stop

Xiaomi has a full-time humanoid robot in its car factory. You’re ready to stop being an intern

by

Xiaomi has made its car factory cause a sensation. With the SU7 and YU7 in the market, the company has managed to make people stand in line and pay a fortune to see how these cars are manufactured, something they have achieved thanks to a good marketing strategy and, above all, a futuristic factory with a hook that is difficult to ignore: humanoid robots riding the cars. It was this past March when we learned from Lei Jun, founder and CEO of the company, that they had put a series of humanoid robots to work. “do internships” inside the factories. The tasks of these robots were not at all exciting, as they were dedicated to one thing: putting self-tapping nuts on the floor parts of cars. However, the period of being robo-interns is coming to an end and it has been the CEO himself who has commented that robots have climbed several steps. Specifically, they are almost on the same level of success as their human “companions.” From robo-interns to robo-experts The task they had to do is the most alienating and example of chain work that you can imagine. The system collects the nuts from an automatic supply equipment and deposits them in the indicated place, where the automatic screwing is subsequently carried out. Indeed: the robots were putting nuts… and that’s it. In March, Lei Jun said the robots had achieved a 90.2% success rate in placing nuts during three hours of continuous autonomous operation. This figure indicates the number of correct operations compared to the total attempts made and, in addition, they detailed that they adjusted to a production cycle of 76 seconds. Timing in these factories is crucial, especially when all steps are so automated if the car output goals are to be achieved. Now, although putting on nuts seems simple, they are not like those on an Ikea piece of furniture and there are some things to consider. A key challenge in this process is getting the self-tapping nut to precisely align, center and seat on the locating pin before screwing. Otherwise, the system crashes and the join is incomplete. And this process is complicated by three main factors: Grip variability: The orientation of the nut on the robot gripper changes with each cycle. Design and physical forces– The internal knurling of the nut and the magnetic attraction of the pin make exact adjustment difficult. Operating environment: There are limitations on the working angle and external interference in the assembly area. For the robot it is more complicated than it seems, but now it has been Lei Jun himself who has turned to come to the fore to point out that robots have gone from that success rate of 90.2% to 98%. They are, according to the executive, just one percentage point behind human workers. And most importantly, they are ready to take on more complex tasks. Because thanks to that success, it has been decided that Robots can begin to tackle more complex tasks. Because from tightening nuts, they have moved on to new stations that included tasks such as installing the side panels of the center console, as well as folding and recycling parts. The side panel task is complex because it is a large, flexible, irregularly shaped component that requires multiple pick-and-place cycles in different positions. Xiaomi says this is the first time a humanoid robot has completed prolonged manipulation of such a part on a real automotive production line and estimates the success rate to be over 90%. In four months we will see where that percentage is, but although it is clear that the evolution of the company’s humanoid tobots It is being remarkable, we are talking about robots that are still in the testing phase and in a single workstation. They are taking data and running every possible metric to determine if they are up to par for a productive, full-scale deployment. Human workers can rest easy, at least for a few more months. What I don’t understand is why they have to look like robots taken from the reboot from ‘Robocop’. In Xataka | In the war of humanoid robots, those from the United States dance and those from China work by the piece. It is not a technological issue

“Karoshi” is the scourge that has been undermining the health of Japanese workers for decades. And the Government does not know how to stop it

