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which cars can circulate and which rest on March 7

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This Saturday the vehicle restriction scheme is activated again in the Metropolitan Area of ​​the Valley of Mexico, known as Hoy No Circula Sabatino, with which the Ministry of the Environment of Mexico City (SEDEMA) seeks to contain pollution spikes by cutting the number of cars on the street. Before starting the engine, it’s time to calmly check what hologram your car has, how the license plate ends and what type of Saturday the calendar marks, because it depends on whether you can drive or have to leave the vehicle parked. The scope of the program is not limited to the 16 municipalities of Mexico City: it also extends to 18 municipalities of the State of Mexico integrated into the metropolitan area. Among them are: Atizapan of Zaragoza Coacalco de Berriozábal Cuautitlan Cuautitlán Izcalli Chalco Chicoloapan Chimalhuacan Ecatepec de Morelos Huixquilucan Ixtapaluca Peace Naucalpan de Juárez Nezahualcoyotl Nicolas Romero Tecámac Tlalnepantla de Baz Tultitlan Chalco Valley If your route crosses any of these points, you must assume that the Saturday No Circula Today restrictions also apply throughout the journey. What cars and license plates does Hoy No Circula Saturday affect? The spirit of the scheme is simple: take a portion of the most polluting cars off the road to reduce total emissions, but different rules are combined on Saturdays than those from Monday to Friday. The filter is defined taking into account three variables: the verification hologram, the last digit of the license plate and whether Saturday corresponds to an even or odd week, which distributes the breaks throughout the month between the different groups of drivers. It is also worth remembering that the Saturday Hoy No Circula does not operate 24 hours a day: The valid hours are from 05:00 to 22:00, so that outside this interval there are no restrictions derived from this program, unless an environmental contingency or other extraordinary measure is decreed. For March 7, 2026, the calendar places the date as the first Saturday of the month, which classifies it as an “odd week” within the scheme. In this scenario, vehicles with hologram 1 whose license plate ends in an odd number are the ones that must remain out of circulation between five in the morning and ten at night, which is when the measure applies. If your car fits that combination of hologram and license plate finish, the recommendation is to leave it stored until the restriction hours end and look for mobility alternatives for your trips that day. On the other hand, cars with hologram 0 and 00 maintain a green light to circulate without limitations within the rules of Today Not Circulating on Saturdays, while vehicles with hologram 2 cannot circulate on any Saturday, regardless of whether the week is even or odd. Beyond these assumptions, there is a list of exempt vehicles that can move normally despite the program: Electric, natural gas or hybrid technology vehicles Units registered with plates for people with disabilities All those intended for urban public transport services (including funeral services) Those dedicated to school or passenger transportation Those assigned to public security and/or civil protection Those who decide to ignore the provisions of Today No Circula Saturday risk a significant financial penalty. The fine for driving when it does not correspond is 20 to 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA), a figure that translates into around 1,900 and almost 2,900 pesos, to which could be added the immobilization of the vehicle and the time lost to recover the unit and regularize the situation before the authority. Looking ahead to this Saturday, if you plan to drive through CDMX or through any of the Edomex municipalities that are part of the program, the most prudent thing is to confirm in advance what hologram your car has, how your registration ends and what type of week you are in. Today No Circula on Saturday is designed to leave the most polluting cars at home, but at the same time it forces you to better plan your trips and always take into account other mobility options when your car has to rest Photo | Noah Katz In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

