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It lasted three hours and was aboard the Concorde

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We could say that, at the end of the 80s, everything in technology it was field. Everything was yet to be done and the technological competition was in full swing. Larry Ellison, the founder and CEO of Oracle, decided to do something truly extraordinary to present a new product that would be what many today consider the first stone of the current Oracle: Oracle 6. As and as they remembered from LuxuryLaunchesin 1988, the millionaire founder wanted to give a theatrical coup to the presentation of the new version of his relational database management system and, without a doubt, he succeeded. He did it in the middle of the Atlantic flying with a group of journalists and analysts in a Concorde chartered for the occasion. As fast as a Concorde. Just as they collect the publications of the time, Ellison had the brilliant idea of ​​linking the speed of processing the databases of his new edition of Oracle 6 with his other passion: supersonic planes. Oracle rented a Concorde, the famous supersonic plane that linked New York and Europe in just over two hours because it flew at speeds of up to Mach 2 (2,469 km/h). The concept was clear: the new Oracle 6 was the computer equivalent of the Concorde. The idea was to show that its database worked at supersonic speed, compared to the competition from IBM. A quick dinner. The choice of Concorde was not accidental. Larry Ellison was known for his passion for fighter planes and speed, which made a trip at more than 2,400 km/h the ideal place to present a product that wanted to stand out for its speed. Mike Jacobs, veteran Oracle executive, stated in the book ‘The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corporation’ by Mike Wilson about that presentation “We took the analysts and the press to dinner on a flight to nowhere, and it was quick.” The Concorde seats were not affordable for everyone, so the food that was served on board It wasn’t either. Passengers enjoyed Dom Pérignon champagne, followed by caviar and a complete selection of French classics such as lobster, duck or beef served on delicate porcelain tableware. All this while the company’s engineers were telling the benefits of the new features of Oracle 6. The after-dinner session did not last too long since the tjourney aboard the Concorde It barely lasted less than three hours. It wasn’t a cheap account either.. Each Concorde ticket cost an average of $7,500 (about $15,500 currently). Therefore, inviting the approximately 100 journalists and analysts who could fit on a Concorde to dinner today would cost Ellison $1.55 million. However, that was the price of a charter flight operated by British Airways or Air France. But, it should be remembered that Oracle chartered the Concorde exclusively for the presentation, so it was not a regular flight. Which adds some zeros to the final count. We guess the tip was on point too. The first stone for Oracle. That presentation, beyond the eccentricity of appearing aboard the fastest and most exclusive plane in the world, marked a before and after in the history of Oracle, laying the foundations of the company. what we know today. The new software served to change engineers’ perceptions of Oracle, as it was previously joked that “Oracle never breaks, it just gives you wrong results.” A recurring joke among computer scientists of the time about the reliability of Oracle software. This database solved previous problems and positioned the company as a great competitor in the data management software market. The use of Concorde as a stage for the launch was a coup that reinforced the image of innovation, speed and success that Ellison wanted to convey to his public and his rivals. In Xataka | Larry Ellison wanted to feed the world by growing lettuce on his private island: he irrigated it with 500 million dollars Image | Wikimedia Commons (Eduard Marmet), Flickr (Oracle)

last hours to get your free ticket and experience the gala live and direct

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The moment is approaching! The next November 20 the gala of the Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025an event in which we will discover the best technological products of the year. It’s going to be an event full of surprises, humor and lots and lots of technology, and if you want to experience it first-hand you still have time. There are still some tickets left, so we invite you, if you have not done so yet, fill out this form and order yours. It is completely free and you can include a companion. Little tip: don’t leave it! There are few tickets left and they are delivered in strict order of arrival. Agenda When: November 20, 2025. Where: Capitol Cinemas (Madrid). Schedule: Start of the gala at 8:00 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time), although we will tell you more about door opening and access by mail, when you receive your confirmation. Request your entry in this form If you want to join us in person at the Xataka NordVPN 2025 Awards gala, you just have to register in this form. The tickets, as we said, They are totally free and they will be delivered in order of arrival until capacity is reached. There are still a few left, so hurry up and register to reserve yours (and that of a companion if you wish). Once you have completed the form, you will receive a confirmation email with all the details about the event and the party (that’s all, see you there!). Check your email carefully and pay attention to your inbox. Note: If the form does not work for you, you can sign up here. And if you can’t join us physically, remember that we will broadcast the gala live from our website, so be sure to visit us that day. See you on November 20!

