middle

The problem is not that middle managers are retiring en masse. Generation Z doesn’t want their job.

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The inverted population pyramid that we have in Spain means that hundreds of thousands of professionals with decades of experience behind them retire every year. Area directors, zone managers, team leaders and other intermediate and management positions that have sustained the structures for decades. The problem is not their exit, which should be a normal and expected process, the real challenge for companies is that now no one wants to take your place. The situation even has a technical name “succession crisis” and the data confirm it. According to data collected in the report ‘Human value: global trends on the future of work‘ Prepared by Manpower Group, 57% of companies globally recognize that their aging workforce is already affecting their human resources strategy. Key management positions are retiring and Generation Z does not seem willing to fill them. Reasons are not lacking. Retirements skyrocket. The first to reach retirement age have been the generation of baby boomersbut the first members of generation Only in Spain, in 2024 they registered 368,065 new retirements, 12.6% more than the previous year, while the 345,000 retirements registered in 2025 show a sustained rhythm for the following years. As pointed out to ExpansionAccording to Óscar Berumen, CEO of Grupo Viraal, what is lost with these departures is not just a vacant position: “When a company lets these profiles go, it loses technical knowledge, strategic memory and a deep way of understanding the business.” It is a type of knowledge that is not contracted with a typical job offer. Generation Z is very clear that they do not want to ascend. The phenomenon even has a name: conscious unbossingor the total disengagement from decision-making positions that generation Z is putting into practice. According to a survey From recruiting firm Robert Walters, 52% of Gen Z professionals actively avoid middle management positions throughout their career. 69% describe them as roles in which a high level of stress is required, in exchange for low financial reward. In other words, the salary improvement that companies offer does not compensate for the additional mental load that promotion entails, which is why young people from Generation Z are not willing to give up mental health or reconciling their personal life. According to the latest data for 2024 from the INEthe average salary of those under 25 years of age in Spain was 1,372.8 euros. Take on more responsibilities without real compensationGraphic is not the most attractive proposal, which is why many young people prefer to fulfill their current positions and maintain conditions compatible with their personal life. AI accelerates the problem from another side. As if the refusal to promote was not enough, the emergence of AI in the workplace has added another reason to stay away from promotions. According the data collected by Revelio Labs for Business Insiderjob offers for middle managers in the US were 42% lower than the maximum recorded in April 2022. The consulting firm Gartner calculated that by 2026 one in five companies will use AI to eliminate more than half of their middle management positions. The last ones layoffs in big technology such as Amazon, Google or Meta have not occurred in a context of financial crisis, but have been carried out with the intention of flattening internal structures. This flattening has especially affected to middle management who were dedicated to transferring the objectives to the rest of the staff and managing their execution. Now that job AI is going to automate itwhich is why young people do not want to play those roles and put a target on their back in the next round of layoffs. A perfect storm. According to estimates of the report According to ManPower Group, by 2030, more than one in four workers in advanced economies will be over 55 years old. Generation Among millennials, that figure rises somewhat more, to 56%, but it is still a minority. Companies that operate with structures designed for linear upward trajectories face the major problem that that model no longer fits the way young people understand work today. The gap left by boomers and generation X will not disappear just because of the passage of time. Organizations will have to decide whether to redesign the role of middle managers to make it attractive again, or they learn to function without them. In Xataka | Finding a job had always been a good way to escape poverty: in Spain it is no longer true Image | Unsplash (tommao wang)

We thought AI was laying off engineers. In reality, it has pilloried another profile: middle management.

