machines

why the USSR was obsessed with a planet that literally ate its machines

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There was a time when it was thought that Venus would be a good planet to explore or even terraform. After all, it is close to Earth. Carl Sagan himself made a theoretical proposal to adapt this planet for human life. Therefore, it is not surprising that it became one of the biggest objectives of the Soviet Union (USSR) during the beginning of its space race. With the Venera missions, dozens of probes were sent to explore the neighboring planet. A few were enough to prove that it was a more inhospitable place than one thought. However, that did not make those scientists give up their efforts. Only 16 named probes. Between 1961 and 1984, The USSR sent 28 probes to Venus. Only 16 of them, those that partially completed their mission, were baptized as Venera. Of those 16, only 13 crossed the atmosphere of the neighboring planet and 10 managed to land. Some even survived a few minutes to transmit important information to Earth. The violent destruction of each probe provided new data that was used to improve the next one. Even knowing that the next one would also succumb, the program continued forward and laid the pillars of the space exploration technologies that came later. An inhospitable planet. Venus It is an extremely inhospitable planet for many reasons. To begin with, its temperatures are very high. Temperatures can reach 465ºC, which is why many Venera probes literally melted when they reached their destination. The pressure is also very high. It is equivalent to about 90 atmospheres and could quickly crush a submarine. Many of these probes were also crushed. On the other hand, more than 96% of its atmosphere is carbon dioxide, making it highly toxic, although that is not as problematic as the corrosive clouds of sulfuric acid that accompany it. The Venera probes also had to deal with this corrosion. step by step. The first Venera probes lost communication with Earth before even reaching Venus. Others, however, managed to transmit information from the surroundings of the neighboring planet or even on its surface. The first to send data before being crushed by the pressure were Venera 5 and Venera 6. Previously, Venera 4 had been the first probe to manage to pass through the atmosphere of a planet other than Earth. Venera 7 even managed to land and stay 23 minutes on the surface of Venus before being torn apart by the heat and pressure. Later, Venera 9 sent the first black and white images. Images of the surface of Venus taken by the Venera probes Special mention to Venera 13. Possibly the greatest advances came with Venera 13. Although it was planned to last 32 minutes, the probe stayed on Venus for 127 minutes before disappearing like all the others. There he managed to take photographs much more advanced than those of Venera 9. He also measured the composition of the atmosphere and used a lightning detector to measure the electrical activity of Venus. It was even able to analyze the winds thanks to its built-in anemometer. Along with Venera 14, it was possibly the probe that provided the greatest discoveries before disappearing like all the others. 40 years later. With the Venera missions, the USSR verified that, in reality, Venus was a planet too inhospitable for exploration. But knowing our neighbors can help us know ourselves. For this reason, despite knowing that it was all suicide, 28 probes were sent, with landing, chemical analysis or image taking technologies that have continued to be used over time. Today, more than 40 years after the launch of the last probe, we can access the data obtained by many other missions that have also headed to Venus. Other missions. First it was NASA, in 1970, with its Mariner 10 probe. Although its main objective was Mercury, it also had time to explore the surroundings of Venus. Later in 1989 The Magellan mission made the first global map of the Venusian surface. Today the American agency is preparing for the launch of VERITAS and DAVINCI+, which should leave for the neighboring planet in the coming years. For its part, Europe launched the Venus Express probe in 2005 and Japan launched the Akatsuki probe in 2010. In the next decade, Europe is prepared to launch Envision, which will be in charge of studying the core of the planet. All of these missions were clearly inspired by the Venera probes. Of course, even if we can never live there, being able to send probes to a planet that melts and crushes ships is a great achievement of space technology. Images | Reimund Bertrams (Wikimedia Commons) | USSR In Xataka | A day on Venus: the (hellish) conditions on the surface of the neighboring planet

