speed

build luxury cruise ships. And he’s doing it at full speed

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For decades, Europe has been without a doubt the world reference in the construction of cruise ships with four outstanding shipyards: in Italy, Germany, France and Finland. However, beneath those luxurious interiors hide ambitious works of engineering in the form of small (relatively) cities that navigate the oceans. China was already an authority in the construction of freighters and container ships, but cruise ships resisted it. three years ago timidly entered the sectorbut he is burning stages in record time. The Adora Flora City is almost ready. Last Friday the Love Flora City (in Chinese, Aida Huacheng), left dry dock in Shanghai. In short: only your test trips and final delivery are ahead of you on your roadmap, although tickets can now be reserved for their first cruises at the end of the year from Guangzhou. Everything is going as planned and at printing speed too: it was assembled in just nine months. This impressive luxury cruise ship has been built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. at the city’s shipyard and with Guangzhou Nansha as its home port. It is 341 meters long and 37.2 meters wide and inside there is capacity for 5,232 passengers, distributed in 2,144 cabins. Your design is inspired on the Silk Road and Lingnan culture, with floral motifs throughout the ship in a nod to Guangzhou. However, Huacheng is “City of Flowers” the nickname of Guangzhou. Why is it important. Because building a cruise ship is one of the most complex projects in naval engineering, which demonstrates its scarcity and the seniority of the classic European shipyards, and China has demonstrated both its technical power and its enormous learning capacity. And in what way: China has stepped on the accelerator on its learning curve. From the first to the second cruise it has shortened construction deadlines and reduced its external dependence, with a near date to be completely independent. Aid from the West has been a double-edged sword (for the West): it has helped create a competitor that, based on precedents in other sectors, can change the naval industry drastically. Context. Adora Cruises was born in 2015 as a joint venture between CSSC and Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise operator in the world. China provided shipyards and the market and Carnival provided its experience and the brand. But the pandemic disrupted plans, the relationship cooled and Carnival ended up withdrawing completely. When it was born, its goal was for the ships to be operated by the Asian division of Aida Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival (hence its name Aida). At the beginning of this year, Adora integrated with other state operators under the China Cruises brand in a movement in which, although Adora maintains its recognizable name, it seeks to optimize its operational performance and consolidate its presence in the Chinese market. It is already an entirely Chinese project. The first cruise. He Love Magic City (Aida Modu) was the first large cruise ship manufactured entirely in China. Among its specifications, a length of 323 meters, capacity to accommodate up to 5,246 passengers on its 14 decks and 2,125 cabins with a style that combines Western with Chinese. In this case, assembling the helmet cost them a little more: 11 months. detaching from Fincantieri. But while for the Adora Magic City intensive technical support from the Italian shipyard Fincantieri, with the Flora City, Chinese engineering is almost on its own. The construction and coordination of work is now entirely Chinese. Ficantieri and the RINA classification society are still in the project, providing licenses, the design platform and some parts, but they are no longer supervising. What’s coming As reported by XinhuaLast Friday, China Tourism Group and CSSC signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a new cruise ship. Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding plans to accelerate the construction of a cruise ship assembly base and already has in mind the date to deliver the first independent, that is, 100% Chinese, large cruise ship: in 2030. The idea is to pave the way to enter the mass production phase. In Xataka | We believed that the most incredible thing about megacruises is their size. It turns out that the real miracle is their kitchens In Xataka | From trips for honeymooners and retirees to Gen Z phenomenon: this is how cruises are being saved Images | Adora Cruises

A website has collected more than 1,000 speed limitations on Spanish trains. Adif has knocked her down

