fear

In Ireland they fear that artists will go without food because of AI. So he’s going to give them a basic income.

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The AI ​​is putting into serious doubt the continuity of different sectors as varied as the programmersthe music producerscinema and even illustrators. Creating a painting, a song, a video clip or an app used to involve having talent and the necessary knowledge. Now it is enough to choose the right AI model. A few days ago, the United Kingdom government was considering the possibility of implement a universal basic income to alleviate the effects of AI. The Irish government has gone ahead of them and has already launched an initiative in which it provides a basic monthly income to 2,000 artists. According to an official report of the impact of the measure, each public euro contributed to this basic income generates 1.39 euros of return. A test that is consolidated. In 2022, Ireland launched a pilot project of universal basic income for artists with which it sought to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural industry. The test turned out to be an unexpected success, so the Irish Administration has chosen to consolidate it by turning the Basic Income for the Arts into a tool against the precariousness of artists, and prevent them from abandoning their creative work. for economic reasons. According what was published by EFEthe Irish executive has provided the project with a budget item of 18.27 million euros so that 2,000 artists benefit from a payment of 325 euros per week. “This is an important milestone for the arts in Ireland and how we support them,” said Patrick O’Donovan, Ireland’s Minister for Arts and Culture. “Ireland is a world leader in supporting artists thanks to the BIA (Basic Income for the Arts),” he added in the official statement of the measure. A test that was a success. The pilot program started in November 2022 after the pandemic, selecting 2,000 artists from 9,025 applications through a lottery to avoid bias. Each one received 325 euros net per week for 36 months, equivalent to 16,900 euros per year, tax-free and without working conditions. The composition reflected the diversity of the sector: 707 in visual arts such as painters and sculptors, 584 musicians and composers, 204 filmmakers and audiovisuals, 170 writers and poets, 160 in theater and dance, plus 175 in mixed areas such as design or performance. This randomized design allowed us to measure real effects without bias for successful profiles. The pilot test was subjected to a study constant from independent entities, which were able to measure the benefits of the measure. The pilot demonstrated with data that 325 euros per week was enough to cover part of the basic expenses, freeing up to 25 extra hours per week so that the artists could dedicate time to creating. That is, it was low enough to allow artists to dedicate time to their artistic production, but not so low as to make them dependent on it. It is a basic income, but with conditions. The measure allows maintaining the same economic conditions as the 2022 program, but incorporates a series of conditions that avoid dependency by assigning it to alternative three-year periods. That is, the beneficiaries of the income in the 2026-2029 cycle cannot opt ​​for the 2029-2032 cycle, but they are eligible again for the 2032-2035 cycle. In addition, at the end of each cycle, there is a gradual three-month decrease in income, where the payment drops by 25% per month to facilitate the transition until they stop receiving it. More art, less precariousness. The more consolidated results of the pilot test published in September 2025, indicated that the initial investment in the project was 105 million euros, of which only 72 million were executed. However, that was enough to obtain a return of around 80 million euros. The artists who participated in the test increased their monthly income by an average of 500 euros, while their income from non-artistic activities was reduced by an average of 280 euros. That is, the basic income allowed artists to concentrate on their creations and make them profitable, allowing them live from his art and not from precarious or part-time jobs. “The economic return on this investment in Ireland’s artists and creative arts workers is having an immediate positive impact for the sector and the economy in general,” said the Irish culture minister. In Xataka | Barcelona tested a basic income of 1,297 euros per month and the job search was reduced by 22%: the test was a success Image | Unsplash (Dillon Wanner)

All viewers believe that the trailers spoil the movies too much. But there is a reason: fear of lawsuits

