industry

the dark history of mercury in the fashion industry

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When we think of Alice in Wonderland one of the most recognized characters is ‘Mad Hatter’‘, an eccentric character with a top hat and a label that says 10/6. And although it may seem that the author of this story wanted to give that characterization to the famous rabbit, the truth is that all hats at that time had a serious problem which made them look too much like the classic rabbit. What’s behind. And the reality behind the character is much murkier and less colorful than in Disney or Tim Burton films. The expression “mad as a hatter” was not a literary invention in this case, but a quite popular medical diagnosis for the timesince for centuries the hat industry suffered a silent epidemic that led to serious neurological damage. and the culprit it was mercury. The ‘carroting’. To understand why hatters fell ill, we must look at how the felt was made between the 17th and 20th centuries that would give rise to hats. The raw material was usually rabbit, hare or beaver fur, and in order for these furs to become a high-quality, rigid and durable felt, they were subjected to a chemical process called “carroting”. This name came from the orange color of the carrots that the skins acquired when treated with a hot solution of mercury nitrate. But logically it was a death trap for the workshops of the time, just as collect NIOSH historical archives. Security issues. Although there are now strong regulations regarding safety at work, if we look back it was not like that. And the treatment was carried out in a poorly ventilated space, which caused mercury vapors to be released when the acid mixture was heated with the skins. By not being able to escape through any ventilation slits, the professionals who were constantly working with the skins ended up inhaling the mercury vapors. It was not a one-time accident, but rather a chronic exposure that accumulated in the body and directly attacked the central nervous system. A new reality. Although in the popular culture of the time the profession was directly related to being completely crazy, the truth is that current toxicological reviews indicate that chronic mercury poisoning produces a devastating and very specific clinical picture. And the hatters did not simply become ‘eccentric’, but also had Danbury tremorswhich are uncontrollable muscle spasms and intentional tremors that prevented fine movements. But there were also personality changes making pathological shyness, extreme irritability, depression and emotional lability the norm. The countries took note. Logically, this is something that had to be regulated to guarantee the safety of workers. France was one of the pioneers by prohibiting the use of mercury in the manufacture of hat boxes in 1898, but in Anglo-Saxon countries the industry was quite resistant to change. And the resentful. In the United States the process remained in force for decades. In this case, it took World War II for the tables to turn and it was not until 1941 when the use of mercury was definitively abandoned in key states such as Connecticut. But the reason was not the safety of its artisans, but rather that the war required a large amount of mercury to manufacture detonators, which forced the hat industry to look for substitutes such as hydrogen peroxide, as detailed in the industrial records of the time. Alice’s Hatter. It’s tempting to think that Lewis Carroll designed his character as a textbook case of erethism, but the evidence suggests otherwise. A classic analysis published in BMJ puts the dots on the i’s in this case, pointing out that Carrol knew the popular expression “mad as a hatter”, since he lived in a time where hatters with tremors were a visible social reality. However, the character of Alice in Wonderland It doesn’t quite fit the medical profile. The Hatter in the book is hyperactive, talkative, euphoric and a lover of riddles. Mercury erethism, on the other hand, is characterized by extreme shyness, social anxiety, and depression. It is likely that Carroll took the figure of the hatter and the idiom to create a caricature, but the identification of the character as “mercury poisoned” is a reading that we have made a posteriori. In Xataka | If you have ever thought that AI is useless, science has something for you: an antidote to cobras

Europe’s passenger car industry, in a revealing map that makes it clear who is the real “engine” of the EU

