world

Pirates have turned the Red Sea into hell for ships around the world. With an exception: the Chinese

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The Red Sea right now is the main commercial route around the world and millions European industries depend on it to be able to receive products from the Asian continent. But in recent months, it has become one of the most dangerous seas on the planet, taking months blocked by the attack of pirates. With an exception. Chinese ships can go through these waters and nothing happens to them. They are even protected. The Red Sea as a forbidden area. Since the Hutí Militia de Yemen, with the support of Iran, will start an assault campaign at the end of 2023 In retaliation for the situation in Gaza, this area has become a dangerous area. Sunk charges, attacked crews and a climate of total insecurity that forced giants such as Master or Hapag-Lloyd to deviate through the horn of Africa. Something that implies Add to the navigation plan between 14 and 18 days. Something that also represents a higher cost. China’s ships have ‘white letter’. Something that has been observed since April, and that has reported the maritime intelligence firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence, is that Nothing happens to Chinese ships. In this way, they have seen how fourte The insurmountable rorowhich sailed from China and crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea for Europe, did not have to give a detour. The most interesting thing is the content they had inside: Chinese brands electric vehicles such as Byd or Mg. This is a pattern that clearly shows that there is an agreement behind. A tactical pact that is worth gold. Neither Beijing, nor Tehran, nor the hutis leaders have issued an official statement, but the evidence and geopolitical context draw a mutual interest agreement. The hutis, which They declare to attack ships with Israeli linksAmericans or British, seem to have received a clear instruction: ships that come from China have the free passage. The key to this immunity lies in China’s powerful influence on Iranthe main economic and military support of the hutis. China is the biggest Iranian oil buyer, a commercial relationship that is a lifeguard for the Persian economy. In exchange for this support, Beijing exercises a ability to persuasion in the region that no other power can match. Analysts like Daniel Nash, from the consultant Veson Nautical, Point out that “China has found a way of dealing with the huti rebels backed by Iran, and they have been told that their ships will not be attacked.” This “salvoconduct” not only applies to Chinese flag ships, but also to those of other nationalities chartered by Chinese manufacturers to transport their vehicles. Meanwhile, other Chinese ships that do not wear cars continue to opt for the African route to avoid risks. The secret weapon against European tariffs. For Chinese manufacturers, this shortcut is much more than simple logistics savings; It is a strategic weapon to be able to conquer the European market. Right now, the European Union, in an attempt to protect its own industry, has imposed tariffs of up to 35% To Chinese electric vehicles, claiming that they benefit from unfair state subsidies. Although now They study withdraw them. However, the savings of the Red Sea route helps to compensate for the impact of tariffs, causing the final price to consumers to remain very attractive. The competitors have felt the consequences. Brands like Tesla, Volvo, Suzuki or even suppliers like Michelin They have suffered strikes in their European factories As a result of deliveries in deliveries because ships have to give a greater rodeo. In this way, brands settled in Europe have to pay consequences, while China can overcome them without problems. Floating cities for the conquest of Europe. Far from being a temporary solution, China is betting strongly on this route. Chinese shipyards work in full performance To deliver to Byd and SAIC new ships to wear their vehicles. And it is that these ships such as the “Byd Explorer No.1” or the “Anji Ansheng” of Saic are authentic floating cities with capacity for more than 7,000 vehicles, designed to optimize mass transport through sea. Chinese cars begin to be an important alternative. In the case of Spain, Sales of Chinese electric cars They don’t stop growing with the Saic group at the head and next to Grupo Chery with their Omoda and Byd, which has also opted for hybrid cars. This way, China is flooding European with its cars as It is being seen in enrollments. And partly it is for this type of strategies. In Xataka | There are those who believe that being rich is a sufficient requirement to have a Ferrari. The most important thing is something else: Ferrari fell well

Kodak revolutionized the world of photography. His last message sounds more like farewell than reinvention

