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Shakira wants to put 300,000 people in a place that does not convince the Government at all

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Live Nation and Shakira have now officially presented Macondo Park, a 40-hectare temporary venue at the Iberdrola Music in Villaverde designed for close the tour ‘Women no longer cry’ with a nine-concert residency in Madrid in September. The problem: the Government delegate in Madrid has been warning for years that the space does not meet security conditions for massive events and has formally asked the City Council not to authorize them. Stadiums make money. What Shakira and Live Nation have presented is not exactly a concert: it is a temporary infrastructure designed ad hoc by the international study BIGknown for projects such as the Danish pavilion at the Shanghai Expo or the expansion of the National Museum of Qatar. According to data from the organization, the so-called Shakira Stadium will occupy four hectares within the Iberdrola Music space, with capacity for 50,000 people per night: 26,688 seats in the stands, 25,000 standing and around 3,000 in the VIP area. Macondism. Macondo Park will be deployed around the stadium, which takes its name from the fictional town created by Gabriel García Márquez in ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’: 40 hectares active for twelve hours each concert day. The cultural program, baptized ‘Es latina’, includes gastronomy, workshops, exhibitions and sales of Latin American crafts, all selected by Shakira herself. There will also be a specific area for children called Macondito, designed (according to the organization) with the participation of the artist’s children, Milan and Sasha. The goal, according to Live Nation, is to “demonstrate what it means to be Latino” and project that cultural imaginary in Europe. Minitour without moving. Some pertinent figures: nine performances in Madrid, scheduled for September 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27, to which have been added October 2, 3 and 4 due to the very high demand and how quickly the pre-sale sold out. The entire project expects more than 300,000 attendees throughout the residency. Ticket prices range between 73.50 and 181.50 euros, with VIP packages exceeding 1,000. And it will take 69 days to build the complete structure of this spectacular theme park around the artist. Problems in Villaverde. This great plan collides with a somewhat complicated background. Iberdrola Music is the same space that has hosted the Mad Cool festival for years. It was also the scene of the Harry Styles concert in 2023, where organizational failures led to monumental traffic jams and part of the audience ended up walking along the M-45. In the letter he wrote to the City CouncilGovernment delegate Francisco Martín recalls that he already warned about the venue in July 2023 on the occasion of the Reggaeton Beach Festival. According to Martín, in an institutional meeting held in 2024 it was found that there continued to be “relevant deficiencies in terms of accessibility, mobility and organization of entry and exit flows, incompatible with the celebration of large events in safe conditions.” The administrator of the Mad Cool festival even faced a request for a two-year prison sentence from the Prosecutor’s Office for violations related to noise pollution. It’s not a festival. Martín also differentiates between the festival model, where the public enters and leaves in stages for hours, and the “fan phenomenon”: a massive concert where 50,000 people try to leave the venue in a very narrow time frame. It is this second scenario that, in his opinion, Iberdrola Music is not prepared to absorb. Crossing of accusations. As it could not be otherwise, this open letter was followed by an exchange of accusations with little or nothing to do with music. Borja Carabante, Urban Planning delegate of the City Council, accused Martin of “trying to boycott, harm and harm the city.” Mayor José Luis Almeida pointed in the same direction: he described it as “extraordinary” that Shakira chose Madrid as the culmination of her tour and even hinted that up to ten dates could be held. Mariano de Paco, Minister of Culture of the Community of Madrid, defined it as “great news.” The preceding Adele. Promoter Pino Sagliocco, president of Live Nation, avoided entering the political fray. He defended that the mobility plan “is already done” and endorsed by engineers, and insisted that Iberdrola Music is “an experienced and well-conditioned space.” He compared Shakira’s plan to Adele’s precedentwho established his residence in a park in Munich, comparable in size to this Macondo. The center of the debate. There is slaps for pre-sale ticketsbut municipal authorization has not been granted, and the Government Delegation has made it clear that it will go “as far as necessary” to ensure that the venue offers guarantees. For now, there is silence from both sides of the Administration. The conclusion of all this is that the debate is not led by Shakira, but by Madrid’s real capacity to manage massive events outside the urban center, with access infrastructure that several reports consider insufficient. After 17 countries, Shakira’s tour culminates in the only place on the planet where organizing a live show means invoking a perfect storm. In Xataka | We Spaniards have stopped watching TV, going to the cinema and reading books: the only thing that interests us is going to concerts

NASA has put a Spaniard in charge of the project for its future lunar base: Carlos García-Galán from Malaga

