paste

“The challenge has been not to be a ‘copy paste’ of the competition”

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When you think of Motorola, what comes to mind? It is easy for pieces to appear that marked an era, from the StarTAC until the Razr V3or even that attempt to recover the premium experience with the 2019 foldable Razr. That legacy lives on, although it has not always been accompanied by a perception aligned with the brands that dominate the highest range. In recent years, Motorola has worked to translate that heritage into a contemporary premium identity, supported by design, materials and its own style. This duality between what Motorola represents today and what it aspires to be opens a natural question: how does the company interpret this moment? To answer it we spoke with Fabio Capocchivice president and general manager of Motorola for Europe, the Middle East and Africa within the Mobile Business Group, the unit that concentrates the brand’s smartphone strategy in the region. He assumed office in 2022 with the aim of accelerating its growth in an increasingly competitive market. He lives in Spain and has an extensive career in the technology sector, with stints at EPSON, ASUS and the Lenovo group. The Motorola Razr V3, the icon that defined the brand’s most premium era Before entering into its vision, it is worth stopping for a moment at the point where Motorola is beyond what we have expressed in the first lines of this text. The company reaches this stage with real growth, a more defined identity and a catalog that expresses better than ever who it wants to be. It is not the gigantic Motorola of the 2000s, but nor is it a brand that has lost focus. In 2024, the company’s shipments grew 24% year-on-year, according to Counterpoint Researchreaching its highest historical figure in smartphones. Even so, remains far from the global podiumdominated by Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi, and moves in single digit installments. The contrast with his past is evident. In the mid-2000s, in the era of the Razr, Motorola became the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world., with shares greater than 20% and only behind Nokia. Since 2014 it has been part of Lenovo, who bought it from Google for 2.91 billion dollars. Today it is no longer that giant, but a firm in the reinvention phase: smaller in share, but with sustained growth, a strong commitment to narrative lifestyle tech. Motorola is transforming, and the Edge 70 plays a key role in that process At the beginning of the interview, Fabio reviews the moment in which Motorola redefined its approach for Europe and for other territories where the brand wanted to advance. He explains that they detected that “something was missing” in the market: a proposal with its own identity, with recognizable values ​​and a defined DNA. From there, the intention was not to add to the usual dynamics of the sector, but to strengthen a clearer brand personality. That idea is condensed in a phrase that stands out in the conversation: “The challenge has been not to be a ‘copy paste’ of the competitionnot making a race on the technical specification.” From there, he explains that the priority has been “to try to talk about the end user, with a unique, very striking DNA”, with devices that are not defined only by numbers, but by the feeling of using something with its own character. The new Motorola Edge 70 | Photo: Xataka For Fabio, design is not an accessory element, but rather an aspect that has guided Motorola’s recent evolution. It speaks of a commitment to materials that generate different sensations, such as vegan leather, and of a chromatic work that they develop together with Pantone to identify colors that connect better with users. This effort seeks to express a more defined and coherent identity with what the brand wants to project today. “We have created a premium product and to be premium you have to have a premium aesthetic, it has to be in some way a little disruptive. In this sense we have created an incredibly light, thin product without any compromise. So with this product we want to put within a single product, and we want to see that every time we create a product, all our experience and all our DNA that we developed over the years, which is why it can be clearly identified as a Motorola DNA product, with an absolutely incredible technical sheet.” Fabio gives us to understand that the Motorola Edge 70 It should function as the meeting point between design and functionality. He explains that the brand was looking for a very light and very thin device that, even so, offered more battery than other reference models. The Edge 70, that we have been able to analyze in Xatakaintegrates a 4,800 mAh battery, one of the highlights of this ultra-thin mobile. That balance, he assures, is what allows the product to faithfully represent the direction that Motorola wants to consolidate at the top of its catalog. Fabio Capocchi, general director of Motorola for EMEA, with the new Edge 70 | Photo: Motorola Throughout the interview, Fabio insists that this launch is not born from an isolated decision, but from an accumulated process of design, engineering and brand vision. Describes the Edge 70 as the synthesis of those years of work and the involvement of the team. And when we ask him for a definition in a few words, he answers: “I believe that the Edge 70 for us represents our maximum effort to summarize within a product the last three years of development, which range from the design part, the technological part, but also the part of people’s passion (…) for such a fine design, but with a product that is cool to see (…) we have done miracles to change the design of the motherboard and, finally, which for me is the most important thing, is the passion that people are putting.” The Edge 70 represents Motorola’s most premium bet to date | Photo: Motorola Spain appears … Read more

