moment

At the moment it has an open field and four streets of a PAU

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The official website says that “you no longer have to imagine it. Now you can live it.” But the truth is that, as the matter stands, it is difficult to imagine. Let’s hope we can live it. Because when there are nine months left, Madringthe capital’s Formula 1 street circuit looks like anything but a circuit. At these moments, it becomes difficult to think that through those streets and those half-assembly curves you can search Fernando Alonso his 33. If everything goes as planned, the September 11 The cars have to start rolling south of the city. Among the streets of Valdebebas, one of the Madrid PAUsand the bowels of IFEMA, which competes with the Fira de Barcelona for being the largest fairground and convention center in Spain. The layout is a good reflection of everything that Formula 1 is rewarding: urban layouts that allow attracting large investments from cities to export their image to the world even if, as in the case of Madrid, all the attractions around the circuit are residential buildings, a fairground and a half-built City of Justice for more than 20 years. Now, with 243 days left until Madrid returns to the Formula 1 calendar 45 years later, a doubt is beginning to float: whether Madrid will return to the Formula 1 calendar. Some works in diapers The FIA ​​said that everything is going well, that there is no problem. That’s what they collected in I amMotora portal specialized in motorsport competitions, a little less than a month ago. “There are no delays or concerns within the FIA,” they then stated from the media, which also claimed that a commission from the International Automobile Federation had been supervising the status of the works in the streets of Valdebebas. From IFEMA they also defend that they are advancing at the expected pace. “The works are going within the established deadline. The paving has begun and part of it is already finished, although it is being done little by little due to the rain,” they point out to Autobild. And they make it clear that the circuit still remains to be completed: “the last layer of asphalt is expected to be completed during the summer.” That IFEMA has come out to speak is no coincidence. The information points to a closing of ranks after the viability of the project was questioned. At least for this year. The Italian media Rmc Motori claimed last November that Liberty Media, owner of the rights to the sport, was considering removing 2026 calendar to Madrid in favor of Imola, given the progress of the works. The legendary Italian circuitwill not be part (at least for the moment) next year of the F1 calendar. What is certain is that the works seem to be in an embryonic phase. Those who are walking around the circuit these days are finding the streets of Valdebebas without any type of modification. Ready for you the cars pass at full speed but not single-seaters. Click on the image to go to the original tweet With few exceptionsit is difficult to intuit the circuit along the 22 curves that make it up. The Monumental, a banked curve with a 24% inclination that has become one of the great attractions of the circuit, it’s a muddy mess right now. Yes, progress has been made on the route but there is no sign of progress in the surrounding services and the first asphalt is conspicuous by its absence. The times are also much tighter than we might think. In August the circuit must be ready so that Eurocup-3, a single-seater category inferior to Formula 1, can compete in one of its grand prizes. If it arrives, the intention is to make it the first big test before Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz or Max Verstappen set foot on the soil of Valdebebas. Click on the image to go to the original tweet The circuit, in addition, has to fight with the opposition of the neighbors. Pave the way for cars to pass is causing profound changes in its streetsconstant works and the anticipation that the noise suffered during that weekend will be much higher than the averages that have paralyzed the concerts at the Santiago Bernabéu. Besides, environmental associations They defend that the project threatens the conservation of wetlands and “non-transplantable” trees in the area. Nor is Madrid the first city where the viability of a Formula 1 Grand Prix is ​​doubted a few months before its celebration. In South Korea, Yeongam circuit was not reviewed by the FIA up to 10 days before the traffic light went out on the finish line in a clear example of “out of sight, out of mind” heart. That same weekend work was being done on the track and in some areas the asphalt was not well established. In Las Vegas, Formula 1 has been fighting with a recurring problem for three years now: the sewers become loose with the passage of cars. And in Hanoi, 600 million euros were spent on a circuit so that five years later a total of zero cars raced before its abandonment. Photos | Ifema In Xataka | Madrid says that F1 will not be paid for with public money. Valencia promised the same and it cost them 300 million euros

The DGT is not going to fine for the V-16 beacons at the moment, and therein lies the key