which cars can circulate and which rest on February 28

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This Saturday the Hoy No Circula Saturday scheme is back in operation, the mechanism with which the Environment Secretariat of Mexico City (SEDEMA) restricts the circulation of certain vehicles to try to contain pollution in the Valley of Mexico. Once again, anyone planning to use the car should carefully check its license plate finish and verification hologram before driving off. The restrictions are not limited to the 16 municipalities of CDMX, but also extend to a series of suburban municipalities in the State of Mexico included in the program. Today No Saturday Circulation also applies to: Atizapan of Zaragoza Coacalco de Berriozábal Cuautitlan Cuautitlán Izcalli Chalco Chicoloapan Chimalhuacan Ecatepec de Morelos Huixquilucan Ixtapaluca Peace Naucalpan de Juárez Nezahualcoyotl Nicolas Romero Tecámac Tlalnepantla de Baz Tultitlan Chalco Valley Also, keep in mind that if your route crosses any of these demarcations, the Saturday No Circulation Day will be equally applicable to your vehicle throughout the journey. What cars and license plates does Hoy No Circula Saturday affect? The logic of the program is to reduce the number of cars in circulation in order to reduce emissions, but Saturdays are governed by their own rules that are added to the scheme from Monday to Friday. Not all drivers rest on the same weekend: it is the combination of hologram, license plate finish and whether Saturday corresponds to an even or odd week that determines which cars must remain stopped and which can leave. It is also worth remembering that Hoy No Circula on Saturdays does not operate 24 hours a day. The application schedule goes from 05:00 to 22:00; Outside of that period—that is, at night and early morning—the program does not limit vehicle traffic, unless an environmental contingency or another extraordinary measure is decreed that adds additional restrictions. For February 21, 2026, the calendar indicates that it is the third Saturday of the month, which is why it is classified as an “odd week.” Under this scenario, vehicles with hologram 1 and plates whose ending is an odd number are the ones that must remain out of circulation during the entire official program schedule. If your car falls into that category, you will have to keep it parked until after 10:00 p.m. On the other hand, vehicles with hologram 0 and 00 retain permission to circulate without restrictions within the framework of Today No Circula Saturday. Cars with hologram 2, for their part, cannot circulate on Saturdays under any circumstances. Along with the previous cases, there is a group of vehicles exempt that can circulate without being affected by these rules. Among them are: Electric, natural gas or hybrid technology vehicles Units registered with plates for people with disabilities All those intended for urban public transport services (including funeral services) Those dedicated to school or passenger transportation Those assigned to public security and/or civil protection Whoever decides to ignore the provisions of Hoy No Circula risks a considerable financial penalty. The fine for failing to comply with the program ranges from 20 to 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA), which translates into approximately 1,924.40 pesos at the minimum and up to 2,886.60 pesos at the maximum. Added to this blow to the pocketbook is the immobilization of the vehicle and the time lost in resolving the problem before the corresponding authorities. In short, if you are going to use the car this Saturday in CDMX or in one of the suburban municipalities of the State of Mexico included in the program, it is advisable to verify before leaving which hologram your vehicle carries, what the ending of your license plate is and if the calendar shows an even or odd week. Today No Circula on Saturday seeks to take the most polluting cars off the road, but at the same time forces people to better plan trips and consider mobility alternatives when the vehicle has to stay at home. Photo | Osmany M Leyva Aldana In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

which cars can circulate and which rest on February 21

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This Saturday the Hoy No Circula Saturday scheme is once again applied, the program with which the Secretariat of the Environment of Mexico City (SEDEMA) limits the circulation of certain vehicles to contain pollution in the Valley of Mexico. Again, those planning to use the car will have to carefully check the finish of its license plate and the verification hologram before hitting the road. The restrictions They do not only remain in the 16 municipalities of CDMX, but also reach several metropolitan municipalities of the State of Mexico. The program also operates in: Atizapan of Zaragoza Coacalco de Berriozábal Cuautitlan Cuautitlán Izcalli Chalco Chicoloapan Chimalhuacan Ecatepec de Morelos Huixquilucan Ixtapaluca Peace Naucalpan de Juárez Nezahualcoyotl Nicolas Romero Tecámac Tlalnepantla de Baz Tultitlan Chalco Valley Also, remember that if your route passes through any of these locations, the Saturday No Circulation Day also applies. What cars and license plates does Hoy No Circula Saturday affect? The principle of the program is to reduce the number of cars in circulation to lower emissions, but Saturdays are governed by specific guidelines that are added to the scheme from Monday to Friday. Not all vehicle owners rest on the same weekend: the hologram, the finish of the license plate and whether Saturday corresponds to an odd or even week define who stays parked and who can leave. It is important to take into account that the Saturday Today Not Circulating is not in effect throughout the day. The application schedule goes from 05:00 to 22:00so that outside of that interval—at night and early morning—the program does not restrict vehicle traffic, as long as no environmental contingency or other additional provision is decreed that imposes extraordinary limits. In the case of February 21, 2026, the calendar indicates that it is the third Saturday of the month, which is why it is considered an “odd week.” Under this configuration, vehicles with hologram 1 and plates whose ending is an odd number are those that must remain out of circulation during program hours. If your car meets that combination, you will have to leave it stored until after 10:00 p.m. On the contrary, cars with hologram 0 and 00 maintain permission to circulate without restrictions within the framework of Today No Circula Saturday. Those with hologram 2 cannot circulate under any circumstances on Saturdays. In addition to the previous cases, remember that there are a series of exempt vehicles that can circulate without being affected by these limitations. These are: Electric, natural gas or hybrid technology vehicles Units registered with plates for people with disabilities All those intended for urban public transport services (including funeral services) Those dedicated to school or passenger transportation Those assigned to public security and/or civil protection Those who decide not to comply with the provisions of Hoy No Circula are exposed to a significant financial penalty. The fine for violating the program ranges from 20 to 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA), which is equivalent to approximately 1,924.40 pesos at the minimum and up to 2,886.60 pesos at the maximum. Added to the economic impact is the possible immobilization of the vehicle and the time spent resolving the situation before the authorities. Which cars and license plates are affected by Hoy No Circula Saturday? In conclusion, if you are going to travel by car this Saturday through CDMX or through the suburban municipalities of the State of Mexico included in the program, it is advisable to check before starting what hologram your vehicle has, what the ending of your license plate is and if the calendar shows an even or odd week. Hoy No Circula Saturday focuses on removing the most polluting cars from circulation, but at the same time it forces people to better plan trips and evaluate mobility alternatives when the vehicle must rest. Photo | Gilbert Ng In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

