measures

Europe is preparing four measures to become independent from United States technology. The problem is that he doesn’t know how

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The European Union has been ruminating for some time that depending on third parties to manage its data, its chips and its digital infrastructure is a risk that it can no longer afford, so next Wednesday, June 3, it will put on the table a package of measures to achieve its technological sovereignty (or at least, to depend less on countries like the United States or China) whose draft they have already had access to. Financial Times either Political. The sovereignty package is so ambitious that it aims to mark a before and after at the level of the RGPD and it is not something general and intangible: there are four specific measures so that vulnerabilities such as that of Nexperia don’t happen again. But the dependence on the United States is just as worrying, as the slam of the Netherlands on the purchase of Solvinity. Two concrete examples from two different countries for the same problem: European critical infrastructure is in the hands of others. The EU package of measures. Next Wednesday, technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen will present the review of two laws known as the Chips Act and the Cloud and AI Development Actin addition to an open source software strategy and a roadmap for the digitalization of the energy sector. More specifically: The cloud, tested. Audits and stress tests to discover vulnerabilities and thus anticipate a possible US blackout. Chips Act 2. The Commission imposes the power to, in an emergency, cancel semiconductor supply contracts in the event of a shortage, fine companies that hide information about their supply chain and act as a central buyer for the 27 member states, as it did with vaccines during COVID. Open source as an alternative way. The EU wants to promote European free software companies, will encourage collaboration between states and create an instrument to maintain indigenous solutions against US proprietary software. A lot of financing: 200 billion euros are needed to expand data center capacity until 2036 and another 20 billion to execute digitalization and AI plans in the energy sector. Where from? Fundamentally, attracting private investment. Why is it important. Because Europe does not manage its own data or control the core of its critical industry and this has clear and direct consequences. The old continent has already seen the wolf’s ears. A good example is the cloud: three American companies occupy 70% of the European market, according to Sinergy datacompared to a pyrrhic 15% made in Europe. These are hospitals, public administration, defense of all of Europe operating on servers where Washington rules. In terms of chips, it has already experienced it with Nexperia: the Dutch government took control of the company to prevent China from destroying it and Beijing responded by cutting off the supply of chips, which resulted in a shortage of processors and even stops in an industry as essential for the old continent as the automobile. Context. This package of measures comes with clear bases: the recommendations of the Mario Draghi’s competitiveness report of 2024 and the Competitiveness Compass of the EU and in reality it is not more bureaucracy, but a way of simplifying everything to see the objective more clearly. In fact, a year ago the European Parliament defined what he understood as technological sovereignty: “the ability to build capacity, resilience and security by reducing strategic dependencies, avoiding dependence on foreign actors and single suppliers, and safeguarding critical technologies and infrastructure.” Regarding the chip manufacturing industry, a paradigm shift is observed: we have gone from the practical “just in time” to streamline inventories seeking efficiency and low cost to manufacturing “just in case”, something that is already contemplated by both the European chip law and its American counterpart. Europe’s problem is that it arrives late and with a tiny manufacturing muscle. Yes, but. The European record invites us to take this ambitious plan with caution. The different projects to manufacture chips in the old continent have progressed unevenly, the funds from the original law were dispersed among different state projects without a common industrial strategy (for example, Germany negotiated with Intel and France with STMicroelectronics) and the reality today is that chip manufacturing conditions in Europe continue to be worse than in China, South Korea or the United States. That Europe legislates and each state goes to war on its own also applies to the cloud: the government of each state has the power to decide what to do after the relevant audits. The new package of measures starts from the same point and runs the same risks of fragmentation. On the other hand, there is the economic issue: public financing may be dispersed, but private financing for data centers is not yet assured. And finally there is a big underlying problem: Europe has laws, but it lacks a powerful and complete industrial ecosystem to achieve technological sovereignty. In Xataka | Europe has proposed to become technologically independent from the US: And it has started with the most difficult thing: chips In Xataka | Europe is moving from words to action in its “independence” from Microsoft and Google. First step: critical data Cover | Intel and Carl Gruner

