stuck

The EU and India finally seal their great trade agreement. Trump has accelerated what had been stuck for two decades

by

The European Union is beginning to make moves on a board that no longer looks like it did a few years ago. With Donald Trump straining international trade and European dependence on external partners increasingly at the center of the debate, Brussels seeks to gain room for maneuver. This idea of ​​strategic autonomy, repeated for years in speeches and documents, is beginning to be translated into concrete decisions. Some point to digital, others to securityand others to commerce. In this context, the announcement of a great agreement with India after almost two decades of negotiation is understood. The advertisement. The news comes from New Delhi, after a summit in which Narendra Modi and two of the main European figures, António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, participated. The agreement, negotiated for almost twenty yearsseeks to open a new commercial stage between the European Union and India, with a scope that Brussels has wanted to highlight from the first minute. Von der Leyen lor defined on social networks as “the mother of all trade agreements.” Click to see the original publication in X What goes in and what stays out. The announcement speaks of a broad agreement, but its perimeter is defined quite carefully. According to Reutersthe pact focuses on trade in goods and services and standards, while especially sensitive issues, such as investment protection, are negotiated separately. In addition, there are explicit exclusions: agriculture and dairy are not part of the package, a decision that seeks to avoid resistance from some sectors. The key is in the cars. The EU statement itself recalls that tariffs on cars imported into India can reach 110%, a barrier that in practice blocks the entry of a good part of European models. For this reason, the pact includes cuts that could place these tariffs at a minimum of 10%. These discounts would apply to a volume of up to 250,000 cars coming from the European Union. For European manufacturers, the attraction is obvious: access to a huge market that until now has been almost closed. The exchange of concessions. The potential benefits are distributed, although not symmetrically. India would gain competitiveness in labor-intensive industries, such as textiles and garments, which in Europe still face tariffs close to 10%. It also seeks to improve the access of its professionals and technological services to the European market. The EU, on the other hand, aims at a different objective: to better enter an expanding market, where its exports face a weighted average tariff of 9.3% and especially high charges on cars, chemicals and plastics. A geopolitical acceleration. The timing of the announcement is not coincidental. In recent months, both India and the European Union have felt more closely the protectionist turn that accompanies the new era of Donald Trump. Reuters recalls that India has not managed to close an agreement with the Trump Administration since the White House announced in April the so-called “reciprocal tariffs“, and that in August imposed an additional punitive tariff of 25% for the purchase of Russian oil, raising the total tax on Indian goods to 50%. For Europe, the message has been similar: tariffs have once again been an instrument of political pressure. Nothing is in effect yet. The announcement is important, but the institutional path is just beginning. The final text must still pass legal scrutiny in Brussels and New Delhi. Then comes the most delicate stage: ratification. Reuters notes that the pact will have to be approved by the European Parliament, a process that could take at least a year. For example, the EU-Mercosur pact: it was signed on January 17, 2026 in Asunción, but days later the European Parliament decided to refer it to the Court of Justice of the EU for review, something that could delay its application for up to two years. The movement with India does not have to follow that path, but it invites us to be cautious. Images | Olga Nayda | Mitul Gajera | frank mckenna In Xataka | Something has broken between Europe and the US: France leaving Zoom behind and Teams in its administration points to something bigger

Imoo turned the children’s smartwatch into its own genre. Now all the parents who bought it are stuck

