secret

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

Windows 95 had a little secret that made rebooting faster. The reason was in its more chaotic architecture

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If before Windows 95 If you used other operating systems, it’s hard not to remember the feeling of being faced with something completely new. That proposal introduced elements that we take for granted today, such as the Start menu, the taskbar or Plug and Play, and it did so at a time when starting a PC was almost a small ritual. But beneath that familiar interface a complex architecture was hidden, the result of the forced coexistence between DOS inheritances, 16-bit Windows and the first 32-bit layers. That design, as inelegant as it was effective, gave rise to unexpected behaviors that still surprise today. Few users knew that Windows 95 hid an alternative route to the classic reboot. It was enough to hold down the Shift key during the process started from the graphical interface for the system to display the warning “Windows is restarting”, instead of following the path of a cold restart, as described by Raymond Chen. The difference was not spectacular, but it was noticeable at a time when every minute of starting counted. That small gesture activated an internal mechanism designed to avoid, whenever possible, starting from scratch. The shortcut that did not restart completely Behind this behavior there was a precise technical decision. Chen details that Windows 95 used a flag called EW_RESTARTWINDOWS when invoking the old ExitWindows function, still 16-bit. With that instruction, the system did not order a cold restart of the computer, but rather something more limited: close Windows and restart it. The objective was to save steps, as long as the internal situation allowed it, although this optimization depended on everything fitting correctly. Once that alternative route was taken, the process followed a very specific sequence. The 16-bit Windows kernel was shut down first. The 32-bit virtual memory manager was then turned off and the processor returned to real mode, the most basic state of the system. At that point, control returned to win.com with a special signal asking for something very specific: restart Windows in protected mode without going through a full computer boot. With control back on win.com, the most fragile part of the process began. The program had to simulate a clean boot of Windows, as if it had just been run from scratch, which involved, in Chen’s words, resetting the command line options and returning some global variables to their original values. Although the work was largely clerical, it was especially complex because win.com It was written in assembly. There were no abstractions or modern conveniences. The decisive point was in memory. When win.com was executed, like any .com file, it received all available conventional memory. However, it freed up almost all memory beyond its own code so that Windows could load a large contiguous block when entering protected mode. If during the session a program reserved memory within the space that win.com had left free, the memory was fragmented. In that scenario, win.com could no longer recreate the original map it expected, and, Chen explains, it was forced to abandon the fast reset and fall into a hard reset. When everything fell into place, the process continued without turning back. win.com jumped directly to the code responsible for booting Windows in protected mode, recreating the virtual machine manager and llifting the 32-bit layers again. From there, the graphical interface loaded as usual and the user returned to the desktop. The difference was subtle but real: Windows hadn’t had to reboot the entire system to get to that point. This type of shortcut was only viable in a system built on cross-compatibilities. Windows 95 had to coexist with DOS software, 16-bit Windows programs and Win32 applications, and that mix forced us to accept inelegant but very practical solutions. The developers took advantage of this complexity to introduce hidden optimizations that could speed up restarts, although they could sometimes end in crashes. The obsession with saving memory led to very imaginative solutions. Chen explains that in assembler it was common to recycle code that was no longer going to be used as if it were free memory. On win.com, the first bytes of the entry point were reused as a global variableunder the premise that this code was only executed once. Since the quick restart did not return to that initial point, the system could allow that shortcut without affecting the process. That shortcut also showed its seams. Chen recalls that some users detected errors after performing several consecutive quick reboots, something that he was unable to consistently reproduce. Their hypothesis is that some driver wasn’t rebooting properly, leaving the system in a weird state, and that weirdness ended up taking its toll later. It’s no surprise that this type of behavior wasn’t presented as a documented feature, but it sums up the spirit of Windows 95 well: inventive, ambitious, and full of compromises. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | Schrödinger’s Office: at this point it is impossible to know if Microsoft keeps it alive or if everything is AI and Copilot

the secret was an invisible ice “blanket”