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The paradox of trailers: they serve to encourage the public to see upcoming releases, but more and more people decide to literally cover their eyes or start talking to their neighbor, because the feeling that the trailers reveal too much is widespread: plot twists, climatic scenes that should be a surprise. There is a more or less intuitive reason: the market is increasingly competitive and it is important to show the public what each film offers that the others do not. But there are more prosaic reasons why trailers reveal more and more about movies. The trailer as a marketing tool.For decades, trailers were considered pieces with their own narrative: small works that condensed the spirit of a film, not mere advertisements. That premise was shaken in December 2022, when a court ruling questioned the legal limits of film marketing. The case pitted Universal Pictures against two viewers who claimed to have been misled by the ‘Yesterday’ trailer. The ‘Yesterday’ case.Two viewers had rented the film after seeing the trailer, in which Ana de Armas appeared in an apparently relevant role; but in the film he had disappeared: his character had been completely eliminated after test screenings. The plaintiffs alleged that they would never have paid for the film if they had known that de Armas was not in it. In Xataka The AI ​​trailers for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ are indistinguishable from the real thing. In the end, Scorsese was right Universal Pictures requested the case be dismissed, arguing that the trailer conveyed the film’s theme in three minutes, but the judge rejected this line of defense. Although trailers involve creativity and editorial decisions, these elements do not nullify their fundamentally commercial nature: they must be treated as advertisements, and the sample they show of the film must correspond to the final product. The judge specified that his resolution was limited to the presence or absence of interpreters, excluding subjective assessments of tone, quality or generic expectations, but set a precedent. It’s not the first. The friction between what the trailers promise and what the movies deliver has generated some attempted litigation. None went so far as to establish firm jurisprudence, but all illustrate a recurring tension between public expectations and studio marketing practices. {“videoId”:”x88pexn”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Yesterday Trailer”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”180″} Drive (2011).a spectator sued the distributor claiming that the trailer presented the film as an action film in the style of ‘Fast & Furious’, when in reality it was an atmospheric drama with few chases and a practically mute protagonist. The case dragged on for years without success for the plaintiff: the film did contain driving scenes, but the discrepancy lay in the tone and pacing, not in objective matters. Suicide Squad (2016).The trailers had highlighted Jared Leto as Joker, but his presence in the final cut turned out to be less than fifteen minutes. a scottish fan announced his intention to sue Warner Bros. for false advertising. Leto himself fueled the controversy by confirming that the deleted material It was so extensive. what would make for an independent film. The lawsuit was unsuccessful, but it highlighted the problem of trailers edited before final editing. Dune (2021).Zendaya featured prominently in promotional material: posters, trailers, and a press tour placed her on the same level as Timothée Chalamet. However, his screen time barely exceeded seven minutes of a total footage of 155and most of his appearances were dream sequences. There were no legal repercussions: Zendaya had previously warned that her presence was reduced and that she had only filmed for four days. {“videoId”:”x88q6ut”,”autoplay”:true,”title”:”Dune Trailer”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”208″} The Castaway case.Robert Zemeckis, with his usual ability to anticipate the rest of the industry, had already traveled this path years before. The trailer for ‘Castaway’ (2000) was criticized at the time because it revealed the eventual rescue of the protagonist. Zemeckis defended himself with an argument that is still valid in the industry, beyond the current legal precautions: market studies indicate that the public wants to know exactly what they are going to see before paying for a ticket. The problem of outsourcing.Trailer production rarely falls to the films’ creative teams. Studios hire specialized agencies (Buddha Jones, Trailer Park or Mark Woolen & Associates, only in Los Angeles) that work with raw material, often months before there is a final assembly. These agencies operate fromdailieseitherrushesthe raw footage that comes directly from filming. The process of creating a trailer can take up to a year, a calendar that forces you to work without knowing the final cut. The case of ‘Yesterday’ is a direct consequence of this dynamic. In Xataka Good series are a journey that no spoiler can ruin The pressure for difference.When a franchise accumulates multiple installments, marketing teams face an additional dilemma: how to convince the public that this film offers something different from the previous ones? The answer often involves revealing the differentiating element. The trailer for ‘Terminator: Genesis’ (2015) told that John Connor, traditionally the leader of the human resistance, had been turned into a machine, a twist that constituted the dramatic core of the film. Director Alan Taylor acknowledged that the decision responded to a complex calculation: how to signal to the public that this installment was not a mere repetition of the previous ones? A dilemma that promises to continue giving us headaches for a long time. In Xataka | Disney is looking for a successor to Bob Iger as CEO and has only one condition: that he does not look like Bob Iger’s previous successor as CEO (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news All viewers believe that the trailers spoil the movies too much. But there is a reason: fear of lawsuits was originally published in Xataka by John Tones .

The price of electricity, the cold and the fear of a blackout have brought a 19th century job back to London: chimney sweeps