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We’ve been hearing for several years that AI was going to change work as we know it. What perhaps no one anticipated is that the first mass casualty They would not be factory operators or data analysts, but the layer of professionals that holds together the structure of any company: middle management. The phenomenon is already leaving a trail of layoffs with the successive restructurings that the big technology companies have been applying for the last year. Departments are reduced by the implementation of AI and become increasingly autonomous in decision-making, so the intermediate step that united everything becomes unnecessary. The profile that worries the most. Middle managers have been acting as a transmission belt between the management that dictates strategies and the teams that execute them for decades. The function of these positions was to collect data, synthesize it, transfer decisions and coordinate day-to-day operations. That intermediary job is exactly the role that AI is automating most easily, making middle managers the most important link. likely to be fired in that chain because it is not related to either decision-making or their execution. The pressure on this intermediate profile has been building for some time and the data confirms it. By the end of 2025, job offers for middle managers in the US were 42% lower to the maximum recorded three years earlier, according to Revelio Labs. The consulting firm Gartner calculated that by 2026 one in five companies will use AI to eliminate more than half of their middle management positions. Companies are applying it. Just a few weeks ago, Block, the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey, announced the dismissal of 40% of its staff and presented a new organizational model in which AI assumes the role of a link between teams. In one later blog postDorsey and councilor Roelof Botha explained this move: “There is no need for a permanent layer of middle management.” Brian Armstrong picked up Dorsey’s baton in your ad of dismissal for 14% of the Coinbase workforce, specifying that the intermediate positions were going to disappear as such and that they were now going to contribute by “getting their hands dirty with their teams.” What is lost when a link disappears. In statements to GuardianFreeland Abbott, former CTO of Square, warned that “AI cannot provide team motivation, human connection, and support the way a person can,” removing the human component from middle management in companies. Furthermore, the elimination of this role could mean another obstacle in promotion options for junior employees, who usually find those opportunities by starting to manage the work of other junior employees as they gain experience. According to the study By Anastassia Fedyk, a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, as AI tools allow more work to be shifted from managers to their subordinates, these structural changes could become permanent. Rehire middle management. Matthew Bidwell, professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, assured on his podcast on the labor market that there are precedents of companies that tried eliminate intermediate hierarchies and they ended up turning back. According to their analysis, middle managers are in an especially vulnerable position in restructurings because it is more difficult for them to demonstrate their value to management. Far from putting an end to the “productive” positions held by engineers and administrators, AI seems to have opened the door and the piece that is being most affected to the point of placing it as a species at risk of extinction are middle managers. Above all, after his post-pandemic proliferation. In Xataka | Generation Z is avoiding promotions to mid-level positions: too much stress and too little reward Image | Unsplash (Austin Distel)

In 2008 China was installing metro stations in the middle of nowhere. In 2026 we have discovered how naive we were

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Last year it moved a video which showed that, when it comes to building construction, China looks far ahead of those sacred five-year plans. In fact, something fascinating happens in Beijing: you can find an empty subway entrance where there is no development, a wasteland. The reality is different, because if you return to the same place a few years later, the photo is completely different. Yes, China is an expert in long-term planning. For decades to come. The Chinese urban expansion of the last twenty years has consolidated a structural feature: infrastructure (particularly the metro) is built before the city exists that will do. This deliberate advancement produces a phase visible “empty”: stations buried in open fields, access through weeds without streets or commerce, deep deserted platforms under soils without residents. However, for the Chinese State this phase is not a failure but a transitory state within a horizon of 10–20 years where infrastructure precedes to induce and anchor the development that