seconds

A Chinese station has trained its employees to save 2 seconds on their task. Now they have 30,000 more passengers

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Think of an activity that you repeat daily. Think about how much time it takes you and what it would mean to spend two seconds less. What would you do with that time? That is what the workers and technicians at the Guangzhou South Train Station (China) have asked themselves. And the result has been spectacular: 48 more trains in motion and 30,000 more passengers on the tracks. 2 seconds. It is the time that the Chinese workers and technicians employed at the Guangzhou South Train Station (China) had in mind. It was the great objective. For more than a month, they have all been working with one goal in mind: reducing the time it takes to clean and prepare trains passing through the station by two seconds. Zhong Miao, comprehensive control service officer of Guangzhou South Railway Station, explains to the Chinese media that after a month and a half they managed to reduce the time of this task from 58 to 56 seconds. The final intention, of course, was for the train to be stopped for less time. The result. With the changes introduced, station operators were able to make way for 48 more trains in a single day. The two seconds that may seem insignificant allowed the number of passengers to increase by more than 30,000 people. To achieve this, they point out in the local mediathe operators worked with an enormous amount of data collected through numerous cameras. This station alone has a control room with 208 screens. With them they analyzed how much time passengers spent at the station and it has been possible to reduce the travel time of travelers by 17% compared to the figure collected three years ago. Guangzhou South Railway Station. For a train, two seconds was nothing short of marginal. For a station where more than half a million people pass through every day, it’s a whole world. And the new way of acting has been launched taking advantage of the Spring Festival, days in which the routes multiply taking advantage of the Chinese New Year. If the forecasts are met, on average, 530,000 passengers on Chinese high-speed trains will pass through this station every day. It is estimated that a new record was broken in October of last year when the million passengers passed through the station. It is not even the busiest station in China, its 28 platforms do not represent any record either. But to give us an idea of ​​the hustle and bustle that goes on inside, On February 13, 1,200 trains were operated in a single day as a result of the movements of the aforementioned Spring Festival. To give us an idea, during travel peaks such as Easter, 270 trains pass through Atochain which high speed is added but also long and medium distance. The longest high-speed line in the world. The station is located at a key point, near Shenzhen and Hong Kong and serves as a transit station for all travelers arriving from Southeast China to large cities such as Chongqing, Beijing or Shanghai, with which the station is connected. In fact, the Guangzhou-Beijing line is one of the crown jewels of Chinese railway service. And it is that since 2012 it is the longest high-speed line in the worldwith 2,298 kilometers. During its inauguration, it was hoped that the train would take less than eight hours to cross a distance comparable to traveling from Algeciras to Amsterdam. Today, This journey can be completed in 7 hours and 17 minutes. if you take the fastest bullet train. Photo | Tauno Tohk and Yang In Xataka | China has not only created the most extensive high-speed network in the world: it wants to operate it at 1,000 km/h and has taken a new step

China studied the secret of falcons to hunt their prey. Now your drones only need 5 seconds against their targets