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They are called Dignitat a les Vies and they say they are “fed up with the mistreatment by Renfe, Cercanías and Adif.” The claim is clear: “we want a decent railway system.” And as a means of protest they had a website with all the speed limitations found on Spanish railways. They had it, because Adif has taken down the website. Cessation of activity. It is the title that heads a writing from Dignitat a les Viesa platform that until last Friday had an active web page in which all the speed limitations of Spanish railways were collected. The text reads that Adif has confirmed that the blocking of the page is derived from a previous complaint on its part, understanding that “the information on Temporary Speed ​​Limits (LTV) is ‘sensitive’ and cannot be known by the general public.” Listening to the road manager, the court has ordered the blocking of the website. What was shown? Simply, all the speed limitations present on Spanish roads. Supported by users and, above all, by machinists according to The Country, The association had a map where more than 1,000 incidents were recorded. The map, which Dignitat a les Vies assures has been replicated by the media (such as its own The Country) and has not been removed, showed public information that Adif refuses to provide in what they describe as “an act of paternalism. According to these users, “Adif is failing to comply with the current legal framework. In accordance with Law 9/2025 on Sustainable Mobility, Regulation (EU) 2017/1926 (MMTIS) – updated by 2024/490 – and Directive (EU) 2019/1024”, which requires them to make public “the data on the infrastructure and its restrictions.” And they emphasize that showing them “helps the user understand chronic delays.” The restrictions. As reflected in the newspaper The CountryIn Spain there are currently more than one mile of temporary speed restrictions active. This means that there are more than 1,000 points where drivers must circulate at a speed lower than the maximum speed permitted at that point in a generic manner. These restrictions are a consequence of actions on the tracks but also the consequence of continuous warnings by train drivers. And it is that, as they have confirmed to Xatakathe workers indicate with a report points that, in their opinion, should be reviewed or do not allow driving at the maximum speed required. Everything indicates that, after the Adamuz accident in Córdobathe zeal with these notices is greater than before. Train drivers also have the power to reduce speed at specific points if they so deem it necessary. These speed reductions must be reflected with a notice to the command post and in a report but, as we said, Adif has the final say on what is reviewed, what point is left for later and where speed restrictions are applied and for how long. Is it important? Yes, because temporary speed restrictions have multiplied high-speed travel time. Right now, Adif has indicated to the operators that Journey times are going to be longer in Madrid-Barcelona due to actions on the tracks and trains have been eliminated. This situation will last for months and as it is an issue that falls on the side of the road manager, the client has no right to compensation. The data of The Country They indicated on March 9 that there are 422 points where trains must run at a maximum of 30 km/h. It is the most repeated speed limitation. If the restrictions at 60 km/h or less are added, there are more than 850 points in Spain where high-speed trains cannot go above this speed. Where are there more limitations? Due to the volume of traffic and passengers, it is logical that the restrictions in Madrid-Barcelona have focused attention. Especially since it has been difficult to travel between both cities during the day without suffering any surprises or being clear about what time you are going to arrive, which complicates the traditional movement between cities. However, the media reports that line 100 Madrid-Hendaya is the most affected with 83 temporary speed limitations that reduce speed by 112 kilometers along the total 641 kilometers, followed far away by line 400 Alcázar de San Juan-Cádiz, which totals 85 limited kilometers spread over 69 restrictions found along 577 kilometers. However, it is the line 240 S. Vicenç Calders-L’Hospitalet that is most affected if the number of kilometers with active speed limitations is taken into account. And of the total 71 kilometers of the line, 56 of them have limitations below normal as a result of 35 conflict points. Photo | José Ignacio Esgarriaga In Xataka | Spain decided to build its social life around the AVE. And now he’s discovering the consequences of failing.

The Government of Spain has insisted that we do not exceed the speed limits. And it has a threat: jail