will come. The called “ghost cities” (from Lanzhou New Area to Xiongan) are less a symptom of error than an intermediate frame of a long temporal script that assumes that urbanization is safe even though its sequence is asymmetrical: first the subway, then the people. Station as a lever. The data from a Wuhan study show that the simple fact of having a metro nearby sharply increases the value of commercial premises within a radius of up to 400 meterseven if there is no city around yet: the line works as a future proof that can be monetized. On a large scale, since 2008 the State launched a wave of new cities and networks (thousands of kilometers of metro in a few years) that reduced congestion and attracted investment. But this anticipated layout was not always accompanied by schools, hospitals or good last-mile connections, which stopped people from leaving the saturated centers and extended the phase in which the new areas seem empty. The infrastructure came first… and the city took longer to appear. First there was the stop, and then Chongqing The Chongqing case. Possibly the most publicized. Caojiawan (the “nowhere station”) condensed the thesis in image: hidden accesses among weeds without streets or residents, surveillance of the viral world, and employees recognizing minimal use “for now” with the central argument of planning: the lane anticipated the neighborhood. Chongqing reinforces the pattern with its deep engineering (Hongtudimore than 60 meters and extension to more than 94), the extreme intermodal connection and the overinvestment in topology before demand. At the city scale, the same pattern runs through its network of viaducts and lines: radically anticipated infrastructure to induce future urban trajectories. Lanzhou New Area Map Ghost cities as a phase. Lanzhou New Area (with razed mountains, free zones, artificial lakes and replicas of monuments) first went through years of silence and then through a slow awakening, with the arrival of people in dribs and drabs, although there are still doubts about the figures. Urban planners who have followed its evolution maintain that calling a “ghost city” is to confuse a phase with the final destination: these projects are conceived for 15–20 yearsnot to be judged at 3–5. In other words, the State does not build for the present, but for the moment when transportation connects, density closes and the population crosses a certain threshold. From that perspective, the initial emptiness does not clash with the bet, it is simply part of the planned schedule. Between ambition and sustainability. Bloomberg recalled a while ago that the model has a cost: most meters they are not profitablethey increase the debt of local governments and there is a risk of building more than necessary in medium-sized cities. The national authority first relaxed the requirements (asking for less population to authorize lines) and then tightened them again and stopped projects, realizing that what helps create value can also sink finances. Various analysts have pointed out that in many places the subway was chosen “out of inertia”, when solutions such as a good bus system with a reserved platform could have provided almost the same with much less debt. The dilemma is no longer whether there will be extensive networks (because they already exist) but whetherat what point to invest in advance it stops being a gamble and becomes a burden. From building to operating. Once built the physical networkthe main problem is no longer digging tunnels but making that work well. There are a large number of stations with a single entrance that get stuck, long and poorly resolved transfers, lack of large connection points between lines and absence of tracks prepared for fast trains to overtake slow ones, because these decisions were not thought out from the beginning. The same logic of “first we build and then we’ll see” now causes circulation problemssecurity, accessibility and response to extreme rains as shown by the Zhengzhou case. They counted in The Guardian that to go from “building fast” to “running well” it is necessary to redesign with the traveler’s experience in mind, not just that of the construction engineer. The temporary strategy. In short, China has turned into a norm an idea that inverts the usual order in the West: the subway is not built because there is already a city, but so that the city ​​exists after. The station tickets today empty are, in their logic, the first material step of future neighborhoods, within a plan that assumes long deadlines and accepts periods of emptiness as part of the price of forcing urbanization. The risk is in the financial cost and in going from “building” to “making it work”, but the advantage is be able to capture value and shape the city in advance. What to today’s eyes seems like an unproductive excess, on a twenty-year scale is only the first phase. A version of this article was published in November 2025 Image | Luke PusateriLanzhou Government Bulletin System, Unusual Places In Xataka | There are skyscrapers so monstrously tall … Read more