the bracelet that measures your body without distracting you

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Google has presented the Fitbit Aira $99.99 fitness tracker with no screen, no notifications, and no watch. It collects data 24 hours a day, dumps it into an app, and disappears from your wrist. This is where the product announcement ends. The interesting thing is that the Fitbit Air is the fourth, perhaps the fifth, on a list that is getting longer and longer. What has happened. Whoop created the category ten years ago. Polar launched its Loop in September for $199. Amazfit released the Helio Strap for 99.99. Garmin has a bracelet called Cirqa in development, according to leaks. And now Google is joining in with a product that costs one hundred euros and shows absolutely nothing. Everyone’s approach is practically identical: A plastic capsule with optical sensors placed in a textile strap. No screen, no buttons and no notifications. A mobile application where, if you feel like it, you can look at the data. Why is it important. We have been convincing ourselves for eleven years that more screen equals better device. The Apple Watch won as a format for its applications, its notifications, its ability to respond to messages… that is, its approach as a wrist-worn mobile phone with a certain focus on health, but also on quick procedures and notifications. And it turns out that we now have products whose success is measured the other way around: by how little you remember that you are wearing them. Whoop got more than 2 million subscribers paying between $199 and $359 a year for a bracelet that doesn’t even tell you the time. Let Google enter this format already having its own PixelWatch It says a lot about the size of the public for whom the smartwatch does not serve. The context. The easy narrative is that people are tired of the screen on their wrist. But the reality is more diverse. We could say that there are four different profiles buying these products for different reasons, and only one fits the idea of ​​being fed up. The athlete or biohacker who already has a sports watch for training but doesn’t want to sleep with it. The screenless bracelet is your second device, light and almost invisible. Anyone who has never wanted a watch with a screen. Because it has a mechanical one. You have never contemplated an Apple Watch or you had one and abandoned it. Now you can measure your body without giving up the jewelry. The smart ring userespecially women, which combines aesthetics with cycle, sleep and temperature monitoring. The underlying logic is the same: clockless data. The normal person who does not play sports and does not want to carry anything every night or anything that overwhelms or distracts him. A 100 euro bracelet with seven days of battery life opens the door. Between the lines. The bracelet is an answer to the problem that smart watches have brought us: turning the wrist into another window of interruptions. Its great commercial virtue is precisely that renunciation of the screen. By not competing visually with anything, it stops competing with any other accessory you are already wearing. mechanical watch, AirPods Pro 2ring, whatever. Zero conflict. Go deeper. Then comes the question of the reader who is not an athlete or biohacker: What exactly is this for? Dream. It’s not about knowing that you’ve slept six hours and twenty-three minutes, but about detecting trends. Many people believe that they sleep seven hours and discover, when measuring, that the actual time is much less. This pushes us to correct specific things: go to bed earlier, don’t have a late dinner, avoid the drink that breaks the deep phase… Resting heart rate. An isolated value is not useful, but the trend over months is. If your heart beats faster than it did half a year ago, something is happening: stress, worse fitness, a brewing infection, etc. Heart rate variability (HRV or HRV). This metric helps explain how well your nervous system responds to effort and rest. It tells you when to train hard and when to stop. Cumulative effort. Especially in order to see the pattern. The bracelet doesn’t tell you what to do. It gives you context about your body and you decide. And now what. The Fitbit Air will not be the last. Garmin will presumably bring out the Cirqa this year. Apple could end up making a move in some similar format if demand for these devices continues to grow. AND Whoop will continue to defend its subscription model against four rivals that make it difficult for it. For ten years, the success of a wearables was measured by engagement: The more you looked at the screen, the better. If the next wave decides to learn to disappear altogether, the smartwatch as we know it has a bigger problem than you think. Featured image | Google In Xataka | After almost a decade with the Apple Watch, I have switched to a Garmin. And I understood what I was missing

the controversial measures with which we have shielded the network a year after the collapse