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Since last January 1, anyone who is stranded on the road due to a breakdown has to place the V-16 beacon connected. And what happens if I don’t have it? Absolutely nothing. At least that is what the Government assures. Because, with the law in hand, the agents can fine us if they consider it appropriate. We also don’t know how long this “truce” will last. “It is not tax collection”. This is what Fernando Grande-Marlaska stated in the press conference in which he gave the results of the road accidents relating to 2025. The DGT has made public the accident data for last year but a good part of the press conference has revolved around the topic of the moment: the connected V-16 beacon that the DGT has been required to carry since last January 1. The agents, Grande-Marlaska assures, will not fine for a “reasonable” period of time, in words reported by The World. They do it because, they say, “our objective is not sanctioning or collecting, what moves us is the obligation to save lives.” “Reasonable”. It is the temporary measure that the Minister of the Interior has used to refer to the time that the agents have before fining. The word says nothing because, really, from January 1, 2026, Traffic can fine us for not having the corresponding signage elements. The fine is 80 euros and it does not take into account whether we carry the triangles with us because the only essential element in the car when signaling an accident is the connected V16 beacon, which must be approved by the DGT. And the triangles have been left in a kind of limbo so that the driver can do with them whatever he considers. Not now. The position of the DGT has changed over time. Since it was confirmed that the V-16 beacon would be the only signaling element of a road breakdown, the discourse has changed and its position has been relaxed. At first it was argued that the use of triangles could be grounds for a fine since an incident was not being correctly signalled. Now, Interior says that there will be a period in which fines will not be imposed for this. Later it was left up in the air whether the beacon+triangle combination was valid. Finally, it will be allowed put the triangles “at your own risk”. many doubts. In his speech, Grande-Marlaska pointed out that last year more than 100 people died on the road, “a significant number for getting off to put up the triangles”, in words reported by Motorpassion. In The World They point out that estimates point to 25 pedestrians dying while trying to put the triangles in what Grande-Marlaska describes as “bleeding.” However, as we have said in Xatakathe DGT has never offered clarifying data. Traffic has always classified these victims as people run over “after getting out of the vehicle” but without clarifying under what circumstances. They do not indicate whether they were hit when getting out of the car, putting the triangles on, changing a tire on the shoulder or waiting for help to arrive. According to their accounts, between 2018 and 2022 (a period that includes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic), an annual average of between 18 and 26 people died in accidents “after getting off the vehicle” on high-capacity roads. as reflected in the document itself which explains why the regulations and technical requirements of this connected V-16 beacon are changed. Taking the total number of deaths in this entire series (8,615 people, according to data from Statista), we are talking about just over 1% of deaths that fall into the category “after getting out of the vehicle.” No fines but no extensions. The result in the application of the measure has been paradoxical. From the Interior they say that the measure is “essential” to reduce the number of road accidents but omitting its use or not having the beacon will not be penalized despite there being no extension. And, at the same time, Traffic defends that it has not implemented an extension because it is something that has been known since 2023 and that we should have already purchased the device. According to Pere Navarrodirector of the DGT, “we considered delaying it” but that “would not have changed anything.” Also left to the driver’s discretion whether or not they want to put the triangles in despite the fact that they consider it a sufficient risk to promote a regulatory change. And they recognize that something has been done wrong with the communication of the new measure. Photo | DGT and Help Flash In Xataka | The V-16 beacon business: who is making money with the elimination of the DGT triangles

At the moment brands are selling us “AI assistants”

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The automobile industry is undergoing a technological transformation. And in addition to a transition to electric that is having a difficult time convincing drivers, there are vehicles that are increasingly more capable and dependent on manufacturers’ software. In this aspect, the functions of autonomous drivingwhich have been showing more legs lately. However, the gap between promise and reality is still considerable. More importantly, the level of full autonomous driving in commercial vehicles is still in its infancy. Level 3 remains a pipe dream for most. Level 3 autonomous driving, which allows the driver to let go of the steering wheel and take their eyes off the road in certain conditions, has been heralded for years as the next big leap. ford just promised that its L3 system will arrive in 2028 as part of its new electric vehicle platform, according to Doug Field, the company’s software manager. Technology is advancing in the automotive industry, but there is still much to do and each manufacturer is taking its own time. Mercedes-Benz, for example, has an operational L3 system since 2023, but it only works on mapped highways and at limited speeds. On the other hand, China has recently authorized to manufacturers such as Changan and BAIC to produce L3 vehicles, although restrictions on use remain strict. The reality is that these systems still require very specific conditions to function. Meanwhile, AI comes to the dashboard. Those hoping for greater capabilities in autonomous driving seem like they’re going to have to wait a while longer, at least until AI assistants become normalized in vehicles. In this regard, Ford has promised launch this year an AI-powered voice assistant that will first be available in its mobile application and then in the vehicle. The idea is that the mobile phone also accompanies the experience. In the official blog of the announcement they mention the example of being able to photograph any object to ask the AI ​​if it fits in the trunk or cabin of the pickup, since in this case the model would have the exact dimensions of the vehicle. The idea is that the system is designed to be compatible with different language models, including Gemini from Google, according to Ford. They are not the only manufacturers to be integrating AI into their vehicles, since chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini are slowly reaching infotainment systems. Some examples of this are Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Volkswagen or Tesla, among others. Promises. Ford explains that it is developing many of these components internally to reduce costs and maintain control, although it is not creating its own language models or designing chips like Tesla or Rivian. The company assures having managed to reduce the costs of its hands-free driving systems by approximately 30% while increasing capabilities. The idea of ​​this approach is to launch more affordable electric vehicles after the lukewarm reception of some of its proposals such as the electric mustang and the pickup F-150 Lightning. Ford also acknowledges that it does not want to get into “a TOPS arms race,” the metric that measures the processing speed of AI chips, unlike Tesla which boasts about the raw power of its processors. China accelerates. The country represents a particular case. Daiwa Securities analysts cited by SCMP They estimate that almost 270,000 vehicles with L3 systems will be sold in 2026, approximately 1% of the total Chinese market. BYD and other local manufacturers They are doing massive testing in cities like Shenzhen, accumulating hundreds of thousands of kilometers of real data. On the other hand, a report from Southwest Securities points out that the legalization of L3 vehicles could generate demand for components and software valued at 1.2 trillion yuan by 2030. However, Chinese authorities have tightened supervision after fatal accidents related to driving assistance systems, such as the one that involved a Xiaomi SU7 in March 2024. There is still rope left for a while. While several brands are already announcing L3 systems for three or four years, what is coming now are incremental improvements, such as smarter voice assistants, improved hands-free on-road systems, or more polished user experiences. In this regard, Tesla continues to operate in China with its FSD (Full Self Driving) as a “hands on the wheel” technology, awaiting regulatory approval to operate hands-free. Most current systems are L2 or L2+, requiring constant driver attention. ford assures that his team, made up of former Argo AI engineers (its failed L4 autonomous driving project) and BlackBerry specialists, is prepared to deliver. Many manufacturers aim to have autonomous driving functions within a few years. We’ll see how things progress in the end. Cover image | Arcfox In Xataka | If it seems expensive to change the battery in an electric car, wait until you see what it costs in a Ferrari LaFerrari: more than 200,000 euros

