future

It’s a preview of the future of video games

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These days there has been a happy coincidence: PlayStation Network and Xbox Live have gone down. Last Friday, PlayStation servers They were out of the game for a few hours and This Monday the same thing happened with Xbox. The result, in both cases, was the same: users who not only could not play online multiplayer, but They also couldn’t play games they had boughtbut they needed online verification to work. And I say that it is a “happy coincidence” because almost a month ago Sony announced that They will stop making games in physical format in January 2028, limiting all purchases to digital games that, remember, not only are not ours, but depend on these servers to function. And the fall of both services practically at the same time is a warning of what is to come. When everything goes digital and is locked down by a server check, if the servers go down you better have an old console on hand if you feel like gaming. A reminder of what is to come That servers fail is not new. It’s something that’s not common, but it’s there and it’s a bummer. So much PlayStation as Xbox They have status pages for the servers and the service, warning if any of the functions (games, applications, profile, friends, etc.) are not working as they should. As I say, we are not facing falls every weekbut it is something that is not so rare and, when it happens, there are games that we will not be able to play and others that we can. If we have the game in physical format (and it’s not a paperweightlike more and more in this industry), we put it in the console and play without problems. But if we have the digital game, that’s when the headaches begin. This is what has happened these days with both consoles: those with a digital library who would like to enjoy that video game they are enjoying would have to choose something else, since digital games check the license before starting and, if there are no servers, there is no verification and, therefore, there is no game. A server outage is much more than an afternoon without playing: it’s a reminder that you have nothing Every time this happens, players ask for compensation for lost playing time and so on. The problems are usually solved within a few hours and nothing happens to us for not playing that game in our free time because we can always get together with another in physical formatbut these almost simultaneous falls, as I say, come at a curious time. Sony announced on July 1 that, starting in January 2028, PlayStation consoles would not receive new games in physical format. This implies that, at least on PlayStation, all games released after that date will be digital, so a server outage would prevent you from playing. It is not known what Xbox is going to do with Project Helix (right now it seems that not even they know very well), but everything indicates that it will follow in Sony’s footsteps with a 100% digital console, and a server outage is much more than an afternoon without playing: it is a reminder that you have nothing. We have said actively and passively that games in digital format do not belong to us because they are a simple license to use (except in specific cases or those of the GoG platform on PC) and There are games on disc that not only do not have the complete content (‘Doom The Dark Ages’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Golden Circle’ or the latest from Ubisoft, for example), but they need online verification to play alone (‘Gran Turismo 7’ or the recently released ‘Halo: Campaign Evolved’). Even if you have these physically, you do not play in a server crash. On the other hand, in a future that aims to be increasingly dependent on streaming gaming, with Nvidia, PlayStation and Xbox very interested in this, a server outage like this also cuts off your immediate access to video games. Xbox has responded through its CTO and that “you don’t play if the servers go down” is not an exaggeration. Scott Van Vlietfrom Xbox, comments that the server outage “caused many scenarios that require a rights check to fail, such as deploying your library and launching the games you own.” Under other conditions, such a drop would have made some noise among players, but it would be one more of those that these services usually suffer. However, the fact that the two platforms go down almost at the same time is that aforementioned reminder that the future that will come sooner rather than later is not the most hopeful for players. In fact, arrives in the middle of a storm by digital rightsthe possession of what we bought and with that murmur of “you will have nothing and you will be happy.” What’s more, the atmosphere is so heated that a publication about a Sony turntable has been filled with comments reminding the company that very well, but that the games are going to be loaded in physical format. In no parallel universe does a announcement tweet For a record player it would have more than 4,000 responses, but in this case, it is a sample of the feelings of many users. November 19th will arrive ‘GTA VI’ only in digital format. Imagine what will happen if the servers go down that day. In Xataka | Between Sony and GTA VI, the coming months have a guaranteed victim in the industry: traditional physical stores

The future tallest tower in the world has grown again. His biggest obstacle was not in the concrete