why drinking a Diet Coke in the middle of 2026 is an impossible mission

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Any consumer who has recently walked through the soft drinks aisle in a supermarket will have come across a particular scenario: the word “light” (or “diet”, depending on the country) is conspicuous by its absence. Instead, a tide of “zero label” cans and bottles dominate the shelves. Everything indicates that the iconic Diet Coke is in the doldrums. However, it is enough to look at social networks to discover a little resistance. Among young people of Generation Z, this drink has not only not disappeared, but has become a true object of desire and a lifeline against work stress. And to make matters worse, in the middle of 2026, opening one of these cans has become almost a miracle due to a geopolitical and logistical crisis that is suffocating the world. What is really happening with the Diet Coke? The rise of “Zero” At the beginning of this decade, the industry left the word “diet” for dead. “No Gen Z person wants to be on a diet these days,” sentenced in 2021 Greg LyonsCEO of PepsiCo, illustrating what seemed like a definitive change in mentality throughout the industry. Corporations assumed that young people associated the term with strict regimes or deprivation, while the designation “zero” offered a much cleaner profile. As a result, The Coca-Cola Company has put all its financial muscle behind its Zero variant. The financial data they confirm it: during the third quarter of 2025, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar experienced an impressive 14% growth. In contrast, the Diet Coke (either Diet Coke) barely expanded 2%, driven almost exclusively by demand in North America. On a technical level, the difference between the two is not a myth. As detailed in the German media RNDthe Diet Coke Original has a slightly different flavor than classic due to its specific blend of artificial sweeteners (aspartame and acesulfame K) and flavorings. The Coca-Cola Zeroon the contrary, was formulated years later with the explicit objective of imitating the brand’s original flavor as closely as possible, attracting an audience that was fleeing the stigma of “regime” products. Welcome to the “Fridge Cigarette” But Internet culture has its own rules, and corporations don’t always dictate trends. Far from dying like a drink for the generation boomerthe Diet Coke experienced a brutal organic resurgence from 2023. It all started with viral trends that invited you to “marinate” the can in the refrigerator for days to enhance its bubbles, and reached its peak when superstars like Dua Lipa showed on TikTok how they mixed the drink with pickle juice and jalapenos. This fervor led to a new concept that has taken the internet by storm: the fridge cigarette (or “refrigerator cigarette”). Young people have adopted the act of opening a can of Diet Coke cold like the modern equivalent of going out for a cigarette. For Generation Z, the metallic sound when opening the ring emulates the spark of a lighter. It’s not about nicotine, but about the ritual: a perfect excuse to get up from your desk, get away from the screen and claim a little break in the midst of modern hyperproductivity. It is an act of self-care disguised as rebellion. The company, of course, was quick to notice. Sue Lynne Cha, vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola, recognized this rebirth among young people, leading the brand to invest heavily in this renewed popularity. They launched campaigns very focused on Generation Z, such as “Love language” and “Know The Signs”, the latter narrated by comedian Kristen Wiig, encouraging workers to take a #DietCokeBreak. To sustain this momentum, the company injected an additional $18 million into advertising in 2024 alone. The “Black Swan” of 2026 Just when the Diet Coke crowned as the status symbol of work breaks, geopolitical reality dealt it a lethal blow. Right now, the world is facing an unprecedented raw materials crisis. The Third Gulf War has blocked the main sea routes of the Middle East, a region that concentrates almost 9% of the global aluminum supply. This bottleneck has generated a deficit of two million tons, skyrocketing prices and forcing European smelters to declare “force majeure” situations. How does this affect the “refrigerator cigarette”? Directly on the waterline. No aluminum, no cans. The shortage is so severe that in regions like India—where Diet Coke sold exclusively in this format—the drink has almost completely disappeared. According to FortuneIndian entrepreneurs have capitalized on this drought by organizing clandestine themed parties where admission is charged and coveted cans are raffled off, turning the Diet Coke in a true luxury item. This desperation is not trivial in a country where, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, almost 10% of the adult population is diabetic and depends on sugar-free options to indulge. An effervescent mixture Added to this cocktail of logistical scarcity and network fanaticism is the eternal debate about health. Historically, cola drinks have been in the medical spotlight. Specialized portals such as WebMD and Medical News Today They constantly warn about the risks associated with these soft drinks, linking them to insulin resistance, increased visceral fat and even arguing that the dopamine spike they generate in the brain is comparable to that of highly addictive substances. With the version lightthe focus is on its sweeteners. a study published in Cell Metabolism suggests that aspartame could be harmful to cardiovascular health in mice, although the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and other experts have remained skeptical of this methodology, reaffirming that normal doses are safe. And what do new consumers say about this intersection of medical accusations? Which doesn’t matter exactly the same to them. Unlike the millennials Obsessed with wellness, Generation Z embraces this drink with an almost nihilistic attitude, driven in part by a 2000s nostalgia that has resurrected old aesthetic standards. As Andrea Hernandez, founder of the newsletter, explained Snaxshot, to The New York Timesthe mentality is: “Oh, aspartame is terrible for you… I absolutely don’t care.” It is an affordable vice, a small transgression in a world full … Read more

