table

Bugatti once again defies the laws of physics. This time with a 250,000 euro stabilized pool table for luxury yachts

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There are Bugatti customers who are not satisfied with having a hypercar in the garagethey also want a Bugatti on the yacht. Having it does not always mean having to get a car several million dollars on board (although some have no problem doing it), sometimes the answer is a pool table. But not just any table. A pool table that defies the laws of physics and of the tidesstaying flat while you play, even if the ship moves. And it does so with the same technical obsession and extreme care for every detail that Bugatti puts into each one. their supercars. Solution to a very specific problem. Playing pool on a yacht may seem simple until you realize that you are on a structure that never stops rocking. Therefore, it would be impossible to play a game without the balls starting to roll by themselves to the sound of the swaying waves. That was the real problem that Bugatti wanted to solve. Superyacht owners wanted a pool table on board, but the swell made it almost impossible. The result is called Bugatti Pool Table and is part of Bugatti Lifestyle, the brand’s luxury objects division, which has also launched luxury watches and even televisions that look like a sculpture. The table was manufactured in a limited edition of only 30 units and its price starts at 250,000 euros with accessories included. In addition, it meets the specifications of a table approved for professional competition. The technology that wins the battle against the waves. The heart of the invention is a gyroscopic system that detects any inclination of the boat instantly. When the waves move the boat, servomotors correct the position of each leg to keep the table surface completely horizontal. According to the brand, “the sensors carry out the measurement and order the correction in just five milliseconds” so the balls are not influenced by the swing of the tide. Everything happens silently, without perceptible vibrations. This type of stabilization is reminiscent of the boat stabilizerswhich reduce hull roll with gyroscopes or moving fins. Bugatti applied a similar idea, but on the scale of a table. This way the balls stay still where you leave them. A Galician with a French accent. Although the table is signed by the French supercar manufacturer, the design was actually developed in Vigo. The company in charge is IXOa Galician firm specialized in carbon fiber that also works for the aeronautical industry, and has repaired Ferrari and Lamborghini bodies. Its founder, Pedro Sánchez, assures that “We have not skimped on anything; everything has been risked and sacrificed to create something unimaginable.” The table structure combines carbon fiber with CNC machined aluminum. The screws and nuts are made of titanium, designed to resist corrosion in the marine environment. The embrasures are made of stainless steel covered in leather. Each table also has a numbered plate, just like the cars at the Atelier de Molsheim. No two tables are the same. Accessories that cost more than a car. The table does not arrive alone. The pack includes a matching carbon fiber cue holder, with a 13-inch touch screen for keeping score. It also has an adjustable LED lamp and a leather suitcase to store the balls. Those balls, by the way, are signed Aramith Tournament Prothe Belgian brand that makes the standard used by most professional tournaments. In addition, each table includes a USB memory with photos and videos of its manufacturing process, stored in a machined aluminum box. This attention to detail turns a simple game of pool into an exercise in pure engineering, extreme luxury and enormous financial muscle. First to buy a yacht, and then to decorate it with a billiard table signed by Bugatti. In Xataka | In 1995, one of the most iconic Bugatti in history mysteriously disappeared. Now it has appeared again Image | Unsplash (jericaglasserphoto)