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Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates shared a regional agenda and a particularly close relationship between their leaders for years. Over time, this cooperation began to coexist with an increasingly visible rivalry: both compete to attract investment, gain regional influence and develop economies less dependent on crude oil. If we want to observe that race without resorting to macroeconomic figures, just look at its urban horizons. He Burj Khalifa it turned Dubai into a world reference; A project called to surpass that mark began to rise on the Saudi coast. That project is Jeddah Tower and, after years in detention, it has regained height. The new contract to complete construction It was signed on October 2, 2024but the return of the works also began to be seen on the ground when the structure officially surpassed 100 floors and 400 meters on April 20, 2026. The most recent update from Thornton Tomasetti, published on June 18placed it close to the 104th floor. The work is progressing again; What we have to understand now is why he stopped doing it for so long. The scale helps to understand why the project seemed capable of getting bogged down for purely technical reasons. Jeddah Tower was designed to exceed one kilometer in height and reach 157 plantsleaving behind the 828 meters of the Burj Khalifa. To support it, the engineers proposed a five-meter-thick foundation slab supported on 270 piles, some sunk up to 105 meters. Above, a network of interconnected concrete walls must distribute the building’s loads and limit the effects of wind without resorting to a conventional structure of columns and large beams. Jeddah Tower construction status in May 2026 The project had begun long before Saudi Arabia presented Vision 2030. The tower was announced in 2011 and work started in 2013 with a clear ambition: to build the tallest building in the world in Jeddah and turn it into the center of a new urban development. During its first stage, the structure reached 63 of the planned 157 floors before being stopped. Its revival can now be read in the context of Saudi diversification, but the project was conceived five years before the kingdom presented its major economic transformation program. Jeddah Tower construction status in May 2026 The stoppage came in the midst of a business and financial crisis that affected two fundamental actors of the project. In 2017, Saudi anti-corruption campaign led to arrest of Alwaleed bin Talal, linked to the promoter through Kingdom Holding, and of Bakr bin Laden, then president of Saudi Binladin Group. The contractor was also going through financial difficulties and construction ended up halted in 2018. Jeddah Tower construction status in May 2026 The return needed more than just new announcements and calendars on paper. The completion of the skyscraper was once again in the hands of Saudi Binladin Group, the same contractor that had participated in its first stage, with a planned period of 42 months. If completed without further delays, work should be completed around April 2028, although there is no firm opening date yet. The decisive test came later: the pace of construction was maintained throughout 2025 and into 2026. After years of uncertainty, the project has gotten underway again. Growing back doesn’t mean being close to done. Although the cladding of the façade and the first mechanical, electrical and plumbing installations are already underway, Much of that work still needs to be completed.in addition to the elevators, security systems, finishes and all the necessary tests before opening the building. Until then, the Burj Khalifa will officially continue to hold the world record. Saudi Arabia has already shown that it can return the tower to activity; The next challenge will be to maintain financing and finish the work. Images | Thornton Tomasetti | Saudi Binladin Group In Xataka | In Italy they were promised happiness with a new Roman amphitheater from the 4th century. Until it was discovered that it was a “fake” concrete

Satya Nadella on the future of employment: “The fallacy of the fixed amount of work and the lack of imagination prevent us from moving forward”