by

It is not a new or unknown phenomenon, but he karoshi (illnesses or even deaths due to overwork) is gaining ground in Japan. This is suggested by at least the latest data from the Ministry of Health, which reflects that last year the Government recognized a record number of those affected with the right to compensation: 1,310. If we take into account all the requests, the figure is 6,212, another record. State records are only one indicator of a much broader problembut they suggest that Japan is a long way from solving it. And that sets off alarm bells. What has happened? That data from the Ministry of Health reveal that Japan is far (very far) from solving one of its thorniest social challenges: illnesses or deaths from karoshithat is, due to work overload. The latest official balance reveals that the number of employees who received government compensation for this reason rose to a level never seen before during fiscal year 2025. That is alarming in itself, but beyond the numbers what is truly worrying is the trend. As remember The Japan Timesit is the fourth consecutive year that the record has been broken and the flow of applications (whether approved or not) is also at historic levels. What do the figures say? The report of the Ministry of Health reveals that in Japan there are hundreds and hundreds of people for whom the Government recognizes the necessary conditions to receive compensation for excess workload. Specifically, during fiscal year 2025 the record of 1,310 was reached. There are only five more than in 2024, but what is relevant is that the number has not stopped growing in recent years. In fact, it is not the first time that alarms have gone off. At the end of 2024 Nippon I already warned of the escalation in the number of documented cases. As if that were not enough, the ministerial report throws out another figure: perhaps there is 1,310 compensatedbut the number of requests is much higher. During the same period it rose to 6,212, another record figure that exceeds that of 2024 by 1,402. Probably not all meet the requirements demanded by Health, but the Japanese press does not clarify whether the difference between both figures (indemnified and applicants) is due to this disparity or a simple administrative issue. Do we know anything else? Yes. The vast majority of compensated people (1,086) had work-related mental disorders, including depression. The remaining 224 suffered strokes and heart attacks. All attributable to his professional work. In 145 cases the outcome was the most traffic: it ended in deaths or suicides, although this is 14 less than in 2024. Among the applications received at the Ministry of Health, the majority (4,958 out of a total of 6,212) are also related to psychological problems. Not only are they the most common, but their incidence is clearly growing: the Government registered 1,178 more than during fiscal year 2024. Their report also reveals that after many cases of karoshi There are problems with bosses, workplace harassment and sudden changes that affect the workload and quality of the work entrusted to the affected person. Does the sector matter? Yes. Those who are most at risk are professionals in sectors in which overtime regulation is less developed. The Japan Times specific quote to bus and truck drivers, doctors and construction workers, trades that have seen their legal framework gradually improve, but in some cases still have certain exceptions. For example, a driver can work up to 960 overtime hours a year, a workload that is also exceeded 15% of doctors that are used in hospitals in Japan. In 2016 they were 39.2%but even so the data is worrying and there are certain specialized profiles in which overtime hours skyrocket. Why is this something worrying? Because illnesses and deaths related to karoshi They are nothing new. The discipline of strenuous work is very rooted in Japanese culture, although it hardened especially after the Second World War. For a time it helped the country advance, but in the 60s it began to pay its price: heart attacks, strokes and even cases of suicide due to stress, the karojisatu. In recent years there have also been very high-profile cases, such as that of a young girl who took his own life in 2015 after sleeping only 10 hours a week due to his work overload and accumulating around 100 overtime hours a month. How do they face it? Against that backdrop, Japan has begun to regulate issues such as overtime and the maximum number of consecutive days that can be linked. However, the results just released by the Ministry of Health reveal that the problem is far from being solved. In the country there are also those who fear the impact that the conservative government may have. Sanae Takaichiwho does not hesitate call meetings team at three in the morning and brag about not sleeping more than four hours. Images | Beth Macdonald (Unsplash), Vien Dinh (Unsplash) and Joris Beugels (Unsplash) In Xataka | Faced with labor shortages, Japan has taken an unprecedented measure in the last two decades: paying women the same