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Next April 28 will mark exactly one year to the day that Spain and Portugal faded to black. An unprecedented “zero energy” in the last two decades that left nearly 60 million citizens without electricity, without internet, without traffic lights and with the banking system paralyzed for up to 16 hours. As they reflect in the magazine freenthat day we suddenly discovered that something we take for granted—electricity—is the fragile foundation on which our entire modern life rests. One year after the event, the initial shock has given way to data. We no longer ask ourselves only if such a blackout can happen again, but how much it is costing us to avoid it and if we have really learned our lesson. D-day is about to arrive. Twelve months later, we finally have the “official autopsy.” The European Network of Network Operators (ENTSO-E) published a comprehensive report of 472 pages where he concludes that there was no single cause, but rather a “perfect cocktail” of multiple factors. A sudden surge originating in Spain triggered instability that the system was unable to stop. As we have already explained in Xatakathe failure can be defined as “operational blindness.” The renewable plants operated with a fixed power factor; They did not know how to read the network surge and, for safety reasons, they disconnected suddenly, causing a rebound effect. Besides, as he adds BBClocal generator voltage controls were not fully aligned with operator requirements. The crisis required millisecond reflexes, but tension control was done manually. In fact, if Europe did not fall like a house of cards, it was due to an almost miraculous technicality: a relay in the Hernani substation (Gipuzkoa) acted like a “fusilazo”, cutting the connection with France in milliseconds to shield the continent. Ironically, just ten minutes later, it was that same interconnection that served as assisted breathing to resuscitate the system. The big question: what has Spain done differently? The fear of a new blackout has changed the rules of the game, but at a high price for the citizen. Electrical Network has imposed a “reinforced model” of operations. This means that they prioritize safety over cost, keeping more expensive and stable backup plants on, such as gas combined cycles. The result? The Spanish They have been paying an extra cost of 666 million euros In these eleven months only in “adjustment services”, which have shot up 43%. In the legislative sphere, the Government has approved the Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 to streamline bureaucracy through the “Renewable Acceleration Zones” (ZAR). However, experts warn thatSince there is still no structured capacity market, investing in the necessary storage systems (batteries) continues to be a financial risk for developers. There’s more shielding going on. The collapse not only left us in the dark, but it left us cut off, although in a very uneven way. While some completely lost the signal, others managed to maintain it thanks to the logistical efforts of some operators. To avoid this coverage lottery, the CNMC has proposed that Telefónica, Vodafone and MásOrange offer a “national roaming” plan in case of emergency. If your operator’s network goes down, your mobile phone would automatically connect to the competition, based on the Swedish model. Added to this is the request to make the alert system (ASA) mandatory in cars with digital radio (DAB+), to send warnings to the population immediately even if the internet is down. The false culprit and the new energy guzzler. After the collapse, many were quick to blame green energy, but the reality is different. As explained from freenthe problem is not that Spain has a lot of solar and wind energy, but that the electrical grid is still stuck in the 20th century, designed for fossil power plants and not for a decentralized system. In fact, Spain is a fascinating laboratory. According to EUObserverthe country has managed the recent price crisis caused by the Third Gulf War much better than its European neighbors thanks to its enormous solar shield. However, the trauma of the blackout has caused an absurd side effect: operators are so afraid of overloading the grid that they force solar and wind farms to disconnect more frequently. Curtailment (clean energy generated that is thrown away) has gone from 2% to 7%. And if that were not enough, the saturated network assumes the imminent arrival of a new energy-consuming giant: the massive data centers for Artificial Intelligence. The exchange of accusations is served. In the offices the short circuit has only just begun. As detailed Financial Times, The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has opened formal investigations. Red Eléctrica (REE) faces proceedings for “very serious” infractions, while giants such as Iberdrola, Naturgy, Endesa and Repsol face possible fines of up to 60 million euros for “serious” infractions. Besides, as accounted Public, up to twenty open sanctioning files. REE defends itself by ensuring that the opening of the file does not prove its guilt. Meanwhile, a Senate report promoted by the PP directly blames the Government, REE and the CNMC for ignoring known vulnerabilities, according to Reuters. And the tension reaches the limit: electricity companies like Endesa and Iberdrola They have demanded a judge access more than 8,000 calls and emails from REE executives during the hours of the blackout, after the leak of audios where technicians warned of the danger 15 days before. An electric heart that remains at risk. Spain is “a gold mine without a road”, as defined by Patxi Callejadirector of Iberdrola. We have the sun, the wind and the technical capacity. But the great lesson of this last year is that true energy independence is no longer played at the national level, but at the local level, where factories and homes install their own batteries and hybrid panels so as not to depend on the fragile central system. We survived the blackout and avoided another one by reaching for our wallets and operating defensively. But as long as the line procedures last a decade, mass storage … Read more

The video game has realized that it is no longer culturally relevant. So he’s taking desperate measures