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At the moment it is a Bill presented in the Congress of Deputies but it is much more than that. It is confirmation that the Government will debate when a driver should go to jail in case of speeding. The PSOE’s proposal is to reduce this margin, which now requires driving through the city at more than the permitted speed of 60 km/h. 10km/h. It’s not much but it would be a substantial difference. Until now, a driver who exceeds the maximum speed allowed within the city by 60 km/h or more faces a prison sentence. Outside the city, the speed must exceed 80 km/h above the maximum permitted limit. With the change in regulations What the Government wants to carry outthe idea is that these limits are lowered by 10 km/h. That is, a driver has to face jail if he exceeds 50 km/h in the city and 70 km/h on roads outside of town. “Excessive permissiveness or laxity”. It’s like the Bill presented in the Congress of Deputies qualifies the current thresholds to determine what is a crime and what is not when we break the speed limits. Currently, the limits are as follows. City: Streets at 20 km/h: prison from 80 km/h Streets at 30 km/h: prison from 90 km/h Streets at 50 km/h: prison from 110 km/h Road outside the town: Road at 90 km/h: jail from 170 km/h Road at 100 km/h: jail from 180 km/h Road at 120 km/h: jail from 200 km/h The arguments. To promote this regulatory change, the Government indicates that the European Union is promoting changes to reduce road accidents. This is how it is understood more restrictive speed limits in much of Europe, although Germany continues to enjoy roads that lack them (up for debate today) and countries that They want to increase them to 150 km/h. But, in addition, the PSOE hides behind the fact that a 1% increase in speed has a 4% impact on its consequences. Therefore, the impact caused by an accident due to excess speed, which according to DGT accounts is present in 22% of accidents, is growing exponentially. Furthermore, the new wording emphasizes the consequences in the city, where excessive speed has more serious consequences on the health of vulnerable people such as pedestrians, cyclists, users of personal mobility vehicles and motorcyclists. Are there reasons? The truth is that excess speed is, behind distractions, the leading cause of accidents in our country. And its consequences are especially serious in the city. According to the DGT5% of pedestrians hit at 30 km/h die. At 50 km/h, the risk increases to 50% and at 80 km/h death is almost certain. And on the road, an impact at 120 km/h is considered to translate into a fall of a fourteenth floor. At 180 km/h the impact is equivalent to falling from a 36 story. What would happen to the drivers? At the moment, speeding Driving at more than 60 km/h in the city and more than 80 km/h outside of it are considered crimes, like those positive for alcohol and drugs. This means that the driver, in addition to the financial penalty, faces a prison sentence of three to six months that does not have to be served on the first occasion. Of course, although the sentence does not exceed two years, a judge has the power to decide whether to send the driver to prison. And also if it imposes a financial fine, which is calculated based on the damage caused or the risk to which it has subjected other drivers and traffic agents if no accident had occurred, from six to twelve months or work for the benefit of the community from thirty-one to 90 days. In addition, he would be deprived of his driving license for one to four years. Will it move forward? That is something that the Congress of Deputies now has to debate. Both the DGT and the Government have recently been promoting more restrictive measures against excessive driving. Under the direction of Pedro Sánchez, the penalties for mobile phone use have worsened and the obligation to have insurance and registration if you have a scooter. In the same way, there has been an attempt to promote a change in alcohol limits that would prevent a person from driving as soon as they had had a beer or a glass of wine. However, this reform is still up in the air. Photo | Max Angelo In Xataka | A town in France has managed to reduce the speed of its cars. Without radars or traffic lights or speed bumps

Japan’s problem is not that it is stopping having babies at a record speed. It’s just that he did it 17 years earlier than he should have.