that parents stop kidnapping their own children

by

Anastasiya Minkova returned from a trip and found the house empty: her husband had left with his two year old son. In many countries the scene could immediately trigger an investigation for parental abduction. In Japan, for decades, it could become the game that decided who would keep the child. Japan knocks down a perverse advantage. Until last April, the Japanese system established that, after divorce, only one of the parents could retain legal authority over the children. The courts tended to favor the person who lived with the child and had assumed the role of primary caregiver during the process. That created an incentive hard to ignore: Taking the child before initiating the divorce could put the other parent in a position that was practically impossible to overcome. Lawyers advising the “abduction”. The logic of the system converted a behavior considered parental abduction in other countries into a tolerated family strategy de facto. According to the lawyer Masanori Tanabewho leaves the home with the children begins to appear before the court as their usual caregiver, decisively strengthening their position. John Gomez, founder of Kizuna Child-Parent Reunionsums it up still cruder: Some family lawyers directly advised their clients to take the children because the matter was treated as a civil dispute, not as a crime. The courts were late. time played in favor of the parent who had taken the child. By the time a court heard the case months later, the child may have been living in a new home for a long period of time, attending another school, and maintaining limited or no contact with the parent left behind. Breaking this situation could be interpreted as an alteration of the stability of the minor, which ended up consolidating precisely the advantage obtained through his transfer. Reform and shared parental authority. Now Japan has modified its Civil Code to allow the so-called kyodo shinken, a regime in which both parents can retain legal capacity over important decisions after divorce. The Ministry of Justice hopes that the change force parents to think about the interest of the minor and to maintain adequate participation in his or her upbringing. Furthermore, unilaterally taking the child and refusing to cooperate may be taken into account against anyone who aspires to obtain their legal authority. Sharing decisions is not sharing children. The reform, in addition, has a decisive limitation: kyodo shinken is more accurately translated as shared parental authority, not necessarily shared custody or cohabitation. Both parents could intervene in issues such as education or medical care without there being a mandatory distribution of the time they spend with the child. Lawyer Masami Kittaka warns on CNN that the new system also does not guarantee that old cases are reviewed or that estranged parents automatically regain lost contact. The problem of foreign parents. Yes, because language barriers, lack of information and insufficient legal representation make many foreigners react when the situation is already consolidated. Examples like Emily Sato’swho said that she returned home and found that her husband had taken her daughter, removed much of the furniture, and removed her from the list of people authorized to pick her up from school. When the case came to court, exclusive cohabitation with the father was already discussed as a stable environment that should be preserved. Separations that last longer than childhood. Jeffery Morehouse wears 16 years without seeing his sontransferred from the United States to Japan when he was six and a half years old despite the fact that he had primary custody. He obtained Japanese court rulings validating his US order, but claims he never got them effectively executed. His last farewell was Father’s Day 2010and since then he avoids family celebrations and places where other children can remind him of how old his son was when he disappeared from his life. Protection against abuse. Shared parental authority also cannot applied indiscriminately. Some associations fear that it will force people who have suffered domestic violence to remain linked to their aggressor, although the reform allows contact to be restricted in cases of mistreatment or child abuse. The challenge will be to differentiate situations of legitimate protection from those in which one of the parents uses the child to gain advantage in a conflictive breakup. Japan still has not eliminated the incentive. There is no doubt, the reform represents a historic break with a model that favored exclusive custody and could turn a flight into a judicial advantage. However, experts they point out that the same problem will continue to exist as long as there are no clear consequences for whoever takes the minor, guarantees of contact and mechanisms capable of executing court decisions. Japan has finally recognized that allowing a parent to disappear with their own child was part of the problembut now he must show that changing the law can also give children back the relationship they lost. Image | Chris Rimmer, Jenny Webber In Xataka | Japan no longer knows what to do to make Japanese people have children. So he’s putting free daycare all over the country In Xataka | 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.

stop making strollers and diapers for babies and make them for pets

by

Last year some 671,200 babies. It’s bad, terrible data. They are not only 15,000 less which in 2024, also consolidates the Japanese birth rate below the barrier of 700,000 births per year and represents a new historical minimum. Since the country began to compile statistics, back in 1899, so few births had never been recorded. The figure represents a blow for the Government, determined to reactivate the birth rate, but there is someone who looks at it with even more concern: the manufacturers of baby items. That’s why every time they pay more attention in pets. The new reality. If something tastes good Japan, South Korea, China, Russia or any other country buffeted by the winds of demographic winter (something that Spain is foreign) is that the collapse of the birth rate has multiple consequences. It affects demographic growth, but it also has social, political, health, economic and even consequences. at the defense level. Some of these effects will take years (even decades) to be clearly felt. Others are already perceived, as the difficulties that companies that for years have been dedicated to manufacturing child care items go through. How do you keep a business afloat when your potential customer base keeps shrinking? How the hell do you sell diapers, strollers, rattles, cribs… when there are no more babies to use them? That question has already been raised some companies of Korea dedicated to manufacturing baby strollers (now converted into strollers for pets) and more and more companies in the sector in Japan are considering it, as has just been revealed an article from the Al Jazeera network. @curatedbyangie Inside Interpets Japan 🇯🇵🐾 So many cute dogs & cats, instagrammable booths, and interesting pet products 👀 Also met one of our clients here, their toys are a favorite among pet owners in Singapore 😍 Excited to have them back at SG Pet Festival this year again! #interpets #japanpets #dogsoftiktok #sgpetfestival #AngieCurates ♬ pink blossom – nanako In the absence of babies, dogs. In his chronicle The chain talks about several companies traditionally linked to the child care sector that, little by little, have been showing interest in the pet business. One of the clearest cases is that of Lucky Industriesan old acquaintance in the sector, famous for its baby carriers, an item of which it has manufactured millions of units since the 30s. In 2022 the firm decided to take advantage of that background to launch Nu-ia line designed specifically for dogs. Its approach is very simple: for decades the company helped families travel with babies, now that there are fewer babies, but millions of petswhy not help them with them? A name: Interpets. Lucky Industries is just one example of a much larger trend that Al Jazeera reporter Genevieve Mansfield saw firsthand in Interpetsa fair held a few months ago in Tokyo that focused on the pet care market. One of the stands that could be visited was that of Unicharm, a Tokyo-based company that was successful selling disposable diapers (among other hygiene items) and 25 years ago decided to expand its business line by marketing pet diapers: Unicharm. There are so many for dogs as for cats. Add and continue. Other examples are AirBuggy and Sweet Mommy. The first company offers pet strollers; the second made headlines a few years ago by announcing portable fans to make heat waves more bearable for dogs and cats. It is not just about meeting new needs. The idea is to diversify the business, targeting an increasingly attractive market. A spokesperson for Unicharm has recognized to the Al Jazeera network that expects the pet care business to represent 17% of total sales from now on. And that’s for now. The forecast is to reach 20% by the end of this decade. What the numbers say. It may seem like a strange twist, but the figures show that it makes quite a bit of sense. The Japanese birth rate is collapsing while pets have been gaining weight in homes. According to the Japan Pet Food Association, between 2024 and 2025 the country’s dog population rose from 6.7 to 6.8 million. It is still below the 7.9 of 2015, although in general the country is now less populated. If we talk about cats, the association estimates that at the end of 2025 there were 8.8 million. They are somewhat less than in 2024, but more than in 2015, when they did not reach 8.3. “The second largest city”. “Japan was the first country in the world where pets outnumbered children: about 16 million compared to 14 million. If its 6.8 million dogs and 9 million cats were gathered in one place, they would form its second largest city,” illustrated in February Tom Feiling, author of ‘Alone in Japan’, in a column published in The Times. On an economic level, this means that the pet care market is already around 5.4 billion dollarswell above the 4.2 billion in 2020. But… Why? Japan is not the only country in which the number of pets already exceeds the number of children. In fact that’s the same we have lived it already in Spain, where the first official census speaks of 5.62 million of cats and 7.56 of dogs. The fact that the birth rate falls and the presence of domestic animals increases is explained by profound changes at a social, cultural, educational and educational level. “Lifestyle changes, such as remaining single, marrying late, and the rise of two-income childless households, have led to more people seeking emotional connections through pets. We are seeing a rise in ‘pet humanization,’” resume Isshu Uehara, from Unicharm. Companies seem to be taking note of this. Images | Unicharm and Luckynu_i In Xataka | Spain has more pets than children, so Malaga has inaugurated something inevitable: the first cemetery for dogs