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Throughout history, armies have always observed nature to learn to hunt, defend themselves and coordinate better, from way to attack in group to the selection of the weakest enemy. Today, that old military tradition makes sense again in a radically different context, one marked by algorithmsautonomous machines and a new technological race that is reminiscent of other great military leaps of the past. AI as the axis of combat. In this scenario it appears China, which is systematically promoting the use of artificial intelligence in the military sphere, especially in swarms of drones and autonomous systems capable of operating with little or almost no no human intervention. counted the wall street journal this week that they are in possession of patents, academic papers and procurement documents showing that the People’s Liberation Army sees future warfare as an environment dominated by algorithms, where swarms replace individual platforms and the mass of cheap systems can overwhelm defenses, attack targets and resist electronic warfare. The Ukrainian experience reinforces this vision by demonstrating that drones are already decisive and that autonomy becomes increasingly valuable when human control degrades. Learn about animals. To solve how to coordinate swarms in real time, Chinese researchers are modeling algorithms inspired in animal behavior. For example, in an experiment developed at Beihang University, defensive drones trained as “hawks” They learned to identify and destroy the most vulnerable targets, while attacking drones imitated “pigeons” to avoid threats. In a five-on-five simulation, the defenders They eliminated all the attackers in just 5.3 seconds. Beyond the success of the results, the interest was in the method: adapt hunting, escape and animal cooperation rules to realistic combat scenarios, where drones fly, maneuver and make decisions under pressure. Mass production. The Chinese bet combines these algorithmic advances with a clear industrial advantage: factories capable of producing hundreds of thousands or millions of cheap drones per year. This allows us to think of swarms as a main weapon and not as a complement, something much more difficult for, for example, the United States, which produce fewer drones and at a much higher cost. Systems such as mobile launchers of dozens of drones, mother models capable of releasing swarms in flight or even “robot wolves” Armed forces show a doctrine oriented towards coordinated quantity, not individual technological excellence. Centralized control. The appeal of autonomy also reflects a structural distrust in the capabilities of Chinese middle managers, a recognized problem for years by the political and military leadership itself. The swarms controlled by algorithms They fit better with a centralized command culture, where decisions are designed from the top and executed without improvisation. For Beijing, AI offers a way to compensate for the lack of real combat experience and reduce reliance on human commanders in chaotic situations. One soldier, 200 drones. Added to this line of development is the massive deployment capacity that the People’s Liberation Army has begun to publicly display, with tests in which a single operator is capable of supervising swarms of more than 200 drones released in a very short time. In images and data released According to Chinese state television, the drones, trained through simulations and real flights, are capable of flying in precise formations, dividing reconnaissance, distraction and attack tasks, and changing functions on the fly thanks to autonomous algorithms that allow them “negotiate” among themselves without constant human orders. The implicit message is clear: China is not only investigating how to make swarms more intelligent, but how to put them in the air on a large scale with very few personnel, a force multiplier that reinforces its commitment to coordinated quantity as a central feature of its future doctrine. In the background, Taiwan. Of course, the approach is not without risks: Systems can fail under real conditions, be neutralized by countermeasures or, at the opposite extreme, make lethal decisions that are difficult to explain or control. Even so, the WSJ reported that the documents and analysis suggest that one of the most likely scenarios for the use of those chinese swarms It would be a conflict around Taiwan, where they could be used to saturate air defenses, locate targets and facilitate subsequent attacks. The result is a dangerous race, in which China seems to advance rapidly despite the uncertainties, bringing closer a type of war that until recently seemed pure science fiction. Image | USFWS Mountain-Prairie日本防衛省・統合幕僚監部 In Xataka | China’s new futuristic drone is already flying alongside the J-20 fighters. And Beijing has shown it without saying a word In Xataka | China has just crossed the same red line as Russia: for the first time, a military drone has invaded Taiwan’s airspace

China has a solution that only takes 0.1 seconds

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In the age of electricity, time is no longer measured in minutes, but in milliseconds. As Fatih Birol explainsexecutive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the world has fully entered a new era where electricity consumption grows twice as fast as general energy demand. However, this advance has an “Achilles heel”: network stability. Renewable energy, although necessary, is inherently unstable. The great fear of operators is that a small failure in a network saturated with solar and wind energy will cause a domino effect that ends in a total collapse. Faced with this scenario, China has deployed technology capable of detecting, isolating and recovering the network from a failure in just 0.1 seconds. From hours of darkness to the blink of an eye. Historically, managing power grid failures was a slow and manual process. As a South China Morning Post report recallsrestoring power after a community blackout typically required between 6 and 10 hours of work. That year, China already marked a milestone by testing an artificial intelligence system that reduced that time to 3 seconds. However, that is no longer enough. The recent achievement of 100 milliseconds (0.1 seconds) It is the result of a collaboration of more than a decade between elite universities (Tianjin and Shandong), the state corporation State Grid and automation specialists such as Beijing Sifang Automation. This technology is not only faster, but is capable of identifying “micro-currents” of just 100 milliamps, almost invisible faults that previously went unnoticed until it was too late. “Self-healing” versus intermittency. The fundamental problem, detailed in the study published in Energy Informaticsis that modern networks are much more complex. The massive incorporation of renewables and extreme weather conditions make traditional diagnostic methods based on static rules fail due to lack of precision and adaptability. This advancement means that the Chinese power grid —the largest in the worldwith projected consumption in 2025 of more than 10 billion kWh—is moving from a reactive system to a “self-healing” one (self-healing). This capability is so strategic that China already has exported the technology to 12 nationsconsolidating its influence not only as a panel manufacturer, but as the architect of global electrical safety. The algorithms behind the miracle. To understand how this speed is achieved, we must look at academic study by Qi Guo and his team. The system is supported by a dual structure of intelligent algorithms: Fault Location Algorithm (FLA): Uses a fault classifier Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a radial basis function (RBF) kernel. This “brain” analyzes variables such as voltage, line impedance and weather conditions to predict with 92% accuracy where exactly the problem has occurred. Fault Isolation Algorithm (FIA): Once the critical point is located, a decision tree logic comes into play that evaluates the severity. According to the research, if the fault is critical (such as a short circuit near a substation), the system orders the immediate isolation of that section and redirects the energy along alternative routes almost instantly. This hybrid approach allows the system to learn from historical data and adapt to dynamic conditions, something that conventional distance protection systems simply cannot do as effectively. The new geopolitical battlefield. The energy transition not only redefines how energy is produced, but also who controls the rules of the new industrial system. While the West focuses its response on ensuring the supply of critical minerals through initiatives such as ReSourceEU, China advances in less visible terrain but more decisive: the standardization, digitalization and integration of the infrastructures that will sustain the low-carbon economy. Rather than competing for resources, the dispute revolves around who designs the technological architecture on which global growth will function. The ability to recover a network in 0.1 seconds is not just a technical record; It is the life insurance of a highly electrified economy. The greatest current risk is that this clash of strategies between powers ends slowing decarbonization. However, in the race for stability, China has shown that while the rest of the world continues to search for the switch in the dark, they have already designed a system that never lets the light go out. Image | Unsplash Xataka | China dominates the world of renewable energy, but it has an Achilles heel: it depends on the West more than it admits