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If there is a way out of demographic pitJapan still hasn’t found it. And not for lack of effort. Although all your effortsof the imagination and million-dollar investment that has been allocated to birth policies, its balance of births continues to be disastrous. The last one has just been published by the Government and shows that in 2025 they were born in Japan 15,179 fewer babies than in 2024. It is the tenth consecutive year of decline, a new historical low and above all a scenario in which Japan did not expect to find itself until 2042. The question is: Is Tokyo willing to cover this birth rate disaster with a greater migratory flow, the demographic table that keeps afloat other countries? What has happened? that Japan has received a hard bath of demographic reality, something that is beginning to be common. The Ministry of Health has just published the birth rate for 2025, a document that leaves little room for optimism. Throughout last year, 705,809 babies were born in the country, a bad figure no matter how you look at it. It represents the lowest record since statistics began to be compiled in 1899, and above all it confirms that the birth rate has been declining for ten consecutive years… with no prospect of improvement. In annual terms, these 705,809 births represent a decrease of 2.1% compared to 2024. If we look further back, to the last decade, the drop is around 30%. The only good news is that the data improves (slightly) some forecasts launched by the Japanese press a few months ago and that the speed at which the birth rate falls seems to be slowing down little by little. At least it is lower than that of the 2022-2024 period, when it exceeded 5% annually. Is it that bad news? Yes. For several reasons. The main one is that the Japanese demographic crisis is worsening much faster than the Government believed, which years ago prepared for a pessimistic scenario. In 2023 the National Population and Security Research Institute and Social Security (IPSS) published a report in which it calculated that the number of annual births would not decrease to 700,000 until 2042. The reality is that the country has already moved within that range in 2025, 17 years than expected. What’s more, the IPSS estimated that 774,000 babies would be born in 2025. The actual data that we know today (705,809) is closer to its most pessimistic projection (681,000). Why is it a problem? Because Japan is proving that, despite its multiple attempts, it has not managed to close its demographic gap. It is not just that their birth rate is falling, it is that vegetative growth (difference between births and deaths) gives clear alarm signals. Although the deaths have decreased by 0.8%the Japanese population shrank by 899,845 people last year. Media like Nikkei either The Japan Times In recent hours, they have published analyzes that warn of the gradual aging of the country and (above all) the pressure it puts on its social security system and pensions. There will be something positive, right? More or less. The statistics leave some positive readings or that show possible paths to follow, although with nuances. For example, in 2025 marriages increased slightly compared to the previous year (1.1%) to reach 505,656. The question is whether this rebound is the result of the hangover from the pandemic, when many couples postponed their weddings. Another curious fact is that there are territories that seem to have hit the right demographic key: in Tokyo the births increased by about 1.3% last year, reaching 88,518, and it is estimated that its metropolitan area accounts for almost a third (30%) of all births registered in the country. What is the solution? The big question. The difficult thing is to answer it. Japan has tried with economic and labor incentives, programs for pair…Everything to boost your birth rate, a goal to which you have dedicated millions and millions. It has been of little use to him. There are those who believe that in this scenario a possible salvation is to rethink the national immigration policy. “Refusing to accept an adequate flow of migrants is not only ignoring economic reality, but giving up on our collective future,” pointed recently to The World Akito Tanaka, from the Migrant Solidarity Network. “Policies that are increasingly limiting the entry of foreign workers are exacerbating precisely this problem,” Tanaka insists.who warns that Japan faces “an unprecedented demographic crossroads.” The latest data from the Ministry of Health actually leaves an interesting idea: the 705,809 babies registered in Japan in 2025 not only correspond to births to parents of Japanese origin, but also include foreigners. What is Tokyo’s position? It does not seem very willing to bet on foreigners to revive its population. In fact just yesterday transcended that Japan’s immigration agency has tightened the guidelines that applicants for permanent residence must comply with. In practice the changes make it more difficult meet the requirements to obtain the visa, for which it is key to demonstrate good conduct and financial self-sufficiency, among other conditions. It’s not exactly new. It has been known for months that the government of the conservative Sanae Takaichi was planning double the time minimum stay that foreigners must remain in Japan to qualify for citizenship. Can it change? In the midst of an avalanche of international tourism (which has generated multiple tensions between foreign visitors and the native population) the presence of foreigners has become a relevant issue in Japanese politics. In fact, after taking the reins of the Government, Takaichi did not take long to promote an immigration policy that revolves around regulations with an eloquent name: “Law for a society of orderly coexistence with foreigners.” His last results at the polls They show that their position does not upset the electorate. Image | Andrew Leu (Unsplash) In Xataka | If Korea believes it is experiencing a demographic crisis, it is because it does not … Read more

Yes, the DGT has limited the maximum speed to 80 km/h and has prohibited overtaking. And there’s a good reason for that: wind.

