generates

AI already generates photos indistinguishable from reality, so people are using it to collect fake returns

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The photo on the left was taken by me on my bathroom counter, the second is the result of asking Nano Banana to simulate that it had been hit during transport. If it weren’t for the Gemini logo in the lower right corner (which can be removed very easily), it would pass perfectly for a real photo. Online stores have a problem. what’s happening. There is an increasingly common trend in the world of online sales. Some customers are taking advantage of imaging models like Nano Banana to request product returns. Is what this person did: He ordered a carton of eggs from a fast home delivery service. One of the 24 eggs was broken. He took a photo and asked Gemini to add more broken eggs. He sent it to customer service and voilà: return completed. Why is it important. The images are no longer proof of anything, we saw it with the first images generated with Nano Banana Pro that went viral, and we are going to have to learn to live with it. Not only will we doubt absolutely every image we see, it also means that anything that could be verified with images may now be false. There are many more scenarios: cheat on your boss telling you that you had an accident on the way to work, exaggerating the damages to your insurance company, lying to your partner… China has the advantage. They count in South China Morning Post that the trend of deceiving online sales companies with AI is a trend that is spreading like wildfire. During the pass 11.11 celebrationseveral stores received images of customers asking for a refund using AI-generated images, such as a rusty electric toothbrush, a frayed item of clothing, or a broken ceramic mug. There is a case that has been echoed Wiredin which a customer who bought live crabs demanded a refund because many had arrived dead. To prove it, he sent images and even videos, but the sellers noticed that the video was not real because there were crabs with more legs. The problem with these detected cases is that the images were not credible, but that makes us think of all the more subtle images that will be considered good. There are more cases. China has the largest online trading systemso it makes sense that more cases have been detected, but it is not a trend exclusive to one country. The egg case that we mentioned above occurred in India and cases have also been detected in the United States. According to the fraud detection firm Forterthe use of AI images for this type of deception has increased by 15% by 2025, coinciding with the arrival of more capable imaging models. With Nano Banana Pro it looks like the trend is going to give a significant boost. Returns without return. Obviously, this technique cannot be used with just any product. There are cases in which stores refund our money without it being necessary for us to return the product. It can be applied in the case of perishable, fragile products and, in general, low-value products. If the images are no longer proof, they will have to change the strategy. Sending us a broken bottle of shampoo, I don’t know if it would be the best option, but they could force that the photos sent can only be taken from the app itself and not upload the ones we have in the camera roll. Image | Amparo Babiloni, Xataka In Xataka | FACUA believes that a lot of V16 beacons “approved by the DGT” are not legal. And there’s a way to sum it up: fraud.

Madrid consumes more and generates less energy than anyone else. And their neighbors are also refusing to install solar panels.