Netflix users love to watch the first season of a series. Then they love to stop seeing it completely

by

What tremendous hype when Netflix has a new series and promotes it even in the soup: you swallow the trailer, the premiere promises infinite and then, you finally see the first episode and devour the entire season. And after? If I have seen you, I don’t remember: literal and figuratively, because Netflix series lose audience drastically from one season to the next, according to data from Netflix itself collected by Bloomberg. Millionaire investments, Hollywood marketing and a journey that deflates like a soda bottle. what’s happening. The network’s flagships deflate after the first season. One Piece lost more than 30% of its audience in the second season,’Row‘ fell more than 70%, ‘The Night Agent’ lost half of its audience in the second (and another 35% in the third) and ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender‘ plummeted more than 60% in its last installment, based on Netflix data for the first four weeks of the premiere of each series. And Netflix does not have a clear contingency plan on how to deal with the problem: some have been canceled (The Night Agent), others have been renewed (Running Point, The Four Seasons) despite the losses. The company would be analyzing its data to find out why, according to close sources. Why is it important. Historically, Netflix series have obtained their highest ratings in their debut season, a phenomenon that is exactly the opposite of what happened with traditional TV, where word of mouth used to cause series to improve their numbers over time. In a phrase: retention is lacking. Bloomberg echoes of the company’s concern regarding this reality, as well as that of investors regarding its ability to retain user loyalty. And the time that its clients have dedicated to watching said streaming platform this year has increased less than 2%. Because Netflix is ​​the absolute leader in streaming, but the advantage is blurring. Context. This last year Netflix shares are in decline since he presented an offer for Warner Bros. Discovery that did not come to fruition. At that time, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters they claimed his interest in the rival entertainment company because it was a unique opportunity to acquire a valuable asset. Although there is another potential reading: that Netflix is ​​running out of ideas. After years of betting on developing mainly with its own content, it is now looking forward to growing through acquisitions. In detail. Obviously, Netflix does not put all its eggs in a single basket, in this case, a single series: the company launches a large catalog of new releases every quarter with the expectation of achieving new successes with these premieres. However, in the first five months of 2026 it only had two great successes: ‘His and Hers’ and the fourth season of ‘The Bridgertons’, precisely one of the honorable exceptions to that rule. Yes, but. Despite these warning signs, Netflix remains the undisputed leader: it has half of the most watched programs in streaming and has plenty of experience to recover after bad streaks. In fact, the platform has already added new programming formats, such as the commitment to live sports. Furthermore, and although more modest, its viewing share is still in the green in a more mature, expensive and competitive market. In Xataka | Netflix has achieved what seemed crazy at first: that we pay in exchange for watching ads In Xataka | Of course you don’t remember anything that happened in the last season of your favorite series. It’s deliberate Cover | Gemini

