started

I have tried all the browsers with AI on the market and the one that works best is the one that started the worst: Dia

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I started using Arc in the summer of 2024. I was slow to get into it (I had tried it before and found it too capricious, too determined to teach me how to sail when I already knew) but when I arrived, I really arrived. Vertical tabs. The spaces. The way he organized the digital day without me having to think about it too much. Arc to me was not just a browser: it was a work environment. And then The Browser Company Dia announced. I remember it with some annoyance. Josh Miller, the company’s CEO, uploaded a video talking about “something new,” and Arc was in “minimal maintenance,” a euphemism for not saying the word “abandonment.” The Arc community complained, rightly so, and I joined the discontent. They had built something great and threw it overboard at the first opportunity to pursue the AI ​​chimera. Still, I tried Dia as soon as I could and wrote about it: You opened Dia and saw Chrome. Chrome with better typography, Chrome with more careful animations, but Chrome nonetheless. No split tabs, no gaps, no anything that had made Arc great. Just a chatbot in the sidebar. I closed it and went back to Arc, which continued to work despite the abandonment warnings, until I started trying other AI-based browsers. Months passed and Dia was updated, week by week, with a striking cadence. And at some point I started to notice something: the things I missed were coming backsometimes even improved. First the vertical tabs, which Arc had popularized and which Chrome has just announced that it will also adopt, something that says a lot about who sets the pace in browser design. Then the groups of eyelashes, with that aesthetic care that has always been a trademark of the house and now goes further than before. Other browsers already have this feature, but “not like this.” Recently, the split viewwhich I have been using for years in Arc and which is one of those functions that, once you have it, you don’t understand how you navigated without it: Simultaneous view of several tabs in a single window. Split tab view to display multiple tabs in a single window. Image: Xataka. Tab groups have even partly replaced my use of favorites. You can create them by hand or see how they are automatically grouped and renamed when you open multiple tabs from the same place. Its design and user experience are fantastic. Image: Xataka. The set favorites are still there. Tabs in the sidebar also ended up coming to Dia. And between both blocks, the groups of tabs. Image: Xataka. There is a pattern in The Browser Company that you should have already learned with Arc: they release something that seems incomplete, almost “psché”, and then they improve it until you can’t put it down anymore. It took me two tries to fall in love with Arc. Something similar has happened with Dia, only the process has been longer and the reconciliation more gradual. And that boss now has to live with a new owner, because since September This company was bought by Atlassianwhich wants to make Dia the reference for working with AI. Nothing has changed at the moment on a day-to-day basis (pun intended) of the browser. What Dia has done smartly (and differently than Arc) is start almost from scratch and give up all the weirdness. Arc asked you to adapt to it, to learn its logic, to assume its curve. And Dia does exactly the opposite: she is very Chromiumvery familiar, very little foreign to anyone coming from Chrome and not as rigid as Arc. That takes a toll: some of Arc’s more radical ideas have been lost in the transition, but it also means it doesn’t create as much friction for the average user. You open Dia and browse. There is no twenty-minute tutorial on how to think about tabs, which is something that penalized the growth of Arc: those of us who used it loved it, but many people left when they saw that they did not understand the proposal. The weight is what catches my attention the most on the negative side: it’s around gigabyte, which is an outrage for a browser. And there is no mobile version yet. That hurts more, because it means the experience is split between devices, and the consistency Arc was trying to offer across platforms doesn’t yet exist on Dia. I hope they don’t take long. In theory it will arrive this year. Regarding AI, it is not what I use the most. Of course I use Claude or Gemini, I mean Dia’s chatbot sidebar. It’s not something I used on Dia nor have I used much on Neon, Atlas or Comet, the other three that I’ve tested in some depth. The chat in the sidebar is a good complement, I can ask it something about the tab I have open, ask it to summarize several at once, respond with context of what I am reading; but it is not the focus of my browsing experience. All three browsers conveyed at their launch that AI would change everything, and reality is more modest– It’s useful, sometimes very useful, but it doesn’t transform your workflow in the same way that a good tab design does. At least in my experience. I have tested more browsers that leverage AI for their value proposition. And they all have their strong points: Comet It is very fast and efficient searching for information in real time. Atlas is very capable when you need to systematically extract data from multiple pages, but none have the level of care in the experience that Dia has. Opera Neon is a browser built from the ground up for the AI ​​era, with much more than a well-placed chatbot. But it’s not just that they work. Dia feels good. There is something in the design, in the animations, in how the groups of tabs are constructed, that remains … Read more

Magnetic maps had been marking something strange under Antarctica for centuries. So we’ve started drilling to find it

