failure

The Tesla Cybertruck is such a sales failure that Elon Musk has only found one solution: buy them from himself

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It could have been a flagship model with short production and huge margin. But Tesla decided that it had to turn it into just another car, a product for which it expected success comparable to any other company model. They have missed the mark so much that Elon Musk’s companies are buying the Tesla Cybertruck to boost sales. Blowing up the numbers. At the moment there are 1,000 units and they could reach 2,000, they say in Electrek. The media specialized in electric mobility in the United States assures that an internal source has confirmed that these are the Tesla Cybertrucks that SpaceX and xAI have already purchased from the car manufacturer. Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised? The information expands a publication from the medium itself which already pointed out in October that Tesla was selling its cars to Elon Musk’s other two companies. Then they pointed out that the movement could be interesting for companies because the purchase of this type of automobile was subsidized. If SpaceX and xAI had to buy cars, at least they were helping to make the hole in Tesla’s accounts a little less deep. Click on the image to go to the original tweet 80 million dollars (at least). However, we must not overlook the fact that SpaceX and xAI have spent more than 80 million dollars in buying Tesla cars. And that is in the best of cases because the company is selling the electric pick-up in versions of $80,000 and $115,000. A figure extraordinarily higher than the $39,900 promised the first day of its announcement. And the company started selling the most expensive versions of its pick-up like hotcakes. So much so that the price of the car skyrocketed on the second-hand market for those who wanted to skip the line and others made a splash by ordering several units and ordering them for days. Months later, the bubble burst to the point that Tesla cannot sell its production. There is no way out. And the company is having real problems putting its Cybertruck on the street. First, it is not easy how many you actually sell because in your accounts Tesla groups sales by category. One is for the land vehicles (Model 3 and Model Y) and the rest for its luxury options (Model S, Model Y and Cybertruck). Despite this, in Electrek They point out that they are not selling more than 20,000 units a year. It is a resounding failure because the company has the capacity to produce 250,000 units and Elon Musk even stated that They could sell half a million units of your electric pick-up. As the months go by, however, all we have is news about shopping centers in which they accumulate unsold electric SUVs or vehicle deliveries that carry collecting dust for months in a field There is no market. There is worse news for Tesla: there is no market for the Cybertruck. the car hasn’t shown much on their off-road excursions but, in addition, the very idiosyncrasies of the country in which it is sold means that this enormous electric pick-up that promises to be able to go anywhere is unusable for use as a work vehicle. And the Cybertruck has remained an exotic vehicle in urban areas. In a country where charging points are scarcea high-consumption electric pick-up (imagine its use on a ranch, towing another vehicle…) is useless. Much more if we review all its design and reliability problems. And it’s not just a Tesla thing. Ford has had to cancel production of its F-150 Lightning because you can’t sell the car once the most passionate customers have already purchased it. The alternative will come with a extended range system to function most of the time as an electric vehicle but extend its range by hundreds of kilometers. Photo | Maxim In Xataka | Those who don’t know a C15, pray to any Tesla Cybertruck: Twitter has been filled with videos of Citroën humiliating the off-roader

that the metaverse is a failure

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It was 2021 when Facebook made its biggest bet to date with the metaversea digital world where we would live connected to virtual reality glasses. Zuckerberg believed so much in the metaverse, that until He renamed his company Meta. However, the dream was short-lived. Millionaire losses, problems with technology and a clear lack of interest of the public made it evident that the bet had been a failurebut it seems that we all knew it except Meta, who continued determined to create that virtual world. Until now. What has happened? Meta surrenders to the evidence and will begin to make significant cuts in its divisions dedicated to the metaverse starting in 2026. They tell it in Financial Times: The cuts could amount to up to 30% and will include both the budget of the Horizon Worlds and Quest VR divisions and presumably jobs. Why is it important. The metaverse has been Meta’s obsession since 2021, but despite the efforts the proposal has not come to fruition. That they are considering reducing a third of their efforts is a way of admitting that the metaverse has failed. Since its creation, virtual and augmented reality department Reality Labs has lost a whopping $70 billion. There is also a key point and it is the current context with an exorbitant investment in AI: Meta has run out of excuses to continue spending in its virtual world. Investors like this. Meta is in a delicate moment. After the last review of results, the company’s shares fell up to 11% despite having increased their income by 26%. How is it possible? Very simple: Zuckerberg announced that Capex for 2025 would not be $66 billion as they had anticipated, but from 70 to 72,000 million. Investors have many doubts about the company’s rampant spending. The news of budget cuts in the metaverse has also had an effect and shares are up 6%. New obsession: AI. Meta has an obsession with artificial intelligence. Zuckerberg spent the entire summer signing the best AI talents for multimillion-dollar figures and is investing billions in the creation of data centers, especially the so-called Hyperion, which will be almost as big as Manhattan. and the glasses. A few days ago Meta announced the creation of a new design studio within its Reality Labs department and for this has hired Alan Dye, one of Apple’s design chiefs. The goal is to work on the new interface of the company’s AI glasses, which have become its new reference hardware. The Ray-Ban Meta They are working much better than their virtual reality glasses did. At the beginning of 2025, They had sold a million units and in July the division tripled his income. Speaking to the Financial Times, a company spokesperson said that “we are moving part of our investment from the metaverse to AI glasses and wearable devices, given the momentum they are experiencing.” Image | Goal In Xataka | Zuckerberg’s neighbors are fed up with him. The last straw: he set up an illegal private school in his mansion

