promised

2026 promised to be the great year for US tourism. Now it has found itself with a hole of 11 million visitors

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2026 looked good for US tourism. with the sector recovering of the pandemic on an international scale, the US started the year with three ‘hooks’ capable of attracting thousands of visitors: the world cup of FIFA, the centenary of Route 66 and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Three milestones that under normal conditions would make agencies, airlines and hotels rub their hands. Instead of that voices sound that warn that curves are coming. There are those who warn that the American industry risks losing a fortune and it is even done a question: Are there millions of tourists missing in the country? What has happened? That in a year in which (theoretically) the United States has everything in its favor to reinforce its tourism, in the country voices arise that speak of the complete opposite: loss of tourists foreigners and dark clouds on the horizon that threaten to cost the sector billions and billions of dollars. a few days ago The New York Times public an analysis in which he already slipped several worrying data: in January the flow of foreign travelers fell 4.8%a percentage that is largely explained by the decline in Canadian tourism, 28% lower to that of 2024. It is not only that the data is bad, it is that it maintains the negative trend of 2025, the year in which the US suffered a 6% decline in foreign visitors while the industry grew globally. How does 2026 look? That same question Oxford Economics did it not long ago, especially because according to its records in 2025, international overnight stays were reduced by 5.7% in the US. His answer is interesting: the observatory estimates that in 2026 the influx of foreigners will increase by 3.9%, although this growth is accompanied by some fine print. Getting started Oxford Economics remember that the celebration of the FIA ​​World Cup, which the US hosts jointly with Mexico and Canada, should be enough to boost the arrival of tourists. However, the 3.9% forecast for the US is much lower than the increase in demand expected worldwide, which is around 8%. Its analysts already warn that the US risks “underperforming other international markets again this year.” Is there more data? Yeah. TNYT appointment some analyzes and sources that point to stagnation or even a drop in demand from Europe. The most revealing is a study by Cirium that reflects a year-on-year drop of 14.2% in July reservations made from the old continent. The data must be handled with caution in any case. First because 2026 has just begun. Second, because the analysis is based on external sources and travel agendas, which does not include reservations processed directly with airlines. Can the panorama change? Yes. A month ago World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a resounding statement in which he warned of the impact they would have the new demands posed by Washington for travelers who want to use the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), including a in depth review of the applicant’s history on social networks. If the measure is finally applied, the organization warns, the sector could suffer a drop in demand with serious consequences. “34% of respondents say they are less likely to visit the US in the next two or three years if the changes are implemented. Only 12% say they would be more likely, which will translate into a significant net decrease in travel intentions,” explains. WTTC estimates point to a loss of 4.7 million international arrivals and $15.7 billion in visitor spending. In terms of employment, some 157,000 positions would be damaged. Are there more factors at play? Yes. The changes to the ESTA would explain the losses calculated by the WTTC for the future, but they do not the ‘prick’ that foreign tourism in the US already suffered in 2025, a year in which the sector grew in most destinations. In fact, the UN itself has highlighted the “weak results” of the US, especially during the third and fourth quarters. What is the reason for this trend? For the WTTC the answer seems clear: in 2025, with Trump in the White House, I already warned that “while other countries welcome (the traveler) the US Government hangs the ‘closed’ sign.” How is the sector doing? It is not the only warning he issues. The WTTC recently recalled that the US inbound tourism market has suffered the loss of 11 million visitors in just four years, between 2019 and 2025. The organization does not go into details or delve into the data. The one who does it is the UN, although for the whole of North America. According to your statisticsIn 2019, the region received 146.6 million foreign visitors. In 2025 there were 135.4. That period has coincided with the pandemic and its subsequent hangover, but in recent months it has been marked by international politics led by Trump, with threats of one kind or another to the EU, Mexico and above all Canada and Greenlandterritories that the Republican wants to annex to the United States. Why is it a problem? “When eleven million international visitors fail to show up, the result is billions of dollars in economic losses for the travel industry,” warns in The New York Times Erik Hansen, director of the United States Travel Association. As the New York media recalls, the Trump administration has not made it easy for travelers, restricting entry from a dozen countries and announcing measures that would make visas more expensive and would force tourists to undergo deep scrutiny to enter the country. With that backdrop, there are those who already has called for a boycott trips to the US, even during the world cupamong other reasons for protest due to the actions of ICE. Images | ANDilis Garvey (Unsplash), Gianandrea Villa (Unsplash) In Xataka | If you want to visit New York, go to the consulate first: the US has added a requirement for visas for Mexican children and elderly

Apple promised they would be happy by sweeping the iPhone in China. Until Huawei made things clear

