plans

IBM has been living for decades that no one could kill COBOL. Anthropic has other plans

by

IBM shares fell about 13.2% yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange for a simple reason: Anthropic advertisement that its AI model, Claude, can be used to modernize systems that are based on the legendary COBOL programming language. And that is something that seemed virtually impossible. The immortal language. As Anthropic itself indicates, it is estimated that COBOL manages 95% of all transactions made at ATMs in the US. A 2022 study revealed that there are 800 billion lines of COBOL code that continue to operate in production systems on a daily basis. That almost no one uses anymore. Faced with this reality is another equally powerful one: almost no one programs in COBOL anymore, because this language has been with us for 65 years and has ended up being replaced by modern programming languages. The question, of course, is who is in charge of those millions of lines of code if there are almost no human programmers who can do it. Anthropic itself made it clear: “the number of people who understand COBOL decreases every year.” AI to the rescue. That’s where Claude, Anthropic’s family of generative AI models, comes in. According to this company, Claude is now capable of “modernizing” COBOL despite how difficult and expensive it was to carry out something like that. IBM has been trying for years and in fact applied that same recipebut its AI (Watson) does not seem to have managed too much progress. Claude helps, but there must be a human expert supervising. At Anthropic they promise that their AI model is capable of reading the entire code base of a COBOL project, identifying entry points, execution paths through subroutines, mapping data flows and documenting dependencies. They highlight, however, that with the supervision of a human expert this can help modernize and polish all types of COBOL-based systems. Critical systems. Of course, the question is whether AI will actually deliver on that promise, especially when we’re talking about absolutely critical systems used in financial transactions. According to Anthropic “the modernization of the code legacy It has been stagnant for years because understanding it cost more than rewriting it. “AI reverses that equation.” COBOL is no longer IBM’s ace in the hole. It’s hard to know how much of IBM’s business depended on COBOL systems, but it’s certainly a relevant part. In 2025 the company achieved revenue of $67.5 billion. About 45% comes from software. The rest is consulting and infrastructure, and this last division is where the IT business is included. IBM Z mainframesclosely linked to COBOL systems. It’s reasonable to think that revenues dependent on mainframes and COBOl are around 20% of IBM’s revenues (and probably more in profits). AI and the SaaSpocalypse. What happened with IBM and COBOL is the latest case of a software that seemed to have a long-term future but with AI may not have such a long-term future. Investors now seem to think that AI will replace many of these systems and SaaS platforms. It is indeed what has been called “SaaSpocalypse” in reference to the stock market falls of this type of companies in recent months: Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit and Atlassian have suffered notable falls in the stock market that are around 30-40% on average. But. This investor panic that is being experienced contrasts with the current reality: AI models are proving to be able to do surprising things in the field of programming, but they are far from being perfect. The code must be reviewed, and IBM itself he already made it clear In a 1979 training manual: “A computer can never be held responsible. Therefore, it should never make an administrative decision.” IBM has already survived other crises. The blue giant has suffered a blow to the stock market, but it is one of those technology companies that have managed to recover and resist all the attacks of an industry that is normally merciless. IBM itself also has its modernization solutions for its clients, and some analysts they are clear that in fact IBM will make more money than before if COBOL finally goes away. In Xataka | Old programmers never die, and Silicon Valley is realizing that

Zara dressed Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. That says much more about Zara’s plans than about Bad Bunny

