failed

France wants to replace Windows with Linux. Extremadura and Munich tried it before, and both failed

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On April 8, 20226, the French Digital Interministerial Directorate (DINUM) advertisement that will migrate your jobs from Windows to Linux. He ordered all ministries to present a plan by the fall with the aim of eliminating dependencies on non-European software. The announcement in fact goes beyond changing Windows for Linux: it also affects collaborative tools, antivirus, AI, databases, virtualization or telecommunications. It is, on paper, the largest operation to replace proprietary software with free software that a Western State has ever attempted. And if the history of this type of projects teaches us anything, it is that many have ended in failure. French sovereignty. It is not that France is a lover of free software; What has happened is that the relationship with the United States has changed. Trump’s tariffs accelerated a debate that had been postponed for years: To what extent is it sustainable to depend on the US digital infrastructure? French companies like OVHCloud and Scaleway did not stop growing in 2025, but France has already taken some previous steps recently. In January 2026, announced the plan to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with its own video conferencing platform, called Visiowith the aim that its 2.5 million employees would use it. At the moment 40,000 of them are using it, and it remains to be seen if the deployment ends up being total. This was LinEx, the Linux distribution derived from Debian that was used in public organizations in Extremadura. Spain tried it in 2002. The Junta de Extremadura is one of the most famous cases of attempted replace Windows with Linux in public administration. In 2001 it launched LinEx, a Linux distribution based on Debian, and tried to implement it massively in the educational environment and in the health system of the autonomous community. That was imitated in other Spanish regions: Andalusia had Guadalinex, Valencia had LliureX, Madrid had MAX, Galicia had Galinux, Catalonia had Linkat and Castilla La Mancha had Molinux. All of these projects proposed an alternative to the absolute dominance of Windows on the desktops of public officials, and they all failed, but the biggest failure was the one that promised the most: that of LinEx. LinEx myths and realities. Although this distribution worked reasonably in the aforementioned education and health environments, it never fully penetrated the general public administration of the Autonomous Community. In 2011 the project was transferred to a state foundation due to budget cuts and by then only 1% of positions of the Extremaduran autonomous administration used free software. The final blow came when SAP, which managed the community’s medical records system, decided to stop supporting Linux. That made this body return to Windows, and in fact in 2024 the Board formally eliminated the obligation to use gnuLinEx. Rise and fall of Linux in Munich. another case even more famous At the European level it was Munich. In 2003, the city council of this German city announced that it would migrate 14,000 Windows computers to LiMux, its Debian-based Linux distribution. In 2013 the project seemed a success: there were 12,000 migrated computers and theoretically more than 11 million euros had been saved in licenses and other costs. However, in 2014, complaints about loss of productivity and debate began. ended sharply: At the end of 2017, the leaders of Munich decided to migrate 29,000 PCs of their employees to Windows 10 from LiMux. The initial migration was never complete, and in many cases there was a mix of Windows and Linux systems to complete the processes, something that seemed inefficient and never managed to eliminate the dependency on Windows and especially on legacy applications. But there are silent successes. LinEx and LiMux failed in Spain and Germany, but there is precedent to show that abandoning Windows in favor of Linux can work. It proves it GendBuntua version of Ubuntu that was implemented in the French National Gendarmerie. This organization was already a pioneer in the adoption of the OpenOffice.org office suite in 2005, and since 2008 the plan was to abandon Windows in favor of its own Linux distribution. In June 2024, GendBuntu runs on 103,164 jobswhich represents 97% of the IT park of this organization. This has also saved around two million euros per year on licenses, and has reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) by 40%. Another promising example: Schleswig-Holstein. This German state began its migration from Windows and Office to Linux and LibreOffice in 2021. In early 2026 had already completed almost 80% of the transition in its 30,000 jobs and according to its data that allowed savings about 15 million euros in licenses only in 2026. A one-time investment of 9 million euros is planned to complete 20% of the process, which is still tied to certain specialized applications and will therefore take a little more time. This is the model that is closest to the French initiative: gradual migration and above all a political will that is maintained among the legislatures that are in power. What distinguishes success from failure. Cases that work share three characteristics. The first, gradual and phased migration, not sudden and massive. The second, real internal technical support that goes beyond political declarations. And the third (and probably the most important), a sustained will beyond an electroral cycle. Those who fail share three others: trying to migrate everything at once, underestimating the cost of legacy applications and depending on the project not changing government, which certainly contributed, for example, to the failure of LinEx. A colossal challenge. Installing Linux on a computer is trivial today and it is true that today the learning curve has been significantly reduced and its use is very similar to that of Windows or macOS. The real problem is in the applications that run on top of it. In public administration there is often critical software tailored for Windows, forms that only work in certain browsers (including the old Internet Explorer), management systems that do not have equivalents in Linux or vendors that simply do … Read more

