problem

Inditex has discovered that its giant stores are less and less profitable. The problem is that you can’t close them

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Barclays has put his finger on the sore of the Inditex business model. His analysts question whether the megatiendas of the textile giant can continue to generate the productivity improvements that have promoted their growth during the last decade, according to Five days. The origin of the doubts is in its weak growth of the start of the fiscal year, which has slowed that until now it was a strong and almost uninterrupted growth. What has happened. Between 2019 and 2024, Inditex has increased its sales by 37% despite reducing the number of stores by 29%. The average size of its establishments grew 23% to 836 square meters, but sales growth is deflated: 11% in March 2024 to 4% in March this year. Why is it important. The figures show an uncomfortable paradox: While online sales grow with higher margins and minor costs … … physical megatiendas devour resources and generate decreasing profitability. However, closing those megatiendas, in emblematic or high visibility locations, with very high costs that eat a good part of the margin, could be counterproductive. The context. The Inditex megatiendas They are not just stores: they are Showrooms strategic Its real function goes beyond maximizing sales per square meter, they also serve to legitimize online prices. A jacket of 80 euros on the Zara website seems reasonable because the customer can touch it, try it and validate its quality in a store, especially in a 1,000 square meters in the center of Madrid or Barcelona. And because of the fact that this brand is there, conquering that space. In detail. The model works like this: Megatiendas create the perception of premium brand that justifies online prices. It is not something that has invented Inditex or exclusive to fashion stores. McKinsey already talked about this phenomenon Before pandemic. Without that physical presence, Zara would lose some reputational credibility in the face of much cheaper purely digital competitors such as Shein. Physical spaces act as confidence anchors that allow to collect higher prices on the digital channel. Yes, but. The equation is complicated when the profitability of these Showrooms It deteriorates. Barclays estimates that the growth of sales per square meter will decelerate 8% historical annual to 3% in the next four years. Maintaining very expensive spaces that do not generate proportional direct benefits is a bit more difficult to sustain in the long term. Turning point. Inditex will possibly redefine your megatiendas without loading your strategic value. Closed would save costs but destroy a part of the credibility that supports online prices. Keep them as the margins are erodes. The departure is to reinvent them as brand theaters that justify their cost through their impact on the digital business. It is something very similar to what happens with telecos stores, especially Flagship: They maintain strategic establishments in central and privileged locations for a more reputational and Awareness (Brand recognition, perception, prestige) that by pure profitability. Outstanding image | Inditex In Xataka | Wallapop taught us to sell what was used. Decathlon has learned to earn money with it