by

According to CounterPoint Research estimate for the global smartwatch market in 2025… Apple grew 12%. Samsung fell 6%. Imoo grew by 17%. Action replay: A Chinese brand that exclusively sells children’s watches is growing more than Appleand definitely more than Samsung, which is going down. Imoo, what The year has already started growing in quotaalready has 7% of the global smartwatch market. And it doesn’t really compete against the Apple Watch Ultra or the current Galaxy Watch: compete against the anguish of not knowing where your child is when he leaves school. Or rather: against the fear of not knowing if one day something happens. Counterpoint Research projects that the global smartwatch market will grow 7% in 2025 after first falling in 2024. That rebound is partly explained by Apple launching the cheap SE 3 and recovering after seven consecutive quarters of declines. But there is another factor: China went from 25% global share in 2024 to 31% in 2025. And within that jump, Imoo has a specific role that perhaps we are not looking at closely enough. Huawei is reinforcing its focus on health and sports, Apple maintains its inertia, Xiaomi focuses on the watch as part of a domestic ecosystem… and Imoo has turned parental fear into a product category. Their watches have GPS, calls, SOS button or alerts when the child leaves an area geofenced by his parents. As a watch it is not very smart and perhaps fits better in the category of surveillance and emergency aid device. Imoo hasn’t invented parental fear, but it has built a great machine to monetize it. Besides, It is a device that creates functional dependency: Once a parent puts it on their child’s wrist, they get used to the peace of mind it provides. So it is difficult not to renew it when the child stamps it or when it becomes obsolete. This success of Imoo goes beyond technology: when you grow 17% a year selling this type of watches, you do not measure adoption, but rather the number of parents who have decided that the anxiety that would cause them not knowing where their child is (understandable, of course) is worse than the inconvenience of constantly tracking them. Once you cross that threshold, there is no turning back. Previous generations had opaque spacesmoments of disappearance for a few hours before returning to dinner. These spaces are closed with this type of products, colorful and gamified, with a branding questionable but an unquestionable commercial success. Parents do not feel that they “control”, but rather that they protect. And kids don’t feel tracked, at least until they get acne and the bomb goes off, until then they just feel like they have a cool watch. And there is an advantage for parents: if suddenly almost all of your child’s classmates have one, the fact that your child does not have one becomes an anomaly. Imoo’s 7% share (and counting) measures how many children are growing up knowing that their parents can track them at any time. It measures a generation that normalizes permanent connectivity as a default state from the age of six. Counterpoint speaks of the smart watch market with “China-driven growth” and “different strategies to sustain the engagement of the consumer”, but it does not mention that One of those strategies is to redefine a part of childhood. The next son will also wear the watch. And the next one too. Imoo doesn’t need to grow faster than Apple to win. It just requires that each generation of parents find it more unthinkable than the previous one to leave a child unaccounted for. In Xataka | After almost a decade with the Apple Watch, I have switched to a Garmin. And I understood what I was missing Featured image | Xataka

