wanted

Mercedes wanted to jump into the electric car in record time and is clear that they were wrong

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Four years now meet. It was a summer of 2021 when Mercedes launched his ordinance: in 2030 they would be an exclusively electric brand. They wanted to do it by building eight gigafactories to go out to their electric cars and batteries. Today they are clear that they were wrong. “They will last more than expected”. “We have changed the course, electrified combustion engines will last more than expected.” They are the words of Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes, in Auto Motor Und Sport Confirming what was an A Voca Secret: Mercedes will not fulfill the deadlines planned in the electric car. The company, therefore, will continue to bet on combustion engines that are key. It is not that he was going to withdraw overnight but that self -imposed obligation of being electric in 2030 led them to significantly reduce their offer until they focus exclusively on the electric car. Two symptoms (1). Although he had been rumored for a long time and in winter Mercedes already said that “There was too much optimism in the industry”there are two great symptoms that came to tell us clear that the time of combustion engines had not died. The first was The failure of EQS as flag bearer of the electric car in the company. The great electric Berlina, “the electric class” has been a failure and confirmed that the customer of a luxury car continues to bet mostly on combustion. Time will say if it is something exclusively linked to the autonomy or there is also a certain political positioning behind. The truth is that the company took advantage of the car to give a wash in the face of the image, sell the maximum refinement with the latest technology and its most advanced software with a Hyperscreen that surprised by groundbreaking. The truth is that the Mercedes client has continued to prefer the most classic class S. Two symptoms (2). The second symptom that advanced that Mercedes had changed course was given by its AMG sports division. The wealthy customer is especially complicated to convince when it comes to electrifying the fleet. To meet the European demands, Mercedes opted in its sports division for A four hybrid cylinders and although He got 680 hpcars that have mounted it have failure in sales. The solution has gone to return to these luxury cars the V8 engines. The company confirmed that will continue working on them And although they will be electrified, the potential car customer of more than 100,000 euros and extremely sports seem to continue asking for huge engines. It is no accident that, in his day, BMW already announced that he would continue to focus efforts on developing combustion engines. Specifically in those of six and eight cylinders. If you want gasoline, you pay it. Everything indicates that, as will happen with lower ranges, we will begin to see Two product categories clearly differentiated in Europe. Pollution policies will lead us to see An extensive electrification (with plug and electrical hybrids) in the low and medium range and a fence to the Combustion engines in the most expensive or luxury offer. In the case of Mercedes, everything indicates that they will continue to develop combustion engines but fenced to their most unattainable offer or Markets where hurry With the electric car are not so many. The confirmation that, in addition to the V8 for AMG, also They will continue selling the huge V12 Limited to the Maybach versions of its class S is a good example. But it is also that Mercedes has focused on “democratizing” its electric cars. He Electric Mercedes It will not be the cheapest car but the German company does want it to become its first great super electric success. And the formula is clear: improve the autonomy. “Rational”. For Källenius, in addition, this strategy is the most “rational.” Yes, the same one that Toyota has been holding so far, to sell the most demanded technology where they ask or let it sell. That is why they continue to focus on hybrids but ensure that the electric car will be key … in Europe. And Källenius knows that multienergy strategy helps them stay afloat. Its hybrid mechanics and huge engines will continue to be key in the United States and in Europe (who can pay it), while needing competitive electric cars in China. “It is our most important and crucial market for our technical innovations,” CEO himself pointed out from Mercedes a few months ago. A product that passes not only through the engine. Here, the latest generation software is essential because without it they do not think they can compete in China. They are aware that “Chinese clients not only use the car to move from A B. For many, it is also a second living room.” And there Mercedes needs to make differences if he does not want to star in a free fall. One that has already begun. Photo | Mercedes In Xataka | The Mercedes Class wanted to overcome the discomforts of the electric car. It is incompatible with a multitude of loaders

A Barcelona company wanted to try the four -day week. He ended up firebaging an employee for having two jobs