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Your first camera may be a Small yellow or black box, plastic, with a metallic click and a reel that you carried to reveal to discover photos of bright colors. Before there were mobile phones and Instagram filters, Kodak was the entrance door to photography for millions of people. Yesterday, that same company warned in its quarterly report (Form 10-Q that presents before the SEC) that its continuity is in doubt. The market responded to the announcement with a fall close to 26% of the shares in the subsequent moments. According to the aforementioned document, Kodak closed the last quarter with a net loss of 26 million dollars, compared to 25 million benefit a year earlier, and 155 million box to June 30. The problem is that in less than a year obligations over around 500 million and today it has no compromised financing to cover them, which activated the notice of ‘Going concerns‘. To gain margin, the company has launched extraordinary measures, but has indicated that “these conditions raise serious doubts about the company’s ability to continue operating.” To invent the easy photo to existential doubt Far from their domain days in cameras and reels, Kodak operates today in commercial printing, chemicals and advanced materials, and film for cinema. Its brand is licensed for consumer products, while reinforcing businesses where it retains industrial technology and capillarity. Besides, It already has a regulated installation in Rochesterregistered by the FDA, which will start with PHOSPHATE BUFFERED SALINE (A buffered saline solution with phosphates that is usually used in laboratories and biomedical processes) and aspires to produce intravenous sera later. His footprint in consumer photography is, today, more symbolic than real. As we mentioned above, the pressure of that short-term debt is combined with loose income and limited liquidity, according to 10-Q and the results note. To win oxygen, Kodak has decided to close his Company Pension Plan in the United Statesa corporate system that guarantees retirement payments to former employees. The company plans to clarify on August 15 how it will serve all participants and complete reversal in December 2025, with the idea of amortizing part of the term loan and renegotiating or refinancing the rest. Kodak camera In 1975, Steven SassonKodak engineer, presented a digital camera prototype who captured images with a CCD sensor and kept them on tape. It was rudimentary, but marked the beginning of a technological revolution that would end up imposing. The company decided not to market it then for fear of cannibalizing the road business and for the immaturity of the product. This caution delayed its entry into the digital market, allowed rivals to consolidate positions and weakened the model that had made it unbeatable for decades. In 2020, Kodak tried to reconvert the pharmaceutical ingredients with a letter of interest from the United States Development Bank for a loan of 765 million dollars. The stock market reaction was glowing, but the process was paralyzed between research and criticismand the loan was not formalized. That ambition survives today on a smaller scale: Rochester’s CGMP installation, already registered by the FDA, will begin with PBS as the first product and will serve as a basis for exploring materials of greater regulatory value. What happens in the coming months will be decisive for Kodak. The company argues that it may pay a significant part of the loan and expand or refinance the rest, while executing the closure of the pension plan and Light your new pharmaceutical line. The market, for now, observes skepticism. For a brand that defined photography for more than a century, the challenge is no longer to innovate, but simply survive. Images | KODAK | Bady Abbas In Xataka | The agreement with the US seemed to pave the way to Nvidia in China. Now is the Asian giant who begins to close the door

The new largest plane in the world will be a beast to revolutionize wind. The big question is whether it will fly