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When you hear about chimney sweeps, the image that comes to mind is that of men (or boys) from the late 19th century with smudged faces, shirts full of soot and a large broom on their shoulders. That’s the topic. The photographs that Google shows when we search for the word and the one it illustrates your entry on Wikipedia. Today the reality is very different. In the middle of 2026, not only are there still professionals dedicated to the trade, but they use cutting-edge technology and in cities like London they are experimenting a resurgence thanks to the price of energy. His appearance is nothing like that of the famous Bert de ‘Mary Poppins’but they continue to play a key role… and above all they are in demand. Chimney sweeps in 2026? Exact. And at least in London they are not an extemporaneous and decadent group, the memory of a bygone era. On the contrary. As I counted a few days ago The New York Times The profession is still very much alive there, it has been able to adapt to the needs (and resources) of the 21st century and above all it is experiencing a resurgence thanks to the cost of energy. The clearest proof is left by National Chimney Sweeps Association (NACS, for its acronym in English): in 2021 it had 590 members, today its membership base is already around 750. The union includes dozens of women and some businesses claim that in winter they receive between 70 and 80 calls a day. What do they do? Essentially the same as its predecessors from the 19th and 20th centuries, although in a very different context and with very different resources. To remove soot from chimneys they still use brushes that Bert from ‘Mary Popins’ would perfectly recognize, but that is only part of an arsenal that also includes digital cameras, industrial vacuum cleaners and smoke detection equipment. “Almost like chimney technicians,” points out Martin Glynnfrom NACS. Companies are even using drones to scan rooftops. Nothing to do with the habits that once made the profession infamous, such as employing orphans to climb chimneys and clean ducts. It sounds like terrifying science fiction, but this practice was common in the 18th and 19th centuries. In fact in 1875 the death of a child that got stuck in Fulbourn generated such a stir that the Government approved a law that banned “climbing children.” Are there still chimneys? Yes. British chimney sweeps were not immune to key changes, such as the popularization of central heating in the second half of the 20th century or the Clean Air Act (‘Clean Air Act‘) of 1956, but the union has been able to endure and today lives in a much kinder time, even one of vindication. I told it just a year ago in The Telegraph Steven Pearce, descendant of a long line of chimney sweeps who started in the trade decades ago, convinced that the profession’s days were numbered. “At first I only accepted it as a weekend job because we thought the trade would disappear with the 1956 law, when the Government gave local authorities the power to control the burning of coal and boiler fumes,” Pearce relates. “But that didn’t happen, in fact the last five years have been better than ever in business. It’s the busiest time I’ve seen in 45 years.” He is not the only one which confirms the rebirth of the profession. What is the reason? In 2026 English homes may not rely on coal and wood for heat, but they will still light their fireplaces. And not only because of the popularization of stoves. NACS itself admits that demand for its services has been driven by two factors: the increase in energy prices of recent years and a turbulent international context, in which the electricity supply seems a vulnerable flank to enemy attacks. The group also remembers that people simply “like to sit in front of a fireplace” to read, have a glass of wine, watch a movie and unwind. As if that were not enough, a good fire also helps reduce dependence and expense on central heating. What does the regulations say? Of course there are restrictions on the domestic use of coal, but The New York Times remember that even in areas like London the burning of authorized fuels They emit very little visible smoke. What they do generate is soot, which explains why the Government advises that chimneys be cleaned every year with professional help. “People think: ‘We’re going to have a plan B, a fireplace, a stove in case the power goes out,’” Glynn adds.president of NACS. “If you have the option of burning wood or smokeless fuel you can still cook and have some heating. There is a big increase in demand, people are lighting fireplaces again.” How does the future look? Steven Pearce assures that his clients continue buying stoves and admits that it is difficult for him to believe that people are going to do without the installations, even if they are prohibited. “I can’t imagine those who have spent £3,000 to £5,000 installing them not using them.” In fact, he maintains that in recent years he has seen “a great resurgence in the purchase of multi-fuel fireplaces and stoves, which burn wood, charcoal and smokeless materials.” It’s not all advantages: your ‘bill’ is PM2.5 emissionparticles invisible to the naked eye but which do represent a harmful “air pollutant”. Images | Wikipedia, Jorbasa Fotografie (Flickr) and NACS In Xataka | While the whole world looks at oil, Venezuela’s true treasure is hidden in the basements of London: its gold