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Dressed in a jacket, light blue shirt and gold tie, Carlos García-Galán He did not occupy another chair at the NASA conference held in Washington. Escorted by the administrator Jared Isaacman and other top-level officials, the engineer from Malaga spoke before the press in the middle of the presentation of the agency’s new lunar turn. His presence at that time placed him at the forefront of a roadmap that redefines NASA’s priorities on the Moon. The context of that scene helps understand its relevance. Hours before,Isaacman had presented a roadmap that changes the focus of the agency. It is no longer just about returning to the Moon, but about establishing a sustained presence on its surface. The proposal involves deploying in three phases the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, with stable infrastructure and a logic that is more industrial than experimental. The man from Malaga who now pilots the Moon Base program This change of course also redefines the role of those who must execute it. In this context appears García-Galán, whose official position within NASA is “executive program” at the lunar base. This is a high-level management position, responsible for coordinate and guide program development, not an operational role on the ground. His role will be to lead the project from the agency structure, not to direct a facility on the lunar surface. García-Galán, remember, is not a newcomer, but an engineer who has developed his career within NASA and has been assuming responsibilities for years to get to this point. His presence in the announcement is linked to that trajectory, which now places him in one of the great bets of the US space agency at this stage. His career within NASA helps to understand why he has come this far. Before this appointment, García-Galán, according to LinkedInheld the position of “deputy manager” of the Gateway program, until now a relevant piece in the agency’s lunar architecture. With more than 27 years of experience In manned space flights, he has worked on the design, integration and operation of complex systems, participating in programs such as the International Space Station and the Orion spacecraft. His experience at Gateway also helps explain this appointment. In that program, García-Galán was involved in integration and management tasks within an environment with multiple partners and components. The new approach towards a lunar base requires precisely this ability to order diverse pieces, from missions to infrastructure, something that fits with the profile that has been developed within the agency in recent years. The program that he will now supervise is divided into several phases with a common objective: establishing a sustained presence on the lunar surface. NASA proposes a sequence of missions that will go deploying infrastructurefrom mobility and energy systems to communications networks and habitats. The idea is to advance progressively towards a base capable of sustaining longer-term human stays. Images | NASA (1, 2, 3) In Xataka | Elon Musk knows that TSMC is overwhelmed: Terafab is his idea to completely change the global chip industry

run 20 km to churn your own butter. We have put it to the test

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Just when I thought the culture of running I could no longer invent more excuses To go out and devour kilometers, the algorithm has decided to merge training with cooking recipes. To put you in situation, I was doing scroll calmly on Instagram and suddenly I came across what I consider the last barrier to fitness: runners that make butter while they run. They have named him the churning and burning (something like “stirring and burning”) or, simply, the butter runs. Can it be real? Apparently, yes. It all started in February of this year with American content creator Libby Cope and her partner, Jacob Arnold. In the video, Cope ask a simple question: “We Googled it and, as far as we knew, there were no previous runners who had successfully made butter. So we said… ‘Okay, shall we be the first?’” In it reel She is seen pouring a carton of liquid cream and salt into an airtight bag. “You might be wondering why,” Cope says to the camera. “The real question is: why not?” Since then, the phenomenon has exploded globally. A quick look at Instagram shows us an army of runners imitating the feat on accounts like saral.fit, margot_outdoor, lib_claire, rachlzw either alexladikoff. gonzo journalism Faced with such an avalanche of content, in Xataka We couldn’t sit idly by, but we didn’t want to get dirty either. So we turn to our hero without a cape: my partner Javier Lacort. Javier, always willing to sacrifice his sports team for investigative journalism, accepted the challenge without blinking: “I’ll do it,” he said. We owe him, at the very least, an eternal breakfast. The conditions of the experiment were the following: Javier went out into the street to run 20 kilometers with an entire 500 ml brick of liquid cream on his back. The weather: clear skies, 51% humidity and a temperature of 13ºC, although with a treacherous thermal sensation of 8ºC. My partner opted for a pragmatic and very much our approach. While American pioneers recommend using airtight bags Ziploc heavy-duty, Javier simply poured the liquid cream into a regular plastic shopping bag. With a few secure snap knots, he placed it directly into the pocket of his hydration vest. The goal was to see if the force of the impact over 20 kilometers would be enough to whip cream. But, before seeing the result, what does science say? How does running turn a liquid into a spreadable solid? As detailed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the principle is pure physics: The constant churning process causes the fat globules present in the cream to collide, clump together and end up separating from the remaining liquid, known as whey. Come on, the same thing they did nomads centuries ago by galloping with milk sacks hanging from their pack animals, only now the pack animal is wearing carbon fiber slippers. Today, the runner It’s the human mixer. However, the results vary greatly. Get butter depends on several factors: the distance (most run between 5 and 10 kilometers), the intensity of the stride (the more bounce, the better) and, fundamentally, the percentage of fat in the cream used. The process and the verdict Javier completed his 20 kilometers and, after leaving his vest on a park bench with the air of having survived a true dairy odyssey, the verdict was clear. Upon opening the bag, he confessed: “It smelled wonderful, honestly.” In the images that he gave us of the process, the evolution can be clearly seen. After 20 kilometers of impact against the asphalt, the macro photos reveal that, without becoming a solid and consistent block of butter, the cream had been whipped and presented a lumpy and thick texture. Why did Javier get a thick whipped cream texture instead of a block of butter like those on TikTok, despite having run a considerable distance? The answer is in the weather. Scientific American magazine has the key: Temperature is crucial. If it is too cold, the fat molecules harden and fail to group together to form solid clumps; if it’s too hot, the mixture turns into soup. The ideal temperature is room temperature. With a thermal sensation of 8ºC, Javier had the thermometer against him. In fact, other runners who attempted the challenge on snowy days failed in the same way. Given what has been seen, for those who want to replicate it, the pioneers leave some vital advice. Libby Cope recommends running for at least an hour, using cream with 35% fat and, as a rule of thumb, always use an airtight “double bag” to prevent your back from ending up looking like a clandestine cheese factory. Other users recommend loosening the hydration vest a little so that the bag bounces more, or choosing routes with hills, stairs or uneven terrain. And the vital question: is this edible? The short answer is yes. In fact, eating it has become the official goal of the race. The challenge has generated a small post-workout ritual: open the container to check if there is butter and spread the fresh result on a piece of bread as a snack recuperator. It’s the perfect ending to the social media video. Culinary creativity has not taken long to appear. One of the runners, Irene Choi, is no longer satisfied with the basic recipe, but rather practices he habit stacking (stack habits) creating flavored butters. They add sea salt, herbs de Provence, garlic or even honey before going for a run. Choi went so far as to make a “honey butter and corn juice” that he called “an excellent use of my time.” From a more cynical (and brilliant) perspective, columnist Emma Beddington reflects on Guardian about the phenomenon: “The couple (Libby Cope and Jacob Arnold) now have more butter than they know what to do with. Do they even know how much butter costs these days? Let them sell it!” Beddington jokes that this trend fits perfectly into … Read more