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In Spain the weather is bad. I don’t know if you had noticed but we have had rain, snow and very strong winds for a month and a half. Meteorological events that are impacting all types of sectors. Also that of mobility, where closed roads, incidents on the road and restrictions are being the general trend. If you go to your favorite social network and read that the DGT has limited the speed to 80 km/h, don’t panic. It’s normal. At 80 km/h maximum. And overtaking prohibited by order of the DGT. It is a headline that has been repeated in the last two days and has spread across social networks. Headlines that hid an essential word to understand the information: temporal. Meteorological storm, because the restrictions are due to the clash of storms that we have chained for days and weeks in the Iberian Peninsula. And temporary because the restrictions are not definitive, they are simply used to maintain safety on the road. The restrictions. One of the provinces that found the most restrictions of this type during the past weekend was Castellón. The region has had to live with an orange alert for wind and the DGT decided that the maximum speed at which one could drive on Saturday was 80 km/h on three roads in the province, where overtaking was also prohibited. The trucks They were also not allowed to circulate on the AP-7. Yesterday, Sunday, normality was recovered. These restrictions have obviously been temporary. And, effectively, the DGT can apply temporary restrictions on speed or overtaking for meteorological reasons, just as can close a road to traffic due to snow or it can be restricted to those who They drive with chains or winter tires. For security. The wind is a danger on the road and overtaking is critical when there are very high wind gusts. In particular, some are very dangerous: Screen effect: when you drive through a tunnel or infrastructure that cuts off the side wind and it disappears. At that moment, a gust of wind can move the car to one side of the road and If we are caught off guard the movement will be sharper. Overtaking: something very similar happens when we overtake a large truck or van. In this case, if we are fighting a crosswind, passing a vehicle will automatically cut off the force we receive. You have to be careful because normally we have been moving the steering wheel to the right slightly to counteract the force of the wind. By overtaking the truck, that resistance disappears and we can go against the vehicle on our right, adding that the truck or van fights not to go to the left, which can end in contact. Furthermore, when overtaking, we will again feel the screen effect described above, so we must be careful and remain attentive. Trailers: Both situations are especially dangerous if we drive a vehicle with a trailer since, in that case, the car does not receive the same forces as its rear part and, in an extreme case, movement angles that are difficult to manage can arise. What does the DGT recommend? The first thing we must do is adapt our speed to the traffic circumstances. The DGT has the power to reduce the speed of the road to 80 km/h and prohibit overtaking, but the logical and essential thing is to apply common sense and take your foot off the accelerator. Taking this into account, we must remain very attentive to resolve any gusts of wind. If this happens, you have to act gently, calmly. The DGT also recommends circulate in high gears (one lower than usual) to have a greater response from the engine if we need to get out of trouble. And remember that the more voluminous and taller a vehicle is, the more risk it has of overturning, the more complex it will be to control it and the more care we must take when overtaking it. Photo | Theo Lonic and DGT In Xataka | Everything I learned the day I was surprised by the snow: tips for driving on ice when the situation gets complicated

Something dark keeps growing in the Greenland ice. And it’s melting the frozen mass at an unexpected speed

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Greenland was for centuries synonymous with immobility, a territory that seemed oblivious to the passage of time, protected by an ice sheet so vast that even polar explorers could see it. like something eternal. From the first Inuit settlements to the European expeditions of the 19th century, the island was more a symbol of resistance than change, a place where the landscape imposed its own rules. Precisely for that reason, any alteration On its surface today it has a historical weight that goes far beyond what appears at first glance. A dark spot on the ice. Something seemingly insignificant is growing on the immense Greenland ice sheet, but with a disproportionate effect: microscopic algae that dye the snow green, red or grayish brown and reduce its ability to reflect solar radiation. In a warming Arctic up to four times more faster than the rest of the planet, this so-called “dark zone” accelerates the loss of hundreds of billions of tons of ice each year, directly contributing to sea level rise and adding a new layer of complexity to an already destabilized climate system. Dust, nutrients and a cycle. counted the new york times last week that much of the latest research shows that the wind blows phosphorus-rich dust from the rocky fringes discovered on the margins of Greenland into the ice, fueling algal blooms. Here’s the crux of it all, because as the ice melts, also releases trapped nutrients for decades or centuries in its deep layers, creating a kind of vicious cycle: one where more melting releases more food, algae proliferate, the ice darkens and melts even faster. This mechanism, time and time again, turns warming into a self-accelerating process that is difficult to stop once it has started. The measurable impact of a microscopic phenomenon. In southwest Greenland, one of the fastest melting regions, algae already explain about 13% of runoff water generated by summer thaw. In fact, studies published in journals such as Environmental Science and Technology and Nature Communications have shown that even minute amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen, released from the ice or transported through the air, are enough to sustain these biological communities, suggesting that the phenomenon could extend to areas much wider of the cap. A climate problem. Plus: ice darkening does not occur in a political or economic vacuum. The retreat of sea ice around Greenland is opening new sea routes and facilitating access to mineral, oil and gas resources, increasing the strategic interest for the region. Any additional industrial activity could release, for example, soot and particles that further aggravate the darkening of the ice, accelerating a process that, in the worst case scenario, could contribute to a global rise in sea level of up to seven meters if the ice sheet completely disappeared. What is known… and what is not yet. The scientists match in which algae are not the cause of global warming, but rather a consequence which amplifies its effects, while underlining that the root of the problem continues to be the burning of fossil fuels on the planet. However, it is still unknown precisely to what extent this “dark spot” can expand and how to integrate your impact in sea level rise models. Meanwhile, Greenland seems to offer us a most ominous warning (another one): that even the smallest changes, those invisible to the naked eye, can tip the balance of one of the largest and most fragile systems on the planet. Image | Jenine McCutcheon/University of Waterloo In Xataka | Why we find 50,000 meteorites in Antarctica if they fall the same all over the planet: ice has the answer In Xataka | Antarctica launches its “Doomsday Vault”: a sanctuary at -50 °C to save the memory of the glaciers