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For decades, planetary geologists have faced a paradox that didn’t quite add up. On the one hand, the missions like Curiosity in Gale Crater show irrefutable evidence that there were lakes of liquid water for thousands or millions of years. On the other hand, climate models insist that ancient Mars It was a cold place.with temperatures well below freezing point. A new paradigm. The question in this case is quite clear: how can there be stable liquid water on a planet where the thermometer barely rises above zero degrees? A new study led by Rice University and published in AGU Advances seems to have found the missing piece in the puzzle: seasonal ice shields. The LakeM2ARS model. To solve the mystery, the team of researchers developed a specific model called LakeM2ARS. This model included everything we know about terrestrials, but adapted to the extreme conditions that existed on Mars 3.6 billion years ago. That is, a climate with less sunlight due to a younger Sun, an atmosphere with much more carbon dioxide and much more aggressive freezing and thawing cycles than those on Earth. Using these models, the researchers began to apply different climatic situations, covering a period of 30 Martian years, which is equivalent to 56 Earth years. The results in this case pointed to something quite fascinating: the water in the lakes only froze on their surface, creating a shield of ice. A natural “blanket”. The research introduces the concept of “ice shield” or “natural blanket.” Instead of being a solid block of ice, the Gale Crater lakes they would have been protected by a seasonal ice sheet thin enough to allow dynamic processes beneath it. In this way, this “blanket” acted as a thermal insulator, since ice has a low thermal conductivity. The good thing about this is that once a layer forms on the surface, the liquid water underneath is “trapped” and protected from the frigid air, maintaining a stable temperature even if the thermometer plummets outside. Another advantage. Beyond this we can see that the low Martian pressure causes liquid water to tend to sublimate quickly. The ice thus acted as a physical plug, conserving the water inventory for decades or even centuries. But it is not that the water underneath was completely cold, but rather that since it was a thin layer, sunlight could pass through it (similar to what happens in the lakes of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica), generating a slight internal heating. The missing piece. One of the biggest criticisms of the cold Mars hypothesis was the absence of geomorphological traces. The big question we can undoubtedly ask ourselves is that if Mars was a freezer, where are the large moraine deposits and the scars left by the glaciers as they advance? The Rice University study gives an elegant answer: the ice was too thin. Since they were not massive glaciers, but rather thin and seasonal layers, they did not have the weight or dynamics necessary to erode the terrain drastically. This fits perfectly with Curiosity’s observations, which show fine-grained lake sediments, typical of calm waters, and not the chaos of rocks that a glacier would leave behind. Microscopic life. This discovery changes the rules of the game for astrobiology, which wants above all to search for evidence of life on the red planet. In this case, the theory is put forward that if Martian lakes were sealed by ice, they became extremely stable environments. Under the ice, life would have been protected from harmful UV radiation and extreme temperature fluctuations. This is why Mars did not need to be a tropical paradise to be habitable; It was enough for him to have a good “armor” of ice that would keep his liquid oases safe from the icy vacuum of space. Images | BoliviaIntelligent In Xataka | China has just resolved one of the biggest doubts about going to Mars with the birth of six space mice