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For years, magnetic maps of East Antarctica have shown something strange about the region from Princess Elizabeth Land: a large amplitude linear magnetic anomaly under kilometers of ice that runs along the coast parallel to the margin of the continent. It was something that satellites and planes could detect, but no one knew exactly what rock was producing it until now. Discovering it. If the problem is that this anomaly was under a large amount of ice, a team of researchers within the framework of a Russian-Chinese cooperation He has done the most logical thing to find what was happening: start drilling. What they have found after putting a large drill to work is not only a magnetic rock that gave that peculiar pattern, but it is the geological “scar” of an ancient island arc that collided with the continent almost 1,000 years ago, when the supercontinent was forming. Rodinia. A challenge. The study that includes this discovery focuses mainly on the Rayner tectonic province, an area that is geologically critical because it is considered a “mobile belt.” That is, it is a collision zone where ancient blocks of crust were crushed against each other. The problem with Antarctic geology is that almost everything they are interested in is buried, and in this case the team had to cross 541 meters of ice to be able to reach the rock that interested them. What did they find? What they took from the bottom of Antarctica was not common granite as can occur in other areas, but rather the core recovered is a mafic granulite. Something that is very important, since granulites are metamorphic rocks that have suffered infernal temperatures and pressures. After power analyze this rock So interesting, it was seen that this was what was causing the linear anomalies seen from space. And as we say, it is not a very normal stone, since it is rich in ferromagnetic minerals, capable of altering the magnetic field locally. Investigating Rodinia. Once with the sample in hand, the team applied geochemistry techniques and dating to be able to counterbalance these data with everything that was known in previous research. What was seen is that there was a great violent history behind it, since it was known that the rock was originally born as magma about 970 million years ago. From its birth, that rock was pushed into the depths and “cooked.” The data indicate that it was subjected to temperatures between 650 and 790 ºC and pressures equivalent to depths of 15 to 18 kilometers. In this way, the researchers’ conclusion is that this rock was part of a volcanic arc of islands like those of Japan. But the most interesting thing is that this arc was not originally in Antarctica, but was forcibly “stuck” against the ancient continent during a massive collision that gave rise to the formation of Rodinia. The Indian connection. To understand the magnitude of the find, you have to look beyond Antarctica, as geologists have long suspected that the Rayner Province in Antarctica and the Eastern Ghats Province in India They are twins separated at birth. And the new data reinforces this theory, since the conditions of “high temperature” metamorphism found in this drilling are almost identical to those documented in India. This leads us to conclude that 900 million years ago, the east coast of India and this part of Antarctica were joined, forming a huge mountain range created by the collision of tectonic plates. Images | 66 north In Xataka | In the United States there is an incredible river that does what seems impossible: defy the laws of gravity

Spain has started its most ambitious defense program. It is not a tank or a drone, it is the brain to control Europe’s troops