millions of websites are down after an internal failure

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History repeats itself just a few weeks later. cloudflareone of the fundamental pillars of the internet infrastructure, is suffering from technical problems that have left a multitude of web pages and digital services inoperative and with loading failures. The incident is especially affecting electronic commerce, with giants such as PCComponentes or MediaMarkt experiencing drops in their services. what’s happening. According to the official company status pageat 08:56 (09:56 CEST) Cloudflare has begun investigating “issues with Cloudflare Dashboard and related APIs.” Although the company already indicates that it is investigating, the impact on clients who use its APIs is immediate, causing requests to fail and errors to be displayed. Coincidentally, the company is carrying out scheduled maintenance in its Chicago data center (ORD), although at the moment it is unknown if there is a direct relationship between both incidents. The impact. The decline is palpable in our country. Users and reports on social networks confirm that high-traffic websites such as PCComponentes and MediaMarkt have ceased to be operational. There are also complaints about communication services like Zoom. We do not yet know the magnitude of the failure, since it has just occurred, but it is notable that pages like Downdetector have also succumbed. The tool we use to check if a service is down is having trouble loading. It rains in the wet. This is not the first time this has happened. Less than a month ago, on November 18, Twitter and ChatGPT were the “snitches” of a Unusual traffic spike on Cloudflare services which wiped out many other websites until service was restored. This recurrence highlights the extreme dependence that the network has on this provider. When your systems fail, the domino effect is inevitable: if Cloudflare goes down, half the internet goes down. At this time, the incident status remains marked as “investigating.” However, some websites are beginning to return to normal: Downdetector itself already reflects the Cloudflare incident. In Xataka | The battle between LaLiga and Cloudflare is claiming many victims. Now those victims are joining forces

Asturias has the electrical network so saturated that a simple failure would be enough to put the supply in check this summer