In 2014 Amazon failed miserably with its Fire Phone. AI has given him the perfect excuse to go back to his old ways

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In 2014 Jeff Bezos was still the absolute boss of Amazon. And it occurred to him that Amazon should have its own smartphone, so the company ended up launching the fire phone. That device boasted a 3D screen that overheated the battery and a catalog without the apps that everyone used, but it also it was very expensive for the time ($649). It was canceled 14 months later and became one of the most notorious failures of the recent history of technology. Now Amazon wants to try again with a project codenamed Transformer. Same idea, different time. In reality, the underlying concept has not changed much since 2014. Here Amazon’s goal is to have its own device that has Alexa as an integral part of the experience, but that is also a gateway for purchases on Amazon, connects with Prime Video or its food delivery services. Or what is the same: it is the perfect mobile for those who make their lives revolve around the Amazon ecosystem. And be careful, because what failed in the past may have a chance now. AI as an argument. The Transformer project wants to integrate AI functions to ensure that with it we do what theoretically will end up arriving sooner or later: that we simply ask for what we need so that the phone takes care of everything. Alexa would be a central component of that experience here, and the advantage that Amazon has is that it has the infrastructure and ecosystem that should allow doing something like this. AI agents begin to demonstrate their potential —we are seeing it with OpenClaw—and if Amazon can make that shopping experience easier, you may have a winning idea here. A team with tables. The project is led by J. Allard from an internal unit called ZeroOne in which the objective is to create “revolutionary” devices. Allard was one of the fathers of the original Xbox at Microsoft and also of the Zune, the music player that tried to compete with the iPod and failed. But above him is Panos Panay, who headed the Surface division at Microsoft before joining Amazon. They are certainly two veterans with a lot of experience in the hardware field and know first-hand what it is like to compete with the market leaders from disadvantaged positions. Now they have a unique opportunity to shine, but the challenge is colossal. The ‘dumbphone’ as a back door. One of the most curious twists of the project is that Amazon is not only exploring a conventional smartphone, but also a “dumbphone.” That is, a simple and minimalist mobile with limited functions inspired by the Light Phone and its interface “dumbed down“. The argument is striking: here it is not about trying to unseat the iPhone as the main device, and instead Amazon could position it as “a second phone.” Mobile phones with limited functions represented 15% of global mobile sales in 2025 according to Counterpoint Researchand although it is a small market, Amazon may have an interesting entry point there. But. The context, however, complicates everything. Amazon comes to this project at a particularly difficult time for mobile hardware. The number of smartphones distributed (“sold”) will probably fall more than ever in 2026, and in fact the preliminary descent of that figure is 13% due especially to the RAM crisis. AI hardware is the holy grail. To this we must add the fact that for now no AI hardware device has succeeded, and those who have tried have been an absolute failure. The Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 have been painful lessons for an industry that now certainly wants to try again—let them tell it to OpenAI and its alliance with Jony Ive—. The project is underway, but it is not ruled out that Amazon ends up canceling it if the strategy changes or the numbers do not add up. A golden opportunity. But what is certain is that Amazon has indisputable advantages in getting it right. For example, a service ecosystem with hundreds of millions of active users who already shop, watch content, and use Alexa, even if it’s just to set timers. The multi-million dollar investment in Anthropic and a relationship increasingly narrower with OpenAI they can also be key in this project. The question, of course, is whether an AI phone can really convince us to switch phones. And Amazon wants to have the answer to that question. In Xataka | NVIDIA is doing better than ever. And there is also more competition ready to eat it than ever.

