problem

In the search for a supersonic train, China tests a Maglev that will reach 4,000 km/h. The problem will be maintaining it

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China’s conquest of the high-speed train field is impressive. In the 2008 Beijing Olympicsthe country had just 120 kilometers of high speed between Beijing and Tianjin. 17 years latermanage more high-speed kilometers than any other countrya very long distance from Spain or Japan. They are not only building kilometers to unite the entire country: they are developing technologies so that the plane is no longer necessary. As? With Maglev trains at speeds of 1,000 km/h. And a specific model, the T-Flight, which dreams of 4,000 km/h. Maglev + Hyperloop. China is one of the countries, along with Japan, that is investing a lot of money in the development of the magnetic levitation trainsor Maglev. This technology allows trains not to rest their wheels on the rails, but rather to float thanks to a series of powerful magnets and an electromagnetic field. This allows us to exceed the 250 km/h that has been set as a standard for high speed and, for example, China has the fastest Maglev in the worldone that reaches 431 km/h. It is already operational between Beijing and Shanghai, but in Japan is testing one that will exceed 600 km/h. It’s a speed that will seem slow compared to what CASIC is preparing. It stands for “China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation,” a state-owned tactical missile company that announced the T-Flight project in August 2017. The idea? Combine magnetic levitation trains with Hyperloop-style vacuum tubes. T-Flight. In short, it is putting a Maglev in a vacuum tube, eliminating air pressure and resistance as much as possible, but there is much more. For example, the idea of CASIC is that magnetic levitation is enhanced thanks to superconductors that will raise the train up to 100 mm above the rail. Conventional Maglevs are raised by about 10 mm, and the idea is that the higher the train is, the more stability it will have at extreme speeds. On the other hand, the tube itself, with a system that extracts air from it to create a low pressure environment, reducing aerodynamic resistance to the maximum. This partial vacuum and levitation that eliminates the physical resistance of the wheel and track is what will allow unprecedented speeds to be achieved. Achievements. In 2024 they already achieved one first validated test as a world record by reaching 623 km/h, but in the summer of this year, in a low pressure environment, The train reached 650 km/h in seven seconds in its laboratory. They were strange tests, since the track was a kilometer long when the usual thing is much longer, but that also gives us a clue of what brutal which is both the acceleration and braking of the train. That is, think that, in seven seconds and in just one kilometer, the train accelerated to 650 km/h and stopped. The team’s idea is to reach 800 km/h as the top speed this year, but the ambition goes much further. Ambition. Currently, the team is in Phase 1, which is the one that aims aim that speed of 1,000 km/h. To do this, and to validate the speed in real conditions, they want to extend the test track to 60 kilometers. However, the thing does not stop there and, when the project was born, it was already said that Phase 2 and Phase 3 would have as aim 2,000 km/h (almost double the cruising speed of a traditional commercial airplane) and 4,000 km/hsupersonic speeds that would compete with the fastest planes in the world. This would allow large urban centers in China to be linked in a few minutes, leaving aside the need to take planes to cover long distances. In fact, this high speed is already showing in Europe that short flights do not make sense if we combine the waiting time at the airport with the flight itself and compare it with the comfort of access to the train. A major challenge. Now, the goal will not be easy. Maglev technology works and is proven, but what they want to achieve with this T-Flight not only complicates things because, in addition to a track, a tube must be built. And, of course, maintain it. Extending this partial vacuum over hundreds of kilometers of tube represents an enormous technical challenge because it implies that the joints must be perfectly sealed, without the cold and heat dilating them so that there are no leaks. It is estimated that a 600 km pipe requires an expansion joint every 100 meters, and each one of them represents a potential point of failure. Furthermore, at 300 km/h appreciate vibrations in the seats. Air system to reduce pressure inside the tubes Furthermore, any decompression would be catastrophic and perhaps most importantly: there is no certification standard or safety protocols for something like this. In any case, T-Flight continues to take steps at a good pace and, although it seems difficult to see it working in the short term, if a country can achieve it right now… it is China. Images | Geely In Xataka | After 20 years, the definitive one arrives: Brazil prepares the first high-speed train in South America