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Between the grain fields and the family housing estates of eastern Madrid, the residents of Villalbilla and Torres de la Alameda live a battle that is repeated in many corners of Spain: that of a territory that wants clean energy, but afraid of losing his identity. In short. On the banks of the Viso, a residential and natural area closely linked to family life, a macro photovoltaic solar plant is planned of 70.8 megawatts promoted by Envatios Promotion XXIV SL, a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational Smartenergy. The project, known as “Envatios XXIV – Phase III”, would occupy about 335 hectares of agricultural and natural land, the equivalent of more than 470 soccer fields, between both municipalities. The resolution that grants the declaration of public utility was published in the Official State Gazette, a step that paves its execution. However, the approval has set off alarms in the area: Neighborhood platforms and associations have begun to mobilize to stop what they consider a threat to their environment and quality of life. The spark of conflict. The Platform for the Defense of Visibility complaint the “lack of transparency and absence of participation” in the processing of the project. They claim that Villalbilla City Council was not even formally notified during the process, a defect that could have legal consequences. The macro project, they explainwill cause possible environmental and social risks: local increase in temperature due to the reflective effect of the plates, noise pollution, loss of vegetation and risk of fires. At the information meeting held on October 7, the technicians and neighbors summarized their position in a phrase that has become the movement’s motto: “We are not against solar energy, but rather its poor location. Energy yes, but with common sense.” A wave of institutional opposition. Neighborhood rejection has found a political echo. Villalbilla Town Hall approved a motion against the project with the support of 17 councilors from different parties. The decision reflects the concern shared by residents and municipal representatives regarding the environmental and landscape impact. A few days later, the council announced that it will present an appeal to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO). It has also maintained contacts with the Government Delegation in Madrid and has requested a review of the process. On his Facebook page, the mayor, José Luis Luque Lorente, qualified the situation: “The plant is located in Torres de la Alameda. In Villalbilla no permanent facilities are implemented, only some plots will be temporarily affected as accesses during the works.” Even so, the council has joined the mobilizationarguing that any large energy infrastructure must be done with planning and consensus. ANDon the other front. The promoting company has with the favorable environmental impact declaration and that its capacity—70.8 MW—could supply the annual electricity consumption of some 90,000 homes. Some landowners have already signed rental contracts with the developer. “The project is unstoppable, and it is better to make a profit,” one of them explained to Infobae. The debate has even divided the municipalities themselves: while Villalbilla and Torres prepare legal appeals, Mejorada del Campo has chosen for negotiating with the company. This last municipality has achieved reduce plant size by 40%, establish a local employment plan and compensation of 3.8 million euros. Even within the regional administration itself there are divergences: the General Directorate of Environmental Quality of the Community of Madrid issued a favorable report, while the General Directorate of Agriculture considered it unviable for affecting woody crops and recommended finding another location. The dilemma of the landscape. The Platform for the Defense of Viso insists that the problem is not solar energy itself, but the model of massive implementation without territorial planning. As we well knowthe debate is not new. In a forum for El País, energy expert Eloy Sanz warned that “rejecting almost any renewable development is a mistake,” and that “the less renewables, the more fossil fuels.” But he also criticized the use of the term “macro” as an emotional label: “The prefix ‘macro’ is key on an emotional level, regardless of the actual size of the project.” The dilemma extends throughout Spain. The motto “Renewable yes, but not like this” has caught on in rural areas of Andalusia, Aragon and Galicia. In Jaén, neighbors and farmers oppose an installation that would involve cutting down more than 100,000 olive trees. In Galicia, the Supreme Court provisionally suspended a wind farm for failing to evaluate its cumulative impact on the territory. The conflicts share a pattern: rural communities that support the energy transition, but demand order, transparency and balance. It will have to be distributed. The point is that the case of Villalbilla and Torres de la Alameda has an additional paradox: it occurs in one of the regions that produces the least energy and consumes the most. The Community of Madrid generates only 4.8% of the energy it usesbut it concentrates 11% of national demand. Meanwhile, other areas of the country—Extremadura, Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha or Andalusia— support the thickness of electricity generation. This shows that the background is the same: an energy transition that advances at an uneven pace and with little territorial planning. As the country seeks to meet 2030 climate goals, local communities are demanding a say in how and where their environment is transformed. “We want a just transition.” That is the phrase most repeated by the residents of Viso. His message coincides with that of many citizen movements that have emerged throughout Spain: support for renewables, but with respect for the territory. Maybe the key is in what pointed out Eloy Sanz: “The dilemma is not between progress or landscape, but between doing it well or doing it badly.” Between climate urgency and fear of change, Villalbilla and Torres de la Alameda embody a question that Spain has not yet resolved: how to achieve clean energy that is also fair? Image | Unsplash Xataka | The Altri megaplant has caused an enormous social response in Galicia. And now the Government has given … Read more

ZonaGemelos generates the darkest content on the Spanish internet. They had to cancel their own ‘Big Brother’ in nine hours