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Spain built its land defense looking outward, integrating into foreign programs and adapting doctrines from when the tank symbolized power, deterrence and industrial sovereignty. From joining NATO in 1982 to the missions in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army was accumulating operational experience, but always with one constant: the key technology came from outside. Today, the debate no longer revolves around how many vehicles you have, but rather What role do you want to play? now that the war changes again. From cannon to code. The Ukrainian experience has finished burying the idea of ​​the battle tank as an isolated and self-sufficient platform, pushing Spain to rethink its land doctrine from the roots. Instead of investing in more armor and weight, the Ministry of Defense has opted for a conceptual leap: prioritizing information, connectivity and speed of decision as key factors of survival in a “transparent” battlefield, saturated with sensors, drones and smart munitions. In that context PAMOV is bornnot as a new tank or a combat drone, but as the nervous system that must govern all those that come after. PAMOV, the brain. The Superior Ground Combat System program, awarded to Indraseeks to define the digital architecture of the future Spanish armored combat beyond 2040. We are talking about an initial investment around the 45 million euros and a strong R&D component, one whose objective is not yet to manufacture platforms, but design and mature subsystems that will allow the integration of manned and unmanned vehicles, sensors, weapons and command and control into a single cooperative tactical network. The tank, therefore, stops being the physical center of combat and becomes just another node within a distributed “system of systems.” INDRA The tactical cloud. One of the pillars of PAMOV is the creation of a combat tactical cloud capable of fusing in real time information from on-board sensors, aerial and ground drones and external sources. As? Through artificial intelligencethe system detects, classifies and prioritizes threats, reducing crew cognitive overload and accelerating decision-making in high-pressure environments. The 360 degree visionsupported by AI and augmented reality, allows you to “see through” the armor and regain freedom of maneuver against the proliferation of drones and loitering munitions. Less tons, more platforms. Plus: the lessons of Ukraine have highlighted the limits of the continued growth in weight of battle tanks, some already close to 80 tons, with enormous logistics costs and restrictions of mobility. In this sense, Indra’s approach is committed to distribute capabilities between multiple lighter platforms, many of them unmanned, that operate in tandem with the main tank. Here are names that are common today in the Ukrainian war, such as UGVs and UASwho would advance ahead “taking on the most exposed missions and acting as extenders of ISTAR capability“, in addition to (obviously) reducing human risks. Modularity and weapons of tomorrow. The PAMOV is conceived as an open architecturemodular and scalable, one capable of being integrated into different present and future vehicles. This allows on paper to progressively incorporate new technologies, from advanced active protection systems to directed energy weapons and, in more distant phases, even future hypersonic systems without having to redesign the entire platform. Hence, it is emphasized that the key is not in the specific weapon, but in the system being able to govern, coordinate and exploit it within the tactical network at the right time. Technological sovereignty. The concept is going to be repeated more and more in the old continent. In the case of Spain, with a 95% of national developments and the participation of SMEs, startups, universities and technology centers spread across several autonomous communities, PAMOV is presented as a strategic commitment for the country. As we remembered yesterday, the nation seeks to stop being just a simple buyer or late integrator to become technology provider criticism in European programs like MARS and, in the long term, the MGCSseeking to be on par with France and Germany. The final objective is that the Spanish contribution to the European car of the future is not only steel, but intelligence that governs it. Another way to fight. Finally, and if you will, beyond technology, the impact of PAMOV points above all to doctrinal. For the Army it means moving from individual platforms to cooperative networkschange the way we command, train and operate, and prepare for high-intensity scenarios with fewer personnel and greater dependence on software. From that perspective, the future Spanish battle tank will not be defined by its caliber or its weight, but by its capacity. to connect systemsdominate the information and decide faster than the opponent. Image | Rheinmetall Defense, Oscar in the middleIndra In Xataka | Spain has been a weapons exporting power for decades. Now he has made a decision: keep them In Xataka | Ukraine has found what it needed in an unexpected ally. Spain had the missing piece against the shahed drones

Productivity had become an obsession. Until leisure has started to give better results at work

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The constant pressure to perform to the maximum has marked work life for a long time, leaving rest almost forgotten. A recent study shows how reserving well-planned leisure time changes the perception of daily routines and contributes to improved performance at work. Experts have verified that organize free time actively through crafts or other forms of abstraction brings improvements to creativity and motivation in your work tasks. This finding questions the belief that only by working non-stop can we achieve good work results. Let the brain create things. A group of researchers from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands investigated on the effects of creative craft-based entertainment during employees’ leisure time. The result of the experiment was not an improvement in the morale and motivation of the employees who participated in the study, but rather it contributed to these employees offering a more creative response in solving the problems that arose at work. Improvements in daily work life. The workers who participated in the study felt that, by exercising new manual skills, they better appreciated the processes of their crafts, making them gain value. The curious thing is that the change was bigger in the workplace than in his personal life, even though it was his leisure time. “We were surprised to see that crafts had a greater impact at work than in personal life. We expected similar benefits in both areas,” explains Professor George Michaelides, from UEA Norwich Business School. Curiously, the group that noticed this improvement the most was the one formed by the most senior employeesthose over 61 years of age. The explanation for this phenomenon is found in cognitive aptitude, a brain condition that is activated during learning processes. Gymnastics for the brain. Just as they collect the studies of Professors Gilkey and Kilts, of the schools of medicine and business at Emory University, carry out various creative activities that require a motor and cognitive combinationlike playing the guitar, juggling or learning a new language, helps expand the neural system and makes it more communicative. That is, the development of new skills through crafts was improving the “physical fitness” of the employees’ cognitive system, and the results were more visible in those more prone to cognitive decline and memory deterioration due to age. Keep “fit“Cognitive aptitude improves performance in decision making and problem solving, as well as in the generation of new ideas. The capacity for abstraction. One of the keys to the use of crafts or pleasurable leisure activities is that they act as a natural stress reducer and depressive symptoms. “Hobbies are already known to be good for well-being. But our study shows that hobbies not only make you happier, they can also help you feel more fulfilled and creative at work. This goes beyond simply relaxing or having fun (like watching Netflix non-stop) and turns hobbies into something that helps people grow,” says Dr. Paraskevas Petrou, the lead author of the study. Beyond the cognitive improvement derived from the development of the neural system, a study from Cardiff University found that the use of crafts or repetitive activities, how to knitinduces the brain into a state of full attention that increases abstract thinking activity by up to 25%, which contributes to the generation of new ideas and improves problem solving. In Xataka | Feeling overwhelmed at work is normal, but it is not ideal: six techniques to avoid it and be much more productive Image | Unsplash (Elena Mozhvilo)