35% of its chip manufacturing machines are already of Chinese origin

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Foreign lithography and wafer processing equipment manufacturers are selling less and less in China. In 2024, the country led by Xi Jinping represented 41% of ASML revenuebut in 2025 this figure dropped to 33%. And presumably in 2026 will contract up to 20%. Something very similar has happened to the American wafer processing machine manufacturer Applied Materials: its sales in China have gone from 37% of its total sales in 2024 to 30% in 2025. In addition, sales in China of the American companies Lam Research and KLA, and the Japanese Tokyo Electron, also have decreased during 2025 compared to those they obtained in 2024. This obvious trend is the consequence of two factors. On the one hand, US sanctions prevent US and allied manufacturers of lithography and wafer processing equipment from delivering their most sophisticated machines to their Chinese clients. The Dutch company ASML is most likely the most affected in this scenario. On the other hand, in response to pressure from the US, the Chinese Government is supporting the adoption of machines of Chinese origin in its integrated circuit factories. In fact, in 2025 the national tools represented 35% of the equipment in use in semiconductor plants, and Xi Jinping’s Government aims to reach 50% in new factories during 2026. Its purpose is clear: China’s chip industry needs to achieve technological independence as soon as possible in its fight with the United States. China has made great progress, but lithography remains its weakest point The resources that the Chinese Government is allocating to its designers and manufacturers of wafer processing equipment are bearing fruit. And they already compete face to face with foreign companies in the field of deposition, thermal processing, etching and cleaning of wafers. However, there are still no extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography machines of Chinese origin in Chinese IC factories. Presumably they will arrive before this decade endsbut this is for the moment China’s real Achilles heel. One of the Chinese companies worth keeping track of is Pulin Technology. This organization has opted, like Naura Technology, AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China) or Piotech Inc., to develop your own cutting-edge photolithography machines. And the achievements are coming little by little. In mid-2025 Pulin sent one of his clients your first cutting-edge equipment using nanoimprint lithography technology (known as NIL for its English name NanoImprint Lithography). In mid-2025, Pulin sent one of its clients its first cutting-edge equipment NIL technology is not new. The Japanese company Canon has its own commercial NIL solution for yearsand presumably its operating principles are essentially the same as those of the machine designed by Pulin. On paper, NIL photolithography equipment is an alternative to printing machines. extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) designed and manufactured by the Dutch company ASML, although no to the high aperture version of these teams. The latter are currently the most sophisticated and expensive that exist. Very broadly speaking, the production of silicon wafers in the latter requires very precisely transporting the geometric pattern described by the mask to the surface of the silicon wafer using ultraviolet light and extremely refined optical elements. NIL lithography, however, allows the pattern to be transferred to the wafer without the need for intervention in the process. an extremely complex optical system. This strategy is simpler and cheaper, but it also involves the execution of several sequential processes that make it slower than UVE and UVP lithography. Canon assures that its nanoimprint lithography equipment can be used to manufacture integrated circuits comparable to the 5nm chips that TSMC, Samsung or Intel produce with ASML’s UVE machines. And in the future, with the refinements that will arrive, they will be able to manufacture 2nm chips. In addition, a NIL equipment costs ten times less than an ASML EUV machine: 15 million dollars compared to the 150 million dollars that the Dutch company asks its clients for an EUV machine with numerical aperture 0.33. We still don’t know how much each Pulin NIL machine costs, but it is reasonable to predict that at most it will have a cost comparable to that of the Canon machine. Image | Naura Technology More information | Tom’s Hardware In Xataka | Japan wants to end the Netherlands’ leadership in lithography equipment. This is your plan to get it