Hispasat wanted to be the “Spanish Starlink” and connect rural Spain. It has failed miserably

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At the beginning of 2023 the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation launched the UNICO Rural Demand program with a clear objective: connect 1.3 million homes and companies in rural Spain to the internet thanks to Hispasat’s satellite internet services. Two and a half years later the project has proven to be an absolute failure. The question, of course, is why. The promise. Everything seemed fantastic in that project. The idea: offer a 100 Mbps connection at a price of 35 euros per month in those areas where there was no access to networks of at least 50 Mbps. To achieve this, satellite connections from Hispasat were chosen, and the project had a budget of 76.3 million in aid. From objectives to realities. The objective was for the entire population of Spain to have access to 100 Mbps networks in 2025, and this program wanted solve this challenge for rural areas in which there was no access to lines of more than 50 Mbps. According to government estimates, the project would cover up to 1.3 million homes, but after all this time we have known the number of installations: 11,486. It is a spectacular failure. Problems from the beginning. The Government awarded Hispasat —recently purchased by Indra— this contract to provide the wholesale service. 42 companies would be in charge of distribution and installation, but as soon as the project began, there was a big problem. Eurona, which was theoretically going to be the main installer of the service (65% of the registrations would be its own), entered bankruptcy proceedings and sold his assets in Spain Serenae. Telecos did not help. The large operators have not been especially proactive, they say in five daysand they have preferred to promote their fiber or rural 5G solutions even if that meant longer waits for users. The profitability for the operators was very limited, and is estimated at around 75 euros per registration. Telefónica, which should have been the main protagonist of the project, has barely accounted for 10% of the registrations, and curiously small local companies such as Celver, Gesico or Bluetel have doubled that share. Starlink is a lot of Starlink. Added to all this is the offer of the Starlink service, which is technologically very superior and also with a more attractive price. For 29 euros per month it is possible to access speeds of up to 300 Mbps and, above all, latencies of between 25 and 40 ms thanks to its constellation of Low Orbit (LEO) satellites at an altitude of 550 km. Hispasat satellites are geostationary, they orbit at 36,000 km high and this causes latencies much higher than about 600 ms, which means that videoconferences or online games cannot be held reliably in good conditions. And now what. The failure has been so resounding that Hispasat has had to return 22 million euros of the total public aid. Of those 76.3 million that came from European Next Generation funds, 36 million were destined to finance the registration costs (installation, antenna, equipment, etc.). The remaining 40.3 million were theoretically invested in the marketing of a service that registered 128,120 eligibility consultations, of which 75,733 met and only the aforementioned 11,486 were executed. The figures are absolutely terrible. Spain emptied, Spain poorly connected. This fiasco adds to that of other programs such as subsidies UNICO 5G Active Networks who have also had to face very serious obstacles. In March, the call 2024 of said program with aid worth 161.3 million euros to continue extending 5G infrastructure in municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants. According to the Government of Spainthis project will allow 326,000 people in small towns to have access to these networks. The funds will also be used to expand 5G coverage across 6,800 km of the road network. In Xataka | SpaceX changed the space economy. Now he wants to do the same with the cost of satellites