Fear of vibrations stops trains on the Madrid-Barcelona route

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At 230 km/h in a 300 km/h section because the vibrations are excessive. It is the speed at which you will travel between Madrid and Calatayud (Zaragoza) if the driver decides so. The 200 kilometer stretch has been a source of controversy for some time and it was now that, after the Adamuz accident in Córdobaconcerns have increased. What has happened? The train drivers would be traveling at 230 km/h on the section between Madrid and Calatayud (Zaragoza) because the vibrations are excessive, according to The Economist. They claim in the media that the machinists would have unilaterally decided to make this decision because the intensity of the vibrations is too high. The decision would have come after Adamuz accident (Córdoba) in which an Iryo train has derailed and, according to the first investigationsa second Alvia train traveling in the opposite direction collided with it. It is also noted from The Economist that the decision would affect Renfe trains but that there are no similar communications in Ouigo and Iryo. In addition, the newspaper also specifies that there would be Renfe personnel on the train itself warning travelers that delays will reach 15 minutes for this reason. Can machinists do this? In Xataka We have contacted SEMAF (Spanish Union of Railway Machinists), the majority among this group, who assure us that they have no evidence that the machinists have decided collectively and unilaterally to reduce the speed of the track. It will be, according to SEMAF, at the discretion of each worker. The union explains that the driver has the power to reduce the speed of the train or even stop it if he considers that the conditions of the track prevent adequate driving comfort due to excessive vibrations. In fact, those speed reductions were already occurring before the breakage of Talgo’s S-106 (Avril) trains. This is what a machinist contacted by Xataka who prefers to keep his identity anonymous. He explains that it is each driver who decides how to act and that “we have not been told to do it (slow down the speed) either from the company or from the unions.” The Calatayud controversy The 200 kilometer stretch between Madrid and Calatayud has been in the spotlight for some time. At the end of July 2025, Talgo’s AVRIL trains that Renfe uses for its AVLO services suffered cracks in their structure as a result of the vibrations generated when the trains passed. So The Economist already announced the news and after a series of contradictory communications, Renfe ended up withdrawing the trains of the Madrid-Barcelona line, disregarding the AVLO service that has not been available again. Since then, Talgo and Adif are blaming themselves for what happened. The chronology. From SEMAF, however, they do not share exactly all the points that are pointed out. According to its chronology, the events have happened as follows: AVRIL trains suffer cracks due to excess vibrations and are retired SEMAF sends a letter to Adif requesting that the speed be reduced Adif does not respond SEMAF reminds train drivers that they have the power to reduce speed if they consider there is a justified reason. For SEMAF, nothing has changed. The train drivers are the ones who decide, always with justification and indicating the reason to the command post, whether or not to reduce the speed. SEMAF emphasizes that they have not given an instruction from the union to reduce speed. The vibrations. During the last few hours the controversy around the vibrations of the AVE has been increasing. From SEMAF, they may be caused by small damage to the track as a result of the passage of the trains themselves, which is why they ask that investment in maintenance is adequate to the increase in traffic in the liberalized corridors. Of course, the union emphasizes that there is no risk of derailment due to these vibrations and they make it clear that it is a comfort problem for the passenger and generate greater stress on the infrastructure and the condition of the rolling stock. This means that actions have to be launched on the road or in workshops ahead of time. Furthermore, there is no evidence that they were the cause of the Adamuz accident. “If we were clear that it was a danger to the road, we would stop traffic.” SEMAF has been so emphatic that it also emphasizes that the infrastructure is safe and that it is clear that if Adif detects a problem serious enough to cause a derailment, the line will be closed. “We want to go home”. The Renfe driver with whom Xataka has been able to contact explains that “the tracks are deteriorated, we train drivers give a lot of information, and sometimes we are taken for crazy because we give too many parts”, the words are from a Renfe train driver who prefers to keep his name anonymous. “As a result of the S-106 problems, it was proposed that the trains circulate at a slower speed. It is true that these deformities (the cracks) are due to the state of the track, to which we must add the terrible quality of the train. We also lowered them (the speeds) with other series of trains. Call it a prevention measure or care of the infrastructure,” explains the driver. “The crew members complain, the interveners complain and we write complaints, because there are areas where we are having trouble,” he summarizes. Although he makes it clear that “if we understand that there is a danger to traffic, we call the command posts and they take measures by setting limitations, although for months we have also been taking them by slowing down. We are the first interested parties, we want to return home.” Why do vibrations occur? Firstly, SEMAF points out that we are talking about the rolling stock being “steel against steel” so any imperfection will be more evident. Vibrations can be caused by an imperfection in the road or an imperfection in the … Read more

Despite its fear, it is moving more passengers than ever

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Ryanair and AENA spent 2025 sending each other errands. The airline claims that the airport manager imposes abusive rates on its customers due to a lack of competition. The second defends itself by ensuring that where it is needed it offers substantial price reductions. Be that as it may, the truth is that the airline that moves the most passengers in our country made a decisive snip at its offer in Spain. Surprisingly, Aena and Ryanair moved more passengers in 2025 than ever. The conflict. It exploded in February 2025. A little less than a year ago, Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, recorded a video in which he called Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Consumer Affairs, a “clown.” The reason is that the Government defended that the company must allow access to its planes with larger suitcases and I tried to fine them for it. It was the most striking and extravagant image but the embryo of it had to be found first. Assuring that Aena, the manager of Spanish airports, imposes abusive rates on airlines, in January Ryanair already indicated that it was going to drastically reduce its operations in our country. Specifically, it aimed to eliminate 800,000 places at regional airports. The consequences have been especially serious at airports that were more dependent on the airline. Jerez has decreased its traffic by 7% but in Valladolid the situation has been much more serious, with drops of more than 60% and causing layoffs in auxiliary travel services, such as the cafeteria. The company, in addition, continues to threaten to deepen its withdrawal. A surprising fact. And despite everything, Ryanair and Aena rise. The manager of Spanish airports has published the data relative to the traffic volume of 2025. And with them has come the surprise. That is to say, our country continues to add people to the plane and those people choose, for the most part, the Irish company to make their trips. 19% of all passengers who boarded a plane in our country at some point did so on board one of Michael O’Leary’s company planes. Rates as an excuse. Although O’Leary has defended that his fear of regional airports is directly related to Aena’s airport taxes, the truth is that the company has closed ranks around the airports where it accumulates a greater volume of passengers and has greater room to grow. This winter the company has added 100,000 places in an increase that, above all, has gone to Malaga, Alicante and Valencia. That is, attractive tourist destinations due to their mild temperatures, especially for those arriving from beyond our borders. Setting the shot. As we said, it is no coincidence that Ryanair has increased operations at these airports. And the volume of passengers in any of them has skyrocketed in the last two years. Malaga: Passenger growth of 11.5% in 2024 and 7.4% in 2025. Of these, international passengers increased by 13% in 2024 and 7.8% in 2025. Alicante: Passenger growth of 16.8% in 2024 and 8.5% in 2025. Of these, international passengers increased by 16.8% in 2024 and 10.6% in 2025. Valencia: Growth of 8.7% in passengers in 2024 and 9.5% in 2025. Of these, international passengers increased by 11.3% in 2024 and 12.9% in 2025. Not only Spain. These movements in which Ryanair has been regrouping at the airports with the highest volume of traffic They are not exclusive to Spain either.: Germany: has reduced 800,000 seats. France: has reduced 725,000 seats. Estonia: has reduced 110,000 seats. Latvia: has reduced 160,000 seats. empty seats. In this European reorganization, the high prices that the company has to pay to airport managers have been pointed out on numerous occasions. These costs, however, are only one more value to take into account when it comes to calculating and making profits from the flights because a part of the company lives by selling itself to the highest bidder. And if Ryanair has maintained international flights from cities like Vigo, it has been because has been playing with hidden subsidies in the form of advertising contracts. These same agreements are the ones that now allow new routes to Morocco with planes that are half full. Photo | Lucas da Costa e Silva In Xataka | The big secret of Ryanair’s success is that it doesn’t make money for flying: it does so by squeezing you out of everything else.