prepares total blockade of chip manufacturing machines arriving in China

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The US has been exercising its control over advanced integrated circuit manufacturing equipment for five years now to prevent it from reaching China. It is the strategy with the one that has managed to slow downbut in no way slow down, the technological development of the country led by Xi Jinping. In 2021, it approved the first restrictions that prevented machines from extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) of ASML and other advanced equipment arrive in China. From that moment on, the US Government has continued to deploy new sanctions with the purpose of increasingly limiting the access of Chinese semiconductor manufacturers to lithography and wafer processing equipment that comes not only from the US, but also from the Netherlands, Taiwan, South Korea or Japan. The US is exercising ownership of some of the patents that these machines use, and also their ability to influence the decisions made by their allies. However, the Administration led by Donald Trump still has room to tighten its siege on China. And presumably it will do so in the short term because several senators belonging to both parties (Democrats and Republicans) have proposed new legislation which seeks to impose an essentially total ban on exports of advanced chip manufacturing and wafer processing equipment to certain corporations in adversary nations. It is clear that China is in their sights. Objective: Prevent ASML’s UVP photolithography machines from reaching China State-of-the-art lithography equipment is extraordinarily complex and sophisticated. Currently, the most used by integrated circuit manufacturers to produce cutting-edge chips are deep ultraviolet (UVP) and extreme ultraviolet (UVE) machines. A priori, UVP machines are suitable for manufacturing semiconductors up to 10 nm. And with EUVs it is possible to go up to 2 nm. However, by refining the processes involved in transferring the pattern to the wafer and turning to multiple patterning It is possible to go beyond these integration technologies. The US is especially targeting SMIC, Huawei, Hua Hong Semiconductor, YMTC and CXMT This technique broadly consists of transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. It may have an upward impact on the cost of chips and a downward impact on production capacity, but it works. SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp), the largest Chinese semiconductor manufacturerhas resorted to multiple patterning for manufacture 7nm integrated circuits using ASML’s Twinscan NXT:2000i UVP lithography equipment. US export controls currently prevent the sale of UVP equipment to specific factories in China that may or may not appear on the US blacklist, but do not prohibit its sale to the companies that own these plants. This is precisely what the MATCH Law seeks to change (Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware) that US senators have proposed. In practice this proposal will, if successful (and it probably will), prevent ASML’s UVP machines and other advanced wafer processing equipment from reaching any facilities of major Chinese chipmakers. The US is targeting SMIC, Huawei, Hua Hong Semiconductor, YMTC and CXMT, and also their subsidiaries. He picks it up clearly. the published document by Senator Michael Baumgartner. In reality this proposal does not introduce new restrictions; what it does is change how shipping is allowed of advanced tools to prevent Chinese companies from continuing to develop sophisticated techniques, such as multiple patterningwith the purpose of producing cutting-edge chips. Be that as it may, in the medium term, China will need to have your own advanced lithography machines to be able to sustain its technological development. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Congressman Michael Baumgartner In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

Apple has never liked anyone tampering with its machines

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In 2019 Apple put on sale a spectacular Apple Pro that in its most ambitious version had an equally spectacular price: 62,648 euros. That equipment was still based on Intel chips, but it offered something unusual for Apple: the possibility of easily exchanging some of its internal components. Today Apple has removed it from its website without a press release, without farewells or tributes and without plans to replace it. 20 years later, the Mac Pro is dead. The slow agony of the Mac Pro. Abandoning this product has not been a surprise at all. It had been three years since the Mac Pro he had been “paralyzed” with the M2 Ultra chip while the rest of the Apple Silicon-based range moved forward. And the amazing thing was that Apple I kept offering it from 8,399 euros with that chip, 64 GB of unified memory, 1 TB of SSD and of course that characteristic tower format box with that “cheese grater” front that it was a meme in itself. Of expansions, nothing. This team was different precisely because of that capacity for expansion. It had PCIe slots for specialized cards, and the ability to add storage. That offered some flexibility for professionals who had specific needs that weren’t available on any other Mac. The surname Pro is blurred. In reality, Apple has been telegraphing this farewell for some time. The Mac Pro began to be out of stock months ago both in physical stores and online, but also a few days ago Apple abandoned Pro Display XDR monitors to simply call their new monitors Studio Display. The Pro surname disappears from the range of desktop computers, although it remains important for the rest of the catalog: we have MacBook Pro, we have iPhone 17 Pro/Max, and we have iPad Pro. And it does not seem that those surnames are going to disappear easily here. The M1 changed everything. The problem is that the departure of Apple Silicon and the revolutionary Apple M1 chip He went directly in the opposite direction. The unified memory on the chip makes it impossible to expand, and the M2 Ultra does not support external graphics. The PCIe slots remained the only argument, but they became something with very little meaning because the Thunderbolt 5 port already offered expansion capabilities to external peripherals. The evolution of the design, with that 2013 Mac Pro with the “trash” design, was fascinating, but not necessarily a success. The Mac Studio was the new Mac Pro for years. In reality, the death of the Mac Pro occurred rather in 2022, when Apple presented the first Mac Studio. From that moment on, the Mac Pro proposal was in questionand disturbing comparisons confirmed it: a Mac mini M2 for 719 euros doubled in performance single-core to a 2019 Mac Pro. The Mac Studio was comparatively cheaper and much more powerful, and that made one question inevitable: does the Mac Pro make sense? Apple just definitively answered that question. Three years later, yes, but he has done it. Little Computing Beasts. With its chips from the Pro, Max and especially Ultra ranges, Apple has shown that it is not necessary for a computer to be “big” to prove to be a computing beast. The Mac Studio have proven this for years, and the versions with the M3 Ultra and 512 GB of unified memory are extraordinary machines that today are not only perfect for “regular” professionals, but also for those who work, for example, with AI models locally. These chips have managed to demonstrate that the expansion capacity offered by the Mac Pro is a secondary argument, at least, for Apple. And therein lies the crux of the matter. Don’t touch our machines. Apple has never made it easy for users to upgrade or even repair their devices. Although in recent times it has taken positive steps in that direction, not even those “facilities” are worth it. The company’s obsession with total control of the software and hardware of its devices made the Mac Pro a “dangerous” product for them, because it opened unexplored paths that they surely never wanted to travel. By removing the Mac Pro and focus everything on Mac Studio They regain that control, because Mac Studio cannot be easily expanded. It is possible change SSD driveas in the Mac mini, but it is not a task “for all audiences.” In Xataka | The new Siri will not be Gemini with another face. Apple has helped Google to build what it could not do alone