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Extreme content has always existed on the Internet, but until recently it was part of the exclusive redoubt of the network’s sewer: deep webforums in which you had to register to enter, P2P circuits closed to the general public. Social networks, however, are increasingly expanding their themes in more aggressive directions. The lack of moderation and the avalanche of content has created monsters like ‘The House of Twins’, a reality show inspired by ‘Big Brother‘ which was canceled nine hours after its premiere. But who are you? Daniel and Carlos Ramos are brothers and content creators under the label ZoneTwins. They have become known for debate videos that revolve around controversy, morbidity, arguments and sometimes live violence between the guests of their program. Their accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers (just over 300,000 on YouTube, almost 400,000 on TikTok) and their style is reminiscent of entertainment programs from the beginning of the century like ‘Crónicas Marcianas’, and also dating shows like ‘First Dates’ or challenge shows, but in a more extreme way. Among its regulars are Paco Porras or Simon Perezand also include betting and gambling content (in casinos like LocoWin, with high-risk bets). What is ‘The House of Twins’? A reality show for networks which premiered on October 12 on Kick (the twins are banned from Twitch) and YouTube and was canceled in the early hours of the next day, due to violent incidents and serious confrontations between the seven participants, especially between two women who are regulars in the ZonaGemelos debates: la Falete and Triana Marrash. The latter had its fifteen minutes of fame on a national scale thanks to ‘Tardear’ and an alleged disappearance that turned out to be a setup to gain followers. What happened? Three contest participants voluntarily left the program before its cancellation, given the direction the program was taking, with the participants becoming increasingly drunk. Among other things, constant fights could be seen, attempts to quilting with three people involved, inappropriate comments on sensitive topics such as the war in Ukraine and destruction of the house and furniture. The organizers, when announcing the closure, spoke of “a second edition with some basic rules of coexistence and a few hours to sleep.” Some figures. In its first hours, the program was followed by more than a million live viewers, which makes it clear that we are not exactly facing a niche product. The hashtag #LaCasaDeLosGemelos became a trending topic on X and YouTube ended up cutting the broadcast due to the questionable content. Of course, as happens in reality shows, it soon began to generate lots of derivative content from other creators commenting on what happened in the house. extreme youtube. The type programs reality streaming like The House of Twins raise moral and ethical questions that have been object of study: emotional manipulation, exploitation of participants, loss of privacy, psychological and social effects on those who participate and consume this type of entertainment… Producers usually edit and manipulate recorded material to provoke conflicts and extreme reactions that keep the public’s attention. This strategy generates economic benefits, but results in the emotional exploitation of the contestants, who may suffer anxiety and psychological deterioration. Other key moral dilemma revolves around the actual consent of the participants. In many productions, contestants sign contracts that allow them to be constantly filmed, without effective control over their image once broadcast: participants are recorded in moments of emotional and physical vulnerability, such as arguments or personal crises. And if these issues are considerable in realities traditional, its impact is multiplied on the internet, where algorithms amplify emotionally conflictive content to maximize public interaction. In Xataka | Now I regret what I uploaded about myself to the internet when I was a teenager

Chatgpt’s mobile app generates 30 times more money than Claude, Copilot and Grok together. Still not enough

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If there is a chatbot that stands out in popularity over the rest, that is undoubtedly chatgpt. His mobile app was launched in May 2023 And since then he has occupied the download tops of the main stores, becoming The most downloaded app in the world A few months ago. Openai has reached another milestone with its app: since its launch already has generated 2,000 million dollars. To put it in context, this would be approximately 30 times more than what Claude, Grok and Copilot combined have generated. However, not everything is as beautiful as it sounds. Undisputed leader. According to figures AppfiguresOnly for 2025, the Chatgpt app has generated 1,350 million dollars, which represents a growth of 673% compared to the same period of 2024. Chatgpt is generating 193 million dollars per month, while the next on the list is Grok with 3.6 million per month. If we look at the average download per expense, ChatgPT goes to the head with 2.91 dollars, followed by Claude with $ 2.55, Grok with $ 0.75 and finally co -pilot with only $ 0.28. It is clear: Openai is winning the battle of mobile apps. Still not enough. 2,000 million are many millions and that only with its mobile app. Adding all your services, only In July 1,000 million entered And it is estimated that they will enter 12,000 million this year. However, It is still light years of being profitable And the reality is that they enter much less than they spend. The company did An internal study in which they estimated that the losses between 2023 and 2028 would amount to 44,000 million dollars. According to their forecasts, they will not be profitable until 2029, when they expect to enter 100,000 million dollars annually, almost ten times more than they invoice now. The Big Tech are on the right track. The great technology have invested amounts of authentic madness in AI And it has not been until recently that they have begun to see A slight green outbreak in its results. After several years burning huge amounts of money, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have seen how their income is finally to cover the investment so tremendous. However, it is still not thanks to the products AI directly, but to the cloud services. Even so, the reality is that None is making gold with AI. Mission: Monetize the AI. If there is something that brings to the business of AI is How to monetize your chatbots. Subscriptions “pro” have become the appeal to get income, Some like Claude Max cost a real fortune and OpenAi He followed his steps with O3 Pro. The Subscriptions are getting more expensivebut they are not yet enough to reach the level of expenses. There is no azure or a web service that can get the chestnuts out of the fire as it is happening with the Big Tech. The exit seems clear. Advertising. At the end of last year there were rumors that they could start putting advertising in Chatgpt. At the moment it has not materialized, but Rumors have not ceased and seeing the numbers may be a solution to the profitability problem. They have not been the only ones who have flirted with this idea, Perplexity was also testing it And Elon Musk recently confirmed that There will be advertising in Grok. Very careful. Implement advertising in a chatbot is delicate since we could find ourselves in a scenario in which it ends up losing the trust of users. For example, if we go to a chatbot in the process of buying a car, we could doubt whether the recommendations are based on an advertising campaign. Integration should be clear to avoid possible confusing situations. What seems clear is that, given the serious problem of profitability, advertising stands as a more than attractive option for AI companies. In Xataka | Big Tech have buried thousands and billions in AI. They are earning money, but not thanks to the AI