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Even though it is submerged in a deep crisis of competitivenessIt’s no secret that The automobile industry is one of the driving forces of the European Union. Thus, it is responsible for 8% of its GDP (figures collected by CCOO) and employs 13,000 million people, including direct and indirect jobs. Of course, the EU is large and the distribution of its factories presents enormous divergence. Although there are things that don’t change. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association has an interactive map which is quite good to see what the distribution is like quantitatively, insofar as it shows even the few electric battery plants on the old continent, but if you are more interested in the qualitative and only passenger cars, there is a clearer map: that of World Wide Mobility. And beyond a barrage of concentrated icons that are difficult to distinguishshows in general terms the main brands that are produced or assembled there, production volumes and the percentage they represent of the total. Which countries are the engine of Europe in the automobile industry The data on the map dates back to 2024 and shows a figure of 11.4 million passenger cars manufactured in the European Union, which are essentially concentrated in three states in a non-uniform manner: Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic. World Wide Mobility Germany, 12 points. The leading country in the old continent when it comes to motors is, of course, Germany: it is not only the largest producer by volume with more than four million passenger cars and a 35.7% share, but also the one with the densest network of high-tech factories. Own brands stand out such as Volkswagen and its five factories that include the headquarters in Wolfsburg, BMW with four factories, the three of Mercedes – Benz or the two of Audi, Porsche or Opel (Stellantis). But it also has plants from foreign companies, such as Tesla in Grünheide (Berlin) or the North American Ford in Cologne. Much lower but still outstanding silver is Spainwith a share of 16.4% and almost two million cars assembled in the state. With the high efficiency per flag (in the words of the Spanish Minister of IndustryJordi Hereu), has fewer of its own brands but in exchange it is the nerve center for foreign groups. Thus, in addition to Martorell’s own SEAT/Cupra, legendary highlights include the Volkswagen factory in Landaben in Navarra, Stellantis distributed in three plants, both of which are Renault, Ford in Almussafes, and the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant in Alava. And be careful because it does not take into account the reactivation of the old Nissan factory for Chery/Ebro EV, already operational. Third place belongs to the Czech Republic with 12.7% and almost 1.5 million passenger cars, which together with Slovakia (fourth with 8.7% and almost a million cars) form “the Detroit of Central Europe“. A bronze achieved thanks to the importance of Škoda and the growing impact of Hyundai and Toyota. In fact, Slovakia It has the highest car production per capita on the planet: over there Large SUVs in the most premium segment are manufactured of the Volkswagen group in its factory in Bratislava, but it also houses manufactures of Kia, Stellantis or Jaguar and Land Rover. Romania and Hungary below demonstrate a reality: the strength of the Central European axis in this industry. France deserves special mentiona country with historically mythical brands that have been relocating production, but which still houses five plants of the Stellantis group and four of Renault, as well as foreign brands such as Fiat. And if we go to luxury, Italy and Sweden appear on the map, with high-end brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Koenigsegg or Volvo, although their figures are lower. In Xataka | There is a Europe that is suffocating to pay for housing and another that lives in peace. And this map shows the differences In Xataka | All the car plants in Europe (including the few battery-electric ones), on a map Cover | World Wide Mobility

Nuclear energy has generated electricity for decades. China is reinventing it for something else: the industry