The EU wants to connect Madrid and Paris by train, in six hours and by 2035. Or in 2042. Or maybe never

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The European Commission has approved an ambitious Action Plan for the high-speed railway that aims to triple the European network, going from the current 12,000 kilometers to 36,000 kilometers before 2040. The objective is to turn the train into a real alternative to the plane for medium-distance journeys, drastically reducing travel times between the main capitals of the continent. And Spain is going to have an important role. What changes for Spain. The plan directly affects our country with two priority connections: Madrid-Lisbon in three hours (compared to more than eight currently) and Madrid-Paris in six hours (instead of the more than twelve that are needed now). From Bilbao you can reach Lisbon in less than six hours passing through the capital. The proposal contemplates that these improvements be operational in 2035although the corridor with France raises more doubts than the plan to join with Lisbon. Why it is important. Currently, the 12,000 kilometers of European high speed are mainly concentrated in Spain, France, Italy and Germany, while the east and center of the continent remain poorly connected. Just like points out Commissioner for Sustainable Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, “Central and Eastern Europe remains woefully poorly connected.” Spain, with almost 4,000 operational kilometers, is European leader in high-speed infrastructure, only behind China globally. The money problem. Complete the planned network by 2040 will cost about 345,000 million euros. If we also want trains to run well above 250 kilometers per hour, the figure shoots up to 546 billion until 2050, according to Brussels. The organization admits that public financing it won’t be enough and seeks to attract private investment, in addition to loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the national public bank (ICO in Spain). The idea is that in 2026 an agreement will be negotiated between Member States, financial institutions and other organizations and companies to settle the investment issue. Between the lines. Although the plan sounds ambitious, Brussels recognizes that it is very late: In 2020, the goal of doubling the network by 2030 was set, but by 2023 it had only grown by 17%. France, key to connecting Madrid with Paris, maintains a more pessimistic calendar than Brussels and does not see the connection as feasible until 2042. The Spanish minister himself Óscar Puente has recognized that the direct connection with Paris “will not arrive next year”. Tzitzikostas has announced who works intensely with the ministers of Spain and France to “overcome border bottlenecks.” The effect on airlines. A Madrid-Paris flight lasts just over two hours, but adding waiting times, boarding and transfers from airports, it is close to the six hours that the direct train to the city center would take. Spain and France short flights have already been banned with a rail alternative of less than two and a half hours. In addition, the EU obliges airlines to use at least 70% green fuels by 2050, starting with 2% this year, which will make flights more expensive. And now what. The plan is certainly not written in stone and the roadmap will depend on the political will of each country and the ability to attract private investment. Spain is well positioned to take advantage of these funds, since according to the media Expansión, It has 700 kilometers under construction and another 700 projected that will take the network above 5,000 kilometers between 2030 and 2032. The Commission also promises a new ticket strategy in 2026 to “make it easier for passengers to book multimodal tickets” and a full liberalization of the sector in 2040, which should reduce prices. Cover image | Tim Adams In Xataka | There was a day when Japan was the leading high-speed country. It has been surpassed by China, a victim of its own country

Convenience stores were an emblem of Japan. Until the demographic crisis has revealed the dark side of opening 24 hours

