revolutionize

what it is and how it wants to revolutionize streaming with its improved efficiency

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Let’s explain to you what is AV2 codeca new video codec that has arrived after more than five years of development. It is the successor of the AV1 present in most large platforms where video is broadcast over the Internet, so it represents a future improvement in how we all watch online videos. We are going to start the article by explaining what this codec is and what it is for, so that you understand it even if you have never heard of its predecessor. Then we will tell you its main improvements, and we will end with an estimate of when it can start arriving. What is the AV2 codec and what is it for? A video codec is the technology, the software responsible for compress and decompress moving images. Thus, the images are sent from a server to your computer compressed so that they do not occupy or consume excessive amounts of data, and then they are decompressed on your computer to view them in maximum quality. For example, if you wanted to watch a 4K movie on a streaming service, this would possibly cost you huge amounts of gigabytes, and would require a connection of a speed that not everyone has. But thanks to video codecs, less data is consumed on the mobile, and you require less fast WiFi than if the video were uncompressed. That said, AV2 is the successor codec to the very popular AV1currently used by YouTube, Netflix, Twitch, Instagram, Discord, and many other video platforms. It has been developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a consortium made up of more than 50 companies, including Google, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft and Samsung. The main characteristic of AOMedia developments is that it works under a free patent policy, so any manufacturer or platform you can implement the codec without paying licenses. This is what makes its adoption expected to be as massive as that of its predecessor. In fact, its objective is the same: that you can watch higher quality video with less bandwidth, or with the same quality but consuming less data. Of course, it comes with a series of technical improvements that will improve the experience even more. AV2 codec news According to its creators, the AV2 offers 30% higher compression efficiency than AV1 approximately, with improvements of 28.6% in the YUV-PSNR metric and 32.6% in the VMAF benchmark. This means that you can get the same image quality when you watch movies or series on services like Netflix, but consuming 30% less bandwidth. Furthermore, if you already have a good fiber, the platform will be able to offer you higher image quality with the same connectionmaintaining the same bit rate. This makes it a new codec especially useful for 4K or 8K content. Therefore, when platforms begin to adopt this new technology we should notice an improvement, at least, in the data we consume when viewing content. On a technical level, in addition to these new features, these others stand out: Larger superblocks: AV2 uses 256×256 pixel blocks versus AV1’s 128×128, allowing for smarter partitioning and improved image prediction. Up to 7 reference frames: This improves prediction of movement between scenes. Support for immersive and multi-stream formats: Support is included for formats such as 3D videos through several layers, and for sports broadcasts with several simultaneous cameras. Planned future extensions: The AV2 codec is also expected to eventually implement support for 12-bit video and greater color depth, as well as potential AI/ML capabilities, which will be offered as optional extended profiles. When will AV2 arrive? The AV2 codec has been official since the beginning of June 2026, but for it to reach devices such as smart televisions or mobile phones, chips are needed that are capable of playing files compressed with this technology. Therefore, possibly not until 2027 or 2028 when, with the arrival of chips from MediaTek, Qualcomm, Amlogic or Rockchip that incorporate support for the technology, it begins to reach us all en masse. That will also be when we start to see it arrive on the main streaming platforms, although there are no specific dates for this either. It will just do it over time. Support will also have to start arriving in the main Internet browsers. According to AOMedia, 53% of its members plan to adopt AV2 within 12 months of its launch, and 88% plan to do so within the next two years. Therefore, The technology is ready and now it needs to be implementedand this will take time. In Xataka Basics | How and where to download 4K and full resolution wallpapers for your Windows PC

The company that revolutionized the nylon bag now wants to revolutionize space suits