charge double for more speed

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Anthropic just launched Fast Mode for Claude Opus 4.6a configuration that allows you to obtain model responses up to 2.5 times faster. Of course, it will also affect our pocket, since the price also multiplies. Although right now this is an experiment aimed at professionals who need speed in critical tasks, it is also a move that we are starting to see more and more: monetizing AI tools with incremental improvements with what is already in place. And of course, if this reduces that margin between expenses and income of its operations, better and better. What Anthropic has announced. Fast Mode is neither a new model nor a trimmed version of Opus 4.6. It is the same intelligence, with the same reasoning capacity, but configured to prioritize speed of response over cost efficiency. According to the companyoffers 2.5 times faster responses while maintaining the same model accuracy. At the moment it is available in the testing phase for Claude Code users who have the additional use activated, and also on platforms such as Cursor, GitHub CopilotFigma or v0. The hit to the pocket. While Opus 4.6’s Standard Mode charges $15 per million input tokens and $75 per million output tokens, Fast Mode multiplies those fees: $30 input and $150 output for contexts under 200,000 tokens. In longer contexts, the output rises to $225 per million tokens. Anthropic is offering a 50% discount until February 16, but we’re still talking about a significant increase. The bill especially skyrockets if you activate Quick Mode mid-conversation, as it charges full price for all the previous context. Who does it make sense to? Anthropic says that Fast Mode is designed for interactive work where latency matters more than cost. Real-time debugging, fast code iteration, urgent fixes before a deadline. Situations where waiting breaks the workflow. According to the official documentationit doesn’t make sense for long standalone tasks, batch processing, or jobs where the budget is tight. If Claude is going to spend 30 minutes refactoring code in the background, paying more for speed doesn’t add anything. The signal that sends the market. Fast Mode is not just a premium option. It’s Anthropic testing how far its professional clients are willing to go to achieve fluency. And by the way, sending a message: improvements in speed and user experience are going to cost more and more. The company needs to close the gap between what it spends on computing and what it makes, and it’s doing it faster than its customer base needs to be faster on computing. Fast Mode is billed directly as additional usage, completely skipping the fees included in subscription plans. Between the lines. Anthropic’s move fits into a broader trend. AI models are reaching a level of capability where “revolutionary” improvements are increasingly rare. What remains are incremental adjustments: a little faster, a little more context, slightly more precise responses. But those settings require massive infrastructure and face. So companies in the sector are trying new ways to monetize what they already have. In this case, charge much more to do the same thing, only faster. It is making performance profitable as a premium service. The speed trap. “Speed ​​is addictive”, counted Civil Learning in his Medium article. Once you experience a model that responds instantly without losing reasoning ability, going back is frustrating. Anthropic knows this. Fast Mode doesn’t just sell speed, it sells the ability to maintain flow during intense programming or debugging sessions. And once you get used to it, it’s hard to give it up. And now what. Fast Mode is a research preview, meaning both features and pricing are subject to change. Anthropic plans to expand access to more API clients, but for now it keeps it under control. The key will be to see how many professionals are willing to pay that extra price on a sustained basis. Cover image | Anthropic In Xataka | ChatGPT is increasingly turning to a source that supplants Wikipedia: Elon Musk’s Grokipedia

What are they and how do they affect the maximum speed on highways and highways?