The plan to stop the melting of the Arctic is so simple that it sounds crazy: freeze it again

by

Global warming does not affect everyone the same way. Without going any further, Europe is the continent that most is warming according to the World Meteorological Organizationbut there is another place where the heat has turned the turbo: the Arctic. The North Pole heats up four times faster than the global average. Additionally, sea ice is at historic lows since records began 125 years ago. Faced with this climate emergency, a research team has come up with something so logical that it is surprising for its apparent simplicity: is there a lack of ice? Well, we manufacture more artificially. So they have left the laboratory and gone to the field to see if it is possible. The idea. The company Real Ice, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, drills into sea ice in the dead of winter and pumps seawater onto its frozen surface. The water, when exposed to that extreme cold, freezes immediately and adds an extra layer of ice. Now that they have the base mechanism, Real Ice is adapting pumps used on skating rinks or oil platforms to power them with renewable energy. According to The GuardianIn a recent test, the team pumped 50,000 tons of water onto 1.5-meter-thick ice at -40ºC and managed to increase its thickness by 0.50 meters. Why is it important. Although emissions reduction is the only long-term sustainable solution, while it arrives it is necessary to explore techniques to save time because the Arctic melting is a problem with chain consequences that affect different scales: At the local level it poses a threat to Inuit ways of life and fauna such as the polar bear or the walrus, in addition to destabilizing the ecosystem. At a global level, it can alter weather patterns. Sea ice is a kind of planetary air conditioner: its white surface reflects solar radiation, something that the dark ocean does not do (albedo feedback). That extra warming of the Arctic is also related to a wavier, slower jet stream which can lengthen and promote heat waves or floods. Furthermore, the thaw goes hand in hand with the thaw of the permafrostwhich releases methane and further accelerates warming. Context. This project is part of the program RASI (Re-thickening Arctic Sea Ice), a public – private initiative in which the University of Cambridge and two private companies, Real Ice and Arctic Reflections, carry out research that combines rigorous scientific models with real experimentation in the Arctic. As a curiosity, it is not the only proposal: there are others more controversial that propose dispersing sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight. In detail. The first study in the last 2024/2025 campaign has confirmed that the test areas ended the winter up to 32 centimeters thicker than the control areas. According to the study, this difference is similar to what the Arctic has lost in the last 50 years. Furthermore, at the end of the winter campaign they observed that this new ice remained whiter and brighter during the melting season, so it seemed to melt more slowly, improving the albedo. Yes, but. On paper it looks very good, but the scientific community has its doubts. An analysis of several of these proposals published in the journal Frontiers in Science concluded that they did not successfully overcome the criteria of feasibility, cost, governance and environmental risk. The underlying criticism is that it could give the false sensation that there is a technical shortcut that relaxes the pressure to reduce emissions. On the other hand, a test in a specific area is one thing and the price of scaling this technique to the entire Arctic is another. In Xataka | Living 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole: a Catalan tells of his experience in the northernmost city in the world In Xataka | There is a corner of Spain where global warming is wreaking havoc: the Pyrenees are becoming “Mediterraneanized” Cover | Annie Spratt and Jan Antonin Kolar

It took China a decade to stop coal through renewable megaprojects. It took him a year to reactivate it