A Ukrainian system has accelerated the death of kamikaze drones. It’s called Delta, and it does in 120 seconds what took days

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The war in Ukraine has turned the drone into the central weapon of the battlefield, but it has also made evident an insurmountable limit: the kamikaze modelswhich dominated the early years of the conflict, are beginning to die due to sheer unsustainability. The almost thousand kilometer front requires a continuous supply of platforms capable of surveillance, harassment, destruction and survival. And Ukraine has realized this. The sunset of a drone. Russia can no longer guarantee that supply with the cheap, single-use drones it previously launched by the thousands. The western sanctions have strangled Moscow’s access to advanced sensors and critical processors. Furthermore, the Ukrainian attacks to assembly plants They have broken production chains, and the cost of losing increasingly sophisticated systems against denser Ukrainian defenses has made the model unviable. of “launch and forget”. For the first time, Moscow recognizes that it cannot replace what it destroys with the same speed. The Russian bet. Faced with this scenario, Russia is reconfiguring its fleet towards reusable drones that combine precision, electronic resistance and multiple attack capacity. Platforms like the Night Witch (capable of carrying twenty kilos, operating for forty minutes, launching up to four munitions and returning to base) mark the shift towards designs that survive the mission. The Bulldog-13 follows the same logic: modular, resistant to interference and with advanced sensors that would be too expensive for a disposable platform. This evolution not only affects offensive drones: russian interceptorspreviously designed to collide and destroy each other along with their objectives, begin to incorporate methods that allow recovery. From improvised loads like food cans thrown over FPV ukrainians up to electrified rods capable of incapacitating several drones in a single flight, the pattern is clear: if the platform is increasingly complex and more expensive, it cannot be lost on each mission. Russia is, out of obligation rather than choice, migrating toward a fleet that looks more like onepersistent unmanned flight than to an infinite store of cheap projectiles. The Russian limit. The operational advantage of these advanced systems it is evident: interference-immune navigation, thermal optics with digital zoom, long-range links and semi-autonomous capabilities allow for more precise and adaptable attacks. However, Russia pays an operational price: every drone that must return to its base sees its time available in the combat zone. reduced by half. The flight cycle shortens, the attack window narrows, and exposure to Ukrainian defenses widens. It’s the paradox of the reusable drone: more valuable, more capable and more vulnerable to logistical wear and tear. But Moscow has no alternative. Without mass replenishment, drone survival becomes a strategic resource. Ukraine breaks the cycle. And while Russia tries to extend the life of its drones to survive the technological blockade, Ukraine is blowing up the very logic of the war of attrition with a digital tool that turns every sensor on the front into a potential trigger. Previously, locating a Russian target, verifying it, transmitting it, and assigning it to a unit could take up to seventy-two hours, enough time for any vehicle, artillery piece, or tank to move or camouflage. Now, with Delta (the system battle management created and iterated over two years of real war) that cycle is reduced to two minutes under optimal conditions. Delta integrates satellite imagery, radar, reconnaissance drones, frontline observers and data from multiple branches into an interactive map that instantly shows where own and enemy forces are. Operating with NATO standardshosted in the cloud and already used by 90% of Ukrainian units, Delta turns warfare into a digitalized and almost automatic process: see, mark, assign and shoot. Drones that “live” too long. The consequence is devastating for Moscow. Their reusable dronesmore complex and expensive, survive by not wasting themselves on suicide attacks, but at the same time they face a battlefield where every exposure, every takeoff and every return can be detected, processed and attacked in a matter of seconds. The old Russian shelter (moving positions from one day to the next) ceases to exist when a Ukrainian FPV can take off, travel kilometers and hit in less than three minutesor a 155mm battery can open fire minutes after receiving verified coordinates. Even long-range systems, which require planning and preparation, now benefit from a flow of intelligence that never sleeps: latency is no longer strategic, only technical. The kamikaze in extinction. The joint result of both transformations (the Russian transition to drones that must survive and the Ukrainian transition to a system that kills in minutes) alters the nature of drone warfare. The russian kamikazes They do not disappear due to lack of usefulness, but because lack of replacement. And the drones that survive must now contend with an environment where survival depends less on their robustness and more on escaping a detection cycle operating at digital speed. What was once a war of saturation is now a war of instant precision. And in that equation, a new paradox arises: each Russian reusable drone is worth more… just when Ukraine can destroy everything it can see faster than ever. Image | Telegram, Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform, RawPixel In Xataka | The new peace plan in Ukraine has been reduced to 19 aspects. The problem is that the key point measures 900 km In Xataka | Ukraine’s latest tactic begins with a song. It is the prelude to an unknown trick: “sending” Russian missiles to Peru