The US is discussing whether to condemn technology companies for designing something as addictive as slot machines: doomscroll

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If you have Instagram or TikTok, you’ve probably been caught up in that constant river of videos, each one funnier and more interesting than the last. You like them, you share them, sometimes you comment and you continue seeing more. Without realizing it, an hour has passed. It is the phenomenon of doomscrolling and that is the reason why Meta, TikTok and Google have sat in the dock in the US. Now, the jury’s verdict is coming. The accusation. It all started with the complaint of Kaley, a 20-year-old girl, who accused Instagram, YouTube and TikTok of having designed their products to encourage addiction which ended up harming her mental and physical health as a child. He claims that one day he spent 16 hours on Instagram. Now, a jury decides whether his addiction was his fault or the design of these social networks; infinite scroll, autoplay and algorithms expressly designed to trap us for as long as possible. Why it is important. It is not the only complaint about the effects of social networks on mental health (they say on BBC that there are more than 2,000 similar lawsuits), but Kaley’s has become a reference case for being the first to reach court and also with a jury. The trial has been compared to the one that put the tobacco companies on the bench at the end of the 90s, it now remains to be seen if it has real consequences. The defense. During the trial, internal Meta documents were provided in which some employees joked that Instagram was a drug and they were dealers. However, the platforms defend themselves by arguing that each user is responsible for their own use. The director of Instagram, Adam Mosseri said at trial that social media is not “clinically addictive,” and compared it to being addicted to a television series. In addition, they defend that they have implemented safety features, such as screen time limitations and rest reminders. And now what. The platforms have been spared other accusations thanks to Article 230 of the Communications Decency Law, which exempts them from responsibility for what users publish on them. However, the lawsuit tries to get around this limitation by focusing on the design and not the content. If it succeeds, it will set a precedent and open a path for the thousands of lawsuits awaiting processing. Still, it may not be enough for real consequences to occur. In statements to, New York Times Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School specializing in new technologies, says that even if the jury agrees with him, “it will not survive an appeal.” Chip change. In recent years, the discourse of rejection of social networks has been growing (although its use has not decreasedparadoxically) and its effects on our mental health, especially that of the youngest. Australia has banned the use of social networks for those under 16 years of age and there are other countries that have shown themselves inclined to follow in their footsteps, such as Denmark either, recently, Spain. In Xataka | Spending all day scrolling on Instagram or TikTok has a very specific effect on your brain: it dwarfs Image | Wikipedia

We believed that machines could only beat us at chess or Go, but now they are preparing to beat us at tennis