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For decades, nuclear power plant cooling towers symbolized one thing: electricity. However, off the coast of Jiangsu province, China has just begun a maneuver that will change the usefulness of fission. It’s no longer just about turning on light bulbs; It is about feeding, with clean steam, the voracious thermal heart of heavy industry. The first concrete of a new era. According to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC)the first concrete was poured for the nuclear island of Unit 1 of the Xuwei project. This act is not just another procedure, it is the first nuclear project to break ground in the inaugural year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, symbolizing a strategic shift towards diversified energy applications. The project, developed by CNNC Suneng Nuclear Power, is strategically located near the Lianyungang petrochemical hub, an area that requires a staggering 13,000 tons of steam every hour to maintain its operations. The concept of the super boiler. Xuwei’s great innovation lies in its technical architecture. As explained by Global Timesthe project is the first in the world to couple two different generations of reactors to maximize thermal efficiency: The Hualong One (Generation III): Two units of this pressurized water reactor (PWR) provide the base heat to convert demineralized water to saturated steam. The High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor (HTGR – Generation IV): This unit acts as a “super boiler”. The steam produced by the Hualong One is superheated a second time by the primary steam of the HTGR, reaching the necessary extreme temperatures. for complex chemical processes such as petroleum refining, distillation and cracking petrochemical. This “double coupling” system allows, according to NucNetthat the plant will be useful for applications ranging from refining to desalination and steel production, sectors that have traditionally depended exclusively on fossil fuels. Cleaner than coal. The urgency of this project responds to a critical climate need. The petrochemical industry is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize due to its constant heat demand. The figures provided by CNNC yvsupported by media such as World News Nuclear They are compelling: once the first phase is operational, the plant will supply 32.5 million tons of industrial steam per year. This will reduce standard coal consumption by 7.26 million tons and avoid the emission of 19.6 million tons of CO2 annually. Advances in cutting-edge technology. To manage the complexity of joining two very different types of reactors, Chinese engineers have turned to Artificial Intelligence and robotics. The design team used hierarchical digital simulations to create the system’s control logic, allowing heat and electricity to be balanced based on grid and industry demand. In the field of construction, progress is not minor. Li Quan, project manager, explained to Global Times that automatic metal active gas (MAG) welding systems with intelligent laser tracking are being used, a technology three times more efficient than manual welding. In addition, they emphasize that the localization rate of equipment (100% Chinese technology) exceeds 95%, promoting a national high-tech supply chain. Towards a global standard? Beyond its borders, China sees Xuwei as an export model. The CNNC has described the project as a “Chinese solution” for the low-carbon transformation of energy-intensive industries around the world. The goal is to demonstrate that heavy industrial development does not have to be tied to coal smokestacks. This move aligns with the 2025 white paper titled “China’s plans and solutions for carbon neutrality”which advocates for safe and orderly development of nuclear energy not only for the electrical gridbut for clean heating and desalination. The European contrast. While China is betting on nuclear energy to power heavy industry, in Europe the approach to waste heat is taking a digital path. Cities like Helsinki are finding an unexpected source of heat: data centers. As we have explained in Xatakacompanies like Telia or Microsoft are recovering up to 90% of the heat generated by their servers to inject it into district heating networks (district heating). A single data center in Finland can heat up to 20,000 homes. Although the scale is different – ​​China seeks heat to make steel and plastics, while Finland seeks shelter for its citizens – the philosophy is identical: in a world in climate crisis, wasting heat is a luxury that no one can afford anymore. Both models demonstrate that the energy transition depends on taking advantage of every calorie produced, whether it comes from a uranium core or an artificial intelligence processor. The end of thermal waste. The start of work in Xuwei marks a turning point. As the CNNC analysis concludesthe project is a “strong and clear beat” towards deep decarbonization. China is trying to show that nuclear power is the missing piece of the puzzle to reconcile mass industrial production with net-zero emissions goals. If Xuwei’s model is successful, the image of the nuclear power plant as an isolated island that only produces electricity will become history. The future of the atom seems to lie, rather, in its ability to become the invisible “heat engine” of modern civilization. Image | CNNC Xataka | In Finland they already know how to deal with excess heat from data centers: convert it into district heating