As Europe fights Russia’s hybrid war, a Spanish invention simplifies how to take down its drones in seconds

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Europe attends a wave of drone raids that have violated its airspace, closed airports and exposed the fragility of its defenses. Faced with this hybrid and growing threat, the European Union study get up an “anti-drone wall”: a technological network of radars, sensors and neutralization systems designed to shield the continental sky against an invisible, cheap and increasingly closer enemy. In fact, Spain has several developments underway that it is about to test. The awakening of Spain. The advancement of drones in modern conflicts has completely transformed the nature of warand Spain is preparing to face it with an ambitious military modernization plan. The Armed Forces will celebrate from October 20 to 24 the Atlas 25 exercise in Huelva, the largest joint meeting of Land, Air and Navy for defense and attack with drones. There, Spanish observation, interception and electronic warfare systems will be tested, with the participation of the Defense Operations Command and INTA. It is not just a tactical maneuver: it is a awakening demonstration technology of the national industry, in which companies such as Indra, Arquimea, TRC and Escribano seek to position themselves at the core of European defense against an enemy that already dominates the sky with cheap and lethal swarms. Atlas 25: the great showcase. The exercise will serve as a testing ground for solutions ranging from offensive drones like the Q-Slam 40 of Archimeacapable of operating without GPS, to inhibition and defense systems developed by Indra and Escribano. But it will also be an industrial showcase in which Spain will show its capacity for technological integration and public-private cooperation. The war in Ukraine has shown that every platform is vulnerable to surveillance and air attack, and that survival depends on the speed with which new electronic warfare tools are developed. Following the recent incursions of Russian drones into European airspace, the need for this “anti-drone wall” has become a priority. The Atlas 25Therefore, it is not only a military exercise, but a political and strategic gesture that places Spain at the forefront of that continental response. Nexor Nexor full integration. The Army has chosen the Nexor systemdeveloped by TRC, as the cornerstone of its new electronic warfare strategy. We are talking about a new platform modular command and control which centralizes the information from all deployed sensors in a single interface. In recent maneuvers in Ciudad Real carried out by the 31st Electronic Warfare Regiment, Nexor (militarily named like Cerberus) has demonstrated its ability to detect, intercept and inhibit hostile drones or enemy communications, even in crowded electronic environments. He integrated system artificial intelligence and machine learning, and its open architecture allows the incorporation of new sensors or updates without redoing its structure. On a front where every second counts, Nexor promises to reduce the gap between detection and responseoffering the soldier a unified and simplified view of the environment to overthrow drones in fractions of a second. Nexor National product. In other words, with this system that is being tested, Spain takes a step towards technological sovereignty by processing and storing its own data, without depending on foreign codes or transferring sensitive information to allied or competing powers. The collaboration between TRC and the Army has led to a 100% national tool that reinforces the country’s strategic autonomy and anticipates the type of war in which so much waves like data They are as (or more) decisive than missiles. Strategic investment. The Ministry of Defense promotes a program of 646 million euros intended to reinforce the electronic warfare of the Army, awarded to Indra under the protection of article 346 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which allows certain contracts to be excluded from common regulations for reasons of national security. 60% of the investment will be allocated to light capabilities, with 16 mobile systems equipped with Vamtac vehicles and interoperable sensors. The forecast is that Indra will rely on specialized companies as CRTwhich has worked with the Army to adapt the solutions to their real needs. The objective seems clear: to create a Spanish, scalable and sovereign system, which combines industrial experience with the technological agility that the battlefield demands today. Spain and the new border. There is no doubt, the lessons from ukraine have exposed both the vulnerability of armies against drones and the urgency to adapt to a war where control of the spectrum is as important as that of the land or the air. Atlas 25 comes at a time when Europe is seeking shield your skies in the face of the Russian hybrid threat and in which Spain emerges as a unexpectedly prepared actor. If you also want, the national industry has gone from being a secondary supplier to becoming a tactical innovation laboratorywhere the integration between technology, intelligence and digital sovereignty set the course. If the future of warfare is a fight between algorithms, sensors and autonomous machines, the nation seems willing to not to be left behind. And Atlas 25 will ultimately be the litmus test of that commitment. Image | CRT In Xataka | Europe has found the antidote to Russian drones. So demand for a 100-year-old gun has skyrocketed In Xataka | Europe has decided to take action against Moscow’s hybrid war. So Germany has started hunting for Russian drones