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In the Albores of the Ukraine WarRussia took control of the airport space of Hostomel. It was where two aviation monsters, Antonov-124 and Antonov-225They were trapped. The result of the attacks? Serious damage to one of the merchandise transport aircraft more used in Europe and Destruction of Antonov-225the largest plane in the world and pride of Ukrainian aviation. His loss has left a void that a startup wants to take advantage of with the Windrunner, the world’s new biggest plane Focused on the transport of wind turbines. The problem is that there are serious doubts that one day he undertakes the flight, but there is already an interested party that has nothing to do with him renewable energy sector: The Pentagon. Drive wind. The company after this ambitious project is Radiaa startup that considers that, in a Decarbonization scenario and with one artificial intelligence so voracious In energy terms, it is necessary to boost the installation of wind turbines throughout the world. The problem is that, to accelerate that installation, the cadence of Warmers installation And the transport of its elements, such as blades, is a problem. The towers can be set up by pieces, but the blades are another song. Radia considers that none of the load aircraft They have the ability to transport large blades, and there their plan with the Windrunner and a winery that will allow three 80 -meter blades, two of 95 meters or just just or barely one 105 meters long. And it will do it directly on an improvised landing floor at the construction of the wind farm. Comparisons are hateful. To put in context what type of plane we are talking about, if the Antonov-225 was a monsterthis Windrunner would be unqualifiable: Winrunner Antonov AN-225 Total length 108 meters 84 meters Wingspan 80 meters 88.4 meters Height 24 meters 18.1 meters Winery length 105 meters 43.3 meters Bodega volume 8,200 m³ 1,300 m³ Comes with a price. The problem is that putting such a plane in the air has a problem: fuel. For the 250 tons that the Antonov-225 could load, the Windrunner will stay in more modest 72.5 tons. Enough for its main mission of transporting shovels that in its largest lengths are around 60 tons. But autonomy can also be the big problem of that plan that allows winding throughout the world. Driven by four engines that will work with Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAFits autonomy will be up to 2,000. It will be its great limitation, since it will relegate it to an almost local use in Europe, America or Asia, with continuous reposses or with the need for shovels to be manufactured to those 2,000 kilometers of its destination. Windrunner on the left, Antonov An-124 in the center, Boeing 747-400 to the right Serious doubts. It is evident that the Windrunner is promising, but experts from the aerospace industry are not so clear that Radia can materialize their vision. The argument that analysts and experts of the aviation industry use is that Radia is a startup that will need a lot of money and have seen projects with better commercial arguments and lower technological risks. Also, and how we read in BBCRadia goes against everything that is usually done in this industry and, after testing a scale model in the wind tunnel, wants to speed up times and reduce costs passing from that model to scale to real -size test aircraft. As? Instead of building traditional prototypeslooking for digital design tools. And this is not like building a car on your own: once built, an overwhelming aircraft certification process begins. Virtually the interior of the Windrunner is a winery. Trust. In the same BBC article, Mark Lundstrom, founder of Radia, confessed that, although there are numerous challenges, the fundamental principles of the development of the Windrunner go through “not doing anything new and developing the minimally viable aircraft for aviation”. That makes them discarded alternatives such as the airships, which should go through new regulations and supply chains, and also that they have opted for a more traditional supply chain. For example, hiring experienced suppliers Like the Italian Leonardo for the fuselage, the American Afore to review the security or The Spanish Aernnova For wings and pylons of engines. It is not yet known who will provide the engines, but from Radia they commented to BBC that they have “selected an existing certified engine and are working to define the integration strategy in the fuselage.” That is, Radia is using already tested technologies and components, which will allow them to “the unit cost is proportional to the weight and size of the aircraft and, therefore, comparable to that of other civil aircraft of wide fuselage,” according to Radia’s spokesman. And it is expected that the 70% of suppliers of Radia are European. The Pentagon has taken his eye. Of course, Radia is not the first visionary Aerospace Company, but if you do not set the objective of building the Windrunner for its main objective of filling the aircraft planet, whoever has recently called at their door I have something interesting to offer. In May of this year, the United States Department of Defense signed an agreement with Radia To analyze if the Windrunner could transport military load. Although the weight it can carry is much lower than that of the missing Antonov-225, its winery is huge and is something that has captured the attention of the Pentagon. From Radia they maintain that its objective remains to serve the wind energy market, but recognize that the unique capabilities of its plane make it interesting for additional applications. Boeing heats engines. Radia aims to have several real -size test units to make a first test flight at the end of this decade. Again, an excessive ambition if we take into account that planes such as the aforementioned AN-225 barely made a few flights a year … and there was only one. And we will see how the pressure of … Read more

During World War II, Australia sent an ornitorrinco to Churchill. Died on the trip and 82 years later we know why