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

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

The DGT assumes that something has failed in the arrival of the V-16 beacons

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The DGT’s V-16 beacons will replace the emergency triangles in 2026. The DGT confirmed just a few days ago that there will be no extensions or delays of any kind. It is something that was already approved in 2021 and that we should all have in our cars. Or, at least, that was the idea. Because the DGT itself assumes that the communication has not been correct. The V-16 beacons. They will be mandatory starting January 1, 2026. As we have been telling you in Xatakathis device will be in charge of signaling our breakdowns or accidents on the road starting next year. In fact, it will be prohibited to use triangles as it is understood that they pose a risk of being run over when installing them. Despite the criticism, Pere Navarro, director of the DGT, confirmed that there will be no valid extensions. The only future from January 1, 2026 is that we all carry a connected V-16 beacon in our car (because not all of them are valid). Their defense is that it is something that has been approved for almost five years so it should not take us by surprise. However, there are voices within Traffic that sing the mea culpa. “Nor we have done the job well”. The words are from Montserrat Estaca, head of the Telematics Area of ​​the DGT, in an interview with 20Minutes. Estaca thus responded to a question that focused on how the imposition of the connected V-16 beacon has caught many drivers by surprise: “Well, look, we have been around since 2021-2022, but it is true that there are many, many citizens who are unaware that the V16 beacon is going to be mandatory from 01/01/2026. You ask people, your acquaintances, and it is true that there are many people who do not, therefore, “We should sing a little mea culpa that we have not done the job well or we have not sufficiently informed citizens of this new measure” By the media. Until now, the only way in which the DGT has contacted drivers has been through the media. And it is only with the publication of the news or the interviews that those responsible have been giving that those affected have been able to find out about the obligation to carry a connected V-16 beacon from the first day of 2026. And the DGT has not issued any direct communication to drivers. It is one of the criticisms that has taken the most force. Traffic has not sent a letter explaining the new obligation as it did, for example, when environmental labeling was activated. The head of the Telematics Area of ​​the DGT also recognizes 20Minutes who has no knowledge that this is going to occur. “Three or four euros”. It is another point where Estaca has placed emphasis. The V-16 connected light, which is sold mostly between 40 and 50 eurosthey are not expensive. For the DGT, it must be taken into account that it is a device that has guaranteed connectivity for at least 12 years. If the money from a first payment is amortized over more than a decade, the annual expense is very low, according to the DGT. “If it is divided by 12 years (the purchase expense), it comes out to 3-4 euros per year and if you look at the expense of maintaining a car (insurance, gasoline, ITV…) it is not that much. Since, the DGT guarantees the connectivity of the V16 for 12 years, in addition, if you change vehicles, you can take the beacon from one vehicle to another as you could do with the triangles” 80 euros if you don’t want. Estaca has also not confirmed whether there will be a grace period before Traffic officers begin to fine for the absence of this V-16 beacon connected to our cars. And anyone who lacks it faces a fine of 80 euros, the same one that is currently imposed if a driver does not have the triangles. Furthermore, it must be remembered that the use of triangles will be prohibited and that a driver who installs them may be fined for it. The DGT insists that the risk of being run over is very high and has already changed the traffic protocols. what should we do in case we have to report a fault. Sometimes, It is now mandatory to stay inside the car to wait for the requested help. “When they work at their worst”. Estaca also accepts that daylight is not something that suits the V-16 beacons that will be mandatory next year. “In natural light, at least it reaches the same as a triangle, that is, 50 meters. It’s like the turn signals, you see them from a certain distance, therefore, that is the minimum that the V16 has, the turn signal light and from there on up. (…) Yes, the V16, in more critical conditions, are more visible, when they work the worst they are in daylight” This, precisely, was one of the criticisms that experts in road safety have been carrying out on these connected V-16 lights. The visibility generated with such a light when weather conditions are good is nothing short of questionable. Also in changes in grade or sharp curves, but from Traffic they cling to the connectivity of the beacon and the idea that this product expands the visibility of a breakdown to the digital spectrum through the car’s navigator. Photo | Shen Liu and DGT In Xataka | The “made in China” business of the DGT’s V-16 beacons: homologating the same product 24 times and selling it under different brands