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In addition to the cost and effects derived from its development, the biggest concern about the future of AI is knowing the impact that this technology will have on the labor market around the world. In fact, we are already beginning to see the first signs: it may not take away our jobs in the short term, but that’s it changing the way we work. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been interviewed by Fareed Zakari in the cnn and has told his vision of how AI will affect the future of employment. To describe the scenario, Nadella uses a phrase that can seem almost cryptic until its meaning is known: “The fallacy of the fixed amount of work and the lack of imagination prevent us from moving forward.” The fallacy that stops us. Nadella calls it the lump of labor fallacy. It’s an idea widely studied and argues that there are a certain number of tasks to be performed. Employment is defined by these tasks: there are those who build houses, others put pipes, others cables, other furniture, etc. If a machine (or an AI, in this case) automates one of those tasks, fixed quantity of work theory defines that a human has one less task left to do. That is, that job would have been destroyed. For Nadella, that calculation fails because it does not take imagination into account. The typist apocalypse. The CEO of Microsoft gave a fairly descriptive example of how this theory falters in the face of technological advances: “Imagine that in the early 80s, someone said to you: “You know what? Three billion people are going to wake up tomorrow and start typing. “We would have said: and why does the world need three billion typists?” joked the company’s top executive who, according to the CEO of Perplexitybuilt the concept of office work to sell more software and was mainly responsible for the computer implementation in companies. “In the last 40 years, the entire knowledge work economy was created, and all of us have worked in it in different roles,” Nadella concluded. That is, the CEO believes that the future of employment cannot be assessed from the perspective of current labor or work organization needs, because in the future, the needs of companies will be different and the roles of employees will also be different. The fact behind the anecdote is real. In 1980 there were almost a million typists in the US. Today it is a profession that is almost extinct. And yet, office employment remains more active than ever. He just changed the way he worked. Nadella bets that something similar will happen with AI. The process of change. We are already seeing this change in the way of working in some sectors such as software engineers or in the lawyers. “What it means to be a software engineer is changing,” Nadella said. Creating a document and creating a program have become, “to some extent, the same task”: enough ask the AI ​​agent appropriate. This change is already noticeable outside of computing. In the legal sector, some firms treat AI as a quick but unreliable intern. And lawyers, increasingly, as their AI supervisors. Nadella states that: “Our ability to discern what a human does with the output of AI will be the new quality we value.” The value is no longer in typing quickly, but in know what deserves to stay and what to throw away. However, the manager has no doubts about the difficulty that all of humanity will face to complete this change in the labor paradigm: “This process is going to have some changes and a significant displacement (of employment). Not everything is going to be rosy. But when we come out on the other side, I think there will be new jobs that we will value as human beings.” Macrodelegation and microdirection. To explain day-to-day work, Nadella coins his own term: macrodelegation and micromanagement. “Each of us will become better at managing through intentions (madrodelegation) and will have the ability to direct it exactly where we want it (microdirection),” he declared in his interview with the cnn. In other words, the role of employees will be that of conductor of the orchestra of AI agents. An employee would tell them what objectives to achieve, and would supervise that the results delivered by the AI ​​meet that objective and are precise in their execution. That is, AI would not play a substitute role, but rather a collaborative one. “Does that mean that, in some way, the specialized systems engineer that we need to be able to build distributed systems in Azure disappears? No way,” stated the Microsoft CEO. Nadella’s revolution. The manager closed his interview by pointing out one of the fears that Silicon Valley is stirring: that society does not accept the change implied by the arrival of AI and this process of job displacement. There Nadella draws a historical reference. “Revolutions are great, as long as there is a reaction.” The CEO prefers an orderly transition, like the one experienced in England in 1688in which the institutions did not lose control, to a violent rupture as the French Revolutionwhich made the heads of the country’s authorities roll. In Xataka | In 1993 Satya Nadella was a lanky middle man who introduced Excel to developers. Today he is the CEO of Microsoft Image | Microsoft

In China they have had an idea to defuse the demographic bomb that shadows their future: “top blankets” of love