The last secret of anti-drought farming is literally burying sheep’s wool

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The wool we have in our clothes today may be seen as something insignificant, but in the past It was considered “white gold” that supported the economy of many countries around the world. Currently, Australia is one of the giant producers worldwide that has two types of products: fine wool, which sells very expensive, and low quality wool that is left unused. but science has already found a way to take advantage of it in agriculture itself. An underused resource. The scientific literature that has been growing in recent months suggest that this residue is actually an underutilized piece of biological engineering that is able to retain water where no one else can. And this is something that is very interesting for the most desertified lands, such as what happens in Spain, for example. And in those countries that are more arid, such as Australia or in Spainthere are several problems: the lack of water and the speed with which it evaporates from the ground. That is why this is where the “microsponge” function that wool can have comes in. The essays. After seeing that wool has this property to retain water, science began to work on it. It was then that scientists began to apply processed waste wool in agriculture, as pellets or in compressed form. In this way, after placing it on top of the earth, it was seen how the compacted and dry soils were beginning to regenerate. Simply a layer of wool on the soil can reduce surface water loss by up to 35%. This is something really positive, since it has been observed an increase in microbial activity of between 30 and 50%, and also the test crops showed increases in production of between 12% and 18%. A simple idea. Wool acts as an insulating blanket that prevents the sun from incinerating the soil, but it also acts as that hygroscopic sponge that allows water to be provided without it evaporating quickly. There are nuances. If we go down from the enthusiasm of field trials to the coldness of the laboratory, we find something different. A study published in 2022 pointed out that wool waste not only does not damage the microbiota, but rather stimulates it. Unlike other materials that can “steal” nitrogen from the soil to decompose, wool degrades by slowly releasing nutrients. More recently, in a 2025 studyan analysis of the use of wool pellets in lettuce cultivation. The water retention figures here are more conservative, but equally valuable: they documented improvements in soil moisture of between 3% and 25%. Everything always depended on the specific type of soil, being most effective in sandy soils that are most prone to drying out. Why it works. The key to the sponge as a true help for our crops is in its physical and chemical structure. It has been specifically seen that wool can absorb up to twice its weight in water without much problem. This is essential, because when it rains or is watered it will be able to store a lot of moisture and will gradually release it when the environment dries out. But also, we are talking about a slow fertilizer. This is explained because, being composed of keratin, wool is rich in nitrogen and sulfur. In addition, its biodegradation is slow, making it an organic alternative to synthetic fertilizers. Circular economy. Beyond its function in the field, the research frames wool within the need to reduce fossil inputs. Currently, manufacturing nitrogen fertilizers consumes large amounts of natural gas, so using wool as fertilizer can help us meet this large consumption. In addition to all this, the rancher gets rid of waste that previously cost him money to eliminate or took up a lot of space and the farmer obtains a material that protects his soil from erosion and drought. Images | Sam Carter Mike Erskine In Xataka | Extremadura has become master of an unexpected sector: the cultivation of tobacco “made in Spain”

The mission in Caracas revealed that the best kept secret in the US is not a drone: it is called DAP and you will not see it in the movies