Google’s new AI generates interactive worlds from a prompt. Deepmind believes it is a step to get the AGI

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The Google Deepmind team has announced its new AI model to generate interactive worlds. At the end of last year We were surprised with what Genie could do 2 And the new version is an important leap, one that for Google is an advance in the creation of the General Artificial Intelligence or AGIthat which can match the abilities of the best human. Genie 3. It is the new World Model o Deepmind world model. Allows to create interactive worlds for which we can explore, all from a Prompt of text. The previous model was very limited and could only be used for a few seconds, but with Genie 3 Deepmind promises that it can be explored for “several minutes.” In addition, the resolution has improved at 720p to 24FPS. The model is based on Genie 2 and I see 3. It has memory. It is the most important improvement of the new model. The world is generated through ia as we explore it, but if we turn around and look at something we had already seen, it remains the same. We can also change something, such as painting on a wall, and that is kept as we leave it all the time. This did not happen in previous versions and its creators say they did not explicitly schedule it to do that. As explained in an article in TechcrunchGenie 3 is able to remember what he has already generated to train himself, in this way he learns how the world and his physical works. Interactive. It also emphasizes that events can be added with Prompts additional In his article, Deepmind puts several interactive examples such as a meadow in which we can choose if a tractor, a bear, a horse or hot air balloons will appear. They call it “promptable World Events” and also allows you to change aspects such as weather. Why is it important. Worlds models are useful in different scenarios such as the creation of scenarios for real -time games, in education or in the training of AI agents. Google points to it in its blog as a key step to reach the AGI, that upper artificial intelligence that so many companies are trying to get as soon as possible. These worlds can be used as a training field for other AI, also including robots, cases in which simulating real scenarios is a challenge. In the presentation, the Deepmind team explained how they put an agent in a stage that simulated a warehouse and asked him to approach certain elements, such as a green garbage cube. In all the tests he achieved, according to the Deepmind team “the fact that (the agent) is able to achieve this is because Genie 3 remains coherent.” The competition. The largest IA competition, at least at the level of products for the end user, we see it in the chatbots and, to a lesser extent, in video or audio generators. The world models are less popular among the public and there is not a great competition. Nvidia presented cosmos at the beginning of the year And there are some companies like World Labs They offer similar proposals. We would like to finish this text with a link so you can try it, but Genie 3 is only available in Beta for a very limited group of academics. Image | Deepmind In Xataka | Some researchers created a company where all employees were AI agents. They did not make a quarter of the work

The technological one that generates more money is not Apple or Nvidia or Amazon. It is a porn boutique: Onlyfans