Xiaomi has made profits selling cars in its first year. The problem is that it has optimized for an unrepeatable moment

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Xiaomi Auto, Xiaomi’s car division, reported a few weeks ago something that is considered impossible in the automobile industry: achieving profits in its first year. It has had a healthy gross margin of 25.5% and a net profit of 680 million yuan, about 82 million euros, thanks to 109,000 cars delivered in a single quarter. Barely a year after selling its first car, the division presents numbers that place a newcomer in the same range as BMW or Mercedes. One that took Tesla years to reach and one that other manufacturers like NIO are still not there. Some They died trying to get there. Lei Jun has executed an impeccable launch and his investors have reason to be impressed, but if we take a closer look at the numbers and break down the origin of the margins (something that must be attributed to Poe Zhao’s wonderful analysis in Hello China Tech), a different story appears: that of a company that has perfectly optimized for a moment that will not be repeated. Two figures: The average price per car in the third quarter was 238,000 yuan (about 29,000 euros). The broadest category was close to 260,000 (about 32,000 euros). Those numbers They are not representative of the market that Xiaomi wants to addressbut rather they represent a temporary concentration. In that quarter, many units of the SU7 Ultra and other premium configurations. The first buyers (the biggest fans of the brand, those who wanted to be the first to drive a Xiaomi) ordered the most expensive versions. It’s not that Xiaomi has fooled anyone, it’s the natural dynamic of any technological launch. The early adopters They always buy the higher versions. The testmotto is to confuse that initial demand with sustained market demand. The 25.5% margin does not validate your business model, it only tells you that you have sold the right product to the right people at the right time. The question is what happens when those people run out. Lu Weibing, president of the group, made this clear in the presentation of results. It said auto margins will likely fall in 2026 due to “competitive factors and normalization of the product mix.” It’s careful business language, but lto translation is simple: When you’re done delivering premium configurations and have to sell entry-level versions to maintain volume, you’re going to find out how much it really costs to compete in this market. Apple experienced something similar with the first Apple Watch. The first few quarters showed spectacular margins, but those numbers reflected sales to enthusiasts willing to pay for novelty, not sustained demand from a mature category. They had to learn to sell beyond the circle of fans. The difference is that Apple was not competing in a market with structural overcapacity and price wars. Xiaomi yes. Xiaomi competes in a Chinese electric vehicle industry where overcapacity is systemicgovernment subsidies have an imminent expiration date and the competition is fierce. There is another detail that should worry: Xiaomi is delivering cars faster than it is selling them. They are consuming the backlog of accumulated orders at a rate that exceeds the entry of new orders. An optimized factory running at maximum capacity is impressive, but if demand is not growing at the same rate, you have built production capacity for a level of demand that you have not yet proven exists. What is coming in 2026 is a kind of convergence of pressures: The portfolio of premium configurations will be exhausted. Subsidies will disappear. And security regulations will be tightened. Xiaomi will have to demonstrate that it can be profitable by selling cheaper cars, without public aid and meeting stricter standards. It is the moment when companies that built a real business are separated from those that surfed favorable temporary conditions. The trap of early profitability is not that the numbers are false. It’s that they make you believe that you have solved the problem when you have only optimized for the easier phase. The real test of Xiaomi Auto is not whether it can make quality cars (it has already proven this) but whether it can build a car business that works when the novelty wears off and it has to compete car for car with rivals that cannot afford to lose. That answer is not in the third quarter report. It’s coming. In Xataka | Xiaomi is no longer a brand: there are several brands fighting over the same logo Featured image | Xiaomi