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For years, the iPhone was the best-selling mobile phone in China despite the efforts of Asian manufacturers. Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo were fighting to create a product at their level (or even superior in some key aspects, such as the camera), achieving privileged positions in a ranking in which Apple used to dominate. It’s not like that anymore. Again, king. Huawei has been in first place in shipments within its country for more than two years. This past 2025, despite having lost 1.9% in annual growth, it is still slightly above the iPhone company. Specifically, 16.4% market share compared to Apple’s 16.2%. Apple grows 4% year-on-year, an increase motivated by the great commercial reception of the new family iPhone 17. In fact, Apple has already surpassed Samsung and has become the first manufacturer worldwide, despite being the second in China. Yes, but. Although Huawei is reigning with an iron fistthe data is not enough to assert that this will continue to be the case next 2026. There has never been such a fierce fight between the main Chinese manufacturers. Huawei: 16.4% market share. Apple: 16.2% market share. Vivo: 16.2% market share. Xiaomi: 15.4% market share. OPPO: 15.2% market share. Minimal differences in quota that will translate into a constant dance of positions during 2026. There is a clear message here: Huawei has not been able to be stopped in its native country. The Huawei case. Vivo, Xiaomi and OPPO maintain a close relationship with Qualcomm, the giant in charge of providing the best high-end Android devices with the most powerful chips on the market. Meanwhile, Huawei has had to adapt to playing with more restrictions than the rest: has had to develop together with SMIC their own processors He had to create a software ecosystem completely independent of Android Almost completely redesign your supply chain Make an even more ambitious bet on your domestic market, where life without Google is the norm The surprise. For years, we have seen Chinese mobile phones as great high-end proposals, but with some important disadvantages compared to Western rivals (fewer years of support, mediocre video recording, “crazy” specs without any sense of assembly…). This has been changing for a while now.. Today (saving the subjectivity of which software we like more or less), Chinese mobile phones are the most ambitious hardware proposal overall. They have the best batteries on the market, by far. On a photographic level, they are beginning to move dangerously far from Apple, Google and Samsung. The hardware set usually far exceeds what we see in the rest of its rivals. Chinese brands are very focused on their expansion throughout Europe, and it shows. not so fast. The Asian market is a great mirror in which to see how the fight between large technology companies progresses, but its particularities are still there. On a global level, at least currently, Apple and Samsung seem practically unreachable. Only Xiaomi, with a 13% share worldwide (compared to Apple’s 20% and Samsung’s 19%), plays in the double-digit league. Vivo and OPPO, with a share of 8%, have not moved their position since 2023. By 2026, consultancies like Counterpoint expect a year of moderation and a poor growth forecast. The global price crisis in DRAM/NAND memories will force an imminent price increase. Whoever manages to contain the dam will win this year. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Chinese mobile phones conquered the market by dividing into a thousand different brands. Now they are doing just the opposite.

Apple, Google and Samsung promised them happily with 5,000mAh batteries. Until China came to rub their hands on their faces

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The person writing these lines has an American mobile phone—made in China—with a little more 5,000mAh. A figure in which giants like Apple, Samsung or Google have been comfortably installed for years. Meanwhile, in China, Honor has just made official a phone with a 10,000 mAh battery. The launch is not surprising just because it has managed to literally introduce a powerbank inside a smartphone. It is surprising because it breaks a barrier that until now no one had dared to cross. Not due to lack of possibilities, but due to industrial inertia. The aforementioned. Honor has made the Honor Win and Honor Win RT. Two phones that, in addition to having the best Qualcomm processorshave a 10,000mAh battery made of silicon-carbon technology. The message is clear: this is not a typical high-end, it is proof that China is the leading benchmark in batteries for smartphones. thickness. For years there has been an unwritten but unquestionable rule: more battery means more thickness. The 10,000 mAh were reserved for rugged, bulky mobile phones designed for very specific uses. These Honor Win break that logic. They are thinner than a iPhone 17 Pro Maxbut with double the energy capacity. There are no gimmicks, fine print or marketing exercises: it’s a real leap in energy density. How did they achieve it?. Honor has not specified how they have managed to take the capacity to such an extreme but the person responsible is clear: silicon-carbon. This technology has been demonstrating for years that it is possible to introduce much denser batteries in the sizes in which lithium has already reached its ceiling. Chinese mobile phones have been standardizing for more than a year batteries over 7,000mAhand Honor’s move to reach five figures marks what aspires to be a new standard. The cons. Silicon-carbon poses certain challenges, and the first is degradation. These batteries, especially in their first generations, They seemed not to be at the same level as classic lithium batteries. Over time, the promised charge cycles are virtually identical to those of traditional lithium batteries (more than 1,500). The second is the cost: producing this type of cells is more expensivewhich partially explains why, for the moment, these figures reach China first and not global markets. In fact, a common practice is to find models whose Chinese version has more battery than the global version, reserved for the rest of the markets. A third key point is related to security and regulation. Denser batteries require stricter controls, and Western regulatory frameworks are not always prepared to adopt these types of advances so quickly. None of this invalidates progress. It simply explains why Apple, Samsung or Google have not yet made the leap. It’s not that they can’t: it’s that they haven’t wanted to take the risk… yet. China is going to force a move. The 10,000mAh batteries are, without much room for doubt, one of the biggest technological leaps in the world of smartphones after the arrival of AI. A figure that will allow us to normalize the three days of average use without going through the charger. The leap is so relevant that, whether they like it or not, “traditional” manufacturers will have to start making a move, as they had to start doing with fast charging systems. Samsung has already started implementing the 7,000mAh in phones like the Galaxy M51but its high-end is still at the 5,000mAh barrier. Google also moves in the 5,200mAh and Apple… is Apple. With a greater or lesser pace of implementation, these manufacturers are forced to keep pace with China in these advances. And that translates into admitting that we were wrong about lithium. Image | Honor In Xataka | The Android phones with the best battery of 2025: which one to buy and recommended models