by

On the grass of Levi’s Stadium, at halftime of the Super Bowl, the Puerto Rican artist made history Bad Bunny. At an event where ads cost $16 million a minute, he didn’t appear dressed in Gucci or Dior or Versace. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio “materialized” with a total look creamy white, almost angelic. A monochrome suit designed to float rather than step on, visually blending with the lime lines of the field. The big surprise was not only aesthetic but also corporate: behind that sobriety was Zarathe flagship brand of Inditex. It was a movement of contrasts. Just a week before, the singer had swept the Grammys with a spectacular design Schiaparelli haute couture. Going from the most exclusive Parisian craftsmanship to retail Arteixo’s overall performance in just seven days is not an accident, but rather a declaration of intent in the most expensive setting on the planet. The architecture of an “anti-luxury” look What we saw on stage was not off-the-shelf clothing, but a designer piece bespoke (custom made). The initial outfit consisted of pleated pants, a shirt, a tie, and a key piece: a padded sports-inspired t-shirt (linebacker) that evoked the protections of American football. All in a sober and calculated, stylized cream tone by his regular collaboratorsStorm Pablo and Marvin Douglas Linares. The design evolved in real time. Midway through the performance, Bad Bunny transformed his silhouette by adding a double-breasted double-breasted blazer in the same hue, elevating the sporty tone to classic sartorial elegance. However, so that no one forgets that sobriety is an aesthetic choice and not an economic necessity, the Puerto Rican maintained a single nod to status superstar on your wrist: an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch. A piece of yellow gold 18 carat with a malachite dial that served as a silent reminder: the suit may be democratic, but Bad Bunny’s time is money. Zara’s choice stood out even more due to the contrast with her companions on stage. While he wore the mark of high street par excellence, Lady Gaga appeared with a design from the Luar brand and a brooch representing the flor de maga (the national flower of Puerto Rico), maintaining the dialogue between fashion and cultural identity. This movement represents an alliance where both parties gain cultural capital, but from opposite directions: Zara seeks to rise towards luxury and Bad Bunny seeks to “come down to earth” towards authenticity. According to experts consulted in Guardianlike Professor Andrew Groves of the University of Westminster, seeing a Zara suit on a Super Bowl stage is a statement about the “power shift” (power-shifting). The suit projects authoritybut that authority comes from Bad Bunny’s cultural position, not the seal of a luxury house. It’s a way of saying that style doesn’t lie in price, but in narrative. Furthermore, there was an undeniable language connection. Being the first artist to perform at halftime entirely in Spanish, challenging the Anglo-Saxon hegemony of the event, the choice of a global brand of Hispanic origin came full circle. As they pointed out from the Vigo Lighthouse“Zara is Spanish, as is its music”, the shared language functioning here as a tool for mass projection in the American market, beyond the complex historical legacies. Fast Couture and the commercial counterpoint For Zara, this is the culmination of a strategic shift. The brand issued a statement highlighting that “artistic vision” was prioritized and clarifying a crucial point: this outfit will not be made available for sale. By renouncing the immediate mass sale of the product, Zara positions itself as a creator of culture and visual narrative, moving away from the image of a seller of quick copies. They have preferred the prestige of having been there to the immediate cash benefit. However, the commercial machinery did not stop completely. Here lies the genius of the strategy: while Zara capitalized on the immaterial prestigethe tangible business was at the feet. The sneakers that completed the set were not from Inditex, but rather the BadBo 1.0his most personal collaboration with Adidas. Unlike the unaffordable tailored suit, these did go on sale just 24 hours after the show for about 160 euros. The artist achieved the perfect balance: narrative exclusivity for clothing, mass consumption for footwear. Benito’s clothing functioned as a canvas for encrypted messages that the internet attempted to decode in real time. On the one hand, the padded T-shirt read the artist’s maternal surname, “OCASIO”, along with the number 64. Speculation soared: Was it the year of birth of his mother, Lysaurie? A reference to the victims of Hurricane Maria? A nod to a Billboard music record? Finally, the most intimate answer was given Complex Magazine: The number was a tribute to his late uncle, who wore that number during his time as an American football player. Bad Bunny turned a sports shirt into a family love letter. On the other hand, white as a political response. The color cream/white It wasn’t accidental either. Colorimetry experts They point out that this tone conveys transparency, purity and leadership (“I have nothing to hide”). This visual message gains strength after his speech at the Grammys, where he protested against ICE (Immigration Service) stating: “We are not savages, we are humans.” Wearing angelic white in front of millions of spectators visually counteracts the narrative of danger associated with Latino immigration in certain political discourses. Marta Ortega’s plans To understand why Zara invests resources in dressing a superstar without then selling the clothes, you have to look your recent business strategy. Inditex, under the presidency of Marta Ortega, is trying to distance Zara from the stigma of fast fashion to bring it closer to fast couture or “affordable luxury.” A clear example is the recent reopening of its store in Barcelona, ​​designed by the Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen with an aesthetic of boutique deluxe. Zara no longer wants to compete only on price with Shein or Primark; wants to compete in image and experience with luxury brands, maintaining affordable prices. Dressing Bad … Read more