Japan has a problem with bear attacks in its cities. So they have started eating them

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If it is true that every crisis hides an opportunity, in Japan they have taken it to a new dimension. For some time now, the country of the rising sun has been dealing with a serious problem of bear attacks on humans, which has left more than a dozen victims since last spring. The authorities have been searching for some time the way to solve itbut there are those who have already found a way to benefit from it: the psychosis due to encounters with plantigrades is coming accompanied by what seems to be a growing interest in their meat. In Japan the (gastronomic) taste for these animals it’s not newbut there are hoteliers who they assure that demand is growing so much that they are unable to satisfy it. And they are clear about the reason: the news about attacks. Beware of the bears. Japan has long grappled with a serious problem birth rate, a trend that comes accompanied by the abandonment of rural areas and farmlands. That’s nothing new. Nor anything that Spain (and many other countries) has experienced firsthand. What is curious is the effect that this population decline is causing, combined with other factors, such as climate change, fluctuations in harvests and the increase in the populations of certain wild animals: an ‘epidemic’ of human bear attacks. One figure: 13 dead. With more bears prowling through the mountains, when acorns are scarce, the animals choose to approach towns and cities… with the risk that this implies. Sometimes his encounters with humans remain just that, scares, like what happened in october when a 1.4 m specimen sneaked into a supermarket in Numata. Other times the outcome is more tragic. According to the Government, between April and November 13 people died by claws and bites from these animals. To them are added 230 injured. It is the worst balance since the country began studying the phenomenon in 2006. Is the problem that serious? Yes. The figures are eloquent. And not only those of attacks, injuries and deaths. The japanese press (even the international) has been echoing the increase in sightings of bears, the increase in captured specimens and the problem that these animals are beginning to represent, which has led companies to look for ways to protect their employees and administrations to consider strategies to address the problem. Proof of how desperate the Government is is that it has approved emergency hunts and even has turned to the army. 13 deaths may not be a high number in a country of almost 123 million of inhabitants, but it is high enough to set off alarms, especially in certain regions. There are basically two species in the country: Asian black bears and brown bears, which can be found in Hokkaido and whose population has skyrocketed in the last three decades, reaching 11,500 individuals. according to The Japan Times. A delicious threat. All of the above was more or less known. In recent weeks local media such as The Mainichi, The Asashi Shimbun, NHK World Japan However, they have published articles that suggest something else: that in the midst of a wave of attacks, the Japanese seem to be rediscovering the pleasure of a good slice of grilled bear. a few days ago The Japan Times He even spoke with the owners of a restaurant located in a mountainous area of ​​Saitama who say they are having difficulty meeting the growing demand for meat. “With the increase in news about bears, the number of customers who want to eat their meat has increased,” explains to the newspaper the head of the business, Koji Suzuki. His wife confirms that they have even been forced to turn away clients. Another Sapporo restaurant presume also of the success of their “bear soup” and in Aomori there is a population that is promoting wild bear meat as a local gastronomic specialty. Those who promote the use of bear meat from the sector claim that it is a local and they insist in the usefulness of using the meat of slaughtered animals. Is it something new? Yes. And no. As Suzuki and Katsushiko Kakuta, a restaurant manager in Aomori, explain, bear meat seems to be arousing special interest among the Japanese, but for them it is not a new product. Does five years in Nishimeya (Aomori) they even opened a center to process meat from wild bears captured in the Shirakami-Sanchi mountains. And in 2023 in Akita they installed neither more nor less than a vending machine which sells 250 g of fresh meat from bears caught by hunters in the region for 2,200 yen. “Most say it’s delicious”. Kiyoshi Fujimoto, Sapporo chef, confesses that, in your opinion“now there are more people” interested in his bear meat-based recipe. What’s more, he assures that “most people who try it say it’s delicious.” The truth is that in Japan not only attacks and victims have increased. The captures of animals have also done so, which has forced the authorities to face the challenge of what to do with their corpses. Chosun remember that, although there are restaurants in the country that serve their meat, the law is restrictive on the consumption of slaughtered bears, so many end up incinerated. Images |Lucas Law (Unsplash), Adam Kolmacka (Unsplash) and Suzi Kim (Unsplash) In Xataka | A Japanese restaurant has taken its obsession with fresh fish to the extreme: it lets you catch it yourself