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The stores japanese convenienceknown as konbini, are not simple shops where you buy fast food or basic products, they are a deep part of the social fabric of the country. Its success is measured not only in numbers (more than 55,000 establishments spread across the 47 prefectures) but in the way in which they accompany daily life: they allow you to pay bills, send packages, print documents, buy tickets for shows, resolve unforeseen events, take refuge in case of emergency or simply take a break in them. And now that the country doesn’t stop agingthe stores are mortally wounded. The konbini. Let’s think that, in urban neighborhoods, rural towns or isolated coastal areas, these establishments have become the minimum infrastructure indispensable where there used to be post offices, banks or small family businesses that have now disappeared. The store, therefore, is not just a business: it is a safe space, open and available 24 hours a day, an emotional and logistical support point that has shaped the Japanese daily rhythm and has captivated even to millions of touristswho find in these establishments a mix of efficiency, warmth and aesthetic thoroughness that is difficult to replicate. Efficiency and expansion. I remembered the new york times in summer that the development of the Japanese konbini has been the result of an evolution of decades. Since 7-Eleven opened your first store In Japan in 1974, the combination of non-stop hours, quality fresh food (onigiri, bentō, noodles, seasonal desserts) and integrated services made the model a unique phenomenon. For many residents, these stores are literally the closest store, the most accessible ATM, the place to go when something is missing or something happens. The associated image is one of precision: perfectly organized shelves, impeccable coffee machines, attentive employees, continually renewed food and a sense of total availability. From Japan to the world. This internal success was projected outwards, so that 7-Eleven, today Japanese owned, is the largest retail chain on the planet, and global expansion plans aim mainly to North America. The konbini became an exportable image of Japan: efficient, friendly, reliable. The hidden reverse. But not everything shined the same. one piece from the Financial Times has revealed that behind that facade of functional perfection A franchise system is under increasingly intense tensions. Japan agesthe active population is decreasing and small businesses are experiencing increasing difficulties to hire staff. The model requires stores open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the pressure not to close falls squarely on the owners. He Akiko’s case and her husband, a 7-Eleven manager who worked without a day’s rest for six months until dying by suicide, starkly revealed the human price of this silent perfection. And more. It was not an isolated case: a labor inspection recognized the relationship between death and overwork, but the root of the problem is structural. Franchisees must deliver between 40% and 70% of gross profit to the parent company, which reduces their margin and exposes them to absorbing personnel, overtime and unforeseen charges. Visible efficiency therefore has an invisible cost. The crisis of the model. Faced with the problem, the chains 7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson have tried make schedules more flexibleintroduce automatic checkouts, ordering systems assisted by AI and robots cleaning to reduce the need for labor. But none of these measures solve the main equation: fewer available workers and more opening hours supported by fewer people. Domestic consumption is also not growing as before, which limits the owners’ ability to increase payrolls. As minimum wages rise, margins narrow even more. many managers they work for free for dozens of hours to keep their stores open. Some they confess that, in the current state, closing would be a more rational option than continuing to operate. The fragility of the system thus becomes visible: if there are no new franchisees willing to take over, the model can collapse. Adaptation or goodbye. The response of the companies points towards a profound transformation of the model. 7-Eleven study contracts renewed from 2027, possibly moving towards the “mega-franchise” model, where the same owner manages multiple stores and distributes human resources between them. However, this implies a concentration of the business and could further displace the small independent owners who historically defined the konbini as a community space. The central question is whether the konbini will continue to be a connected capillary network to the territory or whether it will become a centralized corporate system, more profitable but less close. The great dilemma. If you will, the konbini was born as proximity symbol and frictionless service, and became part of emotional memory from Japan: open places when everything else is closed, spaces where the daily routine has a friendly pause. But that same ideal has been held for decades by people whose efforts they have become invisible beneath the surface of efficiency. Today, the system faces a limit that is not technological, but human. The future of the konbini will depend on whether Japan manages to rebalance the contract between the community, the company and those who keep the doors open at any time, 365 days a year. If it manages to adapt without sacrificing those who support it, it will continue to be an intimate and essential institution. If not, it could become the emblem of a society that knew how to take care of every detail… except for the people who made it possible. Image | Pexels, Japanexperterna, Shankar S. In Xataka | While half the planet aspires to retire, in Japan the opposite is true: 100-year-olds who only want to work In Xataka | The aging population and a poor pension system have a new symbol in Japan: grandmothers are rented

There are people listening to Drake on Spotify 23 hours a day. Or maybe they are not human and it is a ‘royalty’ fraud