the war in Iran has put it in check

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Between Galicia and Tehran there are more than 5,000 km and the situation experienced in the Iberian Peninsula bears little or no resemblance to that which crosses the Persian Gulf. However, a server here, who writes these lines from Galician lands, has found that the situation in the Middle East has turned his travel plans upside down. And he is not the only one. Throughout Europe (and beyond) thousands of people are rethinking their vacations due to instability in the Gulf, which already threatens alter the flows of international tourism in the short term. The reason is very simple: the Middle East is not only a key player in the oil market (something already crucial in itself), it is also a key player in the map of air interconnections, especially between Europe and Asia. And that affects those who plan to fly this year to Vietnam, Japan or Thailand, among other destinations. A turbulent sector. Beyond Iranian politics, the energy market or the general threat that the rise in crude oil ended up moving to the shopping cart, there is a sector that is suffering in a very special way from what is happening in the Middle East: tourism. The Gulf is not only one of the great lungs of the oil industry, it is also a crucial piece on the tourism map. Firstly, due to the growing attractiveness of destinations like Dubai, especially among expats. Second (and this is the key) because in recent decades the region has managed to establish itself as the great connecting node between Europe, Asia and Africa. How important the Gulf is to the operations of international airlines became clear in the days following the US-Israeli attack on Iran. Tehran’s response, which launched attacks on its neighbors in retaliation for the support they provide to the United States, left out of play to airports such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha or Kuwait (among others), unleashing what some analysts consider the biggest crisis aeronautics since the pandemic. Was it that serious? Yes. And so we tell you at the time. That airfields like Dubai had to close their doors for security reasons affected thousands of Western expats who suddenly found themselves without options to return to their countries. The situation reached the point that some drove for hours to try their luck in Oman. Others paid large sums to charter jets. The fact is that the expats were not the only ones harmed. The ‘shock wave’ of the war also hit Western tourists who were on vacation in Asia and overnight they found that the Middle East terminals where they had to make a stopover to return to Europe (Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi) were blocked. A young Spanish woman complained in X those days of being “stuck” in Thailand. “The flights are for 4,000 euros or there is overbooking“, he lamented. The Government ended repatriating tourists from the Middle East. And the hangover came. This was more than a week ago, but that does not mean that the waters have returned to normal in airport operations, much less in the tourism sector. To begin with, because part of the Gulf is still an untouchable area for airlines. It comes with taking a look at Flight Radar’s flight monitoring maps to see the huge gap which remains open mainly on Iran, Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Emirates advertisement. Airspace slopes. The reality as of March 17 is that the war continues to condition airline operations in the area. In your last part Regarding traffic, OPS Group confirmed on Monday that a large part of the airspace in the Middle East remains marked by conflict, either closed (Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria) or subject to more or less restricted operations, as is the case above all in Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. In fact the platform remember that the most common corridor in the Persian Gulf for flights between Europe and Asia remains greatly altered by the war, which is leading airlines to look for alternative routes, either diverting north, towards the Caucasus, or south, through Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Oman. What do the companies say? The Middle East not only stands out for its geographical position. It is also home to some of the most important airlines in the sector, such as Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad. And their grills are still far from being normalized. Just yesterday Al Jazeera informed that Qatar Airways has announced a program of limited flights to and from Doha due to the war. In fact, its operations will remain restricted at least until March 28. “Qatar Airways’ scheduled flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace,” explains the company. “The airline will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the full and safe reopening of Qatari airspace.” She’s not the only one. Etihad Airways too indicates on their website which, at least for now, “operates a limited program of commercial flights between Abu Dhabi and several key destinations.” It even gives the option to change reservations at no extra cost. Qatar announcement. “A reduced schedule”. Another company that has not returned to normal is Emirates. In the last hours I published an update in which it clarifies the status of its flight schedule: “Following the partial opening of the region’s airspace, Emirates operates with a reduced flight schedule.” Lufthansa has also suspended operations with Dubai, Dabi, Amman and Ebril until next week. Connections with Tel Aviv, Beirut and Tehran remain marked and in some cases will not be recovered until late April. In general, the specialized environment Condé Nast Traveler informed on Friday the 13th that there are a significant number of airlines with their operations altered in one way or another. What can we expect now? The situation in hubs like Dubai has improved since the total blockade that followed the attack on February 28, but the panorama continues not to be what it was before that date. Dubai … Read more