Telefónica promised great savings by 2030. Its ERE has been negotiated at 2,500 million euros and 4,525 layoffs

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Telefónica and the majority unions UGT, CCOO and Fetico-Sumados have signed the employment regulation file (ERE) that will affect the seven subsidiaries of the group. The minimum volume of departures is set at 4,525 employees, 14 less than initially planned after a last-minute reduction in the divisions of Telefónica Global Solutions, Telefónica Innovación Digital and Telefónica SA As highlighted by CCOO statementthe agreement is reached after almost a month of marathon negotiations, which began in November when the management communicated its intention to carry out the ERE for objective reasons that would affect 6,088 employees. Fewer layoffs than estimated He agreement reached establishes the minimum departure of some 4,525 employees, which represents a reduction of 25.6% compared to the 6,088 dismissals proposed at the beginning of the negotiations. However, this limit only responds at a minimum estimatethe company estimates that finally about 5,500 employees will take voluntary leave. In any case, it is a lower figure than that announced by the operator before the negotiations. The bulk of the adjustment corresponds to the companies covered by the Related Companies Agreement (CEV), with 3,765 minimum departures distributed as follows: 2,925 in Telefónica de España (almost 33% of a workforce of 8,892 people), 720 in Telefónica Móviles (20% of a total of 3,587 employees) and 120 in Telefónica Soluciones (11% of 1,118 workers). In the case of these companies covered by the Related Companies Agreement, the final number of dismissals is not fixed, but depends on the volume of voluntary adhesions, with a range that goes from 3,765 to 5,040 departures. The group’s global units total 585 layoffs. 109 layoffs in Telefónica Global Solutions (17% of the 638 employees), 182 in Digital Innovation (18.3% of 993 employees) and 294 in the TSA parent company (25.3% of 1,160 employees). Added to these figures are 175 departures from Movistar+, which represent 20.3% of its workforce of 860 people, a significant reduction compared to the 297 departures initially planned. Economic conditions and membership requirements Compensation contemplates different sections depending on the year of birth of the workers. Those born between 1969 and 1971 will receive 68% of the regulatory salary until the age of 63 and 38% thereafter, although in Movistar+ those born in 1971 are excluded. For the oldest For those born between 1965 and 1968, the percentages are 62% up to age 63 and 34% thereafter, while those born in 1964 or before will receive 52% of the salary up to age 63 and 35% thereafter. To voluntarily join with these conditions, 15 years of seniority in related subsidiaries and 13 years of seniority in global subsidiaries are required. In addition, the latter include voluntary bonuses of between 5,000 and 18,000 euros depending on seniority, doubling the amounts initially proposed. The departure process will be carried out in a staggered manner depending on the subsidiary. For related subsidiaries, the voluntary departure request period will begin on December 29 and end on January 26, while for global subsidiaries, it will extend from December 29 to January 29. In Movistar+, the voluntary deadline is postponed until January 7 and will be accepted until February 6. Spend to save Telefónica calculates that this ERE will have a cost of about 2,500 million euros before taxes. For Telefónica España and Movistar Plus+ the provision will be around 2.3 billion euros, while for the corporate units it will be approximately 200 million euros respectively. These staff cuts are part of the new Transform & Grow strategic plan of Telefónica for the period 2026-2030, which seeks to save costs up to 3,000 million euros annually in 2030. However, the company estimates annual savings close to 600 million euros from 2028, with a positive impact on cash generation as early as 2026. Simultaneously with the ERE, Telefónica has reached an agreement with the union centers to extend the collective agreements of the seven subsidiaries until 2030. The most significant advance is the commitment to increase salaries 1.5% each year while the agreement is in force, affecting both the related subsidiaries and the global units of Telefónica. Employees of the linked subsidiaries will receive an additional payment of 300 euros in October, of which 150 euros will be consolidated annually in the salary tables. The social benefits include the extension of the teleworking package up to 12 days, the extension of the 36 hour work week to global units, the improvement of bank guarantees for home purchases from 75,000 to 100,000 euros, aid of 3,000 euros for rent and the declaration of December 24 and 31 as non-working days. In Xataka | The best strategies to ask for a salary increase, the negotiation most similar to a “battle” at work Image | Telephone

AI promised to free senior employees from tedious work. In reality it is loading them with more tasks