What is coliving and why has it become the residential alternative of the moment

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Arriving in a new city with a suitcase is not always the beginning of an idyllic adventure; It is often the result of desperate mathematical calculation. With rental prices climbing 51.4% in the last decade while salaries barely moved 3.4%, according to the joint report by Fotocasa and InfoJobsfreedom of choice has been replaced by scarcity management. In this scenario, the coliving It is not born from a romantic desire to share a kitchen, but from a structural necessity. It is the housing response to a world where the traditional market has built walls of unpayable deposits and rigid contracts that no longer fit with anyone’s life. Opening the door to a coliving is, for many, the only way to stop being “expelled” from the system and become a resident with rights and services, even if it is at the cost of reducing one’s own square meters. What is coliving and how does it work? He coliving It’s not just sharing a flat; It is a professionalized evolution of coexistence. According to the specialized media Minutthis model is a hybrid that combines the privacy of a room with integrated services. The operational performance, as detailed by ULI experts (Urban Land Institute) and the report The European Coliving Best Practice Guide, It is based on a comprehensive management model. In other words, the resident pays a single bill that covers rent, furniture, high-speed Wi-Fi, cleaning and supplies. This ecosystem removes the “mental load” of home management. As the MIT thesis points outcoliving was born to provide resilience to an exhausted real estate market, offering “ready to move in” spaces that allow the tenant to focus on their career or personal projects from minute one. Types of coliving The versatility of the model has allowed different formats to be created according to the user’s needs: Urban and Flex Living Models: It is the commitment to density. According to Savillsthese formats will represent 16% of the new rental offer in Spain. They are large buildings with hundreds of units that revitalize the city center. Thematic Colivings: The MIT report highlights spaces where the community is filtered by interests: from “hubs” for artists selected for their work to communities of programmers. Rural Coliving: Maybe the guy more transformer. Cases can be highlighted such as Send either Anceu in Galicia, where coliving is used as a tool against depopulation, allowing digital nomads from Google or Spotify to live in villages of 20 people, injecting talent and consumption into rural areas. Collaborative housing (Senior Living): To combat the epidemic of loneliness in the elderly. The Law 3/2023 of the Valencian Community It is a pioneer in Spain by regulating these homes where mutual support is the central axis. What advantages does coliving have? The immediate advantage is affordability. From the Coliving.com portal estimates that a resident You can save up to 40% compared to a traditional studio. However, there are invisible benefits. A report from Lund University emphasizes that coliving is a sustainable urban housing strategy, reducing energy and water consumption by sharing resources and appliances. Furthermore, the psychological impact is measurable. While urban isolation grows, 71% of “colivers” affirm feel more connected. Given the return-to-office policies in cities with impossible prices, living in a coliving near the workplace is the only alternative to avoid two-hour daily commutes. How much does it cost to live in a coliving: prices In cities like New York or London, the savings are drastic, but in Spain the model is also consolidated. According to CBREinvestment in the sector Living room It reached 3,730 million euros in 2024, which allows us to offer high-quality accommodation at prices that, although they seem high at first glance, are competitive by eliminating investment in furniture, maintenance and supply charges. It is, in essence, the transformation of the rental into a transparent monthly subscription. In the main urban nodes of Spain, these are the current ranges: Madrid and Barcelona: Between €750 and €1,300 per month. The price varies depending on whether the room has a private bathroom or if the complex includes luxury services such as a gym, pool or rooftop. Málaga, Valencia and Alicante: Between €500 and €900 per month. These cities are attracting digital nomads with an offer that prioritizes community and proximity to the sea. Difference between coliving and shared apartment There is no need to confuse them. In a shared apartment, coexistence is random and management is informal. In coliving, there is professional management 24/7. As Minut highlightsthe use of technology (noise and smoke sensors that respect privacy) guarantees that coexistence is not degraded. Furthermore, the contracts are individual; If a partner does not pay, it does not affect the rest, something that the Urban Lease Law (LAU) does not always guarantee in traditional group contracts. How to find a coliving Finding these communities is now as easy as booking a hotel thanks to platforms like Coliving.com. However, unlike a hotel, the community factor is vital here. Many managers as mentioned in MIT studiesthey conduct prior interviews to ensure that the resident’s profile fits with the vibe of the building, seeking a harmony that benefits all members. The coliving business for investors For the investor, coliving is a safe haven asset. CBRE points out that Madrid and Barcelona concentrate the greatest interest due to their high profitability per square meter. However, the Uría Menéndez office warns about “limbo” legal: since there is no clear national law, coliving navigates between the Civil Code and municipal regulations that seek to organize the market. In this context, Madrid has taken a step forward with the RESIDE Plana new roadmap designed to combat “tourism” and the escalation of prices caused by vacation rentals. This regulation is key for the sector because it draws a red line: it separates buildings for residential use from tourist ones. However, the City Council will allow private public buildings that are obsolete or in disuse. they transform in colivings or affordable rental housing, as long as their restoration is … Read more