Mozilla wanted to turn Firefox into an AI-powered browser. The community has forced a change that was not in their plans

by

For years, Mozilla and its Firefox browser have represented a rarity: a product shaped by demanding users, jealous of their control and unwilling to accept imposed changes. That’s why, when the word “AI” began to appear in his official speechdid not sound like a simple technical update, but rather a possible identity change. It was not a discussion about specific functions, but about limits. How far can Firefox stretch while still being recognizable to those who choose it precisely because it doesn’t look like the others. Before the controversy broke out, Mozilla had already begun to draw out its AI roadmap with a deliberately cautious tone. In his communications he talked about choice, transparency and preventing artificial intelligence from becoming a permanent layer of the browser. The AI, according to that initial approachhad to coexist with the classic Firefox experience without replacing it, offering specific and deactivatable tools, and maintaining the promise that the user decides if, when and under what conditions they use them. AIWindow. The most visible piece of that roadmap is a new window designed specifically for interacting with an AI assistant while browsing. Mozilla describes it as a separate, completely voluntary space that allows you to ask for contextual help without altering the rest of the browser experience. It does not replace the classic or private window, but is added as an additional option that the user decides whether to activate or not. The company insists that it can be deactivated at any time and that its development is being done openly, with a waiting list to test it and send comments. Why Mozilla thinks it’s important. The organization argues that AI is becoming a new way of accessing the web and that ignoring this change would leave the browser in a passive position. Their thesis is that, as more interactions go through assistants, it becomes essential to preserve principles such as transparency, accountability and decision-making capacity. Firefox, as a standalone browser, thus presents itself as an intermediary that uses AI to guide the user to the open web, rather than retaining them in a closed conversational environment. That balance began to break down in December, when the message about AI was publicly reinforced from Mozilla’s leadership. The reaction was not accidental if you understand who Firefox is addressing. A good part of its users do not come to the browser out of inertia, but after having searched deliberately, moving away from options such as Chrome, Edge or Safari. This more technical and critical profile tends to monitor any change that it perceives as a transfer of control. In this context, AI is not evaluated only by what it does, but by the precedent it sets and the risk of normalizing decisions made without the user’s explicit consent. The “AI kill switch” and the calendar. Faced with escalating criticism, Mozilla moved from generalities to explicit commitments. In a response to an open letter posted on RedditCEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo wrote: “Rest assured, Firefox will always remain a browser built around user control,” adding: “You’ll have a clear way to disable AI features. A true kill switch (kill switch) will arrive in Q1 2026.” With that promise, Mozilla made a verifiable commitment: an option to completely disable all artificial intelligence functions by a specific deadline, the first quarter of 2026, as a way to reinforce trust. When the deabte is still open. The announcement of the “kill switch” did not close the debate, but rather moved it to a more basic question: when does AI come into play. For many users, the fact that there is a switch to turn it off implies that the AI ​​would be present from the beginning and that it is the user who must deactivate it. The alternative they demand is the opposite, that the AI ​​is completely turned off when installing Firefox and is only activated after an explicit decision. On Mastodon, the Firefox for Web Developers account admitted that there are “gray areas” about what optional means in the interface, such as whether a new button counts as such, but he insisted that the “kill switch” will disable the AI ​​completely. With the discussion already on the table, Mozilla has been forced to do something that was not in the initial script: specify, clarify and publicly commit more than expected. The discourse around AI in Firefox has moved from general principles to uncomfortable details, and that’s where the trust of its community is at stake. The promises are made, the deadlines marked and the words written. Now the difference will not be made by the communications, but by how those guarantees are translated into the final product and if Firefox manages to integrate AI without diluting what made it different. Images | Firefox | Denny Muller In Xataka | AI has allowed developers to program faster than ever. That’s turning out to be a problem.