a window that goes from the Castro era to the Middle Ages

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The Cies Islands They are a natural gem. We have known that for a long time. It was first confirmed by Congress, which in 2002 declared them a National Park (along with other islands in the Rías Baixas), and later the British newspaper Guardianwhose reporters concluded almost two decades ago that the Galician archipelago hides the best beach on the planet. Which we just discovered Thanks to the archaeologists, the islands that appear in the Vigo estuary are something more: a site that tells us a story which extends from before the arrival of the Romans to the Middle Ages. Now the experts want to go one step further. What has happened? that archaeologists have rescued secrets that have been hidden for centuries on a hillside in the Cíes, the Vigo estuary archipelago that has been declared a Natural Park since 1980 and has been integrated into the Atlantic Islands National Park for almost a quarter of a century. Between April and the beginning of May, a group of researchers from the University of Vigo carried out a series of surveys on the islands that have allowed them to shed more light on their past. To be more precise, it has expanded what we know about life in the archipelago along a wide range from the castro culture to the Middle Ages. What exactly have they done? Focus on two points. The first basically expands the work done last yearwhen archaeologists identified a series of walls and what looked like part of a floor. The second survey was carried out in an area where the researchers noticed a change in elevation in the terrain, which led them to think that a wall could be hidden beneath the ground. The experts were not blindsided. The campaign focused on what is known as Hortas fortcataloged from the 90s and which stands out as one of the most emblematic Iron Age sites in Galicia. Unlike others castro settlements spread throughout the community, it is located at the southern end of the island of O Faro, a steep area that its inhabitants perhaps chose because of the control it offered them over the maritime routes. What did they discover? They have basically expanded what we know about the history of the archipelago. After clearing the area, at the first point the researchers discovered new structures and identified “two levels of occupancy” well differentiated. One dates from the late ancient period, between the 5th and 6th centuries AD). The other corresponds to the end of the Early Middle Ages, more specifically between the 9th and 10th centuries. This wide range reveals that the area probably had a more or less stable human presence for centuries. “This campaign allows us to affirm that the hillside of the fort was occupied from the fortress period until the Middle Ages, as well as its potential as a heritage element to deepen the knowledge of the ways of life on the islands during antiquity and up to the present day,” the researchers highlight. a statement from the University of Vigo. Did you find out anything else? Yes. The above is what they discovered in their first survey. The second, focused on the area in which they noticed a change in the terrain, revealed another piece of information just as curious: under the earth it was hidden a “cuncheiro“an area where the ancient inhabitants of the island accumulated the waste from their banquets. “From the beginning it was clear that it was an area for emptying food remains of the castro inhabitants of the area of ​​the island, with the appearance of a cuncheiro that almost reached three meters deep,” they explain. There is another important fact. These remains appeared outside a “great house” from the Castro era, the first of its kind identified in all of the Cíes Islands. It may seem like an anecdote or a minor detail, but for Galician archaeologists it is key information. “It is sure proof of the presence of an important human settlement prior to the arrival of the Romans,” clarify from the university, which remembers that the surveys are part of a larger initiative, Sentinel Projectwhich will continue until July. And now what? The information collected during the two surveys could still tell us more things about the ancient inhabitants of the islands. The reason? Archaeologists have not limited themselves to identifying the deposit of food remains. They have also recovered “several fauna samples” that now They will be in charge of analyzing specialists from the University of León in search of a key piece of information: what eating patterns the inhabitants of the Hortas fort followed in the Iron Age. The campaign also revealed a considerable amount of ceramics that will be studied in Ourense. Images | University of Vigo and Xunta de Galicia In Xataka | In the 20th century, lobster was an icon of the Rías Baixas, coveted in the kitchens of Spain. Today she is missing

“In five years, robots and AI will have to pay taxes for the middle and lower class”

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They say that the devil knows more because he is old than because he is a devil. Therefore, when it comes to have a vision of the future In the technological field, few voices have the weight of Bill Gates. After all, he was one of the avant-garde protagonists of the revolution that brought about the arrival of the personal computer into our lives. The co-founder of Microsoft gave an interview to the middle Australian Financial Review in which he presented his vision on the impact of AI on employment and warns of something that is already being debated in some political and technological circles: whether AI and robotics are going to reduce the need for laborHow will the subsistence of those who lose their jobs be guaranteed? Taxation of the future: robots that pay taxes. The millionaire exposes a concern that other technological billionaires like elon musk or Sam Altman have already expressed on numerous occasions. As Gates explained in his interview, the arrival of AI and robotics to industrial production will have a direct impact on millions of middle and lower class workers who you may lose your job without the option to return to one of the newly created jobs that are expected to replace current jobs. As Gates explained, “We have not yet reached the point where it is necessary to completely change tax structures, but we may do so within five years.” The businessman suggests that the solution could be to “shift the tax burden from labor, at least from medium or low-income workers, to capital, or specifically to the taxation of robots or artificial intelligence.” The millionaire’s proposal is that, if a robot or an algorithm occupies the position of a personthat machine should contribute financially, also replacing the employee in his tax obligations. Gates does not ask that innovation be stopped, but rather that the benefits of automation not remain solely in the hands of those who own the technology, but that the benefit of this advance be distributed to society as a whole. The debate, he insists, must occur now, before the displacement of workers is irreversible. On the verge of an inevitable transformation. The Microsoft founder acknowledges that the current focus is on the productivity offered by AI and robots, but points out that his real concern is how governments are going to manage the displacement of human workers from their jobs. It is not a question of if it will happen (something the millionaire takes for granted), but of when and with what speed. The International Monetary Fund has already warned that up to 40% of global jobs have some degree of exposure to AI, with a special impact on middle-class workers and administrative positions, much more susceptible to automation with AI. Gates argues that governments must begin to design fiscal policies adapted to an economy where a growing percentage of the work will not be done by a contributing employee, but will fall to automated systems. Most AI companies will fail. In his speech, the technology millionaire also left room to analyze the current scenario of technology companies participating in the AI ​​race, and he does so with a serious warning: “If you chose the right company, like Microsoft, Google or Apple, you will have done very well. But most AI companies will fail. It is difficult for a non-technical investor to distinguish which ones will prosper.” The businessman advises not to get carried away inflated valuations and bet on established names. The notice comes at a time of massive investment in AI projects, with prices that skyrocket the capitalization of these companies even before having demonstrated that their products They are really competitive. As in the Internet boom of the late 1990s with the dotcomwhen the dust settles only a few actors will still be standing. Global competition and monopoly risk. Beyond the impact on AI employment, Gates warned about geopolitical competition in the development of this technology in this kind of space race that we are living. “What we are seeing now is fierce competition.” China, for example, offers AI models for free, which puts pressure on other companies to set very low prices. “China offers free models and the rest of the companies offer very, very low prices. We would not want a single country or a single company to be the only one good at AI. But I do not see things going that way, at least for now,” said the millionaire in the face of the technological race for AI that the US and China are starring. In Xataka | While technology companies dispense with juniors to replace them with AI, IBM is doing the opposite: catching bargains Image | Flickr, amazon