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That Spotify pays artists quite poorly It’s no secret, but now they are being accused of something else: there are artists inflating their reproductions in order to reduce the payment for the rest since the distribution is proportional. The demand. They count in Ars Technica which is a class action lawsuit proposed by American rapper RBX. In it, the platform is accused of having allowed Drake to inflate his views. Currently, the rapper holds the record on the platform with 120,000 million views. Although Drake is at the center of the lawsuit, he goes further and claims that Spotify ignores “millions of fraudulent streams.” The signs. According to RBX, Spotify ignored at least 37 billion inauthentic streams of Drake’s music over the past three and a half years. To do this, they have analyzed listening patterns and have detected strange behaviors such as “months of significant increases” without the release of new music to explain those peaks. But the most suspicious of all is that certain accounts only played Drake’s music for 23 hours a day, something they consider “astonishing and irregular” and why Spotify had detected it. The payment system. Spotify does not pay artists for each play, but instead uses a proportional model. Every month a “pool” of money is created and each artist receives a proportional share based on the reproductions they have had in that period. Thus, if one month the sum amounts to 1 million euros, an artist who has achieved 1% of the total reproductions would take home 10,000 euros. It affects everyone. With the proportional system, if one artist inflates his figures, it negatively affects all the other artists competing for a piece of the pie. Although they have not given details of how they arrived at that figure, the lawsuit speaks of “hundreds of millions of dollars.” If the judge accepts the case, it could cover more than 100,000 copyright owners who use the platform. It’s not something new. Years ago we talked about the techniques to manipulate the charts on the platform. The most famous case was that of Justin Bieber, who In 2020 he asked his followers to loop his song ‘Yummy’ to take it to number one on the charts. But the normal thing is that it is done undercover, using fake accounts hidden under a VPN that hides the real location. In statements to Rolling Stonea Spotify representative has denied benefiting from fake plays and claims to invest in systems to protect artists and eliminate fake plays. Image | Wikipedia, Pexels In Xataka | The problem is no longer that Spotify has been filled with AI artists: it is that AI is “reviving” dead musicians

There is a Facebook group available 24 hours a day that even doctors attend. Your mission: identify poisonous mushrooms

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“Hello, I have a human patient with late-onset gastrointestinal symptoms after ingesting these mushrooms.” This is how one of the many messages you receive in ‘Poisons Help; Emergency Identification For Mushrooms & Plants‘, a Facebook group formed by experts in the identification of poisonous plants and mushrooms. They are available 24 hours a day and not only receive consultations from individuals, but also doctors and veterinarians. ID. There are more than 100,000 species of fungi, of which more than a hundred are poisonoussome even mortal. And the same thing happens with many plants. If a person or animal ingests one of these by accident, it is crucial to identify the species to see what steps to take. However, distinguishing these species is not an easy task; in-depth knowledge of botany and mycology is required. In 2018, several experts founded a Facebook group to help identify poisonous species in emergencies. And they are extremely effective. For emergencies only. When you enter the group, a message appears with the rules for posting. The first thing they make clear is that it is a group for emergencies, that is, you can only post if a person or animal has ingested the mushrooms. If someone has a question because they are curious to know details about a specific specimen, there are other groups for that. They also have a warning for trolls: “People come here at scary times for immediate life-saving help, please don’t make jokes, judge or criticize. This is not the place to test your sense of humor or correct others.” Strict rules. For the group to be effective, in active cases no one is allowed to comment other than the administrators themselves or the people who have reported an emergency. It is necessary to provide all possible data: location, amount ingested, time since ingestion, photos of the specimen, weight of the person or animal that ingested it, etc. Doctors and veterinarians. Many of the posts are made directly by professionals who have a patient with problems after ingesting an unknown mushroom or plant. Most are veterinarians, but there are also many cases of doctors with human patients in the same situation. Even there have been cases in which the poison center itself has been the one who recommended going to the group for identification. Recognition. In addition to being a source of consultation for professionals, its work has also been recognized by associations such as the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, which last August invited them to give a talk in one of his conferences. Among the group administrators There are mycologists, botanists and also amateur hobbyists. Cover image | Vladimir Srajber, Pexels In Xataka | Sex is deadly for many males. The octopus has a strategy to survive: inject poison into its partner