Smart glasses find their “iPhone moment” in China. The key to your success: payments

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In China, AI glasses allow you to pay by looking at a QR code and giving a voice command. Alibaba itself launched its Quark for $268, integrated with Alipay for payments and Taobao for purchases. Xiaomi presented its glasses with AI in June and they became the third best selling in the world in the first half of 2025, despite being available for only one week. The Chinese market for smart glasses is growing exponentially in the second half of the year, according to a study by BigOne Lab. Why is it important. After more than a decade of unfulfilled promises, smart glasses have finally found their reason for being. And it is something as prosaic as paying without taking your cell phone out of your pocket. AND It’s working in China like nothing else has before. in this sector. From the adoption for payments, the rest of the value proposition is built. The context. China’s digital infrastructure, where even the elderly use their smartphone for everything, facilitates adoption. QR codes are in all shops and Meta does not operate in China without a VPN, which has left the field clear for local companies to experiment without direct competition. Yes, but. The price is determining. Chinese glasses cost between 200 and 300 dollars, a price not too high. Xiaomi, RayNeo, Thunderobot, Kopin, Baidu and Alibaba compete in the Chinese domestic market. The payment functionality does not require very sophisticated screens or complex optics. All you need is a basic camera, voice recognition and connection to the payments ecosystem. This makes production much cheaper. The big question. Will we see something similar in Europe with Bizum? Mobile payments here are less ubiquitous than in China, but Bizum has achieved enormous penetration in Spain. If businesses adopted Bizum QR codes, as some already do, smart glasses could find their practical use here as well. The European ecosystem has advantages: stricter privacy regulation, greater consumer trust in traditional banking systems, and a population accustomed to incremental innovations. But it doesn’t have the density of QR codes that makes China the perfect terrain for this experiment. Between the lines. Chinese companies are not just developing hardware. They are creating the use case that justifies wearing smart glasses all day, and instead of looking for something spectacular and complex, they have found something much simpler and everyday: not having to take your phone out of your pocket. Rokid boasts that its glasses are not tied to a single generative AI model: they work with OpenAI, Llama, Gemini and Grok. They also offer simultaneous translation into English while someone speaks in Chinese. But none of that matters as much as the payment feature. And now what. Meta dominates the global market with a 73% share in the first half of 2025, according to Counterpoint. His success with Ray-Ban Meta This is explained by a design that is almost indistinguishable from normal glasses. In addition, Western manufacturers maintain advantages in chips. But Chinese companies have obvious advantages: many brands and models, rapid iteration, and the ability to adapt quickly to market changes. In Xataka | The POCO F8 Pro and F8 Ultra are a great change of direction for the brand. We spoke with POCO to find out what awaits us now Featured image | Xiaomi

We knew almost nothing about the “black box” of life, the initial moment of fertilization: that is over