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If you have heard about the launch of new ‘Resident Evil’ and you go on TikTok looking to see something gameplay or how to defeat a specific zombie, be careful because you are more likely to end up watching videos dedicated to the back of its protagonist Leon Kennedy than to any weapons guide. You’re reading right: at his back, at his growls and the way he forces a closed closet, and not exactly at his return to Raccoon City. None of this is coincidental. Capcom, responsible for ‘Resident Evil’, has not only launched a tremendously anticipated title from a saga much loved by players, it has built a campaign to generate conversation, desire and, above all, a constant presence on networks. Thirst tweets (messages from fans expressing attraction or admiration for a character), clips designed to go viral and creative decisions aimed at provoking a specific reaction in the audience. fandom It is something that we usually see in marketing campaigns for cinema. A very obvious recent example may be that of the actor Jacob Elordi in the middle of promoting ‘Wuthering Heights‘ being a victim of countless fancams (those clips with images highlighting an actor or character). But no, this time we don’t have a Hollywood star but a fictional character; and the effect is the same. Capcom has joined the wave and in doing so has put many unknowns surrounding the video game industry on the table while beginning to clear up others. Because the question is not why this particular campaign has worked, but why the video game industry needs to do it now. Video games sell but they don’t create conversation The truth is that we cannot say that the video game industry is in the midst of a creative crisis, but rather in a crisis of cultural visibility and, therefore, it is beginning to react with strategies typical of other media. The list of video games that may interest us by theme, gameplay or aesthetics is infinite, but really that wealth remains largely for those who are already in the medium. For the general public, the video game is still something more opaque and specializedcompared to other cultural areas. The audience, even if they are not movie buffs or music fans, can be up to date with the big premiere of the week or a new album by Taylor Swiftbut it is difficult to know about the new game of Hidetaka Miyazaki. And the thing is, not only does it help that you like the product, but also the red carpets, the media interviews and the marathon weeks of promotion. Capcom would kill for this. Thus, we can stay up to date and find out about Zendaya’s new premiere thanks to a viral video talking about the theme of her looks for the red carpet or about Bad Bunny’s new album through a clip of her interview on ‘The Tonight Show’ with Jimmy Fallon. On the other hand, here the video game is at a clear disadvantage and does not generate that type of media attention and following outside of the endemic media. Cinema and music with trends, premieres and their stars constantly cross the public conversationa barrier that the video game cannot break. With few exceptions such as ‘Grand Theft Auto‘or a new generation of’Pokémon‘, few releases achieve a similar level of expectation. We are facing a striking paradox, we are talking about an industry that manages to generate more money globally, but at the same time has difficulties occupying that space in the collective imagination. This disconnection seems difficult to overcome, because although the ideas and quality of many titles are more than remarkable, there is an underlying problem that shakes the world of the industry. While income shows record numbers (the global video game market grew by 5.3% in 2025 to reach $195.6 billion), the truth is that the sector is going through a wave of continuous layoffs that hits both small studios and big companies that seemed untouchable like Epic Games with its totem Fortnite. These dynamics of layoffs, cancellations and restructuring show the structural tension that goes further of the games themselves and make it imperative to rethink, not so much what is done, but how it is presented. Video games have not known how to turn their icons into elements of constant cultural conversation. It is striking how some of its most emblematic characters such as Cloud Strife from ‘Final Fantasy VII’ or Ezio Auditore from ‘Assassin’s Creed’, despite their influence in the sector, barely permeate the broader collective imagination and only become icons recognizable mainly by those who already know the medium. And for this. Trailers or old classic events like the E3 or more recent quotes like Game Awards They are not enough to wake up the interest of the general public for new releases; recognizable “faces” and viral moments are needed. We already had a clue in 2023, if for the world of video games the title ‘The Last of Us’ is a reference, the king of the fancams Pedro Pascal and the HBO adaptation so that, through another format, this story would reach the global conversation, even increasing game sales. In this context, strategies like Capcom’s make complete sense: the aim is not to alter the product, nor the original idea, but to transform how it communicates, positions itself and, above all, how it becomes more visible beyond its own niche. Capcom and the twist “thirsty” New releases, such as in film or music, should also be an event with shared experiences and campaigns that transcend the news and Capcom has taken note. It even seems that the Japanese company has attended the “Margot Robbie school”: just as the actress throughout the promotion of “Wuthering Heights” commented and fangirled with all of Jacob Elordi’s romantic gestures during filming, making him the perfect Heathcliff; Capcom has moved that same logic to the world of video games. With a campaign that reaches not only hardcore … Read more

