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Switzerland thought that putting 5,000 solar panels at 2,500 meters above sea level was crazy. He had an unexpected ally: the snow

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The logic of the solar sector tells us that the panels should go down, where it is hot and the roads reach without problem. It shouldn’t be a good idea to put them on top of a mountain, but a project in the Swiss Alps it has surprised us with extraordinary performance. The curious thing is that what drives his performance is exactly what many assumed would make him fail. A solar farm in an unexpected place. The installation is called AlpinSolar and is located on the dam of Lake Muttsee, in the Swiss canton of Glarus, one hour from Zurich. This construction is located at 2,500 meters above sea level and is the highest dam in Europe, as well as the longest in Switzerland. Panels everywhere. Some 5,000 bifacial solar panels, manufactured by the Swiss company Megasol, cover more than a kilometer of the dam wall, facing south to capture sun from morning to night. Being an inclined surface, the snow slides alone without the need for manual cleaning. A complex installation. The dam is inaccessible by land, so every panel, every piece and every tool had to be transport by helicopter. For example, the crane that helped install the panels, and whose components were moved there to then be assembled and ready to operate. Megavarious out of nowhere. The plant, operational from 2022, has an installed power of 2.2 MW and generates about 3.3 million kWh per year, enough to supply between 700 and 750 homes according to various sources. damn fog. The Alpine country generates plenty of electricity in summer, but the same does not happen in winter, which is exactly when it needs it most. That deficit could worsen significantly if Switzerland starts to close its nuclear power plants, and alternatives such as wind energy, have had difficulties developing there. Traditional solar doesn’t help much either: a panel in the valley only generates a quarter of its normal output in winter, in part because fog can sit in low-lying areas for weeks. Better up than down. The curious thing is that the idea of ​​installing the solar farm at high altitude turned the situation around. The plant is above the fog line, and the thin, clean air lets in more sunlight. The cold, far from reducing performance, helps: solar panels work more efficiently when they are not overheated. And the snow acts like a giant mirror, reflecting additional light onto the panels from below (albedo effect), which can boost production. Surprise. AlpinSolar generates about half of its entire annual production during the winter, exactly the season in which the country needed it most. In fact, it produces up to three times more than a similar plant in low altitude areas during the months of February and March. That was enough argument for the Denner supermarket chain to sign an agreement 20-year energy purchase agreement with the project in an alliance with Axpo and IWB, builders and developers of the project. To copy the project. The result has also ended up convincing the Swiss government, which approved a fast-track law dubbed “Solar Express” to facilitate the development of new projects that effectively leave AlpinSolar behind. Among them stands out an alpine park near Sedrun in which up to 4,200 solar projects are planned to be built in lowland and mountain areas of the country. Austria, Italy and other countries are following the experiment closely. That and othersby the way. Image | Axpo In Xataka | The wind industry has been dreaming for years of a turbine that can be assembled without concrete or machinery. France has said ‘hold my tank’“

We have been putting bananas in red fruit smoothies for years. Science says it’s just what we shouldn’t do

