offered

Imagine you are offered $26 million to convert your farm into a data center. And then imagine that you reject them

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The market price of agricultural land in Mason County, Kentucky, USA, is around $6,000 per acre. Last year, an unnamed company — the suspect is one of the AI ​​majors — offered Ida Huddleston and her family about 10 times that amount for half of their 1,200 acres. They tempted her with 26 million dollars to build a data center there but Huddleston, 82, rejected the offer without thinking. Farmers of yesteryear. Delsia Bare, daughter of the owner, counted on a local television station as for them “26 million means nothing. Although the phrase is blunt, it is likely that more than indifference to money it reflects a different scale of values. The land matters. Bare explained how his family has farmed that land for generations, paid taxes on it, and kept it productive even during the Great Depression. “We even grew wheat during the Depression and kept bread production lines running in the US when people didn’t have access to other foods.” For the family, the sale would be a break with those values. Obsession with data centers. The Huddlestons’ story is not an isolated case, and Bare herself claimed to be one of dozens of homeowners in the area who had received similar offers from the same anonymous buyer. We all know that large AI companies have been seeking for months to expand the presence of data centers throughout the US, and several of them have announced astronomical investments to achieve that future computing capacity. cheap land. Rural areas are perfect because they are far from urban centers but still have access to resources such as water for their cooling systems and electrical networks with sufficient capacity. In Kentucky the price of agricultural land is relatively low compared to other areas, and that availability of water and energy is a very attractive combination for companies that want to create new data centers. From stupid farmers, nothing. Huddleston, 82, explained that turning down the offer is surprising: “They call us stupid farmers, but we’re not. We know when our food is disappearing, when our land is disappearing.” The owner is clear that the conversion of agricultural land into the basis for digital infrastructure will have consequences on water, food production and the economy of rural communities itself that for decades have been very outside of these technological cycles. Lies. Those who wanted to buy his land claimed that the project would bring jobs and economic growth to the area, but Huddleston has a very different opinion. “I say they are liars, and the truth is not in them. That’s what I say. It’s a scam.” Gone with the wind. His daughter compared this symbiosis with his land to that reflected in the mythical film ‘Gone with the wind‘ and what her protagonist in the film, Scarlett O’Hara, experienced: “She was very attached to that land. Her spirit would never die. The same thing happens to me. As long as I am on this land, as long as it feeds me, as long as it takes care of me, there is nothing that can destroy me if I have this land.” But. Despite the Huddlestons’ refusal, the project has moved forward. Other neighbors in the area have agreed to sell, and the AI ​​company has adapted its plans to use those plots. It is therefore likely that the Huddleston family farm will end up being very close to that future data center if it is finally built, but one thing is certain: for now they are holding out. Image | Xataka with Freepik In Xataka | OpenAI has signed countless billion-dollar agreements with other companies. We are discovering that they are made of paper

Shahed drones are spreading terror in the Gulf. Ukraine has offered the solution, and the price to pay has a name