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Sometimes life shows us paradoxical situations in which a manager who seeks the well -being of his employees with the four -day work weekends by saying goodbye to them for Compagate two simultaneous jobs. To give a more twist to this story than has published GenbetaIt is worth mentioning that the company’s CEO lavished on its social networks the advantages of having a “Side Hustle” or secondary employment. Preparing for four days. Patrick Syng is co -founder and commercial director of Metrickal, a remote hiring company based in Barcelona. The entrepreneur wanted to prove to implement the four -day week for your employeesso I needed to know What their employees used time of her day to optimize her. Something essential to make the leap to this type of day, which It does not mean doing the five -day job in fourbut optimize the day to take less to complete the tasks. The first step to do it was to ask all employees to install in their work teams the Desktime softwarea time monitoring program that monitors what programs he uses and for how long each employee. In this way, it could raise changes and Optimize processes To implement the four -day week. Low performance and tasks that do not correspond to it. When analyzing Desktime’s data, the businessman discovered that, an employee with whom he had already had several meetings for low performance, he was performing tasks with applications that did not correspond to his position in Metrickal. The employee, which I worked 100% remotelyit had not delivered the tasks in the deadlines and several clients had complained about their work. “While showing some signs of improvement, its general performance did not change much. This meant an important burden for the rest of the team, which had to cover its shifts and deal with the breeding deadlines,” assured Patrick Synge a Business Insider. “I had the feeling that I was doing something apart, but since there was no evidence, I didn’t want to draw precipitates.” The employee forgot the software. In the analysis of data collected by monitoring softwarethe manager discovered that the employee spent more than half of his day working for an American company, whose trail had remained in the software reports. “It seems that he forgot the tracking software, since once it is downloaded, it does not require any manual ignition and off. Probably, I would have fired it anyway, but the tracked data were the blunt test that was missing.” However, what truly irritated Synge was the lack of respect of the employee towards his companions who had to, for its little performancethey had to adopt part of their tasks. “It was not fair or respectful of the team, and that is something that I cannot tolerate, its actions were simply selfish,” said the manager. Two jobs, but which one is the main one? It’s not nor the first casenor is it probably the last one, of employees who They combine two or more jobs at the same time in your remote workday. The problem is that employee performance had fallen And he was not fulfilling his first job. “As an entrepreneur, I have to think about my business and my customers. I can’t afford to lose customers because someone wants to earn extra money,” said the manager. In fact, there is the circumstance that Patrick Syng is A firm defender of what is called “Side Hustle” or secondary works, offering them as an option to capture external vendors for their products. A whole paradox in which Patrick assumed that it was the main job of that employee, but never considered that, perhaps, it was secondary employment. Spain more and more multi -team. While it is true that in Spain this phenomenon of simultaneous jobs is not as widespread as in other countries, a Study conducted by Infojobs It indicates that 15% of employees in Spain have at least two jobs (who do not have to be simultaneous, but combined). 40% of these multi -employed employees do so To complement the low wages In departures or for hours, while 32% do so for providing additional income to their main salary. In Xataka | Not everything is 38.5 hours a week: the formulas for a waiter or temporary to benefit from the reduction of day Image | Unspash (Faizur Rehman), Pexels (Alexey Komissarov) *An earlier version of this article was published in July 2024

An influencer wanted to sunbathe in bikini in Dubai. Her husband did the most logical among millionaires, buy an island

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With the heat that We are suffering in Spain, And with the holidays around the cornermore than one sure you want to lie on the beach To sunbathe and do What is most fancy in summer: nothing. However, if you are a woman and live in Dubai, that is a slightly more restricted activity … unless your husband is a millionaire and can buy you an island For you alone. Jamal al Nadak, a magnate of the Arab Emirates, has taken this concept to the next level when bought a private island just so that his wife can sunbathe in a bikini without worrying about other people’s looks. An island only for her Soudi al Nadak26, it is a British influencer that resides in Dubai and has conquered more than 431,000 followers on Instagram and 1.3 million in Tiktok, with a publication that accumulates more than 1.8 million views. In That publicationthe influencer included a video in which he saw her traveling by plane and arriving at a Paradisiaca Isla de Arenas Blancasleafy vegetation and crystalline waters to which he added a phrase: “Pov: you wanted to use a bikini, so your millionaire husband bought you an island.” Although it is defined as “full -time housewife”, the reality is that its day to day is surrounded by luxuries and attentions, while his house is attended by an army of employees. That allows you to dedicate yourself to your image and social networks. “My only rule in life is to always be pretty,” he laughs in one of his videos, while showing exclusive purchases in London or dinners in the most expensive restaurants in Dubai. The idea of ​​buying the island arose when Soudi told her husband her desire to, as a good British, sunbatsomething that Jamal, Muslim practitioner, did not approve in public. However, he decided to look for the most millionaire solution possible: to acquire a private island so that his wife could enjoy the sun with total freedom and privacy. The price of the island amounted to 50 million dollarsa figure that for many is unattainable, but that in the context of Dubai can be seen as One more investment. Touch the image to go to the original message Living in Dubai, the most logical thing would have been to think that the chosen island would be one of the many Artificial islands that are abandoned in the surroundings the city. However, again, the most millionaire solution emerges. The island in question is at some indeterminate point of Asia. Throughout the video, the influencer made sure to keep its exact location for privacy reasons. This detail is not less: the couple seeks to enjoy their fortune without restrictions and Far from the traditional rules of Dubai, where bikini exposure can be a reason for controversy. Beyond that, the influencer counted in the comments that the couple considered the island as A real estate investment More than a while considering. “It was something we were looking for for some time as an investment and my husband wants me to feel safe on a beach, that’s why he bought a,”collected ABC. The new Dubai the old customs Although Dubai is a emirate recognized for his Modernity and Opening to Tourismit continues to maintain many traditional customs. It is allowed to bathe in bikini on the beach, provided be done with discretion and cover once out of the water. This rule is more tolerant of tourists, but socially it is not well seen that local women do it, especially if they are Muslim. For that reason, the influencer made that peculiar request. In Xataka | Larry Page wants to get lost on an island, but it is not decided which. So you bought five Image | SoudiofarabiaPexels (Shukhrat Umarov), Unspash (Andrew Bui)