Intel just put 5 billion and an asterisk on the table

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Europe has been trying for years gain weight on the world map of semiconductors. It is not just about manufacturing more chips, but about reducing dependence on supply chains concentrated outside the continent and regaining ground in the most advanced processes. The United States pursues a similar objective and has reinforced its efforts to attract investmentsfactories and jobs linked to strategic technologies. This industrial race has left a striking scene: one of the largest American companies in the sector has decided to bet billions on expanding its production on European soil. That company is Intel, that has announced an investment of 5,000 million euros to expand and modernize its Leixlip complex, in Ireland. The goal is to increase production of Xeon 6 processors and certain upcoming Xeon products made with Intel 3, the most advanced process the company currently produces in Europe. The move, however, comes after the manufacturer canceled its industrial projects in Germany and Poland. The European Union reinforces its production, but the fine print forces us to clarify how far this victory really goes. More capacity in Ireland, but a European chain still incomplete The core of the plan is not to build a new factory or expand the clean room, but to better equip Fab 34, Upgrade your facilities and extend your automated network that moves the wafers during the numerous stages of the production process. This infrastructure will allow the different modules of the campus to be integrated more fluidly and increase the efficiency of the whole. Intel began rolling out the program in early 2026, although it has not detailed when it will complete the improvements. The expected result is a greater volume manufactured with Intel 3 taking advantage of the existing space. Fab 34 began full-scale production in 2023 and turned Leixlip into Intel’s large European advanced manufacturing center. The installation was born working with Intel 4, used in the first Core Ultra, and later incorporated Intel 3 for the Xeon processors. Both technologies use extreme ultraviolet lithography, known as EUV, to print smaller, more complex structures on wafers. When it began its activity, Fab 34 became the first European factory to use this technique in high-volume production. Main entrance to the Robert N. Noyce Building, Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California The expected increase responds, according to Intel, to greater demand for server processors and infrastructure linked to artificial intelligence. Although GPUs and accelerators attract much of the attention, data centers still need CPU to run general loadsmanage resources and maintain the platforms on which these specialized systems work. The Xeons occupy precisely that space within their catalog. Expanding the volume of Intel 3 would allow us to better supply that market without waiting for a new plant to be ready. The disbursement also comes after a major financial pivot around Fab 34. In 2024, Apollo contributed $11.2 billion and acquired 49% of a joint venture tied to the facility’s production, although Intel maintained ownership and operational control of the factory. The company repurchased that stake in April 2026 for $14.2 billion. Three months later, it again commits capital to the Irish infrastructure after recovering 100% of that company. Intel’s European bet had been much more ambitious. The company introduced Fab 34 as one piece of a future chain that would combine wafer production in Ireland with two new advanced factories in Magdeburg, Germany, and an assembly and testing facility in Wrocław, Poland. That deployment was to cover within the Union several of the main stages necessary to convert a wafer into a finished processor. The projects were postponed in 2024 and definitively abandoned a year later, when Intel decided to adjust its investments to expected demand. The 5,000 million asterisk appears there. Europe will be able to manufacture a greater volume of advanced wafers, but it will still not have the complete framework that Intel had promised to build within the EU. The company maintains its main assembly and testing operations in the United States and Asia, after canceling the Polish facility that was to cover those stages. Leixlip reduces some of the external dependence, although it does not by itself convert Xeon production into a fully European chain. Images | Intel In Xataka | SK Hynix is ​​betting that the memory cycle is dead. He proves it by doing just what always killed him.

Volkswagen needs money and getting rid of its Italian jewels is already on the table

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Ducati, for sale. Reason, here. Lamborghini, for sale. Reason, here. Those are the posters that could hang on the door of the Volkswagen group headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. At least that’s what they claim Financial Timeswhere they claim that investment banks are pressuring the automobile conglomerate to get rid of two of its most glittering assets. The company announced a few days ago that plans to lay off 100,000 workers. The notice is the continuation of another threatthis time from December 2024. At that time, the company already claimed to be immersed in a huge restructuring process because, according to its directors, It was “essential to survive”. The result, as we say, was a first threat: 35,000 layoffs. That promotion of incentivized sick leave and layoffs (which later amounted to 50,000 employees) to avoid factory closures is forgotten. At least that’s what I anticipated Manager Magazine just a few days ago. And the fact is that the accounts, they say, do not add up and it will be necessary to raise the level of layoffs to 100,000 employees. In the conversations that revolve around that conversation, another idea has come up: sell. Sell ​​companies that are a flagship of quality and good work within the Volkswagen Group. They explain in Financial Times and collect other German media such as Auto Motor und Sport that investment banks are already putting pressure on Volkswagen’s management to slim down its portfolio. And those indicated are clear: Ducati and Lamborghini. Now that we can To understand why Lamborghini and Ducati would be in the spotlight, the British economic media and the German motor media point to one name: Everllence. Everllence is a company specialized in the production of large engines for very specific sectors such as maritime or energy production. A few days ago the sale of 51% of the company was confirmed in an agreement that was estimated at 7.4 billion euros. A maneuver that, apparently, has been received with very good words by the rest of the Volkswagen Group investors. And the idea, therefore, is to continue. Although they are two of the great jewels of the automobile conglomerate, Ducati and Lamborghini are also attractive in the eyes of a potential buyer. The main incentive for their purchase is that these are companies that obtain enormous economic performance from their products, which establishes part of the future success for whoever is willing to buy the company and, above all, increases the sales value that the German group can obtain. The possible sale of Ducati, in fact, It was already put on the table in 2017 but for now he is still part of the company. In this case, the colleagues explain Motorpassion Motorcycle It would be a sale of the company. In the case of Lamborghini, an IPO would be contemplated. The movement, evidently, would have the intention of raising funds to strengthen the restructuring that the company has advanced. A few weeks ago, the Volkswagen Group already divested itself of Bugatti, a company whose cars require a very high leverage of money since they are vehicles produced by hand in a large part of their process. The company still had a 45% stake in Bugatti through Porsche, after in 2021 it already sold the remaining 55% to the Rimac Group, owners of the car company. super luxury electric cars. In that sale the amount of the operation was not made public but our colleagues from Motorpassion They stated that the figure reached was estimated at around 500 million euros. That investment banks target Ducati and Lamborghini, as we say, is no coincidence. Stellantis, for example, has a problem with Maserati since it is having a very difficult time relaunching the brand but, above all, it is a firm with very little projection in case someone wants to buy it, as explained in the podcast Power Art. And for Volkswagen, getting rid of both companies totally or partially would mean an immediate injection of capital. The question is whether it is a good idea in the long term. In the case of Lamborghini, some models share research and development with Audi such as the Urus and the Q8 or the most recent Audi Nuvolaria spectacular supercar that It exists only because the Lamborghini Temerario already existed. That is to say, Lamborghini is intricate within the rest of the Volkswagen group, it is not like Bugatti which in many cases walked a path parallel to that of the rest of the company. For the Germans, the Italian firm is more than just very high profit margins, it is a test bed and a breath of fresh air for stagnant companies like Audi. Photo | Ducati and Audi In Xataka | You buy a “European car”, you receive Chinese technology: more and more brands from the old continent refit Asian vehicles