In the E3 of 1995, PlayStation only needed two seconds to destroy Sega. And changed video games forever

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On September 29, 1995, many Spanish buyers were made with a new console, the first of a company known for its camcorders, Walkman, Discman and TVs. 30 years ago, Sony launched the PlayStation In Europe, but before arriving he had already left a victim on the way: Sega with his Saturn. And everything was forged for two seconds in the First E3 in history With one of the oldest trolls of video games: that of “299”. From an audio chip to the PlayStation. Before reaching that point, we go with some context. Sony was not a video game company. In fact, within the Japanese giant, few believed they painted something in that segment. However, there was Ken Kutaragi, PlayStation’s “father”. He was watching his daughter play family, Our neswhen Kutaragi realized the potential of video games. He raised it, but Sony went on the subject. A few years later, Nintendo needed an audio chip for the Supernesand there was Kutaragi, secretly working on the design of the SPC700 which contributed so much to the history of video games and the audio of the Nintendo console. He did not end up fired from Milagro, since his bosses enraged when they found out. But well, little by little they were entering and Kutaragi had to be a heavy championship because he got Sony and Nintendo to collaborate in the development of the CD super nes, or the Nintendo PlayStation that today is a museum piece. Nintendo’s betrayal. The problem? Nintendo did not see with good eyes that a company like Sony won power in the world of video games and, just when the great association was going to make the world known, Nintendo hit a flying: he associated with Philips and gave them five of their franchises to do what they wanted. It was Nintendo’s biggest error. Not only Philips shattered ‘Mario’ and, above all, ‘Zelda’ With tremendously bad games for CD-Ibut it enraged Sony in an unimaginable way. If they were not fully convinced, they were now clear that they should humiliate Nintendo. They got to work and, from that betrayal, the PlayStation was born. Now we had to present it well, and the First E3 in historythat of 1995, was the ideal scenario. … at “299”. Nintendo went with the failure of Virtual Boy under the arm and with rumors of Nintendo 64 (Which had a few years of development), but there was another company that did new: Sega. The other Japanese video game giant would be a stone on the Sony road if things did not do well, and within “doing things well” comes to put an attractive price. It was the first console, I had to work. In fact, both were the ones that had to win the most and lose at the fair because they had already launched in Japan, but the price they would mark for the United States would be key. Sega crossed the puddle with his Saturn and announced that it would cost $ 399 (also 399 pounds in the United Kingdom and 79,990 pesetas in Spain). Sony needed a blow of effect, and that was when this moment happened: THE GREATER TROLLE OF THE VIDEOGUES. What you just saw is well known, but no less shocking 30 years later. After a long speech on the history of the company and about the benefits of both the machine and the CD, a new format at that time, Steve Race, president of Sony América took the stage and, of course, you will imagine that someone like that would rise to give another long monologue. But not. “Two Nine Nine”. 299. And got off the stage. Those two seconds, followed by applause and cheers, were enough for PlayStation to “win” that first E3. Already My partner Rafa Márquez commented in Vidaxtra: The best possible mixture between a troll and a masterful marketing. It was 100 dollars cheaper than Sega Saturn, had the favor of many developers, was a good CD player and there were not only Japanese games, but others very focused on the western public. In addition, it was the fact that everyone was going to highlight, the one who wanted the press and the players. The tip. It was a master play, but although the story has given a good weight when it came to make Sega stumbled, the truth is that Sega itself had made many merits to end as it ended. To start, Saturn was a face, but also very complicated. The 2D games and Arcade conversions were great, but to squeeze the machine you had to develop for the two processors it had. Besides, The launch in stores was disastrous when produced by surprise. It was a complication because the tools are not as simple and accessible as today, but on the other side you had a playstation for which it was much easier to develop, in addition to giving some other advantage in Royalties. And with Saturn, but above all with DreamcastSega lived an internal civil war between the divisions of the United States and Japan. That is, the “299” was a push that accelerated the fall of the company, but that Sega did not need anyone to stagger. History. In the end, the market put each in its place. For less than ten million Sega Saturn, Sony placed more than 100 million of that first playstation. Only ‘Gran Tourism‘He sold more than Saturn herself and, although Nintendo was better with the almost 33 million Nintendo 64 sold, she was late and with cartridges, losing the favor of companies such as Square Enix and many other developers who saw that the CD was a more favorable format. That “speech” of Race is medium history, but also of marketing and one of my favorite moments in these video game presentations. As a curiosity, as we are condemned to repeat history, in 2014 something similar happened with results, again, favorable for Sony. Microsoft announced that its Xbox One It would cost … Read more