China has a gigantic desert in Tibet with countless hours of daylight. And he’s filling it with solar panels

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A year ago we had in Xataka how a huge solar park in the Chinese province of Qinghai, in the heart of the Tibetan plateau, served as an ecological experiment: under the panels, the shade retained moisture and made vegetation sprout in the middle of the desert. Today, that same place – the Talatan Solar Park – has become something much greater. It is the largest clean energy facility on the planet, a “blue sea” of silicon that already covers more than 600 square kilometers at three thousand meters above sea level. Where before there was nothing, China is lifting an energy ecosystem without comparison in the rest of the world. The scale has multiplied. Where last year there was talk of a 1 gigawatt solar park, today a complex extends that reaches 15,600 and 16,900 megawatts and continues to expand. Its area – between 420 and 610 square kilometers – is seven times that of Manhattan. Furthermore, it is not alone since 4,700 megawatts of wind energy and 7,380 megawatts of hydroelectric dams are deployed around it, completing an unprecedented hybrid system. The result: enough renewable energy to supply almost all of the plateau’s needs, including the data centers that power China’s artificial intelligence. According to CleanTechnicaevery three weeks China installs as many solar panels as the entire capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric project in its history. A global clean energy laboratory. The Tibetan plateau, with its pure, cold air, has become the most ambitious energy laboratory in the world. There, China is experimenting with an electricity production model based exclusively on renewables. Electricity generated in Qinghai—40% cheaper than coal, according to the NYT— powers high-speed trains, factories, electric cars and data centers. In fact, the region is home to new computing centers dedicated to artificial intelligence, which consume less energy thanks to the altitude and low temperatures. “Hot air from servers is used to heat other buildings, replacing coal-fired boilers,” explained Zhang Jingang, vice provincial governor. In the words of Professor Ningrong Liu, in his column for the South China Morning Post: “China is not only leading the transition to green energy; it is building the 21st century energy scaffolding that sustains its industrial leadership in electric vehicles, batteries and solar technology.” Three sources that beat in unison. The magnitude of the project is only possible thanks to centralized planning that combines three main sources: solar, wind and hydroelectric energy. During the day, Talatan panels capture more intense solar radiation than at sea level; At night, thousands of wind turbines collect the cold breezes that sweep across the plains. When both systems fluctuate, hydroelectric dams balance the grid. Also, from the New York Times They described a system reversible pumping: excess solar energy during the day is used to raise water to reservoirs located in nearby mountains, which release that water at night to generate electricity. And under the panels, life returns. The shade of the plates reduces evaporation and soil erosion. According to China Dailythis year the vegetation has recovered up to 80% and 173 villages have benefited from the associated livestock farming. A local shepherd, Zhao Guofu, said: “My flock has grown to 800 sheep and my income has doubled since I grazed between the panels.” The perfect geography for the sun. No other country has taken solar generation to similar altitudes. The altitude plays in favor of physics, at 3,000 meters the air contains fewer particles that block light and the low temperatures reduce the thermal loss of the panels. This efficiency is multiplied in Qinghai, one of the few areas of the Tibetan plateau with large plains, where it is possible to build without the limits of the mountainous relief. The Talatan Desert, once an arid and worthless land, has become an energetic jewel. local authorities offer symbolic leases and have developed roads and high-voltage lines connecting the plateau with the industrial centers to the east. That energy travels more than 1,600 kilometers to factories and cities. According to CleanTechnicaChina already operates 41 ultra-high voltage transmission lines, some longer than 2,000 miles and up to 1.1 million volts. The global scale: no one comes close. Other countries have tried to generate clean energy at altitude, but with modest results. Switzerland, for example, inaugurated a small solar park in the Alps, at 1,800 meters, with barely 0.5 MW. For its part, in the Chilean Atacama Desert, a 480 MW project operates at 1,200 meters. By way of comparison, the Talatan complex multiplies the capacity of the Bhadla Solar Park in India, and for more than seven that of the Al Dhafra Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates, which until recently held records. The superpower of clean energy. China produces and consumes more renewable energy than any other country on the planet. In 2024, was responsible of 61% of new solar installations and 70% of global wind power. That same year, it achieved the capacity targets it had set for 2030. In the first six months of 2025added 212 GW solar and 51 GW wind, and the country’s carbon emissions fell for the first time. In this context, Talatan Park is both a symbol and an infrastructure. China is exporting its renewable technology around the world, from Asia to Africa, following the logic of Belt and Road Initiative. For the academic Ningrong Liu: “China wants to stop being the world’s factory to become the engine of the world’s factory.” It is not just about manufacturing panels, but about selling the complete model: engineering, financing and know-how to build green networks in other countries. The less visible side of the miracle. It’s not all clean energy and pastoral harmony. In its report, The New York Times recalled that access to Tibet remains strictly controlled by the Communist Party, and that Western media were only allowed to visit Qinghai on a government-organized tour. There are also human and environmental costs. CleanTechnica documents how the giant power lines that transport energy from west … Read more