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A year ago everything indicated that Asturias was going to become the new Spanish energy storage hub. But these plans, which were going to help integrate renewables, alleviate the grid and attract industry, collided with reality. Today, the panorama is very different. Not only has the region paralyzed new storage facilities, but an official report has just confirmed a more worrying diagnosis: Asturias is saturated with energy, but does not know where to put it. In short, the central area’s electrical grid is at its limit. The CNMC uncovers the problem. The trigger It is an apparently technical conflict between EDP (Hidrocantábrico Distribución) and Red Eléctrica de España for access to the Carrió substation. As local media have reportedthe distributor requested to replace two transformers to increase its capacity from 513 MW to 665 MW, but REE rejected it, arguing that the network could not supply so much simultaneous demand. This rejection took the case to the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), which issued a resolution with a forceful message: the transport network in the central zone is saturated, it cannot grant new permits, there is “relevant overcapacity” and there is a “risk to the security of supply in the event of a simple failure, in the summer season.” Furthermore, the commission itself recognizes that the case dates back to 2007, when the separation between distribution and transportation occurred and assets were transferred to REE without documenting the guaranteed access capacities. As the official report explains, for years REE and EDP operated “as always”, but with opposite interpretations about how much capacity was really assured for the Asturian network. What does it mean to be saturated? Although it may seem like a technical concept, the CNMC has detailed in its report a more precise image of what is happening. To begin with, saturation means that the network cannot grant even one more access. The regulator detects a “total saturation of capacity, without the possibility of granting new access or connection permissions.” This means that no new industries, no renewable parks and no storage projects can connect: the grid is literally full. Added to this blockage is another underlying problem. The central Asturias network does not meet the minimum legal criterion known as N-1, which requires guaranteeing supply even if a key component fails. However, the CNMC itself confirms that this requirement is not met: If a transformer or main line falls, there is no alternative path capable of absorbing the energy, making any incident a potential risk. The situation is even more delicate according to the data. The regulator’s report indicates that two large electro-intensive consumers already absorb 686 MW, to which we must add the 200 MW that EDP needs to feed the distribution network. In total, more than 800 MW connected. The problem is that the safe capacity in summer – when the lines perform worse due to high temperatures – is 754 MW. In other words: there is more connected power than the network can safely support. And the room for maneuver is practically non-existent. According to the CNMC, if Cardoso’s 400/220 kV transformer failed, the entire area would be supplied only by a 220 kV line that does not support current consumption in summer. In practical terms, this means that any simple failure could trigger a real supply problem in the middle of the summer season. The point is that there is energy, but it cannot be moved. The paradox is evident: Asturias wants more renewables, it wants batteries, it wants to electrify its industry and it wants to attract new strategic projects. But all this growth requires a robust electrical grid with margin. And right now, that margin does not exist. Carrió’s transformers could handle more power, yes, but that is unimportant if the lines that connect them are already at their limit. Even the future conversion to gas of the Aboño thermal power plant —designated by the Principality as future relief— does not solve the current problem, because the bottleneck is in transportation, not in generation. How did we get here? In addition to the historical conflict between REE and EDP, a chain of factors have aggravated the situation. One of the most decisive is the increase in power assigned to some large industrial consumers. In 2022, Red Eléctrica granted an electro-intensive customer an increase of 132 MW, reaching 450 MW of power between Carrió and Tabiella. The regulator clarifies that this decision did not violate the regulations, but it does highlight the lack of coordination with EDP, which was not informed and saw how the capacity margin of the area was exhausted practically at once. Added to this problem is another longer-term problem. As El Comercio remembersthe necessary reinforcements for the central network have been planned for more than 20 years, but were never executed. The result is that Asturias faces industrial electrification and the growth expected for the coming years with a network that has not been updated at the pace of demand. The evolution of the local generation. The situation is complicated as cogeneration, a key technology for producing electricity and heat near industrial centers, has collapsed. According to figures published by El ComercioAsturias has lost 82% of cogeneration production in six years. This implies less energy generated at source and, therefore, more need to bring electricity from outside through a network that is already saturated. The economic and environmental impact is also notable: 60 million euros less industrial turnover and 230,000 additional tons of CO₂. And now what? The Asturian Government insists that the problem will be resolved with the 400 kV central ringa gigantic infrastructure included in the energy planning for 2030. This ring will double the electric transportation capacity in the metropolitan area and will allow it to absorb the planned industrial growth. For its part, Red Eléctrica you already have authorization for the new Cardoso substation, key to that ring, with an investment of 26.5 million euros. However, the CNMC warns that the problem is … Read more