In the middle of the RAM crisis, your cheapest computer was a bargain too good to last

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If there is a product in Apple’s portfolio that was a real candy, it was the Mac Mini. This has been a reality for years, but in these times that are even more so: the Mac Mini M4 It came to the market with the power of the M4 chip, 16 GB of base RAM, a 256 GB SSD (the most stingy, Apple style) and a RRP of 719 euros, which in practice was much less. I bought it myself for less than 600 euros. Well, that bargain has come to an end: in the context of current shortages, the 256GB Mac Mini is no longer an option. We had already seen it with its models with more RAMbut this decision is dramatic for the general public. Goodbye to the 256 GB Mac Mini. Apple has made a decision that directly affects the pockets of those who want to buy the Mac mini in its most basic version. Since yesterday, May 1, 2026, Cupertino has removed that entry model from its catalog, as Joe Rossignol advances for MacRumors. It is not that it appears out of stock, it is that it has directly disappeared, as can be seen on the Spanish website. Of course, there is still stock and offers of the old base model in stores like amazon, at Media Markt either in El Corte Inglés. The entry price of the Apple desktop computer starts at 969 euros and corresponds to the version with M4 chip, 16 GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. In the United States the jump has been from 599 dollars to 799 dollars, in Spain it has gone from 719 euros to 969 euros. The versions with the M4 Pro processor remain as they are. This decision is framed within a structural RAM supply crisis and whose main culprit is the voracity of the AI ​​infrastructure. Prices and delivery for the Mac Mini. Apple Why is it important. Raising the entry price of one of its star products by almost 35% (in the United States it is 33) more is an aggressive move that has implications for both the individual consumer and the technology market in general. It is true that technically speaking Apple has not raised its prices, it has simply eliminated the lower step, leaving orphans those people who considered that base version sufficient, which are quite a few: it is my main computer for mixed tasks, basic editing, office automation and the Internet and the performance is more than good. In short: for many users, students or professionals, with tight budgets, this increase of more than 200 euros is a real chore. The problem is not just the price: the impact is worsened by delivery times. I have tried different Apple Stores and shipping is delayed until the end of May or beginning of June. Context. Tim Cook gave an explanation during the conference results for April 30, 2026 recognizing that the supply of Mac mini and Mac Studio is severely restricted and that normalization could take months. The reason given by the still CEO of Apple is that both devices have become popular platforms for artificial intelligence and agentic tools, which has triggered demand above forecasts. And he anticipated something: Apple will face significantly higher memory costs in the current quarter, according to MacRumors. This places the Mac Mini in a paradox: that the configuration of this compact desktop computer makes it ideal for working with AI locally and that precisely this reality is what has exhausted the stock, forcing Apple to cut its catalog. The AMR crisis continues to claim victims. In March of this year Apple already removed the 512 GB RAM option from the Mac Studio and in April several models of the Mac mini and Mac Studio they directly stopped being able to order in the Apple Store in the United States, with delays of up to five months for versions with more RAM. The memory chip supply crisis is not something exclusive to Apple, but a trend that crosses the entire sector and caused by the demand of the hyperscalers. Apple needs to ensure that every machine sold is capable of fluidly running its new digital agents and AI tools, making lower memory and storage configurations no longer viable or cost-effective under the company’s current standards. The particular thing about Apple’s decision is the timing: just when it launches its best chips for local AI processing, the global RAM market is strained to unsuspected limits precisely because of that fever. The result is paid by the final consumer. In Xataka | Not even Apple is free from the new reality of the technology industry: RAM goes first for hyperscalers In Xataka | The RAM crisis was supposed to make computers and smartphones very expensive. Apple has another opinion Cover | Apple and Alberto García