Mexico forgets about the 48 hours per week

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According to data OECD 2024, Mexico is one of the countries with the longest working day in the world with an average of 2,193 hours worked per year, compared to the 1,736 hours worked on average in the countries of this group, or the 1,634 hours worked on average in Spain. On average, Mexicans they work 48 hours a week in six business days. For this reason, one of the purposes on the legislative agenda of the current president Claudia Sheinbaum is the reduction of working hours as a way to improve the conditions of the workers and boost the productivity of the country’s industrial fabric. The reduction of working hours will be a reality. In statements to The Countrythe Secretary of Labor of Mexico, Marath Bolaños, assured that the proposal to reduce working hours had been on the table since 2022, but it has been postponed to give priority to other labor reforms such as the increase in minimum wagethe outsourcing reform and the approval of the Chair Law. However, the Mexican executive has taken up the initiative with force and since May 2025 there has been a firm determination on the part of its president to implement this reform before the end of the year. “The objective is that in 2030 all workers are within the 40-hour limit. Our limit is January 2030, but we could reach that objective in less time, in 2029, for example,” Bolaños pointed out in his interview. This spirit of reform is also noticeable in the Chamber of Deputies as a whole, where up to 16 reform initiatives for the working day have been presented by different political groups, according to collected The Economist. What is the work day like?. In Mexico, the Federal Labor Law (LFT) establishes different types of work days with specific time limits for each of them: The daytime shift is the most common and is between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., with a maximum duration of eight hours a day. On the other hand, the night shift ranges from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., but in this case it has a limit of seven hours a day due to its nocturnal nature. Lastly is the mixed day, which includes parts of both time slots (for jobs as a baker, for example), as long as the night period does not exceed three and a half hours. In this case, its maximum duration is seven and a half hours per day. How do they want to reduce it?. One of the keys to this reduction is the modification of section IV of section A of article 123 of the Political Constitution proposed by deputy Susana Prieto Terrazas, from the Morena parliamentary group. This article establishes: “For every six days of work, the operator must enjoy at least one day of rest.” Instead, the proposal contemplates adding one more day of rest, so that the full-time working day would be five days, but maintaining eight hours, which is the maximum allowed by law for daytime work. The text of the rule, therefore, would read as follows: “For every five days of work, the worker will enjoy at least two days of rest, with full salary” How it will be applied. Last May, President Sheinbaum ordered that social agents, unions, employers, consultants and the executive branch begin a series of negotiating tables where they would study how to implement the measure that, relentlesslywill come into force on May 1, 2026, coinciding with Workers’ Day. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare will be in charge to present the final proposal for the labor reform in November 2025, which represents the first step towards its implementation. President Sheinbaum’s plan is to implement the new reduced working day progressively from its entry into force in 2026 until 2030 so that two hours per year will be cut until 2029, ending in 2030 with 40 hours per week: 2026: 46 hours 2027: 44 hours 2028: 42 hours 2029: 41 hours 2030: 40 hours Reduction in working hours, not salary. As happened in the proposal to reduce working hours presented in Spain by the Ministry of Labor, the measure in Mexico is proposed as a reduction in hours that provides better balance and well-being for workers, which is why the reduction in working hours does not imply a salary reduction. “Reducing working hours does not reduce productivity, nor does it reduce the value generated, what it does is signify the existence of workers, giving them back hours of their life and valuing the work they do week after week,” assured the person in charge of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. How it affects part-time work. The reduction in hours is carried out based on the calculation of the full day, so those employees who work part-time hours will apply the modification based on it. That is, if an employee’s working day was 24 hours per week (50% of a full day), they can maintain that working time by increasing the salary in proportion (60% of the full-time salary) or reduce their working day to 20 hours while maintaining 50% of a full day. In Xataka | Airbnb and digital nomads brought dollars to Mexico City: they have also brought the biggest housing crisis in years Image | Unsplash (Jesus Herrera, Nihar Reddy Jangam)