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Shanghai is a powerful financial center, with a booming stock market and hundreds of multinational headquarters. However, if one walks around on a Sunday afternoon People’s Parkin the Huangpu district, you will come across a market that seems straight out of another time. And not because their stalls sell crafts, spices or livestock. What we will see are parents determined to sell your unmarried children like great matches with which to start a family. Their goal is to capture the interest of other potential in-laws or marriage agency employees hired by other families. It may seem picturesque, but it is further proof of the demographic bomb that takes shape in China. A marriage market? Exact. And as a good market it is, we will find supply, demand, brochures and people committed to give notoriety to your ‘merchandise’although these are single children of matchmaking age who in many cases do not even know that their parents are there ‘selling’ them. That is the peculiar image that can be found on Sunday afternoons in the People’s Park from Shanghai (Rénmín Gōngyuán), where people meet who are looking for couples to start families with, parents concerned about the sentimental life of their children and agencies specialized in finding matches. OUCH! #China‘s population falls again as births drop to lowest rate since 1949 communist revolution. The number of new babies born was just 7.92mln in 2025, a decline of 1.62mln, or 17% YoY. The latest birth numbers show that the slight tick upward in 2024 was not a lasting… pic.twitter.com/QpUO7tRLFk — Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) January 19, 2026 Is it something new? No. There are references that go back to more than a decade. In fact, it is believed that the Shanghai marriage market started in 2004when parents began to act as matchmakers in the same place where their children gathered to attend dance classes or play sports. Shanghai is not the only place in China where these peculiar ‘love fairs’ are organized. We can also find them in parks Beijing, Canton either ChengduFor example. However, neither their popularity nor their antiquity has caused the interest they arouse among foreign tourists to decline. And what are those markets like? A quick Google search brings up articles on the topic of The Economist, South China Morning Post, The Paris Review either The Worldto name just a handful of examples. They are all recent and they all tell their readers the spectacle of the Shanghai market with a mixture of fascination and exoticism. And it is more than understandable. At fairs like the one in Huangpu you can find parents loaded with copies of the sentimental resume of their children, sheets in which they report their height, age, hobbies and (most importantly) if they have good salaries or a home they own. These leaves are hung from poles or open umbrellas, which recently led a reporter from The World to define it as a “top love blanket”. Why is it important? The fact that there are parks where suitors meet and, above all, parents concerned that their 35-year-old son is still single or a 38-year-old daughter is the only one in her group of friends who has not yet had children is striking. Just like the fact that there are agencies that They charge up to 1,000 euros for placing their clients’ resumes in the best places in the park, those where they will have the best chance of finding a suitor. However, if ‘marriage markets’ like the one in Shanghai generate so much interest, it is because of their social background. Cultural issues aside, they connect with one of the main headaches that Xi Jinping’s Government has been dealing with for years: the ‘demographic bomb’ that takes shape in China. Although for decades the problem was overpopulation and high birth rates, which led him to embrace until 2015 the ‘one child’ policyright now the challenge is another, of the opposite nature: birth rate falls, population falls, society ages and increasingly common to see single-person households. What do the data tell us? That parents who go to Parque del Pueblo with their children’s curriculum under their arms are the manifestation of a larger phenomenon. The Chinese authorities estimate that there are more than 240 million of single adults and there are studies that talk about 125 million of single-person households, which represents a radical break with the traditional concept of home in which up to four generations lived together under the same roof. The problem, after decades of application of the ‘one-child policy’, is that the gender division of this mass of singles is not balanced: there are 30 million more of men than women. As a backdrop, a nation in which demographic indicators are beginning to paint a worrying picture. In 2025 the country scored its lowest birth rate and saw the population shrink for the fourth year in a row. This trend has contributed, among other things, to China have lost the crown of the most populous country on the planet, but above all it worries about its implications social and economic. Is it only seen in the markets? Not at all. Marriage markets are part of a much larger and more complex mosaic that demonstrates how demographics (in their various manifestations) are becoming an obsession for part of Chinese society. And also his Government. In addition to fairs like the one in Shanghai, initiatives have been emerging in the country of all kinds for promote birth: matchmaking programs, subsidies…the Government has even gone so far as to make more expensive the price of condoms or activated, through the Communist Party (CCP), a kind of Tinder for young people. Images | Wikipedia (Jpbowen) and Luca Casartelli (Flickr) In Xataka | With the birth rate at levels not seen since 1939, a reality is emerging in Barcelona: the native population is now a minority

reduces the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s in the future by 65%

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In the Nordic countries, the sauna is little less than a religion, since, more than a luxury, it is considered a necessity for daily well-being as it is attributed all kinds of healing properties. These spaces in Spain have little by little been gaining strength and there are now many gyms that include this service for their members and in spas it has also become one more. Its properties. Here common knowledge tells us that it is good to spend a few minutes in the sauna enduring humid heat, but the question we must ask ourselves is: does it really have healing properties? And the reality is that science supports the impact that thermotherapy has on our own brain. A Finnish study. When talking about the neurological benefits of the sauna, almost all roads lead to the same point, which is the KIHD cohort study carried out by the University of Eastern Finland. This is considered the “crown jewel” of thermotherapy and with good reason, since researchers followed 2,300 middle-aged Finnish men for 20 years to see the real impact of the sauna on their health. The results They pointed out that those who went to the sauna between 4 and 7 times a week had a 66% lower risk of developing dementia than those who only went once a week. But also, in the specific case of the disease Alzheimer’sthe risk was reduced by 65%. These data are not a simple statistical accident, since the researchers adjusted the results taking into account multiple risk factors, such as smoking or BMI. Furthermore, subsequent reviews have expanded on these findings, noting that the benefits of passive body warming remain independent of other risk factors and they are not exclusive to the male sex. Beyond memory. The impact of the sauna is not limited to neurodegenerative diseases, but we also have evidence that tells us that heat baths lead to improvements in depressive symptoms. And although the evidence here is more mixed and is based on observational studies and smaller trials, neurobiology offers us a fascinating explanation of why this happens. The most relevant thing in this case is that heat activates certain proteins in our body that are responsible for repairing other damaged proteins and protecting cells from stress. But in addition, the alternation between intense heat and subsequent cooling trains our “fight or flight” and “rest and digest” responses. If we go more recently, we know that depression has an important inflammatory component and the increase in body temperature paradoxically reduces these inflammatory markers in the long term. The small print. What these studies tell us right now is that taking saunas frequently makes the brain age more slowly, but it is not an absolute coincidence. That is to say, we cannot categorically affirm 100% that it is the heat itself that ‘stops’ dementia. The reason for this is that going to the sauna 4 or 5 times a week is usually associated with a particular lifestyle, since it can be accompanied by several exercise sessions in a gym. Even having the time and resources to do so is usually linked to lives with lower stress levels, greater social interaction and better habits that can have a lot to say in Alzheimer’s. Images | HUMM In Xataka | Dementia is devastating largely because it arrives without warning: some researchers already predict it seven years in the future