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Onlyfans produces 37.6 million dollars per employee if we divide their income among their number of workers, according to the detailed report he has published Mutiples.vc. It is a figure that destroys any comparison with technological giants. Why is it important. The adult content platform has perfected something that the rest of the technology industry pursues without so successful: extract the maximum possible value with the minimum necessary resources. Apple generates 2.4 million per employee. Goal, 2.2 million. Amazon, just $ 400,000. In figures. Only Tether, the cryptocurrency company, exceeds Onlyfans with 83 million per employee. Then comes Onlyfans. Then an abyss to Valve with 19 million. The rest of the great technological ones go wrong in the photo that compares them. Another business. The model. Onlyfans has built a money printing machine with just a few hundred employees managing 315 million users and 5.3 million creators. Its profit margin touched 49% in 2024, on net income of 1.6 billion dollars. The company takes 20% of everything that creators invoice. Without producing content, without assuming creative risks, without large technological infrastructure. It is pure optimized intermediation to the extreme. Yes, but. Onlyfans dominates a market where concentration is wild. 70% of payments go to 10% of creators. The average creator enters less than $ 150 per month. It is a mARKETPlace ruthless where a few gain fortunes and most subsist. Between the lines. While the great technology hire armies of engineers, designers and executives to compete for attention, Onlyfans solved the problem in another way: to create a space where demand pays directly for specific content. Without complex algorithms, without thorough moderation, without competing for advertisers. The company now seeks an assessment of 8,000 million dollars. It would be just an X10 with respect to its annual benefits, a conservative figure for any technological. But Onlyfans is not any technological company: it is the clearest demonstration that efficiency matters more than size. PUNTEDED. In Xataka | I have cloned the Instagram profile to create a +18 account with my photos and ask for money like Onlyfans Outstanding image | Onlyfans, Xataka

The next milestone for the IAS that generates video was to make them with audio. Google has achieved it with I see 3

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Great day for Google. We are in full I/O 2025, the most important software event for the American company. Interestingly, Android is being one of the least sounded names: this year the only thing that matters is AI. And, related to AI, Google has been working on a model that allows you to generate video through text. That model is I seeand in its new update it is able to generate these videos … with audio. I see 3. Google has three levels for its generative artificial intelligence of video. I see 1, I see 2 And the new I see 3. Yes, they are much easier names regarding what We are accustomed to us. I see 3 is the most powerful model, capable of generating 4K video with advanced film compression. In this Google I/or gains a key capacity: the generation of video with audio. Of environmental sounds to dialogues. Google goes with everything with I see 3. This model not only has a higher quality with respect to I see 2: it is the only one of Google capable of generating videos with audio. For example, if in the prompt we detail that we want an urban scene, it will be able to recreate some of the sounds corresponding to it (people walking, traffic, bustle, etc.). Google goes further, and promises to be able to create even dialogues between characters. This is one of the definitive barriers for text to text to become practically a science fiction function. With I see 3 it will be possible to do everything. IMPROVEMENTS IN SEE 2. Although I see 3 is the absolute protagonist, I see 2 is updated with new functions. Among them, it premieres new camera controls much more precise for Traveling and Zoom movements, outpainting options to expand the framing (to pass the vertical to horizontal or vice versa video), as well as the possibility of adding or deleting elements of the video. Flow arrives. Related to VI, Image and Gemini arrives Flow, the new Google tool to create cinematographic videos through AI. It is a new work environment to be able to give free rein to our creations with I see: a video editor with whom we can create both with image and I see. In addition to functioning as editor, it will have some social function. Through Flow we can access Flow TV, a feed in which we will see content, channels and creators who are generating videos with I see. Ahead of Open AI. Chatgpt creators surprised the world with Soraits artificial intelligence to generate video from a prompt. The problem? At least, at the time we write these lines, it is not able to generate video. In December 2024 Google already advanced Sora on the right Showing the capabilities of VER 2, which quadrupled the video output resolution with respect to the Open AI model. It also allowed to create more durable videos, and a “understanding” of spectacular physics, something that makes the difference when creating a natural video. Your rivals. Rival video generators such as Runway, Luma ai either Pika Labs They allow to add external audio, but in no case generate sound at the time of delivering the final video. Google has just been punched on the table with I see 3, maintaining the first career position and further complicating things to giants like Open AI. At the moment, these functions will be available for GEMINI Ultra subscribers in the United States through the Gemini and Flow app, as well as for companies through VERTEX AI. Image | Google In Xataka | 14 tools to create free images