stuck on a dead end track

by

In September, the future European fighter in which Spain participates began to disfigure publicly. Already in November, in a new twist of script, the European fighter began to point to something else. The latest? The Future Combat Air System project, FCAShas ceased to be solely an industrial and technological program to become an uncomfortable mirror of Europe’s ambition (and limitations). The plane is literally at a dead end. A symbol that wobbles. Those ambitions have was staged these days in the figure of Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz, and the Europe they aspire to. Both leaders have spent weeks redoubling a speech that insists on strategic autonomy, digital sovereignty and its own military capacity, a message that is amplified in a continent shaken by uncertainty about the American commitment and by the aggressiveness of a Kremlin that has returned conventional war to the heart of Europe. In this context, the FCAS had been conceived as the emblem of a continent capable of compete with the F-35 American, to secure replacements for the Rafale and Eurofighter that are beginning to approach their operational end, and to demonstrate that Europe can still lead technological revolutions in defense. Reality blow. But the rindustrial and political reality surrounding the program contradicts official rhetoric. Eight years after its presentation, FCAS is accumulating delays, internal disputes and an atmosphere of mistrust that turns each negotiation into a slow erosion of expectations, forcing us to wonder if this plane of 100,000 million of euros has not become a failed test before even taking off. The blockages that show the seams. Behind the common façade, France and Germany carry structural rivalries that become especially visible when they must cooperate in a field as sensitive as combat aviation. Dassault and Airbus, the giants called to work side by side, have been exchanging reproaches. Eric Trappier, head of Dassault, has never hidden his refusal to give up leadership in design, nor has he hidden his disdain for German technical capacity in areas considered critical. From the other side, Airbus accuses Dassault of protect historical privileges incompatible with a modern multinational project. The international success of the Rafale, unexpectedly converted into a symbol of independence compared to the F-35, has further strengthened the French position and has strained the distribution of burdens and responsibilities. None of these frictions are new, but they are have become more corrosive at a time when cooperation is no longer just desirable, but necessary. What should have been an alliance between equals has led to what analysts describe as a marriage of convenience full of suspicions, in which every tactile decision on intellectual property, industrial distribution or technological transfer becomes a clash of corporate cultures. The political factor. Added to the industrial complexity is the political vulnerability of its promoters. Macron, cornered by an internal budget crisis and by the prospect of a 2027 that could hand power to the far right, has lost the ability to impose rhythms or guarantees in long-term projects. Merz, for his part, deals with a economy that seeks to reinvent itself and with a rise of the far right which forces careful internal calibrations, but unlike France, Germany yes it has resources: Its defense budget is heading towards a doubling that transforms Berlin into the dominant partner in financial terms. This asymmetry introduces a power imbalance that irritates both Paris and the industrial partners involved. Believe or not believe. This being the case, cooperation fundamentally requires trust, but that trust is precisely the resource that is most scarce. Without clear leadership, without a sustained common vision and without an architecture that credibly distributes risks and benefits, FCAS has become a hidden battle for influence rather than a joint project. What no one says, but everyone thinks. They remembered on Bloomberg that, as delays increase, hypotheses begin to emerge that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. It we comment a few weeks ago, one way is to transform FCAS into an umbrella digital interoperability that allows each country to build its own plane, all connected by a common data system. This path would allow Dassault to follow a sovereign path, while Airbus would concentrate its efforts on mission systems, companion drones and data fusion. But there is more. Another alternative, more ambitious and politically riskier, would be to abandon the national distribution of work, which assigns tasks by flag, and move to a distribution by industrial skillsrewarding whoever can make each piece better and faster. This last option is what specialists have been asking for for years, but it is also the one that clashes head-on with the electoral incentives of each government. European defense remains organized to maximize benefits at the national levelnot common efficiency, and as long as this does not change, they will repeat the same blocking patterns. Without deep reform, FCAS risks becoming another example of ambition being suffocated by domestic politics. Consequences of failure. He FCAS failure It would be more than the collapse of an industrial project. It would represent a devastating message for a continent seeking to demonstrate that it can guarantee its security without completely depending on the United States. While the F-35 changes balances in the Middle East and while Europe watches, almost daily, how Russian drones penetrate western airspacethe world is moving towards a technologically different war. The countries that lead this transition (from autonomous swarms to sixth generation platforms) will determine the correlation of power of the 21st century. Giving up on FCAS would mean accepting that Europe is late, that it is not prepared for the industrial leaps that modern conflict requires and that, despite the rhetoric of strategic autonomy, it continues to depend from external suppliers for their critical capabilities. This dependence is the same one that Macron and Merz say they want to overcome, although the failure to fulfill their own projects pushes them, step by step, towards it. Between two waters. If you will, the outcome from FCAS It will be a … Read more

Aerothermal energy is the heating of the future, but the electrical installation is stuck in the past