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NASA has just presented the suits that the Artemis Program astronauts will wear on future trips to the Moon. It has done it together with the two companies in charge of its design: Axiom and Prada. Yes, those of the famous Galleria bag. Although this time they haven’t made an elegant Saffiano leather or nylon bag, but rather a suit designed to comfortably (and stylishly) withstand the conditions of the lunar south pole. Two essential pieces. Like all astronauts, the crew of the Artemis missions They will wear a double suit. On the one hand, there is the extravehicular suit. That famous jumpsuit that, accompanied by the diving suit, they always use to expose themselves to the elements of space. On the other hand, there is the suit that goes inside the EVA. In this case, the extravehicular suit is the AxEMU and the underwear, in the design of which Prada has had great weight, the liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG). Aesthetic and useful details. Apparently, the LCVG is a very stylish sportswear item. It has a V-neck, thumbhole sleeves and retro pants, all accompanied by Prada’s famous red line. However, it also contains channels through which tubes pass through which the cooling liquid flows, which will help them maintain an adequate body temperature. In the past, these types of suits did not have built-in tubes. They included threading into a type of mesh fabric, but it was a slow manufacturing process. On the other hand, larger tubes through which air flows are now included to facilitate the astronauts’ breathing. Everything incorporated into the suit. More advantages. Another great advantage of these suits is that they will be customized to perfectly fit the astronauts’ bodies. This provides them much more comfort. color matters. Although some orange prototypes had previously been shown, currently the AxEMU that has been presented is white. This color reflects sunlight much better and also allows lunar dust to be detected more easily. Thus, astronauts can clean it after walks on the satellite. Special conditions. Unlike the astronauts of the Apollo program, those of the Artemis missions will land on the moon the lunar south pole. This is a place where the temperature varies greatly depending on whether there is shade or not. There may be fluctuations of up to 200ºC. That is why it is so important to have an optimal temperature control system attached to the suits. More tests. The suit has already undergone numerous temperature and gravity tests. However, it is hoped to be able to test it in other environments before it is used on the Moon. Possibly it will be used at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. A kind of pool in which astronauts try to move in conditions similar to microgravity. Some suits could also be sent to the International Space Station. Additionally, although it has not yet been confirmed, it is possible that the Axiom and Prada suits will be tested already in Artemis III. These astronauts will not land on the moon. In fact, they will not even go to lunar orbit, as the crew of Artemis II have done. However, they will be able to test the comfort and functions of the suit. It is very clear that it is an elegant suit, we could not expect anything else from Prada, but we must also make sure that it is useful in space. Image | Axiom In Xataka | We have not yet colonized the Moon and we have already filled it with garbage: there are even abandoned golf balls

Tesla’s solar roof was going to revolutionize this segment. Ten years later it pivots to manufacture lifelong solar panels

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A decade ago Elon Musk seemed capable of anything, and many of us believed that had another revolution in his hand with Solar Roofthe Tesla solar roof that revolutionized conventional installations to camouflage them with the roofs of our houses. Their goal was to install 1,000 of these solar roofs every week by the end of 2019. The reality: there are about 3,000 solar roofs in total, and the company has decided to pivot to survive. Now it is a much more conventional company that may achieve the success that its original version never came close to. Promises and realities. The deployment of the “solar roof” proposed by the Tesla subsidiary It has been an operational failure. In 2016, the promises of performance combined with sustainable design and architecture (tempered glass tiles that generated light) were very striking. Ten years later, the product represents a residual fraction of Tesla Energy’s income, and the company has decided to surrender to the evidence. They will do what others were already doing: manufacture traditional solar panels mounted on existing roofs. Complex installation. Tesla’s big mistake was not in the panels themselves, but in the physics of the construction itself. A conventional roof is installed in a couple of days, but the Solar Roof required weeks of work for an ultra-skilled workforce. Being made up of hundreds or thousands of small individual tiles, installers had to make multiple electrical connections in an environment exposed to environmental conditions. Costs skyrocketed. Thus, a single failure could render an entire section unusable, and to make everything perfect the installation costs were high: about $106,000 before incentives, when putting solar panels on a conventional roof costs about $50,000 less. Payback is achieved in about 15-25 years, compared to 7-12 for conventional panels. In a lawsuit from several clients was revealed that in some cases the price of the installation ranged from 72,000 to 146,000 dollars. Difficulties everywhere. These types of projects proved to have many obstacles. For example, the different geometries of the roofs or their shadows. There was also the fact that Tesla tried to control the entire installation process with its own personnel, but labor shortages were a bottleneck that delayed deliveries. A reasonable (but late) decision. In early 2026 Tesla launched its new solar panel, the TSP-420which makes use of a new optimization system based on 18 energy zones. Among other things, this panel solves a problem that affected the inverter architecture of Solar Roof panels. It is a much more reasonable strategy, especially since it is much more profitable and faster to install a standard panel on a roof than to do so with Solar Roof’s original proposal. It is curious that the power generation business has not worked out for him, but yes do it that of storage with their Powerwall. Musk once again promises the (perhaps) impossible. At the Davos conference, Elon Musk announced that Tesla had as its objective create 100 GW per year of solar panel manufacturing capacity in the United States. For this purpose, the purchase of solar panels and cells is proposed. worth 2.9 billion dollars to the Chinese company Suzhou Maxwell Technologies. Too many promises. The goal seems once again exaggerated. Global solar installations in the United States in 2023 reached 32 GW, and Musk aims to reach 100 GW by the end of 2028. He would have to triple the total installed capacity that there was three years ago, and do it at a frenetic pace without any problems. We have heard this story before. The challenge seems too colossal even for the tycoon, and reminds us of the promise that he himself made in 2016. It was then that he assured that his solar roof would end up costing less than conventional roofs with traditional solar panels. He also said that the SolarCity Solar Gigafactory would produce 10 GW per year. Neither of those two promises came true. In Xataka | Mexico has a brutal potential for solar energy: at the moment it has begun to exploit it with agrovoltaics