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In biology, human development, from the fertilization of an egg to the formation of the complete baby, has a large area called ‘black box’because we don’t know what happens there. We have a lot of data about what happens in the first days after fertilization and also during the last months thanks to ultrasounds. Worse, there is an area between the second and fourth weeks of development that is terra incognita. The ethics. It is without a doubt the great wall of developmental biology right now, since to see what happens to an embryo in these weeks we would have to have it in a culture dish for more than 14 days. But this is something that ethics does not allow, since after those days the embryo must be inside a uterus or destroyed. The change. Now science is working to find exactly how to see the embryo in this time window, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona achieved it. Specifically, it has achieved cultivate macaque embryoids which are embryo models derived from stem cells until day 25. In this way, processes that until now were hidden have emerged. A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona has managed to cultivate macaque embryoids (embryo models derived from stem cells) until day 25, revealing processes that until now remained hidden. And this has already given us data about how our body is formed. Gastrulation. Lewis Wolpert, a famous biologistused to say that “the most important moment in your life is not birth, nor marriage, nor death, but gastrulation.” And he was right. To understand this importance, you must know that during gastrulation the embryo stops being a simple sphere of equal cells and transforms into a complex structure with three different layers that will give rise to all the organs of the body. But it is also essential to be able to define the axes of the body, that is, knowing where the head will be, the tail and what is right and left. Something that until now was impossible to see because previous models of primate embryos ended up collapsing after day 17. The solution. The research has therefore used a new system of 3D suspension culture which has enabled macaque embryonic stem cells to self-organize and develop complex structures until day 25 outside the uterus. What they have seen. What researchers have observed in these “embryoids” is fascinating because of its similarity to natural embryos. As detailed in the paper from Nature, these models have recapitulated key events of the late gastrulation. Among this, the formation of the central nervous system stands out, the precursor of the digestive system, the first blood cells or even those that in the future will give rise to eggs and sperm. The most surprising thing is that the transcriptomic analysis (the study of which genes are active cell by cell) revealed that differentiation trajectories were similar to those found in natural monkey embryos during this stage. At last. This means that we have, for the first time, a reliable simulator to study human development. Since we share a large part of our biology with macaques, this model allows us to investigate the causes of abortions early spontaneous and congenital malformations without crossing the ethical red lines of experimentation with human embryos. They are not real embryos. This is something fundamental for the limits that ethics imposes on us that we mentioned at the beginning. What has been cultured in this case are not real embryos, but models derived from stem cells where neither eggs nor sperm were involved. This has the aspect that it can never become a viable living being if it is implanted in a uterus and its usefulness is limited only to laboratories to analyze how we are developing and revealing critical points where an embryo can be aborted. In Xataka | There are more and more men obsessed with one thing: donating their semen

Warner is in the most delicate moment in its history, but HBO continues to impress with its plans for 2026

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HBO Max has taken a group of media to London, including Xataka, so they can learn about first-hand and in the mouth of Casey Bloys, CEO of the platform, its plans for 2026. Of course, the inevitable question was in the air: how can we make plans for 2026 if in the coming weeks, before the end of 2025, we could know that Warner has new owners. Paramount or Netflix They are some of the first swords to bid for the veteran giant, branched into dozens of entertainment and information channels. However, Bloys has been clear: he knows nothing about it (of course, we have asked him directly if he could say anything about it) and it is not his job to manage these types of operations either. What’s more: “they are decisions that do not affect our budgets. (…) The only thing we can control, the only thing we can do, the best we can do, is to continue making plans like this one for 2026. Furthermore, in this business we work about two years in advance. So, right now, we are preparing for 2027 and 2028.” That is, it is too early to know what impact a purchase would have on programming. And Bloys does not speak into a vacuum: tonight in London we have seen about twenty productions that will premiere in 2026, and the truth is that There are titles that aim to boast a quality absolutely beyond any doubtand with the variety of styles and textures that the platform usually boasts: from the superheroic and violent procedural of ‘Lanterns’ to the late and sordid return of ‘Euphoria’, through new proposals as stimulating as the fourth season of ‘Industry’ or the promising ‘DTF St. Louis’. The first thing Bloys has done has been to set the record straight regarding the return of the platform’s traditional name, allowing this year for HBO to appear alongside Max again: “We have brought HBO back back knowing that HBO Max clearly signals that we are the destination for extraordinary voices, different perspectives and narratives for mature audiences. For more than 50 years, this is what HBO has always been and continues to be.” Bloys has boasted million-dollar milestones, but also prestige: ‘Task’ has added 12.6 million viewers per episode globally and ‘It: Welcome to Derry’, 15.4. This summer, ‘Chespirito’ was the most viewed Latin American product in the history of the platform. In the last decade alone, HBO Max has won eight Emmys for Best Drama, four for comedy, seven for limited series and 13 for documentary, and last year it added more nominations than ever before in the life of HBO Max. The platform, in short, has grown by 20 million users in the last year. With all these figures ahead, it is normal for Warner to boast of being a purchase with an attractive catalog for other platforms, but it does not seem to be stepping on the brakes at the moment. Bloys has detailed some of the upcoming releases and the truth is that some of them have a great track. Let’s look at some of the most notable ones. old acquaintances We have had no news about the new season of ‘The House of the Dragon’but yes of a new spin-off of ‘Game of Thrones’: of ‘The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms We have seen a new advance and the truth is that it looks better and better. We will talk about her in more detail in the coming days, since we have had the opportunity to speak with her showrunnerbut from its progress we are left with its curious mixture of humor and the dirty and violent aesthetics of George RR Martin’s creation. There is death and darkness but also gags worthy of a sitcom and parodies that sometimes seem like a medieval ‘Top Secret’. The return of ‘Euphoria’ is also highly anticipated. Its creator Sam Levinson made an appearance in the room, joking with Bloys about how they couldn’t take the characters back to high school after so long, “even though there are other series with thirty-year-old high school students,” in an undisguised jab at ‘Stranger Things’. Bloys has defined ‘Euphoria’ as the current television series with the most powerful cast of stars, and the truth is that since its creation, Zendaya, Sidney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and Colman Domingo have become leading performers. Levinson states that “it is very nice to see how they win awards, the careers they develop over time.” Lanterns They are not the only ones: the return of ‘Industria’ with a fourth season has also been discussed, we have seen a frenetic trailer for the second season of ‘The Pitt’, which is arriving right now and which promises, at least, the same tension and a good pan of viscera. And beware, ‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’, a spin-off of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ starring, in an environment of multidimensional chaos, the owner of the comic book store from the original series. As Bloys says, “a show that Sheldon and Leonard would watch.” Although the most peculiar and most anticipated return has been the third season of ‘The Comeback’, twenty years after the first season and ten after the second, and where Lisa Kudrow (the unforgettable Phoebe from ‘Friends’) and the original creator Michael Patrick King (producer of ‘Sex and the City’) return. In this new satire of the world of series that comes at a sweet time for audiovisual satires after the triumph of ‘The Studio’, the fallen star played by Kudrow will face the threat of AI… but without science fiction elements. Casey Bloys New passions The truth is that What has caught our attention the most and best have been the new series. For example, ‘DTF St. Louis’ is a limited series about a love triangle between three adults (Jason Bateman, David Harbor and Linda Cardellini) that begins as a clumsy way of managing a midlife crisis and ends with one of them dead. Or it’s … Read more