how the industry sold us empty calories in exchange for destroying our satiety

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There was a time when buying whole milk or “full fat” yogurt was considered nutritionally reckless. Dietary guidelines, obsessed with reducing saturated fat, for decades pushed consumers toward pale, liquid, skimmed versions of what was once a staple food. Eating “light” became synonymous with eating well. However, the narrative starts to crack. The story of María Branyas, the woman who lived to be 117 years old and who consumed several full-fat yogurts a day, is just the tip of the iceberg of a deeper change of outlook. The researchers who studied his case warn that yogurt alone does not explain his longevity – genetics, lifestyle and environment come into the equation – but it could play a relevant role in the balance of his intestinal microbiota. The focus, today, is no longer just on the calories we subtract, but on how much processing we add along the way. The processing error. For more than half a century, health authorities encouraged limiting red meat and fatty dairy products, warning that its saturated fats They raised LDL cholesterol and, therefore, the risk of heart disease. This premise fueled a massive industry of “light” and “0%” products. However, the problem was not the cow. As Dr. Montse Prados Pérez explainsmember of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN), when natural fat is removed from a food, its texture, flavor and nutritional profile are altered. To compensate for this loss of flavor, many manufacturers turn to sugars, starches, sweeteners or additives. The result is a product with less fat, yes, but also more processed, less satiating and potentially harmful to the intestinal microbiota and appetite regulation mechanisms. Added to this phenomenon is a possible metabolic rebound effect. Nutritionist Laura Isabel Arranz warns that Sweeteners, common in low-fat yogurts, send a sweet signal to the brain without providing real energy. This discordance can confuse the metabolism and favor a more “saving” response, preparing the body to more efficiently store the energy that arrives later. Why doesn’t whole fat act the same? There is a technical irony in the dairy aisle: we take the skimmed jar to maintain the line, but we forget that for the body to use it, it needs precisely the fat that has just been removed. Vitamins such as A or D They are fat soluble; Without that natural fatty vehicle, absorption is a chimera. In the end, trying to enrich a 0% yogurt is like trying to make a car run by pouring gasoline into it. The industry adds the nutrient, but has removed the mechanism to make it work. All this is explained by the “dairy matrix”. Unlike other fats, milk fat occurs naturally wrapped in a complex structure. known as dairy fat globule membrane (MFGM), rich in phospholipids and bioactive proteins. This biological “envelope” is essential because it appears to positively modulate the way our body processes cholesterol. In fact, recent research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have observed that the consumption of yogurt and cheese maintains a neutral—and even potentially beneficial— relationship with cardiovascular health, unlike what would be expected if only their saturated fat content were analyzed in isolation. Whole yogurt and metabolic risk. The evidence is also beginning to materialize in clinical trials. a study published in 2025 compared the consumption of full-fat yogurt (3.25% fat) versus skimmed yogurt in adults with prediabetes. After three weeks, those who consumed full-fat yogurt showed a significant reduction in blood triglycerides compared to the group that consumed nonfat yogurt. Although it is a short-term study and in a specific population, its results add to an increasingly consistent scientific literature. Along these lines, cardiologist Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, maintains that dairy fats are not intrinsically harmful and that there is “ample evidence” of the benefits of fermented dairy products. For its part, natural yogurt and kefir provide satiety, promote intestinal health and help avoid the subsequent consumption of empty calories. Back to real food. The conclusion for the consumer begins to be clear: the fear should not be in natural fat, but in artificial processing. The new dietary guidelines in the United States already reflect this paradigm shift by insisting, for the first time explicitly, on the need to prioritize real foods and avoid ultra-processed foods loaded with sugars, sodium and additives. This does not mean that full-fat dairy products should be consumed without limit or that they are suitable for all profiles. Institutions like Harvard remember that dairy fat It is still mostly saturated and that moderation continues to be key, especially in people with cardiovascular disease or familial hypercholesterolemia. But outside of those clinical contexts, as Dr. Prados Pérez summarizesfull-fat natural yogurt makes sense again: it is more satiating, preserves its original matrix and requires less industrial intervention. In the end, perhaps the secret was not in reformulating foods in a laboratory, but in something much simpler: opening a natural yogurt and eating it as it always was. Image | freepik Xataka | The woman who lived to be 117 had a favorite yogurt: a yogurt that thousands of people are now searching for

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

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

How the Sinaloa Cartel turned the marble industry into its methamphetamine logistics center