Virtually everyone has stopped using Windows XP. The problem is that ATMs do not

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Most mortals have one of the latest versions of Windows, Macos, Android or iOS on our PCs, laptops or mobiles installed and it seems inconceivable to use obsolete operating systems. Well, we are using them directly to indirectly constantly, because there are various critical systems that continue using old Windows versions. Anchored in the past. In BBC They have recovered a striking debate: how we continue to depend on old operating systems for certain critical systems. The problem not only affects companies, but also to end users who are forced to use those old systems not for hobby, but by obligation. ATMs. One of the classic examples is that of ATMs, many of which are still based on obsolete operating systems. We know that in 2014 89% of ATMs in Europe They were based on Windows XPand there were some even using Windows NT. The latter was released in 1993, more than 30 years ago. Elvis Monteiro, expert in these systems, explained the cause: “The problem to update these machines lies in the high cost associated with hardware compatibility, the approval of regulators and the need to rewrite the software owner of the ATMs.” Security problems. The situation has undoubtedly improving and today the ATMs are usually governed by Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSCwhich has guaranteed security updates seven more years. However, there are a good number of Windows 7 Embedded systems and previous versions such as those mentioned, and that supposes great danger in the field of security: Vulnerabilities discovered in these obsolete systems may end up making them victims of sophisticated attacks. Windows 95 trains. Various control systems of Trains in Sweden work with Windows XP —That was launched in 2001 – but there are also some that depend totally on Windows 95. Inherited systems (“Legacy”) here represent another clear example of how the dependence of these systems makes it very difficult to update them to adapt to the new times. We usually complain about Renfe, but Deutsche Bahn, his analogue in Germany, published a job offer looking for a systems administrator With experience in Windows 3.11 and MS-DOS. There is nothing. And the same thing happens with some San Francisco trains: If a flop is not inserted every morningThey do not work. Japan You know a little about that too. Airports love the old Windows versions. The dependence of these ancient systems is actually seen everywhere and in all types of infrastructure. There are messages on social networks that show examples of the use of Windows XP on the screens of various airports and in the terminals of their Boarding doorsbut also somewhat more recent systems such as Windows 7. But there were even more spectacular cases: in 2015 it was discovered how the French Decor system for aerial drivers It was based on Windows 3.1. Public hospitals and organizations. The problem also affects critical public infrastructure such as The hospitals. A decade ago, I still used 8 -inch and computers floppos from 70s To manage your nuclear weapons. Spain is also affected. In Spain we saw how in 2014, when the official Windows XP, several public administrations ended They faced the problem What to do with your systems. The same or more serious is the fact that Internet Explorer has stopped receiving support and public administration continue depending on its operation In some procedures. And companies. Not only does it happen in these public systems, but also in private companies that are anchored by old Windows versions to continue using certain applications or peripherals. John Watts, who has a Professional printing pressIt depends on Windows 2000 to control two gigantic printers with Lightjet technology. We better not update. Psychiatrist Eric Zabriskie reached his consultation 15 always before because his computer took 15 minutes to start. That is another problem of many companies: they do not apply updates due to lack of resources or time, and that makes obsolete systems use, with all the risks that this entails. In the case of Zabriskie, he works in the Department of Veterans Affairs. This organism, indicate in BBC, makes use of a system called Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) that is based on ms-dos. That happens to be so versatile. That this almost always happens with Windows – also occurs With Linux systems– It has easy explanation: Microsoft has always been the clear alternative in all types of public companies and organizations, especially for its ability to adapt to all types of hardware systems. A problem with a difficult solution. The problem is that the support for that hardware is not maintained indefinitely: each new version of Windows usually means saying goodbye to old standards, protocols or devices, and that makes those who depend on those hardware elements cannot be updated if they want to continue taking advantage of them. The cost of doing so is normally very high, and in doubt, the answer is clear: if you work, do not touch it. Image | BBVA In Xataka | Lost languages: Cobol, Delphi or Fortran are still critical, but there is no one to schedule in them

The Chinese government praises the 3 Nm Xiaomi chip as a milestone on the road to self -sufficiency. The problem is that China does not manufacture it

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The Soc Xring O1 is objectively A milestone in the history of Xiaomi. And it is because it opens a par for this Chinese company that until now had remained closed. This chip It has been designed by Xiaomi itselfand the first device we will run into it will be The 15S Pro smartphone which will presumably be presented by this company at the event that will celebrate tomorrow. During the last days this SOC is caughting a lot of attention because the first performance tests that have seen the light reflect that their power will be only slightly lower than that of the Snapdragon 8 Elite of Qualcomm. It sounds very good, but this chip above all has a characteristic that we cannot ignore: it is manufactured using the integration technology of 3 Nm. China considers it a victory, but it is objectively a half victory South China Morning Post (SCMP), which is a Chinese media that belongs to Emporio Alibaba, has confirmed that the central television of China (CCTV) and the newspaper ‘Diario del Pueblo’, both closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party (PCCH), have praised the effort that Xiaomi has made during the development of the Soc Xring O1. In fact, this company has invested approximately 1.9 billion dollars in the tuning of this chip. Xiaomi has invested approximately 1.9 billion dollars in the tuning of this chip According to SCMP This semiconductor marks a milestone in China’s campaign towards technological self -sufficiency amid the export controls of the strictest advanced semiconductors in the United States. But This statement requires many nuances. In fact, it is reasonable to consider it a half truth. As I mentioned a few lines above the competitiveness of the socx xring O1 does not only reside in the design of its microarchitecture; also clearly plays in his favor the fact that he is manufactured in The 3 Nm node of TSMC. This Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturer, The Major on the Planetcan produce chips for Xiaomi because this last company is not included in the “blacklist” of the US. However, it is evident that the integration technology used to manufacture this SOC does not belong to Xiaomi. It belongs to TSMC. And if the US Department of Commerce decides tomorrow to introduce Xiaomi into its list of vetoed entities will cease to access the Lithographic Vanguard nodes of TSMC. If this semiconductor had been manufactured by SMIC or another Chinese manufacturer of integrated circuits using a 3 Nm lithography the success of Xiaomi, and, as a consequence, of China, would be irrefutable. But for the moment there is no chips manufacturer in the country led by Xi Jinping that has the necessary technology for produce this type of avant -garde semiconductors. China will acquire this capacity in the medium termthere is no doubt about that, but the statement that argues that the soci -soup o1 “marks a milestone in China’s campaign towards technological self -sufficiency” is nothing more than a message from marketing sponsored by Chinese authorities In full confrontation with his American counterpart. Image | Xataka More information | SCMP In Xataka | China is about to have the ability to make 5 Nm chips, although it faces a difficult solution problem