Renfe thought of France as its great business for the future. Already looking at Portugal thanks to a 19th century decision

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“Portugal is a great opportunity for Renfe.” These are the words that summarize the company’s intentions for the medium-term future, according to Expansion. The newspaper assures that the Ministry of Transportation aspires to turn the neighboring country into the company’s new big business. And the secret is in its track width. “A great opportunity”. “Portugal represents a great opportunity for Renfe. With the 15 units of the Series 106, it will have 30 high-speed trains of variable gauge to which the 13 compositions of the new Series 107 will have to be added in the coming months. In total, 43 trains that are also intended to be approved for circulation in Portuguese territory.” These are the words with which, according to Expansionthe Ministry of Transport defends the change in strategy outside the Spanish borders. The company has been looking for a place in France for some time but This country is putting up all possible barriers to hinder its expansion through French territory. The alternative now passes through Portugal and the gauges have a lot to do with it. The Avrils. At the beginning of July, Talgo and Renfe reached an agreement regarding their Avril trains. These trains have been a headache for Renfe because Talgo has delivered them late, they have presented numerous breakdowns and incidents and they even had to be removed from Madrid-Barcelona because they cracked. The great theoretical advantage is that they are trains that, with the necessary equipment, can jump between the Iberian and international gaugethe European standard for high speed. This allows them to be the only trains that operate the Madrid-Galicia without the need to transfer between trains. This gives it a strategic advantage over Ouigo and Iryo in the face of the upcoming liberalization of these routes. In the agreement, Renfe and Talgo decided that the Avril trains that operate with international gauge were going to be adapted to be able to make this track jump. The cost exceeds 130 million euros but it will allow Renfe to move its trains throughout the national territory… or the entire Iberian Peninsula. A strategic change. With the announcement of this agreement, from the Ministry of Transport they indicated that “Renfe “It will be the only operator with the capacity to provide international high-speed rail services with Portugal, which gives it a clear competitive advantage to lead the Iberian train market.” The phrase is not coincidental. The initial intention was to dedicate some of the trains received from Talgo to France, but the company is encountering so many problems in homologating them that it has shifted its projection to Portugal. And the Portuguese country seems to be a perfect market for the company taking into account its track widths. And the connection between Madrid and Lisbon, which should be completed in 2030 but reach minimum travel time in 2034it has to be built under instructions from the European Union using international gauge. However, the Lisbon-Porto line is being built with Iberian gauge, which limits the Madrid-Lisbon-Porto connection to a single train. The Iberian exceptionality. The situation is complex. The Portuguese railway, like the Spanish one, grew around the Iberian gauge. This isolated both countries from the rest of the continent in this sector but the European Union is working so that the exceptionality is, in part, eliminated. That is why in the agreement reached in October 2025 there is the obligation to bring the international width to Madrid-Lisbon. However, nothing has been said of the high-speed line that Portugal is building between Lisbon and Porto. This line is supported by Iberian gauge and will reach the Spanish border with said gauge. This makes it very difficult for new companies to enter.as we have seen in Galicia. But Renfe has the ace up the Avrils’ sleeve. And since these trains can jump between gauges, Portugal opens up as a very attractive market to expand operations, with trains that can cover Madrid-Oporto passing through Lisbon. Something that no other company in the world can do right now.. Photo | Annie Spratt and Nelson Silva In Xataka | Spain aspires to its most ambitious railway challenge: Madrid-Barcelona in less than two hours. And you have already taken the first step

After taking the plunge into games in physical format, Sony’s large disc factory is preparing for another future: optical microlenses