While farmers fear the pact with Mercosur, one sector brings out the champagne: the automobile industry

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From 35% tariffs to their non-existence through a progressive de-escalation that will advance over time. That is the new scenario that the European Union and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay have, those countries that make up Mercosur with which the European Union has signed an agreement that will create the largest free trade area in the world. The agreement. After 26 years of negotiations, on January 9, 2026, the news broke: Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and the European Union they reached an agreement to create the largest tariff-free trade zone in the world. The pact was already almost confirmed but ended up being approved by the European Union with the approval of 21 countries (including Spain) and the votes against of France, Poland, Austria, Ireland and Hungary, as well as the abstention of Belgium. After European approval, The signing will arrive next January 17 in Paraguay. Then a project will be launched that in the next 15 years will end up eliminating the tariffs that exist between both commercial zones. A pact that will make things complicated for the primary sector but which has the European industry as the great winner. And in that industry, the automobile is one of the most benefited sectors. Why the car industry? Until now, exports from the European Union to Mercosur had tariffs of 35% on their shoulders. The pact will eliminate any type of trade barrier over 15 years. It will be gradual but after three decades, vehicle exports to South America will be completely tariff-free. That, according to data collected by The Automotive Tribuneis expected to triple the volume of exports from the European Union to this region. It remains to be seen what steps will be taken year after year but in Infobae They already anticipate that exports are expected to Brazil and Argentina with a maximum quota limit that will expand at the same rate as tariffs are reduced. Spain. One of the countries that can emerge the most strengthened from the agreement in the automobile sector is Spain. Although the figures point to a drop in production and export of automobiles this year, our country is the second European power in vehicle production (behind Germany) and more than 90% of the cars manufactured leave our borders. But, furthermore, our country is a large producer of vehicle components that will also discount tariffs on their exports. The news is especially interesting for a sector that has suffered from the tariffs imposed by the United States Government. And it is that Spain does not send cars to the American country but automobile components. Holy water for Europe. The agreement feels like holy water for European manufacturers. Currently, the cars sold in Mercosur countries are cheaper and have very poor security measures if we compare them with Europeans. Acting without tariffs will allow them to sell more cars and amortize investments than with the European emissions policies their days may be numbered. It is a good outlet for lower priced vehicles and an opportunity to compete with higher quality cars. It allows them follow that Toyota maxim to sell in each market what each market demands. But it also opens the door to compete with China, which was eating up the market by exporting cars in large volumes. They collect in Infobae that the measures that have tried to benefit the entry of hybrids and electric vehicles to Argentina and Brazil have ended up filling these markets with Chinese cars, which represent 80% of imports. USA. It must be taken into account that, in addition, dark clouds had settled on the future of the European automobile industry. Tariffs on exports to the United States they had done enormous damage despite the fact that mostly high-cost vehicles were being sold there. The problem is that the most affordable ones of European origin They are mostly manufactured in Mexico so they have also been bleeding with trade barriers. It is expected that exports to the Mercosur countries, due to purchasing power, will not generate as much money per car sold but they are expected to be much more voluminous. Eliminating tariffs will allow, as we say, to amortize investments in vehicles with lower prices and lower profit margins. They lose. The one that, predictably, will lose will be the local industry. Right now Mercosur has an industry sustained in the production of very specific vehicles for its market and with very high trade barriers that causes a very low volume of imports. Furthermore, they provide feedback to each other since 75% of car imports in Argentina They come from Brazil. Now the industry has the challenge of opening up and being more competitive. The problem for Mercosur is that, due to the cars manufactured, it seems that this sector only has one way and that is one way from Europe to South America. The return, with combustion vehicles and safety standards much less demanding than the European ones, everything indicates that it will be deserted. Photo | Jeanne Menjoulet and Mercedes In Xataka | China has a weapon to circumvent tariffs and protect the secrets of its electric cars: removable kits

For years we have seen dolphins swim towards orcas without fear. Now technology has found out why