plans to increase production of the H200 in the face of an avalanche of orders, according to Reuters

by

NVIDIA once again finds itself in the center of the game. According to Reutersthe company analyzes increasing the production of its chip H200 after orders from China have exceeded what its current capacity can cover. But this time the result will not be decided in Washington, but in Beijing, where the government must authorize the entry of the hardware. The Chinese response will determine whether the window opened by the United States translates into real sales or remains a gesture caught between opposing interests. What has changed in Washington. The turnaround began in Washington on December 8, when Donald Trump announced that the United States would allow the H200 to be exported to commercial customers approved and validated by the Department of Commerce, with a 25% tax on each sale. The measure marked a turning point with respect to previous restrictions and introduced a more flexible control model: the US Government will supervise shipments from Taiwan, subject processors to a security review before authorizing their departure to China and apply the corresponding surcharge. NVIDIA celebrated the announcement as a balance that, according to its own statement, seeks to make national security compatible with commercial activity, while in the markets its shares rose around 2% in subsequent operations. Avalanche of orders. The signal that has led NVIDIA to consider increasing production is clear. According to the aforementioned agency, H200 orders from China already exceed the current manufacturing capacity of the chip. AND, as we pointed out last weektechnology groups such as Alibaba and ByteDance have contacted the company to explore volume purchases, aware that availability is very limited. NVIDIA has informed these clients that it is studying adding capacity, although without commitments or figures, in a context marked by scarcity and the priority that other more advanced generations have today. The interest in the H200 is also explained by its place in the NVIDIA catalog. It is the most powerful chip of the Hopper generation and a clearly superior alternative to the trimmed models designed for China, although it falls behind Blackwella generation with which, Trump explained, NVIDIA’s American customers are already moving forward. That position makes it an awkward balance: it’s not state-of-the-art, but it’s advanced enough to make a difference in training large-scale models. What China decides. Beijing is not limited to giving a yes or no. According to sources cited by Reuters, the internal debate revolves around how to allow access to H200 without weakening the momentum of its domestic semiconductor industry. The authorities are studying imposing specific conditions on each order and reviewing the final destination of the chips, in a context in which Manufacturers like Huawei or Cambricon continue to be priorities for the country’s industrial policy. NVIDIA H200 Capacity and bottlenecks. Increasing H200 production is not an immediate or easy decision. The chip is manufactured at TSMC using its 4nm process, an advanced capability that is hotly contested today. NVIDIA is prioritizing Blackwell production and preparing the transition to Rubinwhile competing with other large clients, such as Google, for space in the Taiwanese manufacturer’s most advanced lines. That context explains why the company has warned its customers of tight supply even if it ultimately decides to add capacity. National security and industrial pressure. The H200 debate goes beyond NVIDIA. In Washington, fear persists that the sale of advanced chips will contribute to strengthening China in sensitive areas, while the Administration itself has defended that completely cutting off access to American chips could reinforce the efforts of local manufacturers. The solution adopted by the Trump Administration seeks that balance, but keeps alive a controversy that conditions both exports and the real possibility of expanding production. With demand pressing and supply at a minimum, the outcome is now being played out in the offices of the Chinese regulator. If Beijing authorizes the purchases, NVIDIA will have to decide to what extent it can reallocate capacity without compromising its industrial priorities. If it doesn’t, the H200 will join the list of advanced chips caught between politics and strategy. In both scenarios, the episode confirms that access to hardware has become as determining a variable as the chip design itself. Images | NVIDIA + Photoshop In Xataka | Microsoft has reduced its ambition with AI. It has been realized that almost no one uses Copilot, they say in The Information