Last hours to vote for your favorites in the Xataka NordVPN 2025 Awards

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Last hours to vote for your favorite products in the Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025! You still have time to cast your votes in as many categories as you want, but remember that voting will close today, October 27, at 11:59 p.m.. Below we leave you the links so that you can quickly access all the forms, but not before reminding you that You can now get your ticket for the gala. The winners will be revealed on November 20 at the Capitol Cinemas in Madrid, so if you want to experience the gala first-hand you can get your ticket filling out this form (We will close registration when capacity is reached, so hurry!). Vote in the Xataka NordVPN 2025 Awards Best mobiles – All forms to vote, here Best tablet and smartwatch – All forms to vote, here Best computers and accessories – All forms to vote, here Best TVs and sound devices – All forms to vote, here Best connected devices in the home – All forms to vote, here Best electric car and technological hybrid car – All forms to vote, here Best video game and series/movie – All forms to vote, here and here Best generative artificial intelligence tool – All forms to vote, here For the voting system we use Google Forms, so in order to send your vote you need to be logged in to your Gmail (or Google) account in the browser, whether desktop or mobile, so that each reader can cast their vote. Thank you. NordVPN offers you a fast and stable connection thanks to your more than 6,300 servers in more than 110 countries. Enjoy advanced cybersecurity tools with Threat Protection Pro™, securely access your streaming platforms favorites wherever you are and enjoy the best offers on flights and hotels. Advice offered by the brand How voting works The mechanics of the Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025 are the same as in previous editions. It is divided into three phases: Public vote: Over the next few days we will be publishing articles with our categories and the candidates selected by the Xataka team so that you, our xatakeros, can vote for your favorites. Jury vote: With the finalists that the public has chosen, the Xataka jury and other technology experts will vote for those who are, in their view, the best devices. Choice of winners: The jury’s votes will be combined with those of the public to choose the winners, who will be announced on November 19. The selected candidates are devices that They have gone on sale in 2025 or will do so with a confirmed date before the end of the year. We also include those that were left out last year when they were announced after the Awards. We believe it is the best solution: Unfortunately we cannot celebrate the gala on December 31 and our idea is that the Awards can serve as support in the purchasing decision for this last part of the year. Thank you very much for participating!