If you think you are poorer than your environment, you are not alone. It is income perception bias and it is a problem

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The human brain comes with a standard “bug”: assume as true what their eyes see. The problem is that What those eyes see And what really happens They do not always coincide. There the cognitive biases arise. A recent study jointly conducted by economists from the universities of Uppsala (Sweden), George Mason (USA) and University of Toronto, reveals that most people tend to believe that their economic situation is worse of what the data really shows. According to researchers, this perception not only affects personalbut also influences collective decisions and the way in which public policies for wealth and services are designed. The tendency to look poorer than you are Regardless of the income level, most people tends to be located in an immediately lower economic stratum to which it really belongs. The study data is based on a sample of more than 1,200 people with different income levels. The results show a common pattern in all of them: the perception of income is usually below reality. Each point shown in the upper graph represents the average perception of the different income percentiles, while the diagonal line represents when the perception of income coincides with reality. That is, those points that are below that diagonal indicate that Income perception is underestimated. It is striking that the vast majority of points are below that “real line” of perception of income, being the usual norm from the 50th percentile as they highlight in The salmon blogit is statistically impossible. Interestingly, in the lower percentilesthe majority perception is the opposite, a perception of income greater than the real one. I’m worse than my neighbor This phenomenon is explained, in large part, by social comparison. People do not have a clear vision of income distribution, so they evaluate their economic situation based on the closest environment, such as friends, family or co -workers. In urban areas, where there is a greater concentration of people with middle-income, It is easier to feel than one is below the averagealthough statistical data indicate otherwise. This distortion is amplified with the effect of social networks and media, which open windows to people with more accommodated living levels, which reinforces that underestimated perception of their own income. Income perception bias is so common that the OECD has created a toolIn which, answering a series of questions about how the user perceives their economic reality, the tool shows that deviation based on the data that the economic body annually collects in their economic reports. Nevertheless, A study Made in Germany, he discovered that being aware that this bias is suffered on income does not imply a change in his perception. Although the study provided precise information to participants about their true position on the global income scale, this correction did not have a significant effect on their support for policies that seek reduce global inequality. That is, even knowing that they are richer than they thought, their willingness to support global redistributive policies did not change relevantly. Consequences on public policies When the perception of income is distortedpublic policies can be designed on erroneous assumptions. If the majority of the population is considered part of the low sectionsthis could generate a Social and fiscal pressure Excessive about the richest, and implement redistributive measures that may not be aimed at people who really need it. As indicated A report of the Carolina Foundation, not taking into account the subjective perceptions of the distribution of income leads to economic and social policies less effective Already an inadequate allocation of resources. From the psychological point of view, this erroneous perception cause dissatisfaction generalized and distrust of institutions. Many people feel that they cannot progress, even if the data show that their position is better than they believe. In Xataka | The two Spain: 7% poorer since 2008 but the number of millionaires will be increased by 12% in the coming years In Xataka | “I am a millionaire and I do not know what to do with my life”: a millionaire is looking for ideas because money has not given him happiness Image | Pexels (Ahsanjaya, kaboomps.com)

Russia opened her prisons to fight in Ukraine. The problem is that they are returning free … and they were convicted murderers