The meteorological winter has already begun for the AEMET. And now we have another problem with the DGT beacons

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The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has not waited for the solstice to start winter. A season that, meteorologically speaking, extends from December 1 to February 28. Three months of cold await us (although less and less)rain, snow and various inclemencies. This year, it is inevitable to ask ourselves if the cold may affect the V16 beacons of the DGT. The answer is a resounding yes. Resistance up to -10ºC. All approved V16 beacons must have with a series of requirements. And one of them talks precisely about resistance. There are two things to keep in mind here: the IP rating and what temperature range they can operate in. New connected beacons must have at least IP54 certification. That is, resistance to dust and splashes of water. But they must also offer adequate operation within a wide range of temperatures. Specifically, between -10ºC and 50ºC. It is enough even If we leave the car in full sun in summerbut in winter it gets a little more complicated. BUT. Theoretically, Spain is not a very cold country. But although it is not at the level of the Nordic countries, in certain places or times the thermometer can fall below -10ºC. If we are going skiing, if we are driving on a mountain road on a particularly cold day or if we are considering a getaway to one of the “refrigerators from Spain”things get complicated. For example, Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara) is considered the coldest town in Spain and has the milestone of having reached -28.2 degrees. In these types of places and situations, the resistance to -10ºC of the beacons is insufficient, so their connectivity may stop working, thus losing virtual visibility, or even fail to turn on. Another problem: snow. Beyond the problems caused by extreme temperatures, there is another phenomenon that in the winter season can interfere with the beacons. Much has been said about the visibility problems of these devices in broad daylight, in fog or on very tight curves, but snow can also become another obstacle. Beacons should be placed on the highest part of the vehicle where possible, usually the roof. If the snow settles, it can cover it and thus kill the physical visibility it provides us. The alternative. The V16 beacons aim to improve safety on the roads, warning other drivers of the obstacle posed by a car stopped on them. In the event that the beacon does not work due to problems with temperatures or snow, the option left is to contact the emergency services via mobile phone. The V16 beacons, which will be mandatory from January 1, 2026, are not without controversy. From the scams around them until accusations from groups of the Civil Guardthe DGT He had to admit his mistakes and has already explained that will be flexible with fines. Cover image | Generated with Gemini In Xataka | FACUA believes that a lot of V16 beacons “approved by the DGT” are not legal. And there’s a way to sum it up: fraud. In Xataka | Living 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole: a Catalan tells of his experience in the northernmost city in the world

AI needs 650 billion a year to sustain itself. The problem is who will put them on the table