an unusual toll to revolutionize global maritime trade

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In the 16th century, several sultans of the Ottoman Empire came to seriously study the possibility of open an artificial road next to the Bosphorus to better control maritime traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean… the project was canceled again and again for centuries due to wars, lack of money and strategic doubts, but the idea never completely disappeared from Türkiye. The old Turkish obsession. While the Strait of Hormuz has become one of the largest sources of tension of the planet due to the war between Iran, the United States and Israel, an idea that has been around Turkey’s politics and strategy for years has once again gained prominence: building a gigantic artificial canal parallel to the Bosphorus to create a new sea route under Ankara’s direct control. It is not just about decongesting Istanbul’s naval traffic. Behind the project appears a much greater ambition: converting a free natural passage into an alternative corridor capable of generating incomegeopolitical influence and pressure capacity on part of international trade. Precisely now, when Hormuz demonstrates the extent to which a maritime bottleneck can disrupt the world economythat old Turkish idea it rings again with more strength. The Bosphorus and its importance. He Bosphorus It is much more than a strait that divides Istanbul between Europe and Asia. In reality it is the only sea exit towards the Mediterranean for countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, Bulgaria or part of southern Russia, and one of the busiest corridors in the world. Every year, thousands of oil tankers and freighters cross a narrow road, full of curves and surrounded by a gigantic city of millions of inhabitants. Türkiye has been defending for years that this trafficking represents an enormous risk both for maritime security and for Istanbul itself, especially after several accidents of ships occurring next to historic and residential areas. The problem for Ankara is that the Bosphorus is regulated by the Montreux Convention of 1936, which guarantees free transit and greatly limits the possibility of charging direct tolls to ships. The idea that could change the rules. There appears the real core of the project Istanbul Canal. As it is an artificial route and not a natural strait, Türkiye could try apply rates and services transit routes similar to those of Suez or Panama without formally breaking international maritime law. For years, this possibility seemed more like a geopolitical fantasy than a near reality, but the Hormuz crisis aims to restore prominence to an uncomfortable question: what happens when large maritime corridors stop being simple routes and become tools of economic and political pressure. Iran has already hinted at the possibility of demanding payments in Hormuz, something that has alarmed organisms international organizations and the great maritime powers. In this context, the old Turkish project begins to fit within a broader trend: transforming certain strategic steps into infrastructures capable of generate multi-million dollar income and increase the political weight of the countries that control them. Istanbul, Türkiye, divided by the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus Strait. Erdogan’s dream. Yes, because Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned the Istanbul Canal into one of its great symbols politicians. In fact, he has compared it to Suez and Panama, he has described it as a project aimed at transforming the Türkiye’s international role and has presented it as a work capable of turning Istanbul into one of the great logistics centers in the world. On paper, the channel would have 45 kilometers longwould allow the passage of large oil tankers and freighters and would be accompanied by ports, logistics zones, new urbanizations and enormous real estate developments. It would also physically split the European part of Istanbul, creating a kind of gigantic artificial island between the Bosphorus and the new canal. The big question: if anyone would pay to use it. The enormous problem of the project has always been the same. Although Türkiye could charge tolls on the new canal, the Bosphorus would still exist as a free alternative. That doubt has been haunting the plan for years: why a shipping company would agree to pay millions to cross an artificial route when it has another relatively nearby toll-free route. Ankara is confident that congestion, navigation risks and possible delays will push many companies to choose the new corridor, especially for dangerous goods and large tankers. But many economists and maritime experts believe that the real profitability of the project remains uncertain and it would depend on very specific international scenarios, precisely like those that the Hormuz crisis is causing today. Criticism within Türkiye. Furthermore, the Istanbul Canal It has never been solely a discussion about maritime trade. For years it has been accumulating criticism for its ecological impacturban and economic. Scientists and urban planners warn that the canal would cross forests, aquifers, agricultural areas and very sensitive ecosystems in the north of Istanbul. Not only that. There are also fears about how alter the currents between the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Marmara, affect marine biodiversity or increase problems related to earthquakes and landslides in an already very seismically vulnerable region. Plus: the projected cost (which different estimates place between 15,000 and more than 60,000 million dollars) continues to generate doubts even among sectors that support strengthening Turkey’s strategic position. Hormuz has reactivated the dream. For years, the Istanbul Canal seemed to move between bombastic announcements, delays, political disputes and financial doubts. but the war around Hormuz has returned to put on the table a much broader issue: the enormous power that certain maritime points have to alter supply chains, energy markets and entire geopolitical balances. Türkiye now watches as the entire world discusses blockades, maritime insurance, tolls and control of strategic routes while your old project appears again, at least in some sectors of the country, as a possible tool to increase your global influence in a century where maritime corridors once again become central pieces of international power. Image | Wikimedia, NASA In Xataka | Neom has stopped being science … Read more