Andalusia’s measures to prevent Leonardo from becoming a catastrophe

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This Wednesday the weather situation In many parts of Spain it is really complicated and Andalusia is one of the points where we are going to have greater impact with the storm Leonardo. Not because it is going to rain in large quantities, that too, but because the land is literally oversaturated with water. This has caused the authorities to begin to take measures such as the suspension of in-person activity in educational centers. The advertisement. This was announced by the president of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juan Manuel Moreno, this Tuesday after presiding over the advisory committee of the Emergency Plan that has decreed the suspension of classes in all the Andalusian communityexcept in Almería. This is complemented by the elevation of the Emergency Plan for the Risk of Floods to the emergency phase at level 2. There will still be classes. What was announced by the Andalusian executive is not the complete suspension of teaching activity in educational centers, but rather the transfer to telematic mode. In this way, the infrastructure that was already used in the covid pandemic is rescued with the aim that students continue receiving classes but without traveling to educational centers. The exception of universities. This alteration in the way classes are taught affects the educational centers over which the Junta de Andalucía has jurisdiction, but does not affect the universities. In this case, the decision is left in the hands of the rectors to continue supporting face-to-face classes, although in this case the focus is mainly on the evaluation periods, or to suspend teaching activity. This is something that is expected to be decided later this Tuesday afternoon when each university evaluates the risk of its students’ place of residence. At this time, we know that the University of Cádiz has postponed their exams due to this storm red alert. Reduce the number of trips. Preventing students from having to travel to educational centers to develop responds to the need to avoid traveling through areas that may be flooded. The question we ask ourselves in this case is what will happen to the workers who must go to their jobs. In this case, the activation of level 2 and the orange or red alerts from the AEMET protects the worker within article 21 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law. In this case, it is pointed out that the worker has the right to interrupt his activity and leave the workplace if there is a “serious risk” to his health. Furthermore, the Royal Decree-Law 4/2023 It also establishes the obligation to prohibit the development of certain outdoor tasks if the worker’s safety cannot be guaranteed. In practice. If it is not possible to go to work due to short roads or flooding in the area, the absence from work is automatically considered justified by force majeure. It must be taken into account that the Workers’ Statute in its article 37.3g pick up a paid leave of up to four dayscovering absences due to force majeure when travel to the workplace is dangerous. That is why, to avoid exposure to risk, the prevailing recommendation in these cases is the implementation of teleworking. ES-Alert Notice. At this time there are some specific areas of Andalusia that have an active red alert due to very adverse weather conditions. These are the regions of Jerez and Campo de Gibraltar, points of Malaga such as Ronda, the area of ​​the Jaén bridges and others. Here the Board plans to send an ES-Alert notice at 20:00 due to the great risk of flooding, although there is the possibility that it will be expanded to other areas where the AEMET indicates that there may also be a similar risk of receiving a large amount of rainfall. Emergency level 2. This is an important qualitative leap in disaster management in Spain, since it implies that the management of the emergency becomes a total autonomous competence, coordinating all local and state resources under the same operational umbrella. Furthermore, the pre-activation of the Military Emergency Unit is not a formality, but rather seeks to gain vital time in the presence of floods in the areas most prone to it. Mobilizing the EMU in advance avoids delays of between 4 and 5 hours in the effective deployment on the ground in case the situation overflows, allowing almost immediate intervention. Images | Pablo FJ on Flickr In Xataka | Spain is preparing for a “festival” of storms in February: with more rain than normal and hardly any cold

While cars are becoming more expensive in Europe, they are only going down in China. The Government has had to take measures