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The capture of Nicolás Maduroby US forces has not only meant a political earthquakebut rather he explained with almost surgical clarity the media type that the United States reserves for maximum risk direct action operations. In fact, the famous Night Stalkers of Washington’s Army made it clear that the drone is still in second place. Designed to enter where no one else can.Qbecause the first place is reserved to DAPthe MH-60M Direct Action Penetrator, the most aggressive and specialized variant of the black hawk operated by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Night Stalkers. Venezuela was, in every sense, the ideal setting for this device: a hostile urban environment, potential air defenses, the need for rapid insertion, armed escort, precise fire and absolute coordination with assault teams. Although armed versions of the H-60 ​​exist in several countriesthe DAP of the 160th SOAR represents the maximum degree of maturity of the concept, far above even those already sophisticated MH-60 transportation of the regiment itself. It is not a helicopter adapted after the fact, but a platform conceived decades ago, operational at least since 1990to accompany special forces where error is not an option. In Xataka Neither drones nor fighters nor elite soldiers: the US entered Venezuela disguising a 20th-century tactic as technology. XIX Modular firepower. The heart of the DAP is its ability to combine the punch of an attack helicopter with the flexibility of a special operations device. The current configuration of the MH-60M incorporates modular short wings with one or two heavy points per side, capable of carrying a mix of 70mm missiles,AGM-114 Hellfireair-to-air missiles Stinger ATASheavy machine guns GAU-19/B .50 caliber and M230 cannons 30 mm, the same model used by the AH-64 Apache. Added to this are two 7.62mm miniguns which can be fixed in a frontal position to maximize the volume of fire during low-altitude passes. The introduction of APKWS II guided rockets laser has added surgical precision that allows beat specific objectives in dense environments without resorting to more destructive ammunition. All this arsenal is integrated into a platform that maintains a key advantage: its dual character. In a matter of hours, the DAP can return to a transport configuration, a critical quality for unpredictable operations where the same helicopter may need to escort, attack and evacuate in a single mission. Penetrate at night and fly low. Beyond weapons, what defines the MH-60M DAP is its ability to reach the target without being detected and survive once inside. The aircraft shares with the rest of the 160th SOAR fleet an avionics suite designed for extreme night flight and nap-of-the-earth profilesliterally skimming the terrain even in adverse weather conditions. They counted the TWZ analysts that the terrain tracking and avoidance radar, in its most modern version AN/APQ-187 Silent Knightallows the crew to fly blind to any other conventional helicopter, while the electro-optical and infrared system AN/ZSQ-2 provides identification, laser designation and video in real time. Systems like the Degraded Visual Environment Pilotage Systemwhich combines cameras, LIDAR and terrain databases, allow operating in dust, smoke, heavy rain or fog, common conditions in a night urban assault. And more. This set of sensors not only facilitates navigation, but also allows the DAP to fight at very close range, executing the classic combination of strafing and rockets that has been seen in videos of the Venezuelan operation, erroneously attributed in some cases to AH-1Z helicopters of the Marines. {“videoId”:”x9cqyyg”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”A KEY of 8 ZEROS PROTECTED the WORLD from an unauthorized NUCLEAR ATTACK”, “tag”:”Webedia-prod”, “duration”:”457″} Invisible shielding. Plus: If there is something that distinguishes the 160th SOAR helicopters, it is their obsession with survival. The MH-60M DAP is covered by a genuine self protection bubble which integrates infrared, radar and laser missile warnings, active electronic warfare systems, chaff and flare dispensers, and directional laser countermeasures such as the CIRCM systemcapable of blinding infrared guided missile seekers in mid-flight. This entire ecosystem is interconnected– Detection of a threat can automatically trigger jamming, countermeasures and evasive maneuvers without direct crew intervention. Added to this is a complete electronic intelligence system and data links that allow us to know the location of emerging threats and receive information from other platforms in real time. The result is one of the most difficult helicopters in the world to shoot down, especially in night and low-altitude missions. In Espinof Hugh Jackman presents the extraordinary trailer for his new film, where he becomes one of the most legendary characters of all time The coming war. The operation in Venezuela also has hinted the immediate future of this type of platforms. The US Army has been experimenting for years with the so-called lpunched effectsdrones launchable from helicopters capable of attacking, interfering or deceiving defenses tens or hundreds of kilometers away. Although its operational use has not been officially confirmed, there are indications that the MH-60M DAP could use them for the first time in combat during this mission, expanding its effective range and reducing direct exposure to enemy fire. Added to all this is the ability to refuel in flight using a telescopic probe, normally from MC-130J aircraftwhich extends the helicopter’s radius of action to limits imposed more by human resistance than by fuel. In short, the MH-60M DAP is consolidated as the version more armed and protected of the Black Hawk ever built, a tool tailor-made for operations like the one in Venezuela, where perfect coordination between helicopters, special forces and air support decides success or failure. Far from being a simple armed escort, the DAP is the closest thing to an integral force multiplier, difficult to replace by conventional means and a central piece of the way in which the United States today executes its most delicate missions. Image | MATTHEW WILLIAMS In Xataka | The attack on Venezuela has recovered an uncomfortable truth: that it would not have happened to North Korea for a very simple reason In Xataka | Satellite images of Venezuela before and after the attack have cleared up any doubt: … Read more