Xania Monet is one of the most popular artists of the moment. It is also an AI that has just signed a million-dollar contract

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It seemed like an area of ​​culture that remained for the moment in the background before the million-dollar demands of Hollywood production companies and publishing giants, but hostilities are also intensifying in the field of pop music: through AIthere are composers who create singers that do not exist, who have a considerable following on streaming platforms and who get them million-dollar contracts. And meanwhile, distributors and producers defend their corralito with demands for the tools that generate these new phenomena. The figures are beginning to be in the millions, so this has only just begun. The Xania Monet case. The poet Telisha Jones, 31, tried a new method in the summer of 2025 to capture her verses: she introduced her poems into Sunothe artificial intelligence platform capable of converting text into complete songs. The tool not only put music to their words, but gave them a powerful voice, with the timbre of a professional R&B singer. Jones’ lyrics were brought to life through an algorithm trained on millions of previous recordings. This is how Xania Monet was borna digital avatar with a presence on social networks and, shortly after, a catalog that soon circulated on social media platforms. streaming. The climb. In just two months, Xania Monet accumulated figures that many human artists take years to achieve. Your theme’How Was I Supposed to Know‘ rose to first place in the Billboard R&B Digital Sales Chart. This same month, the song reached number 30 on the Adult R&B Airplay: that is, real radio stations are playing it. Another song, ‘Let Go, Let God‘, more in the thematic parameters of gospel, reached number 21 on Hot Gospel Songs. All of this points to a reach that is not exactly small: 17 million total views in the United States in two months. It reached a peak of more than 5 million streams in just seven days. On Spotify, the number of monthly listeners is around 530,000, while on social networks, the avatar accumulates close to 770,000 followers between Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The millionaire contract. From there, success (and money). According to Billboardseveral record labels initially requested meetings with Jones, but she refused to activate her camera and sing for the executives, for obvious reasons. But the offers have ended up arriving, one of them from 3 million dollars. Some labels linked to major record companies such as Universal, Sony or Warner withdrew from the bid for Monet because their respective companies have lawsuits against Suno for copyright infringement. The winner was Hallwood Media, an independent company owned by a former president of the legendary Geffen Records. It is not his first signing of these characteristics: weeks ago he had signed imoliveranother music creator by using Suno. The doubts. The case raises multiple legal and ethical questions: who is really the author of a song whose lyrics are written by a human but whose music, voice and arrangements are generated by a machine? Jones claims that she owns all songwriting and production rights, based on Suno’s terms of service. However, the United States Copyright Office has established that will not grant protection to works whose “expressive elements are determined by a machine”making it unclear who is going to pocket the $50,000 generated from rights to date. But there is also the eternal issue of generative AIs: Xania Monet’s voice bears notable similarities to established singers, such as Beyoncé. If their voice was generated by training the model with protected recordings, to what extent would the original artists not have to be compensated? That’s without going into the primary ethical question, with almost existential overtones: the implications of an artist without a body and without years of practice behind her competing with flesh-and-blood musicians for space on the lists. The imoliver case. He was ahead of Xania Monet and behind him is Oliver McCann, who He defines himself as a “musical designer”since he also lacks traditional musical training. His work with Suno consists of introducing textual indications into the platform describing atmospheres, emotions or genres and polishing it. In July 2025 he was signed by Hallwood Media, which has replicated that same strategy with Monet: in August a song was uploaded to streaming, and a series of songs followed with marketing support, to finally release a complete album. The legal controversy. In June 2024, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) launched what would become one of the most significant legal battles of the music industry in recent times. On behalf of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, he presented simultaneous lawsuits against Suno and Udiothe two dominant platforms in music generation by artificial intelligence. They were accused of massive and systematic copyright infringement: both companies had fed their AI models millions of protected songs without obtaining licenses or permissions. In August, Suno acknowledged that this was indeed the case, and that this practice was perfectly legal under the doctrine of “fair use”. According to her, the songs generated are new and legal. So the companies increased their attack, adding to their lawsuit an accusation that they had obtained their songs through Youtube piracy and ripping: “the largest theft of intellectual property in human history.” To resolve this conflict (which has led companies like Anthropic to pay 1.5 billion dollars to resolve a lawsuit of the same type, but in the literary field) we must answer a fundamental question, and one that will determine the future of people like Monet and imoliver: who is the legal owner of the songs generated by these platforms? In Xataka | We have created these three songs using Suno AI v3. It’s the most spectacular thing we’ve seen in a long time.