When the desire to finish tasks generates as much anxiety and problems as not doing them

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Procrastination is the art of leaving all the workload To your future selfknowing that in the end it will touch you to do it, but with has a hurry and higher doses of Anxiety and frustration. However, and against all prognosis, there is also its counterpart: Precrasticationor not to bear to leave the tasks for later. Although it does not seem like it, precostination is an obsession that also It has negative effects. What is precostination? The term was coined by the professor in psychology David Rosenbaum in his study ‘Precrastication: Accelerate the achievement of a subopjective at the expense of additional physical effort‘In 2014. Rosenbaum showed with his experiment that people sometimes choose the option that implies more physical effort Just to cross out a task of your list. To get to that conclusion, the participants were asked to choose between two cubes with water that had to take to the end of a hall. One of these cubes was sometimes closer to the beginning of the hall and sometimes a little further. However, the researchers observed that, often, the participants chose the cube that was closer to the exit point to take it to the end, even when choosing the second cube meant loading it for a shorter distance. When asked why they had chosen the first cube, most participants replied: “I wanted to finish the homework as soon as possible“ This behavior marked a tendency to advance the task assigned to any cost, even at the expense of implying greater physical wear in the process. At work, this translates into the need to finish everything as soon as possible, motivated by the idea that speed is equal to efficiency. However, that is to start from a wrong premise since speed is not always efficiency. People with a tendency to precostination may feel satisfied at the end of the work ahead of time, but those hurries to finish the tasks can lead to errors and lack of focus on execution. “It’s like going to the supermarket, filling the basket with a lot of apples and continuing to buy carrying them despite knowing that you will go through the place where they meet when you go to the box,” explained the psychologist Obsessed with crossing homework Precrastication is a problem more common than it may seem. Who suffers its effects is often shown as an example of productivity in a society that values ​​immediacy and we need everything “for yesterday.” This affects the quality of work and it is not valued that, some tasks, require time and reflection. Precostination is not always easy to identify. We are completing tasks, believing that we are being productive. However, finishing things ahead of time, without due dedication, it can generate stress, errors and exhaustion. If you feel you need to balance your way of working, these tips can help you: 1. Plan your tasks If you are aware of your tendency to precostine, try to contain your first instinct to launch yourself to Complete everything immediately. Take a time to analyze and prioritize what tasks do you really need your immediate attention. You can use The ABCDE method to prioritize tasks according to their urgency and importance. 2. Set reasonable times Not all tasks must be executed at the time, so It is important to reflect about its impact on the project or your day. Before acting, ask yourself: “Is it necessary to solve immediately? Is it urgent to answer that email immediately or can you do it later?” Impose waiting periods For non -urgent activities for Force that reflection and give you space to reflect and address things with a clearer and more serene mind. It is very likely that you discover new ways of addressing it in a more creative way. A good strategy to face precrastination is the one proposed by the “Slow Work”, which defends the idea that work at a more leisurely pace It favors creativity, concentration and improves the quality of the final result. 3. Concentrate on one thing at the same time The impetus to finish tasks can make you fall into multitasking. An error that brings only heads to those who put it into practice, exhausting the energies and avoiding that The brain deepens in the tasks between hands. Instead of trying to cover everything at once, focus at the present time and Complete a single task After another. That will help you better value the resolution process of the tasks, instead of obsessing with the rapid results. 4. Live with uncertainty One of the features that leads the precostinators to finish tasks ahead of time It is his uncertainty intolerance of having pending things, in a kind of ‘Zeigarnik effect‘. Be aware that Everything has its rhythms and processes is key to face the need to cross out at all costs the tasks of the list. Practice patience and focus on what you can control. 5. Manage your energy He Mental exhaustion It is one of the greatest dangers of precostination. Knowing that there is an incomplete task is an additional mental burden for those who have a tendency to precostine. To avoid it, be sure to include regular breaks in your dayincluding them as another task in your day. This will allow the brain to recover part of its energy and you can address your tasks in the best cognitive conditions. In Xataka | Procrastination is closer to the mental disorder than laziness: the three causes that cause it and how to avoid them In Xataka | Science has denied the morning mantra of productivity gurus: cold shower is as useless as early morning Image | Unspash (The Drink Luis Villasmil)