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Let’s explain to you what are dynamic speed limits on highways and highways. Because no, the speed limits are not going to change forever nor are we going to say goodbye to 120 km/h, but in some sections the maximum at which you can drive will depend on each moment. Therefore, taking into account everything that is being said and exaggerated, we are going to try to explain to you how this type of speed limits works. Just remember that At the moment they have only been implemented in some sections of specific roads, not on all highways and expressways. What are dynamic speed limits? Highways and expressways have a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour. But when a section of road tends to have a lot of traffic or complications on a regular basis, or simply when the weather and visibility are poor, then these static limits can even become dangerous, because people tend to go faster than they should. For these cases, the DGT is beginning to implement a technology that has already been satisfactorily tested in countries such as Germany or France, managing to reduce accidents in high traffic areas. It is about the dynamic speed limitswhich will vary depending on the conditions at any given time. This technology uses artificial intelligence to record and process traffic or weather data in real time, and will take into account visibility, peak times, times and incidents that occur. With all this, The speed limit will be adjusted automatically taking into account the situation at all times. In the sections where it is implemented, the speed limit will be displayed on the illuminated panels on the roads. Thus, if the conditions are not bad, this system will at specific times reduce the speed limit from 120 km/h to 100, 90 or even 80 km/h. For example, if it is very foggy this morning, perhaps the limit is 120 to 80 km/h to avoid accidents. That limit to which it is lowered will be the legal one at the moment in which it is posted, so speeding will have fines which can range between 100 and 600 euros and between 2 and 6 license points. Come on, it doesn’t matter if you’re on a stretch of highway, if it says the limit is 80 right now, that’s how it is. For now, These dynamic limits have only been applied to one trackwhich is the AP-7, in one of its sections in Catalonia. Taking into account that it is a system that works satisfactorily in other European countries, if the bet goes well in this area, it would not be ruled out that it be implemented in others. Cover image | Jorge Franganillo In Xataka Basics | DGT express fines: what they are and how this new system works to notify violations in 48 hours

We already know which country had the highest internet speed in the world in 2025: Spain

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How has the internet changed in 2025? It’s too broad a question, but if there’s anyone trying to answer it, it’s Cloudflare. The company has published an extensive summary of the most important thing this year and among the numerous conclusions there is one that has surprised us: Spain is the country with the fastest internet connection in the world. Spain at full speed. in the studio stands out that Europe was the clear leader in terms of the best internet connection speeds. Here Spain was also the protagonist, because it was the country with the highest download speed in 2025, with 318 Mbps on average (25 Mbps more than in 2024). It was also the best in terms of upload speed, with 206 Mbps (13 more than in 2024). A possible person responsible. Cloudflare indicates that the reason why Spain leads this unique ranking is probably in the program UNICO-Broadband (Universalization of Digital Infrastructures for Cohesion). This initiative has been going for years and the current goal was to achieve an infrastructure capable of providing services at symmetrical speeds of at least 300 Gbps, scalable to 1 Gbps, and achieving 100% coverage in 2025. Achieving everything is almost impossible —Hello, rural Spain— but that effort certainly seems to be paying off. Spain also more than meets the metric of latency under load: even on intense connections, response times are very good. We also enjoy excellent latency. Data download and upload speeds are important, but so is the latency of the connections: the lower it is, the more fluid the communication is, especially in video conferencing, gaming and streaming applications. Here Iceland takes the cake with only 13 ms, but Spain is still among the best with 19 ms. Things are even better in the so-called latency under load, which measures how long it takes a signal to go and return (the ping) when the internet connection is under intense load (playing online, watching 4K videos). In that metric, much more realistic than “resting” latency, Spain is in third place with 89 ms, a truly remarkable figure. Years as leaders. These results may surprise, but in reality Spain already led these rankings in past editions of Cloudflare’s annual summary. It happened in 2024and also in 2023which is undoubtedly great data that shows that despite the problems that may arise, most users have access to an enviable infrastructure. More traffic than ever. Global internet traffic grew by 19% in 2025, and the person most responsible for that traffic was the Googlebot that searches the internet to index it and make it easier for us to find all types of data in the Google search engine. Although crawlers from AI companies are gaining ground, they are still a long way from Google’s activity, and with good reason: all types of websites want to be “crawlable” in order to be “findable.” The same does not happen with AI. The higher the ratio, the less traffic these chatbots send to content websites. Anthropic is the worst here, and Google, of course, the best by far. What happens to AI in 2025. There are many metrics related to AI this year. For example, Anthropic is the platform that sends the least traffic to content websites (ahead are OpenAI and especially Perplexity). This also causes platform crawling bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) to be “blocked” in the robots.txt files of many websites to prevent them from collecting data without permission to train their models. Google continues to reign. The list of most popular internet services Not much has changed around the world: Google leads that ranking, and is followed by Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Instagram. It’s probably more interesting to see what data Cloudflare is reporting on the most popular generative AI services. There the winner is not a surprise (ChatGPT), but the order of the rest of the contenders is striking, because they are then followed by Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Character.ai. Grok is in ninth place and DeepSeek in tenth, for example. That list will surely be very different in 2026. Image | Sasha Pleshco | Stephen Phillips In Xataka |