Getting married in Switzerland was equivalent to paying more taxes than a single person. And a referendum has put an end to the problem

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In Switzerland, marriages they are news. And not because of its rise or fall, demographic issues or new trends when celebrating them. They are for strictly tax reasons. In a historic decision the Swiss have supported majority (with 54% support) a reform that will basically put an end to what is called the “marriage penalty” in the country. In other words, saying ‘I do’ in Switzerland will no longer be (in most cases) a sentence to paying more when declaring income to the Treasury. The decision has come preceded by an intense debate, which gives a clue that the issue does not only have fiscal implications. The background is social, cultural and historical. What has happened? That after years of debate Switzerland has given the ‘green light’ to a key tax change for marriages. Couples in the country who formalize their relationship will stop paying taxes jointly, through a single tax return in which the sum of their income and assets is taken into account. From now on, each spouse will be taxed individually. Just as if he hadn’t gone through the altar. The measure has received the endorsement of 54% of voters during a referendum in which they have discussed more topicsbut it does not mean that it will be activated immediately. The idea is that it be adopted gradually, over the next five years. The cantons have margin until 2032. Is it so important? Yes. In fact in Switzerland (and other countries who have paid attention to the fiscal change) there is no talk of joint or individual taxation, but of something much more forceful: the end of the “marriage penalty”. Because? Because according to its promoters, the current Swiss tax regime punishes those marriages in which both spouses work and enjoy good salaries. In these cases, with the current system, couples are forced to bear greater burdens than they would face if they remained single. That is, the same couple can find themselves in one or another tax bracket (more or less beneficial) depending only on whether they have formalized their relationship. Why’s that? Basically because the Swiss system is a few decades old and is based on a traditional family model in which each household has a single base salary. If the family receives more income (a second payroll) they are usually taxed at a higher marginal rate. “The joint model came from a time when women’s income was considered a ‘complement’ to that of their husbands,” clarify Swiss Info. With the new system, that changes. Does it influence that much? What we have seen so far may sound abstract or too theoretical, but its scope is better understood with practical examples. In January Swiss Info carried out a simulation for different profiles of households with one or another tax system and found that the ‘photo’ changes quite a bit. The summary is very simple: new tax model It mainly benefits marriages in which both spouses earn the same or similar amounts and harms (forcing them to face a greater tax burden) those in which there is a greater imbalance of income between the members of the couple. A practical example. Let’s take the case of a couple in which both members earn the same: 100,000 francs. With the joint model that has been operating in Switzerland for years, its tax burden would be about 6,700 francs. With the new individual taxation system it would drop to 2,700. Things change in couples in which there is only one salary. In these cases (with the same level of income) individual taxation will mean an increase of 32% compared to joint taxation. What is the change looking for? Its promoters assure that the new model will solve a problem that has been dragging down the Swiss economy for some time: a tax system that discourages paid work for those people who provide a second income to their homes. When changing the legal framework, remember Financial Timesthe Swiss government hopes to increase the nation’s workforce by about 60,000 people and increase the national GDP by about 1%. Advocates of the change hope it will help women gain strength in the Swiss labor market. It is estimated that only 60% of Swiss women work full time, a percentage lower than the OECD average, which is around 78%. The “marriage penalty” has also led to some curious practicessuch as couples who marry without legally registering their union or even marriages that they divorce before retiring for tax reasons. Are they all advantages? Not at all. At least that is what the sectors most critical of the measure maintain, warning of several negative effects. The main one, that the new system will result in more bureaucracyincreasing the workload (and costs) of the administration. There are cantons that also fear that the change of model will affect their coffers, punishing them with a loss of income. Beyond the practical issues there is another ideological one: part of the critical sector warns that individual supervision will generate inequalities that will harm traditional families above all. According to the Government, the new framework will more or less half of the taxpayers see their tax burden reduced. 36% would not notice changes and only the remaining 14% will have to pay more taxes. Images | Leonardo Miranda (Unsplash), Ronnie Schmutz (Unsplash) and Leo_Visions (Unsplash) In Xataka | 40,000 euros to say “yes, I want”: weddings in Spain have become events and their price is skyrocketing