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Kasparov succumbed to Deep Blue and that showed that machines could finally surpass humans. Then came defeats in other fields (Go, StarCraft), but always with algorithms as the protagonists. Now those who want to surpass us are the robots, and after some disappointments and also amazing previewsare wanting to conquer a sport that poses an exceptional challenge: tennis. Be careful, Alcaraz, the robots are coming. Researchers from Tsinghua University and Peking University, among others, have collaborated to develop a robot capable of playing tennis. The project has been named LATENT (Learn Athlethic humanoid TEnnis skills from imperfect human Motion daTa) and it is surprising because the principle is very similar to that of developments like AlphaZero: the machine (the robot) practically learns to play by itself. We have already seen similar advances with sports like ping pong or with kung fu demonstrationsbut this milestone has been achieved in a different and striking way. imperfect movements. Until now, getting a robot to react at the speed of a tennis ball was an almost insurmountable challenge due to the lack of perfect movement data, but the advances made by these researchers are especially striking. Especially since these machines now use “imperfect” information captured from humans to learn how to play. Mini tennis. Capturing accurate data from a real tennis match is very expensive and complex due to the size of the court and the subtlety of the tennis players’ wrist movements. To solve this, the LATENT team chose to collect “primitive skills” data. That is, the robot was shown basic movements such as the forehand drive, backhand, or lateral movements. In addition, an area 17 times smaller than a professional court was used precisely to reduce the complexity of the initial system. The objective: that from there the robot could develop its own technique. Learn from your mistakes. The striking thing about this development is that with those few data the robot was capable of making corrections on the fly when moving or hitting the ball. Thus, he was able to maintain the stability of his body following the style of human movements, but he was also able to finely adjust the angle of the racket to impact the ball appropriately. No strange things. The researchers also wanted to prevent the robot from starting to “make up” strange movements during its reinforcement training. Thus, they created a technique that forced the AI ​​to explore only human-like movements based on the initial data distribution. Unitree G1 already plays tennis. To translate their system into reality, the researchers installed this system on a Unitree G1 robot. This model of humanoid robot It has 29 degrees of freedom and a racket was attached using a 3D printed part. The physical tests were surprising: the G1 was able to return balls thrown at more than 15 m/s (54 km/h), but it was also able to maintain rallies with human players on a real court. The robot was capable of covering a large part of the court and dynamically adapting its posture according to the trajectory of the ball. The beginning of something bigger. These tennis robots are very far from being able to compete with human players—much less with professionals—but they demonstrate that reinforcement learning techniques that have been applied in games such as chess or Go may be valid for physical environments with robots. In fact, this advance raises the possibility that robots can learn any physical discipline (whether sports or not) from a limited learning of basic movements. In Xataka | And finally the human being beat, with much drama, a robot playing ping pong