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Although it will always be a better option to eat whole fruit, smoothies and fruit shakes are a good way to eat healthyespecially in the heat of summer. When preparing them, it is time to experiment and try different mixtures and combinations of flavors. However, according to a study from the University of California Davisthere are combinations that are best avoided. In their case, they refer to bananas and red fruits. The key is in the flavanols. So much the banana like the red fruits They are very healthy. The first is especially rich in potassium, fiber and B vitamins. Forest fruits are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants such as flavanols. Precisely, it is with these that the problem arises. And, as these scientists saw in their study, bananas contain an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase that prevents the flavanols from red fruits from being absorbed. First experiment. These scientists carried out several experiments to reach these conclusions. In the first, 8 volunteers participated, who were given a red fruit smoothie or a capsule with flavanols. In both cases, when blood samples were taken, it was seen that the levels of flavanol metabolites had increased. This indicates that your body was metabolizing them to extract their benefits. However, when the process was repeated by adding banana to the smoothie, the results were very different, as the blood levels of flavanol metabolites were much lower. In search of the culprit. The guilt of polyphenol oxidase is not a suspicion. This was confirmed in a second experiment, in which a banana and red fruit smoothie was left at room temperature. After an hour, flavanol levels had greatly decreased. However, when the process was repeated with bananas that had this enzyme inhibited, they remained intact. Even separately. In another experiment, participants were given a smoothie made only of berries, followed by one made only with berries. banana. Again, the levels of flavanol metabolites decreased. It seems that polyphenol oxidase acts even when both fruits are put together in our stomach instead of in our blender. There are limitations to the study. This research took place in 2023 with only 8 participants. It’s a tiny sample size, so it can’t be considered very conclusive. Furthermore, all participants were men, so it is still not a representative sample of the entire population. The authors themselves indicated at the time that it would be necessary to carry out the study with more participants. At the moment, they have not done so. They have continued researching in the area of ​​flavanols, but not in relation to the drawbacks of mixing banana and red fruits. Although they have focused on the need to properly choose the fruits we consume. For example, recently published an investigation which concluded that eating five pieces of fruit and vegetables is not enough to achieve the adequate dose of these antioxidants in one day. You would have to choose the best options. Don’t despair either. If you love the combination of banana and red fruits, don’t suffer. It’s not dangerous at all. Simply, according to this study, flavanols are not extracted in the best possible way. You can resort to other additional sources and the problem would be solved. In any case, if for you banana is a dispensable complement, it may be better not to consume it with red fruits. Both fruits are very healthy, but the best option, based on this research, would be to eat them at two different times of the day. Image | Magnificent Xataka | The Spanish cherry had been dreaming for years of a scenario that has just come true: opening the doors of China

There are people recommending putting a coin on the WiFi router to make it work better. It’s stupid like a temple

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The WiFi coverage problems They are a common evil in many homes and that causes all kinds of problems to arise. tips and tricks to improve itsome of them quite questionable. One of the viral tricks that has been circulating the most lately is the one that ensures that simply By placing a coin on top of the router we can amplify the signal of our WiFi. I wish it were that simple. The trick has been successful because it combines several factors: it is very easy to do, problems with WiFi are very common and it has a certain scientific basis. The logic is that, as the antennas are metal and the coin too, if we put it on top of the router we will make the signal increase. Let’s explain to you why it doesn’t make any sense. Debunking the myth of the coin and the router Placing a coin on the router has the same effect on the signal as leaving it next to it: none. For a metal to act as an antenna, it has to be connected to the circuit that emits the signal, but this is not the case. Between the coin and the circuit are other components, air and a plastic casing. Come on, it’s not going to have any effect. Placing metal near a router can even worsen the signal. If we surround a signal emitter such as the router with metal, we will achieve the well-known effect Faraday cagethat is, the signal is blocked. Obviously with a single coin we are not going to make WiFi worse, but this destroys the belief that a metal object on top of the router is going to amplify the signal. Photo by Pierre G on Unsplash As we said, the basis of the trick is that the antennas are made of metal, but there is a key issue and that is that not just any metal will do, it must be one who is a good driver. The metal that conducts electricity better It is silver, followed by copper, gold and aluminum. Euro coins are made of different materials depending on what currency it is. The 2 euro one combines a copper-nickel exterior with a nickel and brass interior; those of 50, 20 and 10 cents are made of Nordic gold (an alloy of copper, aluminum, zinc and tin) and those of 5, 2 or 1 cent are made of copper-coated steel. Even if the trick worked, none of these materials would be ideal for building an antenna. Tips that will improve your WiFi Most WiFi problems at home have their origin in one very specific thing: the router is incorrectly placed. The usual thing is that the installation comes through a wall and that we install the router right there, but it is a mistake. The more focused you are, the better. The router emits the signal in all directions, so if we put it at one end of the house we will be making the signal very good in that room and outside (on the other side of the wall), but it will be increasingly weaker as we move away from it. The best location for the router is to place it as centrally as possible within our house. Another issue to take into account is the obstacles. The walls, the closets full of clothes, the appliances… all of this will weaken the signal of our WiFi, so the fewer obstacles you have to cross, better. There is more tips that allow you to optimize the WiFi signal at homehow to keep your router updated or choose well what we connect to each bandbut if nothing works you can always turn to additional devices such as a WiFi PLC amplifier or what is by far the most effective: a WiFi Mesh system. I myself have suffered problems with WiFi at home due to a poorly placed router and The only thing that solved it was installing two additional mesh routers. I wish it had been as simple as putting a euro on top of the router. Image | Alex Alcolea, Xataka In Xataka | The new WiFi 7 router from Movistar compared to the previous one with WiFi 6: a leap that is worth it in almost everything