It took Apple to put the iPhone chip in a computer so that we know that the iPhone is as powerful as a computer

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He MacBook Neo It is surprising analysts and buyers with its good performance. And the question should be: why? It is the first time that Apple has made a move of this caliber to make one of its star products cheaper: putting the processor of an iPhone inside a Mac. We consumers have so internalized that “a cell phone is a cell phone” and that “a PC is a PC” that, usually, we do not pay attention to what we usually have in our pockets. It took Apple to put the processor of an iPhone in a PC to realize that, precisely, what we have in our pocket is a PC. “Move up to 4k videos”. X is filled with analysts thoroughly testing the MacBook Neo, and hallucinating that it is capable of doing… what any other MacBook can do. The 8 GB of RAM is a limitation, as it was in the first generations of Macs with M1 chip. But, far from that “use for office, basic and browser”, the Neo is surprising for being capable of what is expected of a Mac: do more than that. The main limitation is given by the 8 GB of RAM, which is few even for a Mac, but not by the chip. It’s normal. A Mac with a mobile chip. It sounds like a crazy idea. But if we look (not even in depth) at A18 Prowe understand perfectly what is happening. No matter how much Apple mounts the A18 Pro in a mobile phone, it is a chip that far exceeds the capabilities that even a desktop or laptop would need for “basic use.” In fact, the A18 Pro scores above an M1 in Single-Core, it is not far behind in graphical performance and is much more advanced at the manufacturing level (number of transistors, instructions, frequencies). In fact, it’s not just an Apple thing: a Snapdragon 8 Elite sweeps an M1 in multi-core and reaches a M2 in single. We weren’t realizing. We have been saying for years that the power of mobile phones is completely excessive. A certain part is necessary for the highest-end mobile phones to be able to record in 8K, process images in real time and operate at the rate they work, but 90% we are driving at 30 km/h in a supercar that exceeds 300. This is not something new. In fact, for years Apple’s A processors were outperforming Intel’s, back in the days when M chips didn’t exist. As told John Gruberthe A9 CPU of the iPhone 6s In 2015 (it has rained) it was already comparable to MacBooks from 2013. In 2017, as he says Antonio Sabanthe iPad Pro was already faster than the MacBook Pro with the I7 chip. Just what was needed. Macs have historically been characterized as a perfect mobility solution for designers, musicians, video editors and other creators. But there was an even bigger niche: people who don’t do any of that and want a computer for “normal” use. While MacBook Airs are not over-the-top Macs, they offer much more than any average user needs. In fact, I myself bought an Air M4 and not a Pro because, even as a video editor, I don’t need much else. Apple has found in the Neo more than possibly the “e” phenomenona formula that we will see year after year if we achieve commercial success. Image | Apple In Xataka | Apple has only found one option to make a cheap laptop: make it a mobile

Europe is looking for a place to put its AI gigafactory. Spain and Portugal are showing all their renewable plumage

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There is a concept that should be familiar with: technological sovereignty. The United States is looking for her in terms of semiconductors so as not to depend on Taiwan. China wants her with the same goal and with the intention of strengthen your industry. And Europe is also pursuing it. Within this search is the idea of ​​strengthening European sovereignty in artificial intelligence by building AI gigafactories. And Spain and Portugal are clear about one thing: they want to be that node of European AI. InvestAI. Within this search for independence, the truth is that Europe has a long way to go. On the world stage, they depend on the Dutch ASML to create cutting-edge chipsbut Taiwan and China are the world’s factory and the United States has been a key partner both in software as in space matter. Seeing the recent course of the United StatesEurope has realized that it cannot depend so much on foreign alliances and that its key systems are not European, and it is going to dig deep into its pockets. 200 billion euros is what the European Commission’s InvestAI initiative has to invest in programs focused on the development of artificial intelligence. Within it, there are another 20,000 million saved to build gigafactories. GigafactorIA. Its name is quite revealing and it is about huge data centers with capacity for hundreds of thousands of chips with the objective of both training and inferring artificial intelligence models. The plan was launched a few months ago with the reconversion of seven European data centers in data centers for AI and with one objective: that European companies stop turning to foreign ones. For example, the French Mistral signed with Microsoft to be able to use its systems to train Le Chat. The idea is that this be done ‘at home’. It is estimated that one of these gigafactories may have more than 100,000 state-of-the-art AI processors and they are expected to be optimized to have low consumption, reuse of resources such as water and be a strategic node close to other companies, universities and serve to attract talent. Strategy. Spain has been for a few months tempting American companies to build their data centers in the national territory. Aragon has become one of those strategic pointsbut also Madrid either Tarragona. Now, there are other municipalities that oppose it (something that not only happens in Spain). Within this strategy of European technological sovereignty, Spain has two aces up your sleeve: Mora la Nova in Tarragona and San Fernando de Henares in Madrid. They are the two municipalities that could host one of these AI gigafactories and that would take advantage of the technological and energy infrastructure in the area to accelerate the projects. The information is not new, but now Portugal joins in. As detail From Moncloa, both countries are going to carry out a series of bilateral efforts to be at the energy and technological head of Europe, doing emphasis on the coordination of artificial intelligence projects. Because Spain wants the European gigafactory and Portugal too. The neighboring country is already developing a data center in Sines, and the two countries are playing their cards. Energy. Portugal plays the card that Sines has a good connection with the Atlantic submarine cables. Spain also has a powerful argument: if Europe wants AI gigafactories to be energy efficient, the country has a renewable infrastructure that can help make AI independent of gas or coal. Through the agreement between the two, the intention to collaborate to take advantage of the complementary capabilities and synergies between both countries is put on the table. Problem. There are several. On the one hand, the energy ones. Although Spain is one of the Europe’s powers in terms of renewable energyartificial intelligence demands a lot, a lot of energy at peak times. So much so that not only Big Tech have private projects to open nuclear power plantsbut it has been shown that it is necessary turn to coal to meet demand. Because AI needs sustained energy, but above all fast and immediately accessible in the most stressful moments. And there renewables only comply if there are huge batteries involved. On the other hand, Europe is now building its infrastructure… and it is the worst time. If you want gigafactories to have the latest generation chips, it means buying NVIDIA’s H200s. The problem is that these chips, which are currently leading the way, will be surpassed in the short term by a new generation. NVIDIA is already working at full capacity on Vera Rubinand it is not a more powerful chip, but a paradigm shift. This game of being at the cutting edge of AI is slow because the infrastructure has to be built. But, above all, it is expensive. In any case, the results on which countries will host the gigafactories are expected to be published this spring, and we will see if the Spain-Portugal candidacy convinces the Commission. Images | Moncloa, chaddavis In Xataka | Spain has a plan to capture more data centers than anyone else: “shield” them from energy costs