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In 1943, a camouflaged ship departed from Australia to England with an ultrasecreta load to the peculiar: An ornithorrinco called Winston, a diplomatic gift for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The creature died during the trip and for 82 years a German submarine was blamed. Some researchers They have discovered What really happened. Winston was not loaded by the Germans. Australian students They have resolved the enigma After examining the archives of the naturalist David Fleay, who captured the animal. The boat’s temperature records reveal that Winston died due to thermal stress by crossing Ecuador, not because of enemy attacks. Temperatures exceeded 27 degrees Celsius for a week, well above the survival limit of the species. Why Australia gave an ornitorrinco. In the middle of World War II, Australia felt abandoned by Great Britain while Japan approached the Pacific. Australian Foreign Minister Herbert Evatt knew that Churchill collected exotic animals and thought that an ornitorrinco, a creature that many considered at the time a taxdermic hoax, could tip the balance in favor of Canberra military support requests. The trip that should never have done. Winston was captured near Melbourne and embarked on a specially designed container, with burrows lined with hay, Australian stream water and 50,000 worms for the 45 -day path. David Fleay, the naturalist in charge, opposed from the beginning: no ornitorrinco had ever survived such a long trip and exports of the species were prohibited. The cause of “official” death. When Winston appeared dead in his tank, Churchill wrote to the Australian prime minister expressing his “pain” for loss. To avoid a diplomatic incident, death was hidden for years. When it finally came to light, the version that the Ornitorrinco had died from the stress of the attacks of the German submarines, a story that Fleay himself supported publicly. The clues of the logbook. Harrison Croft, a doctoral student at Monash University, agreed to files in Canberra and London that included interviews with the caretaker of the Ornitorrinco. “They made a kind of autopsy and he was very concrete: there was no explosion, everything was calm on board,” Croft explains. In parallel, an Australian museum team Digitized the collection Fleay staff, where they found the daily temperature record that revealed the real cause of death. Ship’s logbook. Image: Australia Museum Ornitorrincos Based Diplomacy. Australia tried again in 1947, sending three ornithorrincos to the New York Bronx Zoo. Betty died soon after arriving, but Penelope and Cecil managed to arrive healthy and saved to the country, even becoming authentic celebrities and a hook for the press at that time. The media expected them to be reproduced, but after a four -day “romance”, the thing did not go as expected. Image: Australia Museum The way to reproduce from an ornitorrinco is fascinating, since they are monoturem mammals, which means that, despite being mammals, they put eggs. In fact, they are one of the only five species of mammals that do this (the other four belong to species of Equidas). So when they saw that Penelope did not end up reproducing, it became a fun scandal at the time. In 1957 he disappeared mysteriously and Cecil died the next day of “broken heart”, according to the press. Since then, Australia strictly prohibited the export of ornitorrincos. Only two have left the country In 70 years, both to the San Diego Zoo in 2019. Cover image | Yousuf Karsh and Michael Jerrard In Xataka | If Spain believes that velutinas are a problem is because it does not know what the US has found: radioactive wasps

Italy is going to build the suspension bridge with the largest opening in the world. And they will load it to NATO’s budgets