It is called “Flying Chernobyl” and it has been flying for 14 hours

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Europe and the US decided cross again one of the red lines imposed by Russia since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine. The “English way” had been activated with long range missiles Storm Shadows. Now, the public reappearance of the Russian program Burevestnik The same week in which talks between Moscow and Washington deteriorated cannot be an isolated or technical event, but rather a calculated move: the staging of a nuclear system with virtually unlimited range is a strategic message. A missile to go through everything. Putin and Gerasimov have described a 14,000 kilometer flight for about 15 hours on nuclear propulsion, claiming what in 2018 it was announced in response to two American decisions: the anti-missile armor after the withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and the expansion of NATO. The message is not only technical (“invincible” to present and future defenses due to unpredictable scope and trajectory). but doctrinal: Russia wants to reinstate the idea that no Western access denial architecture can be immune from nuclear risk. The repeated reference to the fact that “no one else has it” since categories and infrastructure for its deployment must already be planned suggests that Moscow wants the West to assume that this system should be treated as a strategic fact and not as a prototype. The nickname. The label “Flying Chernobyl”used by arms control experts, recalls the physical cost of the concept: the precedent of 2019 accident in Nyonoksa, with five scientists dead and radiation released, shows the price of pursuing infinite scope even at the risk of contaminating one’s own environment. Burevestnik as a bargaining chip. The demonstration coincides with a failed diplomatic back-and-forth: Trump went in days from announcing a summit in Budapest to cancel it due to “loss of time”. At the same time, the United States imposed sanctions to the two largest Russian oil companies and authorized Ukraine to carry out in-depth attacks against Russian energy infrastructure, a point in which Putin responded that any deep strike would have “very serious, if not overwhelming” retaliation. Media activation of the Burevestnik serves as a reminder that Russia maintains nuclear escalation letter just when the other (energy) is being eroded by primary and secondary sanctions. The figures illustrate what is at stake: if India or China limit imports of Russian crude oil due to sanctions, the Kremlin could lose between 1,600 and 7,400 million of dollars per month in income, a lever that makes the threat of a system that does not depend on maritime corridors or logistics chains more valuable. Screenshot of the launch of the Burevestnik 9M730 program in 2018 Nuclear signal. And while Russia exhibits nuclear test, Ukraine demonstrates conventional depth with swarms of drones that have forced Moscow airports to close and defenses to be saturated. Russia admitted shooting down 28 drones in one night but rarely detailing damage. The war in the rear It is already bidirectional: Moscow launches hundreds of drones and missiles on Kyiv, destroying homes and forcing Zelensky to claim more Patriotwhile Ukraine hurts the Russian economy by attacking refineries. The presentation of the Burevestnik between conventional bombings and energy sanctions, nuclear deterrence becomes an added layer to the cost game: its mere existence is intended to alter the West’s calculations of persistence more than offering immediate tactical utility on the battlefield. Multiple message. For Trump (who called Russia of “paper tiger” for not defeating Ukraine quickly) the test aims to restore symbolic parity: Even with mediocre conventional performance, Russia remembers that on the nuclear frontier maintains qualitative advantage declared. For the West, the lesson is that Moscow can tie arms control negotiations to concessions in the Ukrainian theater. Within the regime, Putin reframes himself as a leader who delivers “weapons without analogue” even under sanction. The fact that Dmitriev, special envoy, will communicate the details The trial in Washington suggests that the missile is used directly as an instrument of diplomatic signaling as well as as a doctrinal response. Return to deterrence. The affirmation of invulnerability of the Burevestnik coincides with the closing windows of conventional impunity: air defense in Ukraine demonstrated that penetrating A2/AD layers without supremacy is extremely costly and that long-range warfare with drones and smart missiles is reducing the “safe” zones of the Russian rear. Faced with this erosion, Moscow “jumps layers” remembering that can recover margin of coercion with the radiological-nuclear terror: the missile does not lower a meter of mud on the front, but it degrades the Western expectation that a war of attrition can be prolonged without strategic risk. A physical test. If you also want, the essay of the Burevestnik comes as an integrated response to three pressure lines simultaneous: energy sanctions that strain tax revenue, deep attacks Ukrainians who pierce the perception of internal invulnerability and the evaporation of a short way of negotiation with Washington after the cancellation of Budapest. The deliberate choice of the moment, the choreography with uniformsthe propaganda echo of “unparalleled weapon” and the diplomatic leak to the United States indicate that the objective was not to prove physics, or “not only”, but also to induce a belief: to reinstall in the minds of adversaries and allies the possibility of a jump nuclear step if the West persists in prolonging conventional attrition against Russia. Image | YouTube In Xataka | The war in Ukraine was a drone war. Now it is a war of drones that are not actually combat drones In Xataka | In 1970 the USSR secretly developed kryptonite for nuclear warheads: now it sounds like a general rehearsal is imminent

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