China wants to lay a cable from Chile to Hong Kong. And in the process, it has put Chile in a storm against the US

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Next March 11, Chile will have a new president. Gabriel Boric will no longer be in charge of the country and José Antonio Kast will land in the presidential chair. And he arrives just to take care of a morrocotudo mess: the submarine cable that China is deploying from Valparaíso to Hong Kong. And, evidently, the United States does not like this situation one bit. To the point that he considers it dangerous for his safety. In short. On February 20, the United States revoked the visas of three Chilean officials. The reason? Concern about an underwater cable that will connect Chile and Hong Kong. It’s not so much the cable, but who is ‘pulling’ it: China. As they point out in Mercopressit was the outgoing president who managed the agreement to deploy this cable through a concession decree signed on January 27, which allowed the company China Mobile to install, operate and exploit the cable. 48 hours later, that act was annulled citing “technical errors” and the Boric Administration commented that the project was in the evaluation process. The United States, however, wasted no time and banned the visas of the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, the Undersecretary of Telecommunications, and the Chief of Staff of Subtel (Chile’s Undersecretary of Telecommunications). The storm it had just started. political war. Marco Rubio is the Secretary of State of the United States and accused Chilean officials for having “knowingly directed, authorized, financed and supported activities that compromise critical telecommunications infrastructure.” You may be wondering what the United States cares about what Chile does, but Rubio continued by pointing out that this decision “undermines regional security in our hemisphere.” “Which hemisphere” is not the question, but what is happening now. Because Chile has responded that the accusation is “absolutely false” and describes the United States measure as “unilateral,” also pointing out that it is something that goes against Chile’s sovereignty. China has not stood by and, through its embassy in Santiago de Chile, accused the United States of acting in a hegemonic manner, ignoring Chile’s sovereignty to carry out these projects in its territory. If you look closely, the cables from the American continent pass through the US except for Google’s Halaihai, at least directly Cross-fire. Brandon Judd is the US ambassador to Chile and has sided with his government… going a little further in the accusations. Affirms which had already warned the Chilean authorities of what would happen, describing the agreement with China as an intrusion into Chilean telecommunications systems carried out by “malicious foreign actors.” And, as we said, it will be next March 11 when the new president will take office with a pending task: solving a monumental ballot. From the Foreign Relations Department of the incoming president, it has already been saying that “everything possible will be done to ensure that foreign policy allows for the best possible relations with all countries.” A 0º, neither cold nor hot. Influence. Leaving domestic and foreign politics aside, the cable is known as Chile-China Express and is estimated to measure almost 20,000 kilometers. It will link the Chilean city of Concón and reach Hong Kong. The budget is about 500 million dollars and its importance seems key because it would represent the first transpacific data route that would completely avoid routing through North America. From China Mobile it is pointed out that this cable will allow establish Chile as “the central node of the computing power network between China and Latin America.” Now we begin to understand what it is that “undermines regional security in our hemisphere” to which Marco Rubio referred. If completed, it will be a cable deployed by China and in which the United States will have no say, but which reaches the American continent. And we say that it is an important ballot for the new president because the United States injects a lot of money into Chile, being its main foreign investor, but China is the main trading partner of the country. A cable is going to put Kast between a rock and a hard place. Not only in telecommunications. In the background, we have a United States that is looking at the wolf’s ears. In recent months, and at an accelerated pace, China has been moving its chips. It has done this in developing countries on the African continent through energy deals, infrastructure construction, agreements to mine strategic elements and expand its automobile market. But he is also doing it in America. When the United States turned its back on Mexico with tariffs, China was there to offer to open factories. He is carrying out energy projects on American soil, he has interest in some of the strategic ports of the continent and is rolling out infrastructure, such as a railway line that, if completed, will link South America from east to west. The cable between Hong Kong and Chile is just one more piece of a puzzle that Beijing is weaving, which has already torn off with the works. And Washington only sees one thing: the wolf at the doors. In Xataka | The first great Atlantic submarine cable that connected us to the internet says goodbye for a simple reason: it was too expensive to repair it