We thought that AI was going to take our position. The reality is that it is making us work more and rest less

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The most pessimistic vision of the future of AI predicted that the automation of processes would mean the elimination of many jobs. The most optimistic assure that AI will not replace employees, but rather will enhance your skills making them more productive, which will translate into shorter days. A analysis of Harvard Business Reviewbased on eight months of observation at a US technology company with about 200 employees, reveals something very different: AI is making employees take on more tasks, but also make them work longer days. Do more with AI. The study observed that the use of AI in the company It did not simplify the work, but rather expanded it. The researchers observed that employees, product managers, and designers began using AI on their own initiative, even though the company did not force them to do so. What it did do was provide business subscriptions to those who decided to use it in their work. This use made employees begin to tackle more and more tasks, not only within the scope of their position, but, for example, employees from the sales department asked AI for help. to program a tool to help them in their task. Employees argued that, with the help of AI, they had immediate response to their ideas and projects, which allowed them to accomplish more tasks. The end of breaks. The help of AI and the elimination of friction in starting new tasks motivated employees to take on more and more tasks, increasing their daily workload. The most curious thing is that the researchers discovered that this additional motivation also implied that employees gave up their natural rest times. The increase in workload, even voluntarily, increased their levels of cognitive fatigue and exhaustion, influencing their decision-making capacity. By not having to stop and reflect in front of a blank page of a report or simply go to a colleague’s desk for help with a question, employees endured greater mental strain. This progressive exhaustion had an impact on worsening of work quality and in personnel turnover due to burnout. Fast pace and multitasking. He productivity increase The initial advantage that AI provided made it possible for employees to have several open fronts. The researchers detected that employees assigned a task to the AI ​​(or even several tasks in parallel processes) and, while obtaining a result, started a new task. This practice caused a state of perpetual multitasking, with frequent interruptions and “juggling” between different ideas and open projects, which contributed to exhausting employees’ cognitive capacity a little more. More work for you, more work for others. Daring to take on tasks that did not correspond to them, in turn caused a supervision overload for the departments to which it did correspond. For example, if someone in the sales department created code to streamline the analysis of their sales data, that would require the engineering department to review that code to make sure it was correct. that is correct and safeincreasing your workload with unplanned projects. Blurred boundaries between work and life. One of the most notable consequences is how AI acts as an always-available “co-pilot,” removing barriers between work and personal hours. The employees who participated in the analysis ended up extending their work hours on their own initiative, reviewing ideas or polishing the work they had started with AI at home. As its authors point out, “organizations could see this voluntary expansion of work as a clear victory. After all, if workers do it on their own initiative, why would that be a bad thing?” However, this apparent initial advantage for companies can mask a long-term problem “Overwork can impair judgment, increase the likelihood of errors, and make it difficult for organizations to distinguish between true productivity gains and unsustainable intensity,” the researchers note. The report ‘Barometer of AI in the world of work’ prepared by PwC, corroborates that in companies with a high implementation of AI, productivity increases between 20 and 30% on average, but it is only maintained at these levels if it is accompanied by ethical governance and redistribution of efforts. Without these adjustments, the promise of efficiency becomes a trap of greater individual effort that ends up burning out employees with heavier workloads and longer hours. In Xataka | “The world is in danger”: Anthropic’s security manager leaves the company to write poetry Image | Unsplash (Christina @wocintechchat.com)