by

For years, China has been the absolute reference in renewable energies: they have managed drive down the prices of solar panelsride offshore wind farms or colossal photovoltaic parks flourish in such incredible places like the tibetan plateauwhere also is building mega hydroelectric plants. And its strong commitment to renewables is being noticed: after a decade, coal-fired electricity generation fell for the first time. However, in 2026 China has taken a step back from coal. what’s happening. Between January and May of this year, electricity generation from coal and gas has risen 3.4% compared to the previous year, according to official data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, from which Reuters echoesstanding at 2.53 billion kWh. The North American media collects estimates from S&P Global Energy and by Wood Mackenziewhich estimate the growth of coal-fired thermoelectric generation in China between 1.5% and 2%. The consulting firm Kpler estimates a 3% increase in coal consumption in the electricity sector, reaching 2.7 billion tons. Why it is important. The first reading of this reality is that the Chinese machinery does not stop, no matter what happens. And several things are happening that explain why the Asian giant resorts to an old acquaintance: El Niño is reducing rainfall in the hydroelectric dams of southwest China, so coal and gas have come to the rescue to compensate in those regions. On the other hand, the war in Iran and the consequent blockade of Hormuz have made access to liquefied gas more expensive and difficult, so China pulls coal and old pacts with Russia to optimize its use. On the other hand, renewable have grown at a slower rate than in 2025so something has to fill that gap in demand. And that something is coal. And this shift is important because China is the country that consumes the most electricity and more carbon dioxide emitted of the planet. In fact, India and China are responsible for more than 90% of the increase in emissions between 2015 and 2024, according to Carbon Brief. If China turns to coal, the global goal of reducing emissions becomes black. And also his promise to reach the emissions ceiling before 2030. Context. In 2020, China stepped on the accelerator in its energy transition towards renewables: fulfilled six years ahead of schedule its goal of 1,200 GW of wind and solar by 2030 and renewables by mid-2023 they surpassed to coal in installed capacity. In 2025 the share of coal in the generation mix fell to 51.4%, according to the think tank Agora Energyalthough this was also helped by the fact that the growth in electricity demand went from 7% in 2024 to 5% in 2025. In detail. This slowdown in the growth of renewables in 2026 also has several reasons: there has been less wind ( according to CREA has been the weakest in a decade), solar panels in the western provinces are being used less and fewer new panels have been installed than the previous year, partly due to the high installation base of the 2025 “boom” and partly due to the growing network congestion and forced discharge that affects wind, solar and even nuclear. On the other hand, in an interview for Inside Climate NewsCREA analyst Qi Qin gives an additional explanation: recently created coal plants: in her opinion, the rebound in coal is more due to the fact that China has commissioned too many new plants since 2024 than to geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Qin also points out that many of these plants operate under medium and long-term supply contracts that guarantee a minimum level of utilization, which places them in direct competition with renewables for limited electricity demand; In his own words, it is “a competition, and coal plants have an institutional advantage.” Yes, but. Although the rebound in coal in 2026 is currently a documented reality, it is important to highlight that it is more of a temporary alternative and that situations such as El Niño, drought, weak wind or the Hormuz blockade will pass, so this return is more of a plan B than a setback in its energy strategy. In fact, his own CREA May 2026 report underlines that, were it not for the exceptionally weak wind in those months, the growing supply of clean energy would probably have reduced, not increased, coal and gas generation. Of course, given the recent permits and construction of coal plants, the reality is that unless political measures are taken, coal will continue to have a say and will continue to be the lifesaver in emergencies. In Xataka | In its efforts to break all energy records, China is taking wind farms 100 kilometers offshore In Xataka | China manufactured more solar panels in one year than the planet can absorb. Now the market is devouring itself Cover | ダモリ and Chris LeBoutillier

Venice spent 6 billion on a dam to stop the sea. There are those who already see it as the only future left for the Bay of Cádiz

by

In the first two months of 2026, Venice had to raise its large mobile dock 30 times. In the last five years, he has had to do it another 108 times in total. Nobody can say that the work of 6 billion that was going to save the lagoon has not been necessary; What can be said is that it closes so often that it threatens to suffocate just what protects. 2,000 kilometers away, in the bay of Cádiz, the sea is eating away at the largest tidal-influenced saline wetland in Spain. And the shadow of the great dam begins to hover over the problem. Is Venice the future of the Silver Cup? Let’s start by x-raying the problem. The sea has been advancing over the bay for decades, that cannot surprise anyone. Perhaps the only thing that has changed in recent years is that salt farmers, aquaculturists, scientists and ecologists have sat at the same table with a common diagnosis. Its ambition is much smaller than that of Venice, but we are light years away from Venice. What they are asking for is something as simple as the competent administrations coordinating. Coordinate for what? To prevent a good part of the saline wetland from dying. This wetland is structured around the so-called “outside turns“: soft dikes that stop spring tides and storms. They are not “natural things”, they are the product of centuries of human work. And when there is someone who maintains them, they endure, they tame the sea, they control the storms. The problem is that there is almost no one to maintain them. Today, around 80% of the salt mines are abandoned; Of the 160 artisanal salt mines that existed in the 70s, four remain. In other words, what is happening in the Bay is a disaster labeled ‘natural’, but with socioeconomic roots. The result is clear. In points like the south of Puerto Real, the sea advances about 3 meters a year, according to calculations from the University of Cádiz. And it is now just over 200 meters from the first houses. A few kilometers from there, 94,000 inhabitants (the people of San Fernando) live below sea level and this protected natural park is their main line of defense. If the estimates of the Blue Bay Alliance They are right and the sea rises between 55 and 70 centimeters, there will be many people who will suffer the consequences. And we will put our hands on our heads and wonder how it was possible. Then, just then, people will start talking seriously about the wall. But it will be a mistake. So far no one has asked for the Venetian MOSE and, in fact, the ‘concrete’ that the Alliance talks about is something very different and much more surgical. His basic proposal is to return to the walls permeable to the tide: to use all our modern technology to try to rescue traditional engineering. That is, keeping an extremely complex ecosystem alive. And that’s the heart of the matter: the Venice Wall could protect the new parts of San Fernando when the time comes, but it couldn’t keep the bay alive. We have to decide if we want to invest Now it’s cheap, but the risk is diffuse. Or invest later, when it is expensive, but clear and real. Image | Alain Rouiller In Xataka | Venice spent 5 billion euros on flood barriers. Five years later they are already “unsustainable”