The US has just started live-fire exercises with its nuclear aircraft carrier. And it has done so in the waters claimed by China

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Since the end of the Cold War, the naval presence has been one of the pillars of the United States’ strategic balance in the Asia-Pacific, an architecture designed to guarantee open trade routes and deter unilateral changes to the status quo. However, the rise of Beijing as a maritime power and the transformation of the South China Sea into one of the most disputed spaces of the planet have turned each naval movement into something more than a simple military routine, loading it with readings of all kinds. That’s why Washington’s latest move is so important. A deployment with high strategic value. The deployment of the nuclear supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln At the end of November it occurred with a almost total discretionwithout official statements from the Pentagon or public indications about its area of ​​operations, a common practice when the US Navy wants to preserve freedom of strategic maneuver. This silence coincided with a moment loaded with internal symbolism, as Abraham Lincoln took over from USS Nimitzthe dean of the fleet, who returned to the United States after completing his last operational mission before beginning a long process of retirement and recycling. The handover is not a simple exchange of platforms, but rather a visualization of how Washington maintains its global presence seamlessly while orderly renewing the core of its naval power. Guam as a logistics anchor. It we have counted before. The battle group’s stopover in Guam reinforced the island’s role as one of the less visible pillars, but more decisive of US military architecture in the Indo-Pacific. Guam works like an advanced node from which prolonged operations are sustained, large units are resupplied and forces deployed thousands of kilometers from the continental territory are coordinated. That Abraham Lincoln was the second aircraft carrier to visit the island in a few weeks stressed the importance of this enclave at a time when the USS George Washingtonthe only aircraft carrier permanently based in Japan, remains out of commission for maintenance, demonstrating that asset rotation does not imply a real reduction in presence, but rather a carefully calculated redeployment. The “routine” in the South China Sea. The subsequent entry of the Abraham Lincoln into the South China Sea is part of an American strategy long term based on the normalization of its naval presence in waters that Beijing considers its own. Washington is not looking for a specific gesture or a spectacular demonstration, but for something more subtle and persistent: to operate regularly to prevent absence from consolidating territorial claims through deeds. By presenting these activities as routine, the United States intends reduce capacity of China to define the narrative, keeping open sea lanes that are essential for global trade and regional strategic balance. Demonstration of capabilities without escalation. During its recent activity, the combat group has integrated live fire exercisesresupply operations at sea and flights of the F-35Cthe fifth-generation shipborne fighter, composing a complete picture of its operational capability without resorting to explicit political messages. Added to this are tests of defensive systems like the Phalanx and the escort of Arleigh Burke destroyerscapable of operating in anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and land attack missions. The package conveys a clear signal of preparedness and self-reliance, one based on observable facts rather than public statements, and designed to deter without provoking unnecessary escalation. Strategic persistence against Beijing. With more than four decades of service, a profound mid-life modernization, and a track record that ranges from humanitarian evacuations to high-intensity conflicts, Abraham Lincoln represents the material continuity of American naval strategy. His presence against China It does not respond to a specific crisis or a specific situation, but to a structural logic that defines the Indo-Pacific like a central theater for the United States. In a context of growing competition and transition of the international order, the underlying message is that Washington has no intention of withdrawing or giving up operational space, and that its naval power will continue to be a constant, visible and functional factor in the region for the coming years. Image | US Navy In Xataka | The US has detected a naval advantage over China. The catapult of the Beijing aircraft carriers comes with a “factory” failure In Xataka | The US faced its invincible aircraft carrier with a tiny Swedish submarine. The zasca was anthological for years