Spacex has bought the spectrum that Echostar failed to use: the new space race is no longer to get to space, it is to control it

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Spacex He has bought the Telecommunications spectrum of Echostar for 17,000 million dollars. Thus eliminates its main competitor in direct mobile satellite services. Why is it important. This operation Turn Spacex the great dominator of satellite mobile connectivity. It will no longer compete with land operators, but will control the entire value chain, from the rocket to the phone. Spacex has paid 8.5 billion in cash and another 8.5 billion in shares for the AWS-4 and H-Block spectrum licenses of Echostar. In addition, it will cover additional 2 billion in interest payments of the Echostar debt until November 2027. The movement eliminates the Direct-To-Cell constellation project of Echostar, which had been the main Starlink competitor in satellite mobile services. Charlie Ergen, founder of Echostar, has sold all his spectrum after decades to accumulate it without developing his own network. In Xataka Satellites are becoming some of the luminous objects in heaven. It is a serious problem In detail. Spacex will use these frequencies to Develop your next generation constellation Starlink Direct-to-Cell, which promises “a remarkable change in performance” with respect to the current one. Technology works with existing LTE phones without the need for hardware, firmware or special applications. It currently operates with more than 600 satellites offering 4G coverage to more than six million users on five continents. The backdrop. This purchase arrives just before the Apple event, where the new ones will be presented iPhone 17. There are those who speculate that Apple could reconsider their association with GlobalStar after seeing how Spacex eliminates competitors buying the entire spectrum available. Between the lines. Spacex does not move by investment return to use, but by strategic domain. As you have already done in satellite connectivity by lowering prices aggressively to stop Amazon Kuiper, now it seeks to completely control the satellite mobile market before mature. Yes, but. The new AWS-4 and H-Block frequencies are not compatible with current phones. Spacex will need manufacturers as Apple to include them in future devices. If Apple does not cooperate, Musk has already threatened to create his own “Starlink” phone. {“Videid”: “X8ywtec”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “First video call with Starlink Direct To Cell”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “22”} And now what? This operation leaves competitors as AST Spacemobile in a specially complicated position. AST needs to raise 400 million in the next few weeks just to stay afloat, Spacex already dominates in launch speed and satellite development. The transaction also solves the FCC investigations on Echostar. With this sale and the previous one of another AT&T spectrum package for 23,000 million, Echostar seems to go to a gradual settlement of its operations. Outstanding image | Spacex In Xataka | Spacex has just published unpublished images of the “Rostized” Starship. A unique perspective of his shock after the toughest reentry (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news Spacex has bought the spectrum that Echostar failed to use: the new space race is no longer to get to space, it is to control it It was originally posted in Xataka by Javier Lacort .

The vision vision want to succeed where Apple’s vision failed. At the moment they do it in the most important: the weight