We will run out of space on dry land one day. So Spain is already putting solar panels into the sea

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Filling the field with solar panels has a physical limit. It is very likely that, while reading this, you have heard the debate that in our landscapes there are beginning to be more panels than crops. Faced with this growing land saturation, the alternative is already floating in the water: The San Enrique de Vigo Shipyard has just launched the first floating marine solar platform with purely Spanish technology. Named “Paiporta”—a tribute to the victims of the deadly DANA in Valencia in October 2024—this pioneering modular structure marks an industrial milestone. Its destiny is not to stay in the Galician estuary, but to be towed in the coming weeks to the Valencian coast to undergo its final test: validate its operability and generate electricity in the open sea. The sea as a technological ally. The saline and hostile environment of the sea offers conditions that multiply the efficiency of the panels. Traditional solar panels lose efficiency when they reach high temperatures. However, in these floating installations, seawater acts as a powerful natural coolant. By heating up less, the panels perform more and are capable of producing more electricity than their twins installed on the ground or on roofs. Added to this cooling effect is an intelligent design decision. Those responsible for the project They detail that the panels installed on the platform they use bifacial technology. This means that the installation not only absorbs direct solar radiation falling from the sky, but is also capable of capturing and generating energy from light bouncing off the sea surface. In the near future, they are expected to operate jointly with offshore wind farms (offshore), sharing evacuation infrastructure and maximizing the amount of clean energy that can be extracted from the same ocean coordinate. Mass-produced photovoltaic catamarans. The “how” is as important as the “what.” PV-bos (PhotoVoltaic-BlueNewables Offshore Solutions) technology has not been conceived to create unique and artisanal prototypes, but to revolutionize the assembly line. The project – called Renovar – pursues the development of platforms manufactured through industrialized and modular processes, directly inspired by mass manufacturing models. The objective is clear: reduce costs, cut production times and make photovoltaics offshore be competitive at a global level. To achieve this, the technological solution is based on an innovative catamaran-type design, specifically optimized to withstand harsh ocean conditions. This format allows the plates to be raised to a safe height above sea level, which not only improves energy performance, but also greatly facilitates maintenance work. The overall project contemplates a floating system of one megawatt of total power, divided into two PV-bos units of five hundred kilowatts each. Bringing this steel and silicon giant to the water was no easy task. From BlueNewables They explain that the launching It required a complex tandem lifting maneuver, using the emblematic and colossal cranes of the Vigo shipyard to place the structure with millimeter precision on the estuary. The industrial muscle. Behind this technological advance there is a powerful business and institutional alliance. The initiative combines the vast experience in marine structures of Astilleros San Enrique (belonging to the Meridional Group), the technological specialization of the Canarian engineering BlueNewables, and the technical collaboration of Soermar (Society for the Study of Maritime Resources). In addition, the project has the strong financial support of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, and the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) through its RENMARINAS program. On the other hand, it is a breath of fresh air and an opportunity for reinvention for the naval industry. José Luis Torres, general director of the San Enrique Shipyard, emphasizes that this success demonstrates the capacity of the traditional Spanish naval sector to lead cutting-edge developments. Far from remaining anchored in the construction of conventional ships, shipyards demonstrate that they can compete at the highest international level in the new markets opened by the energy transition. Next station: open sea. With the “Paiporta” now afloat, the Spanish industry sends a clear message to the world. In the words of Bernardino Couñagoco-founder and CEO of BlueNewables, this launch places his company “among the world leaders in the marine floating solar sector” and clearly demonstrates the enormous “industrial and technological capabilities that exist in Galicia and Spain to lead innovative energy solutions at an international level.” But the work is not finished. This successful maneuver in Vigo is just a decisive step. Now, the platform leaves behind the safety of the manufacturing phase in the shipyard to head towards the final stages: commissioning, connection and monitoring. When the “Paiporta” reaches the coasts of Valencia, it will have to demonstrate that the engineers’ mathematics can withstand the onslaught of waves and salt. The limit of the earth has already been surpassed; Now it’s time to conquer the horizon. Image | Bluenewables Xataka | Many towns oppose wind farms. In Euskadi they want to solve it the hard way: giving them 7% of their profits