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

by

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

Chinese electric car manufacturers opted to develop their own chips. He already plans to sell them to others.

by

In 2024, Nio advertisement the world’s first 5nm chip for autonomous driving, being an important step towards technological independence from a Chinese manufacturer of such caliber. A year and a half after its announcement, the company is now beginning the external marketing of that chip, according to they count from Latepost. In this way, Nio is on the eve of transforming one of its most expensive investments into a potential source of income. Just like point The electric vehicle maker has already begun providing technology licenses to an automotive chip company. A multimillion-dollar project that seeks profitability. The development of Shenji NX9031 It has involved an investment of billions of yuan. William Li (Li Bin), CEO of Nio, revealed that the R&D expenditure on this chip was equivalent to the cost of building 1,000 battery exchange stations, which would place the investment above 140 million dollars. The project, started in 2021, has involved more than 600 professionals covering front and back design, verification and testing. What makes this chip special. Made with automotive-grade 5-nanometer technology, the Shenji NX9031 promises approximately four times the computing power of Nvidia’s Orin-X. Zhang Danyu, head of Nio’s chip division, pointed out in May that in some of their specifications they even surpass industry-standard chips and that their mass production began several months before Nvidia’s latest smart driving chip, the Thor-U. It is currently integrated into models such as the ET9, ES6 2025 and EC6. How much does a technology license cost?. According to share From Latepost, the value of these license agreements varies significantly depending on the type of authorization. An individual intellectual property license could be worth several million dollars, while a technical authorization at the system-on-chip (SoC) level could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. A new source of income. That the Nio chip begins to be marketed externally comes at a great time for the company, especially now that the manufacturer faces pressure significant from investors and has promised to become profitable in the fourth quarter. The company has intensified its efforts this year to reduce expenses and explore new sources of income. In March, Li Bin already advertisement publicly at the China EV 100 Forum that Nio chips and operating systems would be open to the industry. “If they want to buy the best chips, they can contact Nio,” he said then. What it means for the future of Nio. According to Li Bin, the chip provides a cost optimization of approximately 10,000 yuan ($1,400) per vehicle in the brand’s own models. Now, with the external license, Nio not only recovers part of its investment, but also positions itself as a technology provider for other manufacturers in the automotive sector. In Xataka | The longest straight road in the world is a mental challenge: 240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic