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Imagine a young recent graduate in finance, eager to join a large consulting firm. He dreams of learning the trade from below. That inexorably involves preparing reports, researching markets, creating presentations, etc. But along comes AI and suddenly those routine tasks are automated. He produce more and faster, but all that torrent of documents lands on the desk of the person in charge of supervising him, a senior manager who is now passing hours checking errors that have been overlooked. This scenario is what reveals a study prepared by the consulting firm UpSlide and its conclusion leaves an unexpected twist: artificial intelligence not only removes the access ladder for new workers, but also burdens the most veteran workers.​​ AI takes away opportunities for recent graduates. According to the data that they are being collected In different studies on the impact of AI on recent graduates, job offers for entry-level positions have been reduced between 11% and 20% in the last year. The reason: AI now takes over the basic administrative tasks that before these young people did. Furthermore, a elaborate study by researchers from the University of Navarra and IESE Business School, based on data from 138 million workers in the United States, reveals that in companies exposed to generative AI, average salaries fall by 4.5% compared to those not exposed. In the most affected, the salary drop reaches 7.7%, with the initial salaries of juniors decreasing by 6.3%, while those of seniors remain stable or increase slightly.​ Juniors produce more, seniors review more. The UpSlide report indicates that younger employees use the AI ​​tools their companies have implemented to improve their efficiency in distribution (24%) and research (22%) tasks. On the other hand, the use of AI for senior profiles implies an increase in the review and quality control tasks of their work. According to the authors of the study, while juniors have stepped on the accelerator producing more content and documentation with AI, seniors have had no choice but to dedicate more time in their day to review all that new AI generated content. “Rather than reducing workload, AI is displacing: it places more pressure on senior professionals, who must now review, validate and correct a growing volume of AI-generated content. This bottleneck is especially critical in high-value operations, where the margins of error are minimal,” the study’s authors underline. AI overloads seniors. The data indicates that 41% of the seniors participating in the study dedicate more than 11 hours per week to reviews, such as checking errors in the figures of financial presentations or formats. 83% of them recognize greater pressure on seniors for quality reviews, and 82% see more risk of those errors finally reaching the client. “While the technology is very impressive, it just doesn’t beat the professional touch. That’s why we’re making sure to create review checkpoints with humans in the workflow,” said Joshua Stolarz, Managing Director at KPMG in the study.​​ A model that makes the revision more expensive. Yes, as they point out the evidenceAI automates training tasks for junior profiles, concentrating review on seniors, one of the arguments used by the main CEOs of technology companies that the use of AI would allow the most senior profiles to free yourself from administrative tasks to focus on giving value to the products. By leaving them with the burden of reviewing AI-generated content, you actually bury them in more administrative work. If the trend pointed out by the study is consolidated, companies could opt for more veteran profiles in their hiring, which would reverse the dynamics of fire these employees when the cuts come. However, these more experienced profiles also they earn better salariesso many companies could rethink implementing AI if it means increasing your labor costs. In Xataka | Jensen Huang is clear: at this point no one should learn to program, AI will do it for us Image | Unsplash (Omid Ajorlo)

The nougat promised them happiness in their search for impossible flavors. Until almonds and eggs skyrocketed in price