OpenClaw led the way for AI agents. Gemini Spark is Google putting a toll on it

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In January of this year the technological world was amazed by OpenClaw (at that time Clawdbot), the most powerful AI agent that we had seen to date, capable of taking total control of the computer and everything open source. Technology companies took good note of this and some like Pereplexity or NVIDIA They have set out to copy it. Google just joined the party. Gemini Spark. This is how they have named this personal agent based on Gemini Flash 3.5 that, in the words of Google itself, “helps you manage your digital life.” With Gemini Spark you can assign it a task and it will start working on it autonomously, even with your phone and computer turned off. Google emphasizes the issue of security, which was a major concern with OpenClaw, and says that Spark is designed to “consult you before taking important actions.” What Spark can do. Because it’s integrated with all Google Workspace tools, Spark can perform complex tasks like making a document with a party’s attendee list from the information you receive in email. You can also schedule recurring tasks, like reviewing your bank statement at the end of the month for strange charges, organizing your drive files, or creating workflows from meeting notes. Who can use it. Here comes the main difference with OpenClaw and that is that Gemini Spark is obviously not free. Google has confirmed that its new agent will be part of the Google AI Ultra subscription. In Spain that means paying a minimum of 100 euros per month (there is a 220 euro plan with more features and storage), but even if you want, you won’t be able to try it because at the moment it will be launched in beta version only for US users. At the moment there is no confirmation of when it will reach other languages ​​and countries. When available, Gemini Spark can be used on Android, iOS and in the web app, but they have also talked about integrating it directly into Chrome. Why is it important. The viral success of OpenClaw earlier this year showed us how far a single person can go with a good AI idea, and how short-lived that sweet moment was. Not even three months had passed when OpenAI signed its creator and shortly after we began to see large companies copying the idea. Perplexity with Personal ComputerNVIDIA with NemoClaw and now Google with Gemini Spark. A single open-source project has set the agenda of an industry that has swallowed it in the blink of an eye and returned it to us in the form of a monthly subscription. Image | Google In Xataka | An AI set up a cafeteria from scratch: obtained permits, hired staff and negotiated with suppliers. Then he ordered 3,000 rubber gloves

Chile has one of the most valuable skies on Earth. Renewables are putting it on the ropes