where the hell to put a garbage can

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Madrid has discovered that there is something even more delicate than the ‘tazo’ of garbage: where the hell to install a garbage canton. The Consistory takes years planning one of these facilities in Montecarmelo, a residential area in the north of the city, but has encountered radical (and belligerent) opposition from its neighbors. The problem is not so much the complex itself but what dimensions it will have, what functions it will perform and how it will affect the daily life of the neighborhood. The controversy is served. What has happened? May Montecarmelo has declared war to the garbage canton that the Madrid City Council wants to install there. That is indisputable. What is more difficult is to gauge the scope of the project. For the Consistory it is about a “small” installationwhich will include changing rooms, offices and a small warehouse for machinery. Nothing else. Things change if we ask the residents of the area. They talk more about a “megacanton” of around 10,000 square meters that will turn the life of the neighborhood upside down. Is it something new? No. The issue has been on the table for several years now. In fact it can go back at least until 2023when the residents of Montecarmelo already took to the streets to show their rejection of the canton. At that time (election year) the work they came to a standstill both in Montecarmelo and in other districts of the capital in which new cantons were proposed, but the project was never ruled out. He was not spared from controversy either. The neighbors have brought your claims to Brussels (the European Parliament has agreed to investigate) and a few days ago some 8,000 people took to the streets, called by the No To Canton Platformto show his rejection. Why is it so controversial? Because the neighbors are convinced that the canton will be a “industrial installation” incompatible with the daily life of an urbanized area. Residents warn that the “megacantón” (10,000 m2) will be located between homes and three schools and that it will have a negative impact on the daily life of the neighborhood. Specifically, they warn of the dangers posed by the handling of solvents and the storage of flammable products, the bad odors, the noise that the facilities will cause and the movement of trucks that will be generated. According to your calculationsthe canton will add a flow of 117 vehicles (80 of them trucks) to an area already overwhelmed during school hours. What are they based on? The group assures that their fears have been confirmed by the environmental memory published at the end of last year, a document that, they insist, shows that it will be “a heavy industrial installation.” “The document contradicts more than two years of official political discourse,” censorship the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (Fravm). The entity warns that, beyond its “extraordinary dimensions”, the project will integrate an urgent cleaning service (Selur) in the “heart” of a residential neighborhood, between homes, schools and “destroying” a green area. Would it cause so much inconvenience? “The report describes machinery and processes typical of a large-scale mechanical workshop. It mentions truck lifts, hydraulic presses, welding equipment, electronic diagnosis, parts washing, oil changes and other dangerous and polluting liquids… Nothing to do with what the mayor and (the delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility Borja) Carabante say,” warn from the neighborhood group. What’s more, the document recognizes that the canton could generate up to 106.5 dB, well above the recommended (and permitted) limits in inhabited areas. This is what Fravm maintains, who compare it with the noise of a plane taking off. What does the City Council say? It considerably reduces the impact that the complex will have. And they defend their necessity. So claimed it a few days ago Borja Carabante, who insisted on talking about a “small canton” of garbage. “The neighbors told us to reduce the installation to a minimum, we have done so by only installing changing rooms, some small administrative offices and a small warehouse for them to have the carts,” says the municipal leader who recognizes that, although 10,000 m2 have been fenced, that will not be the final size of the canton. “It will certainly have less than half that area.” What is the problem then? “The neighbors have gone further because it is no longer that they just want a canton with changing rooms and a small warehouse, it is that they no longer want the canton not only in the neighborhood, practically in the district,” Carabante assures. “We cannot assume that because we are building 15 cantons throughout the city without in any of them we have had the controversies, the complaints, the claims that we are having in Montecarmelo.” Is it so controversial? That the Montecarmelo project has generated so much controversy is explained by several factors, beyond the surface (and scope) of the infrastructure. To begin with, the controversy goes back years. Furthermore, it does not occur in just any neighborhood. Montecarmelo is located in the district of Fuencarral-El Pardo, an important fishing ground of PP votes in 2023, which has given even more interest to protests aimed at a popular Government. The issue has not taken long to become politicized, with pronouncements of the different municipal parties and institutions such as the Ombudsman. As if the above were not enough, the residents of Montercarmelo have not hesitated to use all the resources at their disposal to stop the project. And that happens both by going out into the streets, organizing mass demonstrationssuch as taking their case to the courts or the European Parliament, which has committed to investigate the canton project. Among the residents there is also no shortage of those who relate the project to the Madrid Nuevo Norte residential development. Images | FRAVM 1 and 2 In Xataka | In the midst of the housing crisis, more and more people do something in Madrid: donate their house … Read more

Razer has had a crazy idea and that is to put AI cameras in headphones. I have tried them and they have given me something to think about.