It is the secret document of salvation

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Yeah your house starts to burnWhat is the first thing you would save? Surely you have asked yourself that question more than once, with a very clear answer in your head that, once you save what you love most, it is completed with “if I can take more than one trip, I would take this and that.” Being prepared is not badbut… what if instead of personal objects, you had a museum with hundreds of unique objects and works of enormous value? They have thought about that. And the plan is perfectly imperfect. Grab lists. Whether of greater or lesser importance, everyone has unique pieces in the form of artistic creations or elements that have helped us understand and admire the past. And, when there is an emergency, you cannot improvise. That is why each museum has a salvage list or priority list that basically lists the most important objects for the institution and puts them on a list with all the details to keep the piece safe. Because we don’t talk about robbery cases like that of the Louvrebut fireswater leaks, gas leaks, floods and even terrorism. In short, it is a printed and secret plan that museums wish to never have to use for logistical reasons, but also for ethical reasons and responsibility with the art they treasure. How to do it. In this document We see it as a guide to react and make the list. They range from small museums, where perhaps more material can be saved, to large museums where the pieces must be organized in detail. If something happens, the rescue list is given to the emergency services (firefighters during a fire, for example), and should be compiled based on: The rarity of the item. Its value (although they indicate that it should not be the only element to consider, we will see what happens when there is a lot of money at stake). An important historical link to the museum or city. Its vulnerability to fire or floods. An example. The guide is a sample of that safety document that tells staff how to react to different conditions. For example, if there is an electrical failure, recommendations are given such as assessing whether there is a risk of electrocution and, if everything is safe, starting to proceed. If there is an insect infestation, it is indicated how to save the works. But what interests us are the examples of the priority list. On a map of the museum, they indicate which works need to be saved, accompanied by the number they have on that priority list. But, in addition, a series of instructions must be given so that personnel outside the museum (the aforementioned firefighters, for example) are clear about how to act. In this table, the guide includes the reference number of the object, a photo of it so that you are clear about what it is, if keys are needed to access the display case and where they are, as well as handling recommendations (gloves, box, etc.) and how many people are needed to move it. Do not overwhelm with details: the more concise, the better. Powerful knight… That they are secret documents is more than necessary for a very obvious reason: no one who is not strictly involved with the construction security service can know which objects are on the list because there could be leaks. Because, as you may be thinking, the most monetary valuable items would be the first to go out the door in armored trucks. Because maybe he bone of a T-Rex It may be very important on a scientific level, but it will not be worth the same as a painting by a renowned painter. Each object has its insurance premium, and when there is a crisis, the priority is usually clear: save what is expensive. And there is a perfect example: ‘Mural’, by Jackson Pollock. It’s not hypothetical. In a fantastic report by The Economist The case of the aforementioned work by Pollock is presented. Answering how much art is worth is, to say the least, complex, but specifically, ‘Mural’ is valued at 140 million dollars. Painted in 1948, due to different factors it ended up in the University of Iowa Museum of Art. It is, like many other important museums, one that is attached to a river, and in 1993 the first “notice” came. A flood caused water to leak onto the university campus. He sneaked into the basement and warehouse, but the exhibitions continued to be set up and running. In 2008, things changed. A heavy snowfall meant that the ground could not absorb as much water, so the Iowa River overflowed and levels rose. The reservoir to which the city entrusts its protection could not handle that amount of water and had to be evacuated. Decide between two children. At a meeting, those responsible for the safety of the works did not know what to save, so the most interested came in: the museum’s insurer. It is at that moment in which the cultural value and the importance of the roots of the work are put aside to reflect reality: money and the value of the work prioritizes which ones will be saved first. With water at the doors, a few days before the museum was flooded, ‘Mural‘He left on his way to Chicago in an armored truck. Another work, ‘Karneval‘, a 1943 triptych by Max Beckmann, was also transported to the same facility in Chicago, but on a separate truck. Reason? The director of the university told journalists that these works were being moved and the museum management saw it as a reckless act. “Our collection is insured for a third of a billion dollars and now we have people telling the world it’s on its way to Chicago,” said Pamela White, the museum’s acting director. Beyond money. Museum staff moved more than 10,000 works in total, protecting those they had not been able to evacuate and placing them … Read more

Google’s secret weapon against CUDA dominance is called TorchTPU. And it’s an NVIDIA waterline missile

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Google has launched an internal initiative called “TorchTPU” with a singular goal: to make their TPUs fully compatible with PyTorch. For the not so initiated, we translate it: what Google intends is to destroy once and for all the monopoly and absolute control that NVIDIA has with CUDA. Why is it important. NVIDIA has become the first company in the world by market capitalization for two big reasons. The first, for its AI GPUs. And the second, much more important, for CUDAthe software platform that is used by all AI developers and that has an important peculiarity: it only works on chips from NVIDIA itself. So if you want to work in AI with the latest of the latest, you have to jump through hoops… until now. What happens with Google and its TPUs. Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) were until now optimized for Jax, Google’s own platform that was similar to CUDA in its objective. However, the majority of the industry uses PyTorch, which has been optimized for years thanks to the aforementioned CUDA. That creates a barrier to entry for other chipmakers, which face a huge bottleneck in attracting customers. Goal is in the garlic. Anonymous sources close to the project indicate in Reuters that to achieve its goal and accelerate the process Google has partnered with Meta. This is especially striking because it was Meta who originally created PyTorch. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has ended up being just as much a slave to NVIDIA as its rivals, and is very interested in Google’s TPUs offering a viable alternative to reduce its own infrastructure costs. Google as a potential AI chip giant. The company led by Sundar Pichai has made an important change of direction with its TPUs, which were previously reserved exclusively for it. Since 2022, the Google Cloud division has taken control of their sale, and has turned them into a fundamental revenue driver because they are no longer only used by Google: Tell Anthropic. A spokesperson for this division has not commented specifically on the project, but confirmed to Reuters that this type of initiative would provide customers with the ability to choose. All against NVIDIA. This alliance is the last attempt to put an end to that great ace in NVIDIA’s sleeve. In these months we have seen how companies like Huawei prepare your own alternative ecosystem to CUDAbut they also participate in a joint effort of several Chinese AI companies for the same purpose. Hardware matters, software matters more. CUDA has become such a critical component for NVIDIA that if other semiconductor manufacturers have not been able to compete with it, it is not because of their chips, but because they cannot support CUDA natively. We have a great example in AMDwhich has exceptional AI GPUs. In fact, they are superior to NVIDIA in certain sections, but their software is not as powerful. In Xataka | Google’s TPUs are the first big sign that NVIDIA’s empire is faltering