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In the last four years, a flying device barely twelve feet long has gone from being a little-known Iranian military experiment to becoming a one of the protagonists of several simultaneous conflicts. Its design is so simple that it can be assembled in a few hours and its cost is thousands of times lower than the systems that try to take it down. That combination has changed the way many militaries understand air defense. The buzz that changed war. Since 2022, the sound of a small motorcycle-like engine was the alarm signal which preceded many explosions in Ukrainian cities. That metallic and persistent noise belongs al Shahed-136a cheap, relatively simple Iranian kamikaze drone designed to attack pre-programmed targets at long range. With about 3.5 meters in length and the capacity to transport an explosive charge of about 50 kilos, these devices have become one of the symbols of modern warfare because they combine two factors that are difficult to counteract: their low cost and the possibility of mass producing them. The jump between conflicts. After four years of war in Europe, these drones have reappeared in force in another scenario. Iran has launched hundreds of devices against Gulf countriesreaching military bases, airports, refineries and urban areas in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait or Qatar. The attacks seek less physical destruction than psychological and economic pressureforcing the attacked countries to activate expensive defense systems to intercept weapons that can cost only about $50,000. Although many of the aircraft are shot down, even a small percentage that manages to penetrate the defenses is enough to cause damage to critical infrastructure or generate fear among the population. A strategy perfected by Ukraine. The pattern of these attacks is clearly reminiscent of the tactics Russia has employed since 2022 against cities and infrastructure Ukrainian energy companies. Moscow turned the Shahed into the center of a strategy of attrition and terror based on launching large drone waves together with missiles to saturate air defenses and increase the probability that some projectiles reach their target. The mass production has been key in that strategy: Russia not only imported thousands of Iranian drones, but also raised an own factory to manufacture them on a large scale, which allowed hundreds of devices to be launched in a single night against power plants, ports or residential neighborhoods. The anti-drone laboratory created in kyiv. This constant pressure forced Ukraine to become one of the countries more experienced of the world in the fight against these types of threats. After facing tens of thousands of Shahed, kyiv has developed a defense system in layers that combines radarselectronic warfare equipment, anti-aircraft missiles, mobile units and even interceptor drones capable of shooting down attackers in mid-flight. The result is an improvised network but extremely effective which has allowed most of the attacks to be neutralized despite the massive scale of the waves launched by Russia. Terror reaches the Gulf. That knowledge has now acquired a new strategic value. The Gulf countries, which were not used to facing constant drone attacks, have discovered how difficult it is to protect entire cities against weapons that fly low, are difficult to detect and can appear from multiple directions. Even advanced systems designed to intercept ballistic missiles can be overwhelmed by swarms of cheap drones. The recent attacks They have hit airports, refineries, ports and military bases, demonstrating that even critical infrastructures of highly protected economies can be exposed to this new form of air warfare. Zelensky’s offer. In this context, Ukraine has launched an unexpected proposal: share your experience to help Gulf countries neutralize the Shahed. President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to send his best anti-drone defense specialists along with a group of experienced operators to reinforce regional defenses, but, of course, with one clear condition, a name. kyiv wants Middle Eastern governments to jointly use all his influence on Moscow to pressure Vladimir Putin and achieve at least a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine. If you like, it is an offer that mixes military cooperation and diplomatic calculation: one where Ukraine presents itself as the country that knows the enemy best, and there is not much doubt about that, asking in return help to stop the war which made him precisely that expert. Image | Kyiv City State Administration,X, National Police of Ukraine In Xataka | The US has launched its most ambitious weapon against Iran in the last decade: a missile that does not need fighters or warships In Xataka | It is not that Iran is resisting US attacks, it is that it has room to take the conflict to an explosive scenario.

An 86-year-old farmer was offered $15 million to build a data center. He said no

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Get in the situation. You are an 86-year-old farmer who enjoys doing what he does, but from time to time you get the idea that maybe it’s time to retire. One fine day they knock on your door and offer you 15 million dollars which, hey, gives you to plug holes and pay for your hospital in the United States in case of misfortunebut you decide to reject it because accepting would imply the destruction of those lands to which you have dedicated 60 years of your life. Well, that’s what has happened to Mervin Raudabaugh: a farmer who has become a symbol of resistance to AI and data centers. An offer you can refuse. Raudabaugh is a farmer who owns land in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He has spent his entire life cultivating the 100 hectares of his property, land that his family has been exploiting for generations, and has recently come to the fore after rejecting a proposal which, some, considered irrefutable. 60,000 dollars for every 4,000 m2 of their land, around 15 million dollars in total. The offer came from some developers interested in building a data center for artificial intelligence computing on the farm, but Mervin simply refused. Not on my farm. Mervin doesn’t seem like a guy who is against AI specifically or what it means for the planet. He simply has a much more romantic motive: he doesn’t want to see his land turned into a layer of concrete with huge ships on top. In some interviews, he assured that money does not matter to him and that what he wants is precisely that: for agricultural land to remain agricultural. He has expressed his worry for the future of family farming in a country where, if the soil is not protected, “every square centimeter runs the risk of being urbanized”, with what this implies for the land, the fauna and the rural communities themselves. But it has sold. However, Mervin is not going to retire with empty pockets because he did not accept the 15 million from the builders of data centersbut yes some million of Lancaster Farmland Trust. There is talk of a operation of around two million euros to sell the right to develop their lands to this entity that is dedicated to the conversation of agricultural lands. What Marvin has done is secure the land that he loves so much, since the operation implies that his land will be permanently protected for agricultural use, legally preventing the change of land use. And it doesn’t matter if his heirs wanted to sell or not in the future: now the lands are protected. a symbol. As is normal, Marvin’s rejection has been covered in many national media as a case of rebellion regarding data centers, the resounding “no” to Big Tech already something that is consuming all the conversation in technological news. It is an example by guaranteeing the protection of the soil against the specific compensation in the form of money that these Big Tech companies offer to ensure long-term deterioration of the agricultural fabric and the landscape. And although Marvin’s case is striking both for the amount and for the subsequent movement protecting his farm, is not the only one. In other parts of the world the debate has been ignited about Whether it is worth hosting data centersbut in the United States specifically, a country that is betting enormous amounts of money on the development of AI, we are seeing more and more examples of that resistance against data centers. And in an increasingly warlike environment, curiously it is something that is putting according to both Democrats and Republicans. Images | BlueChipFarmsGoal In Xatka | It’s not that AI makes us stupid: it’s that we are surrendering to it