It was a huge failure that now has another chance

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At the end of August, ‘Gran Turismo 7‘ received a update. The video game of PlayStation 5 He received five sports cars with the peculiarity that one of them was a minivan and, in addition, it was a huge commercial failure 20 years ago. It is about the Renault Avantimea very beloved model in some circles that took over a French company that manufactured sports cars and of which some 8,500 units were manufactured. Curiously, it is an ideal car for the United States, and now that it turns 25, it will finally reach that market due to a controversial import rule that was born due to… Mercedes. Minivan coupe. Let’s go with a little story about the Avantime which, as its name suggests, was a car that was born before its time. Presented as the CoupéSpace In 1999, Renault’s idea was to combine the spaciousness of a minivan with the sportiness of a three-door coupe. Manufactured by Matra (a company that was born in the 1940s as a sports car manufacturer), the Avantime began to be sold in 2001 with a single engine: a three-liter V6 with 207 HP. Then other engines came out, such as the 2.0 with 163 HP with turbo and the 2.2-liter, 150 HP diesel. The door The car was a boat: 4.64 meters long (a lot for its time, currently compact), 1.63 meters high and a great aerodynamic coefficient if we take into account its size. It weighed a lot, and much of the blame was on the two huge doors, 1.40 meters long and 50 kilos each. To open them without looking like the wings of an airplane, Renault and Matra engineered a double hinge that “folded” the door at another point. Your market? Europe, although it had all the earmarks of being an ideal car for the United States. Mercedes and the gray market. Renault never officially launched it in the North American country, but you might think that if someone liked it, they just had to buy it, homologate it and that’s it, right? That is, like this It has been made in Europe with some units of another recent commercial fiasco, the Cybertruck. Well no, and it all comes from Mercedes that began to be sold uncontrollably in the 70s. During that time, the United States experienced a boom in vehicle imports in the gray market. Americans discovered that they could buy European cars directly in Europe at prices significantly lower than those the Europeans themselves officially sold in the country. It is estimated that, in 1985 alone, 60,000 European gray market vehicles entered the US, and a fifth of registered Mercedes they were importing of Europe. The roof had to weigh a quintal The 25 year rule. The Germans, with an official presence in the country, were not amused because, furthermore, the cars being sold did not come directly from a European dealership. Mercedes herself did the test buying a model on the gray market, the 500SEL from 1985. It was a model with airbagsbut what they received was the ’84 model without airbags and with parts added later in a non-approved manner. Citing security reasons, and because the practice was harming the market, the company spent millions trying to push through Congress a law that would stop the private importation of vehicles that were not officially destined for the US market. They won: in 1988 approved the Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act that prohibited these imports. There was one exception: vehicles over 25 years old would be considered classics and would therefore be exempt from the restrictions. Come on, it was not so much an issue of road safety as of preventing gray market sales from taking away part of the pie. Logical reason, on the other hand. Ahead of its time. That those stipulated 25 years will be fulfilled in 2026 means that Americans, those who like wide carsyou will be able to enjoy some of the most unique European creations of recent years. And seeing how the market is, in which it seems that if you are not an SUV you are nothing, surely one of the most unique of the times to come. Furthermore, that original version with the V6 gasoline is the most interesting version for that market. We will have to keep an eye on whether they begin to import some units that, why not say it, are not too expensive considering how scarce the model is due to the morrocotudo failure it was for the French. Specifically8,557 units were produced (taking into account the three engines) of the 80,000 they wanted to manufacture because they had difficulties with the doors and the heavy roof (a lot of glass and no pillar), but it would not have mattered: they sold very little because, in addition, it was an expensive car. In the United Kingdom it cost 24,000 pounds in 2022 and only 450 units were sold in the three years that it was available. This slap impacted Renault, but it took out a Matra Automotive that depended directly on the production of this car. I have to admit that I never liked it, but my partner Alberto does have his eye on a model that, beyond taste, is unique. So much so that even Renault itself has put him in his place. Images | Renault, Zvonimir Jurcic, Patrick Charpiat In Xataka | Is the myth that “older” cars were safer true?

so far there has only been failure

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The Free Software Foundation LibrePhone just launchedwhich is perhaps its most ambitious project in four decades: achieving a smartphone completely free of proprietary software. It is a goal that has been pursued for years and along the way we have found promising ideas, although without resounding success. The FSF openly recognizes that the work will be long, but believes that it is time to take on the challenge. The underlying problem. On practically any computer it is perfectly possible to run completely free operating systemsfrom the kernel to the applications. However, on mobile phones this is still impossible, despite well-known projects such as GrapheneOS, Replicant either PureOS. The reason has a name: binary blobs. These are small fragments of proprietary and closed code that control basic hardware functions: the modem connection, graphic acceleration, GPS or the camera. Without these components, the phone simply does not work. And chip manufacturers like Qualcomm or Broadcom do not share the necessary technical documentation so that external programmers can create free alternatives. This is what GrapheneOS looks like. Image: Ricardo Aguilar Why previous attempts have failed. The most representative case is Replicanta project that in 2010 tried to create a completely free Android version. He managed to remove the Google components, but hit a wall on the hardware side. And without documentation from the manufacturers, it was impossible to recreate the necessary drivers. Today Replicant still exists, but it only works on old phones like the Galaxy S3and not even with all its operational functions. Other projects such as GrapheneOS or LineageOS have opted for a more pragmatic approach by removing Google software, but maintaining proprietary blobs to ensure that the device works correctly. It is a compromise that improves privacy, but does not meet the strict definition of free software that defend the FSF. LibrePhone’s strategy. The project, led by veteran developer Rob Savoye, does not aim to create another mobile operating system or make phones. Its objective is more specific: to reverse engineer the proprietary components left in projects like LineageOS to create completely free alternatives. The FSF is funding the first phase of the work with a donation from John Gilmore, a member of its board of directors, who has been using LineageOS for years precisely to eliminate what he calls ‘Google spyware.’ The idea It is to first identify a phone model that has the fewest possible privacy problems and that these are solvable, exhaustively document how its proprietary components work and, from there, create free code substitutes that any programmer can audit and modify. A legal and technical obstacle. The difficulty is not only technical. Chipmakers protect their technology with strict confidentiality agreements that prevent developers from accessing documentation. As the media points out ZDNetworking without those technical manuals is like trying to ‘sew with boxing gloves’. Furthermore, reverse engineering in this context is a slow, expensive process with uncertain results. Savoye admits It will not be fast or cheap, but the project is based on the previous work of other developers who have done a good part of the journey. Other open fronts. Interestingly, GrapheneOS, one of the most respected systems in mobile privacy, just announced that works with a large Android manufacturer to bring its system to other devices beyond Google’s Pixel. Until now, only the Pixels met the security standards and updates that GrapheneOS requires. The announcement suggests that at least one manufacturer is starting to take these requirements seriously, although GrapheneOS still includes proprietary blobs in its system. It is not the completely free phone that the FSF is looking for, but it is a sign that the industry could be starting to move. What are we left with? LibrePhone represents the most serious commitment to date to achieve a truly free smartphone. The FSF knows that a long game has begun and that it will need help. In fact, they are looking for volunteers for documentation, testing and dissemination, as well as donations. Success is not guaranteed, especially in this sector, where all previous projects have failed to offer a smartphone with 100% free software. But the FSF also argues that if no one tries, the goal will never be achieved. Cover image | He Junhui In Xataka | For years I have had a “vacation mode” on my phone: this is how I configure it so that I am not disturbed