discounts of up to 850 euros on refrigerators, washing machines, ovens and more

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I don’t know about you, but I think about changing an appliance and I start to tremble. It is almost always because we have to replace something that is broken, although it can also be simply because we want something better. If we start looking for an appliance, it is always much better if, by the way, we can take advantage of some powerful offer. That’s where AEG comes in. This manufacturer is finishing off its Winter Saleswhich just end next Sunday, March 1. Until then, we can take home all types of appliances such as upright vacuum cleaners, refrigerators or ovens at a very good price. The discount is already applied to all of them, but if we use the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘, we will get an additional discount. There is a lot to choose from, but below we are going to leave you with a selection of several offers that we find very interesting: Clean 3000 Series Bag Vacuum Cleaner by 68.67 euros (instead of 109 euros). Series 6000 Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner by 152.81 euros (instead of 259 euros). Series 5000 integrated dishwasher by 560.19 euros (instead of 789 euros). ProSense 6000 Series Washing Machine by 517.68 euros (instead of 719 euros). Series 5000 multifunction oven by 398.43 euros (instead of 699 euros). 5000 Series Induction Hob by 267.33 euros (instead of 469 euros). American refrigerator Series 9000 by 998.46 euros (instead of 1,849 euros). Series 5000 induction hob with four zones by 279.44 euros (instead of 499 euros). espresso machine by 105.12 euros (instead of 219 euros). Clean 3000 Series Bag Vacuum Cleaner We start with a bagged vacuum cleaner, which is ideal if you prefer something that helps you clean without relying on a battery (since it has a five-meter cable). It is powerful and its bag has a large capacity, so we can vacuum a large part of our house without having to clean it every so often. It comes with several accessories and, although its RRP is 109 euros, with the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘, its price remains at 68.67 euros. Clean 3000 Series 750 W 78 dB(A) Bag Vacuum Cleaner The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Series 6000 Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Do you prefer a cordless vacuum cleaner? Then you have this one from the 6000 Series, ideal if you have pets at home because it includes a brush designed to be used with animal hair on both carpets and sofas. In fact, you can convert this upright vacuum cleaner into a handheld vacuum cleaner and its autonomy is 50 minutes per charge, which is not bad at all. With the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘, comes out 152.81 euros (instead of 259 euros). Series 6000 Animal cordless vacuum cleaner with 50 min autonomy The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Series 5000 integrated dishwasher We now turn to this integrated dishwasher from the 5000 Series, an option that has an upper basket inside that we can adjust in height (so, you can place it higher if you need to place large utensils). In addition, it has a system that, at the end of the cycle, the door opens by itself to allow everything to dry with the outside air, which saves energy and makes drying better. Costs 560.19 euros (instead of 789 euros) if you use the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘. 60 cm Series 5000 AirDry integrated dishwasher for 14 place settings The price could vary. We earn commission from these links ProSense 6000 Series Washing Machine AEG also has washing machines like this 6000 Series. It has 10 kg capacitywhich will give you extra if you need to wash things like duvets. Besides, Its spin speed reaches 1,400 RPMwhich is ideal if you live in a humid area or if you want to use the dryer for less time. In addition, the washing machine automatically adjusts the water, time and consumption depending on the load we put inside it. With the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘, costs 517.68 euros (instead of 719 euros). ProSense® Series 6000 10.0kg Freestanding Washer The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Series 5000 multifunction oven What if you need an oven? You have this AEG from the 5000 series with 71 liters of capacity and a thermal probe, which will allow you to know what temperature the core of your dishes is (and which is ideal so that they do not remain dry or raw). It has a steam function, which can be great for making bread with a crispy crust, for example. With the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘ stays in 398.43 euros (instead of 699 euros). Multifunction oven Series 5000 SurroundCook with SteamBake with Explore LED Display The price could vary. We earn commission from these links 5000 Series Induction Hob Now we are going with two induction hobs, quite similar but with some important differences. This first one has three cooking zones: two medium-sized and one large. It would be the one we would choose if we plan to cook with large pans or pots, something common in large families where the same dish is cooked so that it provides a lot of servings. Costs 267.33 euros (instead of 469 euros) if we use the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘. 60 cm Series 5000 Induction induction hob The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Series 5000 induction hob with four zones We have the alternative with this other one, which is more traditional. Here we have four different cooking areas, although it is true that we have one more fire, we do not have one as large as the previous induction hob. If you don’t need a larger area than normal, you will have an extra fire that never hurts. With the code ‘AEGXATAKA0226‘ comes out 279.44 euros (instead of 499 euros). 60 cm Series 5000 Induction induction hob The price could vary. We earn commission from these links American refrigerator Series 9000 American refrigerators are very fashionable and with this Series 9000 we … Read more

the questions you have sent us (and their answers) about these smart washing machines

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It may seem that all washing machines are the same, but it is also a field where innovation continues year after year, and that is why it is advisable to know the latest technologies that reach models such as LG VX. We have been testing them for several days, and now we bring you a video with all the answers to the questions that you have been sending us about them at our Instagram profile. LG VX Q&A We start the video by talking about the operation of the AI ​​Direct system, which makes washing machines smart. These technologies use artificial intelligence to detect load weight and dirt of the garments. In fact, you have an AI Wash washing mode with which the washing machine chooses the best way to clean the clothes you have inside according to their weight, characteristics and dirt. Come on, you don’t have to think about anything when programming it. This adapts the drum cycles and makes everything more efficient. And speaking of the drum, it is made of stainless steel, so that it protects the clothes as much as possible. These washing machines have a lifetime motor warranty, and many preset programs on the washing machine. Here, in addition to the classic programs, you have TurboWash 39 to do a faster wash, and a steam wash mode perfect for allergy sufferers and to eliminate bad odors. In addition, we also talk to you in depth about other programs. In addition to this, we explain how the washing machine is programmed with the mobilewhich in addition to allowing you to configure everything remotely also allows you to download new washes from your mobile. Of course, you can also program delayed washing from the washing machine itself. We also talk to you about other features such as the weight it supports, the revolutions at which it works, its energy efficiency or its colors among many other things, in addition to detergent management and more. But the best thing is that you watch the full video to see all the answers we give to the questions you have sent us. This content is a collaboration and sponsorship between Xataka and the brand, but there is no agreement on the script or the selection of the topics. The editorial content is created entirely by Xataka.