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If you like to celebrate Christmas with nougat, bad news: this year it will be your turn scratch your pocket more. Quite a bit more, in fact. It doesn’t matter if you prefer soft or hard bars, you love chocolate, you have a favorite manufacturer or you don’t mind trying the white label of your supermarket. You will almost certainly have to pay more. This is concluded by several studies of Facua and the OCUwhich show that Christmas sweets are not immune to the ups and downs of the market. Although it is not the general trend, in their reports they warn of some specific cases in which prices have skyrocketed. above 50%threatening to sour one of the great pleasures of the holidays. The sweet, less sweet. There is no Christmas without nougat, but this year it will be much more expensive to bring it to the table. It reflects it clearly a recent report of the OCU that warns that, on average, the classic almond nougat has become more expensive by 16%. To be more precise, the organization detected an increase of 15.8% in the price of hard tablets and 16.1% in soft tablets. The variants that dispense with added sugars also increased (although to a lesser extent), in which honey or sugar is replaced by sweeteners: in those cases the price has increased, although somewhat less, by 13.6%. One piece of information: €23/kg. The calculations start from an OCU studywhich has dedicated itself to analyzing the prices of more than a hundred nougats. The study focused specifically on the most classic varieties, the almonds, both Alicante (hard) and Jijona (soft). Then their technicians dedicated themselves to purchasing the prices of each tablet with the records they stored from 2024. With the new prices, the average kilo of nougat is in €23/kgalthough if we talk about “brand nougat” that indicator rises to €33/kg. Same photo, different details. Although the report shows a general increase in price, the rise has not been equally intense in all tablets. It influences (a lot) what brand we talk about. The best ones are white label nougat, those sold under the distributor’s labels. In that case the increase has been close to 9.4%. It is a considerable increase, but it pales when compared to the 24.3% increase in the average price of manufacturer brand nougat. Within this category, notable differences are also seen depending on the company and product. Can it go further? Yeah. According to the OCUthe nougats from El Almendro’s “Own Harvest” line cost 37% more than in 2024. The cake, however, goes to El Lobo, which has products in its catalog that cost 57% more today. The organization recognizes in any case that this percentage has an explanation: in its 2024 analysis it appeared as the cheapest, which explains why it has experienced such a pronounced price update. “These increases have turned the price of traditional branded nougat into a luxury item. Manufacturer’s nougat now costs €33/kg on average, compared to €15/kg for supermarket white label nougat,” they explain from the consumer organization. The average value of almond nougat is around €23/kg. Far beyond nougat. The OCU has not been the only one that has taken out the calculator to study how much more we will have to pay for sweets these holidays. FACUA has carried out a similar exercise, which in November I already warned that Christmas desserts had become 15.4% more expensive in large distribution chains. That was at least the average, and the organization was able to detect specific cases with exorbitant “peaks of rise”, of up to 65.3%. The study It analyzed 185 items, including nougat, but also chocolates, mantecados and Polvorones available in several supermarket chains, such as Mercadona, Dia, Hipercor, Alcampo, Eroski and Carrefour. “Only three have gone down”. “Of the total prices analyzed in the months of October 2024 and 2025, only three have decreased compared to last year and eight remain the same. The rest, 174 out of 185, are more expensive,” FACUA warnswhich warns of increases in Hipercor, Alcampo, Carrefour, Eroski, Dia and Mercadona. The clearest case was detected in a Supreme Quality toasted yolk nougat El Corte Inglés Selection from Hipercor: from 2.39 euros in 2024 it went to 3.95 euros, which represents an increase of just over 65%. In general, the organization detected an average increase in the price of sweets of 22.6% since October 2023. Searching for the causes. That nougat is experiencing such a steep price rise is no coincidence. Although there are several factors that come into play, to the OCU and CaixaBank There is one that stands out: the drift in the price of one of its main raw materials, almonds. In fact, the OCU recalls that in higher category tablets it represents more than 60% of the weight, which explains why fluctuations in its price are felt in the rates. Has it risen that much? “Its price has increased significantly: from 90-95 euros per 100 kg of shelled almonds between January and August 2024 to about 120 euros in 2025, with peaks of 138 euros in June,” argues the organizationwhich ensures that varieties such as Marcona, Largueta and Comuna have seen their prices rise from 15 to 25%. It’s not no surprise if we take into account that the almond has reached values ​​not seen since 2019. CaixaBank remember that frosts and droughts have marked the harvest of recent campaigns, affecting prices. If in the 2024-2025 season farmers received an average of 5.6 euros per kilo of communal almonds (the cheapest), in previous seasons that same value hovered around 4.09 or 2.95 euros per kilo. The change in weather conditions has improved the prospects for the campaign that began in September, but this effect has not yet been noticeable in the 2025/26 Christmas nougat campaign. Almonds… and something else. To be fair, almonds are not the only ingredient that has become more expensive in the last year. He has done it too (and not … Read more

Torrejón de Ardoz promised them happiness as the epicenter of the Madrid festivals. Until he started canceling them

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Torrejón de Ardoz does not seem willing to become the epicenter of the Madrid festivals. Although City Councils usually boast of their ability to attract concerts, fairs and other mass events, a few days ago the Consistory of the Corredor del Henares did exactly the opposite: published a statement to announce the cancellation of “all macrofestivals that were made in the city.” From their extensive list only one will be saved, Elrow Town. The rest will be forced to find a new location next year. What has happened? Que Torrejón de Ardoz has announced the “cancellation” of three music festivals: Brava Madrid, Madrid Salvaje and Torrejón Summer Fest. The reason? The Consistory alleges basically two reasons. The first, that he wants to “minimize the inconvenience to the neighbors.” The second, that in the opinion of the municipal government, the leisure offer for the inhabitants of the town is already well covered with the Magical Christmass and the patron saint and popular festivals. “They offer an excellent offer of free leisure and a sufficient attraction, such as large events, to promote the Torrejón Ciudad de Moda brand,” he says. Is everything cancelled? No. They fall at least Brava Madrid, Wild Madrid and Torrejón Summer Festbut not the Elrow Townwhich will be celebrated on a holiday (May 1) during daylight hours. From the Torrejón City Council they argue that the festival does not cost the municipal coffers money and represents an “important” source of income for the town. In addition, residents will have the right to purchase tickets starting in April with a 50% discount. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What does it mean for Torrejón? A priori and how recognize the City Council itself, the fairgrounds will be left without events for most of the spring-autumn season of 2026. At the moment there is nothing scheduled for March, April, July, August and September. In June and October there will also be no appointments, except for the celebration of Popular and Patron Saint Festivals, respectively. The strong month will be May, with elrow Town, Tributos, Locos X80 and Urban. The City Council assures that an effort will be made to reduce the acoustic impact, which would even include orienting the stage towards the Polígono de Las Monjas, in such a way that the sound is not directed towards the homes. During elrow Town, the installation of acoustic screens is planned to protect the buildings. Why is it important? Because of the context. Madrid Salvaje, Brava Madrid and elrow Town had not been in Torrejón de Ardoz for long. What’s more, the three festivals they relocated there this year after having to leave IFEMA. In the Torrejonero area they found a large, close space, well connected to Madrid and with green areas. Its great potential led to some saw to the town of Corredor del Henares as the potential new “epicenter” of the Madrid festivals, a not unreasonable possibility after the turn from IFEMA. A few months ago the IFEMA consortium confirmed their decision not to hold outdoor festivals at least in 2025 and focus on indoor ones. The measure came at a special time, with those responsible for the fair institute betting on the organization of the Spanish F-1 Prize, which will be held in September 2026. in spring The World public In fact, IFEMA’s step back from the open-air festivals sought to appease the residents’ spirits ahead of the Formula 1 event and the noise that the cars may cause. Perfect, right? It doesn’t seem like it. Although the festival organizers stood out At the time, the advantages of moving to Torrejón de Ardoz had, in practice things seem to have been different. At least for its inhabitants. In the statement in which it confirms the cancellation of “all macro-festivals” (except elrow Town), the City Council insists that the objective is to “minimize inconvenience to neighbors”, a maxim that goes beyond the musical calendar. “The City Council, listening to the feelings of many Torrejoneros, is going to reduce and celebrate fewer events, concerts and parties, and will focus all its efforts on taking better care of and keeping the city cleaner,” the statement continues. Neither Torrejón nor the neighborhoods close to IFEMA are the first to have seen how difficult it can be to combine the residential use of an area and the celebration of mass shows. Probably the most publicized case is that of the complaints of surrounding neighbors of the Bernabéu, which even led to heavy fines. In Torrejón, an extra element was also added that has little or nothing to do with noise: several festivals They were tarnished by their ties to a pro-Israel fund in the midst of the Gaza war. Image | Elrow Town In Xataka | Madrid has turned Manzanares into a new tourist attraction with LEDs. The neighbors have something to say