We have discounts of up to 75% on all your plans

by

When it comes to Internet security, no precaution is too little. The most efficient and simple way to protect ourselves while browsing is, without a doubt, to use a VPN. This tool is one of those essentials that is always good to have installedwhether on your mobile or PC. Thanks to it, we can protect our internet traffic and keep sensitive information such as our IP address safe. In practice, we have free options. These work and can save us at a certain moment, but they are not a good option in the long run. The reason is that they all share a problem: They are not as safe as they promise. If we want to get one of the best on the market, then we have a great option right now with NordVPN: it’s on Black Friday and their plans start from 2.99 euros per month. All without having to apply any coupons or do anything strange, since the discounts are all applied automatically. NordVPN Monthly Basic Plan (2-year plan) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links NordVPN’s Black Friday comes with discounts for all its plans As we say, among all the payment options available, NordVPN stands out for being one of the best and most reliable. Your service, in addition to being easy and intuitive to useallows us to connect to more than 8,400 servers that are distributed in more than 165 different locations. Thanks to this, we will always find a location to connect to that offers fast speed, since we will never find any type of congestion in the system. Additionally, with a subscription, we can use this tool on up to 10 devices simultaneously. We cannot ignore your safety, one of the best we can find today. It uses military-grade encryption to protect our traffic and even includes a ‘kill switch’ function, which, simply explained, will automatically disconnect us from the Internet if the VPN stops working. Black Friday has also arrived for this VPN, which leaves us with all its plans at the best prices of the year. We have discounts that go up to 75%so we only have to look at what each one offers and choose the one that best suits us. The cheapest of all, called the Basic plan, costs only 2.99 euros per month if we choose the two-year modality. In simpler terms: we will pay a total of 80.73 euros and we will receive three extra months (so there will be 27 months in total). Stopping there is just scratching the surface, as the other plans also offer very good value for money right now. These would be the prices at which each of them comes out: Basic Plan: 27 months for 80.73 euros in total (2.99 euros per month). Plus Plan: 27 months for 105.03 euros in total (3.89 euros per month). Complete Plan: 27 months for 132.03 euros in total (4.89 euros per month). Ultra Plan: 27 months for 175.23 euros in total (6.49 euros per month). As we say, it will depend on our needs or what we are looking for. If we only want to have the VPN, then the Basic plan will be enough. If we want an ad blocker and a password manager, we can opt for the Plus plan. It should be noted that both the Full plan and the Ultra plan include 1 TB of cloud storage. Finally, we cannot forget that all NordVPN plans include a 30-day period in which we can request a refund at any time if we are not satisfied. We have to take advantage of all these discounts until next December 1so it is advisable that we do not fall asleep if we are looking for a VPN. NordPass is also on Black Friday with discounts The security of our Internet traffic is very important, but What about our passwords? Keeping these safe is essential to protect all types of information, services or platforms, so any help we can have for this is always welcome. That’s where NordPass comes in, which also belongs to NordVPN and, as you can imagine, is also on Black Friday. NordPass is a very easy-to-use tool that serves to give our passwords a greater degree of security thanks to its strong encryption. Furthermore, by storing them, it allows us to use this tool to auto-complete and auto-save while browsing different web pages. And not only that, since we can synchronize NordPass on all our devices to have our passwords at hand anywhere. The NordPass offer for this Black Friday leaves us with its Premium plan with a 56% discount, so we will only pay 1.29 euros per month in your two-year plan. In other words: it will cost us 34.83 euros in total and we will also receive three extra months. If we want more, we have the Family plan, which has 6 user accountsby 2.79 euros per month. NordPass Monthly Premium Plan (2-year plan) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Luke Southern on Unsplash (with editing), NordVPN In Xataka | Public WiFis: why they are dangerous and tips to connect safely In Xataka | The best solutions to protect your data and your company’s IT equipment

Spain fears a major collapse during the August 2026 eclipse, so it is already starting to design emergency plans