‘Ikea ​​hack’ older ASML machines

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When the United States intensified the trade war with China wearing Huawei as a scapegoattriggered a fierce technological advance by the Asian giant. After the veto of Huawei Bans came to the Chinese semiconductor industry, and one hurt more than the others. ASMLleading European manufacturer in advanced machine manufacturing of deep ultraviolet lithography (or UVP), could not sell its best equipment to Chinese companies. Those of extreme ultraviolet or UVE, specifically. These machines are what the different chip manufacturers use to create their products and the industry depends on them. Think of these SVU machines as a gigantic 3D printer: Silicon wafers are their raw material and on them they “print” the circuits necessary for the processors to work. What’s special about ASML machines is that they are able to print those patterns with a precision impossible for any other machine. With the American veto, and with ASML being the only company with the exclusive technology to create this “printing” process, China had a difficult time advancing not only in its consumer chip industry, but in the rampant race of artificial intelligence. However, Chinese companies They are making progress by tricking the machines of ASML that they had obtained before the blockade. With Huawei and SMIC at the helm, they are pushing the machine and achieving the unthinkable with old equipment. The ‘Ikea ​​hack’ of ASML lithography machines One of the concepts that I like the most in interior decoration is the ‘Ikea ​​hack’. It consists of buying a generic Ikea piece of furniture and transform it into one with more personality and even different functions. It is maximizing the potential of a simple and known structure. A 3D printer, but in a brutal way They are doing something similar from SMIC. A couple of years ago it was a company whose name came to the fore almost daily. No wonder: It is the spearhead of the Chinese semiconductor industry and the one that provoked the wrath of US regulators when they realized that they had not finished off Huawei after the veto. Somehow, SMIC had been able to make 7nm and even 5nm chipsa lithograph outside the reach of the machines that China had. He Huawei Mate 60 Pro Kirin 9000S marked the rebirth of the company’s mobile phonesand the surprising thing is that SMIC I had created it with old machines such as the Twinscan NXT:2000i or the Twinscan NXT:1980i. They were UVP machines acquired before the veto. And, although ASML could not sell new material or make updates that improved the base features of those machines, they could provide support. The issue is that these machines were not designed to create integrated circuits as cutting-edge as those manufactured by TSMC, Samsung or Intel, but the ‘Ikea ​​hack’ by SMIC and Huawei to have 7nm chips is the ‘multi-patterning’ technique. In simple terms, this technique involves having the UVP machine make multiple passes at a single point on the silicon wafer to create denser chips. What an EUV machine would do in a jiffyit takes more time and passes to a UVP because the lenses and lasers that “print” the circuits are less precise. “Chinese factories have made impressive progress without full access to the best equipment that others in the sector, such as TSMC or Samsung, have” – Dan Kim, director of strategy at TechInsights As we read in Financial Timesthe TecnInsights analysis group estimates that SMIC has been perfecting the multi-patterning technique beyond the 7 nm process during these years and that Huawei’s Kirin 9030 processor It is the most advanced created by China to date. The achievement is that: they have done it with obsolete machines. Now, despite the trick of SMIC and Huawei, the process has its problems. To start, the obvious: More passes means more manufacturing time than what it would take a more advanced or SVU machine. But also something more serious: the ‘yield’. This concept applies to the percentage of functional chips obtained from a wafer. They are, in short, forcing the machine. And that translates into more time per chip, more probability of a chip being defective and, in total, higher production costs. China’s ‘Manhattan Project’ Now, and as they point out in the Financial Times, although China does not have extreme ultraviolet photolithography machines, they do have some of the latest, most advanced machines from the previous generation of UVP: the 2050i and 2100i. Were sent by ASML before the veto September 2024 will come into effect, and the United States Bureau of Industry and Security he has a fly behind his ear. A silicon wafer One of the arguments to veto the sale of ASML equipment to China is national security. These advanced chips are introduced in consumer technology, but also in military technology. And, according to the FT, the US administration has been investigating what kind of support ASML has provided to Chinese customers, even considering the possibility of tightening maintenance standards for machines that manufacturers already had. In any case, China continues to push this technology. and in Reuters they go further: a group of former ASML engineers who now work in Chinese companies have managed to decipher the secrets of the Dutch company’s most advanced machines through reverse engineering. As if it were the Chinese version of the Manhattan Project With which the United States built its atomic bomb in World War II, Chinese engineers would have used ASML machine parts available in “alternative” markets to develop more advanced technology than what they officially had at their disposal. ASML CEO stated that China would need “many, many years” to develop that technology, but if they have already managed to decipher the secrets of the SVU machines with reverse engineering, the movie changes completely. There are other difficulties, since the lenses used in UVE machines are Extremely accurate and proprietary from Zeisswhich cannot officially sell to Chinese manufacturers either. According to Reuters, the prototype created by these engineers is capable of generating light in the … Read more