The drone war in Ukraine is advancing at the speed of light: what was useful two weeks ago is a death trap today

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Since the first months of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has converted the use of drones in one of the central pillars of its defense, and has done so to the point of transforming a conventional conflict into a permanent laboratory unmanned combat. In this environment of constant adaptation, drones have not only redefined the way we fight on the front, but have imposed an unprecedented pace of technological change that forces armies, industries and training centers to update almost in real time to avoid becoming obsolete. Classrooms at war. The Ukrainian drone schools have become one of the most extreme laboratories of military learning in the world, forced to rewrite their training programs at a dizzying pace that in some cases reaches the two weeks. In a conflict where drones have become the main instrument of attack, reconnaissance and attrition, the distance between an obsolete lesson and a lethal decision can be measured in days. For these centers, adapting is not an academic question, but rather a direct line between survival and death on the front, in an environment where technology, countermeasures and tactics change constantly and rapidly. In Xataka We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new: drones are disguising themselves as Russian soldiers, and it is working Synergy. To stay relevant, instructors are not limited to manuals or simulators. They regularly visit the battle lines, maintain permanent contact with alumni deployed and testing new technologies before incorporating them into their courses. In schools like Dronarium, with offices in kyiv and Lviv, its R&D manager, the veteran known as “Ruda”, explains that technological evolution on the front is so rapid that it requires almost immediate adaptability. There is no two equal classes: Each lesson incorporates small adjustments resulting from what happened days before in real combat. More than 16,000 students have passed through this center, and their experiences are directly integrated into the curriculum, turning training into a living system that feeds back on the war. Two-way learning. One of the pillars of this model is communication direct and permanent with the combatants. Messaging groups connect deployed instructors and operators, allowing soldiers to share new enemy tactics, technical problems or improvised solutions, while receiving advice in near real time from the rear. In centers like Karlsson, Karas & Associates or Kruk Drones, this relationship does not end at the end of the course: it is maintained throughout the operator’s operational life. The instruction is clear: nothing is taught that is not strictly necessary in combat, and what is no longer useful is unceremoniously discarded, no matter how recent it may be. A war that reinvents itself. The central weight of drones on the battlefield explains this urgency. The majority of frontline impacts and casualties already depend on unmanned systems, requiring continuous modification of both platforms and employment tactics. New models appear, others are neutralized by countermeasures, and the rules of the game are constantly rewritten. This speed has set off alarm bells in the West: military officials such as British Minister Luke Pollard warn that NATO forces run the risk of becoming obsolete, trapped in acquisition cycles that last years in the face of a war that repeats every two or three weeks. {“videoId”:”x8j6422″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Declassified video of the clash between Russian fighters and the American drone”, “tag”:”united states”, “duration”:”42″} The industry learns from Ukraine. The schools they are not alone in this race. Defense companies that observe the conflict have begun to copy this model of direct interaction with the front, shortening your cycles developmental. Manufacturers of anti-drone systems and UAV platforms visit the battlefield, chat with operators and fine-tune designs in a matter of weeks, not years. Some executives recognize that the ways in which Ukrainians use technology have surprised them, forcing them to rethink basic assumptions. At the same time, the soldiers themselves benefit from this exchange, providing constant feedback and receiving improvements, spare parts and solutions adapted to their real needs. In Genbeta According to psychology, those who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s developed mental strengths that are being lost today Schools under fire. There is no doubt, this permanent adaptation has a cost. Drone schools are not only competing against the technological clock, they are operating under the direct threat from Russian attacks and with limited financial resources, often depending on donations to continue functioning. In this context, their fight is not only to stay updated, but to survive. Even so, their role has become central in modern warfare: they are the link that connects innovation, industry and real combat, and the best example of how Ukraine has turned the urgency of conflict into a flexible and brutally efficient national military learning system. Image | Heute, RawPixel In Xataka | The new episode of terror in Ukraine does not involve missiles or drones: it involves leaving a city without cell phones In Xataka | Europe faces a question it can no longer avoid: how to respond to a war that is rarely declared (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news The drone war in Ukraine is advancing at the speed of light: what was useful two weeks ago is a death trap today was originally published in Xataka by Miguel Jorge .

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