the only insect in Antarctica has started eating something it shouldn’t

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We tend to think of Antarctica as the last bastion of naturebeing a desert of ice oblivious to everyday problems from the rest of civilization. But the reality is that that place is not free from problems We live in the warmest (and most populated) areas of the planet. Something that we have proven thanks to a small insect that has survived ice ages and extreme conditions. Microplastics. And this insect has given us the key that it is eating microplasticsthose particles that little by little we give more attention to our environment. But the curious thing, as a study has shown, is that they have managed to penetrate the terrestrial food web of the frozen continent. And the truth is that there is little plastic, since there is little human life. The protagonist. the insect in question analyzed is the Antarctic Belgiuma flightless mosquito (since it lost its wings so that the wind would not drag them) and is considered the largest purely terrestrial animal on the continent. Despite measuring between 2 and 6 millimeters. This is possible thanks to their extraordinary survival capabilities, having the ability to withstand freezing of their body fluids and extreme dehydration. But nature has not prepared it for the consumption of microplastics. The study. The researchers they got analyze its diet thanks to the collection of larvae during an expedition in 2023. When analyzing the samples collected with advanced techniques, it was clearly seen that there were plastic polymer fragments inside the organisms. And although the proportion was low, the laboratory experiments told a different story. And the moment insects are exposed to an environment with microplastics, they ingest them with the same ease with which they eat algae or moss, which is their usual diet. That is, they do not discriminate against them. The impact. In humans we are still trying to find out the effect of microplastics on ourselves, and in mosquitoes it seems that in the short term it does not seem to be lethal. This way, these insects could continue going about their lives as normal, but there could be a subtle effect on the amount of fat reserve. Something that in an environment where every calorie counts to survive the cold, any caloric deficit is a risk. The state of the ecosystem. In this way, the concern is not about the survival of this insect, but rather lies in how the human hand reaches even those areas where we do not have a very strong presence. The arrival of microplastics that coincide with those used in research equipment, tourist clothing and marine waste gives us a wake-up call on how we must reduce our impact on the environment. And this ingestion of microplastics tells us that pollution has become evident in this ecosystem. But there is good news: there is no risk that the presence of these microplastics will begin to ascend the food chain of the different species because there are no predators that eat this insect. The change. However, this discovery definitively breaks the illusion of isolation. From the deepest ocean trenches to larvae on the islands of Antarctica, there is no place left on Earth free from the imprint of our polymers. The Antarctic Belgium has survived millions of years of hostile climate; Now we will have to see how it adapts to the Anthropocene. Images | 66 north FlyD In Xataka | Eight months ago a robot disappeared under the ice of Antarctica. Today we have recovered it and it brings disturbing data

The countries of northern Europe are full of offshore wind. So they’ve started to steal the wind from each other

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The world has thrown itself into the arms of renewables to meet the goals of decarbonization. Each country is developing its strategy And, if in some the photovoltaic takes the lead, in others it is the wind that splits the cod. The problem is the commitments: fill the plate field implies that crops receive less sunlight. And fill the world with wind turbines – apart from visual impact, for fishing and for the birds-, is causing something as curious as it is problematic. Countries that are stealing the wind from their neighbors. Wake effect. When the wind hits the wind turbine bladesthese rotate, generating kinetic energy and electricity. The wind continues its path, but after passing through a wind turbine, it does so with less force. Multiply that by fields full of these mills and we have what is known as the ‘wake effect‘ or ‘wake effect’. This air that has already passed through a wind turbine station does so with a lower speed and greater turbulence. And if this is important, it is because the wind takes time to recover: the wakes can extend more than 100 kilometers after crossing a field of windmills. wind thieves. These facilities are usually far from each other to better take advantage of the currents, but if under certain circumstances they extend tens of kilometers, and up to the aforementioned hundred, imagine the consequences for the wind turbines that remain behind that installation that receives the first “hit” of wind. It is not an assumption: there is measurements by SAR satellite that confirm that, if a wind farm is built upwind of another, the wind speed it receives is 9% lower, causing it to have a reduction between 10% and 20% compared to that first installation. This is what is known as “wind theft,” a colloquial term for something that is easy to understand, but not so easy to fix. This GIF of The Telegraph illustrates it perfectly: Princess Elisabeth. As we read in BBCthe lawyer Eirik Finseras, specialized in offshore wind energy, “is a somewhat misleading term because you cannot steal something that you cannot own. Nobody owns the wind” – del Sol, yes, a Galician -. But of course, the fact that no one owns the wind does not exempt that park on the windward side from suffering the effects of the park built on the leeward side. In the North Sea, this is already becoming a problembecause the denser and larger the wind farm, the more intense the wake effect will be. Belgium is building Princess Elisabeth, a huge park that will add a whopping 3.5 GW of offshore wind capacity to the country’s accounts. It is a really huge offshore facilitybut although it will allow the addition of those 3.5 GW, it will also affect the existing Belgian parks due to a wake that will extend 55 kilometers beyond the installation. According to the accounts of the University of Leuven, the oldest Belgian facilities located to the east will experience: An 8.5% reduction in annual electricity production. Losses of up to 15% on very windy days. Impact. That in Belgian parks, but of course, it is also an international problem because the wind does not understand borders. By 2030, it is estimated that the current capacity of offshore wind energy in the North Sea will triple. This implies that thousands of turbines will be erected in a very short time with Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands willing to obtain, in total, 65 GW of offshore wind energy. The problem is knowing what will happen to these trails, since it is estimated that the 1,400 MW installation in the Dutch area of Borssele will cause a reduction of 2.7% on average in some Belgian wind farms. It is a very clear case of how the Netherlands is “stealing” the wind from Belgium. It is logical to understand the interest in offshore wind Bigger blades. In a report by BBCPablo Ouro, a civil engineering researcher at the University of Manchester, points out that they have been seeing wake effects for years, but that “the problem is that, to achieve emissions neutrality, we will need to triple offshore wind capacity and some of these new turbines will operate very close to those already in operation. There will be more and more crowds and the wake effects will have a greater impact.” And it is no longer a question of the number of mills, but of their dimensions. In the North Sea we are seeing efforts to achieve both greater heights for the mills themselves (to take advantage of other currents that are not being taken advantage of right now, such as larger blades that receive even more force from the wind. They are imposing mega-constructions that will also affect this wake effect, aggravating the problem. Solutions? Different countries are doing calculations. For example, in the United States, esteem that the planned offshore wind farms will produce a devastating wake effect: losses in the annual electricity production of other farms by up to 48.5 TWh per year. And there are already accusations: the Netherlands says that Belgium takes advantage of its wind, Germany says that the Netherlands is harming them… and the United Kingdom’s offshore parks stealing wind each other. The solution? Nothing simple, especially when many of these parks have either already been built or are under construction, but even so, research is being carried out to optimize the facilities. For example, adjusting turbine angles and optimizing the space between them, manufacturing higher power turbines to produce more with less or creating buffer zones between parks And, perhaps, the most difficult thing: that countries cooperate to carry out joint studies to place their facilities in the most efficient way for everyone. Images | ESMAP, G B_NZ In Xataka | In the great battle for wind turbines, Spain goes against Europe: it wants them further away than ever

