of billing a franchise after another. It is inevitable: no matter how much production conglomerates guarantee creative independence to their studies, decisions go to the committees, obsessed with process optimization. And that is where capital funds enter and, hand in hand, the threat of AI. Enter Thrive Capital. Specifically, who appeared was Joshua Kushner with his Thrive Capital Fundoffering offering 75 million dollars without the creative limitations that the money from corporations usually brings. There would be no pressures to make franchises or any other obligation, and his history corroborated it: Thrive had financed Instagram before purchase of Facebook, for example. The small print, yes, is unnegotiable: Thrive Capital is One of the largest investors in OpenAIhundreds of millions have been left in chatgpt. And in that sense, Thrive does not hide their letters: they are an openly pro-one background and believe that this technology will transform the content of the coming years. And although Thrive at the moment does not press to A24, it seems clear that he will do so in the future if the producer resists incorporating the AI ​​into her processes. {“Videid”: “X86AO51”, “Autoplay”: True, “Title”: “‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, Trailer”, “Tag”: “Eventhing Everywhere All at Once”, “Duration”: “162”} The controversy of ‘everything at once everywhere’. The arrival of tools that use artificial intelligence to Hollywood is absolutely unstoppable. And in fact, a pair of background within A24 raised flirting with AI who found themselves with some rejection of a sector of their audience. On the one hand, ‘everything at once everywhere’ He used Runway AI To create special effects: the use was minimal, but it caught the attention for the usually “artisanal” character of A24 cinema. The controversy was accentuated when it was learned that some ‘Civil War’ posters had been designed with AI. An essential dilemma. Before A24 several routes are now opened, which will undoubtedly determine something even more important than their income: Your identity. You can try to normalize the use of AI and gradually incorporate it into your processes as already do Majors that delegate issues as part of marketing, advances and others to AI. Or they can become the last resistance to AI if their investors allow it: they would align with some of the most prestigious directors of their team, such as Robert Eggers or Ari Aster, whose long and traditional documentation processes and creation of films such as ‘La Witch’ or ‘The Lighthouse’ become essential identity elements for A24. He Growth between unexpected and uncontrolled A24 She has turned the producer into a balancer between the indie, the traditional, and the hug to the latest Hollywood production trends. Perhaps the story you have left to live at A24 is the last bastion of a way of understanding cinema that is increasingly part of the past. In Xataka | An AI has created the script of a film that precisely speaks of creativity in the cinema. A room refuses to release it (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news The most cool film producer of the moment faces a dilemma: either Milmillonaria or reject the AI It was originally posted in Xataka by John Tones .

The horchata is one of the staples of the Spanish summer. Now faces an existential threat in Valencia: pests

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As soon as the heat squeezes in summer, there is no more emblematic image in the Valencian Community than terraces full of high and cold horchata vessels: few drinks better represent the Mediterranean identity. But after that refreshing tradition a crop as fragile as essential is hidden: the chufa. A stain expanding. For years, this small tuber has been the economic engine of much of the Valencian garden. Its cultivation, located mainly in L’Horta Nord, not only gives flavor to summer, but also work, identity and landscape. However, As denounced by the Valencian Association of Farmers (Ava-Asaja)the cultivation of the chufa is going through an unprecedented crisis: despite the high demand and the stability of prices at origin, profitability collapses. In data. The situation is clear: in just a decade, production costs have risen 40 %, while productivity has fallen by 25 %, As explained in the press releaseAs a consequence, this year a thousand hanegades have been cultivated less than the previous one, which represents a 15 % reduction in the surface dedicated to the chufa. The Chufa de Valencia is cultivated in some 16 municipalities of L’Horta Nord, where They produce approximately 5.3 million kilos of chufa Dry a year, of which 90 % have a denomination of origin. In total, the crop occupies about 600 hectares with an estimated production of 7,300 tons. Although the figures may seem modest nationwide, the chufa is a characteristic culture of the area and key to hundreds of Valencian families. A plague with fifteen years of history. One of the main factors that Chufa production is putting in check is the disease known as “black spot.” This condition, which is manifested in the skin of the tuber, reduces its commercial value and multiplies the destroys (product that must be discarded in the dryers for not complying with the standards). First detected for fifteen years – coinciding with the first plantations of African chufa seeds on Valencian soil, According to Ava-Asaja-, the disease is still well characterized. In statements collected by Europa PressThe Agrarian Organization regrets that the Ministry of Agriculture has not provided the sector with “sufficient information about the type of disease, the causes of its introduction or the effective methods to combat it”. Therefore, they ask the Valencian Institute for Agricultural Research (IVIA) to intensify their studies to improve the control of this plague, whose incidence is increasing. A weed that sweeps everything. To the threat of black spot is added a more recent but equally worrying problem: the appearance of an invasive weed in the Chufa fields. As Ava-Assaja has denounced-In information also collected by Levante-EMV-, This species could have been introduced through chufas from third countries prosecuted in laundries of the Valencian garden. The difficulty of this problem is that the weed has the same vegetative cycle as the chufa, which prevents using herbicides without damaging the crop. In addition, its manual extraction is ineffective, since unmovered fragments can re -root the following year. “Being a more vigorous plant than cultivation, you can infest whole fields,” The Agrarian Organization to the Valencian media has warned. The result is devastating: lower performance, more manual work without results and, in many cases, fields that must cease to be temporarily cultivated by the impossibility of eradicating the plague. The future of crop, at stake. Given this scenario, Ava-Asaja has asked administrations an urgent and sustained action plan in time. The proposal includes short -term measures to contain immediate damage, as well as a long -term strategy to guarantee the viability of the crop: new phytosanitary solutions, biological research, control of imported material and aids to compensate for cost overruns. Antonio José Gimeno, responsible for the Sector of Chufa in Av-Asaja, The Levante has been clear in the middle: “If the citizens want to have a living garden, crops such as the chufa must have a dignified and lasting profitability. And that necessarily goes through solving problems as pressing as the black spot and this invasive herb that are reducing productivity to historical minimums.” But is this crisis reversible? Yes, but time runs. The crop still has a future thanks to its economic value and the growing national and international demand. Horchata, healthy eating, natural cosmetics … All these sectors trust the Valencian Chufa. But without production, there will be no raw material. As Gimeno said: “Little will it serve that demand and price are maintained if we do not manage to get sufficient production in the fields.” A warning beyond the chufa. The chufa crisis is not an isolated case. It is the sign of what can happen when the primary sector does not have the investment, research and policies necessary to protect it. What happens today with this tuber can be repeated tomorrow with other crops if it does not act on time. Keeping alive the garden is not just a matter of profitability: it is preserving a landscape, a way of life and a cultural heritage that has defined the Valencian Community for centuries. Image | Dorieo Xataka | Every summer fires ravage to Spain. There is a usual guilty that goes unnoticed: old tractors