You just wanted to look at the time and ended five hours of kittens videos

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The procrastination It is one of the main reasons why you fail to do everything you have set at the beginning of the day. You know that you should do a certain task, you know that if you do not have consequences, but even so, You are unable to face it. However, there is an even more silent and powerful enemy: the mobile phone. This device, which we carry in the pocket (or in hand) all day, has become A constant source of distraction that steals minutes and hours of sibyline. According to data From Exploding Topics, users spend on average about four hours and 37 minutes a day using the mobile. That implies losing a day a week looking down, or 70 days a year. What would you do with 70 more days? Take awareness of time The applications and services you use on the mobile have been specifically designed To capture your attention constantly. Notifications, messages and social networks interrupt us at any time, and they do it consciously To attract your attention. Do not hesitate, they are very well designed and usually succeed. However, that success of the one part implies the defeat of another: Your concentration. Every time you review a notification, or you “just a view of your mobile, you are not only interrupting your concentration and the workflow, but you must add an average of 23 minutes to return to the state of concentration what you had before. One way to reduce that use, at least during the periods in which you must maintain concentration, is take awareness of the time you spend Using your mobile and what applications you devour your time. Both Apple and Android mobiles have a digital well -being section in adjustments, in which the screen time and use statistics. Consult them daily, and write down the time you spend using the mobile, as well as the time of the day you use it most. That will allow you to detect your use patterns and help you reduce its use during the stripes in which You should be studying, doing sports or learning To make crochet. The limits of space and time Know How do you use the mobile It allows you to know if you are using it excessively in work with applications that have little to do with it, if you do it during your free time or even at hours when you should reduce dopamine levels for reconcile sleep. That information allows you, for example, to adopt the “monk mode“When you must maintain all your concentration in working or studying, and not leaving all responsibility in hands of your willpower. Do you remember what apps were designed to capture your attention? They also have the willpower effect. Not working. The best you can do to avoid falling into the temptation of your notifications And focusing on what you need to finish, it is to prevent your mobile from having the slightest opportunity to capture your attention. The easiest way to do so is to adopt a strategy of “Ulysses contract“, so that you I present, avoid that you I of the future falls into the temptation to look at notifications. In this sense, the options of the digital welfare section or time of use of your mobile can be very useful, since it allows you to program schedules for concentration modes or limit the use of certain applications during a specific time slot. Thus, The limits are automated To help you reduce interruptions that break your concentration. Rediscovering free time Like energy, habits are neither created nor destroyed, They only transform. The bad habits are not eliminatedthey are only replaced For good habits. The same thing happens over time. The time that little by little you are going to scratch social networks and kittens videos, you will be able to use it to do what you want: learn languages, read, do sports or share more time with your friends. Therefore, it is important to think What do you want to spend that time That progressively you will recover, and be aware that that time, that you now use in something tangible, before it was screen time. In this way, you will have a goal to achieve and your effort to recover time acquires a purpose. THE TIME BOOK In the first section we recommended to take awareness of the time of daily use of your mobile, and write it down to detect patterns. Once you start taking action in this regard, continue to take a record of your use data but, this time, add What do you use that time Diary you recover. Those notes are the proof of your little victories. If one day you manage to reduce ten minutes of use, indicate that you have used those ten minutes toRead some pages of a book, or that you have called a friend to ask him how his day. Do it, it has the same effect as cross out a task on your list. It is the finding of the work done, and of The reward for that effortcontributing to Maintain motivation to continue changing screen time for productive time for you. In Xataka | Technology has undermined one of the best tools for productivity and creativity: to leave time to get bored Image | Unspash (Robin Worrall, ROB HAMPSON)