Taking an important call in a traffic jam is the order of the day. In 1990, a company in Barcelona already offered this service

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Nowadays, as soon as we have some down time, we turn to our mobile: either to scroll infinitely on Instagram or to catch up on email. Although what defined the basis of today’s smartphones was the first iPhone in 2007, the professional point began before, with the blackberry 5810 and your email in 2002 or we can even go back to Nokia 9000 ’96, which introduced the keyboard and its business approach. The late 90s were the beginning of turning the mobile phone into an everyday object. I’m driving and I need a call now. Of course, back in the 90s, carrying a cell phone in the car and answering a work call was unthinkable. Or not, because someone thought of it an exclusive telephone service for drivers in Barcelona pre-Olympic Games. The target audience was those people who were so busy that they could not afford to be disconnected while traveling through the congested business areas of the city. The operation. As they narrate on the Catalan regional television 3Cat, if in the middle of a traffic jam you were lucky enough to find one of those people in white overalls on a scooter, with a fanny pack and the phone stuffed in a shoulder bag, you could ask them. A uniform as characteristic as the backpacks of today’s delivery drivers, but much less common: at that time there were only five workers moving through the busiest traffic points in Barcelona, ​​although they wanted to increase it to 25. If you are standing, they leave you the headset. And if you move, they lend you the device and follow you until you complete the call. The price of the service was 25 pesetas and the minimum call price is 300 pesetas. Because? To begin with, because in 1990 if you wanted to call on the street what there was were booths and analog technology, in Spain specifically MoviLine: the first mobile operator to deploy the original 1G network, owned by Telefónica. And if we talk about devices, the mythical Motorola MicroTAC It was a status symbol for executives. A symbol measuring 23 centimeters and weighing 350 grams. Yes, there were some mobile phones, but they were heavy, with very long antennas and batteries that barely lasted a couple of hours in conversation. On the other hand, having a phone installed in the car was expensive and niche. But the business was not just the telephone, but mobility and time. As businessman Josep Marí says, his idea was “to create the need to find a mobile phone to be able to call to work, home or wherever.” Ahead of his time. This “Automatic Mobile Telephony” service was ahead of its time in that it had a vision of a future need, but faced a market that was not yet ready. As the 90s progressed, telephone technology became more refined and democratized. 1995 brought GSM to the Spanish state on the one hand and, on the other, the liberalization of the telecommunications market, which inaugurated airtel. The operators began to directly control distribution and technical service with franchises and distributors, leaving little room for local independent companies. Scooters before the scooter craze. And if the service itself is surprising, so is the means of transportation: a scooter with a gasoline engine, more specifically the Sport model. of the Go-Ped brand, but quite similar in design and concept to the electric ones that swarm our streets today. His virtue was exactly the same: moving quickly and agilely through the density of Barcelona’s traffic to be able to get in front of the client. In Xataka | This glorious imaginary version of the Galaxy Fold from the 90s is one of those gems that can only be found on the internet In Xataka | A story of pioneers: they already flirted, argued and liked on the party lines of the 90s Cover | 3Cat via Marc Vidal edited with Gemini

The US offered NVIDIA chips to China. China has responded with a “no, thank you”, according to the Financial Times