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Until very recently, marine biology had an unwritten rule about the North Pacific: the orcas are the queens and dolphins, at best, a nuisance; and at worst, food for the orcas. However, science suggests that we were really wrongsince orcas and white dolphins have been caught collaborating with each other. It’s not a casual interaction.. It is a coordinated hunting strategy to catch the elusive Chinook salmon, documented for the first time thanks to a technological arsenal that includes drones and subjective cameras attached to the animals themselves. This is something that has been demonstrated in the study Led by Sarah Fortune, it focuses on northern resident killer whales, a subspecies that feeds exclusively on fish. For five years, researchers were seeing something that didn’t add up: the dolphins weren’t running away from the orcas, but rather deliberately swimming toward them. A collaboration with meaning. And these two species, which in theory should be far apart, do not collaborate just for the sake of it, but for a common good: the food. Dolphins, faster and more agile, act as scouts, locating schools of salmon. The orcas, with their brute strength and size, are responsible for the final capture of the largest specimens, impossible for a dolphin to hunt alone. The result? A shared feast. The orcas have been observed dividing the prey and allowing the dolphins to feed on the scraps and pieces that come off, in a kind of food “non-aggression pact.” Something that escapes everything we knew until now. How they discovered it. Observing this from a boat is really complicated, since seeing what happens underwater is almost impossible. To achieve this, the Fortune team used CATS tags. Some devices adhere to the orcas using suction cups and are like biological black boxes. They have the ability to record high-definition video in the deep sea, capture the acoustics around them and also have accelerometers and magnetometers to record depth and movement. A complete technological set that allowed us to obtain 258 documented events of dolphins interacting near the heads of the orcas. A silent mode. The acoustic analysis revealed the most fascinating fact about the intelligent behavior of these cetaceans. the orcasfamous for their complex use of echolocation for huntingreduced their own clicks and whistles when dolphins were present. The researchers’ hypothesis is clear: the orcas are outsourcing the sonar. They let the dolphins do the noisy work of finding the fish and they just listen and follow their marine “hunting dogs.” It is a brutal energy optimization. The orcas are saved the metabolic cost of searching and the dolphins gain protection and access to giant salmon that their jaws couldn’t process alone. The salmon crisis. This alliance may not be entirely natural, but rather a forced adaptation to a situation of food scarcity. Something that has meant that two predators have to learn to tolerate each other and cooperate to survive. Images | Vidar Nordli-Mathisen In Xataka | Sharks are disappearing off the southwest coast of South Africa. Scientists have a theory: killer whales

OpenAI’s biggest fear is not that the bubble will burst. It’s just that I do it ahead of time

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Sam Altman has admitted in an internal memo published by The Information that Google is catching up technologically with Gemini 3. That’s a real problem for OpenAI, but OpenAI’s real concern isn’t that. It’s just that he needs the party to last long enough to give him time to build his own infrastructure. Why is it important. OpenAI plans to burn more than $100 billion in the coming years pursuing AGI. But it is completely dependent on Microsoft for servers, NVIDIA for chips, and external investors for financing. Google, on the other hand, already has its own TPUs and generates 70 billion in free cash flow per year thanks to Search, YouTube and Google Cloud. If the music stops early, one survives and the other doesn’t. The paradox of timing. OpenAI faces a very peculiar race against time: If investment in AI slows in 2026 or 2027, it will have spent tens of billions but will not have completed its own infrastructure. You will remain tied to expensive suppliers. You will not be able to compete on costs with Google. Staying halfway is the worst possible scenario. Instead, if the bubble lasts until 2030 or beyond, OpenAI will probably have reached the threshold of self-sufficiency. It will have its own chips, its own data centers, economies of scale. It will be able to survive even when the investment tap is turned off. It’s like building a bridge: it doesn’t matter how much you’ve spent a lot. If you only get halfway, it’s of no use. The absence of moat. OpenAI cannot protect itself with sustainable technological advantage. In AI there are no defensive moats (moats) real. Every time OpenAI or any other lab makes a breakthrough, the rest replicate it within months. The only sustainable advantage OpenAI has left is cost. If you control your infrastructure, you can offer prices that no one else can match. If you do not control it, you become a dispensable intermediary between the end customer and whoever does have the chips and servers. The context of the memo. The document published by The Information reveals that Altman anticipated turbulence after the launch of Gemini 3. Google’s new model stands out precisely in the areas that generate the most revenue for OpenAI: automation of web design and programming. Altman acknowledged to his team that “Google has been doing an excellent job lately” and warned that he expects “the environment to be tough for a while.” But he urged them to stay focused on “achieving superintelligence”, admitting this would mean being left “temporarily behind in the current regime”. The figures. OpenAI went from almost non-existent revenue in 2022 to projecting 13 billion this year. It is one of the fastest business growth in history. But it plans to earn 200 billion in 2030. To achieve this, it will need to multiply its current income by 13 in less than five years. Meanwhile, it plans to spend $90 billion on R&D alone through 2030. That represents 45% of its projected revenue. Large technology companies allocate between 15% and 30% of their gross profit to research, not their total income. If OpenAI falls short of its billing goal, that percentage will be even higher. Yes, but. Google has structural advantages that are difficult to overcome: Generates a huge cash flow thanks to consolidated and very profitable products. You can afford to burn money on AI for years without too much trouble. And it already has its own infrastructure after a decade developing TPUs. OpenAI, on the other hand, lives off external funding. His recent agreement with Oracle to design data center components in the United States is an attempt to build that self-sufficiency. Altman presented it as “a step to ensure that the core technologies of the AI ​​era are built here.” At stake. OpenAI’s technological advantage over rivals such as Google and Anthropic has narrowed. Investors have sunk more than $60 billion into OpenAI, recently valuing it at $500 billion, betting that it will continue to dominate the market for AI that creates content and reasons like humans. That bet falters. Anthropic, founded four years ago by former OpenAI employees, is skyrocketing its valuation and aiming to generate more revenue than its former home selling AI to developers and companies. Their models specialize in generating computer code. And ChatGPT is still far ahead of Gemini in usage and revenue, but the gap is narrowing. Between the lines. Altman concluded his memo by acknowledging the pressure: “It sucks that we have to do so many hard things at the same time: the best research lab, the best AI infrastructure company, and the best AI platform/product company. But it’s our destiny in life. And I wouldn’t trade positions with any other company.” The question is not whether OpenAI can technically compete with Google. It’s whether you can hold on financially long enough to stop depending on others. Featured image | Xataka In Xataka | There is a generation working for free as a documentarian of their own life: they are not influencers but they act as if they were.