Spain wanted to turn the train into the great alternative to travel in summer. Renfe never had so many dissatisfied customers

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13 hours stopped in the middle of the field. That has been the last great controversy in the Spanish railway sector where, among accusations crosses, hundreds of passengers saw how high speed was paralyzed in southern Spain. High speed that should be the great alternative to the car. But there is a fact: there were never so many unsatisfied customers. The last. On June 30, late in the afternoon, High speed collapsed In southern Spain. Just when summer displacements begin, The tension drop in a catenary He left hundreds of travelers thrown along the way. In the worst case, the trip became a nightmare that lasted 13 hours and ended with a hospitalized old woman. Of course, it seems complicated that users of that same train do not climb to the car of the dissatisfied with the delays that, every time, They are more common in Renfe trains. Folding the data. Practically, one in 10 Renfe high speed travelers are dissatisfied with the punctuality of the service. Specifically, 8.5%, according to the study of Household Panel that CNMC performs and in which satisfaction is collected with the services provided in Spain. The data does not take into account the latest incidents of A very moved 2025 since they are the first semester of 2024. The CNMC only collects satisfaction with the railway services the first semesters of each year but the data are very worrying. In 2020, only 4.8% of customers were dissatisfied with punctuality. Neither bird nor avlo. There are more reasons to worry. In 2020, only 0.6% of customers were “nothing satisfied” with the punctuality of the service. Today that data is 4.2%. And of 11.8% who were not “satisfied or dissatisfied” has passed to 19.1%. That is, the balance has leaned towards discontent. Especially if we take into account that 36% of AVE customers in 2020 were “very satisfied” with punctuality. Today that data is 22.5%. But, in addition, discontent is triggered among Avlo customers. In that case (there are only data from 2024) dissatisfaction is 13.1% although 23% of train users consider that they are “very satisfied” with the arrival in trains. That is, the bird data is very slightly improved. And the new operators? It is what should worry the most. The CNMC encompasses Ouigo and Iryo in the same table but points out that dissatisfaction with these companies is 8%. A very similar fact if it were not because the “very dissatisfied” client is found in 2.2%, almost half than the bird. In addition, 13.2% of customers say they are dissatisfied with the prices of Ouigo and Iroy but the figure is triggered at 23.3% in the case of avlo and up to 31.3% in the case of AVE. Only one section. There is only one section where the AVE expires new competitors and is in the state of trains. The dissatisfaction in this case is 8.3%, for 9.8% of Ouigo and Iroy trains. Of course, Avlo shoots up to 12.2% of dissatisfied customers. In the rest of the questions, which refer to the overall state of the stations, the price, the frequency, the time of path and the punctuality, ouigo and Iryo they always exceed what is offered by Renfe, both by AVE and by Avlo, which records but is general results. Alternative? Perhaps the biggest problem for the government is that it wanted to make the train a real alternative to vehicles by road. In 2021 The possibility of prohibiting domestic flights between cities that had a high speed alternative that had less than two and a half hours of journey was already touched. The last offensive To stop domestic flights is trying to prohibit their advertising. But in the practical field, in Spain free train fertilizers have been subsidized (including high speed partially) Since 2022. Following him German example that filled the trains As a measure to alleviate the effects of the Ukraine War, the Spanish Executive has maintained public transport aid that have sustained until this year. Can work … If you meet what is expected. In fact, high speed between Galicia and Madrid has shown that the train can be a Very interesting alternative to domestic flights But it is essential that it works quickly, punctuality and security. However, in ABC They point out that the continuous problems in trains have returned to some passengers to airplanes in Sevilla-Madrid. An example of what the continuous delays in rail services that, on average, In 2023 they almost reached 30 minutes. Photo | OUIGO AND NELSO SILVA In Xataka | The bird to Galicia has achieved what seemed impossible in a Santiago-Madrid: airlines that throw the towel

China wanted to be the queen of high -speed trains. So he built all the longest bridges in the world