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Those responsible for the JPMorgan banking entity they have done numbers. For AI companies to achieve a 10% return on their capital expenditure In 2030, they will need to collectively earn $650 billion. That’s like saying that the 1.4 billion iPhone users will pay $400 a year to use those models. It’s not impossible, but certainly it doesn’t seem simple. Many use it, few pay. Above all, because today the number of paying users is very small. According to the data from the consulting firm Menlo Venturestoday 1.8 billion people use AI around the world, but only 3% of them (54 million) are paying customers of some subscription. ChatGPT as an example. OpenAI esteem that in 2030 that percentage will rise to 8.5% for its user base, which they project will be 2.6 billion a week. That is to say: 220 million people will be subscribed to one of ChatGPT’s payment plans, which will probably have different prices than the current ones in 2030. They do not seem sufficient, at least a priori, to make the firm profitable as promised. Advertisements. It is more than likely that the advertisements they end up being the other great resource to earn revenue from AI models. Although Sam Altman indicated in the past that advertising would be “the last resort” to monetize, recent data reveal that those ads are about to be part of the user experience on ChatGPT. A very risky bet. JPMorgan’s estimate points to a future in which billions of people will pay a lot of money a year to use the best AI. Apple account with 1 billion subscribers to its services, Netflix with 300Spotify with about 280and Google account with 150 million subscribers on Google One alone. It is evident that there are many users willing to pay for services that are useful and entertaining. The question is whether AI will be for so many people. And AI companies, of course, are confident that they do. The non-surprise of the bubble. In The Economist indicate that a potential explosion of the AI bubble already it’s not going to surprise anyone. The curious thing is that there is no excessively notable concern for the consequences. In recent years the economy seems to have recovered surprisingly well from disasters such as the European energy crisis after the start of the Ukrainian War or the tariffs imposed by the US. Recessions, this economic newspaper points out, they are becoming rarer. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. Mass vulnerability exists, however. Stocks today represent 21% of Americans’ economic wealth —more than in the dotcom bubble—, and investment in AI companies is responsible for half of the increase in that wealth over the past year. And therein lies the danger. Recession in sight? People have earned more money and saved less: if the bubble bursts in a similar way to what it did with dotcoms, The Economist believes that net worth will fall by 8%. That in turn would cause a notable decrease in consumer spending. It is estimated that the US GDP would decline by 1.6%, enough to push the country into recession. The difference with dotcoms. In this case that global recession It might not be so deep for a clear reason: the root would be in the investment markets, and therefore it could be overcome with a little more room for maneuver. Central banks could cut interest rates to boost consumption, a good thing on that front but dangerous for vulnerable economies. The shock wave of the explosion. If the bubble bursts, what could also occur is a painful reconfiguration of global trade. Lower US demand would reduce its trade deficit, but would worsen the excess China production capacity. By not being able to sell (as much) to the US, it would flood other markets with its products, which would probably cause some protectionism in Europe and Asia. The world is preparing for the stock market crash, but not so much for the economic and geopolitical consequences that will follow. In Xataka | OpenAI has no problem inflating the AI ​​bubble – it has a problem with it bursting too soon

Almost all phones with optical zoom have the same problem. This Chinese brand believes it has solved it in a curious way

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The greatest illusion trick in mobile photography is continuity between cameras. When we zoom from 1x to 5x on a telephoto smartphone, we are not moving lenses like on a camera; the mobile jumps between fixed sensors and fills the gaps with digital cropping and AI. The result is those sudden jumps in color and image in the viewfinder and a loss of quality in the “intermediate zooms” that we make when pinching the screen. Tecno, the star brand of the giant Transsion—the fifth largest manufacturer in the world hot on Xiaomi’s heels in some markets—has taken advantage of its annual event to present two technologies that attack precisely this problem: a zoom that does not “jump” and a periscope that shrinks. Optical continuous zoom. And from an increase, up to nine. The most ambitious proposal is the “Freeform Continuum Telephoto”. On paper, it promises to maintain optical sharpness throughout. It represents an important leap, although it is not the first: Sony tried it with the Xperia 1 IValthough its range was more limited. LG also showed similar concepts a few years ago, but no one had promised to cover the main angle lens to the long telephoto lens in a single module. To achieve this milestone without turning the mobile phone into a brick, the Chinese firm moves away from the traditional design of lenses that move longitudinally. Instead, they turn to physical principle of the “Alvarez Lenses”: a system that employs two lenses with free-form surfaces that move perpendicular to the optical axis. By sliding one over the other from the side, they change the optical power of the set and achieve that zoom effect. This technology is related to recent reports that Samsung was developing cameras with continuous zoom for Chinese manufacturers. A periscope that folds on itself. The second innovation presented by Tecno attacks the volume. We are obsessed with increasingly larger sensorsbut the space inside the mobile is finite. Periscopic telephoto cameras require a lot of space, but Tecno and its “Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto” promise to reduce the size of the module by 50% and its height by 10%. Instead of a simple prism that bends light 90 degrees, the system uses coaxial optics that bounce light multiple times inside the lens using reflective mirrors. It is what allows long focal lengths in a shorter physical distance. However, this design has a physical trace– When using a central obstruction, the bokeh is not circular, but rather takes on a donut shape. Tecno sells it as an artistic feature, the truth is that it is a consequence of mirror optics. Battle against the accused. The new thing from Tecno comes at a time when mobile photography It depends a lot on the processing what are you looking for the photo instagrammable above realism. Going for better optics instead of digital cropping and AI rescaling seems to be the right direction to achieve naturalness. However, we must maintain some caution. The challenge of this zoom is not only that it works, but that it is bright. Maintaining a decent aperture throughout that range is no easy task. If the system is too dark, the ISO will shoot up, generating noise that the software will have to remedy: back to processing. For the moment, we must wait to see if these concepts end up in a commercial mobile phone. Images | Techno In Xataka | I am an amateur photographer, and I will tell you which are the best phones to take almost professional photos without leaving you a fortune.