which cars can circulate and which rest on February 14

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This Saturday the Hoy No Circula Saturday scheme is activated again, the program with which the Mexico City Environment Secretariat seeks to limit the number of cars on the streets and, thereby, reduce pollution in the Valley of Mexico. Once again, many motorists will have to carefully check the finish of their license plate and the verification hologram before leaving home. The measure does not remain only in the capital. In addition to the 16 mayoralties of CDMX, Hoy No Circula Saturday is applied in several metropolitan municipalities of the State of Mexico. This is the case of: Atizapan of Zaragoza Coacalco de Berriozábal Cuautitlan Cuautitlán Izcalli Chalco Chicoloapan Chimalhuacan Ecatepec de Morelos Huixquilucan Ixtapaluca Peace Naucalpan de Juárez Nezahualcoyotl Nicolas Romero Tecámac Tlalnepantla de Baz Tultitlan Chalco Valley What cars and license plates does Hoy No Circula Saturday affect? The heart of the program is simple: it is about leaving a portion of the cars in the garage to alleviate traffic and emissions. However, Saturdays have their own rules that overlap with the Monday to Friday scheme. Not all motorists rest on the same weekendand that’s where the hologram, the finish of the plate and whether Saturday falls on an even or odd week of the month come into play. It is also important to be clear that the Saturday Hoy No Circula does not operate 24 hours a day. The restrictions are limited to the period between 05:00 and 22:00. Outside this range, that is, at night and early morning, vehicles can circulate without the program stopping them, as long as there are no other environmental contingencies or extraordinary provisions. For this February 14, 2026, the key is in the calendar: it is the second Saturday of the month, which is why it is considered an “even week.” In this scenario, cars with hologram 1 and plate ending in even number They are the ones that must remain out of circulation during program hours. If your vehicle fits that combination, you will have to leave it parked until after 10:00 p.m. On the other hand, cars with hologram 0 and 00 maintain their usual permission to circulate without restrictions within the Today No Circula Saturday scheme. Another important block is the exceptions. Some vehicles are left out of the play and can move freely even when others have to rest. This is the case of: Electric, natural gas or hybrid technology vehicles Units registered with plates for people with disabilities All those intended for urban public transport services (including funeral services) Those dedicated to school or passenger transportation Those assigned to public security and/or civil protection Whoever decides to ignore the rules of the program is exposed to a no small financial penalty. The fine associated with non-compliance with Hoy No Circula is calculated between 20 and 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA), which translates to approximately 1,924.40 pesos at the lower end and up to 2,886.60 pesos at the upper end. In summary, if you plan to use your car this Saturday in CDMX or in the suburban municipalities of the State of Mexico, check first what hologram your car has, what the ending of your license plate is and if the calendar shows an even or odd week. Today No Circula Saturday is designed to take the most polluting vehicles out of the equation, but also to force us to better plan our trips and consider mobility alternatives when it’s time to rest. Photo | Ryotando In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

US sanctions are collapsing China’s factories. It’s bad news for the rest of the world

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The US has intensified in recent years its tariff policy against China. Under the shield of “national security reasons,” the Trump administration has attempted to isolate China from essential components to create cutting-edge technology. The play didn’t go too welland China is at its best moment of national production. So much so that the capacity of its factories is reaching the limit. There are those who warned. Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, warned at the beginning of February in his statements. He pointed out that the US blockade is only achieving the opposite effect, driving giants like Huawei to develop silently and accelerating the race for China to obtain the capacity to make three nanometer chips. SMIC confirmed it. He SMIC report corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2025 is a perfect summary of China’s efforts to one day end up leading the semiconductor race. China doesn’t just want to make chips for mobile phones: it wants to dominate the semiconductors that support AI, cars, telecommunications, industry, energy and defense: because whoever controls these chips controls technological power. The key data. That SMIC’s profits have grown by 39% in the last year is quite revealing, but that the capacity of its factories has risen to 93.5% is even more so. In other words, the Chinese company is practically at the limit of its production capacity, having to satisfy the demanding demands of both the government and local companies. How does this affect me?. Among the key sectors that China wants to lead is AI. And this one needs many, many chips. So much so that SMIC has warned that the demand for them is being so enormous that the rest of the consumer electronics orders are being compromised. This ends up translating into delays in supply, price increases and something that we have been warning about for months: basic components such as RAM, SSD memories and so on. They are going to be more expensive than ever. Without help from anyone. China, without access to ASML’s most advanced machines, is achieving alternative routes for your manufacturing processes. Although some of its manufacturers are still in collaboration with giants like TSMC (case of Xiaomi with “its” XRing 01 chip, manufactured by TSCM in 3nm), the plan is to be completely self-sufficient. Something that they will end up achieving, sooner or later. In Xataka |