Iniesta promised them happy retirement. Now they are investigating him in Peru for an alleged $600,000 scam

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Andres Iniesta it’s news. And it is for something that has little to do with football, sports or entertainment. On this occasion the headlines are monopolized in the pages of the judicial chronicle on account of a controversy that arose in Peruwhere the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the former midfielder for his role in an alleged chain of scams against businessmen in the country for a sum of around $600,000. Iniesta’s surroundings already has denied the accusations and talks about “malicious” information to take advantage of his image. It is not the first time that the former soccer player has been in the spotlight for his role as a businessman: years ago he did it for his wineries, both for a dispute with the Treasury as for your losses. What has happened? That the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Iniesta for an alleged “aggravated fraud.” The news has been reported by the country’s media, such as The Republic, Trome either Libero and it has been echoed in Spain by Efe agency, The Country either The Sixthwho has even spoken with one of those affected. Basically, the Public Ministry has opened a tax file on the former soccer player following a complaint related to the company NSN Barcelona, ​​linked to Iniesta. In the Prosecutor’s document (reproduced partially by The Republic) it can be read that the complaint is filed against Iniesta and at least two other people for “the alleged commission of crimes against property in the form of aggravated fraud.” The document also details that the “prestige” of the former Barça player played a key role in raising funds and committing the alleged scam. What is investigated? The facts reported by Gucho Entertainment and other Peruvian businessmen who claim to have invested around $600,000 in a series of events (sports and artistic) that supposedly had the support of NSN Sudamérica, a subsidiary of the company linked to Iniesta. His name would have made it easier for the Peruvian businessmen who have now gone to court to hand over thousands of dollars to organize a series of shows. Specifically, four are mentioned: the Upa Upa Fest, a friendly between the club Scientist of Cusco and the National of Ecuadora K-pop festival and another legends match between Peru and Spain. Of all of them, only one was held, the Upa Upa Fest, and it did not turn out as investors expected. In fact, it left considerable losses. And what happened? The problem is that the firm that was supposed to be in charge of the executive production of the events, NSN Sudamérica, declared bankruptcy in June 2024. The subsidiary entered into the liquidation process and allegedly did not return the money invested by the Peruvian businessmen to finance the rest of the shows. “No notification. We found out that the company was in liquidation. They never took responsibility for anything, although they were supposed to do so” reported on Monday Emilio Lozano, one of the supposedly affected businessmen, in an interview with ‘And now Sonsoles’, a La Sexta program. What does that have to do with Iniesta? That NSN South America is a delegation of NSN Barcelona. The former La Roja footballer himself celebrated the launch in 2023, according to statements collected by The Country: “We are very excited to be present in a country like Peru and a continent like South America to continue growing and promoting our values ​​around the world.” The subsidiary was established at the beginning of that year by a group of Peruvian and Spanish businessmen, the starting signal for attracting investors. The Prosecutor’s Office document not only cites the former soccer player, but it does underline that his name was essential for raising funds. How key was it? The writing is very clear. “The facts that will be detailed below involve Andrés Iniesta, who is a figure of international recognition for his achievements in professional football as a former player of the Club Barcelona of Spain and having been a former world champion with the Spanish team, who using this prestige authorized and supported the foundation of NSN Sudamérica to act as a subsidiary of his company NSN Barcelona throughout South America. However, that prestige was only used to raise capital from Peruvian businessmen under the deception that they were going to be invested in large events that were approved in coordination between NSN Barcelona and NSN South America,” reads the writing of the Prosecutor’s Office cited by The Republic. At the moment the agency has initiated preliminary proceedings for an alleged crime against property, a phase that will last several weeks. What does the company say? Mark distances. Through a blunt statement Iniesta and NSN make several points clear. To begin with, they “outrightly” deny the accusations that have been published in recent days. Second, they claim that the information has been published “maliciously” with the purpose of taking advantage of the image of “a public figure” like Iniesta. “We trust that the Peruvian justice system will clarify this situation very soon and we reserve the right to file appropriate actions in defense of our work and honor, requesting maximum rigor in the information published regarding this case,” concludes the official statement. From the ex-footballer’s entourage they have something beyond and they have explained to La Sexta that the former soccer player and NSN are also affected: they created a subsidiary in Peru “led by people who were not the right ones and harmed them and third parties.” “Those in charge made a mistake when it came to putting the right people in place,” abound. Images | Wikipedia and Carlos Fernández (Unsplash) In Xataka | If the question is how to add more epic to LaLiga, in Russia it is very clear: with AI, many muscles and topics