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If Walter White had exchanged the New Mexico desert for the Mediterranean coast, his story would not have been very different from what the National Police has just revealed. in the series Breaking Badthe Albuquerque chemist hid his money under the sand and used a car wash to launder his “blue empire.” On the other hand, in the province of Alicante, the setting has been a marble industrial warehouse, an armored underground bunker and a statue of Popeye that, instead of spinach, kept the purest “crystal” of the Sinaloa Cartel. As if it were a script by Vince Gilligan, “Operation Saga” has revealed that the largest methamphetamine network in Europe did not operate from marginal shadows, but from the heart of the marble industry between Novelda and Monforte del Cid. He Heisenberg From this plot he decided that the marble blocks were the perfect container for the desires to expand the empire that Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán one day founded. The end of “Operation Saga”. The National Police, in a strategic alliance with the US DEA, has put the final lock on an investigation that began in 2023. According to the official press releasethis second phase has culminated in the total dismantling of a Spanish-Mexican organization responsible for turning Spain into the main hub of methamphetamine from the mainland. If in May 2024 the first phase already left a record number of 1,800 kilos of drugs seized, this new coup has ended with nine key arrests. The operation has managed to decapitate the infrastructure that the Sinaloa Cartel had woven between Tenerife, Madrid, Valencia and Alicante. A popeye 40 kilos. The logistics of the network were as ingenious as they were sophisticated. According to local mediathe narcotic was traveling from Mexico hidden inside imposing marble stones that were legally imported. Once in Spain, the organization used the business structure of a well-known marble worker in the area to move the drugs. We found the most surreal example in July 2024. The police intercepted a statue of Popeye, five feet tall and in metallic colors, bound for Tenerife. Its base was not solid metal, but contained 40 kilos of methamphetamine. The recipient, a “historic drug trafficker” on the island, was waiting for the shipment without knowing that the figure had been under police surveillance for months. This seizure made it possible to confirm that, after the 2024 coup, the organization was trying desperately refinance. The bunker and the salary of silence. Civil engineering put at the service of crime reached its zenith in a Novelda warehouse. There, the agents They found an underground bunker hidden under a heavy steel plate and a large stone block, where almost 3,000,000 euros in cash were kept. While the money was accumulating in Alicante, in the Madrid neighborhood of Malasaña, the organization supported a member of the Sinaloa Cartel “in reserve”. This man lived in a semi-cloistered regime in an apartment from which he barely left. He received a salary of 2,500 euros per month exclusively in exchange for his silence, since he knew the details of the entry of the 1,800 kilos of the first phase. A global drug network. The logistics brain was not at street level. The leader of the drug transporters, a Spaniard with a record of crimes against property, coordinated movements between Mexico and Spain through criminal teleworking from Dubai. From there he supervised not only the glass, but also secondary shipments, such as a 38-kilo shipment of marijuana intercepted in Finland. But why Spain? The answer lies in waste science. a study about wastewater (analyzing metabolites in urine) is the definitive tool to measure actual consumption. Although the consumption of methamphetamine in Spain is lower than that of cocaine, EUDA studies place Spain and the Netherlands as distribution hubs. In areas like Euskadi, for example, records of amphetamines in wastewater already show peaks that are eighty times the national average, an unequivocal sign that the market is there. The end of one era (or the beginning of another). The operation, directed by the Investigative Court number 6 of the National Court, has also seized seven luxury watches, geolocation devices and ammunition. With this, the Police consider that the most powerful criminal network of synthetic drugs in Europe has been dismantled. However, as Commissioner Alberto Morales warnsSinaloa’s persistence is legendary. Since 2009 they have tried to settle in Spain in every possible way: from “Chapo’s” cousin detained in the Palace Hotel in 2012, to the drug laboratories of “Los Chapitos” dismantled in Toledo in 2024. Today the Novelda bunker is empty and Popeye rests in the Canillas police facilities, but the authorities are clear that the “European dream” of the Mexican cartels is far from over. Image | lifestyle.sustainability and freepik Xataka | There is a huge gap between what we think medical marijuana does and what it actually does.