Italy has been importing its famous “Italian” tomato paste from China for years. And now China has a problem

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The powerful tomato sector Chinese faces turbulence. After achieving a prominent position in the global market and becoming the largest tomato orchard in the world, the Asian giant has encountered a drop in sales in a strategic market: the European market. More specifically in Italy, where the demand for vegetables from Xinjiang has deflated at the stroke of controversies. The data is quite eloquent. Only during the third quarter of 2025 did sales of Chinese tomato paste in Italy decrease about 80%. Tomato ‘made in China’? It comes with taking a look at the maps from World Population Review to understand the enormous weight that China has achieved in the world tomato market. According to its latest data, in 2023 the nation produced about 70.1 million tons. This places it considerably above India, which occupies second place with 20.4 million tons, Turkey (13.3 million), the US (12.4 million) or Egypt (6.2 million), which complete the ‘TOP 5’. Also from Spain, which occupies ninth place, with nearly four million. Extremaduran farmers warned about the growing threat from China a few months ago, who recognize that the competition exerted by the Asian tomato is already their “biggest problem”. It’s not just that China harvests tons and tons of vegetables, it’s that it does so at such low costs that they make its tomato paste (a fundamental product for the food industry) unbeatable. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Is he that attractive? Yes. And it is not something that is observed only in Extremadura. Just a year ago Francesco Mutti, CEO of the sauce manufacturer that bears his last name, recognized that much of the cheap tomato paste coming from China is produced in the Xinjiang region with “very, very low labor costs.” something similar they slid in 2016 from Las Marismas (Andalusia): “They ask us for European quality at the price of Chinese tomatoes, something impossible taking into account the costs.” In practice this means that China exports every year tons and tons of tomato to the European market, which in turn generates a lucrative business. OEC calculate That last year the Asian giant exported processed tomatoes worth 1.21 billion dollars. If we look at its main destinations, Italy occupied a priority place, with a value of 83.8 million dollars. And what has happened? That although China is a gigantic exporter and has managed to differentiate itself in prices, its product has been compromised by an unexpected factor?: controversy. I told it a few days ago Financial Times. News about the use of forced labor in Xinjiang (a region that has attracted attention of the UN for alleged human rights violations against the Uyghur minority) and the lack of clarity The labeling with which some Italian companies identify the origin of their products has conditioned Chinese pasta exports, in which large state companies play a crucial role. Result? Against this backdrop, to which is added the campaign of the Italian agricultural association Coldiretti, China has encountered a problem: a ‘pinch’ in exports that has left it with a huge stock of processed tomatoes. Financial Times assuresciting data from the platform Tomato News, that the Asian giant has a reserve of between 600,000 and 700,000 tons of tomato paste. To understand its scope, it is equivalent to six months of exports. Has demand dropped that much? Yes. The data shows that the Western market seems to want to move away from the doubts that shadow the Chinese product. In general, Chinese tomato paste exports decreased by 9% year-on-year during the third quarter of 2025, but if we focus specifically on sales to Western EU countries, that percentage rises to 67%. In the specific case of Italy, purchases plummeted by 76%. “It is clear that Europe has become a difficult place to export,” recognize to Financial Times Martin Stilwell, head of Tomate News, the source of the data. Do we handle more data? Yes. There are two other reveals. The first has to do with the value of processed tomato exports to Italy. If between January and September 2024, Chinese customs recorded about 75 million dollars, this year, during the same period, it did not even reach 13. The other data has to do with the volume of fresh tomato processed to turn it into pasta: 4.8 million tons in 2021, 11 million in 2024 and 3.7 this year (estimate). For Stilwell, the reading is clear: faced with the difficulties of selling, China chooses to cut expenses instead of increasing its stock. What does China say? That accusations about the use of forced labor in Xinjuang are “a lie” created and propagated by “anti-Chinese forces” to harm the country. The truth is that years ago the US decided to turn its back on imports of tomato paste from that region of the Asian giant and in the case of Italy they weigh somewhat more than the suspicions of the UN. In 2021 the Caribineri ‘hunted’ a company that labeled its canned tomato as “100% Italian” when in reality it included product from China. “If we assume that Italy has 80 companies related to tomato processing, three, four or five have committed dishonest practices,” Mutti assureswho regrets the damage this does to the reputation of the Italian sector. Images | Tom Hermans (Unsplash) and Arthur Wang (Unsplash) In Xataka | Four nations are fighting over a fruit that smells like rotten eggs. China has turned it into its gastronomic phenomenon