by

“Winter is coming”, read the iconic phrase of the Stark family in Game of Thrones. There are less than two months until the official arrival of winter and, with it, the time to see how our energy bill trembles as much as we do. Search formulas to heat the house becomes prevalent in this final stretch of the year, especially when heating continues to be one of the main reasons why electricity consumption skyrockets. Every season new technological promises appear to maintain comfort without emptying your pocket, and aerothermal energy has become one of the most popular.But the key question arises: can all homes really benefit from it? The rise of aerothermal energy. This technology It works in a very simple way: Harnesses the energy already in the outside air to heat or cool the house and produce hot water. Instead of generating heat by burning gas or consuming large amounts of electricity, this system “extracts” it from the environment and multiplies it. In practice, this means that for every kilowatt of electricity it needs to operate, aerothermal energy can produce up to five of useful heat or cold. While a radiator or boiler converts energy into heat directly, aerothermal energy does something more intelligent: it extracts heat from the air and multiplies it. According to the architects consulted by Arquitectura y Diseño They calculate that, in a medium-sized home, this difference can translate into savings of up to 35% annually, as long as the house is well insulated and the climate is favorable. For the pocket, it translates into about 100 to 130 euros less on the annual bill. So aren’t all houses ready? Although it sounds like a perfect technology, architects warn that not all homes can take advantage of aerothermal energy on equal terms. In fact, there are multiple factors that reduce its effectiveness: the type of home, its insulation, the location and the specific energy needs. In Mediterranean climates, for example, where passive design allows thermal comfort to be achieved without active systems, “it does not make sense to use aerothermal energy as the main heating or cooling system.” In other words, installing aerothermal heating without previously evaluating the home can be like buying an electric car without having a plug at home. Experts in sustainable architecture insist that energy demand must first be reduced and housing optimized before betting on advanced technologies. The state of the electrical installations is another of the great brakes on the electrification of the residential park. The Observatory of Electrical Rehabilitation of Housing warns that 80% of the houses have technical deficiencies, and that only 22.4% were built after the 2002 Technical Regulation. This makes it clear that the majority of homes continue to depend on old networks, poorly prepared to assume new energy demands such as those required by aerothermal energy or solar self-consumption. The signs to know if your home is suitable. Before considering installing aerothermal, technicians recommend doing a prior evaluation. OK with the expertsthese are the main technical requirements: Have a ventilated outdoor space, free of obstacles, to place the outdoor unit. Have a modern electrical installation and sufficient contracted power. Check the thermal insulation and carpentry: without a good envelope, the efficiency of the system drops. Adapt the existing heating system (for example, replacing conventional radiators with underfloor heating). Carry out a climate feasibility study: in very cold or hot areas, you may need support from another system. In short, aerothermal energy is not installed, it is prepared. A well-insulated house with modern electrical installation can convert air into free energy; An old home, on the other hand, can make it an expense that is difficult to amortize. Furthermore, if it is found that the initial investment It can exceed 8,000 euros for an 80 m² apartment. What if it is combined with solar energy? Where aerothermal energy deploys its full potential it is when combined with photovoltaic solar energy. This synergy multiplies performance and reduces dependence on the electrical grid. The energy generated by the plates can power the heat pump, achieving an almost self-sufficient system with an emissions balance close to zero. Furthermore, it has already been applied in real projects such as Casa Gualba, designed by Slow Studiothis formula allows the production of up to 17 MWh per year thanks to the integration of tiles and photovoltaic panels on the roof. In short, aerothermal energy and solar energy form an efficient tandem, as long as the home is prepared for it. Efficiency, yes, but with preparation. Aerothermal energy is here to stay. It is a key piece on the path to decarbonized homes, especially now that the European Union banned at the beginning of the year subsidize gas boilers. But, like all technology, it only works well when the environment supports it. Investing in aerothermal energy without first checking the electrical installation, insulation or orientation of the home can translate into frustration rather than savings. For this reason, it is advisable to do a good check and thus the air can become our best ally against the cold. Image | FreePik and FreePik Xataka | Resolving one of the great debates in all kitchens: whether it consumes more to turn on the oven or the air fryer

The atmosphere has been stuck in a “extreme heat generator” on Spain. That means something: a hard summer