put an Android computer on your table

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The presentation of the new Googlebooks It left many of us wanting more. Above all, more information, because although the company revealed its intentions with these “Premium Chromebooks”, what it did not explain is what operating system would govern them. Everything seems to indicate, however, that here Google will go all out on an operating system that was born to conquer the mobile but now wants to also conquer the desktop: Android. Android comes out of your pocket. For a decade, Google’s strategy has been two-fold: ChromeOS for lightweight, affordable laptops, and Android for everything else. Both operating systems have been getting closer for some time, and in June 2024 the Chromium developers they already explained that “ChromeOS will soon be built with large portions of the Android stack.” We are facing a merger that was silent but now seems to have its own name. Aluminum OS. Curiously, Google did not mention this project even once, but everything indicates that Googlebooks could be governed by this evolution of ChromeOS that will be called Aluminum OS. Those responsible for Google have already indicated that they hoped to launch it in 2026 and everything suggests that it will be just to accompany those laptops. From desktop mode to something else. Although Google takes years fiddling with the idea from desktop mode, it has only been now that has finally offered it on some Pixel family devices officially. One can connect the mobile phone to a monitor using a USB-C cable, and then also connect a keyboard and mouse to the mobile phone via Bluetooth, and start using that desktop mode as if you were working on a conventional PC… more or less. “Stretched” apps. What we have in that desktop mode is an Android experience adapted to the big screen, and that is noticeable from the first moment, for better and for worse. Although the applications work and being able to use them with a mouse and keyboard is very attractive, others seem like “stuffed apps” that don’t fit too well with a conventional desktop environment. What Google intends here is to solve precisely that problem and so that we do not miss the traditional versions of Photoshop or Excel. The danger here is that the “Google PC” will remain a toy for browsing the web, which is something that Chromebooks with ChromeOS could already do. It is reasonable to think that the current Android desktop mode is basically what we will see on Googlebooks. Gemini like glue. Competing with Windows, macOS or Linux with these options may not be enough, so Google keeps the card for its artificial intelligence platform. Gemini Intelligenceits new AI platform to automate mobile processes, also seems like a good way to enhance this operating system, but we will have to see if the implementation is really useful or not. What is proposed is striking: an operating system in which icons are no longer too relevant, because AI will anticipate our needs and do things for us in the operating system without us barely having to use a mouse or keyboard. Samsung DeX has already shown the way. The South Korean company has been betting on its own desktop mode with DeX. That function is still present on their phones, but it has remained a second-tier feature that users can take advantage of but that has never had the ambition of making us stop using Windows or macOS. But of course: Samsung does not sell laptops with DeX (at the moment), and Google intends to do exactly that to offer a total alternative to the traditional Windows or macOS laptop. Can we do it all with an Android laptop? Maybe not everything—we’re thinking about gaming, and Googlebooks won’t be for that—but most of what we currently do. The problem is not being able to do it, it is whether changing a Windows or a macOS for a desktop operating system based on Android will provide something truly different. That is the challenge, and although Android has its strengths (such as a huge app catalog), pure “desktop apps” are not its forte. But the moment is right. Especially considering that Windows is in low hours after that obsession that has made Microsoft I flooded it with AI. The company seems want to correct that problem that so many criticisms has generated, but there are many users disenchanted with an operating system. That gives a unique opportunity to its rivals, and for now Apple has already taken advantage of it. with the Macbook Neo. If Google’s execution is good, Googlebooks could indeed present an alternative. Image | Pepu Ricca (Xataka Android) In Xataka | France wants to “become independent” from Windows and embrace Linux: Extremadura has a lesson to transmit