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On July 1, PlayStation gave the death blow to physical games. Starting in January 2028, there will be no new games in this format for PlayStation consoles, marking the most aggressive initiative against this format that we have seen since Xbox’s moves in 2013 and Nintendo’s Game Key Card with Nintendo Switch 2. Let the physical format die It is an anti-consumer measure whose announcement comes just when Sony itself demonstrated, removing more than 500 films of your digital store, that users we do not own the digital products that we buy We only buy permission from companies to be able to use it for an indefinite period of time that ends when these companies decide that this is how it should be. These days in networks there was a big question: faced with such a drastic measure, Would Sony back down? Well, everything indicates that it is not because in Austria there is the only Sony disc factory, the one from which the majority of games come out in physical format for PlayStation and one in which its employees would already be receiving training to dedicate themselves to other things. And those things are optical microlenses. The great PlayStation game factory is recycled The proof that PlayStation’s decision does not only affect PlayStation’s own games is in the game box. If you look at almost any PS3, PS4, or PS5 game cover, will specify “made in Austria”. This is because in Austria, specifically in Thalgauis located (now the only one after the conversions and closures of American and Japanese plants) main Sony record factory. Sony’s own games come out of it, but also those of the rest of the companies that manufacture for PlayStation. It is estimated that Thalgau produces 600,000 discs every day, half of them for PlayStation, but as things are about to change, employees are already preparing. According to the Austrian media ORF Salzburgthe 300 employees of the plant found out about the decision on the same July 1 in which Sony announced the end of physical games for PlayStation, but contrary to what we might think, there will be no layoffs but a restructuring. They point out that Sony has invested 30 million euros in equipment to convert the factory into an optical microlens factory and employees are already receiving training for this. According to the report, the idea is that Sony will begin mass production of these microlenses next year. Your application? There are several, and in the age of AI, they can be used as equipment to connect racks, but from the department Sony Micro Optics they point out that an application of microoptics can be for the automotive sector. “Micro-optics is the miniaturization of optical systems and elements that serve to focus and direct light in the smallest possible space. For example, a car turn signal that is projected onto the asphalt.” And this is important because, as we say, since last Wednesday there have been voices that suggest that, with a year and a half left until 2028, Sony may rethink things and turn back. The problem with that thinking is that This is not a decision to be made lightly.and this immediate restructuring of their large record factory shows that the Japanese have been thinking about change for some time. No matter how many signature platforms are in place, it seems that the decision is irrevocable. And also a sample of what happens when you have no competition, since Xbox is neither here nor expected in this area of ​​living room consoles after the failure of their last two machines. And more now with the internal situation they have. Image | sony In Xataka | There are more and more physical video games that are paperweights. It is a tremendous problem for video games as art.