South Korea has been celebrating its particular “bullfights”. And now he faces the same dilemma as Spain

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Spain is not the only country that debate the future of bulls. More than 10,000 kilometers away, in South Korea, politicians, animalists and livestock are engaged in a similar discussion: yes or no to the runs? There the shows are not exactly equal to those of Spain, there are no bullfighters as such, no light costumes, nor picadores or flags, but competitions based basically on violence and on which It is not strange that animals end up bleeding. Perhaps South Korea is far away and its cultural tradition is different from ours, but The debate that is cooked in his society is not so different from that of Spain. Bulls in South Korea? Exact. South Korea may be known for its technology, The K-Popits gastronomy and (sadly) a demographic crisis record, but it is also a bull country. At least it is part of its territory, such as CheongdoGyeongsang del Norte, where there is a bullfighting stadium with capacity for thousands of people and that each spring welcomes A festival Very popular in the region. It is not a novelty or a fashion. In local folklore are references to runs dating at least of the 16th century. And how are they? Quite different from what we are used to seeing in Spain. South Korea presume that, unlike what happens in many other countries, including Spain, in its places animals do not die. Nor do people who deal with them. The reason is that the show has Little to see With ours. There is sand and a square, but in it a bullfighter and a bull are not measured, but two bulls that face each other, sometimes hired by their owners with the help of rings that are stuck when the young have Just half a year. And when does it end? The fight ends when one of the animals turns around and shows its back to the opponent in retirement, without the need for any opponents to end up sacrificed. The show is somewhat unpredictable, although it usually adjusts to some guidelines. As needed Korea Heraldthe usual thing is that the game lasts about 30 minutes and divided into six assaults, half a dozen “acts” during which bulls are rammed with each other. “In Spain it is a game between a human and a bull and in the end the bull dies. In Korea we are proud of not killing him and never dies in a fight,” claims The mayor of Cheongdo, Lee Seung-Yool, in an interview with NPR. “We simply let them express themselves and when one loses the forces he turns around and shows the spine. The bull says he has finished and the fight concludes.” Perfect then? It depends on who you ask. As is the case In Spain or Other countriesin Korea it has emerged The debate whether or not they should be kept around Cheongdo. The reason? Their detractors are convinced that it is a clear case of animal abuse, that the bulls suffer in the runs and the show is harmful to the little ones. Its defenders They hold However, bulls are care and its fights are a South Korean tradition. A percentage: 40%. To support their position, the first (critics with runs) take advantage of a series of studies. One of themprepared by Animal Liberation Wave and Last Chance for Animals (LCA), suggests that bulls are often reluctant to participate in fights. According to their data, of 131 runs organized between February and June in several counties of the country, 54 ended up canceled or shortened because the animals refused to collaborate in the show. “The fact that 40% of bulls flatly reject the struggle and the rest require coercion shows that it is a form of abuse,” reason Kim Doh-Hui, from one of the associations. Sometimes the farmers cause the struggles by pulling strongly from the rings, which, as the animalists have verified, in some cases derives in serious nasal trauma. Animal Liberation Wave has also made A survey which shows that 70% of respondents are concerned about bets that revolve around runs and 62.1% believe that children and adolescents should not see them. The study was done in the southeast region, with a greater ragame of bullfighting. Another report It reveals that 77 fights, 48 ended with the animals bleeding. To those data, animalists add A final reflection: Modern shows are “a form of entertainment for profit disguise of tradition.” “It’s an ancient tradition”. The thing changes if we talk to the defenders of the runs. Lee Kang-Min, an amateur who has been going to Cheongdo for years explained Recently, NPR that bulls are “an ancient tradition” of the nation and sees nothing unnatural in the shows. “The bulls fight when they take them to graze. The fights then became part of our culture.” Around the games there is also a lucrative business: that of bets, which as clarified The chain can develop legally, although with limited amounts. From the street to politics. The debate in Korea has achieved sufficient impact so that it can be followed through national media, but also foreigners, such as The New York Times either The Economistand has crystallized in concrete initiatives. Those who advocate ending the runs have launched a signature collection campaign that already exceeds the 45,000 supportsabout the 50,000 necessary for Parliament to review the proposal. Some municipalities have already chosen to stop financing shows with bulls. South Korea has a law of animal protection that dates back in the early 90s and prohibits hurting animals for entertainment, but leaves the activities that can be considered “folk games” out of that umbrella. Images | Last Chance for Animals (LCA) In Xataka | The great dilemma of South Korea: in an increasingly aging country to become old is a condemnation of poverty