They owe you a day of rest

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The Supreme Court has made it clear that holidays are not days of rest. They are different rights. Therefore, if a holiday coincides with your day of restthe company has to give you another additional day off. For years it has been common that, if a holiday coincided with, for example, a Saturday, that day of rest was lost. A Supreme Court ruling has considered that loss of a holiday “does not conform to the law.” Therefore, the employee must be able to enjoy both rights: to weekly rest and to enjoy official holidays. The injustice: that holidays coincide with your rest. The High Court ruled in this sense in a ruling from July 2024which establishes that workers who work from Monday to Sunday and have a fixed day of rest during the week have the right to an additional day when that rest coincides with a work holiday. This resolution corrects the previous criteria of the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid in response to the demand of the workers of a business that opened from Monday to Sunday with rotating shifts, in which the staff’s breaks did not always coincide with the weekend. This meant that, if an employee was assigned, for example, Mondays as a day of rest, and it coincided with one of the 14 holidays recognized by law, that employee would lose either a holiday or a holiday, while his colleagues (with other days of rest) did enjoy both. On holidays you also rest. The usual practice to date was that, if the holiday coincided with the assigned day of rest during the week, the employee “lost” that day since, in reality, that rest was also occurring. However, the Supreme Court ruling reinforces that the 14 annual holidays recognized by law must be enjoyed in their entirety, without overlapping with the minimum weekly rest to which workers are also entitled, thus separating both rights and forcing the company to compensate the employee with another additional day off. Weekly and holiday rest are not the same. The doctrine of the Supreme Court is based on article 37.2 of the Workers Statutewhich indicates that “work holidays will be paid and non-recoverable.” That is, they cannot replace or be a replacement for any other type of rest. In practice, the court considers that allowing a holiday to overlap with the day of rest creates comparative grievances between people with different calendars within the same company. While some enjoy the 14 legally recognized holidays plus their weekly rest, others end up with fewer days off per year just because their day of rest coincides with the holiday. If both coincide, another day must be assigned. Based on this doctrine, if a national, regional or local holiday coincides with the assigned day of rest, the company must grant you an additional day off on another date. This compensatory day does not have to be the one immediately following the holiday, but rather must be set by mutual agreement, respecting the work calendar and ensuring that the holiday is not lost. For companies, this forces them to review quadrants and calendars in sectors that open every day, such as commerce, hospitality or certain essential services, where it is common to work on Sundays and holidays. How it affects you if the holiday falls on a weekend. In a classic weekday from Monday to Friday, if a holiday falls on a Saturday, the new jurisprudence prevents that holiday from simply “disappearing.” The company has to compensate with an additional day of rest. According to the article 47 of Royal Decree 2001/1983 that regulates the effective enjoyment of days of rest, when for organizational reasons the day of rest cannot be enjoyed, the company “will be forced to pay the worker for the hours worked” or to grant an alternative compensatory rest. That is, since the holiday must be taken because it is not recoverable, the day of rest is not “lost”, but must be compensated with another day or paid with a 75% increase if not enjoyed. In Xataka | If you can’t stand your boss anymore, you can resign, but you need to give advance notice of voluntary resignation: how and when to give it Image | Pexels (Leeloo The First)

Ryanair and the rest of the low-cost airlines have been charging for your carry-on suitcase for years. The European Union is tired of it