almost no one wants a computer with AI no matter how hard the industry tries

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Dell is clear that its products in 2026 will no longer be “AI-first.” That absolute focus on promising the gold and the moro in the new generation of PCs thanks to the virtues of artificial intelligence is disappearing and the reason is obvious: almost no one cares if their PC has AI functions or not. what has happened. Kevin Terwilliger, chief product officer at Dell, said in a recent interview with PC Gamer that the AI ​​fever on PCs has ended up causing a lot of disappointment among users. “In fact,” he explains, “I think the AI ​​probably confuses them more than it helps them achieve a specific result.” Dell no longer believes (as much) in PCs with AI. This manager showed surprising honesty when talking about how this absolute commitment to AI has not convinced either users or companies. The company has taken a step back, and although they will continue to pay attention to these AI options, they will no longer be the priority because they have discovered that people don’t care too much about those options: “We’re very focused on leveraging the AI ​​capabilities of a device – in fact, every product we announce has an NPU – but what we’ve learned over the course of this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is that they don’t buy based on AI.” Although the monkey dresses in silk, the monkey stays. Our dear PC knows it well, that in the last two years wanted go from being a Personal Computer to a Personal Companion with the help, of course, of AI. All manufacturers started to brag about TOPS on powerful NPUs and how instead of using our computer with a mouse and keyboard we were going to use the voice. The promise has dissipated and what has happened to the PC is that everyone keep using it the same way you used it. At least, for now. Dell lowers the bet. Dell was one of Microsoft’s initial partners in the launch of Copilot+ PCs in 2024, and even added variants of its popular Dell XPS 13 and Inspiron with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chip. They even added Cloud AI chips of this manufacturer in its high-end chips last year to try to reinforce the execution of local AI models, but that has not convinced users. That manufacturers like Dell change the discourse is significant and dangerous for Microsoft’s ambitious plans. Microsoft is left alone. The company led by Satya Nadella has been flooding us with new AI features in Windows for a long time, but the problem is that most of these features are being received with indifference… or with total rejection. The Windows Recall example is the clearest: the feature seemed promisingbut its launch was involved in a great privacy controversy and its availability was delayed and currently it is an option that is barely talked about. Thank you for your sincerity, Dell. Dell’s speech is surprising and appreciated. Especially after that continuous trickle of releases in which AI seemed to be the salvation of the PC and the key to a new golden age. These functions can end up being valuable, without a doubt, but what users continue to look for in their laptops, for example, is reliability and great autonomy, for example. That’s what still matters. The PC faces a complicated future. Jeff Clarke, COO of Dell, participated in a media meeting at CES 2026 and also mentioned how in this industry “We have this unfulfilled promise of AI and the expectation that AI will drive demand from end users.” It is clear that Dell now has a different vision, but both it and other manufacturers face a very difficult few months because as Clarke said, “we are about to enter 2026 with a quite significant memory shortage“. In Xataka | Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) believes that ‘Her’ is inevitable: “there will be people who fall in love with an AI and we should prepare ourselves”

The film industry has been stagnant for more than a century. Netflix wants to change it: Crossover 1×34

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Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack, all brothers, decided to open their first movie theater in Pennsylvania in 1903. Considering that the movie industry was in its infancy at the time, the bet was risky. Those brothers ended up being the most famous in that industryand in fact they made it clear in the name of their company: Warner Bros. They would soon buy more theaters and, over time, discover that distribution was important, but content was even more important. They ended up becoming a film producer that managed to be a pioneer with the famous ‘The Jazz Singer’, the first talking film. More films would arrive, and a 1948 ruling in the US meant that she and other production companies had to dedicate themselves only to generating content. It wasn’t a bad deal, and for more than a century the film industry has done really well and has strengthened that idea that content is king. Netflix also discovered it over time. Although it was also born focusing on distribution – with its famous DVD rental service by mail – its leap into the world of streaming caused it to even take steps from Warner Bros. and decide to create its own content. This is how series like ‘House of Cards’ or ‘Stranger Things’ were born, which have turned it into a true steamroller in the field of audiovisual content. So much so that after more than 100 years without major changes, Netflix could fully enter the “traditional” industry if he manages to buy Warner Bros.. The recent offer to have options to get ahead, but everything is to be decided. What is clear is that if that happens there will be a change of direction in this gigantic industry. We talked about all this in the last installment of Crossover, we hope you enjoy it! On YouTube | Crossover In Xataka | Netflix promised them very happy with their huge purchase of Warner. Until Paramount and Saudi Arabia appeared