by

Spain has activated the machinery to prepare for one of the most anticipated natural phenomena with the greatest logistical impact: the total eclipse that we will experience next August 12, 2026. A phenomenon that will cross the north of the country and that will make Spain the focus of all lovers of these phenomena that nature gives us, and it is logical, since it is the first total solar eclipse visible from continental Europe since 1999. The challenge of having thousands of people gathered together looking at the sky, and also added to the large number of tourists who will arrive in the country, makes the Government has asked the autonomous communities to prepare security and mobility plans. Something that can be similar, for example, to the organization of a soccer World Cup, but concentrated in a few hours. In order to manage the logistics of this important date, the central government activated an inter-ministerial commission that recently had a second meeting with the regional representatives. The objective is to be able to have a joint response to the massive influx of visitors mainly to the north of Spain. And it is no wonder, since in experience we have in mind the ‘Great American Eclipse‘ of 2024 where thousands of people ended up collapsing parks and roads, even where the eclipse was partial. And we want to avoid as much as possible that this ends up being chaos in Spain. The estimate. We are not talking about a few thousand people interested in these phenomena, but the Government proposes that millions of people can move to follow the strip of totality that will diagonally cross 13 autonomies and at least 27 provinces from Galicia to Aragon, passing through Castilla y León, Cantabria, Navarra and La Rioja. The eclipse will occur just at sunset, with the Sun going completely dark for a few minutes while the Moon blocks its disk, peaking at 20:28. The zone of total darkness will also cross a part of northern Portugal, the extreme west of Iceland and an unpopulated strip of Greenland, but Spain will be the only country where it can be observed with full guarantees and from inhabited places. And in the case of Spain in particular, the truth is that it is something historic, since It will be the first to be seen from the Iberian Peninsula in more than a century. What is requested. The central government wants to anticipate problems that may arise, such as an emergency, which is likely when we talk about a mass of people at a specific point. But in addition to this, contingency plans must also be prepared on roads due to the large number of trips that can occur in a very short period of time. The problem here is that we are in a country that is not centralized in a single administration, and that is why the cooperation of all the autonomous communities is essential. The Ministry of Science emphasize which, in addition to guaranteeing safety and mobility, seeks to promote correct scientific dissemination and avoid risks such as the use of non-approved solar glasses, an aspect highlighted by Cigudosa to prevent damage or fraud in eye protection during observation. The problems. Among those they want to address is undoubtedly the possibility of having accidents on roads, kilometer-long traffic jams and blocked access to cities. This adds to the possible overload of the infrastructures of emptied Spain, since many observation points are located in rural areas or coastal areas with limited resources. This means that it can be very easy for secondary roads to collapse, mobile coverage towers to be saturated, and for there to not be enough fuel or food for all the spectators of this historic event in our country. Although we must also highlight the possibility of a greater number of forest fires due to bad human practices and precisely at a time of maximum risk. Those that are to come. The 2026 eclipse is just the starting signal for a ‘trio of eclipses’ that can be seen from Spain. The specific agenda we have is the following: August 12, 2026: the great northern eclipse, at sunset, which is total. August 2, 2027: Just one year later, another total eclipse will cross the southern tip of Spain. It will be visible from Cádiz, Málaga, Ceuta and Melilla. Unlike the first, this one will be in the morning and will be one of the longest of the century, with a total that will exceed 4 and a half minutes in the Strait. January 26, 2028: an annular eclipse (where the Moon does not completely cover the Sun, leaving a bright circle) will cross the south of the peninsula, visible from areas such as Seville or Granada. In this way, the Government has the task of preparing for three different events in a range of three years that will attract a large number of national and international curious people. In Xataka | Between 2026 and 2028 Spain will become an eclipse paradise. And we have new maps to know where they will look best

Revolut plans to make the generational leap in Spain: assault private banking

by

Revolut is looking for private banking professionals in Spain to build its high net worth division from scratch. The project is in the initial phase, but talks have already begun, according to Expansion. It is the first serious move by the British neobank in a segment traditionally reserved for traditional banking. Why is it important. The bank intends to compete with the leaders of this sector, Santander and CaixaBankwho control more than 35% of the large fortune market in Spain. It is not a minor battle: Santander manages 195,000 million in assets of patrimonial clients. CaixaBank exceeds 181,000 million. Revolut wants to convince these customers to abandon decades of banking relationships for a mobile app. The context. Interest rates have normalized in Europe and banks need to compensate with fees for what they lose in margins. Private banking is the perfect business: High profitability. Less price sensitive customers. Lasting relationships. That is why everyone wants to enter or grow in this segment. Revolut is late to the banquet, but if anyone can offer a different menu, it’s them. Between the lines. Until now, Revolut has been the bank of millennials and generation Z. Young people who exchange currencies to travel, invest in cryptocurrencies, value the absence of commissions and digital agility. Now he wants to manage his parents’ assets. It is a logical but complex leap: going from being the youth alternative to becoming the custodian of consolidated family fortunes. Yes, but. There is another less obvious reading. Millennials who have been with Revolut for a decade are getting older and accumulating wealth. Entrepreneurs who have sold companies. Professionals with consolidated careers. Investors who have multiplied capital. Revolut is not only looking for new customers, it also aims to retain those it already has before they leave for traditional banking when they need more sophisticated services. The strategic turn. Revolut founder Nik Storonsky He’s been anticipating this move for a year.. He presented it as a natural evolution: many bank clients already have high balances and need more than just a well-stocked checking account. But the reality is more pressing: Revolut needs to diversify revenue beyond transactional products (currency exchange, cards, accounts). Their model has worked for the average customer. Now look for the high value one because that’s where the real margin is. The threat. Revolut’s bet is not only technological, it is generational. The bank believes that new fortunes value agility and innovation more than dealing with a manager in a VIP office. It also relies on its young client base to mature with them, creating a natural transition into private banking. And now what. Dates, minimum equity requirements, a list of specific services to be offered by Revolut in private banking… Everything is yet to be defined. It also remains to be known whether the bank will replicate its model from other markets or adapt the offer to Spanish particularities. And, above all, it remains to be seen if it manages to sign top-level professionals willing to work in a technologically powerful brand, but without a history of large assets. In Xataka | Neobanks break 25% market share in Spain. Traditional banking is losing young customers Featured image | Revolut