MercurySteam was the ambassador of Spanish video games. Until a sales failure turned the offices into hell

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For years, they were a key reference in the history of video games in Spain. MercurySteam achieved something unusual: programming high-budget games from such beloved classic franchises as ‘Castlevania’ and Metroid from its country of origin. Its international expansion ambitions shone from the studio’s first steps, but have been overshadowed in recent years by complaints from former studio employees who denounce a suffocating work environment and a policy of crunches to meet deadlines. We review the history of MercurySteam from its glorious first steps to the latest revelations about its work dynamics, and that says our colleague Blissy in 3DJuegos. Twenty-something years of ambition. MercurySteam was born in 2002 in San Sebastián de los Reyes, formed by several former members of Rebel Act Studios, creators of an absolutely foundational game in the history of Spanish soft music: ‘Blade: The Edge of Darkness‘, precursor of the soulslike very advanced technology for its time. Determined to demonstrate that our country could compete in the international video game league, they started with a couple of modest but notable titles: ‘American McGee presents: Scrapland’ and ‘Clive Barker’s Jericho’. The Castlevania phenomenon. The real turning point for MercurySteam came with ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’ in 2010, a 3D reformulation of the classic Konami franchise that was born as a stand-alone game and was later adapted to fit into the legendary vampire slayer saga. It was produced with the help of Hideo Kojima and for months its affiliation to the saga was hidden so as not to damage sales of other installments in development. After considerable commercial and sales success, the studio completed the trilogy with ‘Mirror of Fate’ (2013) and ‘Lords of Shadow 2’ (2014), establishing itself as a triple-A developer. A parenthesis. After Castlevania, the studio went through a transition phase. In 2017 they released the ambitious ‘Raiders of the Broken Planet’ (later renamed ‘Spacelords’), a shooter cooperative free-to-play with which they entered the model games as a service. The result was a more discreet success than their previous works, and MercurySteam had to consider a new twist in their plans. This would arrive with a twist similar to that of ‘Castlevania’: revitalize a classic franchise. In 2015 it was learned that MercurySteam had been working on a ‘Metroid’ prototype for Wii U and 3DS. It was not a job in vain: it ended up crystallizing in ‘Metroid: Samus Returns’ (2017) for 3DS, a very well-received remake of the classic ‘Metroid II’. This collaboration with Nintendo progressed into a completely original game, the brilliant ‘Metroid Dread‘ (2021), one of the best games in the Switch catalog, and which marked the long-awaited return of the saga to the 2D perspective after almost two decades. Since then, there have been changes in the studio: the Nordisk Games group acquired 40% of the studiowhich allowed the team to continue growing and tackle new projects. And they have even released a new video game this year, ‘Blades of Fire‘, a third-person RPG that was received with indifference by critics and did not meet sales expectations. It was this puncture that started, since January 2025, a series of measures that have turned MercurySteam, according to former employees interviewed by 3DJuegos, into an example of bad professional practices. In fact, the crisis started somewhat earlier: Already in 2020 MercurySteam had problems. Culture contrary to teleworking, offices with conditioning problems (for example, with very little lighting), poor internal communication, chaotic production and uncredited developers. Everything got radically worse in January 2025, when the company implemented the DIJ (Irregular Distribution of the Day) in some departments, allowing one hour of extra work per day (9 hours, maximum 45 per week), justified by “production needs.” In May, the month of the game’s release, several departments saw their working hours increased to 10 hours a day in total, a change that was managed in a highly criticized manner by employees. Among other problems, communication was always verbal, never in writing; Human Resources presented these hours as mandatory; there was constant appeal to the emotional and the “team spirit”; Teleworking and vacations were banned; and names were taken of those who rejected the measures. On May 8, two workers are fired just before the end of their trial period, one for refusing to work overtime (due to his partner’s risky pregnancy) and another for asking for written explanations. It would only be the beginning: after the failure of ‘Blades of Fire’, fires 18 workers in three days. One of them, a worker on mental health leave who suffered harassment from her boss while on leave, is fired when she returns. Although he thought about suing, he ended up withdrawing the lawsuit out of fear after threats from the company. In September, MercurySteam begins a phase of control and censorship of its employees, where all non-work communication channels are eliminated, “random audits” are announced, rest areas are eliminated, common spaces are reduced, and clocking turnstiles are installed in the kitchen. An entire policy of terror that continues until September 29, when makes the complaint public describing all these facts. Apart from a suspicious maneuver (an anonymous statement, supposedly from workers, but none of those interviewed by 3DJuegos know where it comes from), MercurySteam has implemented the 9 hours of the DIJ intermittently and tries to wash its image with job offers that They paint a much more positive atmosphere. But the worst thing is that there is a “sad and overwhelming” atmosphere in the company because, as one of the witnesses says, “the best thing Mercury had was the atmosphere… they are destroying the only good thing about the company.” A sad parenthesis for a company that was a leader in the sector and is going through a major image crisis due to something as essential as not knowing how to manage a crisis. In Xataka | There are authentic Spanish guerrilla studios programming games for NES: ‘Malasombra’ is the latest example