Torrejón de Ardoz promised them happiness as the epicenter of the Madrid festivals. Until he started canceling them

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Torrejón de Ardoz does not seem willing to become the epicenter of the Madrid festivals. Although City Councils usually boast of their ability to attract concerts, fairs and other mass events, a few days ago the Consistory of the Corredor del Henares did exactly the opposite: published a statement to announce the cancellation of “all macrofestivals that were made in the city.” From their extensive list only one will be saved, Elrow Town. The rest will be forced to find a new location next year. What has happened? Que Torrejón de Ardoz has announced the “cancellation” of three music festivals: Brava Madrid, Madrid Salvaje and Torrejón Summer Fest. The reason? The Consistory alleges basically two reasons. The first, that he wants to “minimize the inconvenience to the neighbors.” The second, that in the opinion of the municipal government, the leisure offer for the inhabitants of the town is already well covered with the Magical Christmass and the patron saint and popular festivals. “They offer an excellent offer of free leisure and a sufficient attraction, such as large events, to promote the Torrejón Ciudad de Moda brand,” he says. Is everything cancelled? No. They fall at least Brava Madrid, Wild Madrid and Torrejón Summer Festbut not the Elrow Townwhich will be celebrated on a holiday (May 1) during daylight hours. From the Torrejón City Council they argue that the festival does not cost the municipal coffers money and represents an “important” source of income for the town. In addition, residents will have the right to purchase tickets starting in April with a 50% discount. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What does it mean for Torrejón? A priori and how recognize the City Council itself, the fairgrounds will be left without events for most of the spring-autumn season of 2026. At the moment there is nothing scheduled for March, April, July, August and September. In June and October there will also be no appointments, except for the celebration of Popular and Patron Saint Festivals, respectively. The strong month will be May, with elrow Town, Tributos, Locos X80 and Urban. The City Council assures that an effort will be made to reduce the acoustic impact, which would even include orienting the stage towards the Polígono de Las Monjas, in such a way that the sound is not directed towards the homes. During elrow Town, the installation of acoustic screens is planned to protect the buildings. Why is it important? Because of the context. Madrid Salvaje, Brava Madrid and elrow Town had not been in Torrejón de Ardoz for long. What’s more, the three festivals they relocated there this year after having to leave IFEMA. In the Torrejonero area they found a large, close space, well connected to Madrid and with green areas. Its great potential led to some saw to the town of Corredor del Henares as the potential new “epicenter” of the Madrid festivals, a not unreasonable possibility after the turn from IFEMA. A few months ago the IFEMA consortium confirmed their decision not to hold outdoor festivals at least in 2025 and focus on indoor ones. The measure came at a special time, with those responsible for the fair institute betting on the organization of the Spanish F-1 Prize, which will be held in September 2026. in spring The World public In fact, IFEMA’s step back from the open-air festivals sought to appease the residents’ spirits ahead of the Formula 1 event and the noise that the cars may cause. Perfect, right? It doesn’t seem like it. Although the festival organizers stood out At the time, the advantages of moving to Torrejón de Ardoz had, in practice things seem to have been different. At least for its inhabitants. In the statement in which it confirms the cancellation of “all macro-festivals” (except elrow Town), the City Council insists that the objective is to “minimize inconvenience to neighbors”, a maxim that goes beyond the musical calendar. “The City Council, listening to the feelings of many Torrejoneros, is going to reduce and celebrate fewer events, concerts and parties, and will focus all its efforts on taking better care of and keeping the city cleaner,” the statement continues. Neither Torrejón nor the neighborhoods close to IFEMA are the first to have seen how difficult it can be to combine the residential use of an area and the celebration of mass shows. Probably the most publicized case is that of the complaints of surrounding neighbors of the Bernabéu, which even led to heavy fines. In Torrejón, an extra element was also added that has little or nothing to do with noise: several festivals They were tarnished by their ties to a pro-Israel fund in the midst of the Gaza war. Image | Elrow Town In Xataka | Madrid has turned Manzanares into a new tourist attraction with LEDs. The neighbors have something to say