The technology industry has been searching for the “next smartphone” for a decade. Now he thinks he found it with AI

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In the last decade, wearables have become intrinsically associated with health care and sports. And although in 2025 we can make the same association, there are a growing number of companies and devices that have committed themselves to turning them around to turn wearables into vehicles for AI. The leaders of some of the main big tech companies already They have glimpsed the end of the mobile and between the options (in practice, still very green) these wearables with AI appear, which today are more of a complement. In search of the new iPhone. In any case, the industry has been looking for mass hardware after the smartphone for almost two decades. The glasses seem to start by advantage, but the initiatives are many and very varied. In any case, it is no longer just about becoming the winning format, it is about materializing a device that covers needs yet to be defined and where the smartphone has set a very high ceiling. In fact, smartwatches have not come close to overshadowing it. AI glasses have an advantage. Of course, they are the best positioned. In the past CES 2025 we saw ‘smart’ glasses (although that semantics typical of the era of the failed Google Glass has already been banished in favor of the surname ‘with AI’) even in the soup with the promise of immersive and hands-free experiences, but Meta is the one who has landed and sold its product best. Makes perfect sense: Mark Zuckerberg himself has stated who believes that glasses are the ideal format for AI. And for Meta, AI is his new Multiverse. After all, as we have seen, glasses are a discreet and convenient way towards multimodality: visual, through their lenses; and oral, with its integrated microphones and speakers. But it doesn’t matter if we talk about Meta’s glasses or those of Googlethe new glasses smart They no longer look like a hulk, they are designed to be worn all day and their purpose is to interact with AI. Pendants, pins and everything else. Other gadgets that accompany you throughout the day for constant listening come into this mixed bag: from the Bee AI bracelet to the LimitLess pendants or Friend passing through the ring Stream Ring or the difficult to describe Plaud NotePin: it looks like the capsule of Xiaomi bracelets and as such, it can be worn on the wrist, on the neck and even as a tacky pin. These initiatives have not gone unnoticed by the large companies, which have made a move by opening their portfolio: Bee AI bought Amazon in summer and LimitLess did the same Goal just a few weeks ago. old acquaintances. AI is also being integrated into existing devices: Samsung and Google have put Gemini on their WearOS watches, Garmin has a premium subscription to analysis with AI for its watches, Fitbit is testing an AI trainerthe same thing that Apple does with its Watch or the AI translation on AirPods. Even the rings Oura they have their advisor with AI. Every breath you take…We mentioned above that AI glasses were born to be worn all day, something that can be extrapolated to the bulk of the devices that we have been listing. For AI assistants to work well and offer something extra on the mobile, they need to know a lot about the user and there is no better way to do this than on a wearable that is with you 24/7. Disturbing but true. In this field there are unknowns such as what format will be successful and whether it will be as successful or more successful than the smartphone (even if it is buried), but there are two unquestionable facts: that there is a war to have hegemonic AI among big tech and that the industry has seen wearables as the ideal vehicle to implement it. In Xataka | Pendants, bracelets and “buttons” on the forehead: new AI wearables listen to you (and record) all day In Xataka | The voice recorders seemed dead. AI and new hardware are making them irresistible again Cover | Javier Lacort and Applesfera

Spotify killed the record and the industry pivoted to concerts. Netflix killed cinema and the industry was left with a “space crisis”