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China has turned the technological development in state policy. The country is shaking up its economy through robot development (some already working in stores or in disasters), artificial intelligence and, above all, chips. Giants like Huawei and companies like SMIC are developing chips with one goal in mind: eliminate dependence on the United States. However, some of these companies need to access powerful and reliable chips immediately, and NVIDIA had presented itself as the best option. It seems that everything has been a mirage. Full speed ahead. The current technology war between the United States and China means that Western companies cannot do deals with Chinese ones. This includes the sale of advanced chip making machinesbut also that NVIDIA, for example, can’t even sell its advanced chips like the previous generation. A few weeks ago, however, the United States relaxed its policies, which opened the door so that NVIDIA could sell the famous ones again H200 to certain Chinese customers. The US was going to take a 25% tax on each sale and it was a win-win: Chinese customers had access to renowned chips and NVIDIA managed to take part of the Chinese pie (a pie of 50,000 million dollars). At least until local companies develop their alternatives. Last week we already said that NVIDIA had increased production waiting for two million orders. But there is a problem: a sudden stop. With Customs we have encountered. At that time, China had not commented and the person most interested in the operation, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, commented that if the orders were arriving it is because someone had authorized them. That was taken as a silent confirmation from China, but now there is news. Although the country still has not made an official statement, since Financial Times They point out that NVIDIA was surprised to find that customs had stopped the orders. According to sources consulted by the media, customs officials in China recently summoned logistics companies from Shenzhenone of the neural points of technological innovation of the country, to warn of something: they could not submit shipping requests for the H200 chips. National chips please. That pressure has led the company to pause production. All there is is uncertainty right now due to a chain of events that show that NVIDIA was crazy about selling. After putting pressure on both governments, Huang managed to get the US to give approval for the sale in China, but China did not comment, something that the US company took as an approval. Chinese policy for a few months has been very clear: favor and promote local industry with one goal: ‘Delete America’. China seeks technological sovereignty through giants like the aforementioned Nvidia, but also with others like Moore ThreadsBiren, MetaX or Enflame. black market. However, the fact that orders cannot be placed to buy NVIDIA chips does not mean that NVIDIA chips are being stopped: As already pointed out Reuters a few months ago, that ban and the veto on the sale of sophisticated chips has promoted a black market of American chips, especially the B200 and B300 from NVIDIA, more powerful than the H200 that the US Administration authorized. There is talk of a market of more than 1,000 million dollars, and although NVIDIA had hopes of re-entering the country through official channels, it seems that the Government is going to continue encouraging its technology companies to bet on ‘Made in China’ solutions. Images | Chinese Communist PartyNVIDIA + Photoshop In Xataka | The race for AI has placed China in an unthinkable scenario: forcing the United States to leave its comfort zone

Game Pass was too cheap for everything he offered. The problem is that Microsoft thought the same