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It is no surprise that the main business of “cheap airlines” is precisely charge you for cabin luggage. A cheap Ryanair or EasyJet ticket can easily be double the price if you include a small suitcase to carry in the cabin. And from Europe I want this to end nowboth by users and legislators. not so fast. In this regard, the European Parliament has voted in favor to allow all passengers to carry one cabin bag of up to 7 kg free of charge, in addition to their personal bag or backpack. The measure has sparked criticism from low-cost airlines, since they rate it ‘existential threat’ to its business model, and that could raise ticket prices by up to 25%, according to EasyJet. The trigger. The European legislative proposal establishes that any passenger may carry at no additional cost one personal item plus one piece of hand luggage of up to 7 kg and with combined dimensions of 100 cm. This would affect all flights to or from EU airports operated by EU airlines. Of course, it should be noted that this bill must still go through the European Council before becoming law. Baggage and margins. Bag fees have become a great source of income for low-cost airlines. Jay Sorensen, airfare expert at consulting firm IdeaWorks, counted to the Financial Times that European airlines raised $16 billion in 2025 just for baggage, of which 60% went to low-cost airlines. Although these fees are not usually broken down individually, Sorensen estimates that they represent almost a fifth of the total revenue of low-cost airlines. Reaction of the industry. Kenton Jarvis, CEO of EasyJet, has qualified the “lunatic idea” proposal and warns that the additional costs “would have to be passed on” to all passengers through higher prices, even for those traveling without luggage. On the other hand, József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, account to FT that consumers are “much smarter” and “are able to navigate the current system of optional tariffs.” For its part, Airlines 4 Europe, the industry lobby, has presented a survey according to which half of passengers would prefer to pay lower fares and keep suitcases as an optional extra. Margins. The low cost model is based on eliminating minutes on the ground and fuel costs. Augusto Ponte, European director of the consulting firm Alton Aviation, account FT that if each passenger carried between 2 and 4 additional kg, a plane with 150 people would have 500 kg extra weight, which translates into between 15 and 20 additional euros of fuel per hour of flight. According to Ponte, for an airline like EasyJet, which flies approximately one million hours annually, that would mean more than €28 million extra per year in operating costs, approximately a tenth of its total profit. In addition, the executive says that 150 additional suitcases in the cabin per flight would cause delays of about 10 minutes in each boarding, not counting the time necessary to relocate the excess in the hold. Ponte assures that, in short-haul aircraft that make six flights a day, this would be equivalent to one hour less operation per plane each day. Consumer protection. Beuc, the European consumer association, strongly supports the proposals of Parliament and even proposes raising the permitted weight to 10 kg. Agustín Reyna, its general director, argues that passengers “expect their hand luggage to be included in the price of the ticket” and that forcing them to pay turns luggage into “a luxury item.” For his part, Andrey Novakov, the Bulgarian MEP who is leading the parliamentary negotiation on these rules, has declared that the goal is “to strive for clearer and more predictable rules for airlines and a stronger aviation sector, but never at the expense of passengers.” Cover image | Gabor Koszegi In Xataka | When Ryanair CEO went to a restaurant he was charged for two extras: “priority seating” and “legroom”

Mercadona and the rest of the supermarkets spend tons of paper on receipts that no one reads. Now they want to change it