We have been banishing the humble traditional salt shaker from the table for years. Now we have realized that it is a mistake

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For decades, problems such as goiter, hypothyroidism, and childhood cognitive deficits linked to a lack of iodine in the body seemed to be a thing of the past in developed countries. All this was a success of the advances that were seen in public health from the 20th century onwards by targeting the need to add iodine to salt of table that we all consume. But now in many countries there is a significant deficiency in iodine that can lead to the appearance of serious diseases. The culprits. Ironically, new health and wellness trends, as we are seeing a huge boom in non-iodized “gourmet” salts that seem very cool, but they do not have the iodine that is supplemented to classic salt and that we need in our diet. The map of a deficit. According to data from the WHO itself in Europe and the Iodine Global Network, mild iodine deficiency persists and is spreading in countries where it was believed to be an eradicated problem. To give us an idea, in the UK Recent data suggest that women of childbearing age have gone from having sufficient levels to being classified as having mild deficiency. If we continue investigating, in Australia the problem has been reappearing for years despite fortification attempts, while in the United States, recent reviews published indicate that the deficit is growing again despite the historical iodization of salt, linked to new dietary patterns. The ‘gourmet’ culprit. Historically, common table salt has been our primary vehicle for consuming dietary iodine. But in recent years we have seen a trend appear for this product, such as Himalayan pink saltflaked sea salt or kosher salt. The problem with these options, in addition to being much more expensive, is that they are perceived as very healthy alternatives. The problem is that they are almost never iodized, and that is why their increasing consumption in order to improve health is ultimately causing the opposite. There is more. In addition to the salt problem, it must also be kept in mind that in many countries cow’s milk has traditionally been the main source of iodine in the diet due to livestock supplementation and milking disinfectants. But its consumption is falling radically. This is in addition to a general transition towards vegan or flexitarian diets that has increased the consumption of vegetable drinks that, although they are reinforced with calcium or vitamin B12, are not fortified with this iodine. Its consequences. That there is an iodine deficiency is not nonsense, since iodine is the fundamental fuel of the thyroid gland and is vital for neurological development, and that is why the European Food Safety Authority establishes that an adult needs 150 micrograms of iodine per day, a figure that rises to 200 µg in pregnant women. If we focus on pregnant women, having a deficit can have fatal consequences with problems in fetal cognitive development or even drops in IQ. The cases. An analysis published in 2019 estimates that there are currently 81.4 million cases of deficiency in women of reproductive age and, although since 1990 the global prevalence has decreased enormously thanks to universal iodization, the problem now presents a dichotomy: it affects regions with a low human development index such as sub-Saharan Africa due to lack of resources, and rich countries due to modern dietary decisions. The solution. Here the WHO demands that prevention policies be reinforced through specific legislation, promoting universal iodization of all salts, both those for direct consumption and those used in processed foods and bakery. In addition, the need to require or encourage vegetable drinks to be systematically fortified with iodine is pointed out, matching the nutritional profile of cow’s milk. In this way, we return to the original idea of ​​introducing iodine into common table salt, so now it is time to supplement the new foods that appear on the market. Images | Jonathan Cooper Melissa DiRocco In Xataka | If you fall asleep in less than five minutes, you don’t have a “superpower”: it’s a warning signal from your brain

More and more Spanish bars refuse to let you pay at the table. Its objective is very simple: greater rotation