In Japan, the average trains delay is 96 seconds. It is not magic, his secret is called “Paka-Yoke”

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We are not going to discover anything if we tell you that the high Spanish speed has not lived its best summer. To get an idea, Four out of 10 Renfe trains They have suffered some type of delay. We have had breakdowns, Lost trains during the night and the final tip of the fires. But beyond summer, the truth is that the Spanish road network is giving important symptoms of fatigue. Only last June, The birds arrived with a medium delay of 19 minutes About the scheduled time. In April the figure was almost 21 minutes. According to the published report by the company, of the 9,607 trains that circulated last June, only one in three arrived in time Or they were delayed less than five minutes. We know this because Renfe herself has published it but the breakdowns have also affected the trains of Iryo and Ouigo that have to circulate on the same ways. The data point to two possible reasons. First, Spain begins to give symptoms of having an infradimensive infrastructure to host the arrival of new operators (OUIGO and IRYO) and a Growth sustained in the number of trips. Second, the data warn that not enough has been invested in maintenance and modernization of the roads. It is very likely that the situation we are living is a mixture of both reasons. But a question overwhelm: if in Spain we have problems with three trains companies … how do they work in Japan where six different companies operate? 96 seconds Move by Japan, especially for Honshu (his main island in which cities like Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka are found) is very simple if you decide on the high -speed train. The frequencies are so bulky and the delays so exceptional that the reliability in the system is absolute. The known as Japan Rail It can, also, be chaos for those who visit the country for the first time, taking into account that even Six companies operate on their lines. However, each of them has its own reserved space so they do not compete on the same roads as it happens in Spain where Renfe has to deal with Iro and Ouigo. Despite this, four of those Six companies (JR East, JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu) are completely privatized and only two (JR Hokkaido and JR Shikoku) are state -owned. There is, however, a fundamental difference. In Spain, following European orders, the management of the roads falls exclusively on Adif (which was public and also had to be privatized) that charges some canons to companies that want to operate in their railway framework. AND The roads are shared partly between medium distance and high speed trains. In Japan, however, companies manage infrastructure and maintenance of the roads in which they operate but the network of Shinkansenthe famous bullet trains, have a completely separated infrastructure from the rest of the trains and is managed by the Railway Construction, Transportation and Technology Agency of Japan (JRTT). This physical separation allows to reduce the risks (a fault of a slower train does not impact bullet trains) and install systems specifically designed for this type of trains. That has allowed them to evolve the acquaintance concept of Paka-Yoke which can be translated as “failure proof”, referring to the fact that all human decisions are supervised by an exahustive system monitoring system, which shields the network of those possible human errors. This has allowed Japan to be a reference in world high speed. Until Spain and China surpassed the country in railway kilometers of this type of trains, the Japanese country was a leader but it still is in punctuality. In 2024, The average delay in the Tokaid line was 96 seconds. However, systems are designed for trains to enter a margin of 15 seconds at the station. Most of them stop in the first 6 seconds scheduled. Japanese punctuality is an extremely valued quality. Culture forces to ask for public forgiveness when schedules are not fulfilled, sometimes reaching surreal extremes. Like the day that a railway company had to make its face because one of its trains He left the station 20 seconds earlier than expected. Photo | Henry Perks In Xataka | Japan asked its citizens what bothers them most about tourists on the train. The responses betrayed the nation