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Microsoft has just confirmed what many players were smelling us: GAME PASS RAISES PRICE. It has not been an anecdotal increase or first in the United States to tote the land, How do other streaming platforms do: Game Pass has arrived (almost) Without warning. The XBOX subscription game service has been segmented for some time in three categories that give us access to different services and a variable number of games and, after the increase that We already experienced a year agoMicrosoft has raised the price again. The problem is that if in 2024 Game Pass Ultimate, which is the subscription that gives us access to more content, It rose from 14.99 euros to 17.99 euros, now it goes from that amount to 26.99 euros. It is an appreciable climb, as if Microsoft had realized that the service was too “cheap.” Game Pass Ultimate rises 50% “The Netflix of Video Games.” Since Microsoft launched Game Pass, many of us described it that way. Although now we can play directly for streaming in almost any devicein its beginnings we had to download the games. There was a catalog that opened through the subscription, but it was not really the ‘netflix of video games’. Over the years, Microsoft was adding services such as cloud game, Game Pass for PC or streaming transmission of some games on our property. Apart from being able to access their games from the launch without additional cost, they began to launch games from other publishers and companies, also without an added cost. This year, two heavyweights like ‘Silksong‘ either ‘Clair Oscur: Expedition 33‘They launched from the first day in Game Pass. The service became increasingly round and the price did not increase or did it very little. It was a service too good to be trueespecially seeing competition limitations (PlayStation Plus) or the price of a GeForce Now that gives access to a cloud hardware, but that demands that we buy each game individually. In 2023, Xbox ended with Xbox Live Gold To integrate your online game system in Game Pass, creating divisions within the service: Game Pass Core for 6.99 euros – online game and a small selection of accessible games. Game Pass Standard for 10.99 euros – online game and a wide selection of games (more than 300 titles) Game Pass Ultimate For 14.99 euros – online game, more than 500 games in console, Game Pass of PC and launches from day 1 Although last year prices rose At 12.99 euros for Standard and 17.99 euros for Ultimate, Microsoft seems to have realized that it was offering an excellent service at an price that did not square with the market. And that’s over. In that table we can see the updated prices with an essential – he substitutes the core – which is what, now, goes up two euros; A premium that remains and an ultimate that is the one that experiences the biggest climb: nine euros. Until before writing these lines, the 18 euros of Game Pass contrasted with what we see in one of the main services of the competition: GeForce Now. There are some Newssuch as the addition of Ubisoft+ Classics to the ‘Tier’ ultimate or that the players who pay the most will have a better quality when playing for streaming, a difference with premium that did not exist before. Also more advantages in Microsoft Rewards. All of that is an Xbox now In the Nvidia service we have a great streaming game experience, but at a price of 21.99 euros and having to buy games on platforms like Steam. The great game of Game Pass Ultimate was that you paid those 18 euros and you could play for streaming to the available games, but also download them on your console or PC without paying anything else. Game Pass Essential Game Pass Premium Game Pass Ultimate Game Pass for PC available games More than 50 More than 200 More than 400 “Hundreds of games” for PC Cloud streaming Yeah Includes own games Yeah Shorter waiting times Includes own games Yeah “With the best quality” With shorter waiting times Includes own games No available games day one No No, they join up to 12 months Yeah Yeah Online multiplayer Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Rewards points Up to 25,000 a year Up to 50,000 a year Up to 100,000 a year Up to 50,000 a year Advantages in games Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ Yes, in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Cod: Warzone’ others – – EA play and ubisoft+ included EA play included price 8.99 euros 12.99 euros Free 14 -day test 26.99 euros 14.99 euros With the new price of 26.99 euros, Game Pass Ultimate becomes the most premium option, far from the proposal of Nvidia or the most expensive subscription of PlayStation Plusthat of 16.99 euros, and definitely the culmination of the dreaded “is so good that it seems a lie.” In fact, the increase of three euros a year ago seemed to little taking into account that they were going to start putting everything they had bought from Activision-Blizzard, The macrooperation of 68.7 billion dollars. The Great “But” is Game Pass’s hook Despite the remarkable increase of nine euros per Game Pass UltimateMicrosoft has an ace in the sleeve (which, in turn, is what makes this change possible). Game Pass Ultimate is a service that has no competitionprecisely, for everything we have commented: Contending games to be the best of the year from day one and without additional cost. Games developed by Microsoft, such as’Indiana Jones and the big circle‘or the future’ Forza Horizon 6 ‘. Online game. Download games or streaming game without having an Xbox (on TV, the Fire TV Stick, the PC, the Tablet or on the mobile). There is no service that offers that variety and newly launched games, and it is what allows Microsoft to … Read more