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“To pay, at the cashier.” It doesn’t matter if you live in the very center of Madrid, the most touristy area of ​​Barcelona, ​​next to Malagueta, in Vigo or a remote town in Bierzo, it is most likely that at some point in the last few months you have heard that phrase when you ask a waiter to please charge you. To pay for the coffee you just had, you must get up and go to the checkout yourself. Or what is the same, you do not have the option of being charged at the table. It seems like a minor issue, but this decision is not accidental: it responds to a logic that seeks to speed up the rotation in the premises and get the most out of them. “Excuse me, can I have the bill?” In Spain there are some 87,000 restaurants and food stalls, almost 163,400 drinking establishments and 270,200 “food and beverage services”, according to INE datawhich gives a pretty clear idea about how we live in Spain: we like (a lot) to go out for coffees, beers and tapas. Therefore, no matter what region you live in, chances are that in recent months you have sat at a table in a bar or restaurant. And that’s also why you’ve probably noticed that it’s becoming more and more common that when you want to pay and ask for the bill, answer the same: “To pay, at the cashier.” Unraveling the mystery. The question is obvious. Why the hell are they asking us to pay at the cashier? Are we not hindering the passage of other customers like this? Does it have any advantages over the option of paying the bill directly at the table? The mystery was cleared up a few months ago Jairosanbor, a tiktoker that usually publishes on his account videos related to the world of hospitality. And the answer is quite simple: although several factors come into play, everything is limited to a simple question of rotation in the premises. In other words, make a business profitable and get the most out of it. Time and agility. The logic is simple. If the customer receives the bill at their table, pays and the waiter charges them, even having to return to the bar to get change, a process is lengthened that could be simplified if the payment is made at the cashier. It may be a matter of minutes, but over the course of an entire day, a week, a month or a year (even more) that time can translate into higher turnover. More rotation. More clients. Higher income. “A little trick”. “What you get is that the customer gets up without any problem and leaves you the table free so that someone else can automatically sit down. If you had him here waiting for you to bring him the bill, charge him, he leaves and comes, in the end more time is wasted,” comments Jairposanbor in his TikTok video, of just 30 sure. “It’s a little trick for the rotation.” Personnel issue? The “little trick”, as the hotelier defines it, may seem simple, but it has given rise to a good number of articles about the themein the pressand some debate in the comments of the video. There are those who relate it, for example, to the greater or lesser availability of waiters in the establishment. “Another trick: add more staff and if the customer leaves happy that they don’t have to wait, they’ll probably come back,” comment a user. Another adds that charging cash may increase turnover and profitability of the establishment, but it can have a negative effect: it places more workload on the employee behind the bar. Cash vs card. They would come into play more keys. For example, although it is increasingly common for restaurants or cafes to allow payment by card, especially in large chains, in those cases in which the business only accepts cash, the “collection at the counter” rule simplifies the process quite a bit. No picking up cashround trips between the bar and the table to look for change or for the money to ultimately pass through several hands within the business. Useful, not infallible. Of course the tactic can be useful, but it is by no means infallible. First because, as some users also comment on TikTok, there are customers who do not like being sent to the bar to pay for their drinks. Second, because rotation is not 100% guaranteed either. As another remembers tiktokerthe trick fails when there is more than one person at the table, only one gets up to pay and then returns to his seat to continue chatting. A sector in change. César Sánchez-Ballesterospresident of the Tourism and Hospitality Federation of the province of Pontevedra, Feproturprovides some extra keys. Tricks like the one shared by Jairoposanbor seek greater optimization, but that is not the only way that hoteliers follow to achieve it. For years the group has opted for new strategies, such as online reservations, letters with QR codeapps that allow you to make orders and pay… Until reaching extreme examples such as experiments of McDonald’s in the US, with stores where there is hardly any interaction with staff. Of orders, payments… and personnel. “We see more and more examples of optimization,” comments Sánchez-Ballesteros, who remembers in any case that the client always has the last word, as has been made clear in the comments of TikTok: he is the one who decides what compensates him, what practices he considers good, what bothers him or the services he is not willing to give up. Against this backdrop, there is another factor that conditions work in restaurants and bars: the shortage of qualified personnel, which further reinforces the urgency that businesses have when it comes to polishing internal processes. It’s nothing new. For years the hospitality industry has been pointing out on a recurring basis the shortage of professionals, a deficit that becomes especially visible in times of … Read more