Argentina fought the British missiles with a paste machine

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Battles and wars always leave winners and defeated, but in some cases they occur Unexpected surprises due to the apparent advantage of some and the surprising outcome with the victory of the other. There are stories like the The Invasion of the United Kingdom trying to conquer Tenerife without knowing what was inside. The one that occurred in Malvinas had the expected endbut what nobody could imagine is what Argentina was going to defend. An unequal war. The FALVINAS WAR (1982) faced the Argentine Air Force (FAA) against the United Kingdom in a conflict where British technological superiority It was more than evident. While Be British Harrier They had advanced radars and missiles AIM-9 SidewinderArgentine airplanes lacked radar alert systems and electronic countermeasures. Moreover, the A-4 Skyhawk, Mirage III, Dagger and Canberra they operated without self -defense systems against radar -guided missiles, such as the Be dartlaunched from British destroyers. The pilot Pablo Carballo, veteran of Malvinas, He explained years later To a United States Air Force officer that Argentine pilots were not afraid when a radar alert receptor was activated because their planes simply did not have one. That lack of equipment left FAA with a single option: resort to ingenuity to create its own countermeasures. Electronic countermeasures. The so -called Like Chaffused from World War II, consists of metal strips that enemy radars saturate With false signals. It would be something like the measures/lures against electronic of our time. Plus: Argentina had detailed information about British radars, since the Navy operated two Type 42 destroyersHMS Sheffield twins. With a “but”: the FAA did not have an industry developed to produce large -scale Chaff, so they turned to the most improvised media. Be British Harrier The secret is in the pasta. The first production attempts began in the Military Air Base (BAM) Comodoro Rivadavia In May 1982. By not having specialized equipment, a group of officers devised a rudimentary method: Students recruited from the province of Entre Ríos to cut hand -to -cut strips. The problem? Production was insufficient. As they counted In The War Zoneit was then that a technical noncommissioned officer proposed an unusual solution: use a Industrial Machine for Pasta and noodles. That machine, borrowed from the Napoli pasta factory, had blades of the exact size to cut the aluminum strips efficiently. Thus, the team worked 24 hours a day for a week to make enough Chaff that could be used in combat. Deployment and difficulties. With the insured production, methods to launch the chaff were improvised from the airplanes. In it Mirage III and Dagger rolled chaff strips in packages wrapped in toilet paper and adhesive tape, which then They placed in the aerofrenos of the airplanes. This had a problem: the pilots opened the aerofrenos during the flight to maneuver, which could make the Chaff disperse before being useful. For The C-130 HerculesChaff was placed in bags tied with three -meter strings, which were thrown manually from the rear doors to create an interference curtain against enemy radars. Finally, with the Canberra MK 62 It was with the only unit that a partially successful system was used. Seven pitchers were installed in the back, with cartridges containing Chaff and Bengals. A Douglas A-4 Skyhawk of the Argentine Air Force in 1982 The “D” day. Thus, on June 2, 1982, the system was approved in a A-4C Skyhawk with launches from different altitudes, although No effective results were achieved. Other attempts included the use of FFAR rockets to disperse Chaff and the modification of Shafrir Missiles 2although none was really viable. Use in combat. On May 1, 1982, during a mission of bombing on the British forces, three Canberra MK 62 took from Trelew with the Chaff system and flares. The pilot Eduardo García Puebla reported how He managed to avoid Two missiles AIM-9L Sidewinder launched by a Sea Harrier thanks to the use of the improvised system. However, another Canberra failed to activate his flares and was shot down by a British missile. Days later, another Canberra was destroyed by a missile Be dart of HMS Cardiff without even having deployed Chaff. It is not clear if the countermeasures were really effective in some other episode, mainly because the British reports did not mention deviated missiles by these techniques (and it is very possible that they did not even know). The legacy. The end of the contest It is known (Although never It has ended at all). After 74 days of battle certainly unequal, the United Kingdom recovered the Falkland Islands. The conflict ended exactly on June 14, 1982 with Argentine surrender. However, FAA’s attempt to use chaff manufactured by hand With a pasta machine It is a testimony of ingenuity and determination in conditions of technological inferiority. Although the system had rather limited results, it demonstrates how in war the resources available can become improvised solutions. For the history of the contests, the only known conflict where a pasta machine was part of the military countermeasures. Image | Argentina.gob.ar, Magic Madzik, Us Defenseimagery In Xataka | There is a reason why the Canary Islands is not British: the day that United Kingdom invaded Tenerife without knowing what was inside In Xataka | The “longest war in history” faced a town in Granada and Denmark. The reason: a 172 -year -old forgetfulness

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