The fear is that once again we will not be prepared

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If we were thinking that autumn was being kind to us, the State Meteorological Agency has bad news for this weekendsince this season with days of high temperatures is coming to an end. The culprit? A arctic air mass which will work as a switch for the peninsular climate, since in 48 hours we will go from autumn weather to a mid-winter scenario with usually low snow levels in the north of the peninsula. This is something that reminds us a lot of the last ‘Beast from the East’ that we saw at the beginning of the year in the European center and that affected us with a significant drop in temperatures. But in this case the truth is that the polar cold is going to be very present in our peninsula. The arctic corridor. The meteorological situation is defined by the entry of a very cold air mass coming from very high latitudes. This is something that will begin to be noticed from the afternoon this Wednesday, November 19, since the air mass will begin to be injected through the north of the peninsula, causing a widespread thermal collapse and that arrives just after the passage of the storm Claudia. Different evolution. According to AEMET itself, In a special warning that has been issued, the first ‘affected’ will be those who live in the Cantabrian Sea who will see moderate rainfall this Wednesday and that will become snow from about “900 – 1200 m, exceeding thicknesses of 5 cm in points of the Cantabrian mountain range and the northern face of the Pyrenees.” On Thursday this mass will continue to enter our country, and this will translate into snow levels that will drop to 600 meters generally in the northern third of the peninsula. Although the AEMET itself emphasizes above all the snow that expected in parts of the Basque CountryNavarra or the north of the northern plateau because they can be very copious. The worst day. Between the last hours of Thursday and Friday morning is when the snow level will be between 300 and 400 meters in the eastern Cantabrian and upper Ebro, up to 5 cm of snow may accumulate, which will affect the main transport routes in the region. Although in general, we are going to expect snow in Vitoria, Pamplona, ​​Burgos, León, Soria and potentially in Segovia. The figures of the cold. But in addition to these, up to almost 20 cm of snow in 24 hours in the Cantabrian Mountains, we must highlight the drop in temperatures that has already been experienced since this Wednesday in a large part of the country. What is expected is that maximum temperatures will be 10 degrees below zero in much of the peninsular territory, with the exception of the southwest and the coasts where they will be a little higher. It will be on Saturday when a somewhat warmer air mass enters the territory that will cause temperatures to begin to rise and the snow level will also be limited to the highest mountains. Is this snowfall normal? In the month of November it does not seem normal that we have a heavy snowfall at the doors of the country as if it were December or January, as happened with the Filomena storm in 2021. But if we look further back, we can remember one of the historic snowfalls in November that took place in Madrid between November 27 and 30, 1904considered the heaviest snowfall in more than 150 years, with snow accumulations of between 70 and 150 cm that completely paralyzed the city. A problem on the roads. The problem that this storm just arrives on the weekend is a great inconvenience for roads of our country that are subjected to a greater amount of traffic. The models are quite clear in showing that many of the main roads in the north of the peninsula will be exposed to these adverse weather conditions and that is why extreme precautions must be taken on the days of greatest risk in the country. And in the past we have seen how some cars were trapped in the middle of a highway, such as the AP-6, due to these intense snowfalls. And in the end we don’t know where the most aggressive moment of this storm could surprise us. Are we prepared? In Spain, the truth is that experience tells us that we do not give too much importance to these alerts, as we have seen with the different storms or even the DANA. Faced with this new situation, we must keep in mind that we are faced with a heavy snowfall that affects more than half of the country at really low levels. And although there is logistical preparation in the most affected territories to guarantee mobility and security, past experience, such as historic snowfall from Storm Filomena in 2021shows that the country faces great challenges in managing heavy snowfall, with significant difficulties for transportation and basic services in some cases. Some communities, such as Castilla y León, already prepares with 900 snow plows and salting plants and some 4,400 agents for everything that may be to come. Images | AEMET Marco De Gregorio In Xataka | What is a dry storm: when the sky throws lightning, but the rain never reaches the ground