projections have just put on the table the worst El Niño in 140 years

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It often feels like we are erasing the meaning of the word ‘historical’ by using it so much. And yet, here I am: about to say that seasonal prediction models show an “unprecedented” convergence in the same direction: an extremely strong El Niño before the end of 2026. If what the models say is confirmed, we could be facing the most powerful El Niño in at least 140 years. So yes, ‘historic’ is the appropriate word. But, first of all, let’s review what ENSO is. They are the acronym in English of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and they refer to a cyclical (although very irregular) climate phenomenon that has great effects on the global climate. Huge, in fact. If we exclude the stations, it is the most important source of annual climate variability from all over the planet. During the warm phase (that is, during El Niño), the absence of strong trade winds that cool the surface of the equatorial Pacific causes the temperature of that area of ​​the ocean to skyrocket. It is this, through different atmospheric teleconnectionswhich disrupts all the weather systems in the world. The effects are varied and change depending on the region (“drier conditions than normal in certain parts of the world; while in others it causes more precipitation. Some countries have to deal with major droughts and others with torrential rains”, says AEMET); but when we talk about temperatures there is no doubt: El Niño is synonymous with heat. Although, of course, that is in a normal ENSO. If we talk about the strongest ENSO event in a century and a half, everything skyrockets. The most likely conclusions tell us about a wild redistribution of heat globally, a more than likely temperature record for 2027 and a string of profound alterations in rainfall and hurricane patterns. And why do we think it will be like this? Fundamentally, because the convergence of the different models is a very strong indication. Not only is it that more than half of the probabilistic scenarios of the European model they project anomalies greater than +2.5 degrees in the equatorial Pacific, is that Zeke Hausfather (adding 433 members from 11 models) reaches the same conclusions. And what exactly is the news? Obviously, the news is not that El Niño is coming. We have already talked about that: The news is the strength (aggressiveness, even) with which it now appears in our projections. Or not even that. Because no one is very clear what an event of this type means in a climate context like the current one (it would arrive after three years above the 1.5 of the Paris Agreement). And that is a problem. “Problem”? It is also the most appropriate word. We must not forget that the super El Niño of 97-98, one of the strongest ENSOs in recent years, caused numerous consequences that lasted for years: the estimates say which caused damage to global economic growth of around 5.7 trillion dollars. If this event is greater than the one in ’97, the question is whether the improvements we have made since then are enough to contain the blow or not. The answer, I’m afraid, we will have in a few months. Image | Xataka In Xataka | “It is so extreme that it is difficult to believe”: El Niño forecasts depict an event of unprecedented intensity.