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In the month of January several data and figures of the war in Ukraine were known through the Institute for the Study of War. We already knew that among the many paradoxes that the conflict threw, one of them had to do with The economic “value” that he had a Russian soldier in his native country. However, then another reality was also revealed: Moscow’s casualties on the front led the Kremlin to implement drastic strategies to fill their ranks, opening the door of their prisons To recruit criminals of all fur. The problem has arrived months later, when many of those soldiers are returning home. Return murderers. I told it a few days ago in Exclusive Washington Post. As we said, the war in Ukraine opened a Unusual and disturbing door: convict criminals, even murderers and rapists, could obtain forgiveness of the State If they agreed to fight in the front. This macabre pact has now resulted in a new wave of violence in the interior of the country, fed by veterans and former inmates who, after surviving the war, return home as free men and, in many cases, returning to crime. Real examples. In The report There were tremendous stories like Yekaterina Polyanskayamurdered with a knife by its ex -husband in an Achinsk park, Siberia. Shortly before, the man had also killed his new partner. This was only one of the numerous cases that have shaken communities that fear to see how their worst executioners escape from punishment under a war medal. In a dystopian turn of events, his aggressor, Kirill Cheplygin, currently arrested, has requested Go back to the forehead To avoid their conviction, and the neighbors, terrified, have started a campaign to prevent their possible return. It is not an isolated case: other criminals have followed that way, some so monstrous like Nikolai Ogolobyakconvicted By cannibalism and murderor Viktor Savvinov, who, after being pardoned by fighting, killed brutally to two more peopleincluding a decorated teacher. The pattern is repeated: atrocious crimes, a brief step by prison, armed redemption in the front and, for many, definitive impunity. Between war heroes and predators. In the background, a story that We already count in the month of January and that the New York Times published Exclusive: Russian authorities promoted this policy with patriotic rhetoric and institutional fatalism. According to Kremlin, shedding blood on the battlefield can even redeem the cruelest of criminals. In fact, They counted the reports that the official press portrays them as a new heroic elite, and the Censorship Law prevents openly criticizing to those who have fought in the so -called “special military operation”. However, in the streets, especially in rural or peripheral communities, imposes fear. Families of victims live knowing that the murderers of their daughters, mothers or neighbors could Return armedproud and without control. Cases like Oksana Pekhtelevawhose daughter was murdered with sadism by her ex -boyfriend and tortured for hours without the police intervened, she learned by the press that the man had been released and sent to the front. Today he doesn’t know where he is, or if he will return. An arbitrariness that breaks any possibility of justice. Plus: citizen protests run into a wall of Institutional indifferencewhile the crimes accumulate in those margins of the heroism officialized. Brutality and abandonment. Within the Russian army itself, violence is not only against the enemy. According to The reports With which the post has been made, there are dozens of documents that describe commanders who “cancel” their own soldiers by sending them to suicidal missions, punishing them in cages, burying them alive or hitting them. In total psychological support, structural brutality has transformed thousands of men In human bombs ready to explode. To all this we must add another “bad” of wars: Alcoholism has shotwith record figures for consumption after the invasion of Ukraine, and the crime rates They have reached levels not seen for a decade. He Washington Post counted Cases such as Danil Akhipov, who fled from the country after flying their hand and defecting, which describe a front where superiors treat soldiers as cannon flesh and human life is not worth much. AkHipov explained to the environment that, of every fifteen men in his assault unit, Only three survived to each operation. The result: a dehumanized army, full of combatants With posttraumatic stressaccustomed to killing and now reintegrated into society without supervision or purpose. No exit for victims. Meanwhile, the Legal and political framework Russia seems to reinforce this spiral of impunity. The law, as we said, consecrates forgiveness as a reward for combat, without evaluating the risk of freeing certain individuals. Neither multiple sexual crimes nor particularly sadistic murders prevent access to this kind of “war pardon.” Ukraine too approved a law A year ago, it allows “minor” criminals to fight, but those convicted of murders, sexual crimes or violations of national security laws are prohibited from doing so. In addition, the victims and their relatives are not informed in Russia, nor do they have access to legal resources to oppose, and in many cases they do not even know that their aggressors were released until It’s too late. The political elite, armored by institutional machinery, ignores citizens’ requests. For many, to live in the same city or town that who killed his mother or daughter is a daily hell. And yet there is no legal tools To protect them. Trauma mirror without justice. The documents and the experiences collected For the Times and The post They reflect a reality that has surely been repeated in all wars and conflicts of the last centuries. In the case of Russia it is not only a consequence of the armed conflict, but the consolidation of a model that sacrifices justice, security and truth in favor of a warmongering rhetoric that makes criminals patriots. Because of its proximity, the parallels with the return of traumatized veterans after Afghanistan in the 80s serve as warning, but the difference is that today impunity … Read more

All AI companies promise that the AGI will arrive very soon. The problem is that chatgpt is not the way