the delay in the development of the new wind tunnel generates a domino effect

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Aston Martin faces a major challenge heading into the season 2026 of Formula 1year marked by the implementation of new technical regulations that promise to level the grid. The Silverstone team, which has experienced notable growth in recent years, is currently in a technological and structural transition periodwith his eyes fixed on his new wind tunnel of the latest generation, a key piece for your ambitions. However, a delay in wind tunnel calibration process has slowed down the development of the 2026 cargenerating a domino effect that affects both the team and its medium-term planning. Although from January 1, 2025 Aston Martin and all the teams on the Formula 1 grid were authorized to begin work on the design of the new cars, the Silverstone team has decided to wait until its new facility is fully operational to begin that phase of work. . The new wind tunnel, located in the Silverstone Technology Campusis part of the modern facilities that Aston Martin has built to compete at the highest level. Designed to be an essential tool in improving aerodynamic performance, its launch has been delayed due to the complexities of its calibration. This process, led by the engineering director Luca Furbattowas to be completed by the end of 2024, but the work has been extended beyond what was planned. Despite these delays, Aston Martin has chosen not to use the wind tunnel that he has rented for years to mercedes in Brackleywhere his previous cars were developed, including the AMR25 of 2025. The decision to work exclusively at Silverstone responds to a clear strategy: maintaining confidentiality, guaranteeing that the technical solutions for the new car are developed in-house, away from possible leaks, and trusting that their new work tool will provide more and better information for this process. Fernando Alonso reviews the changes in the ARM24 with an engineer Aston Martin Qualitative leap He new Aston Martin wind tunnel it’s not just one significant investment in infrastructurebut also a fundamental pillar for your future. Equipped with the most advanced simulation systems, it promises to offer more precise data that can be correlated with real track conditions. However, as the team recognizes, it will take time to fine-tune the simulations and take advantage of the full potential of this tool. Furthermore, the arrival of Adrian Neweyone of the most brilliant minds in the history of Formula 1reinforces Aston Martin’s expectations. Newey, who will join the team on March 5dedicate much of its time to the development of the 2026 car. Its incorporation, together with other notable technicians such as Andy Cowell and Eric Blandinreinforces the team’s long-term vision. The delay in using the new wind tunnel is not the only challenge facing Aston Martin. The team is also in full transition to official team statusa process that involves designing and manufacturing key components, such as the gearbox, that were previously sourced from Mercedes. Furthermore, the association with the historic manufacturer Sling for the supply of power units exclusively for them from 2026 adds an additional layer of complexity to this restructuring stage. Andy CowellCEO of Aston Martin Performance Technologies, has emphasized the importance of managing all these processes efficiently to avoid compromising performance on the track. “2026 is an opportunitybut not the final goal. We want to build a team that achieves sustained success,” he said in recent statements. The 2025 season will be crucial to consolidate the team’s structure before facing the challenges of 2026. Although the AMR25 will be developed with current resources, the strategic focus is already on the next big technical leap. Cowell insists that the key will be finding a balance between immediate priorities and long-term goals. With a robust technical base, a high-level human team and a constantly evolving infrastructure, Aston Martin seems to be on the right track to compete at the top of the grid. However, time is of the essence and rivals such as Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will not give up in the fight to maintain their dominance.

The private firefighters that the rich in Los Angeles hire to save their properties from fires (and the criticism that this generates)