Spain and France warned of a failure in Europe’s drone wall. Now the plan includes lasers and civilians with rifles

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The drone raids Russians on the european airspace have turned the sky of the continent into a new frontier of hybrid warfare. In a few weeks, these devices have forced the closure of airports, putting the air forces on alert from NATO and reopened a debate that Europe thought distant: how to defend yourself of a cheap, difficult to track and increasingly sophisticated enemy. Then we heard the idea for the first time of the “drone wall”and now it’s starting to take an unexpected shape. The invisible threat. The incidents in PolandDenmark and Germany, where drones of unknown origin flew over military bases and civilian areas before disappearing, have accelerated the creation of an unprecedented defense device. Allies seek to protect the population and its critical infrastructure while balance the answer immediate with the development of a long-term architecture. This is how the idea of ​​raising an antidrone walla technological network that combines sensors, radars, jammers and low-cost weapons to detect, intercept and neutralize threats in a matter of seconds. The birth of the wall. The concept emerged many months ago, inspired by the lessons of Ukraine and the evidence that European armies They lacked adequate systems to counter the proliferation of drones. The Baltic countries, together with Poland and Finland, presented the initial proposal to the European Commission: a technological wall on NATO’s eastern flank, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, financed with border security funds and intended to monitor the skies against possible Russian incursions. But the wave of drones that crossed Polish airspace last September changed the scale of the project. Ursula von der Leyen proclaimed the need for a “wall” to protect all of Europe. What began as a regional idea became the embryo of a continental air defense network against unmanned systems, the so-called European Drone Defense Initiativeincluded in the new military readiness roadmap that the Commission will present this fall. Europe accelerates. Thus, while politics was debated over budgets and powers, the armies acted. Denmark installed Doppler radars in Copenhagen and at its base in Skrydstruphome of its F-16 and F-35, to detect suspicious movements. Sweden announced a investment of 370 million of dollars in interceptors, jammers and frequency sensors. Germany passed a law which allows police to shoot down drones that pose an imminent threat, and the United Kingdom deployed spy planes on twelve-hour missions over the Russian border. Defense manufacturers quickly joined the effort: Saab presented its Nimbrix missiledesigned specifically to take down swarms of drones, and the loke systema modular radar, machine gun and electronic warfare set created in just three months to respond quickly to the threat. And in an unexpected turn of events, the Danes have gone further than anyone else: they even accelerated the instructor training military with shotguns to shoot down drones at close range, an unusual measure that reflects the urgency with which Europe is trying to close a critical technological gap. You have to expand. The initial enthusiasm for the anti-drone wall soon found a political problem: Western and southern Europe felt excluded from an initiative that concentrated resources in the East. Countries like Spain, France or Italy they detected a problem and they warned that the threats are not limited to the Russian front, since drones can operate from any point in the territory. The Commission took note and proposed expand the plantransforming the “wall” into a pan-European network of sensors, jammers and weapons integrated under the same coordination framework. Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius admitted that the EU’s current capabilities are “very limited” and that it will be necessary to resort to Ukrainian experience, accumulated after almost four years of daily fighting against Russian swarms. The remakerenamed the European Drone Defense Initiative, seeks total coverage and proposes a double challenge: demonstrate that the Union can assume a real operational role in defense (traditionally the responsibility of States and NATO) and achieve consensus among twenty-seven countries with very different military priorities. Obstacles of a wall. But there are more obstacles. I told it in an extensive report this morning Reuters. The project faces a complex internal battle over who should lead it. Small and Eastern nations prefer that the Commission centralize coordination, while France and Germany (accustomed to directly managing their arms programs) they refuse to give in leadership. Berlin and Paris also fear that the Commission will end up assuming powers that traditionally belong to national sovereignty. At the same time, experts warn that the idea of ​​a wall can generate a false sense of security: No network, no matter how advanced, can guarantee the downing of all drones. The technical difficulties they are huge: Connecting radars, acoustic sensors, optical systems, interceptors and artificial intelligence