It is the promise of a Chinese startup that aims to revolutionize the sector

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There is a whole world in this synthetic fuels. And it is no wonder, since whoever can develop a renewable fuel, without harming the environment and with elements that we have in abundance, has won heaven. And in this regard, there is a Shanghai startup that promises to have taken a significant step. And if his claims hold up, it could change the rules of the game. We tell you the details. Context. China imports more than 70% of the crude oil it consumes, and a considerable proportion comes from the Middle East. If you have been paying attention to this region of the planet in recent weeks, you will have seen that the thing is not very there. And at a time when conflicts in the Persian Gulf generate volatility in the markets and threaten energy supply chains, Beijing has been looking for alternatives to conventional fossil fuels for years. It is in this scenario where Carbonology emerges. What exactly has he announced. Just like share SCMP, the company, co-founded in 2024 by a former Tesla vice president, claims to have developed a process to convert carbon dioxide (extracted from air and water) into synthetic fuel using solar and wind energy. The products it claims to be able to manufacture include gasoline, diesel, aviation kerosene and naphtha, all of them at competitive prices with those on the market. The company also reportedly announced that it is preparing a deployment to produce its product on a large scale in China. How this technology works. The process the startup describes is based on direct air capture, known in the industry as DAC (Direct Air Capture). This technique consists of extracting CO₂ from the atmosphere and combining it with hydrogen, in turn obtained through electrolysis of water using renewable energies, to synthesize liquid hydrocarbons. The result is fuels that are practically identical to those derived from petroleum, but whose carbon cycle is closed: the CO₂ they emit when burned is the same as that captured to manufacture them. It is really not a new process, as it has been developed for years in laboratories around the world and There are pilot projects underwaysuch as the Haru Oni ​​plant, in southern Chile, promoted by companies such as Siemens and Porsche. What is still unclear. The bad thing is that Carbonology’s claims lack details. According to the mediuma company spokesperson confirmed the information but declined to offer more information on the matter. As SCMP shares, the company has a registered capital of just over 14 million yuan (about $2 million) and completed a first round of financing last year. In January it opened a 300 million yuan R&D center in Shanghai, along with a synthetic kerosene production line. In any case, the company recognized that its future commercial operations will probably have to be located near large solar and wind energy facilities in western China, since it is a process with high energy demand. A problem that persists. Synthetic fuels produced from renewables remain expensive. The medium refers to paper published in January 2025 in the journal Energy Conversion and Management, where some of the obstacles to its commercialization were identified, including high capital intensity, low energy efficiency in the conversion and absence of infrastructure and regulatory frameworks that allow its large-scale deployment. About Repsol. In Spain, the main company that has promoted renewable fuels in its gas stations has been Repsol, although the concept in this case is different. Repsol comes from a process that reuses used cooking oilremains of agricultural processes and forestry waste to develop its Nexa fuel, which is already sold in hundreds of gas stations in the country. However, the company is also studying the DAC technique to produce synthetic fuels. It does this through a cutting-edge project in the Port of Bilbao (Petronor). At the moment what they have is a demonstration plant, so we will have to wait to see if it has an outlet. for the car. That a Chinese startup barely a year old claims to have solved the cost problem that has blocked the entire industry is, at the very least, interesting, but there is a lack of data to support it. DAC technology exists and is maturing, but most of the CO₂ captured so far is stored underground, not converted into fuel. That the announcement was made under these circumstances is curious, to say the least. So we will have to wait to see if this project ends up materializing and fulfills what it promises. Cover image | ADIGUN AMPA In Xataka | 115 million barrels released and a fear on the horizon: that gasoline in Spain will go to €2/liter

In 1993 Microsoft created Encarta to revolutionize knowledge. Twenty years later it would be devastated by a tsunami

