sink

China knows that its population is going to sink but already has a long -term plan to solve it. How not, thanks to the AI

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In 2024 China exceeded 1,400 million inhabitants, but according to United Nations Data That figure will begin to fall remarkably in the coming decades. Predctions talk about 2050 The population There will already be between 100 and 200 million people, and for 2100 in the best Chinese cases it will have only 900 million inhabitants. Among many other things, there will be a huge impact In a key sector: that of the number of workers available. Source: United Nations In Economist They go further and stand out as today 22% of Chinese citizens are over 60 years old, but in 2035 that fee will rise to 32.5%. The Birth rates They are also very low: to maintain the population that rate should be 2.1 children per woman, but in 2024 the rate It was 1.0 children. And as they point out in Chinese triviumthe situation threatens to make China fall into “the average income trap”, slowing the growth of its economy because, simply, it cannot already have so much cheap labor and the level of exports that it had so far. More productivity. The Xi Jinping solution lies in a concept that the Chinese government calls “new quality productive forces” (NQPF). It is a strategy to boost productivity, and for this you can take advantage of technological innovations, improve education or disseminate ideas and improvements throughout all industries. In April XI He already indicated that its 15th “five -year plan” (from 2026 to 2030) will precisely drive this type of measures. And above all, one. Ai plus. That is where the so -called AI Plus directive, a long -term plan that in the next 10 years hopes to get AI becomes fully infiltrated the entire business and consumption fabric in China. The phases They are clear: 2027: reach a penetration rate of more than 70 % of terminals and intelligent agents in six key sectors (science and technology, industry, consumption, social welfare, global governance and cooperation). 2030: That penetration rate must be 90%. 2025: According to the report, “the AI ​​will be adopted as universally as electricity and the Internet, becoming the ‘basic infrastructure’ of society.” In all areas. The plan pretends that AI is the great technological innovation that allows to boost productivity in all types of areas. For example in innovation and scientific discovery, but also in industrial transformation. In the latter case both agriculture and services are short -term objectives for the deployment of AI. And also for consumption. In the consumer sector, AI must stimulate demand with the application of this technology in products such as connected cars or intelligent domestic devices. And of course, the objective is also that AI accompany and help all citizens in education, work or to improve health. Governance and cooperation. The last two major sectors of the initiative are those that affect government efficiency – for example, for urban planning, national segurity or online censorship – and international competitiveness. In the latter case, the plan defends that AI must be considered an international public good and must follow an open source philosophy. Challenges. Some experts believe that the success of the AI ​​Plus program is not assured, and there are also no clear metrics that serve to really measure the contribution of AI to economic growth. Jeffrey Ding, from the George Washington University, explains that “China faces a diffusion deficit because its ability to innovate and be a pioneer in new technologies far exceeds its ability to spread those advances throughout the economy.” Low adoption. Although the country can train its best talents of AI in its best universities, it has certain problems to achieve that same training between “standard” ingenerios, which can create a barrier for the adoption of these technologies. A survey conducted in 2022 confirmed That perception: only 4.5% of the companies owned by the Chinese government confirmed that the efforts to transform them digitally were “fulfilling expectations.” And the AGI, what? Interestingly, in that document there is no mention of the General Artificial Intelligencewhat seems to suggest once again that China prefers to make generative AI infiltrate throughout society instead of going in search of supremacy in AGI. That does not mean that China does not end up looking for this type of achievement, but at the moment its focus is another. A much more pragmatic and that is precisely aimed at mitigating the effects of its future demographic contraction. Image | Global panorama | Brian Matangelo In Xataka | China has found the formula to upload salaries while still being the world’s factory: a silent robots invasion

LG has created a “invisible” aspirator robot. It is saved under the sink, it makes little noise and keeps the mopa always ready