It’s geopolitics. And China goes with the accelerator to the table

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When commercial 5G was taking its first steps in 2018, China was already talking of the next generation. The Asian giant saw very early that 6G would be a strategic element and got to work to dominate the conversation before its rivals. Because this is not about playing with less latency at a cloud game or download data faster. It is about having frontier technology before the rival. Strategic 6G. Since the middle of the last century, China has had something known as the ‘Five Year Plan’. It is a roadmap that sets out the objectives to be developed and achieved over a period of five years. Everything goes into it: energy, economy, society, technology and the environment, and it represents an organizational chart to coordinate policies that make the set objectives possible. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, the focus was on developing technologies that would allow China to be self-sufficient in semiconductors and digital technologies such as 6G. Time has passed and we have been able to see enormous progress during this time (especially in semiconductors), and now the new development plan has just been published in which we want to strengthen that sovereignty, but where two key objectives are framed: AI and 6G as a lever for economic growth. Calendar. The new roadmap defines the objective for the period 2026-2030, but the country has been preparing the ground for years. Huawei, already in 2019, He pointed out that they were testing 6G internally and that it was considered that it would not be until the end of the next decade when it would begin to be deployed commercially. The moment is approaching and steps have been taken. In 2020, China deployed what was considered the world’s first 6G satellitein 2022 experimented with sending data packets of one TB per second from a kilometer away, and in 2023 we learned that military uses were also being analyzed. For example, vibration analysis in water to detect even smaller submarines and drones in the open sea from the air. In the middle of last year, the state media CCTV commented that China’s objectives with 6G were being met as planned, highlighting, again and as they do every time they make a communication on the subject, the country’s leadership in this field. And… for what? China wants the world to know that are very actively developing this technology. And the big question is… do we need 6G? And here there is a big mistake: thinking that 6G is a technology for users. Obviously, consumer devices capable of having connections of these speeds will be essential for applications, for example, of artificial intelligence that are not calculated at the local level, but 6G is not so much for mobile phones but for the global network. From the same CCTV statement it is detailed that “6G is more than a communication technology.” This is something to drive more complex devices, smart terminals and new generations of sensors. Speeds above 100 Gbps are targeted with a delay of less than a millisecond (in 5G, the figures are about 1Gbps) and this will benefit the remote manipulation of devices, the number of simultaneous connections and tasks that require total precision, such as “swarms” of robots working in the field and coordinated by artificial intelligence. This sounds like science fiction, but recently Samsung presented its plans to transform its factories by 2030. Robots will be the workforce and the brain will be the AI. In its own updated five-year plan, China emphasizes the development of ’embodied AI’, that “robotics with AI” as one of the pillars of the country’s technological development. Everyone wants to lead. The country detailed that “the future 6G will not only be a mobile communication network, but a new generation of mobile information.” But of course, with all the range of possibilities that something like this opens up, and with how important it can be for an accelerated and massive deployment of robots, Physical AI and even of the remote computing in data centersno country wants to miss the train. Because China has giants like Huawei, but South Korea has SK Telecom and Samsung. Both have already expressed their intention to start conduct short-term technology tests with an ambitious goal: to have a functional 6G network by 2028. Japan is also in that raceEurope (which missed out on 5G) He doesn’t want things to repeat themselves. with 6G and the United States, whose current president already said in 2019 that I wanted 6G for yesterdayis also in garlic. A basic problem. My colleague Laura points out in Xataka Mobile that China wants to win the 6G battle before the battle for 6G begins, but although it is evident that they are in it and they lead patent applications worldwide (as has already happened thanks to Huawei with 5G), as users… we say again that the thing will take a while to start. At least in Europe. In a report last year, Ericsson, which is a communications giant, He pointed out that there is a basic problem: While competitors have deployed the millimeter band, most European countries have prioritized medium and low bands. More coverage, less speed, and although soon it will be time to talk about 6G as a current technology, the 5G has been with us for more than six years, and it is still taking its first steps. And if Europe wants to be a reference in robotics, AI and new technologies, it will have to start deploying towers as they are already doing in other regions. Pexels (edited with Gemini) In Xataka | Qualcomm believes that 6G will be the definitive network for AI and has already set a date: the reality is that 5G is still in its infancy

In its goal of reaching the Moon in 2030, China has hit the table: it has demonstrated the potential of its technology