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In December 2022 chatgpt He left us speechless to all. However, two and a half years later we have a problem: it does not seem that after all this time I can go to much more. It has improved, yes, but in the meantime we are moving away from the great promise of AI, which is none other than going beyond and that someone manages to reach what is known as the General Artificial Intelligence. And it seems clear that this path, that of Chatgpt, is not the good to get it. Promises, promises. A few months ago Sam Altman called the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and He said that the AGI would arrive before it ended its mandate. It is a message that has been repeating for months, although then spoke of “A few thousand days“Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, believes that It could arrive beforein 2026. Elon Musk – who promised that he would have a totally autonomous Tesla in 2016 – agreed and pointed at 2026 as the year we will have an AGI. All are hypeptimists for a simple reason. Money. Like Altman, all who defend the rise and development of AI and the imminent arrival of the AGI do so to raise more and more money for their companies. We know that developing, training and running models of ia costs true fortunes, but the progress in this field seems to be slowing down. Doubts with climbing. There are many who believe that the current strategy of climbing the models – give more GPUS and get more data to train them – no longer compensates as much as before. The latest versions of the great foundational models exceed their predecessors, yes, but not in a striking way. It’s as if we had touched the roof. This is not the way. And for months the voices of experts have begun to be heard making it clear that other solutions must be sought. Nick Frosst, a student at Geoffrey Hinton and founder of Cohere, is clear that current technology is not enough to reach an AGI. What the generative AI does is “predict the next most likely word”, but that is very different from the way humans think. Lecun believes that we will take a long time to achieve an AGI. Personalities respected in the world of AI such as Yann Lecun, head of the division of AI in the finish line, are clear. Models as chatgpt They will not be able to match human intelligence. Also ensures that achieving a human level AI It will take a long time: Nothing “a few thousand days” as Altman said. And Sutskever coincides. This openai co -founder, is also skeptical with the potential of the generative AI, which according to him It is barely improving. His new startup, Safe Superintelligence, aims to create a superintelligence with “nuclear” securityalthough at the moment there have been no details about the strategy they are following to achieve it. It is not of course the one that followed when it helped create chatgpt. A recent survey to an academic association of experts in this field They thought the same: Three quarters of those who responded do not believe that current methods serve to end up developing an AGI. The generative AI is not a miracle. As they point out In The New York Timeswhat chatbots like chatgpt or other developments in this field is to do one thing very well, “but they are not necessarily better than humans in others.” According to him there is a certain temptation to think of these chatbots as something magical, but “these systems are not a miracle. They are very impressive gadgets.” Chatgpt does not challenge what he knows. Thomas Wolf, co -founder and Chief Science officer of Hugging Face, is clear that the generative AI is very good, but is far from taking us to an AGI. What we have, he explained a few weeks ago, is like “a country full of people who tell us yes to everything.” Chatgpt does not challenge us, but he does not challenge what he knows either. “We need a system that is able to ask yourself things that nobody had thought Or that nobody had dared to ask, “he said. Many challenges ahead. Among the differences between AI and human intelligence is that the latter is linked to the physical world: part of our intelligence is to know when to turn the toast, for example. There are advances in robotics and sensors that can help solve such problems, but this is a good example of how there are still many challenges to overcome to achieve that general artificial intelligence that is supposed to match (or overcome) to human intelligence in all disciplines. And the Ias that reason? The generative AI companies have found a small respite with the modes of reasoning of their chatbots. Here we find a singular advance that allows AI to respond more precisely and detailed thanks to “thinking” their answers and following a process of “reasoning” that tries to imitate the human. However, this does not seem to take us to an AGI, and again these modes of reasoning are rather a way to try that the answers are something better and do not see “hallucinations” by the chatbots. In spite of everything, Chatgpt and its rivals continue to make mistakes in this and the rest of the ways. Odds. On the horizon some possibilities appear. The current approach based on neural networks accompanies the approach of symbolic systems (based on rules) that can help provide elements such as deductive reasoning or abstract knowledge management to current models. It also works on training of models with physically precise virtual environments and in the so -called systems of meta-learningwhich allow to train new neural networks quickly and with a limited data set. But companies need products to sell us. These approaches to the development of new research roads are there, but the problem … Read more

Steve Jobs discovered that meetings were a huge problem. Larry Page confirmed that solving it was not easy