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Project Motoko. I like to think it’s a reference to Motoko Kusanagi, the protagonist of ‘Ghost in the Shell‘, but in any case, that is the name given to Razer’s new concept. Indeed, they are headphones with two cameras and artificial intelligence whose proposal is quite interesting: what if, instead of smart glassesShould we wear smart headphones? The company has taken advantage of the MWC 2026 that took place these days in Barcelona to show them and I have had the opportunity to get my hands on them at the Qualcomm stand (we will see why later). At the moment, the prototype, because that’s what it is, a prototype, has certain rough edges to iron out, but I really liked the underlying idea. Let’s go in parts. Project Motoko by Razer | Image: Xataka The background idea. As is obvious in the photos, I wear glasses. Normal glasses, although prescription ones. If I wanted to use connected glasses I would have to change my glasses and buy a frame, which is not cheap, in addition to prescription lenses. Well, like me, half of the world’s population. That is to say, smart glasses have a small penetration problem: They have to convince glasses wearers to change their glasses. They have to convince those who don’t wear glasses to wear glasses. Razer’s idea. It may be easier to convince the user to use smart headphones instead of glasses. These devices are agnostic about whether people see better or worse and, in reality, they can offer a similar and even better experience in certain aspects, because being larger they can offer more autonomy and power. Currently, the Meta Ray-Ban 2 They move in the eight-hour range, for example. This is what the Project Motoko prototype looks like | Image: Xataka The trade-off, of course, is wearing big headphones all day. They are less concealed and you are not going to wear them at important moments in your life (or yes, we listen but we do not judge). Be that as it may, the glasses have an advantage there, but that does not make Razer’s proposal make any less sense and may even have a fit not in gaming or in everyday life, but in terms of accessibility. What is this about?. Project Motoko are over-ear headphones (quite comfortable, I must add) with two 12-megapixel wide-angle cameras at eye level, one on each side, and several far- and near-field microphones. It’s like having a pair of eyes connected to AI that see what we see. The experience will obviously vary depending on whether we are paid or free users of chatbots. Instead of using proprietary AI, the device can connect to all platforms, namely Grok, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and even Perplexity. Part of the process is done in the cloud, but thanks to an undetermined (for now) Qualcomm chip, there will also be local processing capabilities for certain commands. The cameras are at eye level | Image: Xataka The operation is simple. You look at something, say a restaurant menu; You ask the AI ​​something out loud and it answers you. During the demo we asked the headset if an ingredient on a table was suitable for lactose intolerant people, and even what we could make with the objects in our inventory in ‘Minecraft’, and it responded without problems. It also recognized buildings, places and text, translating a Japanese menu and giving us recommendations based on our preferences. The prototype is still missing, but it works, it works. Razer is still ironing out some connectivity and interaction issues, but the company is positive that they will release it at some point. They are not clear when, but the product is moving in the right direction, as explained by Razer. Detail of the position of the camera and microphones | Image: Xataka The rough edges. The demo had some flaws, such as the headphones were not capable of recording live video and did not capture the image if we did not ask them to, let me explain. To generate a recipe with the ingredients on a table, you had to expressly tell it to take a photo and then the command. That is not natural language. It is not natural to say “take a photo and tell me yes”, but a normal interaction would be “hey, what can I do with this?” The idea is that we invoke the AI ​​using a button located on the headphones, so it would make sense that, in a final product, when you press that button the headphones begin to record the live image. Not a static one, but a video feed like Gemini Live does. And in that sense, the warning for third parties that they are being recorded with the headphones is not defined at the moment either. A white light turns on in Meta’s glasses when you record, for example. In any case, it doesn’t seem like something that can’t be fixed via software for a final product. The release date is not confirmed, nor is the price. Project Motoko | Image: Xataka Maybe the chicha is not in everyday life. Although it is tempting to think of a companion product for everyday use, especially if you work with headphones or usually wear them on the street (not my case), where I think Project Motoko could have a huge impact is in two areas: video generation to train humanoid robots and accessibility. On the one hand, headphones capture what we see (more, in fact, as they have a greater field of vision), so by recording how a manual industrial process is carried out, the necessary resources could be generated to train machine learning algorithms focused on robots. After all, an AI learns by watching the same action thousands, millions of times, but for that to be possible it has to have videos, many very specific videos which, of course, are not abundant. On the other hand, people with vision problems have a powerful ally in … Read more

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