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The living Chinese manufacturer is anniversary, and to celebrate it has just presented in China a surprise and very promising product: its new mixed and augmented reality glasses, the LIVE VISION Discovery Edition. This launch involves the debut of this manufacturer in a category that will be encouraged a lot in the coming months, but makes it ahead of its competitors in the Android market, especially to the Google/Samsung Alliance. But it also does it with an argument of the most striking: the weight. More compact, lighter, more comfortable? Thus, we are facing glasses that are clearly inspired by the Vision Pro of Apple and that are very similar both externally and in their benefits, but that exceed them in that section notably. Thus, Apple’s glasses weigh between 600 and 650 grams depending on the band and adjustment pad, but These vision weigh 398 grams and are 26% more compact In dimensions “that the average of the industry”, say its creators, probably referring precisely to the Apple model. Live they say that these glasses are the result of four years of development and in their design they have taken into account comfort when wearing them for long sessions. Live have taken into account the pressure that the glasses exert in lasting sessions: no marks around the eyes after 30 minutes of use, their creators say. We already saw how the options of bands and adjustments of the Apple Vision Pro were not optimal – they had to get an optional to solve the complaints – and in fact after prolonged sessions it is normal to end a mark around the eyes due to the pressure exerted by the glasses on the face. That weight is really surprising, especially considering that for example, Apple’s vision are located at 600-650 g. With the vivid vision that problem seems to have disappeared and the manufacturer offers four light sealing sizes and eight padded options to try to guarantee maximum comfort in both long sessions and if we move with the glasses. The operating system that governs these glasses is Originos Vision, which offers an interface similar to the one we had already seen in the vision pro and on Android XR. Before us, a series of icons appear for which we can move thanks to the “millimeter precision ocular monitoring” (1.5º), as they point out. The ORIGINO VISION OPERATING SYSTEM INTERFACE is the one that both the Apple and Android XR vision. The gesture control system with the fingers also seems promising, and as Vivo allow 26 degrees of freedom in fingers, while the vertical monitoring range is 175º. The handling of glasses is therefore theoretically identical to that of Apple’s vision. The quality of the screens is also really promising, because it has Micro-Oled 8K dual screens with a 94% DCI-P3 coverage and a deltae chromatic precision

The silence about who really failed in the blackout

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At 12:33 of April 28, the peninsular electrical system collapsed. Zero voltage. Zero electricity. In seconds, millions of people were left without supply. The light returned in hours, but opacity continues. Who failed? Why did the power plants that charged for maintaining stability acted when they needed them most? The official report details it with technicalities. The companies involved are covered by confidentiality. But the data reveals an awkward truth: when everything went out, many were not where they should. They charge to stabilize. But nobody acts here. The issue is that the Spanish electricity market, certain conventional -nuclear, gas and coal – centrals receive additional payments for being available to stabilize tension when there are imbalances. The days of the blackout were several programs, but, According to the reportmany of them were indispensable by maintenance tasks, recharges or breakdowns, just when the system more needed them. The system warning. On April 22 and 24, anomalous oscillations were already registered in tension. On the 28th, the situation worsened: two great oscillations – a fast and one slow – destabilized the network completely. From the Electric Red Documentthe epicenter was a photovoltaic plant in Badajoz, which oscillated without control. From there, the tension collapsed in a waterfall. Some plants tried to coupled, but they did not arrive on time. The system fell in 30 seconds. In the most structural part. Each great electric has its own support strategy: Endesa is committed to nuclear, Naturgy for gas, Iberdrola for hydraulics. But all share something in common: the centrals that give stability to the system are in the hands of the same actors that dominate the traditional electricity market. The worrying thing is not that they charge to be available to act, but that, when they do not, there is no clear consequences. The official report Recognize that information It was confidential, voluntary access and that most companies did not allow disseminating their data. No responsible, without sanctions, without reform. Everyone is blamed, nobody responds. What has followed is a reproach chain: the government blames Red Eléctrica; Electric network blames electric; The electricity blames the Government and Red Eléctrica. And meanwhile, citizens still do not know which company failed to comply with one of the most critical moments for the electrical system. A pattern that is repeated. As has pointed out Eloy Sanz, the professor and researcher at the Rey Juan Carlos University, in their social networks the great electricity maximize benefits according to their technological convenience. Renewables, which should lead the transition, are subordinated or used as alibi. The result: a vulnerable system, without accountability. An inevitable conclusion. The report proposes some technical measures and recommendations to the National Security Council. But it does not demand sanctions or identify responsible. There is also no clear measure to force companies to make their failures public. There is not even a reform of confidentiality mechanisms. One thing is clear: the 28th was not just an electric blackout. It was also a responsibility blackout. Image | Pxhere Xataka | In a desperate attempt to avoid the blackout, Ree tried to start a gas center seven minutes before the disaster

The willpower has failed in the adoption of habits, but the brain has a better trick: personal automation