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Despite how they are sweeping brands outside of Chinain its domestic market there is voracious competition among all car manufacturers, which has led to an uncontrolled discount trend. For this reason, China’s market regulator has published a draft of guidelines to regulate prices in the automobile industry, seeking to stop the destructive price war that has shaken the sector in recent years. The country’s major manufacturers, including BYD, Xpeng, Great Wall Motors, Chery and BAIC, have publicly expressed their support for these new rules. The origin of the problem. According to data Cited by Wang Xia, chairman of the Automobile Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, more than 200 vehicle models recorded price reductions in the domestic market during 2024. In May, the situation worsened even more when leading manufacturers applied massive discounts that exceeded 50,000 yuan (about 6,300 euros), while some vehicles were sold for as little as 30,000 yuan. This spiral of cuts has forced some small manufacturers to leave the market and has deteriorated the profitability of the sector. What the guidelines propose. The document from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), published on December 12 and open to public consultation until the 22nd of this month, establish clear requirements for both manufacturers and dealers. Manufacturers must set prices based on production costs and market conditions, respecting the price autonomy of distributors. On the other hand, according to the document, selling below the production cost with the aim of eliminating competitors or achieving a monopoly position is prohibited, as well as price-fixing agreements between manufacturers. Dealers, for their part, must show complete and transparent prices, without false price references or misleading discounts. The reaction of the industry. BYD, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, issued an official statement committing to follow the guidelines and optimize their internal price management systems. Xpeng, Nio and other manufacturers released similar statements supporting both the pricing guidelines and other complementary regulations on financing that facilitates the change of vehicle by reducing penalties for early loan repayment. Between the lines. The word “involution” has appeared more than once and twice in China’s hectic domestic vehicle market. Therefore, the Government wants to confront this idea with this new series of price regulations. The authorities They had already tried to stop the price war in June, when they summoned the CEOs of the major electric vehicle manufacturers to warn them about the abusive cuts. However, prices continued to fall: according to account Bloomberg with data collected by China Auto Market, BYD’s average transaction price fell from 116,200 yuan in June to 108,100 yuan in October. The transition aims to be complicated, since according to Bloomberg, there is a persistent weakness in demand, especially in luxury combustion vehicles. The middle account In addition, there are already manufacturers adapting these measures, offering more equipment for the same price or selling large SUVs at the price of smaller models. And now what. Following the public consultation period, which ends on December 22, the guidelines are expected to be formalized and play a key role. November already showed signs of stabilization, with 19 models with price cuts compared to 26 the previous year, according to ChinaEVHome. It remains to be seen if these regulations end up alleviating two of the most serious problems of this industry in China: excess productive capacity and weak demand. Cover image | BYD In Xataka | When the United States handed over its entire electrical grid to Chinese devices it seemed like a good idea. Now you have a problem

There are so few mechanics on the market that Ford is taking radical measures, like paying them $120,000

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In the United States, and in general in the main Western economies, the manufacturing industry faces a serious problem: there is no specialized labor to fill the vacancies that are leaving who retire. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, has stressed in an interview for the podcast Office Hours: Business Edition that his company has “5,000 mechanic vacancies. A workshop with an elevator and tools, and no one to work in it. They charge 120,000 a year, but it takes five years to learn how to do it.” This lack of training is the weakest link in the chain for Ford and the majority of the industrial sector. Global talent crisis. One of Trump’s slogans when he came to power is to reindustrialize the country. However, for many billion dollar investment that I get for build huge factorieswill fall on deaf ears if there are no well-trained employees to produce. This problem can be extrapolated to any country in the world. During his podcast appearance, Farley lamented: “We have over a million vacancies in critical jobs: emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and technical trades. It’s very serious.” The situation is not exclusive to Ford. According what was published by NPRwith data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the US there were almost 500,000 unfilled jobs in the manufacturing sector, even with a rising unemployment rate that stood at 4.3%. This is an indication that, although there are people who are unemployed, companies cannot hire them because they simply do not have the training to do the jobs they need. In Spain, the problem is also significant. The BBVA Foundation estimated that the manufacturing industry had lost a quarter of its employment since the beginning of the century, and there are an estimated 100,000 vacant jobs in the industry, in a country with 2,613,200 unemployed, according to data of the EPA’s third quarter of 2025. Again, this mismatch is due to the gap between the training of the workforce and the needs of companies. Importance of Vocational Training. Farley insists that the current reality demands a serious commitment to professional training, since “to learn how to disassemble a diesel engine from a Ford Super Duty truck requires at least five years.” For this reason, the CEO points out that without a determined effort to strengthen technical training schools and offer competitive wages, the American industrial economy—and that of any country that aspires to industrialization—is doomed to failure. The lack of investment in this type of training is one of the main causes of the crisis. Farley mentioned that “we don’t have trade schools. We are not investing in educating a new generation like my grandfather, who started with nothing and built a middle-class life for his family (working on the assembly line of a Ford factory).” The Spanish FP is a success story. In Spain, Vocational Training has experienced a big change thanks to investment policies, greater training offers and the involvement of companies in the training of those who will later become their employees. In fact, according to the report ‘Infoempleo Adecco 2024‘, in 46.96% of the job offers published during the last year, candidates were asked have a vocational training degree. The FP student report of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports reveals that, in the 2022-2023 academic year, 1,085,259 students were enrolled in Vocational Training degrees. That represents an increase of 32.6% compared to the last five years. The demographic factor is going to make it worse. A key factor in the number of vacancies is the template aging: Many workers with decades of experience are retiring and there are not enough young people trained to take their places. This is a problem that not only affects the industrial sector, but also affects the entire labor market, both in the public sector as private. Seeing that young people are showing greater interest in Vocational Training invites us to think that the number of vacancies in sectors with vacancies due to lack of trained labor at present will not increase, but the big question is whether this generational change will arrive on time and to the areas that are needed. As and as highlighted Jensen Huang, the new millionaires will not be engineers or AI experts, but electricians, carpenters, bricklayers or bus drivers. Incentives: “Pay them more”. Never have three words held as much truth as those spoken by Joe Biden when someone asked him how to end the labor shortage: “Pay them more.” Pay them more. In his attempts to attract qualified labor to his assembly lines, Ford’s CEO adopted a strategy that the company’s founder, Henry Ford, implemented in 1914: raise salaries. That’s why Farley boasted of paying $120,000 to his mechanics. Just as he told in an interview with Walter Isaacson, Farley came to that conclusion when during labor agreement negotiations, some of his workers approached him and commented: “Young people don’t want to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour and they’re very stressed.” To combat this, Ford approved a 25% pay increase for its workers over four years, ensuring everyone has a fair wage and a viable career future. have a professional opportunity with a good salary and job stability is the best incentive for young people to spend five years of their lives training for a profession. In Xataka | 47% of the unemployed in Spain are over 50 years old. The problem is that many will not return to work until they retire. Image | ford