is going to spend 500 million on the chips of the future

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If you have traveled to Asia to countries like Japan, China or Singapore, it is possible that along your journey you have put your butt on a smart toilet. And it is also likely that that smart toilet was from the TOTO brand. The Japanese firm is famous mainly for its toilets, but the fact that its core is china allows it to be on the front page in the midst of the AI ​​boom and that is not so well known: it has been in the chip business since 1984, manufacturing high precision ceramic components employed in semiconductors. It is not NVIDIA or AMD, but to give us an idea of ​​how serious Toto is and its level of competition, it has just invested a fortune with one goal: to scale its production to the most advanced one-nanometer chips. It should be remembered that IBM just achieved the first chip of that very small size. Towards 1nm chips. Already in February the Pallister Capital fund (one of the largest shareholders of Toto) qualified to a company as “the most undervalued and overlooked beneficiary of AI memory”, highlighting that its chip component manufacturing segment already accounts for more than 50% of its profit. What he also blamed on the Japanese company is the lack of transparency. A few months later, Toto has picked up the gauntlet: just announced an investment of $495 million over five years to scale its business to the most advanced technological horizon in the chip industry: supporting next-generation manufacturing technologies in the nanometer range. Why is it important. The rise of data centers and AI is fueling demand for advanced semiconductors in search of increasingly smaller and more efficient chips. Without advanced materials like those made by TOTO, the miniaturization needed for one-nanometer technology would not be possible. And this diversification is very profitable for Toto. Nikkei Asia collects its astronomical projected figures for this segment: operating profit of 27,000 million yen (146 million euros) for the fiscal year ended in March 2026, an absolute historical record and 32% more than the previous year. It is already what makes the most money for the toilet company. At the state level, this investment is part of Japan’s effort to strengthen its domestic semiconductor supply chain in a context where several countries wish to reduce their dependence on Taiwan and South Korea. Context. Toto began research in the field of advanced ceramics in the 1970s, as Japan’s period of rapid post-war growth was winding down. As relates Toto ceramics business planning department manager Junji Kameshima said, “We wanted to use our ceramics experience to create high-value products.” In 1984 that area was officially established and in 2020 it went from artisanal and low-performance production to playing in the first division. The jump was thanks to Nakatsu’s highly automated plant, with AI systems trained to detect minimal defects: it went from a performance of 50-60% to more than 90% and delivery times were reduced from 180 days to just over 40. Its product portfolio within the semiconductor area was consolidated around three main products: the most important are e-chucks, ceramic discs that hold the silicon wafer during the etching of NAND memory chips. The second are aerosol deposition components, which protect internal walls of the etching chambers. The third are highly durable structural parts used in large LCD panel manufacturing equipment. The three take advantage of a skill acquired making ceramics for the bathroom: ceramic firing of high precision and purity. In detail. This investment of 495 million dollars over five years has three specific lines of action: Expand the machinery at its Oita and Fukuoka plants, already operating at full capacity. Reorient R&D at its Kanagawa plant toward logic semiconductors. Build a new cooking building in Fukuoka, scheduled for January 2027. Part of the investment has already been decided, but the rest will be available depending on market conditions. Thus, if the demand still cannot be met, Nikkei Asia leaks that Toto will consider the construction of a new plant from scratch. Yesyes, but. It seems that days of wine and roses are coming for Toto, based on its solid figures, but there are aspects to take into account. The first is that NAND memory already collapsed a few years ago and could do it again before the Japanese company recovers the investment. On the other hand, this optimistic speech comes from Pallister, one of those interested in Toto doing well (he is an investor). Also, Toto has very few large clients, so a slowdown from any of them can be a severe blow. In Xataka | The fascinating world of Japanese electronic toilets: sensors, microchips and what’s to come In Xataka | Welcome to the AI ​​duopoly: the sector already has a turnover of 80 billion a year, but OpenAI and Anthropic take 89% of the revenue Cover | Toto and Igor Omilaev

Venice spent 6 billion on a dam to stop the sea. There are those who already see it as the only future left for the Bay of Cádiz

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In the first two months of 2026, Venice had to raise its large mobile dock 30 times. In the last five years, he has had to do it another 108 times in total. Nobody can say that the work of 6 billion that was going to save the lagoon has not been necessary; What can be said is that it closes so often that it threatens to suffocate just what protects. 2,000 kilometers away, in the bay of Cádiz, the sea is eating away at the largest tidal-influenced saline wetland in Spain. And the shadow of the great dam begins to hover over the problem. Is Venice the future of the Silver Cup? Let’s start by x-raying the problem. The sea has been advancing over the bay for decades, that cannot surprise anyone. Perhaps the only thing that has changed in recent years is that salt farmers, aquaculturists, scientists and ecologists have sat at the same table with a common diagnosis. Its ambition is much smaller than that of Venice, but we are light years away from Venice. What they are asking for is something as simple as the competent administrations coordinating. Coordinate for what? To prevent a good part of the saline wetland from dying. This wetland is structured around the so-called “outside turns“: soft dikes that stop spring tides and storms. They are not “natural things”, they are the product of centuries of human work. And when there is someone who maintains them, they endure, they tame the sea, they control the storms. The problem is that there is almost no one to maintain them. Today, around 80% of the salt mines are abandoned; Of the 160 artisanal salt mines that existed in the 70s, four remain. In other words, what is happening in the Bay is a disaster labeled ‘natural’, but with socioeconomic roots. The result is clear. In points like the south of Puerto Real, the sea advances about 3 meters a year, according to calculations from the University of Cádiz. And it is now just over 200 meters from the first houses. A few kilometers from there, 94,000 inhabitants (the people of San Fernando) live below sea level and this protected natural park is their main line of defense. If the estimates of the Blue Bay Alliance They are right and the sea rises between 55 and 70 centimeters, there will be many people who will suffer the consequences. And we will put our hands on our heads and wonder how it was possible. Then, just then, people will start talking seriously about the wall. But it will be a mistake. So far no one has asked for the Venetian MOSE and, in fact, the ‘concrete’ that the Alliance talks about is something very different and much more surgical. His basic proposal is to return to the walls permeable to the tide: to use all our modern technology to try to rescue traditional engineering. That is, keeping an extremely complex ecosystem alive. And that’s the heart of the matter: the Venice Wall could protect the new parts of San Fernando when the time comes, but it couldn’t keep the bay alive. We have to decide if we want to invest Now it’s cheap, but the risk is diffuse. Or invest later, when it is expensive, but clear and real. Image | Alain Rouiller In Xataka | Venice spent 5 billion euros on flood barriers. Five years later they are already “unsustainable”