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Never in history have we seen so many movies: the streaming It allows us to see several a week but, nevertheless, the movie theaters are empty. Literally emptier than ever in decades. We consume audiovisual content en masse, but not where we historically enjoyed it. Meanwhile, concerts have become the leisure alternative par excellence. Why do we pay hundreds of euros to go to a stadium with 50,000 other people, but not fifteen to see a blockbuster on the big screen? The answer lies in how we value physical space in the experience economy. Some figures. Let’s look at some box office figures: the summer of 2025, traditionally the most lucrative season in the industry, has been the most disastrous since 1981 adjusted for inflation. There is no dream of returning to pre-COVID figures: in October 2025 in the US, only 445 million dollars were raised, less than half of last October before the pandemicwhich exceeded one billion. The average viewer attended only 2.31 times to theaters in 2024, a drop of 33% compared to the 3.5 annual visits in 2019. In Spain, theThe 2025 data is equally dark: The total box office falls by 14% (almost 30 million less), and Spanish cinema itself declines by 2.5-3%. The author of this last study, Pau Brunet, expressly says that “the Hollywood fantasy is crumbling.” And the erosion is constant: Spain had more than 105 million viewers in 2019, which represents a loss of a third of its volume in five years: we are now at 71 million. Windows that don’t perform. The problem is so multifactorial that it is ridiculous to focus only on the drop in the box office to explain it. For example, we have the collapse of display windows: The pre-pandemic standard was 90-120 days in theaters, three or four weeks later in digital sales and then home formats and streaming. After the pandemic, these windows were reduced by more than 60%, and although they now vary depending on the studio, Universal and Warner leave a 45-day window for their most sought-after productions (it can be reduced to 17 days), with the exception of Disney, which operates them for 60 days. In any case, the rest of the windows have been shortened or disappeared, and it is common to watch a movie in streaming just a month and a half after its release in theaters. It is one of the main reasons why people have left the theaters: even blockbusters like ‘Wicked’ can be seen streaming just 40 days after their release in theaters. Even China. A few years ago, China was the market that seemed destined to save Hollywood accountsbut experienced its own collapse in 2024: the box office fell 23% to 42.5 billion yen ($5.8 billion), returning to figures from a decade ago. Attendance fell by more than 200 million viewers compared to ten years ago. One of the main reasons is the degradation of the theatrical experience: cinemas without air conditioning and without customer service staff beyond the bar, a characteristic that has been spreading to theaters around the world for years. The crisis has been going on for a long time. In reality, this fall does not have its roots in the streaming not even in the pandemic. The attendance of the American public had been falling since the sixtiesgoing from one visit per person every two or three months to just twice a year before the pandemic. The real price of admission (adjusted for inflation) has remained stable since the 1980s, but consumers have decided that they no longer want to go to theaters. The problem, as this Bain & Company study states The thing is that, for decades, the industry has placed all the emphasis of its production on pure content, but the films have ended up arriving home in a few weeks. Meanwhile, music has come to understand something fundamental: the value is not in the recorded content, but in the unique, unrepeatable event. The triumph of music. He Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour It closed in December 2024 after 149 concerts in 51 cities, ggenerating gross revenues of 2,077 million dollars. That is, more than the annual film box office receipts of entire countries (compare with the pyrrhic 71 million box office receipts in Spain in 2024). AND We’re not just talking about the concerts.: The average expense per attendee ranged between $1,300 and $1,500, including transportation, accommodation, merchandising and dinners. More than fans, they are tourists generating systemic economic impact. “Swiftonomics“has ceased to be a metaphor and has become a real analytical category in government economic reports. Beyond Taylor. Swift is not an anomaly. The global live music market generated $28.1 billion in 2023 and projections place it at $79.7 billion by 2030. That growth is equivalent to tripling the size of the market in seven years, while cinema struggles to recover the levels of a decade ago. What does live music have that cinema has lost? The term “funflation“: Consumers prioritize spending on memorable experiences even during periods of high inflation Festivals have capitalized on this logic: They sell identity, belonging and experiences that are impossible to replicate at home. Just the opposite of cinema: a film is exactly identical all over the world and once seen, the incentive to repeat it in theaters is minimal, especially knowing that it will be in streaming in 45 days. Reinvention is required. The cinema crisis is not a death sentence, but it is a demand for reinvention. Because the physical space of entertainment is not dying, it is being reformulated. The path that the music industry has followed by completely pivoting its business model with the disappearance of physical formats is the one that cinema has to follow. At the moment, theaters have not gotten the premium experiences right (sophisticated restoration, more comfortable rooms, improvements in image and sound quality), but that is because they still do not differentiate themselves enough from the domestic experience. Cinema needs its own Taylor … Read more

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