that the US bought the “peace” offered to Ukraine

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The weekend began a “trip” that has ended with The meeting Trump with Zelenski and European leaders and negotiations on the end of the Ukraine War as a backdrop. In the last meeting the feared clash was avoided, but left an uncertain peace process full of traps. While kyiv and his allies were looking for security guarantees clear and stop the idea that giving territory is a previous condition, Moscow has already achieved something that did not imagine even in its best dreams: having a Winning Baraja. The last encounter. This general perception of Victoria in Moscow is given by several factors, but mainly thanks to awkwardness of the envoy Steve Witkoff and the Trump’s complacency that Russia’s territorial demands are assumed as a starting point. Putin insists that Ukraine abandons what he still controls in Donetsk and Lugansk, a assignment Impossible for Zelenski without incurring a political and military suicide, but whose negative could be presented as an obstacle to peace. Europe has preferred to focus its efforts In vague promises Of “ITA -style 5” protection, lacking precision and effective military commitments, while Trump offers only indirect “help and coordination”. Alaska’s failure. The key to all the negotiation until now was given the weekend. The summit held in Anchorage between Trump and Putin resulted in A diplomatic fiasco that the American strategy towards war in Ukraine was questioned. Trump sought to start the immediate fire, but Putin He denied yieldreaffirming some objectives that are equivalent, in practice, to the Ukrainian capitulation. In exchange for the treatment of a guest of honor and the symbolic rehabilitation of a leader under constant scrutiny in the West, the US president barely obtained empty compliments. Far from pressing, he resigned to threatening severe consequences and did not even mention the possibility of an encounter Three bands with Zelenski, which showed a position of weakness and a worrying alignment with the Russian narrative. Putin is imposed. During the joint press conference, Putin insisted that to achieve a sustainable solution They had to attend The “deep causes” of the conflict, euphemism that in its lexicon implies reverse the expansion of NATO since 1997, to ensure that Ukraine never one ever joins the Atlantic Alliance, reduce the size of kyiv’s armed forces and consolidate the loss of occupied territories. In other words, a redesign of European security architecture under parameters dictated by Moscow. Trump, far from rejecting these claims, implied that he was willing to discuss themalso transferring the burden of reaching an agreement to Ukraine and its European allies. The 2018 meeting Custom negotiation. Trump He assumed the thesis Putin to move towards a global agreement instead of a high provisional fire, an option that kyiv shared before but today, with advances in the front, favors Moscow only, allowing him to delay conversations and consolidate occupations. The Russian territorial demands, which include forcing Ukraine to resign the Donetsk room and Lugansk still under their control, constitute A red line For kyiv and Europe. Trump, however, declared have coincided With Putin “in most points”, which suggests a dangerous willingness to validate a kind of territorial amputation that would militarily weaken to Ukraine, destabilize its internal policy and open the door to new Russian aggressions. The enigma USA. Remembered the Financial Times that this turn raises Two readings disturbing: either Trump sympathizes in the background with the logic of brute force that legitimizes territorial annexation, or is easily molded by his last interlocutor, without his own coherent strategy. If the first case, Ukraine and Europe would face an insurmountable obstacle. In the second, they could still try to reorient their position in future meetings. In any case, the diplomatic success that Europeans thought they had assured the week before the meeting has been demonstrated illusory and passenger. Repetition of patterns. I remembered The New York Times that Anchorage’s scene evoked strongly Helsinki meeting In 2018, when Trump trusted Putin’s word more than in American intelligence services themselves. Again, the personal closeness with the Russian president resulted in strategic concessions. For many observers, the summit recalled the echoes of the Munich agreement From 1938, when Neville Chamberlain gave part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in a vain attempt to appease. Figures Like Boris Johnson They did not hesitate to qualify the episode of “vomitive” and one of the worst moments of modern international diplomacy. Horizon of uncertainty. Although Trump spoke of “agreements” and Putin alluded to a mysterious “understanding” achieved in Alaska, There are no signs that the Kremlin is willing to give up its most extreme demands. The apparent euphoria of the US delegation contrasts with The harsh reality: There is no fire, there are no additional sanctions and there is no term that limits the Russian offensive. Thus, the war, far from approaching its end, It extends With a new ingredient of concern: the disposition of the US president to legitimize Moscow’s demands on behalf of a peace That, if materializing in current terms, it would have more capitulation than lasting solution. Image | Сергей бобыёвKremlin.ru In Xataka | Russia has up to four unpublished robots in a war. We hadn’t seen Ukraine’s response: Flamingo In Xataka | Ukraine has opened Russia’s last drone and does not leave his astonishment: it is the first time that China does something like that

In South Korea offered 14,000 euros to young people in exchange for them to get married. Young people did the same