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Aspiring robots have become regular household partners. They have gone from being a technological whim to a practical tool that avoids spending hours to cleaning. However, as we get used to them, we have also begun to demand more: It is not enough that they aspire wellwe want them to do it without interrupting our routine, without occupying space or generating noise. The real comfort is that they work without us just perceiving them. In this scenario it appears LG’s last proposalthought precisely to make that jump. A model that not only seeks to fulfill the task of cleaning, but to do it in the most discreet way possible. The concept is not to add more buttons or striking functions, but in reducing its presence at home, to the point of becoming almost invisible to the user’s eyes. Technology that cleans and disappears from the visual map The South Korean firm will present at the IFA 2025 fair an aspirator robot that moves away from the conventional. Instead of settling in a visible base in the middle of the room, Your station hides under the sinkoccupying a space so far wasted in many kitchens. With a design designed to go unnoticed, it is integrated into the domestic environment without altering aesthetics or requiring additional surfaces. We are facing a proposal that not only seeks discretion, also comfort. The station door opens and closes automatically so that the robot can enter and leave without user intervention. In this way, the cleaning experience becomes completely hands -free, in a line other than that of other vacuum cleaners that continue to depend on voluminous stations in sight. Beyond its hidden location, the robot incorporates technical improvements designed to optimize cleaning. According to LG information, it integrates an artificial intelligence chip that allows you to recognize furniture, objects and areas with dirt, which translates into a more precise navigation and adapted to the environment. It also has a system that detects carpets and automatically orders return to the station to detach the mopa, avoiding unwanted spots on textile surfaces. The station, with discreet appearance, also plays an active role in maintenance. Not only loads the device, it also sterilizes the mop with hot water and steam after each use, reducing odors and guaranteeing constant hygiene. With this, the South Korean company seeks that the user does not have to perform additional tasks and that the feeling of cleaning is maintained at all times. Although the proposal is attractive, there are still important questions. LG has not revealed the commercial name of the model, or its price, nor the availability date in Spain. Nor has it detailed essential technical aspects, such as suction capacity or battery autonomy, data that usually make a difference when choosing between one vacuum or another. The South Korean company has preferred to reserve that information for later, within the framework of the IFA 2025 fair, which is held in Berlin from September 5 to 9. Until then, what is known is rather a declaration of intentions: an approach oriented to practicality and discretion, with the challenge of demonstrating in practice that may be up to its rivals. LG’s challenge is not less, because it enters In a field with consolidated actors. Brands like Irobot, with the Roba Max 705They have opted to facilitate cleaning in households with pets. Roborock, with Saros Z70has taken an innovative step by integrating a robotic arm that expands the extent of cleaning. And dreame me, with the Aqua10 Ultra Roller Completeit focuses on solving one of the usual weaknesses of these devices: the maintenance of the mop. The commitment to a robot that practically disappears seeks to differentiate LG in this competitive scenario. It is not just about offering an effective product, but about convincing users that discreet integration and minimum maintenance are added values ​​in front of a very varied catalog. The LG approach fits with a clear trend: we want technology to do its job without interrupting us. Aspiring robots had already earned a place at home, but this movement points to a new level of integration. A device that automatically cleanshe stays ready by himself and is barely seen. It remains to be seen if the real performance accompanies the promise. Images | LG In Xataka | DREame H15 Mix, Analysis: If I could only buy a vacuum cleaner to clean everything, it would be this

The Chinese solar sector wanted to save itself from overproduction with a pact. Just managed to sink faster

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Despite being a reference country World Cup in renewable energy, China Face a perfect storm In its solar sector: price collapse, red margins and an uncontrolled overproduction. Given this situation, more than 30 solar manufacturers agreed to stop the offer to stabilize the market, imitating the OPEC model. A kind of “Solar Cartel” in the style of oil exporting countries. It hasn’t done very well … Six months later, the result has been a disaster. Far from stabilizing, production has reached historical maximums, the facilities have tripled and losses continue to accumulate. According to Bloombergdifferent executives in the sector have publicly expressed their frustration and accuse their competitors of betraying the collective pact. OPEC style? Some of the big Chinese photovoltaic companies seem to be following the example of OPEC. As He explained Oilprice, the famous oil sign has been adjusting its production to influence global prices. The logic is clear: if the offer is limited, the price drop is contained and war between producers is avoided. Something similar is happening in the solar sector. Longi, Tongwei and Ja Solar have signed a “self -discipline” agreement under the Chinese association of the photovoltaic industry. The reason? Profitability is falling as panel prices, modules and wafers continue to fall. The pact seeks to set production fees by 2025, depending on the installed capacity and market share of each company. Chronicle of an announced death. Like Santiago Nasar at 5:30, this pact also had an inevitable ending. Unlike the oil market – dominated by state giants – the Chinese solar sector is private, fragmented and fiercely competitive. According to Bloombergthe agreement was not binding or contemplated sanctions. It was nothing more than a declaration of good intentions. And while some expected others to fulfill, many took the opportunity to gain market share producing even more. The result was excess supply, prices in free fall and sunken balances. No rules and every machine. According to Oilpricethe plan included limiting new investments, raising the technical requirements and increasing from 20% to 30% the minimum capital required for new projects. The government also implemented measures to cool the overheated sector. However, instead of containing themselves, companies intensified production so as not to lose relevance. According to data cited by Bloombergsolar facilities tripled in a year, and manufacturers have not closed or reduced operations significantly. The damage has been tangible. Longi Green Energy, one of the leaders of the sector, reported in the third quarter of 2024 a loss of 174 million dollars (1,261 million yuan), its first major fall since 2016. In the words of the company itself, collected by Oilpricelast year marked the first collective loss of the sector in almost a decade. The Chinese government has already hardened the conditions for new investments, and there are voices that ask for a firmer intervention. But the truth is that the “OPEC Solar” has failed loudly. The market remains overflowing, depressed prices and competition more wild than ever. The mirage of coordination. Try to coordinate a privatized and fragmented industry with a voluntary pact has been, as has detailed Bloomberg, an idea “condemned from the beginning.” Far from an orderly cartel, the attempt has exposed the structural weaknesses of the Chinese solar model: brutal efficiency, but without rules or firewalls. China continues to lead the world in installed capacity for renewables. But its solar manufacturing sector now faces a hard truth: in a market without discipline or referees, surviving is more difficult than producing. Image | Grégory Roose (Pixabay) Xataka | China’s energy paradox: an ‘electrostate’ that continues to feed on coal