by

The first fortnight of June has brought us more typical temperatures at the end of July or even August: there have been numerous days in which wide areas of the southern peninsular have seen the thermometers exceed the 40º line. The problem now is not that heat stays with us throughout the summer, the problem is that it may go more. Same trend. The heat seems determined to settle on the peninsula, or at least that is what can be detached from models such as those used by the European Center for Middle Term weather forecasts (ECMWF). To understand why, we have to look higher towards the atmosphere. About 1,500 meters high. According to Explain The physicist, disseminator and researcher at Aemet JJ German in his account Twitterwe have the track in the forecasts on the temperature at height at 850 hectopascales (HPA), which usually refer to an approximate height in the atmosphere of 1,500 meters, the low troposphere zone. The temperature at this level tends to be related to the temperature that we see at soil level, so it can serve as a reference for how temperatures will evolve in the coming days. According to data shared by German, we not only find a temperature above the climatological average (an anomaly above the 5th Celsius), but the situation will last, with the possibility that this anomaly approaches 10th towards the end of June. “This is barbarity: far from returning to balance as normal, atmospheric dynamics on the Iberian Peninsula seem to get stuck in an extreme heat generator,” explained in its publication. Looking at the map. If we focus on The map Prepared by ECMWF, we will also see that heat will remain foreseeably installed on our heads. The forecasts indicate that during the next ten days the almost entire peninsula will be under the influence of temperatures above 20º to 850 HPA, with large areas above the 24th and with some points, the 28th barrier temporarily exceeds. What’s happening. In a second TweetGerman explained what is happening. According to the expert, a Dana located west of the peninsula and a dorsal (an extension of high pressures associated with an anticyclone) would be responsible for the situation. A situation that would be seeing aggravated by the low atmospheric movement, thus achieving what German refers as a “static equilibrium point.” The result: heat and more heat. The result is the intuitive: this warm episode seems to be sentenced to extend over time, at least during the next week. The maximum in a large part of the Peninsular South They could stay above 36º and promptly above 40º. In Xataka | At the end of May we reached 40ºC: it is only the appetizer of the decimer summer a consecutive warmer than normal according to aemet Image | ECMWF

That a model of AI is stuck playing something as basic as ‘Pokémon’ seems worrying. It is not at all

by

It was 2013 and almost no one had heard of Deepminda small artificial intelligence startup. His researchers came up to make their AI system learn to play (already win) video games, and They trained her with some titles of the old Atari console. Among them was ‘Breakout’ (in Spain it appeared as ‘Arkanoid’), and A video of the time It shows how after 10 minutes playing the machine did not know just anything. After two hours of play, yes, I already played as an expert. But at four o’clock something amazing spent: The machine discovered a “trick” To maximize the effort: it made the ball end up creating “a tunnel” and then cast the ball through that tunnel so that it would not stop bouncing and ending almost the entire level effortlessly. Since then using video games to train AI models or to check if they are able to adapt to them and complete them is common in the industry. It is precisely what Anthropic tried when a few weeks ago Claude 3.7 launched. This hybrid model of AI has proven to be a notable advance in areas such as programming and reasoning, but in Anthropic they wanted to test it with a singular test: To play the ‘Pokémon’ video game. The AI ​​is stuck In this experiment those responsible for Anthropic wanted to evaluate whether the AI ​​systems “can face challenges with increasingly complex competences, not only through training, but of generalized reasoning.” Claude’s previous versions had a bad time even trying to start playing from the video game’s beginning screen, but Claude 3.7 Sonnet’s “expanded thinking” allows the new model «Plan in advanceremember their objectives and adapt when the initial strategies fail »in a way that their predecessors did not do. For those responsible for Anthropic these improvements will end up helping to solve real world problems. It is something we are also seeing With the benchmark arc -agi 2which is precisely aimed at measuring the ability of the Ias to do things that are easy for us (controlling a video game, solving a visual puzzle) but these models are especially difficult. Source: Anthropic. The advance of Anthropic here is remarkable, but is far from being able to be considered a success. In fact and how they comment In Ars Technicathousands of spectators have proven On the Twitch Channel created by Anthropic how Claude stayed totally stuck in Mount Sléniteone of the video game sections. In that channel you can also see how Claude is still trying to solve the problem and advance. “Think” and “reason” and even shows what “thinking” and “reasoning”, but the model still does not overcome that video game. And despite everything, this is a great achievement of AI Taking into account that the video game is oriented to children, it seems easy to despise the achievement of Anthropic, but these advances must be valued very positively. To start, Claude 3.7 model used to play was not “pressed” to play the video game: I had to learn about the march and adapt to the game. Here also Claude “sees” the screen and what happens to react based on that analysis. And the problem is that The ‘Pokémon’ graphics are very basic and pixelatedwhich raises an even greater challenge for the Anthropic model: with better graphics it would probably behave much better, explained one of those responsible for the experiment. Even so, Claude behaves especially well in the parts of the game in which text is shown, something that allows this model to better recognize what he needs to do in that phase of the video game. But if there is a serious problem, that is also that of memorization. Claude has trouble remembering everything you have learned: It has a limited “memory” Of 200,000 tokens and when they exhaust Claude, they resort to summaries and condense the information, which can lead to eliminate small details that are important to advance in the game. Be that as it may, the achievement of Anthropic remains remarkable, and points to a future in which these models can play autonomously and do so exceptionally to all kinds of games. As Deepmind already did it with that simplistic version of the ‘Arkanoid’, but in a big way. In Xataka | The latest Google is an AI that plays video games. THE KEY: DOES IT UNDERSTANDING NATURAL LANGUAGE