There are 500 million users who could perfectly upgrade to Windows 11. The problem is that they don’t want to

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If you are reading this and still using Windows 10you are at risk. Microsoft a month and a half ago ended the official support period for this operating system that was launched in 2015. The curious thing is that what should be happening is not happening. Dell as an example of what is happening in the world. Dell COO Jeff Clarke recently participated in an interview at The Motley Fool and they asked him for his vision on how the end of Windows 10 would affect the migration of users to Windows 11. That’s when he confessed that all his expectations came crashing down. The end of Windows 10 pointed to the growth of Windows 11. In fact, Clarke explained that before it happened he was very confident that this end of the cycle would lead people to buy a new PC or install Windows 11 on their computers. However, the executive indicated that they have realized that the adoption of Windows 11 is between 10 and 12 points below what happened with previous generations: people are not updating to this operating system as they expected. 500 million users simply skip updating. Clarke’s estimate is that there are about 1.5 billion devices (PCs and laptops) running Windows, and that’s where he made the most disturbing statement: “There are about 500 million PCs capable of running Windows 11 that have not been updated. And we have another 500 million that are four years old and cannot run Windows 11. All of them pose a huge opportunity to upgrade to Windows 11.” And yet, they don’t do it, or what is the same: A third of global Windows users do not have a PC officially compatible with Windows 11 and cannot directly upgrade Another third have a PC compatible with Windows 11 but users simply They have chosen not to do so. If it works, don’t touch it? For many users, including business users, the unwritten rule is often precisely “if it works, don’t touch it.” This is especially delicate in companies, because they may depend on legacy systems and if they update to new versions, conflicts may arise that affect the operations of the business itself. And still… A colossal security hole. Once again, what is really worrying about this is that although these PCs and laptops are working correctly, if they are based on Windows 10 or previous versions of Windows, they are absolutely exposed to all kinds of security flaws. At any time, these PCs could become victims of malware that turns them into members of a botnet, or of ransomware that prevents us from accessing our data unless we pay a ransom. This is already bad for individual users, but for companies the risk is enormous. A ray of hope. Here we just have to wait for users to realize that updating their equipment is important and relatively easy. In fact, on officially compatible devices this is basically a matter of clicking the “Next” button when running the update wizard. If your device is not compatible, there is a trick. On computers that theoretically do not meet the conditions—such as, for example, that do not have native support for TPN 2.0—there are not excessive problems either, because it is possible to “trick” Windows with a command or even with the use of a modified version of Windows 11. Come on, although it seems that you cannot update to Windows 11, the most normal thing is that in reality yes you can. And of course, there is Linux. If for some reason what users don’t want is to upgrade to Windows 11 because they don’t like it, the options are there in the form of Linux distributions. It seems that this path is being chosen by an already notable number of users, and this is demonstrated by the fact that, for example, Zorin OS—a fork of Ubuntu—has seen its distribution Zorin OS 18which arrived just at the time when Windows 10 was no longer officially supported, has been downloaded more than a million times in the last few days. In Xataka | If you have an old PC, there is an effective alternative to Windows 11 requirements and bloatware: this is how Flyoobe works

NASA needed to get to the Moon and had a problem with an insulating material. So it was put in the hands of the surfers