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Although Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are immersed in a war for have the highest skyscrapers in the worldwhen we talk about megaconstructions, there is no one to have China. It doesn’t matter if we talk about tunnels, Dams, roads and even half -skyscraper. And, when we talk about bridges, there yes There is no rival. From time to time They complete a new pharaonic bridgebut if there is something that shows China’s muscle about it, they are the bridges of the Beijing-Shanghái line. Because it is in it where the three longest bridges are located in the world. Massive and … boring? He Great Danyang-Kunshan bridge It is the longest bridge in the world. It measures just over 164 kilometers and can also be the most boring bridge in the world. The reason is that it is a bridge in which functionality prevailed. It is part of the high -speed network that joins Beijing and Shanghai and in its construction, 10,000 workers used 450,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million m3 of concrete to give life to a structure that had to endure possible ships of ships and the impact of earthquakes. It has 2,000 pillars, 22 tunnels, it has an average altitude of just over 30 meters and trains circulate at a speed of more than 320 km/h. Declaration of intentions. The most striking thing is that it only took four years to complete the work. It is an achievement if we consider that other bridges, such as the Constitution of Cádizthey took more than seven years for about three kilometers. They began in 2006 and the works were completed in 2010, inaugurating both the bridge and the line in 2011. The investment? 8,500 million dollars, and although in later bridges we have seen an aesthetic intention by the engineers, that of Danyang-Kunshan was a declaration of intentions. It became a global reference in rail engineering, but above all in a sample of the Technological advance of the country when undertaking the Infrastructure construction large scale in record time. It is something that has also attracted attention to subsequent works, the speed at which things do, especially, in many occasions of works of great complexity. In dark red, the bridge. In clear red, part of the full line Beijing-Shanghai, a monster. Because although this bridge Have the Guiness record in length and it was an important technical advance, the most imposing thing is that it is only a piece of the puzzle that supposes the high -speed line Between Beijing and Shanghai. It is a connection with a length of 1,318 kilometers and, apart from that of Danyang-Kunshan, there are three other bridges that are on the list of the 10 longest in the world. He Great Bridge of Cangde measures 115.9 kilometers and the Great Tianjin Bridge It “stays” at 113.7 kilometers. The three are the longest in the world, and in the seventh place on the list is the Great Bridge of Beijingwith 48.2 kilometers. The four were completed for the inauguration of the line in 2011, assuming a pharaonic work and, in total, representing a third of the total line length. The artificial island of the Hong-Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge, which is a bridge over the water until it becomes a submarine “bridge” It is called obsession. Because, if we look at the list of the longest trains in the world, China is a constant, monopolizing with eight structures the top ten positions. Not only are they very long bridges to house train lines (the Weinan Weije It has 102.7 kilometers, but it is not from the Beijing-Shanghai line), also for roads. The fifth longest bridge in the world is Hong-Kong-Zhuhai-Macaohe longest maritime bridge With 55 kilometers (and, this yes, quite attractive), the eighth of the list is the Quingdao Haiwanwith another 44.5 kilometers of road and the tenth is the bridge of line 1 of the Wuhan Metro with 37.7 kilometers. Within those positions of honor, we only find a 54 -kilometer Thai bridge, the Band Na Expresswayand the Lake Pontchartrain Road in the United States with 38.4 kilometers. Images | Mnxanl(2) Pechristener, Highestbridges In Xataka | Three highways, 20 access ramps: China has the most diabolical exchanger in the world in Huangjuewan

After the civil war, Franco wanted to colonize empty Spain. So 300 new villages were invented