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Chile has a diamond of 105,000 km². The Atacama Desert is one of the most important in the world due to its extreme aridity. That is why it is key to study the adaptability of fauna and flora to very harsh conditions of drought and salinity, but it is also a gem for space observation and renewable energies. But there are mixtures that do not work, and Atacama is the example of how one of the best natural laboratories for the energy transition and one of the best places to look at the universe They don’t combine well. Spoiler: the astronomers have won. For now. The Atacama battery. It is not the first time that two disciplines collide in the Atacama Desert. Due to its conditions, this desert has become in the country’s renewable battery. Not only solar energy projects are triumphing, but also wind turbine parks. And as important as this: one of its salt flats hides one of the most important lithium reserves in the world. This is vital to build batteries for the energy transition of cars, for example, but the price is being too high: we are destroying biodiversity. In parallel to this battle, another has been fought: that of a huge renewable energy project to create green hydrogen that came into conflict with one of the most important observatories in the world: the Paranal Observatory of the European Astral Observatory. The threat of INNA. The American AES Corporation, together with the Chilean subsidiary AES Andes, was preparing the construction of a photovoltaic park of more than 3,000 hectares, wind turbines and refining facilities to produce green hydrogen and ammonia. He green hydrogen It is one of the pending energy accounts and it is positive, but there was a problem: it would be only 10 kilometers from the observatory. Astronomers shouted in the sky pointing that the microvibrations of the installation, the dust and, above all, the light pollution would disturb the daily work in facilities that are located in a privileged location, precisely because they are in the middle of nowhere. This facility is of global importance because it houses the Very Large Telescope (one of the most powerful in the world) and will have both the Extremely Large Telescope such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory. The thing about telescope names is one thing. Scientists working at the observatory They agreed to sign an open letter in which they pointed out that the construction of the facilities would seriously endanger the missions that were carried out there, describing the program as “an imminent threat” to humanity’s ability to investigate the cosmos. Victory. After months of fighting, the astronomers won. It was at the beginning of this year when AES Andes advertisement that he would abandon the project, noting that he would focus on other facilities, but mentioning that INNA was “fully compatible with the activities of the region.” It was no longer a fight just for the Paranal Observatory due because there are about 30 astronomical sites in the area, many of them internationaland its importance is what it is because, apart from zero light pollution, it is estimated that there are more than 300 nights each year without rain or clouds that interfere with scientific work. Yes, but. The problem is that one thing is the interests of astronomers and researchers of the universe and another is the priority of energy companies… and even of the country itself. Researchers point out that there is increasing pressure to convert the Atacama Desert into that aforementioned ‘stack’ of Chile, and INNA has not been the only threat that the observatories have experienced. In 1955, a major solar station operated by the Smithsonian Institution of the United States was forced to close due to mining expansion in the area. Unda-Sanzana, director of the Astronomy Center at the University of Antofagasta, points out that “we have had 70 years to learn from history and avoid repeating those same mistakes,” lamenting how close they have come to reliving the situation. And the problem is that things they haven’t changed too much. This victory has been suffered, but astronomers point out that Chilean sky preservation laws remain lax and outdated, so this should be remedied instead of fighting each battle individually. Image | G. Hüdepohl/ESO In Xataka | The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on the planet. And right there a bunch of “crazies” are trying to get water out of the fog.

BYD promised them very happy by putting very advanced ADAS in very cheap cars. Until the RAM crisis came

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In recent years, BYD had turned its brand new advanced driving system into one of the biggest arguments to confront Tesla. And having this type of technology in affordable cars can be attractive to the consumer, but it has a cost that other companies can hardly absorb. BYD thought so, but the RAM crisis It has stopped him, and the context is now much more complicated. Prices go up. BYD just announced in China a 21% increase in the price of the ‘DiPilot 300’ option (basically its “God’s Eye” in its version with LiDAR), which goes from 9,900 to 12,000 yuan (about 1,560 euros). The company justifies the measure by the “significant increase in global storage hardware costs.” In other words, DRAM memory and storage have become so expensive that they can no longer absorb the cost without passing it on to the customer. Until now, no major manufacturer had so explicitly linked a price increase to the memory market, according to collect South China Morning Post. In detail. The ADAS Modern ones (and especially those that integrate LiDAR like those from BYD) are very demanding on memory. They need high-performance chips to process LiDAR point clouds in real time, run driving models, and store route data. The problem is that this same type of memory is being absorbed en masse by artificial intelligence data centers, which account for most of the global production of DRAM and NAND. The prices of these chips have entered what analysts call a “supercycle,” with increases that according to TrendForce are around 55-60% in conventional DRAM this year, but that in premium automotive segments (which also use DDR5) have reached up to 300% in free market price. A problem of scale. BYD’s colossal deployment makes the problem especially bulging in its case. The company has installed your “God’s Eye” system in more than 2.85 million vehicles as of March 2026, generating approximately 180 million kilometers of driving data per day, according to own data of the signature. At that scale, every extra cent in memory multiplies into millions. On the other hand, BYD closed the first quarter of 2026 with its worst net profit in three years: 4.08 billion yuan, a drop of 55% compared to the same period of the previous year, according to figures published by the company. In this context, maintaining prices without making a move has become unsustainable for the company. They are not alone. Chery, Xiaomi and the Huawei Aito brand prices have also increased on models with similar advanced driving systems in recent months. William Li, founder and CEO of Nio, counted in January that the biggest cost pressure of the year would not come from raw materials, but from memory. What changes for the buyer. The founding promise of “God’s Eye” was that autonomous driving would no longer be an expensive privilege. As we counted almost a year agothe experience of the system on the highway (even in the most economical model, the Dolphin Surf/Seagull, which sells for around 9,000 euros in China at the exchange rate) was genuinely impressive. Lane keeping was impeccable, autonomous lane changes were well executed and traffic management rivaled other premium range systems. BYD even planned to distribute it as standard in all its models, regardless of the price. Although that narrative is not dead, it is beginning to have nuances. At the moment, the version with LiDAR (the most capable) is already a payment option that has just become 21% more expensive. And now what. From Counterpoint Research they point that the blow will be uneven: low-end models simply will not carry this technology, and high-end ones have less price-sensitive buyers. The greatest impact falls on the mid-segment, where BYD’s value proposition was most disruptive. As the markets are, we will have to wait to find out what direction the company finally takes. Cover image | BYD In Xataka | Cuba is experiencing a brutal energy crisis, so a Cuban has used ingenuity to fuel his car: charcoal