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Now that we are immersed in the space race to reach Mars, it is worth looking back to see one of the most surprising anecdotes of the other race with which the United States achieved taking man to the Moon for the first time. And to achieve this they did not hesitate to use all available resources, from their best scientists to their best… surfers? Although it may seem like a joke, it took surfers to perfect the Saturn Vthe space rocket with which the Apollo missions took off between 1967 and 1973. The POT He had created a honeycomb-shaped insulator for his rocket, and needed specialists in the use of honeycomb-shaped materials… like that of the surfboards of the time. This story It was kept secret for years. But even though it ended up coming to light after a NASA engineer told it in an interview, it remains one of the most curious and unknown anecdotes of the space race. There are also references to it in documentaries such as one of the chapters of ‘Moon Machines’, available at YouTube. Surfers at NASA The second stage of the Saturn V, the S-II, was built by National American Aviation (NAA) in Seal Beach, California. It was composed almost exclusively of two tanks of oxygen and liquid hydrogen that, for logistical reasons, had to be placed almost close together and separated only by a thin layer of aluminum. But there was a problem, that the liquid hydrogen had to be kept at a temperature of about 20º above absolute zero, so They had to create a new insulator to cover your tank. They created one in the shape of a honeycomb, since the hexagonal design is the strongest and lightest in nature and we have been using it for thousands of years, but they could not get the insulating layer to stay stuck to the aluminum. Fortunately for the NAA their facilities were in one of the surfing capitals on the west coast, and their engineers realized that the surfers They also used honeycomb-shaped materials in their boards. They were therefore more experienced experts than any scientist when it came to dealing with these types of insulators, which is why they hired a few to design an effective way to apply it to the tanks. The surfers recommended applying the insulation with sprays with a foam that solidified forming hexagonal cells. The idea worked, the NAA finished the S-II, which was assembled with the rest of the parts of the Saturn V. The rocket took 24 astronauts to the Moon without any loss of useful shell, having only engine problems with Apollo 6 and Apollo 13. Image | POT In Xataka | How many times have we gone to the Moon and why have only 11 military aviators and one geologist set foot on it in all of history? In Xataka | The far side of the Moon hid an icy secret. We finally know why it is so different from what we see

Huawei has a patent with which to manufacture 2nm chips. The only problem is that it’s just a patent.

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Huawei has just applied for a patent in which a new and unique process of advanced chip production. The patent focuses on improving one of the limitations of the technology of deep ultraviolet photolithography (UVP) to try to compete in this way with the extreme ultraviolet machines (UVE) to which China still unable to access. There are, however, many uncertainties here. The patent. Huawei formally submitted the technical documentation in June 2022 to the Chinese patent office, allowing the invention to be “protected” since then. The detailed content of their study was made public in January 2025, but It is now that it has come to light. The patent is only applied for, not granted or granted. The patent office is examining the application to determine if it meets the requirements. Why is it important. This patent tries to address the limitations of the so-called edge placement error (EPE, Edge Placement Error) in the advanced interconnection process used when manufacturing advanced chips. The method discovered makes it theoretically possible to use “metal spacings” smaller than 21 nm, even when using deep ultraviolet (UVP) technology instead of extreme ultraviolet (UVE), which is the most advanced photolithographic technology today… and to which Chinese manufacturers like Huawei do not have access. If it achieves its objective, the firm could have access, for example, to chips that would theoretically compete even with chips made with 2nm photolithography. Metal spacing? That term (metal pitch in English) refers to the minimum distance that exists between the metal lines that form the interconnections within the integrated circuit or, in this case, the chip. These lines carry power and data signals between the transistors, and that metal spacing is extraordinarily small for advanced nodes. The objective of the patent is precisely to allow the manufacture of these lines with a spacing of less than 21 nm. This gives rise to a possible process that could compete with the 2nm UVE photolithography used, for example, by TSMC. The important word there is “could.” Edge Placement Error (EPE). EPE is the error that occurs when a pattern on a chip is not placed exactly where it was intended by the chip design. The closer that metal spacing is, the smaller the EPE margin must be to prevent the lines from touching and causing a short circuit. At this scale it is incredibly complex to solve this problem, and Huawei’s patent precisely proposes a way to achieve it. Supervitaminizing “old” lithography. What makes this method possible is that UVP photolithography, less powerful and advanced than UVE, can be used to compete with it. This method would allow “jumping” the limits that this process now faces, and which normally had many difficulties in going beyond 21 nm. A double hard mask process of two materials and a special patterning scheme are introduced that theoretically allow us to go below 21 nm. and even 5 nm which are already very complicated to achieve with EUV. In short: China could achieve advanced chips without the need for use the most advanced ASML machinesto which you do not have access. But. Although the technique is apparently striking, there are two big problems here. The first and most important is that this is just a patent and that does not mean that the process can be transferred to reality. The difficulties in doing so are enormous, and that leads us to the second problem: the effectiveness of production would probably be very low and the yield (process success rate) would be greatly affected. That is to say: of all the chips theoretically produced with this technique, only a small part would be valid, which would waste a huge part of the investment. In Xataka | In its race to make advanced chips, China has tried to copy ASML. It’s going wrong