The microprocessor that advanced the Intel 4004 was not in a computer, but in a secret place: an F-14

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We are used to thinking that the history of microprocessors begins with the Intel 4004. Even those who are not experts have it associated with it as the first big chip that inaugurated the era of personal computing. But that is not the only possible story. There was another design, less known and outside the commercial circuits, that began operating before the 4004 reached the market. It did not appear on a computer or calculatorbut in a F-14 Tomcatand for almost thirty years it was invisible to the public. What that plane had inside was a processor designed to do something that no commercial chip did at that time: automatically calculate speed, altitude or wing position while the pilot maneuvered. That system, known as MP944, had been in service since 1970, when the 4004 had not yet been introduced. Its context was completely different from that of Intel, because it was not designed for the market or to be licensed, but rather to fulfill a requirement of the military program marked by the tensions of the Cold War. A secret microprocessor in the bowels of an F-14 The novelty was not only that it made calculations, but that it did so automatically and digitally, something unusual in on-board systems from the late sixties. The MP944 processed sensor readingsapplied aerodynamic equations and provided data that influenced the behavior of the plane, reducing the pilot’s workload. It was not a passive assistant, but a module capable of interpreting those readings and providing results fast enough to be integrated into actual flight control. That is why it was considered a technology ahead of its time. The declassified documents in the nineties show that the MP944 combined advanced MOS technology with a 20-bit parallel architecture capable of executing pipeline calculations, something unusual for its time. Its frequency was 375 kHz and it could process specific mathematical operations efficiently enough to be integrated into real flight systems. According to the figures collected in Holt’s work and in the subsequent review by Tom’s Hardware, this performance placed the MP944 clearly ahead of the 4004 in number of instructions executed, although it was never intended as a general-purpose commercial chip. They were two different approaches: one for a military aircraft, the other for a commercial device. When Holt’s work came to light decades later, He argued that the MP944 should be considered the first microprocessoreven though it was not on a single chip nor had it been marketed. Intel engineers, such as Ted Hoff and Federico Faggin, disagreed and argued that 4004 was the first in integrating all the essential functions of a CPU in a single piece of silicon and with general use. Russell Fish, a former Motorola engineer, reviewed the MP944 documentation and described it as an advanced microprocessor for its time, while Richard Belgard saw it as an overly specific system, designed only to keep an airplane in flight. Holt maintained that the reason no one knew about MP944 for years was because his work had been classified and subject to military restrictions. He said he spent decades requesting the release of the documents and was only able to do so when, in 1997, he won the support of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren for the Navy to authorize their publication. With the documentation now available, the Navy qualified that version and maintained that Holt’s work had not actually been classified, but that what was missing was the company’s authorization to release the records. Garrett AiResearch admitted that they were no longer clear about what had happened, because the people who managed the case had left the company. When the information became available, Russell Fish claimed that MP944 was so advanced for its time that, had it been known, could have accelerated the development of the sector by up to five years. The creators of the 4004, such as Federico Faggin and Stan Mazor, openly disagreed and pointed out that the merit of the commercial microprocessor was to integrate all the essential elements on a single chip and make it viable for multiple applications. Richard Belgard qualified this position: he recognized the technical value of the MP944, but saw it as a system designed for a single purpose, without the capacity to open its own market. The debate about which was the first microprocessor is not resolved with a date, but with a definition. The 4004 was the first to hit the market as a commercial, integrated and programmable chip, and that merit explains its place in manuals. The MP944, on the other hand, previously demonstrated that it was possible to process data digitally and feed control systems in real time, even if it was done while locked in an airplane and outside of public space. One opened an industry; the other anticipated capabilities. Both represented different ways of understanding what a microprocessor could be. Images | DVIDS (1, 2, 3) | Thomas Nguyen In Xataka | The United States wants to be sovereign in AI. AMD’s new supercomputers will be part of the plan