Google puts a death date on the Android we knew. The developers are clear that your phone is about to stop being yours

by

In August of last year, Google announced one of the most controversial maneuvers from the history of Android: completely changing the DNA of your operating system. This means that, in the future, any app you want to install on your Android device, wherever it comes from, must be signed by a verified developer. Now we know the implications of this a little better and there is a group that is not happy: app developers. In short. With the objective, according to Google, of strengthening the security of ecosystems and in full trial against Epic for the antitrust case which led Android to open up to third-party stores, the company announced a series of measures to make its system and users safer. In essence, there are critics pointing out that what they really want is more control, but basically what Google is going to start asking for is that developers identify themselves if they want their app to be downloaded. We are not talking about an ID to publish in the Play Store, but in any Android store. According to the company, they will begin by verifying the installations from the following stores: Google (Google Play) Honor (HONOR App Market) OPlus (OPPO App Market) Samsung (Galaxy Store) Transsión (Palm Store) Vivo (V-Appstore) Xiaomi (GetApps) The justification of malware. Google defends the decision in order to strengthen the security of ecosystems and “prevent malicious actors from hiding behind anonymity to launch harmful applications.” In fact, when they took the measure they pointed out that they have detected 50 times more malware in apps downloaded outside the Play Store than in their store. According to the company, it is the beginning of a deployment that will be an industry-wide effort, but will contribute to creating a safer ecosystem. And, if the question is how they will do it, developers will have access to a new ‘Android Developer Console’ that will be mandatory and in which they will have to provide legal name, address, email and telephone number. Additionally, organizations will need a corporate website and a DUNS number (like a business ID). Very sensitive data, but which Google promises not to show to anyone but themselves. As if leaks of this kind of thing didn’t exist, wow… The airport metaphor. In the message from a year ago, Google compared this measure to airport procedures in which travelers renounce rights in order to gain security. “Think of this as an identity check at the airport, which confirms a traveler’s identity, but separates it from the security screening of the bags,” Google commented. “We will confirm who the developer is, but we will not review the content of their application or where it came from,” they said. Calendar. That said, the wheel keeps turning for Google and in the post blog of developers have better detailed the calendar: June 2026– A new developer authentication service will be installed on most Android devices. July 2026– The Developer ID Status API will be launched globally, as well as an account type designed for students and hobbyists to share their apps with up to 20 devices without a country-issued ID, coming in early access. August 2026– July early access will be consolidated, but they will also launch an “advanced flow” system for installing apps from unverified developers that will include security checkpoints to resist coercive scams. They assure that it is the method so that advanced users continue to be able to download apps from unverified developers. September 30, 2026: the big stuff begins. App registration will be required for participating stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Unregistered apps can be downloaded with Android Debug Bridge or advanced flow. 2027: After receiving feedback from everyone and the first tests in those countries mentioned, they will expand the program worldwide. Worry. How it will affect us users remains to be seen. Google comments that the majority of developers in the Play Store are already verified and more than 99% of their apps have been registered. Those who distribute outside of Google Play can register from the android developer console and the students have this access to prepare (in case you are interested). On Reddit, developers have shown concern due to the need to show a national identification, arguing that Google is not an airport or an official institution, but reactions have also been seen positive arguing that anything that involves preventing coercive scam apps (an important group of apps that Google wants to eliminate with these practices) is fine. The head of Android himself already commented in August of last year that It is a fundamental feature for Androidwhich is not going away and they simply want to protect users from malicious developers, not limit user options. The problem is that it is not so clear what is going to happen with all those apps that are distributed via APK, which do not have to be malware or piracy and that, certain users who have chosen Android, did so precisely when the system was opened. and reaction. As points out my colleague Iván in Xataka Móvilthe developers have not sat idly by. Despite Google’s pro-security arguments, they see this move as something that simply wants to give them more control over the system and its developers. That is why campaigns such as ‘Keep Android Open’ have emerged, bringing together signatories from around twenty countries, including heavyweights such as EFF, the Free Software Foundation, the Tor Project, Proton, KDE, LineageOS and Nextcloud. The argument is the following: “You, the consumer, bought your Android device trusting Google’s promise: an open computing platform on which you could run any software you wanted. However, starting in September 2026, Google will implement, without your consent, an update to its operating system that will permanently block this right and leave you at the mercy of Google’s discretion about which software you are allowed to trust. In Xataka | “The biggest mistake of all time”: Bill Gates let slip 400 billion when Microsoft didn’t … Read more