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Throughout Spain there are more than 8,100 municipalitieslarge and small villages, coast, mountain, bathed by the waters of the Cantabrian, the Atlantic or of Mediterranean climate. There are also very old, such as Brañoserafounded in the ninth century, and others so recent that their first inhabitants can still tell us about their origins. This is the case of the 300 populations promoted by the Franco dictatorship as part of its colonization policy. The peoples “Invented” By Franco. A figure: 55,000. The idea is so crazy, so huge, that often It is said which motivated one of the population displacements most important of the Spain of the twentieth century. Between 1940 and 1970 The Franco regime founded around 300 locations in 27 provinces (half in Andalusia and Extremadura) that ended up causing the displacement of 55,000 familiespeople who a good day made their bags and left their native municipalities attracted by the promises of these new -wedge settlements. “Peoples of Colonization”. The colossal project was developed under the auspices of the National Institute of Colonization (the Incan entity created After the civil war To carry out the Franco agricultural policy) and their promises were of course suggestive: families willing to move to the new settlements were offered homes and wide irrigation lands in which a future is carved. All this in property. At least in theory. Input, the settlers had to meet certain requirements. The lots were supposedly distributed by raffle, although there are who holds That not all candidates started with the same possibilities: Ideally was that they were part of large families (with children willing to work) and adjusted to the archetype dreamed by Francoism: devout, laborious Catholics and to be possible Without links With reprisals. Nor did everyone start with the same conditions. As remember ABCin 1945 the government approved an order that regulated how the colonists could access the houses, something that depended on their savings. Under the tutelage of the INC. Who could advance part of the value of the land (20%) entered a phase that the INC called “access to property”. Then they had to pay the rest of the amount to become owners of their homes and farms. The thing changed for the humblest settlers. They had to spend five years in “Tutela period”, a stage during which the Institute supervised what they cultivated and remained a portion of the crops as payment. Villalba de Calatrava, a town of colonization of the Calatrava Campo (Ciudad Real) Campo. How long did they spend like this? Depends. ABC appointment A town where that tutelage lasted until almost the end of the 60s, a time to which the families had to add the “access to property” stage. The newspaper also speaks of 25 -year deadlines to finish paying the lands (30 in the case of homes) with more than considerable interests, 3% or even 7%. To complete the picture, the INC had a structure that was in charge of “guardianship” the families of settlers through intermediate charges. In the first place were the agronomists, authors of the plans. Its guidelines passed to the expert and below this was the Mayoral, who supervised the farmers. And what was the goal? With the new settlement the Franco regime pursued several objectives. The program served to boost the Agrarian transformation (With irrigation extensions), expand the cultivable area, repopulate and transform the Spanish field, but also had an ideological background. With the new settlements, many baptized with names that They mentioned to the new regime and its referents (Caudillo Alberche, Villafranco del Guadiana either Águeda del Caudillo), The dictatorship also sought to project a new image and feed its advertising. The expansion of the new villages coincided with The bet of the dictatorship by hydraulic infrastructure. “The political strategy of the new State replaces the redistribution of the land (objective of the Second Republic) with a colonization policy based on the transformation of the rural that allowed to settle in villages of colonization a self -sufficient peasant”, Remember from the Ministry of Agriculture, on which the National Institute depended after its creation, in October 1939. A program with lights … The colonization policy of Francoism had social, economic, agricultural and even “undeniable” repercussions, such as They recognize From the ministry. And not only because the creation of hundreds of villages for Repopulation of the ’emptied Spain’ and postwar. Among the displaced there were those who, upon their arrival at the settlements, found infrastructures and unimaginable services in the villas from which they came. “When we got here it was like dreaming awake,” He recounts The country A retired farmer who arrived in Villalba in Calatrava (Ciudad Real) with his parents in 1964, when he was 12 years old. “There was a bathroom, with its cup and sink. In those years that had no one! He was very small, but having something like that was out of series.” The idea was that in the new settlements the settlers could opt for a house in fertile property and lands, contributing in passing to the economy of postwar Spain and the conversion of fields into irrigation. … And also with shadows. Not everything was positive. Despite the promises of housing and lands, many settlers to reach the property cost them years of sweat delivering part of their crops. “We were slaves,” confesses a The country Another old settler of The Bazanawhere he arrived with just 17 or 18 years. In 2018, already after 85, he remembered: “They paid you what they wanted for the crops, and then there came a point where they stopped buying them because the beans from Badajoz were very expensive.” The cultivation of the new lands was not always simple, just as it was not to follow the guidelines marked by the engineers and major people of the town. Others left their lifelong locations to move to new wedge settlements in which they had no roots, they were surrounded by strangers and (sometimes) they met half -finished works. “When … Read more

Jordi Wild also wanted to dive into the video game industry, but recognizes his failure: “It is paralyzed”