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Bet everything to willpower when you want to acquire a new habit It does not usually work. That I knew San Mateo: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” James Clear, author of the Best Seller ‘Atomic habits‘He already warns that leaving the acquisition of habits to willpower is a decision that brings you a little more to failure. Our brain is not designed to constantly fight against what is comfortable and known. Clear bet for creating systems that lead to the execution of the new habits that you want to acquire to achieve your goals without having to depend on discipline and constancy. However, there is a method that can simplify it much more: Personal automation. Habit, what a habit? One of the best strategies for acquire a new habit Without depending on willpower, it is simply not having to think that there is that new habit. That is to say, Automate habit In the same way you don’t think when you wash your teeth or what breakfasts daily. An example of personal automation can be the one used by Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg (before Your style change) in which They had adapted their wardrobe to reduce the number of decisions they made up to date, and thus reduce their mental load. Neither Jobs nor Zuckerberg were planted every day before their closet thinking about what they were going to put that day, they simply opened the closet and took a clothing that was already previously selected, without mental debate. In fact, the brain has a natural tendency to procedure. The creation of habits is based on cerebral plasticity or, which is the same, the brain learns to perform a task Based on the repetition of the sameuntil he learns, optimizes it and executes it unconsciously and involuntary. Do you think every movement of the fingers when you tie you a shoe, brush your teeth or scrub your dishes? Obviously not, because it is something you have practiced so much that Your brain has automated it. Now think of your new habit as that automated action and how you can assimilate it without even having to think about it. The key to generating that automation is to integrate the habit into a specific routine and in a specific order, to repeat it every day, in the same way that every morning you get up, show you, you dress, breakfast in a certain order. It is not usual to change that order once you have acquired it because you have automated the process and the strange thing will be to skip one of those steps, so it will not depend on whether you woke up without wanting to shower, or breakfast. You don’t even consider it, you simply do it. The benefits of personal automation Such and As they point out from Thinkwasabione of the greatest benefits of personal automation is mental energy saving. However, this system helps reinforce Acquisition of new habits or objectives without leaving any loophole to temptation not to do so. In addition, personal automation can stimulate your creativity and ability to solve problems. When the automation process of a certain action or habit is already very settled, the brain enters “autopilot” while this process is carried out, which leaves space for creative thinking by promoting the “Eureka” moments. Ideally, start little by little, choosing one or two things you can automate in your daily routine, and then add more progressively. For example, if one of your goals is to eat healthier or save, you can start by integrating in your weekend routine the elaboration of A menu for the whole week. By having it prepared, you will not have to think about your diet daily or worry about cooking during the week to eat healthy. If your goal is start sportsprepare your shoes and sports clothes in advance so that you just have to hear them and run. Having to look for them under the bed can become a more than enough excuse for your brain to mine your willpower. Do not give that advantage. The key to this technique is in the consistency and anticipation. Make small actions repeatedly until they become automatic habits. In Xataka | Until recently, people were very proud of how little I slept: today they are candidates to suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s In Xataka | The simple habit that provides a surprising impact on productivity: order the work space before starting Image | Unspash (Isaac Smith)

Navigating from Madrid to Lisbon, the pharaonic real dream that gave rise to the failed Channel del Manzanares