In 1995 a program came out that promised to double your PC’s RAM. In the best of cases what I did was not spend more

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The 90s were wonderful in the world of software and hardware. Epic trolling like that of the 299 dollars of the first PlayStationthe legendary key of Windows 95 or the PlayStation emulator presented by Steve Jobs himself. In the middle of the decade a program came out that promised the impossible: double the amount of RAM on your PC. Its name was SoftRAM 95 and, although it makes us raise an eyebrow today, in its day it sold hundreds of thousands of copies for $80 each. And spoiler: it was of absolutely no use. SoftRAM 95, the miracle solution for your PC’s RAM The launch of a program like this is a product of its time, one in which users they could have been less ‘smart’ Now for more than logical reasons and in an industry in which everything was learned and developed as we went. There were times when the smartest were the ones who got results, but a company called Suncronys Softcorp learned its lesson the hard way. The year was 1995 and Windows 95 was beginning to revolutionize homes. Although the Microsoft system made control a PC was more accessible than ever (unfortunately for Steve Jobs), the hardware still had a brutal barrier to entry: the price. They were still expensive devices, very expensive, so saving on components saved a few dollars. RAM It was one of those components for which you paid gold per KB, but… what if there was a program that, for a few dollars, doubled the amount of memory on our PC? What if he did all this without having to touch any piece of our equipment? That is where the Californian Syncronys Softcorp saw a vein and – now we can say that in bad faith – launched its program: SoftRAM 95. It went on sale in August 1995 and it is estimated that they sold a whopping 600,000 copies until December of that same year. In those days, it was truly outrageous. And the logical question is how he achieved what he promised. The long answer is that it compressed the memory, so when the operating system needed to save data from RAM to the hard drive, SoftRAM 95 compressed it before writing it, reducing the amount of space needed on the disk and allowing the RAM to have more space available. The concept, roughly speaking, is correct, and the program interface told us that yes, congratulations, you had double the amount of RAM. The long answer is that it didn’t do what it promised. Although technically they were on the right track, this process at the time was tremendously ambitious for one reason: the speed of both the RAM and the primitive hard drives It was so absurdly slow that, effectively, the objective could not be met. They knew this from the top of Syncronys, but they didn’t care: the money was pouring in because each license cost about 30 dollars. Under the magnifying glass of the press… and Microsoft However, things quickly went wrong. A magazine of the time called PC Magazine submitted the software to a analysis How these analyzes should be done: testing whether the program really did what it promised. Using blocks of data to evaluate whether compression was effective, they found that processing times were exactly the same with compressible data and with random data that could not be compressed. They came to the conclusion that the only thing SoftRAM did was show an animated screen which gave the user the perception that they were working when, in reality, they were doing absolutely nothing. But beyond the press, those who got their hands on the software were Bryce Cogswell and Mark Russinovich, two Microsoft engineers who dissected the program at the code level. Basically, confirmed the well-founded suspicion of PC Magazine and pointed out that the program never actually worked. That is, the paging controller device – that compression of the RAM to transfer it to the hard drive – it closed just when loadingso it never did anything at all other than display false numbers while the operating system worked exactly as it should, whether the program was installed or not. When I said before that the management of Syncronys knew it, it was not because we saw history with the eyes of the present. When everything was revealed, they reported that RAM compression was not being carried out and, in addition, it was learned that they sold the software even though its developers had warned that the product was not ready. And it wasn’t aI’ll launch it and I’ll fix itlike many current games”, because in 1995 Internet updates were not the norm. Just when the company thought it was over, the US Federal Trade Commission arrived. Following its investigation, Syncronys finally acknowledged that it had misrepresented the performance of its product and banned it from selling any more copies of both SoftRAM and Windows 3.1 as SoftRAM 95. In total, both versions placed 700,000 copies on the market and Syncronys declared bankruptcy in July 98, owing 4.5 million dollars. The idea did not die with SoftRAM In the end, what SoftRAM did The best case scenario was not to eat up your PC’s resources.and it was one of those attempts to sell whatever in a still somewhat naive market. For PC Worldnext to AOL and RealPlayerSoftRAM is the worst technology product of all time. But of course, with the eyes of 2025, you may be wondering… what happens with solutions like Windows Vista ReadyBoost and the mobile memory expansion? It’s a different matter and, although both promise to improve performance by using “extra memory”, it is something very different from what SoftRAM did. ReadyBoost, for example, allowed you to use the memory of a pen drive as a cache to speed up access to frequent data. It acted as an extension of the system’s virtual memory and the theory is correct, but again we ran into the speed limitation of USBs … Read more