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With $ 14,000 you can cover holes, take a few sabbatical months to travel around the world or invest in that business that has been around your head for years. What you will not get is to match two South Koreans to marry, form a home and have children to help the country out of the deep crisis of birth in which it has been mired for years. We know it because in Korea there are administrations that already They have thrown out of a checkbook and reached those figures (more than 10,000 dollars) in their efforts to act as a casameros. All without success. Moreover, that commitment to administrations to encourage matches is having a peculiar effect: it has made singleness A true business. Question of love … and money. In his efforts to leave the demographic pothole in which he has been plunged for a long time, he has not hesitated to pull a check -up. Its reasoning is simple: if birth can be encouraged with money, the government is willing to put it on the table. In recent months the authorities of the country have proposed to deliver large ‘baby checks’ to its citizens, offer Fiscal incentives To families with children, expand parental permits or even guarantee that the new moms have access to select food. Another of the country’s great bets has been to match its young people. And that has gone so much to create appointment programs Designed specifically for single to find love how to make it easy at the economic level, offering money so that the cost of a romantic dinner is not an obstacle. Perhaps it sounds exaggerated, but there is a fact that explains it: in South Pareja and Bulality they go hand in hand. So much, that less than 5% From babies they are born out of marriage. How much money do we talk about? A lot A good part of the southern Korean pairing programs start from regional organizations, so that photography can vary from one area to another of the country; But it arrives with a quick turn by Google to see news from cities or districts that try to raise their birth rate with expensive pairing programs. Recently We talked to you of the Seoul case, where the Metropolitan Government studied to deliver 700 euros to the couples who marry there. It is a lot. Although not as much as in other cities. In Busan, one from the main ones Metropolitan Areas of South Korea and that is suffering the effects of the demographic crisis in a form particularly hardthey have gone a step further blessing the new couples with hundreds of dollars. What does that translate? In which money ceases to be an obstacle to throwing girlfriend (or boyfriend). In June The Korea Herald He informed That one of the districts of Busan, Saha-Gu, planned a pilot project with local singles born between 1981 and 2001 to which it offered 360 dollars (to spend on appointments) only for ‘doing Match ‘ With someone. That is, each couple who left the event grabbed by the hand and with plans to be added 700 dollars for their romance. A figure: $ 14,000. Those 360 ​​dollars per person to enjoy as a couple were only the first part of the SAHA-gu program. The idea was to increase support as the relationship progressed until you reach the great wedding gift: 20 million wones In advance for couples who give themselves the ‘yes I want’, about $ 13,600. The district was even willing to offer newly married a larger deposit if they decided to buy a house or help them with rent. Such a bet is better understood in the light of the demographic tables of the Metropolitan City of Busan: if at the beginning of the 90s it passed from the 3.8 million inhabitantsin 2010 it was at 3.4 million. The trend does not clash with that of the country as a whole, which At the end of 2024 It became a “aging super society”, with 20% of its population above 65 years. Do these aid work? That was the big question that was driving … and just answered The Wall Street Journal (TWSJ) with A report in which the title is almost a sentence: “Not even a governmental aid of $ 14,000 can make the single South Korea marry.” Despite the promise of receiving a wedding gift of $ 14,000, the Saha-Gu program was not very successful. TWSJ assures that no participant demanded that reward. And that Saha-Gu is just one of the aid to which couples can opt. TWSJ remembers that not all support leaves administrations and that there are also religious companies or organizations that try to reverse the country’s demographic crisis. Two examples are the construction company Booyoung Group, which offered $ 75,000 to employees who have a child; and the Yoido full gospel churchwhich gives its members almost $ 1,400. The big question. With such incentives the question is evident. Why don’t South Koreans marry? Why do your birth continue well below of that of years ago? Part of the answer are social and cultural changes. TWSJ He quotes a survey recent that shows that three fifths of the South Koreans with employment do not see the slightest problem in not going through the altar, a factor to which others of an economic nature are added, such as the long working daysincreased cost of living or how will be The parenting of children in a society characterized by their demand level and competitiveness. Another key are The difficulties with which women are to rejoin to the labor market after being mothers. In fact there are courtship programs that have ended up suspending precisely because they could not gather a sufficient number of interested women. Other young people rule out simply registering for the heavy bureaucracy that accompanies this kind of initiatives. “It’s more problematic than you imagine,” Recognize one to TWSJ. Is the government … Read more

Before, it cost $ 20 to be able to use O1. Microsoft has just offered it for free in co -dr

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Microsoft has given the surprise and offers Free and free access to the O1 reasoning model of OpenAi. Through Copilot. Until now, to access this option you had to pay the $ 20 per month of co -pilot pro or the same amount per chatgpt plus. If we wanted to use it unlimited, we had to pay the 200 dollars a month of Chatgpt Pro. Microsoft calls “Think Deper” to O1 in its services, but this is nothing more than the integration of the OpenAi model into the Redmond platform. Mustafa Suleyman, head of the AI ​​division in Microsoft, announced On Wednesday this change in the services offered by the company. This unique change is undoubtedly due to Deepseek-R1 arrivalwhich offers a fantastic alternative to O1. He does it so much on the web – Perplexity offers it in his “Labs” and He calls it “Sound Reasoning” – also being able to install it at home on our computer in one of its compact versions. Microsoft de fact presume that it can be used without problems on Copilot+PC. Such has been the interest in Depseek-R1 that Microsoft also announced this week that has integrated it as one of the models available in Azure Ai Foundry and Github so that companies and developers can take advantage of it. It is a logical movement on the one hand, but strange on the other: normally Microsoft takes longer to offer new models on its platform, but the popularity of Deepseek R1 has accelerated the deadlines remarkably. Of course this is good news for users, which You can enjoy free access to O1 / Think Deperwhich will further encourage competition between these reasoning models. In Xataka | Of algorithmic trader to revolutionize AI. This is the story of Liang Wenfeng, the founder of Deepseek

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