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It became so popular that its logo and the sound of their intros They became two brands just as identifiable as those of Nokia or Windows. If – like the person writing this – you had to go to school or high school between the second half of the 90s and the first half of the 2000s, talk about the Encarta It does not require large presentations. If not, don’t worry; It won’t take us much time. Before Wikipedia offered free online knowledge and even the use of the Internet became popular, Microsoft launched a digital encyclopedia that revolutionized the sector and became a phenomenon between more or less 1993 and 2009. Its name: Encarta. Today, ironies of history, “Encarta” is one more entry in the index of other encyclopedias; but there was a time when it transformed our way of accessing knowledge. From having to spend their eyelashes and fingertips scrolling through pages in search of information, students began to search for information with the click of a button. The Encarta offered an agile, comfortable and above all didactic way to satisfy curiosity. With articles, yes; but also with videos, audios and even virtual visits and games. You could read about Nepalese temples in the Salvat. Or open the Encarta and “tour” one. Its “pull” was so great that it put the old paper encyclopedias in trouble. When the Spanish edition was presented in early 1997, those responsible presumed that the Encarta CD-ROM, a format that you could store in a drawer or even a folder, contained information that It was equivalent to 29 volumes and 1.2 meters of shelving. Not only that. The Encarta cost 24,900 pesetas, four times less than an equivalent printed encyclopedia. To make matters worse, his landing in Spain was protected by Santillanaa publishing house with considerable weight in school classrooms. How to compete with that? The product was liked and published in Spanish and other languages. He did well until, with the same ones with which he had become a phenomenon, ended up succumbing to the competition. In a way, his success is due to his good sense of smell in the 90s; its decline, to the inability to adapt in the 2000s. This is your story. Objective: reinvent the old encyclopedias In the mid-1980s Microsoft He began to think about the idea of ​​creating a digital encyclopedia. The idea was ambitious. Those from Redmond wanted, neither more nor less, to rethink the concept and operation of a product apparently as mature and closed as the volumes that publishers’ commercials were dedicated to selling door to door. To make its debut in a big way, the multinational tried to negotiate a license with the creators of what was probably the most respected publication internationally: the Encyclopædia Britannica. It didn’t go well for them. In the 1980s, paper volumes of Britannica were sold and They left huge profits. As Enrique Dans remembershis books cost about $250 to produce and the selling price ranged between $1,500 and $2,200, depending on the quality. Why would the firm want to digitize content on a CD and risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? Microsoft did not give up and looked for ways to move the idea forward. He even had a name for the initiative: Project Gandalf. Some time later he closed a contract with Funk & Wagnalls to use your New Encyclopediaof 29 volumes, in a database that was created at the end of that same decade. To complete its contents, years later two other McMillan encyclopedias would be added, the Collier’s and New Merit Scholar. They were not the Britannica; but it would have to do. However, doubts arose in Redmond about whether or not the project was viable and they decided to park it. It was resumed at the turn of the decade, in 1991, when Microsoft decided to go all out. In 1993, the first edition of the Encarta Encyclopedia was launched, which included the 25,000 Funk & Wagnalls articles and extra material, such as images and some animations. The tool was comfortable, much more agile than the kilometric tomes and even fun, but it started with a huge mistake: the shot was centered wrong. At the beginning of the 90s there were still many houses without a PC and the marketing price was exclusive. When it came out, the Encarta cost about $400, which greatly limited its range. The cost deterred customers and was not too far from that of another competitor that was testing the same niche with a recognizable brand, Compton, which also launched your own multimedia version in 1990, with text and supports such as images and sounds. In Redmond they knew how to react and soon they were deploying a more aggressive strategy. They launched promotions that allowed you to get the Encarta for 99 dollarsthey included their CD with the Windows software package and negotiated with manufacturers to incorporate it into their computers, a tactic not unlike that used with Windows and Office. The promotion of Microsoft itself gave the final push. The new encyclopedia gained fame and began to chain editions, translate into different languages and enrich content with multimedia supports. In 1995, abridged versions of some articles were offered for Microsoft Network ISP subscribers, and starting in ’96, standard and deluxe editions began to be released, an enriched version that could be updated month by month. In 1998, its creators went one step further and acquired the rights to several electronic encyclopedias. The product was growing and, above all, it demonstrated that the sector was experiencing a clear paradigm shift. The best example: in 1996 the once powerful company Britannica ended up underselling for their difficulties. “It allows young and old to explore the world by themes and characters,” their promoters boasted in the Spanish market. And so it was, indeed. Through articles, photos, illustrations, graphs, maps, timelines, recordings, videos and even virtual tours, Encarta won over an entire generation of students. … Read more

Chips connected by laser instead of cable. It seems like science fiction, but it aims to revolutionize data centers