software from different countries into a single mesh will require years of testing and billion-dollar investments. The challenge is to achieve a defense staggered and adaptable to a type of threat in constant mutation, where each enemy innovation requires an immediate response. Lessons from Ukraine. It we have counted other times. The war in Ukraine has taught Europeans a costly lesson: you cannot shoot down a 10,000 euro drone with a missile that costs a million. The sustainability of the combat depends on intermediate solutionsfrom interceptor drones that collide with enemies to automatic cannons and low-power laser systems. Rheinmetall, the German giant, defends the use of artillery as a more profitable option and has already received orders from Denmark, Hungary and Austria for its Skyranger mobile system. Emerging companies from the Baltic and Germany, such as Marduk Technologies or Alpine Eagle, have presented your own schemes multi-layer defensewhile Ukraine continues to serve as a testing ground: its operators adjust the speed and maneuverability of the interceptors almost in real time to face increasingly faster Russian versions. This constant evolution turns anti-drone defense into a living disciplineof countermeasure and countermeasure, where human experience and AI must coexist. The utopia of safe heaven. If you will, the future of the alleged European anti-drone wall depends now on three factors: … Read more

He is preparing for possible failure in other countries

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Last week he gave us one of the most relevant news of summer: the US government I was negotiating with Intel The possibility of acquiring a 10% participation in the company. Most of the decisions made by administration since Donald Trump returned to the White House On January 20, it pursues a single objective: the American semiconductor industry must be strengthened and independent. Intel is the biggest manufacturer of US chips, so allowing its fall is not an option for the government. This precept has triggered the end we could foresee: as we told you yesterday, finally USA has bought 10% of Intel To save her from burning. The US administration has entered the shareholders, but has promised to have no decision -making power. A priori seems great news for this company, but it might not be so favorable. Intel herself has recognized it a few hours ago. Your sales abroad and access to future grants are in danger Lip-bu Tan, the general director of Intel, secure in a video Published by the US Department of Commerce that the entry into the shareholders of the Government Company is positive: “I do not need the subsidy, but I trust that the US government will finally be our shareholder.” This executive made this statement before closing the agreement with the Administration, but just a few hours after formalizing this Intel treatment recognized, as they have collected Reuters and CNBCthat government entry into the company can harm your business abroad and limit access to future government subsidies. The US market is very important for Intel, but the international is much more. In 2024 76% of your income proceeded from Sales outside the USand curiously, China contributed nothing less than 29% of its total income. And it is that of the 53,100 million dollars that this company entered last year no less than 15,400 million arrived from China. These figures reflect very clearly how important the country led by Xi Jinping for Intel is. And also how sensitive it is to the geopolitical context. During the fiscal year of 2024, 29% of Intel’s billing came from China In fact, SANCTIONS TO CHINA That the US government has deployed during the last three years have prevented this veteran company from selling its most advanced chips to its Chinese clients. Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom or Qualcomm has happened to them, but Intel is at a very delicate moment. Of the economic crisis facing We have spoken in depth In other articles. And, in addition, it can be aggravated by the commercial war that the US and China is currently. Chinese chip designers and manufacturers are capable of supply your own market with Mature chips that appliance manufacturers, telecommunications or cars equipment need, among other industries. However, many users, research centers and universities in China continue to use software for X86 and X86-64 processors, so at the moment they cannot do without the CPUs designed to execute it. Intel is currently benefiting from this need. And it is that China is promoting the demand for its oldest microprocessors for personal computers and servers. The US government entry into the company’s shareholders can degrade the confidence that both China and other countries in Intel products have, which in practice would trigger that their sales abroad come out. And, as we have seen, they are a fundamental pillar for this company. This is precisely what Intel has anticipated its investors in anticipation of a possible varapalo in its international business. Image | Intel More information | Reuters | CNBC In Xataka | Intel has confirmed that the 20A node will be skipped to reduce expenses. The 18A node will enter production in 2025