2026 has not yet started but it has already managed to produce the first bad news: the light goes up

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There is one month left until 2026 begins and the January slope already has a clear protagonist: light. The electricity bill will start the year with the largest simultaneous review of regulated costs since 2020. The proposals of the Government and the energy regulator point to an increase that will affect all homes, regardless of what they consume. Without anesthesia. The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has put into public hearing its toll proposal for 2026 – the part of the bill that finances the electrical networks – and proposes a global increase of close to 4%. This update has two pillars: Transportation, which are the large electric highways, will increase by 12.1%. Distribution, which are the networks that reach homes and businesses, will increase by 2.5%. With these changes, the total money allocated to maintaining and expanding electrical networks will reach 6,608 million in 2026. In addition, to this increase we must add that of the chargesset by the Government. According to Five Daysthe Ministry for the Ecological Transition proposes increasing them by 10.5% to cover, above all, the cost of regulated renewable energies (Recore), which will grow by 37%. The fixed part is in charge again. The electricity bill is divided into two large blocks: The cost of energy, which depends on what each user consumes. Regulated costs (tolls and charges), which are always paid. This new year, the regulated part once again gains prominence. According to the specialized portal Tarifaluzhorathe combination of tolls and charges will increase between 2.8% and 4.8% for households. It may seem like a moderate increase, but it affects the amount paid even if consumption drops. Furthermore, the CNMC report estimates that domestic customers with PVPC 2.0 TD rate will see a final increase of approximately 0.6% on their bill, thanks in part to the slight expected growth in demand and the greater number of consumers among whom to spread the costs. A small print that worries the sector. As Cinco Días detailsthe Government has prepared its proposal for charges under the hypothesis that consumption will grow by 4.5% in 2026. This figure is not minor: the greater the demand, the more the regulated costs are diluted among users and the lower the impact per receipt. However, the problem is that the CNMC – which sets tolls – does not share that optimism. The regulator foresees an increase of only 2.3%. And here a delicate scenario opens up: if demand does not grow as much as the Government expects, the system will not collect what was expected. The tolls and charges are calculated on the basis that there will be more kilowatts consumed in 2026. If they are not ultimately consumed, there will be a lack of money to cover the regulated costs, which are already on the rise due to the Recore renewables, the expansion of networks and the adjustments from previous years. If we get ashy. The return of the tariff deficit is at stake. In other words, putting ourselves in the worst possible scenario, if revenues prove insufficient, Spain could return to a known scenario: tariff deficit. In other words, when the bill does not cover the costs of the electrical system, a hole is created that is financed as debt and drags on for years. It took Spain more than a decade to absorb the deficit accumulated between 2000 and 2013—more than 28 billion euros—and the sector fears a partial repeat of that cycle. A gap of just two percentage points between the demand forecast by the Government and the realistic estimate of the CNMC can make the difference between a balanced system or a stressed one. And all in a year in which tolls and charges will rise at the same time for the first time since 2020. And why will everything go up at once? Because in 2026 several impact factors coincide: More investment in networks to integrate renewables and electrification. Higher cost of Recore renewables, which must be compensated according to their contracts. The cumulative impact of the electricity blackout of 360 million, that the marketers still carry. Pending adjustments from previous exercises. 2026: a year that starts uphill. The electricity bill will be the first notice of a year marked by the structural increase in the cost of the electrical system and the need to accelerate investments that sustain the energy transition. More robust networks, more renewables and a more complex system imply higher operating costs. And, once again, it will be consumers who notice in January. Image | freepik Xataka | Spain needs to modernize its electrical grid, so the remuneration rate has increased. The effect will be noticeable in the next five years

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