An atoll in the South Pacific is the best kept secret of the ultra-rich. If you want to hide your fortune, this is your island

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In the middle of the South Pacific, there is a little paradise which attracts both nature lovers and those looking to put their great fortunes safely away. The Cook Islands, with their turquoise beaches and dreamlike landscapes, have become the chosen refuge by many millionaires for keep your money safe and anonymous. Beyond being a privileged tourist destination, this archipelago adopts the second most used meaning of paradise: that of tax haven. Its special legal system protects the assets of those millionaires who decide to enjoy its dream beaches and its legal opacity with assets. They came for its beaches, they stayed for the trusts This natural oasis, located about 3,000 kilometers from New Zealand, is not only home to beauty and tranquility, but also a sophisticated asset protection mechanism that has gained global fame in recent years among millionaires around the world. Although many think of tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands are distinguished by their ability to raise trust financial structures from which millionaires can manage assets of all kinds, from properties to cryptocurrencies, with a very lax taxation. Not in vain, the Cook Islands were a recurring reference in the great financial scandals that were revealed by the Panama Papers, Pandora or the Paradise Papers. As and how they counted in Fortunesince the 1980s, the Cook Islands established a single fiduciary system which offers a level of opacity and protection difficult to find in other enclaves considered tax havens. For example, the authority of foreign courts to intervene in these funds is not recognized and, furthermore, the identities of the owners are protected by law. This combination makes the country a bastion for those who want to keep their assets safe from external demands or embargoes. Cook Islands, a paradise for human and fiscal matters Here, millionaires transfer their assets to a trust managed by a local fiduciary (front man), while they can remain beneficiaries or dispose of the money and property freely. This separation between Ownership of the heritage and who enjoys it generates a legal barrier that makes it difficult for third parties to claim those assets. In this way, millionaire businessmen protect their fortunes in the event of bankruptcy of their companies because, legally, they are not owners of the assets that they do enjoy. Likewise, fortunes would not be so exposed to divorce cases. “If all your money is in your pocket and someone tries to take it from you, maybe they can. But if the money is in another country and not under your control, chances are they won’t be able to touch it,” he explained to Fortune Blake Harris, lawyer specializing in property protection in the Cook Islands. In addition, shell companies are used to manage certain assets in order to add another level of opacity to the ownership of trust assets. “We created a practically unbreakable structure. And it is a fundamental practice. It is necessary to protect yourself,” said Harris. Spanish millionaires also travel to paradise The Panama Papers and other tax scandals exposed the financial engineering that large fortunes were using to reduce their tax bill. Among the names that appeared in these investigations there were also some spanish names. It should be said that constituting a trust in the Cook Islands It is completely legal for a Spanish resident. The Polynesian atoll was excluded from the EU tax haven lists and from Spain. However, the Spanish legislation It focuses on who actually controls and benefits from the assets, not just who is listed as the formal owner. However, just because it is legal in Spain does not mean that it works the same as for an American millionaire. Spain does not include the figure of the trust in its legal framework, although it does takes it into account at the tax level. In practice, this means that even if the assets are transferred to a trustee in another country, The Tax Agency considers that the person residing in Spain retains some type of control or benefit over them. And if this control exists, the Treasury understands that this assets remain linked to the taxpayer and, therefore, must declare it as part of your heritage. Therefore, although the protection against international litigation offered by Cook Islands trusts is effective, in Spain they do not have the same effectiveness than in the US, so It is not such a popular instrument. between the great Spanish fortunes as among the millionaires of other countries. However, as how they point From the Gesta tax consultancy, trusts are recommended more as tools of succession planning or protection against civil risks, and both for evade taxes. In Xataka | They were promised a bitcoin paradise and zero taxes for 120,000 euros. Today there is only one desert island on the verge of disappearing Image | cook islandsUnsplash (Nathan Dumlao)