Samsung already has its “Safari moment.” The launch of your browser on Windows is the key to having your Apple-like ecosystem

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For years, Galaxy mobile users have had a somewhat fractured experience when it comes to synchronized web browsing between devices. opt for google chrome is the best option for this, although the South Korean’s own browser is considered one of the best alternatives for those who want to escape the clutches of Google. Upon reaching the PC, that history, passwords and bookmarks were trapped on the mobile. Despite has not stopped improving in recent times, more with the arrival of One UI 7, so far it has not landed on Windows. Samsung Internet comes to computers. Samsung officially announced the launch of “Samsung Internet” for PC. At the moment, it is a beta version compatible with Windows 10 (version 1809 or higher) and any build of Windows 11. The company has already made a failed attempt in 2023but this time the launch is final. The key. Let’s be clear: Samsung’s goal is not to steal your gigantic market share to Chrome. Rather, Samsung’s move seeks to replicate the strategy of other Big Tech like Apple with Safari: strengthen its own ecosystem with services out of the box. The goal is for the experience between a Galaxy and a laptop (like a Galaxy Book) to be seamless and frictionless. This is how it works. Synchronization with Samsung Android phones is its crown jewel. When you open it for the first time, it suggests logging in with your personal Samsung account, and so the PC browser automatically syncs: history, bookmarks, passwords saved in Samsung Pass… Until now, this required installing a dodgy Chrome extension, but that’s gone: it’s now a native feature that works without a hitch. Packed with features. Samsung hasn’t skimped on features when moving its browser to Microsoft’s operating system. Much of what makes the smartphone version popular matters: Galaxy AI – Includes navigation assistant to summarize and translate web pages. Privacy: Maintains “Smart Anti-Tracking” and “Privacy Panel”. Secret mode: its own version of incognito mode, which on Android allows you to lock yourself with a fingerprint, is present. Split View: Allows you to view two web pages side by side in the same tab. Does not break the monopoly. As expected, the South Korean has been based on the most predominant engine on the market: Chromium. This is a fundamental advantage for two reasons: compatibility with all websites and, of course, with all extensions in the Chrome Web Store. We have tried it. After downloading the installer, the process is very fast. The first startup asks to sign in with your Samsung account, offers to import bookmarks from other installed browsers, and asks if you want to activate the ad blocker. In less than a minute, the bookmarks from my phone were already on the PC. I was looking for an alternative outside of Google and this Samsung Internet is going to stay on my Galaxy for a while. Galaxy AI on Samsung Internet for PC allows you to translate and summarize web pages After a few hours of use, I have positive feelings. The interface is clean, minimalist and respects One UI design elementsSamsung’s customization layer on Android. Consistency in the design is not broken, and that is not so simple when talking about different operating systems. It feels light and fast, without the burden of extra services that others like Microsoft add to their solutions. And unlike Chrome, synchronization of open tabs between your mobile and PC is almost instantaneous. How to install it. Here comes the important part. Officially, the beta is only available to users in the United States and Korea. However, there is a direct link to the executable file, which they have shared from SamMobile. We have tested it from Spain and it works perfectly, although we have to apply a small fix for it to start: change the language and region of Windows to “English (United States)” and “United States.” Soon, when it arrives globally, it will be executed without major impediments. Cover image | Pepu Ricca for Xataka In Xataka | Change Chrome for a European alternative: step to follow and what you should take into account

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