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If you have ever mounted a PCSurely one of the points on which you have had to pay the most attention is the connections. Because understanding the power of the processor, the GPU or the speed of the RAM is “easy”, but the motherboard is what allows us to interconnect all these components with ‘highways’ in which the data speed can be maximum. In the data centers and serversthis is the same: the better the connections between chips and equipment, the lower latency, higher bandwidth and better performance. These connections are made physically, but there is a French startup that wants to change the rules of the game with NVIDIA. As? Connecting the chips by laser. Chips connected by laser and NVIDIA taking out the wallet Improving interconnection speed is no small feat or a whim. NVIDIA has begun manufacturing its next generation platform, the one named Vera Rubin. It is a system that can be combined with others to multiply benefits. That union, as we say, is physical, but there comes a point at which physics is no longer enough. When that arrives, NVIDIA wants to be ready and, a few days ago, Reuters reported on a $4 billion investment by NVIDIA in two companies that are aggressively researching new technologies to help increase that interconnection speed: Lumentum and Coherent. This is a rack and the nightmare of those of us who hate cables. Specifically, that of the Wikimedia Foundation. Well, imagine that a large part of those cables go outside because the systems are connected by electricity Another of the companies in which they have invested is Scintil Photonics. It is a French startup that this in the testing phase of a technology that, if the industry adopts it, will mark a before and after in this connection on a team scale. The LEAF Light Evaluation Kit is, as detailed, the first dense wavelength division multiplexing single chip to go from theory to practice. It’s like another language, I know, but it’s basically what we were talking about: an optical chip interconnection system instead of copper. And that is the main advantage. With copper reaching physical limits of speed and density, optics are emerging as a solution when connecting clusters of thousands of processors. Each chip has an optical system that is responsible for emitting and receiving light, and in that light goes the data that is currently traveling through cables. The one from the French company it is not the first chip based on photonic communication, but they claim that their technology reduces the energy necessary for them to work by 50%, as well as latency. Results? Well we’ll see. The startup’s CEO, Matt Crowley, has commented that he has “six or seven companies interested in implementing the technology by 2028,” but that due to confidentiality agreements, he cannot name names. The Scintil Photonics prototype The complication in this will be that they get supply of the photonics systems, since the data center racks are built with the idea that they are scalables. That is, it is no longer just power, but how many tens of thousands of units you can interconnect, and a bottleneck in the manufacturing of any of the parties involved in optics would be equivalent to a lack of supply for their customers. At the moment, some prototypes have already been served to select companies for testing, but certainly, using light pulses instead of electrical signals is something that is very interesting in superclusters focused on huge data centers that can scale without the limitations of the physical connection. Images | Victorgrigas, M.I.T., GlobeNewswire In Xataka | Huawei no longer competes: it is building its own parallel reality

Mercedes has the engine that wants to revolutionize electric cars

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Developing an engine, founding a startup and being bought by a company like Mercedes must be the dream come true of any engineer. Precisely, this is what happened when British manufacturer YASA. In 2009, members of the University of Oxford founded the company with one goal in mind: to create axial flux electric motors. After gaining clients like Ferrari, Mercedes saw potential and bought the company in 2021. Now they have created a “tiny” engine capable of delivering 1,000 HP. In this type of motor, a magnetic field and the force that rotates the rotor occur in a system parallel to the axis of rotation. Parts such as the rotor or stator are arranged in the form of flat, facing discs. In a traditional radial engine we have the classic cylinder with the stator outside, the rotor rotating inside and the magnetic field goes from the center to the outside. A axial flux electric motor It is a type of motor in which the magnetic field and the force that rotates the rotor run parallel to the axis of rotation. In a radial one, that happens from the center outwards. The radial is the one worn by the current hybrids and electricsbut the axial flow one arrives as a contender to revolutionize the interior of new energy cars thanks to a key advantage: space. The axial ones are smaller because all the elements are plates on top of each other, which allows them to be much flatter and lighter, as well as capable of developing a lot of power. By polishing its design process, YASA affirms who have achieved a latest generation engine capable of achieving 1,000 HP. The 1,000 HP engine to revolutionize electric vehicles It was a few months ago when the Mercedes-Benz subsidiary announced a prototype of an axial engine thatwith just 12.7 kg of weight, is capable of delivering a peak power of 750 kW. That translates into the aforementioned 1,000 HP and the power ratio is 59 kW/kg. The equipment surpasses the record they also held, that of the density of 42 kW/kg with a total of 55 kW which, in addition, weighed a few grams more, reaching 13.1 kg. Of course, that is the peak power, since YASA itself assures that the objective is for this new engine to be able to offer continuous power between 350-400 kW (about 530 HP). According to the team, they have achieved this increase in power thanks to improvements in both design and thermal dissipation, making the motor more efficient and constant and without using “exotic materials” to achieve those improvements in dissipation and performance. Tim Woolmer, CEO and founder of YASA, claims that his creation “will change the game in the high-performance automotive sector.” Because… yes, this engine is not focused on the electric street car at the moment. It is in the world of high performance where an engine this compact and powerful makes perfect sense. The less it weighs and takes up less space, the more the mass and volume are reduced. of the propulsion system, allowing more efficient chassis and larger batteries that improve final autonomy. Examples of cars that already have YASA engines? He Ferrari SF90 Stradale with three YASA engines that add up to 217 HP and serve as support for the thermal V8 to achieve 987 total HP, the Ferrari 296 GTB with a 165 HP YASA engine on the rear axle, the Koeningsegg Regera with three YASA engines that provide 700 HP or the Lamborghini Revuelto two YASA on the front axle. Mercedes-AMG itself also takes advantage of its technology in the GT four-door coupe. Now, the interest that this has for the average user is that these innovations They have the potential to end up reaching utility vehicles. At the moment, we drive cars with legacy technologies both competition and supercars, and scalable engines that are easy to mass produce and have a good relationship between weight, the power they deploy and the space they occupy is something attractive for the automotive industry. The problem? Precisely, the great virtue of this engine: that it represents a paradigm shift. The build platforms have been optimized for radial motor manufacturing processes and changing everything to accommodate an axial flux motor would involve a considerable investment. For the world of high performance, these engines are already a reality, but for the everyday car they still feel a bit far away. Images | YASA In Xataka | While Europe is thinking about what to do with the electric car, China already knows how to remain a leader in 2040. This is its plan