Five years ago, Airbus promised a zero-emission aircraft. Now it’s not so clear

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The transport sector has been fighting for some years against a great enemy: its own CO₂ emissions. According to the European Environment Agency, this sector was the responsible of approximately 30% of emissions. And, of the total of these emissions, civil aviation represented 13.4%. The answer? The electrification in the case of land transportsomething that has been evolving at a good pace. In the case of commercial aviation, electricity was not opted for, but for hydrogen. The European Airbus was one of the companies that first jumped into the pool with a commitment to achieve the decarbonization goals with which the European Union seems to be very committed. Your proposal: hydrogen-powered zero-emission aircraft. That was the proposal in 2020 with a view to being achieved by 2035, and the prototypes of some companies they seemed hopeful. However, hydrogen has not done as well as many expected and the consequences are there: where it said “I say”, it says “Diego”, and now Airbus is not so clear that your zero-emission plane arrives on schedule. Airbus, its “green” plane and the turnaround of the industry Airbus’s proposal was extremely ambitious, since its hydrogen-powered aircraft would mark the greatest aeronautical revolution since the appearance of the jet engine. The idea was have hydrogen planes in the air by 2035for which presented three concepts: A turbofan for 200 passengers and 3,704 kilometers of range. A turbofan mixed wing model also for 200 passengers and 3,704 autonomy. A turboprop for 100 passengers and 1,852 kilometers of range. Its roadmap included the design of gas turbines with fuel injectors for hydrogen combustion to occur, but also models with completely electric systems powered by hydrogen fuel cells. They invested 1.7 billion dollars in the projectbut things began to go wrong both for Airbus and for the hydrogen industry as a vehicle “engine.” Germany is a good example of the difficulties of hydrogen as a fuel, at least for private vehicles. By the end of 2024, the main hydrogen station operator began to close facilities because there was no demand. The German Association of Energy and Water Industries itself revealed in a report that planned storage projects were significantly behind projected demand. For the private car, it seems that electrification has won the game, but in other types of vehicles such as trucks, buses or airplanes themselves, this fuel seemed to continue to be a valid option. At the beginning of this year, however, Reuters reported that Airbus was having problems obtaining green hydrogen. There is many types of hydrogen and their colors indicate how they have been obtained. What the sector needs is the so-called green hydrogen, which is produced thanks to renewable energies such as solar or wind. It is a process that needs a lot of investment and the company’s CEO doubted that enough could be produced to make commercial flights with hydrogen aircraft profitable. They did not shelve the project and, in fact, at the Airbus 2025 Summit reaffirmed their engagement, but soon after it seems they thought better of it. As we read in The Wall Street Journalthe company cut the budget allocated to green hydrogen airplane research by a quarter. Citing “technical challenges,” the company has reassigned staff other departments and the engineers responsible for the project appear to have gone back to the planning table. It is not a “never will arrive”, but it does seem to represent a slowdown in the plans that would imply that they would not arrive with that plane by 2035. In fact, in TWSJ they comment that Airbus defends that the money has not been thrown away and that delaying the project will allow the technology to be perfected. “Our destiny has not changed, but we need to adjust to reality to get there,” commented Bruno Fichefeux, head of future aeronautics programs. But it is not only Airbus that has taken a turn in its green policy. At the beginning of this year we saw that large oil companies began to stop or cut investment in their renewable energy programs to refocus on fossil fuel production. In this case it is not because the technology is green, but because there is an entity that has appeared on the board that requires large amounts of energy immediately: the data centers for AI training. Returning to hydrogen aircraft, although Airbus has put the brakes on its strategy, assuming a delay of five yearsthere are other companies that had a similar roadmap. For example, ZeroAviawhat’s next committed with hydrogen-powered flight and that has several models programmed in its roadmap, with 200-seat aircraft by 2040. Images | ZeroAviaAirbus In Xataka | The plan to clean the air by capturing CO₂ has just received a blow of reality: the Earth does not have as much space as we thought

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