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He excess meetings At work it has been a obstacle to productivity For decades. Although today it is A very debated topicalready in 1986 Steve Jobs He identified him as one of the great enemies of efficiency in technology companies. Decades later, Larry Page, co -founder of Google, also faced this problem by assuming CEO in Eric Schmidt replacement. At that time he realized the challenge of solving that problem without causing others Even worse. Jobs and Page attempts to change the meetings culture They showed that, although the solutions seem simple, putting them into practice is much more complicated than it seems. Steve Jobs and the problem of meetings In 1986, Steve Jobs realized that frequent and unproductive meetings were negatively affecting the creativity and efficiency of the equipment, as recognized in the letters collected in the book ‘Make submission Wonderful‘. Jobs noted that, instead of helping to advance, many of the meetings in Next They became a waste of timebraking innovation and quick decision making. Jobs promoted the idea of ​​minimizing meetings (and even prohibit them on Thursdays) and only call them when they were really necessary. According to Jobs, The key I was to keep small and focused teams, avoiding large groups where most attendees did not contribute anything relevant. This philosophy later helped Apple maintain its agility and response capacity, in addition to inspiring the CEO of another great technological: Google. Larry Page and the challenge of changing Google In 2011, Larry Page took the command of Google as CEO, at a time when the company already had 30,000 employees and increasingly ambitious challenges. Such and As I counted Jacob Votko, former employee of Google who lived in the first person those changes, Page realized that the excess meetings was affecting the company’s capacity To innovate quickly. The former employee had an anecdote in the Larry Page had criticized large companies as Yahoo! Because it took weeks to update their main page, while in Google they did it in hours. However, now that Google had grown up, Page wondered if in a startup someone would be making jokes about the slow decision of Google. To combat this problem, Larry Page He sent an email To the entire company with new Rules for meetings: Every meeting must have a “decision maker.” You can discuss issues, but once determined, each one executes them as if the decision were their own. Each meeting must have a clear purpose, structure and agenda. If you have nothing to contribute, don’t go All must be punctual, and pay full attention to the meeting (not other background tasks) Celebrate meetings in groups of less than 10 people and broadly spread the notes Establish a maximum duration of 50 minutes instead of an hour and respect those time limits The difficulties of applying new rules Although Page’s instructions were clear, Votko said that the implementation of these measures was not simple. Many employees continued to extend meetings until they were impossible for them to continue because others needed the room. In fact, some teams even tried to take advantage of the 10 -minute holes between meetings to carry out rapid meetings in which they did not even sat, generating friction with users who extended their meetings beyond the regulatory 50 minutes. According to published Business InsiderLarry Page established that no decision should wait for a meeting, and if it required a meeting, it should be summoned urgently. That generated some confusion and organizational chaos since it was interpreted as that these meetings had preference over others, demonstrating that changing such entrenched habits requires much more than simple rules. To reinforce these changes, Larry Page divided Google into seven large groups of product, each with a clear person responsible. The goal was that each of them will act like a startup internal In this way, decision -making would be expedited and unnecessary bureaucracy and unnecessary meetings would be avoided. More than a decade later, great technological ones try again apply the same recipes To prevent someone, in some startup, not get rid of his slowness When making decisions. In Xataka | Working in Google was a dream for many. Paradise in the technology offices is now fading Image | AppleFlickr (Niall Kennedy), Unspash (Rodeo Project Management Software)

China is about to have the ability to make 5 Nm chips, although it faces a difficult solution problem

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SMIC (Semiconductor manufacturing international corp), the largest Chinese semiconductor manufacturer has been working on the development of Your own 5 nm photolithography. In early February 2024 the newspaper Financial Times He said he had access to two experts in the integrated circuit industry who defended that this company was finalizing the refinement of their semiconductor manufacturing processes in their machines deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). Its purpose was to have the necessary technology to make 5 Nm chips massively before the end of 2024, although it did not succeed. If its 5 Nm chips had already been successful in this project, the first Huawei devices or any other SMIC client equipped with this type of integrated circuits would have even seen the market. Be that as it seems, now, this technology is ready. The challenge facing SMIC is the performance by wafer According to Dr. Kiman expert in the manufacture of integrated circuits who has worked in Samsung and who currently investigates for TSMC in the US, SMIC is about to start the production of 5 Nm chips. It is perfectly credible because, as we have just seen, we know with certainty that this company has been working on this technology for several years. And, in addition, Dr. Kim is a reliable source. However, this expert has pointed out something crucial that we should not overlook: the performance per wafer that SMIC has currently achieved in its 5 Nm nodes is less than 30%. An incipient integration technology usually moves in the orbit of 50% performance per wafer When semiconductor manufacturers produce a chip wafer, some of those nuclei do not work properly. It is normal. When they launch a new lithographic node, their performance by wafer usually has a margin of broad improvement, but little by little, as engineers refine their integration processes, This parameter improves. A mature lithography can deliver to integrated circuit manufacturers a very high performance, but an incipient technology usually moves in the orbit of 50% performance, so only half of the chips produced work correctly. The problem is that for an integration technology to be profitable from an economic point of view, its performance by wafer has to be At least 70%. And, as we have just seen, Dr. Kim argues that the SMIC 5 NM node is below 30%. It is objectively a very poor performance, but we know what this low figure explains: the technique used by this manufacturer to produce these semiconductors. It is known as Multiple patterningand SMIC has used it for more than a year and a half to make 7 NM chips for Huawei and other customers. This strategy consists in transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. It works, but is responsible for wafer performance is clearly improvable. SMIC engineers have been forced to resort to Multiple patterning because The US and Netherlands sanctions They prevent Asml from selling their extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment to their Chinese customers, which are the ideal to make chips of 7 nm or less. With the UVP machines that SMIC has, it will be very difficult for wafer performance to be optimal, so in all 5 Nm integrated circuits they will be scarce and expensive. The definitive solution to this problem for SMIC, Huawei and the other Chinese companies that are dedicated to semiconductors inevitably goes through developing their own UVE lithography teams. They are in it. Image | SMIC More information | Dr. Kim In Xataka | The US has declared the total war on Huawei: he does not want him to sell his chips for the most advanced outside of China