an amphibious assault ship to revolutionize its naval capabilities

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On September 3, Beijing was transformed into a catwalk. Not focused on fashion, but on weapons. In one of the most impressive military parades in memory, the Asian giant celebrated the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War with an unprecedented deployment of weapons. Was some things that were savedand that’s where it comes into play his naval strategy. Because he famous Fujian It is not the only new generation ship from China. They have another known as the Type 076 which is already doing tests. And it represents an unprecedented technological leap in the Chinese naval industry. Type 076 Sichuan. If ‘Type 076’ is the class, ‘Sichuan’ is the name they have given to the country’s 51st hull. It is the first ship of this class that, on November 16, completed his first tests of sea after setting sail from the Shanghai shipyard. We have told it on several occasions: the Type 076 impresses with its scale. It is a ship that displaces about 40,000 tons, has a length of about 260 meters, a beam of between 45 and 52 meters and has a deck of about 13,500 square meters, just over two football fields. Those dimensions are considerably larger than those of its predecessor and comparable to the Charles de Gaullethe nuclear aircraft carrier that is the pride of France. Versatility. What stands out most is not its size so that it is not an aircraft carrier: what really stands out is that China has developed a ship that can carry out any type of mission. We are talking about an amphibious assault platform, which implies that it combines traditional landing capabilities with the possibility of performing tasks typical of a light aircraft carrier. That is why its deck is so large: it is designed to house helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and, in addition, it has a deck prepared to house and deploy both landing craft and amphibious vehicles. Its human capacity is 1,000 marines. Electromagnetic catapult. For years, China depended on old Soviet heritage ships, but if Fujian marked a milestone Being the first aircraft carrier developed in-house, the Type 076 also marks a before and after by having the latest technology that the army has developed. To start, it has a electromagnetic catapult system like the one The United States has developed for your latest generation aircraft carrier and like the one Fujian has. It is a technology that will become the new standard for this type of boat, and the comparison with the Fujian is relevant because the catapult of the Type 076 It is the same length as its older brother: about 100-130 meters. This allows the Type 076 to launch conventional fixed-wing aircraft. Other amphibious assault ships can accommodate aircraft, but these must have systems V/STOL vertical or short takeoff. The new Chinese ship does not have this limitation. and electrification. But the catapult is not the only new thing: the propulsion system is fully electric. This is the first for the People’s Liberation Army Navy and the system combines two 21 MW gas turbines with six 6 MW diesel generators. Altogether, it provides about 78 MW of total power. The electrical system is responsible for powering the motors and propulsion, with a rapid delivery of energy, but it is also responsible for the high-power “pulses” such as those needed by the electromagnetic catapult. The use of this gas turbine system offers considerable advantages compared to traditional diesel, such as faster starting, the aforementioned power delivery, a reduction in vibrations, more flexibility and a lower underwater acoustic signature. Fujian deck Armament. Regardless of their transport capacity, assault ships have integrated defenses. It is not so much about carrying out attacks, but rather preventing it from being sunk, for which it has: Three surface-to-air missile launchers short range to intercept aircraft. Three Type 1130 systems with 11 30 mm cannons which provide defense against missiles and low-altitude aircraft. Four decoy launchers which consist of 24 tubes capable of deploying flares and other elements to confuse radars. Sensors similar to those installed in Fujian. These are, as we say, defensive elements, so the Sichuan will continue to depend on auxiliary ships for long-range attacks. But as we are seeing, and at an accelerated pace, it is not a problem for today’s China. Add and continue. During their three-day mission, operators tested the ship’s propulsion system, electrical systems and other key aspects that, according to reportsmet the expected standards. As we say, it is a milestone in Chinese naval modernization by merging traditional amphibious transport and aircraft carrier capabilities. It is like a category in itself and one more example that China is very serious about its maritime conquest. They are giving leaps and bounds in modernizing and expanding its fleetwith three aircraft carriers under its belt and a fourth that is estimated to have nuclear propulsion, as well as ships of other categories that fulfill two missions. On the one hand, that of national protection, but on the other, it is one more message in a territorial dispute scenario in it South and East China Sea that not only has Taiwan in its sights: also islands of Japan that China considers its property. And, of course, Japan is also responding accordingly in what has become an escalation of tension that the other giant of the seas does not want to miss: the United States. Image | 中国新闻社CHINESE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE In Xataka | The plan of one hundred million dead: this is how Japan intended to resist in World War II