A VHS tape, an AI and eight seconds of audio. That is all a woman needed to recover her lost voice

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At some point from the 90s to a young Sarah Ezekiel they recorded her with a video camera and kept that recording In a VHS tape. In that little Sarah appearance he only spoke eight seconds, but almost three decades later those eight seconds have ended up being an incredible gift. One that He has returned his voice. Sara Ezekiel lost her voice in 2000, before smartphones became massive and allowed us, among many other things, to capture video easily. A motoneurone disease caused that both capacity and mobility in his hands lost just when he was going to have his second child, a child called Eric. As indicated in a BBC interview“I thought it would be fine, but after Eric was born, I quickly deteriorated.” In a few months he lost control of his hands, and shortly after he was incapable of any type of intelligible conversation. His marriage ended shortly after, and Sarah, in the care of his two children, found himself in a terrible situation. Eric, now 25 years old, just remembers his mother being paralyzed. Aviva, her 28 -year -old daughter, remembers when she realized that her mother was different. “I have that memory of asking him to prepare some strawberries and see that he was not able to cut them. He had to ask someone.” Five years after diagnosis, Sarah found A break Thanks to the Ocular monitoring technology. He could build words and phrases with the movement of the eyes, so that a voice synthesizer offered a synthetic voice similar to what for example I used Stephen Hawking. That was the beginning of a new life that adapted with joy. He became a volunteer of the association to affected by his illness, and painted again thanks to that same technology. And a few years later a small milestone began to take shape. The AI ​​and the “miracle” of the cloning of the voice A company called Smartbox He had announced what was going to provide cloned voices Free for a million people at risk of losing their voice or those who had already lost it for diseases such as cancer or motorcycle. They asked Sarah a voice recording to rebuild her, but the only thing Sarah had was an old VHS tape in which they had recorded her daughter Aviva and in which she spoke just eight seconds. That recording was a disaster. Image quality was bad, but In addition the sound was distortedwith people mixing when speaking and a television sound at full volume. Simon Poole, one of those responsible for Smartbox, thought it would not be possible. However, Poole managed to isolate Sarah’s voice thanks to the Voice Isolator application of Elevenlabs, Specialized company in This type of solutions. The problem is that the result lacked intonation and personality, and also had a strange American accent. To try to solve it, he used another application trained with thousands of voices to fill holes of this type of recordings and that could help recover a voice like Sarah’s. After achieving a result that he believed appropriate, he sent several phrases to Sarah with his cloned voice. He called and heard her how Sarah, hearing those phrases, almost broke out to cry. One of Sarah’s old friends, who met her before losing his voice, was “impressed by how realistic he sounded.” His daughter Aviva said he was also impressed although he admitted that he had to get used to her. “Hearing her now daily still surprises me.” For Eric “it has made an incredible difference”, because that voice can also include an intonation that shows that your mother is cheerful or angry. Sarah misses her authentic voice, but as she said, “I’m happy to be back. It’s better than being a robot“ Image | Gabriel Petry | Ursula Castillo In Xataka | The AI ​​was already able to clone voices and faces. Now also clon our way of writing