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Image source, Getty Images photo caption, The fires in Los Angeles have required all the resources of firefighters. Item information Author, Dario M. Brooks Author’s title, BBC News World January 18, 2025 In the midst of the emergency in Los Angeles, a request for help placed in X by a businessman uncovered a controversy a few days ago. Keith Wasserman, a CEO of an investment firm, wrote on the social network: “Does anyone have contacts with private firefighters to protect our house in Pacific Palisades? We need to act quickly. All the neighboring houses are on fire. We will pay any amount. Thank you” . Your house in Pacific Palisadesone of the neighborhoods where wealthy people live and which has been one of the most affected by the fireswas under threat of fire. Shortly afterward it was learned that it was consumed by flames. But Wasserman’s request for help from private firefighters generated a lot of criticism, from those who rejected the availability of resources to fight fires to the highest bidder, to those who considered it unethical to send workers to risk their lives. “So you’re suggesting that potentially vital (even ‘private’) resources be diverted to save your house because you’re rich while tens of thousands of people are trying to evacuate?” questioned a user identified as Renny. “The nerve is incredible… His family is evacuated and he tries to hire private firefighters to risk their lives to save a house that is probably insured,” wrote Sam Vance in another response to Wasserman’s message, who after criticism deactivated your account. However, what Wasserman was requesting is a private fire response service known for several years in Los Angeles and other parts vulnerable to this type of emergency in the United States. In fact, in that same city in 2018 another controversy arose after Kim Kardashian and her then-husband, Kanye West, hired a private fire service to protect their home in Calabasas from a forest fire. Kardashian then defended herself against the criticism, pointing out that the out-of-pocket hire not only saved her $50 million mansion, but helped her neighbors. Image source, Getty Images photo caption, Private fire control services primarily do preventive work. Specialists point out that private hiring of firefighters is more unusual than the current emergency makes it seem. The firms regularly serve businesses, insurance companies and, in the least cases, small clients. This is confirmed by Deborah Miley, director of the National Wildland Fire Fighting Association, which represents more than 300 private firefighting firms. Miley explained to the newspaper The New York Times that almost half (42%) of the firefighters in the United States are hired by this type of company. Joe Torres, from the private services company All-Risk Shield, explains to BBC Mundo that this is his case. “It’s usually an annual subscription. We do a lot of property preparation work long before any fire hits,” he explains. Although the law prohibits these companies from interfering with emergency operations, there are some that can offer their resources on their own. What do private firefighters offer? The firms, of various sizes, have tankers of different capacities, as well as fire crews and experts in protecting buildings against fires, forestry or other types. Regularly retired firefighters join the ranks of these companies. They use their own resources, including water, since they are prohibited from connecting to public service hydrants. In California, a law to regulate these services that emerged in 2018 – after the Kardashian and West controversy – even prohibits these services from having vehicles that look like red emergency vehicles, or that interfere with public operations. In the current emergency in Los Angeles, some private firefighters have been seen guarding residences in wealthy neighborhoods. According to reports, prices vary: from those who offer their services for US$2,000 per hour, to those who guard a property for between US$10,000 and US$14,000 per day. photo caption, The BBC saw several private services guarding residences in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Emma Vardy, a BBC reporter sent to cover the California emergency, found tankers from private companies doing preventive surveillance in the Brentwood neighborhood. “These can only be paid for by the very, very rich,” Vardy said. “There is a small army ready to protect these homes of very, very rich people. People have questioned how ethical this is while there are schools and homes of ordinary people that have been destroyed. And with public fire services in crisis,” he reported from that neighborhood, which still did not have an imminent threat of fire. But the current emergency has put many in the city in a difficult situation. More than 12,000 structures – including homes and businesses – have been consumed by the fire that has devastated some 16,000 hectares, between natural areas and neighborhoods such as Palisades, Eaton or Altadena. Unlike Wasserman, other businessmen have managed to save their properties. The case of real estate developer Rick Caruso has been cited in various media, as he hired a service that traveled from the neighboring states of Arizona and Oregon to protect his residence and a small shopping center in Pacific Palisades. Image source, Getty Images photo caption, Private services offer teams with trucks of different capacity and number of rescuers. BBC Mundo requested comments from the Los Angeles authorities about the private fire operation, but at the time of publication of this article it had not received a response. David Acuña, one of the spokespersons for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, explained to CBS News, a BBC partner in the US, that private firefighters do not respond to emergencies in general. “We do not want nor are we going to delegate to private firefighters the operations that we have to carry out with complex coordination,” he said. To provide help or not? When hired, employees of these private companies prepare property in an area vulnerable to wildfires with controls on the ground: clearing vegetation or flammable materials that cause flames to reach … Read more

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