There are more and more physical videogames that are pisapapeles. It is a tremendous problem for the video game as art

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Video games have been traveling the same path as music and cinema for a few years: change towards digital. The releases are now digital and Streaming video game platforms They have been a great jump in the industry. Some -xbox- are so clear that much of their strategy revolves around this technology. If you want the physical format, it is also there, but with an important small print: the album you buy may be empty. AND ‘Doom The Dark Ages‘It has been the last example of this new reality. The controversy of ‘Doom’. The games each time they occupy more and more space. That is why the current physical format, the Blu-ray, has long opted for the double and triple layer of 66 and 100 GB respectively. A lot of information enters an album with that capacity, but the problem is that the recent release of ‘Doom The Dark Ages’ shows that, on the album, barely There are 85 MB in PS5about 320 mb in Xbox Series x. It is a motorcycle of dust in an ocean. What does this imply? Well, when we introduce the album in a PS5 or an Xbox Series X, the data that is installed are not on the disc: it is the files of those 85 MB that give the order to the machine to download the data of the servers of the corresponding companies. That is to say: The new ‘doom’ album is a launcherbut it’s nothing new. The ‘tweet’ of the controversy Ubisoft has taken the taste. Before the last Bethesda game, the controversy in this regard came with each Ubisoft launch. The French company has had some of the largest games in the industry in recent years (such as’Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora‘,’Star Wars Outlaws‘ and ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘) And, although not everyone has gone well, they do share something: you need the Internet to install them. Physical format, but not much. It is no longer that you need the Internet to play (‘Gran Turismo 7‘, among others, they require constant connection to Sony servers or we will not be able to play most of the content), but the game must be downloaded even if you bought it in physical format, relegating the box to something that simply occupies space on the shelf. But there are more examples of other companies, such as’Indiana Jones and the big circle‘ either ‘Stalker2‘. Others like ‘GTA Trilogy‘They can be played with disk content, but they are so broken that without patch it is not worth it. And cases like ‘Star Wars Jedi Survivor‘ either ‘Hogwarts Legacy‘They bring the beginning of the game on the album and the rest under download. The alternative? Two albums, as does’Final Fantasy VII Rebirth‘, but that also increases costs for companies. Activism. All this has caused a reaction in users. It is not about being against the digital format, but about the albums that come practically empty because nobody knows what will happen when the servers close. It is a new situation in the industry and we have already seen cases (Ubisoft closing servers of ‘The Crew’ and making it impossible to play something you have paid in physical or digital format) of inaccessible games when the company closes the tap. That is why initiatives such as Stop Killing Games To be the authorities who promulgate laws that prevent our remote games from deactivating, but there are also initiatives by users that allow us to know which games are complete on the disc and, if they need download, to what extent it is mandatory. This is the case of the web Does it play? in which users report the status of physical versions in video games. And the big question. As we say, the most recent mess has formed around the launch of ‘Doom The Dark Ages’, and the question is what will happen to my physical video games in the future. Title Xbox 360 It guarantees me, whenever I have a console, to be able to play it now or within 20 years, but nothing assures me that in 20 years the active Microsoft servers are keeping my copy of ‘doom’. And we focus on the case of almost empty Blu-ray, but we could put the Game Key Card of Nintendo Switch 2 In the bag, since they work in the same way. Green outbreaks. On the one hand, platforms such as Good Old Games They allow us to buy a digital game, but when we get with it, we have an installer to be able to install it offline as many times as we want without depending on servers. Even when they remove games for licenses, recently The case of ‘Warcraft 1 + 2‘, If you had already bought them, they are yours forever. On the other hand, when we have attended Nintendo DS servers closures, Wii or Xbox 360, companies have warned in advance so we can make the necessary purchases Before video games disappear forever, being able to download them in the storage of the system or hard drive to play them in the future. Because Ubisoft or Steam have made it clear that Digital games do not belong to usbut physicists should be ours and, if the servers close in the future, we will have to see what happens with all those albums that only have a launcher inside. Because, in the end, this goes beyond being able to play my physical game within 20 years: it is that it is a practice that Play against the preservation of the video game as art, one that can make many They disappear forever. Main image | Xataka In Xataka | The consoles are still the stars of the video game. Real money is on mobile and microtransactions