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You go to the supermarket, you buy a couple of things (just enough for dinner), you go to the checkout, they give you the ticket, you put it in your pocket and you leave with the bag in the direction of the parking lot. Pure routine. Our daily bread. If the employer’s retail achieves its objective, there is one element of that scene, however, that will change radically. Which? That ticket that you will end up throwing away without even reading it. What has happened? Every year supermarkets print millions and millions of strips of paper in which in many cases only a handful of articles appear, so they end up in the garbage can without anyone having even looked at them. It is a waste, a waste of resources. For chains like Dia, Lidl or Mercadona, but also for the environment. So Asedas (Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-Service and Supermarkets) has had an idea: they want us to start printing receipts only when the customer requests it. What do they want? The news I advanced it on thursday theEconomist. Asedas has proposed to the Government that it slightly tweak the regulations that regulate tickets so that they are no longer printed systematically. That does not mean that they are no longer issued or that the customer no longer has a receipt that clarifies what they have purchased and how much they have been charged. The change would focus on support. The idea, clarifies Ignacio García, head of Asedas, is “that the ticket continues to be generated electronically for control purposes, but that it is printed on paper at the consumer’s request.” That is, the user can request the physical or digital ticket. Right now, remember theEconomistthe regulations provide that supers deliver the receipt in two ways: either in paper or digital format. What’s happening? Since not all clients are in favor of handing over their data (including email) to the chains, in the end they have no choice but to print it. Not only that. The employer’s data They show that many of the times we go to the supermarket we buy only a handful of items, so the receipts show small transactions, for low amounts that we do not even review. Result: those papers end up in the trash as they are printed. It is not even strange for the customer to reject them when the cashier offers them to them. Is it that serious? “Our companies have been confirming for years that, in about a third of operations, the ticket is abandoned at the checkout line,” confirm Garcia. It is not surprising if we take into account the data on the shopping basket managed by Asedas. According to their estimates, 30% of the operations registered in supermarkets respond to almost urgent visits, during which we take home at most four products and spend less than 10 euros. In 60% of cases, purchases involve between five and 25 products with average tickets of between 10 and 50 euros. Only the remaining 10% actually respond to large purchases. In practice, the fact that all operations end up reflected in a receipt means that the supers generate about 5 billion tickets that require the use of almost 4,500 tons of paper and a million-dollar expense. Is it important? Beyond the millions of receipts that are printed each year and the cost that this entails in tons of paper and euros, Asedas’ proposal is interesting for at least two reasons. To start with who throws it. Asedas presume to be “the first food distribution business organization in Spain” and cover 19,200 retail stores and 495 wholesalers. Between your partners Companies such as Mercadona, Lidl, Aldi or Dia appear. Another key is that its idea is in line with what is already done in other European countries. For example, in 2023 France said goodbye to the generation of tickets by default precisely because of the amount of paper it consumed. That doesn’t mean they no longer exist, but they must be requested. In the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden there have also been changes related to the generation of receipts. In Spain itself, some large chains they take time moving towards the digital ticket. Images | Xataka Mobile and Wikipedia In Xataka | There was a time not too long ago when the future of supermarkets seemed like Amazon Go. Now Amazon Go is dead

Apple announced with great fanfare that the new Siri would be different from the rest of the AIs. It turned out that without Google there was no Siri

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I’m not going to hide, I’m one of those who believed Apple when announced with great fanfare that Apple Intelligence It would be different from the rest. He had reasons to do so: his financial muscle, his obsession with taking care of the software and his philosophy of arriving late to the game to score the goals at the last minute. But here I was wrong. The only way Google has had to play in this game has been using someone else’s deck. From waiting almost two years to having it now. Apple announced Apple Intelligence in its 2024 keynote. One in which it did not give too many details but showed us a different approach to AI than that of Google and OpenAI. An AI with real interaction with the operating system, integration with both native and third-party apps… a real “co-pilot” completely integrated into iOS, and not a super-vitamined app, but isolated from the whole. From that keynote until then the only thing we have is Siri being able to open ChatGPT when the question gets a little complicated. And, just a few weeks after announcement of the agreement between Apple and GoogleGurman affirms that we will see the new Siri in a matter of weeks. If the prediction came true, it was not a matter of time. It was a matter of not having the resources. What’s coming in February. Gurman tells Power On that the Siri 2.0 that we have been waiting for since 2024 can become a reality in the second half of February. In fact, he points out that one of the reasons why Apple made the announcement of the collaboration with Google official was because it was close to obtaining sufficient demonstrations of its functionality. Although there are no details about how their disembarkation will be, the modus operandi from Apple is easy to predict: we will have to update our iPhone to the corresponding version of iOS 26 that includes these new features, since Apple introduces improvements to its native apps through system updates. Not so fast. Although there are no details on how long Apple and Google have actually been working, what we do know is that the new Siri is not ready yet. Gurman points out that it will arrive in beta phase starting in February, and that the objective is not to delay the final version until beyond April. Again, evidence that Apple did not have the Siri that it boasted so much about ready, accelerating and putting two extra gears now that it has the support of Google. It can turn out well. My colleague Javier Pastor told, very correctly, how Apple can the parasite’s strategy works for him. The company is not going to enter the investment battle for new models: it is going to spend millions of dollars to take advantage of an existing infrastructure and use an already proven pillar. The new Siri will be a premium wrapper for Gemini and, landing in the real world, few beyond those of you reading these lines will even be aware that Google’s AI is what is powering your iPhone’s AI. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The Apple Intelligence and Siri disaster has caused something unusual: Apple gives the keys to its kingdom to Google

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