Japan has made an airport not lose a suitcase in 30 years. Now you have to achieve another milestone: that it does not sink

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Now that that moment of the year is approaching where millions of travelers prepare to face the flights that will take them to the long -awaited holidays, an airport room is also ready for the arrival of one of those evils assumed as part of the package: the lost or lost suitcases. Although there is an exception. In Japan an airport has erected as the most efficient of the planet. They have been three decades Without losing luggage. His problem is another, and is underground. 30 years without a complaint. As we said, in a sector where loss is almost evil assumed by travelers, the Kansai International Airportin Japan, it offers an amazing anomaly: in its three decades of operationhas never lost a suitcase, a baby cart, a couple of skis or a single bag. The feat, which its employees describe with modesty as a simple consequence of following the rules, has made Kansai a reference of silent efficiency. Serving the regions of Osaka and Kyoto, and with 30 million passengers International a year, its record cannot be attributed to a low volume of traffic. What distinguishes it is meticulous attention to detail: from aligning the handles of the suitcases to facilitate their collection until they personally deliver fragile or bulky objects directly in the hands of the passenger. In Xataka Nobody wants to spend three hours on a Saturday. And that’s why hypermarkets go down Operational discipline. Had in Japan Times Tsuyoshi Habuta, supervisor of one of the luggage manipulation companies in Kansai, which behind there is no special training or secret systems. According to him, merit lies in Comply with established processes And act carefully: each suitcase is treated as something valuable, not only for its content, but for what it represents for the passenger. Your team manages some 3,000 pieces a dayand the manipulation procedure of is a ballet Synchronized revisions and cross controls. Each piece is counted not only at the time of check-in, but also during and after the flight. The workers inspect that the number of packaged packages coincide exactly with those downloaded, both in the airplane warehouse and in the safety control rooms. If something does not block, the search begins immediately. The rule of the quarter hour. Plus: There is a tacit rule. Deliver all luggage in the collection zone in less than fifteen minutes From landing is a priority. This system is what has made the airport a world reference of efficiency, being awarded eight times with international awards for its excellence in the delivery of luggage. Airport Aerial View Omotenashi philosophy. Behind this impeccable history is also the Japanese concept of omotenashior hospitality as art. According to testimonies of the workers themselves collected by NPRcommitment is not only with logistics efficiency, but with the happiness of the passenger. For them, excellence is not an objective achieved but a constant improvement, fueled by the humility of learning every day and the responsibility of representing Japanese quality to the world. This collective attitude generates an organizational culture where The error is not allowednot for fear of punishment, but for professional pride. Wonder of engineering. The airport, opened in 1994, is built entirely About an artificial island In Osaka Bay and remains one of the infrastructure projects more ambitious and expensive Never performed. Conceived to relieve the saturation of the Osaka airport, Kansai has evolved to become the third busiest airport from Japan. Its initial construction cost around 14,000 million dollars, but with expansions and adjustments it has reached an estimated value of 20,000 million in 2008figure that, adjusted to current inflation, could double. Endowed with characteristics such as flexible asphalt tracks capable of resisting earthquakes and a high structure on 900 hydraulic cats that allow leveling the terminal as the ground sits, the airport has even resisted the devastating Kobe earthquake 1995 without compromising its operation. Osaka Bay Marine bed The problem: it sinks. It We count a while ago. Despite all his technological advances, Kansai faces a persistent and increasingly worrying threat: It is sinking. Since its inauguration, the airport has already descended about 11.5 meters And it is expected that another additional four meters could descend before 2056, approaching dangerously to the sea level. This situation is due to the fact that it was built on land earned to the sea, a highly compressible alluvial clay base that, under the weight of the artificial island, releases water and contracts, causing the progressive sinking of the soil. Although engineers have tried to accelerate land consolidation through “sand drains” (deep holes stuffed with sand to evacuate moisture), the settlement was not completed before starting construction, and the effects continue to accumulate over time. {“Videid”: “X8ST3IM”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “Japan ride generated with Sora”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “17”} Fight against the sea. In 2018, a powerful typhoon flooded one of the slopesconfirming that the problem is not theoretical or distant. In response, the containment dike rose in 2.7 meters To prevent future floods, but experts agree that these measures are palliative and will not be enough in the long term without a large -scale intervention. Yes, the airport is designed to adjust structurally and adapt to the movements of the land, but the geological environment itself (that species of “wet sponge” of loose clay) represents a continuous and silent threat. Every centimeter that descends more compromises its future viability, and although for now it remains an example of advanced engineering, the countdown to its physical obsolescence has already begun. In Espinof I’ve seen ‘Rogue One’ after finishing ‘Andor’. I still have the impression that they are two half films forced to meet Monument with expiration date. In summary, Kansai is a fascinating paradox: a symbol of what human engineering can achieve and a reminder of the limits that imposes nature. While continuing to operate effectively recognized worldwide (With its unmatched record of delivery of luggage without losses), its future survival asshole a complex equation between technology, resources and political decisions. Without large … Read more