Spain’s attack gets stuck against Norway and the Hispanics are left with no margin for error to qualify for the quarterfinals

by

Spain Qualification for the quarterfinals of the World Cup has been complicated after losing to a Norwegian team that, despite not reaching its best moment, punished the irregularity of the national team. Those of Jordi Ribera They had a good first half, but ran out of steam in the second half. In the second phase, the ‘Hispanics’ They no longer have any margin for error. The defeat against Norway has been like a shot in the foot and each game for Spain will be a match ball. Portugal will be the first obstacle, while if they win, the pass will be decided against Brazil. The defeat took place in the second half when the Spanish players failed to be successful in front of goal. Spain, which led by four, conceded a 4-9 partial in the final minutes that caused the first defeat in the World Cup. A result that few could have predicted with twenty minutes remaining with the five goals advantage (14-19) that the Spanish team had, whose attack was choked with seven field players that the Nordic team proposed in the final stretch. Quite a setback for Spain, which, aware of the delicate situation in which the hosts arrived at the event, who had zero points in their locker, seemed willing to exploit the nervousness of the Norwegian team with a forceful start to the game. Spain, from more to less To do this, Jordi Ribera did not hesitate to bet on the presence of the brothers. Dujshebaev who responded to the coach’s confidence with three consecutive goals from Dani, the youngest of the saga. An offensive efficiency that allowed the Hispanics to take a two-goal lead (1-3) that seemed like it could make Norway falter, very touched after its bad first phase. But it was the Spanish team itself that was in charge of rescuing the Nordic from his doubts with several untimely losses of the ball that allowed Norway to run. A circumstance that condemned Spain to see how those of Jonas Wille Not only did they erase their disadvantage, but they turned the score around 4-3 in just two minutes. It was enough, however, for those from Ribera to minimize their offensive mistakes led by a spectacular Alex Dujshebaev, who took over the scoring from his little brother, so that the ghosts would appear again to the Norwegian team. Forced to attack statically, the local players began to get more and more entangled in the defensive framework of the Spanish team, which with legs and more legs took the Nordics to the brink of passiveness in each of their offensives. The ideal breeding ground for Norway’s mistakes to emerge, which Spain did not forgive and punished with several consecutive counterattacks to lead by two goals (9-11) with just over ten minutes to go before half-time. Sagosen, the key to the match But the goalkeeper’s emergence Andre Kristensenwhich made three consecutive stops, prevented the escape of the Spanish team, which increasingly firm in defense managed, despite everything, to go into the break with a lead of three goals (10-13) on the scoreboard. The Hispanics managed to extend that difference to five (13-18) thanks to a sensational defensive work, in which the young man shone again, as happened against Sweden. Ian Barrufetand the goals of Imanol Garciandia which, with its cannon shots, unblocked the Spanish attack. However, there was still a lot for those from Ribera to suffer, as he was responsible for remembering. Norwegian star Sander Sagosenwhich seemed to be resurrected with the move to attack with seven field players proposed by the Nordic coach. A change that stuck for Spain, which saw its advantage reduced to just one point (21-22) with just over ten minutes remaining, forcing Ribera to urgently request a time-out. Petar Cikusa tries to escape the pressure of the Norwegian players. EFE

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.