We have a problem with cardboard recycling. In the United Kingdom they believe that the solution is to use it in a power plant

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Every day, millions of cardboard boxes leave our homes heading to the blue container. They are the last link in an accelerated consumption cycle in online commerce. However, this material, so everyday that we don’t even look at it twice, could be on the verge of an unexpected second life: becoming fuel to generate electricity on a large scale. A residue that enters the energy map. A team of engineers from Nottingham University has shown for the first time that used cardboard can be used as an effective source of biomass in power plants. The investigation, published in the journal Biomass and Bioenergycompares cardboard with a common reference for industrial biomass: eucalyptus. The engineers didn’t just watch the cardboard burn. They crushed it, studied its shape, broke down its chemistry and analyzed how it reacted to heat and what type of carbon it left behind. They even developed their own method—based on thermogravimetric analysis—to measure exactly how much calcium carbonate each sample contains. This component, common in printed cardboard, gives rigidity to the material but also conditions its behavior when burning. Thanks to this procedure, they can predict which type of cardboard will work well in an industrial boiler and which could cause problems. The science behind cardboard that burns “better.” The study did not stop at theories. He tested the combustion of cardboard in two types of systems equivalent to those used in power plants: Drop Tube Furnace: Simulates the rapid combustion of pulverized biomass.Here, the researchers observed that cardboard particles develop chars (the carbonaceous remains that remain after the first combustion phase) highly reactive, with a predominance of fine and porous structures that favor a burnout accelerated. Muffle Furnace: Simulates fluidized bed or grate systems. Even with longer residence times, the paperboard maintained its excellent combustion profile. In addition, the size and shape of the particles were characterized through an analysis with more than one million particles per sample; The tendency of cardboard to form “spongy aggregates” during grinding was observed—a challenge for its industrial handling—and characteristics such as sphericity and aspect ratio were correlated, something that could improve future combustion models. As the academic study explains, this detailed analysis allows predicting combustion efficiency and designing industrial strategies to integrate cardboard into the fuel flow. The result was very favorable. Thanks to this experiment, the engineers managed to demonstrate that cardboard has less carbon (38%) than eucalyptus (46.7%) and its calorific value is also lower (15.9–16.5 MJ/kg versus 21 MJ/kg). However, its chars are finer, porous and reactive, which accelerates combustion; In addition, it contains much more ash (8.9–10.6%, compared to 0.6% for eucalyptus), a critical aspect for boilers. What remains to be resolved? Although the technical potential is evident, the study makes it clear that cardboard is not ready to enter the boilers of a power plant tomorrow. There are three fundamental challenges that must be addressed: Management and processing problems. When ground, cardboard does not behave like wood: it forms spongy lumps of very low density that make internal transport difficult, complicate the continuous feeding of boilers and can increase the risk of blockages and accumulations. The study warns that it will be essential to adapt the grinding and feeding systems to guarantee a stable and safe flow. The behavior of calcium. Cardboard contains very high levels of CaCO₃, especially when printed. This calcium can behave in different ways depending on the temperature and type of boiler. In certain cases it raises the fusion temperature of the ashes – which is positive -; In others it can favor the formation of slag or alter the quality of the fuel. The study recommends analyzing the behavior of cardboard according to the type of plant, because not all technologies tolerate these variations in the same way. Large-scale industrial validation. Laboratory tests are promising, but the decisive step is missing: testing the cardboard in real operating conditions. According to the researchers, the industry will have to carry out tests on different technologies in boilers, evaluate emissions, study the accumulation and composition of ash and check their compatibility with existing biomass mixtures. Only then can it be determined whether the cardboard can be safely and stably integrated into the mix of biomass. An everyday material with an unexpected future. Cardboard protects pizzas, televisions, books and appliances. We recycle it without thinking too much about it. But this research from Nottingham suggests that this everyday waste could become another piece of the energy transition, helping to diversify fuels and take advantage of an abundant and local resource. Today we see it as garbage. Tomorrow it could help produce electricity. The spark has already been lit: now we need to know if the industry wants – and can – convert it into real energy. Image | Unsplash and Geograph Xataka | Selling smoke is now a business in Soria: it purifies it and sells it as CO2 to make soft drinks