China was isolated from one of the key arteries of the Internet for an hour. It is not clear if it was an essay or a failure

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On the Internet there are falls that are noticed. And then there is what happened in China. For a whole hour, one of the main road traffic with the outside stopped working without explanation. It was not a total blackout, but a cut that became visible in many parts: applications that were halfway, websites that did not respond, services that failed right in the border crossing. The ruling did not fit with the typical local fall or with a problem of a single operator. It lasted 74 minutes, crossed networks and left behind an awkward silence. What fell was not all the Internet, but a concrete and widely used part: the channel that allows encrypted connections to function safely. According to GFW Reportbetween 00:34 and 01:48 of August 20, Beijing time (UTC+8), a generalized blockade was recorded in the Port 443which is the one that uses the majority of traffic HTTPS. The effect was broad and sustained, but did not affect other channels. The most striking thing is that, until now, no one has explained what caused that cut or why it happened in that strip. The technical analysis points to a very concrete pattern. Every time a connection tried to settle in that port, special packages – the RST+ACK – appeared that act as a closing order. They are the digital equivalent to hang the phone before someone attends. These packages were not sent by mistake: they were being injected into large quantities just at the key moment of the exchange between client and server. According to the specialists, this alteration did not fit with a fall due to congestion and affected both connections that came out of China and to those trying to enter. Despite the serious cut, not everything stopped working. Internal connections within China were still active, and other ports, such as 80 – for non -encrypted traffic – or 22, intended for remote connections, showed no block signs. The problem was focused on port 443. That explains why some services could continue to work while others became inaccessible: it was not a total disconnection, but a very selective interruption of the encryption step that crosses the digital border of the country. There are no public reports indicating that platforms such as WechatBaidu or Weibo suffered a generalized fall in that strip; Its main infrastructure is mostly within the country and does not depend on the international crossing for basic functions. But many Chinese apps incorporate components that depend on Servers outside of China-action, mini-programs, external APIS or cloud functions-and those calls could fail when the encrypted step was blocked. There are no public reports that indicate that platforms such as Wechat, Baidu or Weibo suffered a general fall in that strip The impact was more noticeable in international services. According to The Registerpart of the connections of foreign services – including some functions of Apple or Tesla – could be interrupted for users in China during the blockade window. Other international services that depend on HTTPS, such as certain CDNS or VPN connections that use TCP/443. In summary: the internal network was not broken, the encrypted channel was cut out and that was enough to leave many out. One of the most relevant clues is precisely that technical footprint. Each system that filters or interrupts connections leaves a trail –a fingerprint– Recognizable for the order of the packages, the TTL or the TCP window size. In this case, these values ​​differ from the previous documents, so the researchers propose two hypotheses: a new equipment deployed for tests or a known team that was in an anomalous or poorly configured state. The conclusions remain in condition until there are more data. Traffic returned to normal and there were no visible consequences on a large scale.But the cut was real, it was documented and left an unknown in the air. There were no officials or official explanations. In any case, the great firewall is still there, functioning as always, and with an intervention capacity that this time was recorded. Images | Leon Seibert | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 In Xataka | To have a rather mediocre AI it has been necessary to loot all the internet content. And Reddit has said enough

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