The fuel crisis is putting airlines in check. And Ryanair already knows where to start cutting: Spain

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Your flight has been cancelled. Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran for the first time two months ago, fear of a new oil crisis has skyrocketed. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has put fuel supplies in check since then and the aviation sector has been one of the most affected. Among the consequences, we have seen a serious increase in the cost of flights but also cancellations. Ryanair is clear about where it will cut flights from if necessary. What has happened? The CEO of Ryanair has launched a new threat: “if the situation continues, the first place we have in mind are the Spanish regional airports.” The words are from Eddie Wilson and have been collected by the newspaper ABC. That “if the situation continues” refers, of course, to the oil blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. And the company has once again raised its threats against the Government of Spain. Coinciding with the day in which Aena has distributed dividends among its partners, Ryanair has taken the opportunity to confirm that it will cut 1.2 million places this summer available at Spanish airports. And asked about how they face a possible fuel shortage, Wilson has once again taken the opportunity to question the viability of their activities at Spanish regional airports. What has been confirmed? Ryanair has been warning for months that it was going to cut operations this summer at Spanish airports if the Government did not reverse the increase in Aena airport taxes in the 2027-2031 cycle. Last Monday, the airline was ratified although it did not make it clear which airports will be the most punished. They do point out that with the extension of these cuts, in 18 months they have stopped offering three million places in our country (once the summer cut is consolidated). On the contrary, Morocco and Italy will grow by 11% and 9%, respectively. Of course, it is true that Regional airports are suffering with the departure of Ryanair but the size of the cut is misleading because, at the same time, its commitment to larger airports has been maintained or even expanded. And the new threat? The new threat is the possibility of scrapping more flights if Ryanair runs out of fuel. It seems logical that when prioritizing fuel, the company opts for larger airports where the flight occupancy rate will be higher or there is a greater chance of this being the case. In the month of April we have seen many cancellations from both American companies and United either Delta even the Asian ones like Air New Zealandpassing through the entire European framework as SAS or the Lufthansa Group, Wizz Air and easyJet (among others). And the CEO of easyJet already publicly warned that the situation in Europe could become seriously complicated starting in mid-May. How much real threat and imposted threat is there in Wilson’s words? It is difficult to know because it is impossible to know how much fuel Ryanair has or to what extent the company is willing to pay for kerosene before losing money. (or not earning what they consider enough). Because? The air sector is one of the most affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The increase in fuel prices losses are skyrocketing and Lufthansa will cancel more than 20,000 flights according to Financial Times to patch the rise in prices. The result, as we see, is fewer flights, more expensive flights or airlines that take advantage of the reduction in supply to tighten the nuts more for the passengers. They are the consequences of moving with a type of fuel that very little stock is handled in warehouses. The kerosene used by airplanes is delicate to store because it can quickly lose its properties. And International Air Transport Association (IATA), already warned that rebuild damaged refining capacity in the Middle East will take months. The forecasts for summer are not good. And it is clear that, if cuts have to be made, they will be cut where the least benefit is obtained. Photo | Ryanair and Gabriele Merlino In Xataka | Airlines have found in the fuel crisis the best argument to cut your benefits as a passenger