The new alcohol law limits bars from placing beer chairs or umbrellas. And now millionaires fear losses

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We’ve been seeing it all our lives. Bars that fill their terraces with umbrellas, napkin rings, tables, chairs, sideboards and other furniture that promotes beer brands. For decades this advertising support was a boon for business. Now the hospitality industry fears that it will become a poisoned gift. The reason: the new law on alcohol and minors promoted by the Government and which already has the endorsement of the Council of Ministers wants to snip that kind of promotion. The locals calculate that the loss of that advertising support it will cost them millions. Blow to the hospitality industry? That’s what seems to fear the sector as a result of the law promoted by the Government to prevent alcohol consumption among young people. Although the regulation has not yet been finalized, the group is already managing a study which warns that it will seriously affect the finances of bars, restaurants, cafes, pubs and other hospitality establishments in Spain. The reason: the bill of Health seriously restricts any advertising sponsorship related to alcohol. And that is a problem for businesses that have been filling for years with awnings, tables, chairs, ashtrays, umbrellas, napkin holders, refrigerators and furniture in general on which beer brands are advertised. What exactly does the standard say? He billwhich can be consulted in the official Congress bulletin and received in march The Government’s endorsement sets some limits on advertising in the sector. Its article 26 is clear about this: “Any direct, indirect or covert form of commercial communication of alcoholic beverages is prohibited, or of products that imitate or simulate being one, or of non-alcoholic beverages that share their brand and differential features with those of alcoholic beverages, including the commercial name, corporate name, symbols or brands of the people or companies that produce said beverages, as well as their distributors when they are exclusively associated with alcoholic beverages on public roads, or places visible from them.” Does it clarify anything else? Yes. The law differentiates between two types of spaces: the ‘most sensitive’ and the rest, where the advertising restriction will be somewhat more flexible. “However, advertising limited to the trade name, corporate name and identifying brands or symbols of the producing companies may be permitted in a perimeter that is more than 150 linear meters from the access to educational centers that teach early childhood education, basic education, post-compulsory secondary education and elementary artistic education, health centers, social and socio-health services, parks and places for children’s leisure.” How will it be applied? In the statement March in which it reports the approval of the Council of Ministers to the Bill, the Ministry of Health clarifies, however, that it will allow the advertising of fermented drinks with less than 0.5% alcohol. Mónica García’s team also points out that the veto will not be immediate: it will come into force twelve months after the publication of the law in the BOE and will not affect “those situations that already existed before that moment”, which suggests that it will not affect the furniture that already exists. A different thing is when it comes time to renew it. Will it affect the sector that much? It seems so. At least that is what a Comprehensive Economic Analysis (AEI) report indicates. advance by The Economist. The analysis, prepared for the Spanish Hospitality and Brewery associations and which is having a notable impact, ensures that the loss of sponsorships from alcohol brands will be quite expensive for bars and restaurants. To be more precise, AEI estimates that it will cost the sector up to 1.7 billion euros. The estimate is based on two figures: a direct cost of around 600 million euros and a drop in sales of between 1,080 and 1,680 million. He AEI report It doesn’t stay there. It also warns that the measure will affect between 8,000 and 10,200 jobs and will be felt beyond bars and cafes, with a reduction in the contribution to the national GDP that it estimates between 900 and 1,176 million euros. The study also suggests that the money that alcohol manufacturers will stop investing in advertising furniture will probably be directed towards other channels, away from small hoteliers and their businesses. Why this suspicion? Although Health has clarified that the measure would still take time to come into effect and will not affect “existing” facilities, the AEI report points out that its wording leaves little room for doubt: “In practice it implies the removal of logos, signs, chairs, tables, umbrellas or napkin rings with beer brands from thousands of bars and restaurants in the country.” His estimate is completed with another from Hospitality of Spain that gives an idea of ​​the scope of the measure. According to their data, of a total of 130,000 bars and cafes in the country, between 70 and 80% incorporate elements sponsored by breweries. Will it affect everyone equally? “If approved, the new law will practically eliminate all this support, forcing the brand’s advertising to be withdrawn, which will have an estimated cost of 12,000 euros per store,” remark the study. The penalty that could be felt especially strongly in areas of Spain where hoteliers work in smaller markets and with less room for maneuver. The Economist slide that about 20% of the municipalities that now have only one bar (235) could see their doors close. Images | Guillaume Flament (Flickr) and Ccalm Film Festival-María del Mar López Morales (Flickr) In Xataka | From prohibiting purchases to prohibiting consumption: the changes in the recently approved draft reform of the anti-smoking law

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