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Jordi Wild is one of the content creators More followed by todaybut of course, that does not mean that everything that touches becomes gold. Despite the Success of your podcast Already the delivery and dedication he had put in a horror video game project in which he appeared as a creative director, the thing is not going well. He has made it clear in one of his last programs, talking about development paralysis. A promising project. In December 2023 Jordi Wild was intended to develop “one of the most terrifying games that have ever made“, as he said in his own program. At that time the game already had a year of development in Unity, at the hands of its own study. It was a modest project, a short duration game and a very attractive expected price: just 20 euros for a title that would come out in Steam. In it, a detective investigates an adultery in a New York building: a case that becomes more dark as it descended by the floors. The project is twisted. The initial idea was that he came out on Halloween of 2024, but soon he had to change it to a larger one “early 2025“. But this week, in a podcast that is not yours, ‘the bunker’, He commented that the game is “paralyzed” and that he could not give more details for legal issues. Because of the little that has advanced, there was a creative clash with the study or the producers, who approved their ideas for later retracting: “You cannot tell me, months later, ‘this cannot be’”. Wild concludes that he chose “the people I have worked with.” The future of the project is doubtful: “I do not know what to do (…), if to rebuild it from scratch, discard everything and start a new story with new people in command, or continue with what we have. But I will need a powerful team” in front. You have to look for more. Jordi Wild’s case is not isolated: a great range on social networks and content platforms does not guarantee success In other areas. However, it is a diversification that Many influencers and streamers are looking for since only a few are on top in an increasingly busy space (in 2024, the community influencer Spanish speaker grew 21%, already worldwide already We talk about 2 million creators). The key to highlighting in such a busy panorama in vertical integration: merchandisingcollaborations with brands, courses, face -to -face events and own products. The negotiate. Although brand agreements are usually the main income of content creators (70%, according to themselves), own businesses increasingly abound. We no longer talk about exploiting the brand itself with memberships, exclusive content, donations and new formats such as podcasts or face -to -face events. We talk about founding companies where influencer It is just an extra hook to finance and advertise a product. That’s where ideas such as Jordi Wild’s enter, although he is far from being the first. Some precedents. For example, Olajide “ksi” Olatunji, One of the most relevant British youtuberswith 24 million subscribers, the prime energy drink developed with Logan Paul, although he had previously tried to develop mobile games between 2017 and 2019. Paul himself starred in the greatest failure in the world of video games managed by Influencers: ‘Cryptozoo’, a cryptocurrency game in a gamified metaverso that would combine NFTS and digital asset trading. The thing never fructify, and Paul He had to distance himself from his partnersaccused of fraud, in a project that makes it clear that the accelerated ethics of the digital content does not always apply to all sectors. And in Spain. In Spain there have not been so many Streamers linked to video games (we will have to see what is left The Xokasalthough it can be predicted quite accurately), but creators who have gone beyond their usual margins. The clearest case is that of IBAI, who has taken advantage of his fame and his income to embark on companies such as launching a own football team or organize events Like the successful the eveningbecoming de facto In a businessman who makes streamsand not the reverse. Thing that is not easy: Jordi Wild himself created Dogfight Tournament to his iumagen and similarity and has had astronomical losses. Some causes of failures. There are very clear reasons for This type of failures: The most obvious, which is not the same to play and comment games than to develop them. The programming, design and testing learning curve is very pronounced and cannot be assumed in a short time. The Influencersaccustomed to the frantic rhythm and based on constant internet novelties often do not internalize the development times of a video game, much longer. On the other hand there are a number of business factors that start from a lack of market research that lead to believe that followers are automatic clients, or that the demographies of their audience and their clients are the same, when they rarely are. A possible Substimation of development costs It ends up rounding what are often chronic of announced failures. There are exceptions, of course: Pewdiepie or Ninja are clear cases of influencers who have managed to get out of their digital creation frame, but for now Jordi Wild will not be able to enter that club. In Xataka | At 15 he won 400,000 euros in Fortnite tournaments and his mother took him out of school. This has been since then

The Chinese solar sector wanted to save itself from overproduction with a pact. Just managed to sink faster

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Despite being a reference country World Cup in renewable energy, China Face a perfect storm In its solar sector: price collapse, red margins and an uncontrolled overproduction. Given this situation, more than 30 solar manufacturers agreed to stop the offer to stabilize the market, imitating the OPEC model. A kind of “Solar Cartel” in the style of oil exporting countries. It hasn’t done very well … Six months later, the result has been a disaster. Far from stabilizing, production has reached historical maximums, the facilities have tripled and losses continue to accumulate. According to Bloombergdifferent executives in the sector have publicly expressed their frustration and accuse their competitors of betraying the collective pact. OPEC style? Some of the big Chinese photovoltaic companies seem to be following the example of OPEC. As He explained Oilprice, the famous oil sign has been adjusting its production to influence global prices. The logic is clear: if the offer is limited, the price drop is contained and war between producers is avoided. Something similar is happening in the solar sector. Longi, Tongwei and Ja Solar have signed a “self -discipline” agreement under the Chinese association of the photovoltaic industry. The reason? Profitability is falling as panel prices, modules and wafers continue to fall. The pact seeks to set production fees by 2025, depending on the installed capacity and market share of each company. Chronicle of an announced death. Like Santiago Nasar at 5:30, this pact also had an inevitable ending. Unlike the oil market – dominated by state giants – the Chinese solar sector is private, fragmented and fiercely competitive. According to Bloombergthe agreement was not binding or contemplated sanctions. It was nothing more than a declaration of good intentions. And while some expected others to fulfill, many took the opportunity to gain market share producing even more. The result was excess supply, prices in free fall and sunken balances. No rules and every machine. According to Oilpricethe plan included limiting new investments, raising the technical requirements and increasing from 20% to 30% the minimum capital required for new projects. The government also implemented measures to cool the overheated sector. However, instead of containing themselves, companies intensified production so as not to lose relevance. According to data cited by Bloombergsolar facilities tripled in a year, and manufacturers have not closed or reduced operations significantly. The damage has been tangible. Longi Green Energy, one of the leaders of the sector, reported in the third quarter of 2024 a loss of 174 million dollars (1,261 million yuan), its first major fall since 2016. In the words of the company itself, collected by Oilpricelast year marked the first collective loss of the sector in almost a decade. The Chinese government has already hardened the conditions for new investments, and there are voices that ask for a firmer intervention. But the truth is that the “OPEC Solar” has failed loudly. The market remains overflowing, depressed prices and competition more wild than ever. The mirage of coordination. Try to coordinate a privatized and fragmented industry with a voluntary pact has been, as has detailed Bloomberg, an idea “condemned from the beginning.” Far from an orderly cartel, the attempt has exposed the structural weaknesses of the Chinese solar model: brutal efficiency, but without rules or firewalls. China continues to lead the world in installed capacity for renewables. But its solar manufacturing sector now faces a hard truth: in a market without discipline or referees, surviving is more difficult than producing. Image | Grégory Roose (Pixabay) Xataka | China’s energy paradox: an ‘electrostate’ that continues to feed on coal