Xiaomi has sold 200,000 electric SUVs in 180 seconds. Tesla has reasons to worry

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Present a car, open orders that same night and close 200,000 orders in three minutes. Xiaomi with him Yu7 It is not an anecdote, it is the best proof of the meteoric promotion that it is achieving in an industry in which it has been participating for just a year. He managed to win at Tesla Model 3 In China and the plan is clear: to be even more ambitious with Yu7. Xiaomi destroys your own record. 289,000 units sold in just one hour and 200,000 in the first three minutes. Xiaomi has made it clear that Xiaomi Yu7 is destined to be a success in sales. A key fact is that these sales, in the first seven days they are reimbursable, so they do not have to be a direct translation of the final volume. So that you have more context the Xiaomi Su7, the Yu7 sister electric Berlina, obtained 50,000 orders in the first half hour of its output for sale, and a total of 88,898 In the first 24h. Barbarian figures for the company’s first car, multiplied in this second model. Why is it important. Xiaomi has a clear objective with Yu7, aim at the best -selling electric SUV of China. That SUV is the Tesla Model and. Elon Musk’s company closed 2024 with just over 480,000 units sold throughout the year, and claims to have 200,000 orders from the new Model and Juniper In the country. The war between these two models has just begun, but Xiaomi seems to have everything to achieve its purpose. We have the best track in what he has achieved with his electric Berlina. He already succeeded with the SU7. Xiaomi needed no more than a few months to sell in China more than Model 3 of Tesla. He succeeded in December 2024, with 25,815 units compared to 21,046 of his main rival. The figure catapulted SU7 as the Fourth best -selling electric sedan in the countryand closed the year with more than 135,000 units sold in front of the 75,000 Tesla. With just a model in the market, Xiaomi has managed to sneak into the top 20 of best -selling manufacturers in Chinaabove rivals like Lynk & Co and Zeekr. The global photo is still headed by a byd that seems unbeatable, and Xiaomi needs to climb from the 24th place in the ranking Until the seventh since Tesla had last May. It looks like an almost impossible climb. But it is not. The code of sorpasso. Tesla has had excellent months with Model and in China. In March, it was the best selling electric with 43,370 units. That same month, the Xiaomi Su7 (a car that does not even compete in its category), sold more than 27,000 units. Now, Xiaomi finally has an electric car that competes directly with Model Y. one that is also superior in technology, fast charging, autonomy and performance. The damage that SU7 can make to Tesla’s sales is huge, even more at a time when the country is reinforcing support for national brands. It will not be an easy challenge. Image | Tesla In Xataka | The Xiaomi Su7 self -imposed a challenge: to eat Porsche in his own land. And they just got it

650 km/h in seven seconds

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Next August 17 years of the Beijing Olympic Games will be completed. Games that served the country, as always in this type of events, to sell to the rest of the world. But in the Chinese case it also served to modernize the infrastructure of the country and project the image that we were attending the definitive launch of a new superpower. One of those hallmarks was the launch of the first high -speed line In the country. China opened its first high -speed rail line, then 120 kilometers between Beijin and Taijin. By then, in Spain we had been enjoying high speed 16 years, from the AVE Madrid-Sevilla from 1992. Japan did the same since 1964 when Tokyo’s Olympic Games also promoted The high speed network. 17 years after those first 120 kilometers, China is The country of the world with more kilometers of high -speed roads. They are followed by Spain and Japan. The country has passed through the right to those who were the great referents in the sector. And not only that, promises for the future are still surprising. A MAGLEV at 650 km/h While the country continues to expand its roads, the next great expected milestone is at the very high speed they can get with their trains. And the evidence tells us that they are on the right track. Or, at least, that they begin to have enough technology to position themselves at a little less level than unattainable. Just a few days ago, in the tests with your Maglev more advanced managed to reach 650 km/h in seven seconds In your laboratory. But the very high figure is not the only striking thing. From China they say that to reach this speed They barely needed 600 meters. The acceleration and detention capacity of the train is brutal because the test tunnel barely measures 1,000 meters. A ridiculous distance with the usual tests that are performed in high speed, with roads that extend for tens of kilometers. AND The promise is to reach 800 km/h as maximum speed. To get to this point, China also wants to be the undisputed queen of the Maglev. These trains work by magnetic levitation. The train travels just over the road, taking advantage of a magnet system that keeps it on the railroad but that allows it to move without generating friction on it. This allows Magleb reach such high speeds. For the moment, The fastest maglev in the world It reaches 431 km/Hy is in operation in the railroad that unites Beijing and Shanghai. Yes, the same that has managed to put the airlines in check because Your 1,300 kilometers journey just lasts four hours. For years, China and Japan live their particular space career. Japan has managed to exceed 600 km/h In experienced evidence but China is still ahead. The big challenge now is make useful trains that can move at this speed, to seek commercial viability to them and, above all, provide them with the necessary infrastructure. For example, The tunnels have a problem To travel at such high speeds because within them the train itself creates so high pressures that they can be annoying for passengers and, above all, compromise trains’ safety. Problem that China may be willing to save if it is about showing financial muscle and work capacity. If you don’t believe it, Danyang-Kunshan’s big bridgewhere the high -speed line between Beijing and Shanghai circulates, it is a good example of this with its more than 160 kilometers long. Photo | Chinese State Agency In Xataka | This Chinese train has no driver, but it is not rail: it is autonomous, and it circulates on virtual rails

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