US faces the dilemma impossible to or sell hardware to China … or not sell it to them and develop it themselves

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The United States is at a historic crossroads in regards to sell GPU to China. And not only does it have to do with the economical and with which Nvidia swells his income statement, which calculates that it will be 15,000 million less this year If you follow the prohibition of selling your avant -garde chips. It has to do with the future of the artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. The context. Nvidia has achieved something that seemed impossible: that Trump’s government let him market again His H20 chips in China. Although the GPUS were Designed to skip restrictions that fell on the H100 and H200, the United States added New restrictions in April. They paralyzed exports to China even though there were already agreements with Customers such as Tencent or Alibaba. With the relaxation of measures, Nvidia and its accounts breathe relieved, but the United States still has to make difficult long -term decisions. The United States plays it … do whatever. The United States can gain time compared to China limiting the sale of avant -garde chips, as it has been doing. However, this implies that their companies win less money, greatly reducing their global turnover. And is that the Chinese market, in 2024 and with restrictions, It was 13% of Nvidia sales. In addition, the world uses NVIDIA GPUs almost as the only option has advantages: that the North American country controls the entire Stack technological used to train IAS and to execute the expensive inference, fields that Google also dominates with its tpu. China at the height. Huang himself, in a recent interview with Bloomberg, said that the power of the technology developed by Huawei is “Probably comparable to an H200“From Nvidia, superior to H20. And they want to market it outside their borders, an intention that has motivated a offensive by the US to prevent China from exporting its chips to other countries. If exports do not find clippers, Chinese laboratories can continue focused on their plan: give away the thinking of the next decades and create global dependence. If you cut it, it already has good examples of what happens: The shot of the sanctions has come out of the cylinder head, A gift that cannot be allowed again. A fearsome potential called Huawei. The possibility that Huawei becomes a huge opponent for Nvidia raises a huge loss of income for the US company. Just against that are Fighting already from the American government: Cut Huawei’s wings into the global market before it is competitive. Huawei has already had time to develop his chip Ascend 910d and 920with SMIC as a great ally. He Historical Mate 70 processor He showed that Huawei usually gets what he pursues. And according to Huang, if China wants military autonomy with AI, You will have to develop your own technologybecause for this task, they cannot trust American developments. A Deepseek moment in hardware … inevitable? All this leaves us the unknown if in hardware we can see A moment Deepseek. China would not have to potentiate Nvidia’s proposal, as Deepseek R1 did not exceed O1 in reasoning, but yes, Through ingenuity and new paradigmsdifferentiate in aspects such as price or efficiency. Arrive on time. The big question that can be asked about NVIDIA in China is whether the approval to sell again the H20 arrives on time. According to Reutersthe beginning of the massive distribution of Huawei 910C was set for May. According to the news agency, the Chinese giant graphics card achieves performance comparable to that of NVIDIA H100 thanks to combining two 910b processors with advanced techniques. More software is needed. Huawei can have the hardware, but unlike what he has achieved in inference, where in theory Yes are at Nvidiayou have to prove to be able to compete in training software. This is something that could do by the hand of Moore Threads. If the United States wants to maintain its technology as the global standard for Ia, it must hurry. As the analyst Paul Triolo told Reuters, the restrictions at April H20 were going to mean that the Huawei Ascend 910C became “the hardware chosen by the developers of AI models (Chinese) and to display the inference capacity.” Image | Nvidia | Dominic Kurniawan In Xataka | China’s three master moves to “independent” technologically from the West: raw materials, chips, AI

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