“stop copying what the industry develops”

by

In 1969, the first message in the history of the Internet was as ambitious as it was brief: it was supposed to be “LOGIN”, but the system crashed after transmitting just “LO”. That failure was born inside DARPAthe great military laboratory of the United States that would end up lighting the network that moves the world today. Half a century later, the Navy seems to want to repeat the play: let the market do its thing and reserve truly disruptive innovation for what only war needs. The great course correction. The United States Navy has just assumed something that had been hanging in the air for years: its innovation system had become too slow, cumbersome and, above all, redundant. Rachel Rileyhead of naval research, has put on the table in the Defense media an almost brutal idea for its simplicity: stop spending public money on copying what private industry is already developing on its own. His message has been direct: if there are possible benefits, private capital will eventually arrive. The military mission, therefore, should not compete with that, but rather focus on what no one else wants or can finance. “Stop copying.” That’s the core of doctrinal change. For decades, the Office of Naval Research functioned as a large parallel laboratory that often followed paths similar to those of the private sector. Now the order is different: reduce bureaucracy, simplify processes and assume that speed matters more than ever. Riley summed it up with a phrase that sets the tone for this new stage: “speed is the word of the year in our business. Stop copying what the industry builds.” Ultimately, it is a strategic admission: in a technological war, time is already worth as much as technology itself. What only the State can build. The new frontier according to Rileyis in those capacities that do not have a civil market. His example was devastating because it was simple: “there is no commercial need for very quiet tubes that move underwater for a long time.” He was talking, of course, about submarines. That phrase sums up the new investment criterion: if the market will never do it, the Pentagon must do it. And that weighs especially heavily in 2026, with the AUKUS agreement underway and submarine warfare recovering centrality in the Indo-Pacific against China. From experiment to real war. The best example of this transition It’s the Sea Hunter. What began as an experiment in 2017 to hunt submarines and clear mines has taken almost a decade to become a real operating asset. That period is precisely what the Navy wants to reduce. The problem is no longer proving that something works, but integrating it before it gets old. The logic is clear: fewer eternal laboratories, more prototypes that reach the fleet quickly. The rescue that changed the conversation. The proof that this model is beginning to work came just weeks ago: a Saronic Corsair autonomous naval drone rescued for the first time to two downed pilots of a Boeing AH-64 Apache off the coast of Oman. The most revealing data was not only the rescue, but time: four months from the first test to a successful real mission. For the Defense Innovation Unitthat is exactly what they are looking for: rapid iteration, immediate adaptation and practical usefulness, even for functions that the system had not even been designed to fulfill. The war of autonomous masses. Be that as it may, the real bottleneck is not in building one drone, but a hundred. Both Riley and Jarred Conley agreed on the same obsession: Go from a human controlling a drone to a human controlling entire swarms. Riley ridiculed many of the current approaches as “little kids playing football,” all running after the same goal without coordination. That’s why the Navy is studying how insects and birds are organized to convert that biological logic into military doctrine. Because the next revolution will not be the individual drone, it will be something more like the intelligent mass. Bureaucracy as an internal enemy. If you like, the most important thing about all this is that the Navy seems to have understood something that the war in Ukraine has been proving for years: Innovating fast matters more than perfecting slowly. For decades, the Pentagon believed it could control every phase of development. Now he begins to accept that his role must be another: detect gaps, finance them and let the industry do the rest. The warning is clear and powerful: the military future no longer seems to be won by inventing everything, but by knowing what is worth inventing. Image | Jasmin Aquino, US Army In Xataka | 230 years ago, the Navy made something that is still useful today: an extremely accurate map of the Bay of Cádiz In Xataka | The US moved its aircraft carriers away from Asia to protect them: China has just published a manual to hunt them from 3,000 km

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.