The industry has stopped manufacturing for people, it does it for machines

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On October 1, 2025, the average price of two 8GB DDR4-3200 modules was $60. Today that price is 110 dollars. Things are worse for DDR5 memory: at the beginning of September the average price of two 16GB DDR5-4800 modules was about $100, but now the price is approaching $250. In just a few months those prices have skyrocketed and we know perfectly well who is to blame: the AI. what has happened. He who warns is not a traitor: at the beginning of October we were talking about how A perfect storm had brewed with AI and data centers. This storm was going to cause notable increases in the prices of NAND and DRAM memories. And indeed those prices have skyrocketed in an astonishing and worrying way. The average price of DDR5-4800 2x16GB modules has multiplied by 2.5 in less than two months. Source: PC PartPicker 307% more. The consulting firm TrendForce, specialized in this type of market analysis, indicated this week how the price of DDR5 memories has increased by up to 307% since September, but the worst thing is not that: the worst thing is that these prices are going to continue rising and it also affects DDR4 modules, although somewhat less (“only” 158%). In fact, in a graph they showed how two 8 GB DDR4-3200 modules had gone from $30.55 to $34.42, 12.67% more expensive… than a week ago. More information. The well-known website PCPartPicker It offers among its services an analysis of the price evolution of different components. The graphics of DRAM memories were quite boring because they were almost always relatively flat, but now they have gone crazy and very unfun. In all types of memory analyzed, the increase in average prices confirms the TrendForce data. The curve is more worrying for DDR5 modules, but it is clear that all are affected. NAND are going the same way. NAND memories have the same problemand that will make SSD drives also increase in price. The demand for data centers is causing end users to suffer the direct consequences, and prices are expected to grow significantly. Khein Seng Pua, CEO of Phison—one of the largest manufacturers of this type of chips— warned that “recently all NAND companies have begun to increase their sales prices by around 50 or 75%” and warned that all this will make “the supply of NAND chips very tight for many, many years.” Or what is the same: prices that will rise but will not fall in the medium (or long term). A vicious circle. The news is terrible for those who were thinking of updating their equipment with more RAM or more storage capacity. The upward trend in prices will not relax at least in this quarter, and may continue for much longer due to this AI fever. Data centers need AI GPUs, AI GPUs (often) need HBM memories, and HBM memories cause manufacturers to put RAM on the back burner. Bad time to upgrade or build a PC (or maybe it’s a good time). It’s a vicious circle that will make upgrading or building a PC right now a bad deal. But of course, it can also be seen from another perspective: maybe waiting is even worse and this is “a good time” or at least, “the best of bad times” in the medium term. Of course the threat is there. Most expensive smartphones and laptops in sight. Of course this can also directly affect the new smartphones, tablets, PCs and laptops that appear on the market from this moment on. Price increases in components clearly impact the manufacturing costs of these devices, and it would not be strange to see significant increases in all types of devices. In fact, Khein Seng explained that some manufacturers could decide to do a kind of “reduflation” of their products by lowering specifications in order to maintain sales prices. Image | Andrey Matveev In Xataka | Samsung has its biggest competitor at home. His future with chips depends on his rivalry with SK Hynix

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