The prince of Brunei asked to be made a Ferrari so secret that not even Ferrari knew it existed: the F90

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At the end of the eighties, a very special order knocked on the doors of the Pininfarina study. Prince Jefri Bolkiah, brother of the Sultan of Brunei, wanted to be designed a new exclusive Ferrari. The only condition was that this project be kept completely secret. In fact, it was kept so secret and for so many years, that not even Ferrari knew it existed until a series of photographs revealed them to the public and the brand itself decades later. This is the story of the only six Ferrari F90s that exist in the world. a car so mysterious They haven’t even seen it in Ferrari. The prince’s secret order The incredible story of this peculiar model came to light according to an interview that Speedholics made Enrico Fumia, director of design and development at Pininfarina in the late 1980s. In those years, Prince Jefri Bolkiah was one of Ferrari’s best clients, where I bought cars by the dozen to feed your large collection of cars made up of more than 7,000 cars. In 1988, an intermediary of Prince Jefri contacted the Pininfarina design studio, the Italian company responsible for designing some of the most famous Ferraris, with models such as the Ferrari FF, California, F12 Berlinetta or 458 Italia, among many other. The request was clear: I wanted six exclusive units of a Ferrari that only he would have. In exchange, the studio would receive an indecent amount of money, just at a time when the studio was not having a good financial streak. Without going into specific figures, the studio’s design manager only indicated in his interview that, with that commission, Jefri Bolkiah became the studio’s main source of income, above brands such as Ferrari, Maserati or Alfa Romeo. There it is nothing. The only condition that the prince set was that everything had to be done in the most absolute secrecy. So much so that not even Ferrari found out until 16 years later. Tap on the photo to go to the original message The project was baptized “F90”, so named because it was “the Ferrari of the nineties“. The design was built on the chassis of the Ferrari Testarossa – which was the star of the moment –, but with a completely new and original design in terms of body, cabin and roof, retaining only the engine, wheels and mirrors of the base model. Innovation and complexity in design In his interview, Enrico Fumia assured that “without a doubt, the F90 has been the most difficult and spectacular project we have ever done.” Among its most notable innovations was a unique sliding roof that slid over the rear window, becoming fully integrated to turn it into a convertible supercar. This solution was something completely unprecedented for the time and a major technical challenge, Fumia explained. But the fees paid by the coffers of the Sultan of Brunei more than covered the development cost. Making a Ferrari without Ferrari knowing was not easy. Fumia claimed that they tested the car at night, without any emblem of Prancing Horse and with the body completely camouflaged. As they did not have test drivers, the designer acknowledged that “sometimes I participated in the tests and, since the car was right-hand drive, when I was driving, another person had to sit in the passenger seat to pay the tolls at the highway exits.” In its design, Fumia was inspired by classic Ferrari models like the 1964 500 Superfast, with its peculiar oval front grille, the Ferrari 365 or the Ferrari 330 with its smooth and aerodynamic lines. Under the hood they mounted a 4.9-liter, 390 HP twin-cylinder V12 engine. After many difficulties, the six units of the F90 were delivered directly to Brunei and in the most absolute secrecy, where they have remained hidden in the royal collection of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. They remained this way until 2002. Ferrari, what Ferrari? It was in that year when some mysterious photos began to circulate on the Internet in which the unprecedented silhouettes of an unknown Ferrari. Finally, in 2005, Fumi met with Ferrari and Pininfarina to reveal the project. The design manager was surprised by Maranello’s reaction. “It was better than we ever imagined,” Fumia said. “Ferrari officially recognized the F90 as an authentic Ferrari, without ever having seen or touched it,” confessed the former Pininfarina manager. As of today, and only by reference to the leaked photos, it is known that the Ferrari F90s were painted in black, blue, gray, red, white and green. But none of these cars have left the royal collection nor has it been used publicly, thus maintaining the aura of mystery and exclusivity that surrounds them to this day. In Xataka | In Dubai they don’t know what to do with so many abandoned luxury supercars: the less shiny side of getting rich Image | Nano Banana

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