The US has realized that millions of workers have no future because of AI. And he got to work

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A question has been going around the councils of ministers and the main world economic forums since ChatGPT showed its capabilities in November 2022. How many jobs is going to destroy the AI? The founder of OpenAI himself has been one of the more pessimistic voicesand has even financed studies and pilot tests on universal basic income as a tool to mitigate the impact of AI in the world of work. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, is also not optimistic about the impact of AI on the labor market: up to half of office jobs of recent graduates They could disappear in five years. Now, the same people who develop the great AI models are putting money on the table to cushion the coming labor blow. The concern about a labor apocalypse is such that it is even uniting political adversaries to find a solution together. United against the AI ​​workplace apocalypse. As and how he published The Wall Street Journallast week he was born RAISE USa non-profit organization that aims to train US employees in profiles with a future within the new AI economy that is coming in the coming years. The organization will be led by Democrat Gina Raimondo, former Secretary of Commerce in the Biden administration, but, what is more curious, is that she will do so together with the former Republican governor of Indiana Eric Holcomb. Yes, AI has achieved something that seemed impossible: that political parties and rival companies join forces to prevent millions of employees from being left without jobs due to the arrival of AI. The problem also wants to be the solution. The initiative starts with more than 500 million dollars already committed, half of a budget goal that is set at 1,000 million for several years to come. The goal of RAISE US is to harmonize the evolution of the AI ​​career, but without leaving people behind. “If we build the best AI systems in the world and leave millions of Americans behind, we will have gained nothing,” said Raimondo in the presentation of the project. The most striking thing of all is that, among the main donors of this initiative we find some of the main protagonists of the race for AI. Namely: Amazon, Microsoft, Bank of America, IBM, Cisco or the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. Of course, Anthropic and the OpenAI foundation have also joined in. That is, the same people who are building the tools that can put their users out of work want to provide them with training for a future in a sector less exposed to AI or to cover the new professional profiles that will be created. AI is going to change everything. AI is evolving much faster than systems designed to protect workers, and that makes them more vulnerable. Goldman Sachs calculated that some 300 million jobs globally will be affected by the automation of generative AI. In the US, young people between 22 and 25 years old with jobs exposed to AI they already accuse the blow and its unemployment rate has risen almost three points since the beginning of 2025. The problem is that the current unemployment aid and subsidy systems are not designed to cover employees of entire sectors who, suddenly, lose their jobs. for AI automation. In Spain, unemployment benefits it is more guarantee when an employee becomes unemployed, but in countries like the US, only 27% of the unemployed receive unemployment benefitaccording to data from 2025. RAISE US objectives. An analysis 2025 Brookings Review reviewed decades of job training and retraining programs, and concluded that their results have been modest at best. RAISE US wants to redesign incentives so that companies prefer to retrain their employees rather than lay them off. It also proposes reforms in US unemployment benefits, so that a laid-off worker can continue collecting unemployment benefits while starting a business or starting training, instead of losing it as soon as he signs a new contract, something similar to what It is already applied in Spain in some specific cases to encourage their reintegration into the workforce. Get it started before it’s too late. The first pilot tests of the job training platform are already underway in four US states. In Arkansas, an AI-based career guidance platform is being tested that connects students and unemployed people with training programs tailored to their profile. In Maryland, the focus is on expanding a paid course program of at least nine months that gives candidates real-world experience in sectors with high demand of personnel, such as healthcare. The biggest fear of those who promote the platform is that their measures arrive on time. Labor markets already show signs of adjustment with changes in demand for certain technological profiles on the rise, while junior profiles they are in free fall in technology, law firms and consulting firms. In Xataka | We believed that AI was going to retire an entire generation of workers early. The opposite is happening Image | Unsplash (Shamin Haky)

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