Valencia feared that the housing market sink into the areas devastated by the DANA. The opposite has happened

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The Dana that He hit the province From Valencia in October it was so violent, it caused so many damage and affected so many people, that in the real estate agencies of the area they feared that the market was upside down. “It was thought that it was going to sink into the most devastated areas,” Recognize The sector. Reality has been another. The region has not only maintained The tension Between supply and demand suffered before the Dana, but has added an extra factor: Damage who suffered hundreds of households. The Association of Real Estate of the Valencian Community (ASCival) has published A report It helps to better understand how the market has responded. “We saw that the demand was strong”. Nora García Donet, president of ASCival, acknowledges that the market response after the Dana has even surprised the sector. After the rains they feared a puncture in the market, but reality has been quite different: the demand remained high while the offer (which in many cases was already subject to intense pressure before disaster) It was marked by the loss of households razed by rain and mud. “In the first moments it was thought that the market was going to sink into the areas most devastated by the Dana, but soon we saw that the demand was strong in a context in which many homes had been inoperative, and this trend is the one that has been maintained over time,” Donet points out. That equation has ended up moving to another key element: prices. A percentage: 18%. The report Ascival provides a fundamental fact to understand the drift of the market: the price of housing has increased by 18% in the municipalities hit by the DANA. More specifically 18.8% in the sale market and 18.1% in the lease. Translated to counting and sound money that means that houses for sale in the affected areas cost 171,428 euros while the rentals are around 800. The provinces has deepened Something else and calculates that a floor for sale in the towns razed by the downpours has increased, on average, about 32,000 euros. In the case of homes for rent, the price increase would be at 145 euros per month. All compared to the values ​​of seven months ago. What is the reason? The same that usually causes price increases in normal conditions: the imbalances between supply and demand. In Your study Ascival indicates a growing decoupling between both both in the sale market and in the rental. In the first case, the association calculates that the demand for houses for sale has shot 22% while the offer has fallen by 31.3%. In the second case, that of the Property Market to lease, the demand has shot 27.1% with the offering supply (38%). “Little more than six months after the devastating consequences of the DANA, the real estate situation in the affected municipalities follows the same trend of price and demand and contribution trend and contrition of the housing supply as in the rest of the Valencian territory,” Point out As a conclusion the Asicval report. That reality is verified by the region’s own agencies. More than half (54.3%) ensures that the supply of housing for sale has decreased and almost 90%(87.5%) have noticed price orange blossom. 58% also believe that there is more rental demand, while 96% consider that the supply has been maintained or dropped. The role of the Dana. The report It does not detail to what extent the increase can be related to the effect of the DANA or its influence on supply and demand, although it does slide some interesting data. The main one is that most people interested in buying or renting a house in the affected municipalities are locals. This is perceived at least by the agencies, which also ensure that customers do not seem especially interested in knowing whether or not the properties are in flood areas, but they do prefer apartments in height buildings. The tension in the market is not new, nor has it emerged after the October disaster. In 2024 Idealista published A report in which he already pointed out that the district with the greatest pressure in the demand for housing in Spain was in the Central-Horte de Trenor area, in Torrent. During the last months the house It has become more expensive Also in the whole of the province of Valencia, not only in the areas affected by the DANA. What the torrential rains did was sweep hundreds of homesdamaging them or leaving them temporarily uninhabitable. Image | Manuel Pérez García and Estefania Monerri Mínguez (Wikipedia) In Xataka | An old dream is injured in Barcelona: the idea of ​​”a house for a lifetime” without fear of move

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