A Chinese startup claims to have created its own TPU to compete with NVIDIA. The only problem is that it is three years late

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A Chinese startup called Zhonghao Xinying (known internationally as CL Tech) has come to the fore with a bold promise. The company claims to have developed an AI chip that not only circumvents Western intellectual property restrictions, but also outperforms NVIDIA’s A100 chip. Which is very good, but also a little bad. Chana arrives. The chip in question has been named “Chana”, and according to SCMP we are dealing with a GPTPU (General Purpose Tensor Processing Unit). Unlike NVIDIA GPUs, aimed at accelerating AI workloads, this is an ASIC, that is, an application-specific integrated circuit designed from the ground up for neural network workloads. promise. According to Zhonghao Xinying Chana, it offers up to 1.5 times the performance of the NVIDIA A100 based on the Ampere architecture. Not only that: it achieves that performance with 30% lower consumption. The startup highlights that the computational cost per unit would therefore be less than half of that offered by the A100 chips. A little history of the company. Behind Zhonghao Xinying is Yanggong Yifan, an engineer formed at Stanford and the University of Michigan. He worked on the development of several generations of Google TPUs and also on the development of Oracle chips, and in 2018 founded this startup in Hangzhou together with Hanxun Zhengan engineer who worked at Samsung for several years. They were joined by other engineers from Microsoft, Oracle, NVIDIA, Amazon and Facebook, they indicate. on Baidu. We are therefore faced with several of those cases of “boomerang talent” with Chinese engineers who are forged in the US and then return to China to create solutions for their own industry. Solutions that do not depend on the West. Yanggong affirms that its chip features “fully self-controlled IP cores, a custom instruction set, and a fully in-house computing platform. Our chips do not rely on foreign technology licenses, ensuring long-term security and sustainability from an architectural perspective.” But. Although the achievement is striking, it is necessary to put it in perspective. The NVIDIA A100 is a 2020 AI GPU, and even with the improvements that this Chinese startup promises, its performance is, for example, far from H100 chips with Hopper architecture that appeared in 2022. Not to mention of the latest Blackwell Ultra chipswhich are currently NVIDIA’s greatest exponent in terms of AI chips. There are also no details about who makes the chip, and one of the candidates it would be SMICwhich has 7nm technology. They are very far away, and they have another problem. The technical achievement of these engineers is certainly notable, but everything indicates that they are still far from what NVIDIA and its competitors are achieving. like AMD or Google with its recent TPU Ironwood. There is another element that works against them: Chinese manufacturers continue without having direct access to the most advanced photolithography on the market, and although it also there is progress from Chinese manufacturers in that sense, competing is certainly complicated without access to the most advanced technologies. Pressure. In 2024 the company achievement revenues of 598 million yuan (73 million euros) with a net profit of 85.9 million yuan, but in the first half of the year the income was only 102 million yuan and had losses of 144 million yuan. The firm has reached an agreement with its investors by which it will have to go public at the end of 2026, or else it will be forced to buy back shares. The financial pressure is therefore notable for the company, which must demonstrate in the coming months that its roadmap is truly competitive. In Xataka | China was no longer supposed to be able to get its hands on NVIDIA’s most advanced chips. Until he found a shortcut in Indonesia

‘Stranger Things’ changed everything for Netflix. Your problem now is finding another brand just as powerful.