Meeting the energy demand of AI is leading to desperate measures. How to reuse old airplane turbines

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The AI ​​race has put the electrical infrastructures of half the world in check. Data centers need more and more megawatts, and they need them now. But the energy industry does not play at the same pace, which explains why there are companies installing airplane engines next to these huge graphics card farms. Two options, two problems. When a company builds a new data center for AI, it has two options. The first is to connect to the electrical network, but according to IEEE Spectrumpermits to carry out interconnection can reach eight or even ten years in some regions. AI, however, advances in a matter of months, and cannot wait a decade. Hence, many companies, like Elon Musk’s xAIopt for option 2: build their own power plant on the site. This is not without problems either. Global demand for gas turbines has skyrocketed, and not just because of AI, but because of economic growth in Asia and the Middle East. Manufacturers such as GE Vernova or Siemens Energy have waiting lists of three to five years, and for larger models, the period is longer. As noted in a report by Public Powera new gas plant project commissioned today could begin operating in 2032. Aircraft engines as power plants. This bottleneck has caused, on the one hand, that turbine manufacturers rub their handsand on the other, that companies sharpen their ingenuity. And this is where aeronautical engineering and the reuse of aircraft turbines come into play. The concept of using aircraft engines to generate electricity is not new. They are known as aeroderivative turbines: they are smaller, lighter and easier to maintain than heavy industrial turbines. What is new is the scale and urgency with which this solution is being implemented. From a Boeing 747 to the data center. An American company called ProEnergy has become a protagonist of the trend with a simple plan: buy used jet engine cores, specifically the CF6-80C2 model of the iconic Boeing 747, and adapt them. These engines, after decades of service in the air, are disassembled, reviewed piece by piece and rebuilt for a second life on dry land. The result is the PE6000 unit, a gas turbine that, as detailed the popia companyis capable of generating 48 megawatts (MW) of electricity. A single one of these units can power a small or medium-sized data center, or a city of up to 40,000 homes. A bridging solution. The reality is that these converted aircraft engines are not the definitive solution, but rather what the industry bridges for the first years of operation of its data centers. “Both projects are designed to provide bridge power for five to seven years, which is when they hope to have interconnection to the grid,” says the CEO of ProEnergy. But business is good. The company has already sold 21 of these turbines for two projects, adding more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity thanks to its speed of delivery. Companies can buy a turbine from ProEnergy by 2027 or wait a decade to build a conventional plant. Everyone wins. Except the environment. It is gas that ends up burning in order to have these data centers operational in record time. Image | ProEnergy In Xataka | If the question is “how does having a data center next to my house affect me”, in the US they already have an answer: 267% more expensive electricity

While Europe was razed by black plague, an unexpected state applied epidemiological pioneer measures: Aragon