A “floating gas station” in the middle of the ocean is making a fool of the US

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In the satellite images of certain points in Southeast Asia there are days in which dozens of oil tankers appear completely stopped in the open sea, forming a kind of improvised parking lot in the middle of one of the busiest shipping routes of the world. Some stay there for hours, others for days, with no apparent direction, as if waiting for something that never comes… or that happens when no one is watching. An invisible map in the middle of the ocean. I told the story this week CNN through data by MarineTraffic reviewed by the media. For years, the Iranian oil trade has followed a logic that barely left a trace in official records, with ships disappearing and reappearing in tracking systems and shipments whose origin changes depending on the document consulted. This dynamic, it seems, has allowed us to sustain a constant flow towards China even under sanctions, relying on a network of intermediaries, opaque routes and an aging fleet that operates on the margins of the international system, similar to the “Russian model”. It happens that what seemed like a succession of dispersed maneuvers begins to draw a much more defined pattern: a floating infrastructure that works away from the spotlight. The “floating gas station”. They explained in the exclusive that, in waters near Malaysia, in the area known as Eastern Outer Port Limitsa key point has been consolidated where dozens or even hundreds of ships remain waiting, exchanging oil in ship-to-ship operations that completely transform crude oil traceability. This enclave acts as a authentic service station intermediate where Iranian oil changes hands, identity and destination before continuing its journey towards Asia, becoming a central gear which allows Tehran to maintain stable exports despite international pressure. Its location, close to critical maritime routes and outside effective control, makes it the ideal place for this type of operations. SAR satellite images show vessels within the outer boundary of the Eastern Harbor off the coast of Malaysia on April 18, 2026 How the shortcut to China works. The system follows a precise and repeated logic: one where large oil tankers load crude oil at Iranian facilities, cross the Indian Ocean and reach this area. where they transfer their cargo to other ships, which in turn transport it to Chinese refineries. In this process, oil change label and appears as originating from countries such as Malaysia or Indonesia, hiding its real origin in official data. This mechanism allows China to continue receiving large volumes of crude oil at reduced prices, while Iran ensures constant income that sustains its economy in a context of sanctions. MarineTraffic data shows the multiple trips the MT Tifani made between the Persian Gulf and the EOPL from April 2025 until its capture by US forces in April 2026 “Ghost” fleet that does not stop. Behind the system are hundreds of vessels that change flag, name and owner frequently, making them difficult to track and reducing their exposure to sanctions. Many operate without identification active for long periods, activating and deactivating its location systems as appropriate, which further complicates any control attempt. The magnitude of the activity is growingwith hundreds of annual transfers that, in practice, turn this maritime space into one of the most active (and least transparent) points of global energy trade. The fight with Washington reaches another board. In the background, a story that remembered the wall street journal the weekend. Recent oil tanker seizures like MT Tifani They reflect a change in strategy on the part of the United States, which has decided to extend its pressure beyond the Middle East and act directly on these distant routes. These interventions they seek to interrupt a system that has operated for years with relative impunity, although they also show the difficulty of stopping such a distributed and adaptable network. Each intercepted ship is a signal, although the total volume of traffic suggests that the mechanism remains fully operational. Floating reserves and economic war. Beyond the immediate exchangethis network also works as a strategic reserve on the high seas, one with millions of barrels stored on oil tankers waiting to be delivered when conditions permit. There is no doubt, this capability offers Iran a mattress facing blockages or interruptions, bringing oil closer to their final buyers and reducing its dependence on vulnerable routes like right now in the Strait of Hormuz. In short, the system represents much more than an evasion of sanctions, approaching an entire logistics architecture designed to keep open a critical avenue of income in the midst of conflict. Image | Department of Defense, MarineTraffic, Sentinel 1/European Space Agency In Xataka | Ukraine taught how to use drones. Iran has gone one step further: turning them into a crusher for US radars and bases In Xataka | If the war resumes again, the US runs a risk unprecedented in the history of war: that the only one with missiles will be Iran.

orders to undo the purchase of Manus for 2,000 million in the middle of the race for AI