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The expectation is through the roof: Netflix has just taken the first steps of the final season of ‘Stranger Things’‘, which will run throughout December with several episodes, many of them feature-length. In fact, the desire of the fans is such that Netflix even saw its servers falter. A (very possibly) triumphant culmination that, however, leaves a few unknowns in the air. Netflix flashes. Netflix experienced a service outage that in some cases It lasted about twenty minutes. (although the thing did not exceed about five, according to the platform’s official statement) with the premiere of the fifth season of ‘Stranger Things’. The incident occurred despite the fact that the series co-creator, Ross Duffer, had shared that Netflix would increase its bandwidth by 30% to avoid precisely this type of incident. All in all, thousands of users reported NSEZ-403 errors that prevented them from accessing the content, or accessed it with problems, which worked as a perfect thermometer of the expectation generated by the series. ‘Stranger Things’ continues to be a phenomenon capable of collapsing digital infrastructures three years after its previous season. Devastating figures. The fourth season accumulated 140.7 million viewsestablishing itself as the third most watched series in English on the platform, only behind ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Adolescence’. Of course, it is the only series with all seasons in the Top 10an unprecedented milestone on the platform. The impact on subscribers is more difficult to quantify: the third season, for example, contributed to add 520,000 subscribers in the United States. The cultural impact. The impact that ‘Stranger Things’ has had on modern pop culture is enough for a book, but let’s stick with some figures that will give us a rough idea. First, the economy: Netflix, for example, closed agreements with approximately 75 brands to promote the third season. Coca-Cola relaunched New Coke, generating 1.2 billion dollars in media value; Similarly, Nike obtained $178 million in media coverage with their Hawkins High collection. But this goes far beyond benefits for some brands: Butts County in Georgia, where the series is set, reported a 12% increase in tourism during the years the series was broadcast. And the small city of Jackson, with barely five thousand inhabitants and a per capita income of less than $30,000, revitalized its economy thanks to thematic tours. And of course, there is the strong role that the series has had in the recovery of the aesthetics and fashions of the eighties. It is no longer just that they have been revitalized Stephen King’s books and John Carpenter’s films: platforms like LTK registered increases of 3,000% in searches for clothing similar to those worn by the characters. What can we expect? For now, Netflix has planned very well to divide this final season into three: 4 episodes on November 27, 3 on December 26 and a final one on January 1. That is, coinciding with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and thus, contrary to what is usual on the platform, stretching the cultural conversation for two months. As for audience expectations, as expected, they are very high: analysts predict new viewing records given the three years of waiting until this end. Of course, the critics have spoken and they point to the signs of exhaustion that were already seen in previous seasons: 87% on Rotten Tomatoesthe lowest rating of the series so far, although the audience rises to 92%. It is not easy to maintain narrative quality after so many years, with obstacles such as the age of the protagonists. The future. The really interesting thing about the phenomenon is wondering what Netflix has ahead. Or to put it more awkwardly: can the platform replicate the phenomenon? It has certainly had successful series in its catalogue, such as ‘Wednesday‘, ‘The Squid Game’ or ‘The Bridgertons’, but except for the first, all of them have finished or are about to do so. It is true that Netflix has the ability to generate new hits like ‘Wednesday’, which also, although it came as a bit of a surprise to everyone, could be well exploited by the platform. Now, Netflix is ​​in a phase of prioritize quantity over qualitymercilessly canceling what does not interest you and attesting that we are in a different moment than the initial success of ‘Stranger Things’: the competition has multiplied and it is more difficult to get noticed among multiple offers. Netflix has all the space in the world before it to compete, but perhaps its main rival is its own legacy: how to make ‘Stranger Things’ forgotten. The series was perhaps, before the almost infinite atomization of the offer of the streamingthe medium’s latest great global success. And that is very difficult to overcome. In Xataka | Netflix loved movie theaters. Then he hated them. Now you have reached a very beneficial middle ground

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