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The whole history of humanity changed one day of 1346 in front of the doors of the city of Caffa in the Crimean Peninsula. Between that day and the end of 1351, 70 million people died worldwide. That is, between 30% and half of the population disappeared from the surface of the earth. It is very difficult to ponder what the black plague meant. But not everywhere was the same. In the vicinity of Lake Issyk-Kul in the current Kyrguistan, Almost everyone died. In the crown of Aragon, The thing was different. Do not be misunderstood, we talk about a complex and diverse territory, the impact of black plague on the different kingdoms and counties was as terrible as anywhere; But, according to A recent study by Albert Reixach Salahe has just demonstrated that “urban governments began to try pioneer techniques that anticipated” what would later be applied in the rest of Europe. The laboratory of the continent. At first, like all, Aragonese communities resorted to religion. East of the Peninsula processions, public sentences and offerings to the saints were filled. It seems, 1384, the Municipal Council of Manresa tried to placate the “divine anger” prohibiting gambling. From whatever, it did not work. AND, According to Reixach Salathroughout the fifteenth century, the authorities began to add more concrete measures and, to put it in some way, more modern. For example, death registration systems were created (in Barcelona it was active since 1420). At the same time, Terrasa and Cervera began to apply mobility restrictions prohibiting entry to travelers who had been in locations with active cases. A lot of good ideas. Obviously, these answers were partial, clumsy, uncoordinated and reactive. A good example is that in 1458, the city ejected all the Mallorcans from its municipality. No matter that the island was one of the most controlled places in the Mediterranean. In Sóller, without going any further, there were permanent terrestrial controls for decades. However, numerous ideas were clairvoyant. We usually overcome the origin of the ‘quarantine’ to Venice or France, but (always According to Reixach Sala) We know that before that Cervera had already built preventive confinement barracks for anyone who returned to the city. In Valencia it also began to do a few years later. In the same vein, Mallorca had a kind of “Board of Health” since 1476 that introduced prevention measures, administrative regulations and generalized health measures. The grain and the straw. In 2015 Karolinska Institute of Stockholm when granted your youyou The Nobel Prize in Medicine. Many interpreted him as a prize for traditional Chinese medicine, but What they were rewarding It was a huge effort to carefully analyze each and every one of the remedies that the millenary Chinese civilization. Because, between superstition and care, there were good things: bright things. The same as in Aragon. Image | Pierart Dou Tielt, c. 1353. In Xataka | The black plague was a traumatic episode for the human being. But our immune system also improved

The suicide of a teenager unleashed a crisis in Openai. We already have the first measures that will arrive in Chatgpt

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The chatbots of AIs are in the spotlight for their possible risks on mental health, especially chatgpt. We recently deepened this problem following the accusations that Chatgpt was the culprit of causing delusions and even the suicide of a teenager In the United States. Although we already saw that reality is much more complex that a simple “the fault is AI”, OpenAi has responded to the wave of criticism and already has A package of measures that will integrate into chatgpt To avoid more similar cases. OpenAI’s plan. In response to the controversy after the case of Adam Raine, Openai has detailed the measures that will reach Chatgpt, which will focus on facilitating access to emergency services, contacting trustworthy people and reinforcing protection measures focused on adolescents. The company puts a period of 120 days to integrate these novelties, although it warns that some will take a little more than others. Reasoning models. GPT-5 Choose the best model automatically depending on the needs. One of the solutions proposed by Openai for conversations that take a worrying address is to automatically direct them to their reasoning model, regardless of the user selected. Parental control. It will arrive next month and the minimum age to use will be 13 years. Parents can link their children’s account to their own and can deactivate functions such as chat memory and history. In addition, they will receive a notification if it detects that their son “is in a moment of acute anguish.” Collaboration with experts. OpenAI ensures that all these improvements will be implemented under the supervision of mental health experts. For some time they have an artificial welfare and intelligence experts that has been expanded with experts in addictions, eating disorders and adolescent health. The demand. It is not the first case in which Chatgpt is placed as responsible for a mental health crisis, but one of the most popular. Adam Raine’s parents They sued Openai after their son’s suicideclaiming that Chatgpt validated his “most harmful and self -descetive thoughts.” In some of his conversations he came to discuss details of how to make the knot in the rope with which he planned to commit suicide. Weak safeguards. In his Fake Friend reportthe ‘Center for the Fight against Digital Hate’ has already verified that the safeguards of chatbots are very fragile and the case of Adam Raine corroborates it. Chatgpt detected several times that there was a risk of self -injuries and insisted to call the suicide prevention line, Adam managed to dodge these messages simply telling him that he was looking for information for a fiction story. The new parental control sounds like the first stronger measure against this problem. Image | Kaboomps, via Pexels In Xataka | In 2011 someone published in Reddit “A858”. Fourteen years and thousands of messages later, the mystery is still disound

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