GitHub Copilot and Claude are putting more and more fees and costs

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As end users, pay a monthly fee to use a AI model It is the norm to access more complete and powerful models. However, developers who rely on an AI model to power their tool or application pay based on the tokens of input and output that are consumed (the minimum unit of text that a model processes when we use it, so that we understand each other). Which has announced GitHub Copilot has more to it than it seems, as it will now begin charging end users through a monthly plan based on the number of tokens. And this has set off alarm bells in the sector, because it could be a move that any other company could easily end up imitating. And all in a context in which Chinese startups prices continue to drop sharply in their models. Copilot can no longer maintain its business model. GitHub has announced that starting June 1 it will stop accepting requests for its current premium plans and will begin billing for AI credits instead. Each monthly plan will include a number of credits equivalent to the price of the subscription: anyone who pays $10 per month for Copilot Pro will receive $10 in credits. From there, consumption is measured in tokens, including input, output, and cache tokens. It is a play similar to when we use a image generation model either video: a use that depends on credits and that we recharge depending on the use. The reason for the change, according to the companyis that until now a quick consultation and an autonomous programming session of several hours cost the user the same. GitHub claims to have long absorbed that cost difference, but acknowledges that the model is no longer viable. QWhat exactly changes. The base prices of the plans are not touched: Copilot Pro is still at $10. Business in 19. Enterprise in 39. But: what you buy with them is no longer the same. Previously, the limit was a number of requests. Now, each interaction with the model consumes credits at a rate that depends on the chosen model and the volume of tokens. According to the rates published by the company itself, the most advanced OpenAI models can cost up to $30 per million output tokens. On the other hand, an agentic session, where the assistant executes tasks autonomously, can easily multiply the expense of a week of normal consultations. Ed Zitron, well-known critic and technology expert, counted that, according to internal documents to which he had access, Copilot’s weekly costs had almost doubled since January, coinciding with the boom in agentic assistants. Nor is it just Copilot. According to account The Information, Anthropic has begun charging its large enterprise customers the actual cost of computing Claudeabandoning any discount. Anthropic itself briefly tested the elimination of Claude Code of its $20 per month Pro plan. Large AI companies have been taking losses on their subscription models to attract users for some time, and are now trying to pass on the real costs to those who consume the most. China does the opposite. While the West adjusts prices upwards, several of the main Chinese technology companies have adopted a completely different strategy: turning tokens into a cheap commodity, almost like a telecom distributing mobile data. DeepSeek announced this week a 90% reduction in the price of cached accesses to its API (when the model reuses already processed context), bringing the minimum entry cost to about $0.14 per million tokens. For your most advanced model, DeepSeek-V4-Prothe figure becomes 32 times cheaper per conversation than the equivalent in GPT-5.5 from OpenAI, according to company data. Alibaba, for its part, has just separated its AI business and renamed it Token Hub Business Group, making clear what its strategic commitment is. According to share According to Reuters, Chinese models cost on average one-sixth the price per token of those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and the like. Why it can work, and why it has a limit. China’s advantage in inference (the moment at which a model responds to a request) rests on cheaper electricity, software efficiency that it has had no choice but to forcefully develop by chip restrictions from Washington, and a super competitive domestic race that forces prices to constantly drop. Token consumption in China has gone from 100 billion a day at the end of 2025 to 140 billion in March 2026, according to estimates collected by Reuters. However, as the media points out, this strategy has an underlying problem: the tokens are not interchangeable. One million tokens from Anthropic’s most advanced system are worth much more than the same volume processed by an inferior model. Companies that delegate complex tasks to AI agents will end up paying for quality, not just volume. And there, the Chinese models continue to lag behind the most advanced Western ones. Cover image | Alexander Mils and Roman Synkevych In Xataka | Anthropic decided to resist pressure from the Pentagon. Since then all other technologies have folded