When the British wanted to terrorize the Nazis during World War II, they chose a peculiar weapon: pump rats

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Think about the Second World War is to think of large -scale battles, tremendous operations and epic skirmishes. And, although it is true that there were imposing deeds, we are also tremendously influenced by cinema and video games. Because doing one spy movie or a ‘Save Soldier Ryan‘is’ easy’, but … and one above the inflatable tanks or of pigeons piloting missiles? That is more complicated. Because, In a moment of despaireverything goes. And if the Americans gave them to devise a bomb -loaded bomb To set the Japanese houses, the British be occurred Something that looks like a joke, but that made a lot of sense: filling rats with plastic explosive and waiting to be triggered in Nazis facilities. The Germans They were caught at firstbut far from being a fudge, it turns out that discovering the pump rats was what made the operation a success. Exploding Kittens Rats 1941 was a key year in the Second World War. The Nazis gave the green light to the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war officially and began the Mass deportation of Jews to the extermination fields. There were too many open fronts and the war had just become a global phenomenon, but the British wore years fighting the Nazis. The first quarter was crazy, with bombings of the British to German possessions and intense German bombings in English territory, attacking cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and, above allLondon, who for almost two months He suffered night bombings. Apart from in the air, the war was fought on land, and one of the plans of British intelligence revolved around the industrial sabotage. Damaging the factories, Germany would lose war power, it is evident. Thus, the British Special Operations Office, or SOE for its acronym in English, devised a strategy which would consist in wasteing pump rats near German infrastructure. They would not put a “backpack” pump to the rat and leave it free out there, no: the plan It consisted In getting dead rats, open them on the channel, empty them, fill them with plastic explosive, place a detonator that would come out for what would be the anus and strategically locate each animal near the boilers of the factories and key buildings of the Nazis. The goal? That when a worker found a rat, he directly threw it into that boiler, turning on the wick and causing the structure to fly through the air, interrupting the Nazi war machine. That said, the truth is that it was a brilliant plan because it was easy to think that workers would not bury the animal or throw it out there, since it could spread diseases, that cremation in the boiler being as fast. And they got with a hundred of them. There was a problem: the Nazis intercepted the first sending of explosive rats before they were deployed. Far from thinking that the plan failed, it turns out that The caught was much more effective that what they could have achieved if the rats had managed to be thrown into the boilers. And the reason is obvious: the Nazis, when discovering the Artimañathey wondered how many explosive rats before that interception they could have placed the British. That sowed a more explosive doubt than the rat itself because the Nazis launched campaigns to search for similar devices and, if they found a dead rat, began to tremble. Would it be a rat or a pump? Although any exploded, the operation was never considered a psychological success for the general paranoia that caused in the German ranks. The possibility of such unconventional sabotage forced the Nazis to divert resources to counteract similar threats. In the official SOE archives, they detail that the device “caused considerable problems to the enemy, but not quite in the way it was intended.” In the end, it was an effective form of psychological war because there were Germans trying to counteract a non -existent threat. As concluded Soe himself, “the problem that rats caused to the Nazis was a much greater success for us than if the rats had really been used.” Today is an anecdote or an object of collecting, like the main image rat, sold In 2017 for more than $ 1,800. Also as a much less crazy idea than those of those pilot pigeons … or that of the incendiary bats. Images | Charles Merrell, The National Archives, Bonhams In Xataka | 80 years ago the US threw a bomb in Japan that nobody agreed again. He has just exploded at an airport

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