The new largest plane in the world will be a beast to revolutionize wind. The big question is whether it will fly

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In the Albores of the Ukraine WarRussia took control of the airport space of Hostomel. It was where two aviation monsters, Antonov-124 and Antonov-225They were trapped. The result of the attacks? Serious damage to one of the merchandise transport aircraft more used in Europe and Destruction of Antonov-225the largest plane in the world and pride of Ukrainian aviation. His loss has left a void that a startup wants to take advantage of with the Windrunner, the world’s new biggest plane Focused on the transport of wind turbines. The problem is that there are serious doubts that one day he undertakes the flight, but there is already an interested party that has nothing to do with him renewable energy sector: The Pentagon. Drive wind. The company after this ambitious project is Radiaa startup that considers that, in a Decarbonization scenario and with one artificial intelligence so voracious In energy terms, it is necessary to boost the installation of wind turbines throughout the world. The problem is that, to accelerate that installation, the cadence of Warmers installation And the transport of its elements, such as blades, is a problem. The towers can be set up by pieces, but the blades are another song. Radia considers that none of the load aircraft They have the ability to transport large blades, and there their plan with the Windrunner and a winery that will allow three 80 -meter blades, two of 95 meters or just just or barely one 105 meters long. And it will do it directly on an improvised landing floor at the construction of the wind farm. Comparisons are hateful. To put in context what type of plane we are talking about, if the Antonov-225 was a monsterthis Windrunner would be unqualifiable: Winrunner Antonov AN-225 Total length 108 meters 84 meters Wingspan 80 meters 88.4 meters Height 24 meters 18.1 meters Winery length 105 meters 43.3 meters Bodega volume 8,200 m³ 1,300 m³ Comes with a price. The problem is that putting such a plane in the air has a problem: fuel. For the 250 tons that the Antonov-225 could load, the Windrunner will stay in more modest 72.5 tons. Enough for its main mission of transporting shovels that in its largest lengths are around 60 tons. But autonomy can also be the big problem of that plan that allows winding throughout the world. Driven by four engines that will work with Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAFits autonomy will be up to 2,000. It will be its great limitation, since it will relegate it to an almost local use in Europe, America or Asia, with continuous reposses or with the need for shovels to be manufactured to those 2,000 kilometers of its destination. Windrunner on the left, Antonov An-124 in the center, Boeing 747-400 to the right Serious doubts. It is evident that the Windrunner is promising, but experts from the aerospace industry are not so clear that Radia can materialize their vision. The argument that analysts and experts of the aviation industry use is that Radia is a startup that will need a lot of money and have seen projects with better commercial arguments and lower technological risks. Also, and how we read in BBCRadia goes against everything that is usually done in this industry and, after testing a scale model in the wind tunnel, wants to speed up times and reduce costs passing from that model to scale to real -size test aircraft. As? Instead of building traditional prototypeslooking for digital design tools. And this is not like building a car on your own: once built, an overwhelming aircraft certification process begins. Virtually the interior of the Windrunner is a winery. Trust. In the same BBC article, Mark Lundstrom, founder of Radia, confessed that, although there are numerous challenges, the fundamental principles of the development of the Windrunner go through “not doing anything new and developing the minimally viable aircraft for aviation”. That makes them discarded alternatives such as the airships, which should go through new regulations and supply chains, and also that they have opted for a more traditional supply chain. For example, hiring experienced suppliers Like the Italian Leonardo for the fuselage, the American Afore to review the security or The Spanish Aernnova For wings and pylons of engines. It is not yet known who will provide the engines, but from Radia they commented to BBC that they have “selected an existing certified engine and are working to define the integration strategy in the fuselage.” That is, Radia is using already tested technologies and components, which will allow them to “the unit cost is proportional to the weight and size of the aircraft and, therefore, comparable to that of other civil aircraft of wide fuselage,” according to Radia’s spokesman. And it is expected that the 70% of suppliers of Radia are European. The Pentagon has taken his eye. Of course, Radia is not the first visionary Aerospace Company, but if you do not set the objective of building the Windrunner for its main objective of filling the aircraft planet, whoever has recently called at their door I have something interesting to offer. In May of this year, the United States Department of Defense signed an agreement with Radia To analyze if the Windrunner could transport military load. Although the weight it can carry is much lower than that of the missing Antonov-225, its winery is huge and is something that has captured the attention of the Pentagon. From Radia they maintain that its objective remains to serve the wind energy market, but recognize that the unique capabilities of its plane make it interesting for additional applications. Boeing heats engines. Radia aims to have several real -size test units to make a first test flight at the end of this decade. Again, an excessive ambition if we take into account that planes such as the aforementioned AN-225 barely made a few flights a year … and there was only one. And we will see how the pressure of … Read more

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