Putting on a bear suit to defraud more than $141,000 in car insurance seemed believable. Until it stopped being

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There are stories that seem written not to be believed. It all starts with a luxury car, a course bear attack in the middle of California and some images that, in theory, should prove everything. The story fits in appearance, damage to the interior of the vehicle, claw marks, an animal that would have entered and destroyed the cabin. However, from the first moment there is something that squeaks. It’s not so much what you see, but how you see it, as if the scene is too well constructed to be real. The story began to go wrong when an insurance company reviewed more carefully a claim registered on January 28, 2024 in Lake Arrowhead, an area of ​​California where the presence of bears is not unusual. The report described how the animal had accessed the interior of a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and caused damage to the seats and doors. The images provided seemed to support it, but the company detected enough inconsistencies to take it a step further. That notice ended up triggering a formal investigation by the California Department of Insurance. When the bear didn’t look like a bear From that moment, the investigation began to reconstruct how the scene had been created. As detailed by the California Department of Insurancethe alleged attack did not have any wild animal behind it, but rather a person dressed in a bear suit. To simulate damage, they used utensils claw-shaped kitchen tools, designed to tear meat, with which they marked seats and interior panels. The objective was clear: to build visual evidence convincing enough to support the claim before the insurer. The case stopped seeming timely when investigators found more claims with the same pattern. It wasn’t just one vehicle or one insurer. Those involved filed similar requests with two other companies, alleging that a bear had caused damage to the interior of two Mercedes-Benzes on the same day and at the same location. The recordings associated with these cases showed practically identical scenes, with the alleged animal accessing the cars and moving around inside them. With several files on the table, the California Department of Insurance formalized the investigation under the name “Operation Bear Claw.” The objective was clear: to analyze the claims together, images and videos provided to determine whether they responded to real events or a montage. The investigators reviewed the material provided, compared the damage described and reconstructed the sequence of the alleged attacks. As they progressed, the coincidences stopped seeming coincidental and began to fit into the same scheme. The key finally came together when an outside specialist reviewed the recorded material. A biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife examined the images and his conclusion was straightforward. The expert noted that the alleged animal was “clearly a human in a bear suit.” This technical assessment marked a before and after in the investigation, because it transformed a suspicion into a statement supported by professional analysis. One expert noted that the alleged animal was “clearly a human in a bear suit.” The next piece of the case came during the execution of a search warrant. In a home related to those involved, investigators found what until then only fit based on clues. The authorities They located a brown bear suit and kitchen tools used to tear meat. Both elements coincided with what was observed in the videos and with the way in which the damage had been caused, thus closing the circle between theory and material evidence. With the evidence now consolidated, the case moved to the judicial field. Those involved were arrested in November 2024 after the investigation. Three of them, residents of Los Angeles County, pleaded “no contest,” a formula by which they do not formally admit guilt but do not dispute the charges, in the face of accusations of insurance fraud, a serious crime. They were later convicted to 180 days in jail, approximately six months, and in two of the cases they were also ordered to pay more than $50,000 each in restitution. The economic figure helps to size the case. According to official information, the claims presented allowed those involved to obtain more than $141,000 in insurance payments. It was not a failed attempt from the beginning, but rather a scheme that managed to overcome the first filters and generate income. Only when an insurer flagged a claim as suspicious and the investigation moved forward did the case stop appearing to be an isolated incident. Although three of those involved have already been convicted, the investigation remains open. According to official information, a fourth defendant, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in September. His case has not yet gone through the same phase as that of the others involved, so his responsibility within the scheme will be evaluated in the next judicial steps. The story, in that sense, is not completely over yet. The story ends as it began, with a scene that was intended to seem convincing and that, seen as a whole, was not so convincing. For a time, the plan worked and made it possible to obtain money from various insurers, but every detail that sought to reinforce the story ended up playing against him. The repetition of the same pattern, the analysis of the images and the appearance of material evidence ended up dismantling the initial version. Images | Valeriia Neganova | California Department of Insurance | Alexander Bendus In Xataka | In 2019, Elon Musk promised autonomous driving for all Teslas sold since then. In 2026, it has reversed

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