Spain is no longer a problem for Telefónica. But it is not your solution yet

by

Telefónica has achieved what seemed unlikely recently: return to your domestic market to the growth field. Upward income, a convergent ARPU triggered and close to the triple digit, customers won on all fronts, terminals and upward alarms, TV in its best form since before the pandemic, Churn at bay … All that is already happening, but The most relevant is not only what happens in the figures, but what happens in the strategy. Spain has ceased to be a river to The Great T.but this has not yet decided to turn it into spearhead. Or that’s what is read between the lines. During The last presentation of resultsthe first of Murtra, Emilio Gayo, newly promoted to CEO after his success at the head of the Spanish subsidiary, heard the positive data of the quarter. But Transcription of the call with investors It transmits some coldness. As if it was enough to run well to change the course of the story. As if the good moment is enough to hold it without mutating it. The needle of the action moves the balance, but also the illusion. What Gayo did not say speak as much as what he did pronounced: Telefónica is not using Spain as a strategic trampoline. It does not position it as a test field for new business lines, nor does it present it as a showcase of what can be a large telecus, but also modern, profitable, diversified. Not even as an operational matrix of Telefónica Tech, although in Spain this segment grows at a good pace. They are still unreottered their margins or their detailed results, it is a promise still locked in an opaque showcase. And what is not seen, hardly valued. Spain works, but The group has not yet shown the same determination to define its course as in Latin Americawhere They opted for an immediate exit After years in red. The context asks something else. Telefónica is in full strategic review (Gayo himself has said explicitly), And that review points in several directions: Consolidation in large markets (Spain, Germany, United Kingdom). Reinforcement of not strictly Telecos divisions (Tech, Infra). Industrial narrative, infrastructure, more than technological, which is the mystique that today is in the markets. In that framework, the logical thing would be to make Spain a success case. A replicable pilot. An example of advanced convergence (average of 92 eurazos per client, rather than in countries with greater purchasing power), premium loyalty, differential content, Diversification of income beyond voice and data. But Telefónica is presenting good numbers as data, not as a vision. It is not just a matter of story, it is a matter of course. Especially Now that Telefónica is running as a key piece in the European consolidation of the sector: The inaugural speech of the MWC crying out for her did not give the CEO of Deutsche Telekom or Vodafone or Orange, Murtra gave it. That ambition is more than Buy or fuse Digis either Vodafonesit implies proposing another way of being a teleco in this new era. And if there is one way, it can only be born from the places where Telefónica is already winning, where it does not play defensive. If Gayo and Murtra want to make Telefónica a European champion (Financial Times He slid days after the goodbye of Pallete that this was the idea with Murtra), there will be more than financial muscle or client volume: a model, a successful narrative, a value proposition that justifies that central role in the European map of telecommunications. Spain could be perfectly that modelbut Telefónica has not yet decided if you want to use it to inspire or just to consolidate. And that indecision has a cost. In a sector where all companies are redefining what they want to be – which They play to be platformstechnological that They rent networkshybrids that They reinvent the service…—, who does not propose stays out. Although their kpis shine, even if their domestic market breathes again. Nokia launched very solid terminals while Apple invented the future that would ruin it. AT&T prioritized the scale without a clear thesis and today has blurred in front of more pre -pre -rivals. Yahoo never knew what he wanted to be and The market decided on it. Telefónica is not at risk of disappearing, but if you are out of the game that matters. He is in time to decide his role, but that time to do so will not be infinite. The most difficult is already done: Spain works again for Telefónica. What has not yet been done is decide what that means. If Telefónica wants to lead Europe, you must first demonstrate it at home. Outstanding image | Telefónica In Xataka | 100 years after his birth, Telefónica faces the greatest existential dilemma in its history: what wants to be older

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