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The race for the human return to the Moon has officially entered a new operational phase with China successfully executing the first “lit” flight of its heavy rocket new generation: Long March-10 (LM-10). A test that has not only validated its propulsion capacity, but also certifies the safety of its future crew in the most hostile launch environment. Where. This milestone, achieved since Wenchang launch pad (Hainan), places the Chinese lunar program on a firm and technically verified trajectory to meet its strategic objective: putting humans on the lunar surface before 2030. The litmus test. The essay recently made marks a turning point, since, unlike the tests static or scale models from previous yearsthis has been a real flight with ignition. The LM-10 took off in a prototype configuration with the goal of achieving the maximum dynamic pressure (Max-Q). In aerospace engineering, Max-Q is the critical moment during the climb where the aerodynamic forces on the vehicle structure are most violent. It is the “worst scenario” possible for an emergency that could threaten the safety of the crew, and it is precisely at that moment that the abort command was sent to the Mengzhou manned ship (the successor of the Shenzhou). In Xataka In silence, China is making giant strides in a race that until now it was not leading: space. There are differences. What distinguishes this essay from those carried out by other historical powers is the sophistication of the subsequent sequence. At first, the Mengzhou capsuleseparated from the rocket and activated its escape enginesmoving away from the “danger zone” at high speed, validating its ability to save the crew in extreme aerodynamic conditions. On the other hand, as the capsule descended toward a controlled splashdown, the first stage of the LM-10 rocket was not jettisoned. For the first time in a test of these characteristics in China, the stage continued its ascent briefly and then executed a controlled descent and landed in the sea. A success. This success simultaneously validates the structural integrity under maximum stress, the compatibility of the interfaces between rocket and ship, and the partial reusability of the system, a technological advance that brings China closer to the operational efficiency of companies such as SpaceX with Artemis. All this within a context where China and the United States ‘fight’ to see who is the first to return to the Moon. A change of concept. Wenchang’s success is just the tip of the spear of a much more complex system known as the CMSA’s “Earth-Space Transportation System for Manned Lunar Flights.” This architecture moves away from the “one giant shot” concept and opts for a two-launch and orbital rendezvous scheme. The three pillars. The first of them is the Long March-10a colossus approximately 92 meters high capable of placing about 70 tons in low Earth orbit and about 27 tons in lunar transfer orbit. The most interesting thing is that its modular design and the recovery capacity of the first stage are fundamental for the economic sustainability of the program, since the entire structure is recovered for subsequent tests and missions. The second pillar is Mengzhouwhich is designed for deep space missions and is larger and more capable than the current Shenzhou. Its development, which began conceptually around 2017-2018, has culminated in a modular vehicle capable of supporting atmospheric reentry at lunar return speeds. The third is a dedicated lunar landing module known as Lanyue waiting in lunar orbit. {“videoId”:”x96edv6″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”China’s space suit to go to the Moon”, “tag”:”China”, “duration”:”64″} Roadmap. This includes two separate launches of the LM-10: one to transport the Lanyue module and another for the crew on Mengzhou. The final objective is that both vehicles will perform a meeting maneuver and docking in lunar orbit before the taikonauts descend to the surface. Chronology of ambition. The path towards this 2026 flight has been methodical, characterized by a strategy of “short but quick steps” that began in 2013 with the first discussions and the development of prototypes. It was in 2020 when an 8-day orbital test flight was made using a Long March-5B and that validated the capsule’s heat shield and recovery systems. Finally, it was this month of February when the flight occurred with an abortion in Max-Q and recovery of the stage. If we look to the future, before the end of 2026, “zero altitude” abandonment tests and complete tests of the Lanyue lunar landing module are expected, all aimed at meeting the 2030 launch window. A duel of titans. The comparison between the United States and China is practically mandatory in these cases. While the United States relies on the raw power of the SLS Block 1a 98-meter and disposable colossus, China is committed to operational efficiency with the Long March-10. And although the Chinese rocket is a little less powerful, its design incorporates a reusable first stage, which reduces costs and is closer to the sustainability model that SpaceX has popularized in the West, contrasting with the immense expense per launch of the American system. On the other hand, NASA has opted for a hybrid and complex scheme: it launches the crew in the Orion capsule with the government SLS rocket, and then docks in lunar orbit with the Starship HLSa commercial lander from SpaceX. In contrast, China has chosen a more pragmatic “distributed architecture”: it will carry out two separate launches of the LM-10, one for the Lanyue lunar landing module and another for the crew on the Mengzhou spacecraft, which will meet directly in lunar orbit. In Xataka Starlink’s dominance in space begins to move: another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites On their calendars. The US program, depending on multiple commercial suppliers and disruptive technologies (such as Starship’s in-orbit refueling), faces highly complex logistics that have accumulated delays for the Artemis III mission. In contrast, China’s centralized and vertical model maintains a firm and predictable roadmap to the year 2030. In this way, we are seeing two titanic powers with two different … Read more

Gemini 3 has left all its competitors behind. It’s Google’s definitive punch to the table: Crossover 1×32

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Three years ago, panic on Google. The launch of ChatGPT made Google will declare a “code red” before an AI model that proposed a clear revolution and a clear threat to the search business. Sundar Pichai began to make moves, but the truth is that the first movements with Bard They were disastrous. There were more problems and blundersbut since then Google’s trajectory has been spectacular, and its AI models have not stopped achieving success. We saw it with Gemini 2.5 Pro and with Nano Bananabut now they have proven it again with Gemini 3which has managed to become the model with the best features in most areas, at least according to the benchmarks offered by the company. It is somewhat surprising, especially considering that OpenAI seemed to have controlled the market with a ChatGPT that continues to be more popular but is little by little being cornered by the competition. In fact Google seems to be doing everything right lately in this area. DeepMind is the great reference for “serious AI”and Google’s enormous resources—which has its own cloud, its own chips, and its own model—point to a bright future for this company. We talk about all of this precisely in this episode Crossover 1×32 in which we review those hesitant beginnings of Google and how the company has managed to get rid of its fears to bet everything on AI. That in itself is surprising, because that bet is also risky for them. Exciting times! On YouTube | Crossover

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