Meta’s star AI scientist plans to leave the company, according to the FT. The new goal is eating the old goal.

by

The head of artificial intelligence at Meta, Yann LeCun, would be preparing to leave the company to found his own startup, according to inform Financial Times. The departure of the prestigious researcher, winner of the Turing Award and considered one of the fathers of modern AI, symbolizes the radical change that Mark Zuckerberg is giving to Meta’s strategy around AI. The changing of the guard. LeCun, who led the Fundamental AI Research Laboratory (FAIR) since 2013, is now in an uncomfortable position within Meta. This summer, Zuckerberg hired Alexander Wang28, to lead a new “superintelligence” team, paying $14.3 billion to take 49% of Scale AI, the data labeling startup Wang had founded. As a result of this restructuring, LeCun went from reporting to chief product officer Chris Cox to reporting to Wang, according to account Financial Times. A philosophical divorce. The tension is not only organizational, but conceptual. LeCun has long publicly defended that the language models on which Zuckerberg has focused his strategy are “useful” but will never be able to reason or plan like humans. His bet from FAIR has been different: the so-called “world models”AI systems that learn from the physical environment through videos and spatial data, not just language. A path that, according to LeCun himself, could take a decade to bear fruit. Meta’s problems with AI. Zuckerberg’s reorganization comes after several setbacks. The launch of Call 4 It has not gone as the company would have liked, falling below the most advanced proposals from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Additionally, Meta AI, the company’s chatbot, has also not gained traction among users. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has hired dozens of engineers and competing researchers with pay packages of up to $100 million, creating a dedicated team called TBD Lab to accelerate the development of new versions of its language models. The cost of pivoting. The shift toward practical AI appears to have generated internal chaos. Sources cited by TechCrunch In August they revealed the frustration of new hires when facing the bureaucracy of a large company, while the previous generative AI team saw its scope reduced. In October, Meta laid off 600 people of its AI research unit to cut costs and accelerate product launches. Also in May Joelle Pineau left the companyvice president of AI research, who joined Canadian startup Cohere. What’s coming now. According to two sources Cited by the Financial Times, LeCun’s new project will focus on continuing his work on world models, and he has already started talks to raise funding. His departure, scheduled for the coming months, represents more than the departure of a brilliant scientist: it is confirmation that Meta’s old long-term focus has been relegated by the urgency of competing in the short term with more practical solutions. As Wall Street pressures Zuckerberg to justify an investment in AI that could exceed $100 billion In 2025, the company would be losing one of its most recognized brains along the way. Cover image | Goal and AFP In Xataka | AI was supposed to reduce costs and reduce staff. The Coca-Cola ad illustrates how much we were wrong

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.