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The Manzanares river in Madrid has become one of the protagonists of recent days. March is being an extremely rainy month, so much that it has caused Solar energy ceases to grow in Spainbut has also caused the River overflow throughout the country. One of those rivers is Manzanares, which is usually a thread of water and Now it’s a torrent. But the river has not only become news for the increase in flow, but because during the works of Metro line 11 they have found a section of the real historical channel of Manzanares, an ambitious project that It was centuries on the table and that had a target target: join Madrid, Lisbon and Seville by boat. Felipe II’s dream Felipe II It is not just one of the most remembered kings in Spain: it may also be from Europe. Under his reign, The Spanish Empire reached its peak And it was a monarch interested in finance projects of several sciences. He also liked the sea, starting maritime engineering projects, stimulating the creation of large warships and the most ambitious of all: the idea of ​​making The main rivers of the peninsula were navigable. Another detail for which Felipe II is remembered is for the move of the capital of the country: he decided that Madrid would be the ideal location, so he transferred the court in full. But of course, Madrid did not have direct access to the sea and this was something important, especially for trade and those expansionist ambitionsso the project To open Madrid to the sea, he made eyes to the king. And the task fell into the hands of the Italian engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli. Nothing, something simple: Tajo, Duero, Guadalquivir and Ebro, among other rivers, would become navigable, with channels among them that would allow Madrid to have a way out of the sea and a river connection with some of the main cities of the country. For commerce, this was an extremely juicy idea between cities and between Madrid and European, Chinese, African and Indian cities. Fourth Lock of the Real Canal del Manzanares Felipe supported the project And he released funds to be carried out, but it was not going to be simple: a slope of more than 600 meters had to be saved and the necessary adjustments first to open Madrid and, later, that the 600 kilometers that separates the capital from the Atlantic coast were completely navigable. HE I would continue The route of the river and They would create 10 locks between the Toledo bridge and the Vaciamadrid jetty, many for a distance of just 20 kilometers. The capital would join with Aranjuez and, through the Tagus, it would have an exit to the Atlantic by Lisbon. A road was also projected to Seville. He did not set. Although the works are They started Among the Madrid and Alcantara Madrid nuclei, the money was not unlimited and the cocktail of technical difficulties, issues with private properties and, above all, The financing of the invincible Navycaused the money to be redistributed and the interior navigation project was saved in the drawer. He also influenced that, in 1588 Antonelli died and, in 1598, Felipe would. Madrid with double exit to the sea Later it was tried to recover, but the decisive moment came under the reign of Carlos III. Businessman Pedro Martinengo took the witness and presented In 1769 the project to recover the ambitious plan of Felipe II. The construction began in 1770 when Carlos III approved the proposal and the initial funds were in charge of Martinengo himself and private investors he had gathered. Under the direction of the businessman, the project advanced completing eight of the ten planned locks, but the costs were being tremendous and ran out of funds to continue. Martinengo had ruined, but Carlos III liked the projectso bought and thus officially became the Real Canal del Manzanares. The tenth lock Nor do we think that the monarch invested too much: he maintained what there was. Nor is it that he caught the economy at its most buoyant time and the river itself was not the most appropriate for navigation, since it needed water transvases to be able to operate correctly. Some companies were established, such as furnaces, but the channel was being underutilized. With Carlos IV, the thing didn’t improve either. Again, invested just as to maintain it, But in 1799 the disaster arrived: strong rains took part of the Gasco dam, a new construction on the Guadarraman that was the one that was taking the money. Another lock This set of misfortunes, and seeing that the Manzanares channel had been stagnant decades without contributing what was promised, caused the abandonment of the project until the arrival of a Fernando VII who tried to recover it, building the ninth and tenth lock and carrying the work until the vicinity of Vaciamadrid. But the work was not finished. Progress arrived Upon stopping, the channel was degrading, but the last nail in the coffin was the passage of time. In the time of Felipe II, the project could make sense. With Carlos III too, but already entered the 19th, things had changed a lot. The development of roads and, above all, the arrival of the railroad made the priorities change. Why keep investing a fortune to open Madrid to the sea when there were faster than the ship to transport goods? Apart from what The Manzanares channel looked like a money background wellin 1851 the Aranjuez train was inaugurated and, although with Isabel II some boats had sailed through the channel, in the second half of the 19th century it was decided to cut the tap of the funds. When not staying and being water is for a long time, health problems began to appear. The channel became a danger and, although maintenance work began again, around 1860 it was decided Cancel Definitely the pharaonic project. The irony: the railway bridge over the Manzanares … Read more

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