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The purchase of Manus seemed like a move already resolved for Meta. The American company had closed an operation valued at more than 2 billion dollars by an artificial intelligence startup founded by Chinese engineers focused on one of the most disputed fields of the moment: AI agents. Now, China has ordered the operation to be undone. The decision turns an acquisition that seemed on track into a much broader notice, with a central mystery: how to cancel a purchase that has already been completed and with part of the team already working from Meta offices in Singapore. Here is one of the keys to the case: Manus was not a typical Chinese startup when Meta bought it. The company had closed its offices in China in July 2025 and had moved its operations to Singapore, a more favorable place to access foreign capital and Western models. But Reuters gives us a very important clueAccording to their sources, this transfer was made without Chinese regulatory approval. Beijing’s decision may have many readings, but possibly the Asian giant is seeking to prevent American companies from acquire talentintellectual property and key AI capabilities linked to its technological ecosystem. It is a movement that fits into a broader context: as Washington tries to limit Chinese technology companies’ access to advanced chipsBeijing would be seeking to protect its own strategic assets. A week ago we found out that the operation passed into the hands of several Chinese agencies, including the NDRC, the Ministry of Commerce and the antitrust regulator, with tools ranging from foreign investment to export controls. Finally, the NDRC has taken the most forceful step: prohibiting foreign investment in Manus and requiring the parties to withdraw the transaction, although the official statement did not name Meta. To understand why Meta was willing to close a deal worth more than $2 billion for Manus, you have to leave the regulatory field and look at the product. Meta spends around 70,000 million of dollars annually in AI infrastructure without having managed to achieve Meta AI’s success as a consumer product. The problem was not so much having more powerful models as turning them into something useful and salable. Manus fit right in there: he didn’t train his own modelsbut it had developed a layer capable of orchestrating them, executing complex tasks and delivering results. Behind all this is a warning that goes beyond Meta and Manus. The relocation of Chinese technology companies to Singapore had become a way to operate with more flexibility in an increasingly tense environment. However, Reuters reports that Beijing is toughening its approach and no longer limits its analysis to where the company is registered. Factors such as the origin of the equipment, the location of the research or data flows become determining factors. And that changes the rules for anyone trying to go down that path. Now, Beijing’s decision leaves more questions than immediate answers. At the moment It is not clear how the annulment will be carried out of an operation that had already materialized and that involves a company structured outside of China. What does seem defined is the framework: artificial intelligence has become a strategic terrain where the control of talent and technology weighs as much as the business. And on that board, movements like Meta’s may be exposed to much broader regulatory reviews than companies had calculated. Images | Manus, Xataka with Mockuuups Studio | Mariia Shalabaieva | aboodi vesakaran In Xataka | China has banned another AI startup from exporting talent and research: little by little, it is “nationalizing” AI

we have “summer storms” in the middle of April

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The good news is that AEMET has assured us of calm and peaceful mornings. The bad news is that AEMET has assured us of afternoons with evolving clouds that deliver locally strong showers, with storms, hail and very strong gusts of wind. The funny thing is that this pattern (warm mornings, afternoon convention, and hail cells here and there) is the very definition of “summer storm“The worrying thing is that, well, we are in April. “More typical of June than April.” That phrase from Rubén del Campo, spokesperson for AEMET, has appeared in (at least) four different statements so far in April alone. And that alone is indicative that something is happening. What is happening and what is really new? AEMET forecasts they talk of “a week between April and May with atmospheric instability.” They refer to this pattern that explained: subtropical air on the surface, cold air at altitude and a lot of humidity in the environment (due to the temperature of the seas that surround us). It is the perfect recipe for a convective party. In fact, there are eight different communities with warnings of various types for locally strong storms and coastal phenomena. This episode is the end of a roller coaster of temperature rises and sudden drops that have made April 2026 the second warmest (more than 70 records broken) since 1990. Thinking about it, it’s not so strange: we are seeing how the climate calendar is shifting. Climate change? AEMET, as usual, is cautious when it comes to directly attributing this episode to climate change (if there are no scientific studies on the subject). However, we know that global warming “increases the probability, intensity and precocity” of situations like these. What we can expect. Beyond this week of rapid and internal storms (with possible hail episodes), no one knows anything. We are approaching what may be one of the episodes of Most intense El Niño in recent decades and time is completely dislocated: making medium-term predictions is becoming more difficult every day. What does seem clear is that the world is changing and that, no matter how much we want to escape the problem, we are not prepared for it. Image | Benbaso – Xataka In Xataka | Some say worrying about climate change is a “first world problem.” A macro survey proves him right

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