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The megaconstructions are the order of the day. We find each other Colossal projectssome that They make us crack an eyebrow thinking If necessary. However, few can boast of being the culmination of a work of centuries, or even millennia. Italy is close to getting it when approved A huge bridge that connect the continent with Sicily: the Messina bridge. The turn is that they have described it as something key to the NATO. So that? So that the bridge budget is included in the percentage of military spending that Italy must contribute. Historical dream. Sicily is a complicated territory. Isolated from the continent, it remains Italy and, although they have a very strong identity feelingthat isolation has led to some problems and difficulties throughout history. In it Roman empire I know proposed Unite the territory through the Strait of Messina with a peculiar plan: connect Calabria and Sicily using barges and barrels. It was ruled out for obvious reasons such as intense maritime traffic or its technical unfeasibility. In the Middle Ages, Charlemagne too study take actions to unite the territory and, in 1866, firmer plans were drawn to build a viaduct, but they were also discarded when considering that A tunnel would be more suitable. In whatever, it also ended in nothing and, during the following decades, the project of the bridge in the Strait was changing hands without success, maintaining the connection with the peninsula by ferry. Colossal. Throughout. Everything changed in 2023, when the new Giorgia Meloni government resurrected the plan. Contemplating an investment of more than 13,000 million euros, the bridge would mark a turning point in Italian, European and world architecture, depending on who we ask. The length will be about 3.7 kilometers with twin towers of 399 meters on both banks, a height of 72 meters above sea level so that large boats and capacity can pass and capacity to move A large number of vehicles. The three lanes in the direction offer a capacity for 6,000 vehicles per hour, and their two railways would allow a cadence of 200 trains per day. It is a transport barbarity to connect Sicily, but the only thing about this bridge will be the central opening: 3,300 meters that would set a new world record for a suspended vain. Necessary. The start of the works is scheduled for this same 2025 and its estimated completion by 2032. As we say, after many comings and goings, the project is already officially underwayas the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure of Italy, Matteo Salvini, advertisement Last Wednesday. Finally, the cost will be 13,500 million euros and, as we read in New York TimesItalian minister and vice president, he is “absolutely proud of work.” Stating that “it will be an unprecedented public works in the world.” The justification of the bridge, as we read in Financial Timescomes from the side of the revitalization of Sicily. With this volume moved from the continent, the economy of one of the poorest regions of Italy can be promoted, where unemployment practically double The national rate: 13% compared to 6.5% of the rest of the country. But … necessary? The question is why, if a bridge between both territories was so important, something had been done. And, above all, why firm projects such as 2011 threw himself by land, arguing concerns about his price, about 5,000 million euros at that time and, in addition, about his real need. And it wasn’t the first time: Silvio Berlusconi He already proposed This project in 2005 for about 3.9 billion euros. Criticism. Many. There are few detractors of the bridge. This “unprecedented work in the world” faces opposition, environmentalists and even nature itself. The opposition, as New York Times states, considers that it is “an economic and social catastrophe” by diverting funds from other projects more necessary to build “a cathedral in the desert.” The animalists lo consider A disaster for local flora and fauna, as well as for a bird’s migration route. And when we say he has against nature, it is because those critics too comment that the area is prone to earthquakes that could make the bridge collapse. Even the ‘thing nostra’, the Sicilian mafia, said Be against the bridge in 2023. It has a trick. If you have so much against, if it is not clear that you will revitalize Sicily after a mastodontic investment, why do you go ahead with the project? During the NATO summit in June, Meloni declared that, due to the convulsive moment that is lived in several parts of the world, “there are many threats and hostile actors operating on the southern flank of the Atlantic Alliance.” In addition, he commented that “Russia projects more and more His presence in the Mediterranean” And this bridge would be a key piece, according to the Italian government, “in the context of NATO defense and security, facilitating the movement of the Italian and international armed forces in a context in which the Mediterranean is a geopolitically sensitive area.” And the trick? Well, like other NATO allies, Italy has beenOppromeded to increase its annual expenditure in defense Up to 5% of its GDP during the next decade, including 1.5% for strategic infrastructure. If the bridge is 13,500 million euros and include it in their proposals for “strategic infrastructure”, they would already be hitting a good bite to that 5% They must invest. Instead of armament or other elements, in a new bridge. Germany goes behind. “The Mestina Strait Bridge constitutes a fundamental infrastructure in relation to military mobility, taking into account the presence of important NATO bases in southern Italy,” they said in a report prepared last April, but Italy seems to be the only ones that will try to ‘put’ a renewal of infrastructure in that 5% of NATO. Germany, in a recent reporthas included in these defense budgets other 1 billion euros for the maintenance of ‘autobahn’, Your highway system. Forcing the machine. Returning to the Italian Bridge, and … Read more

feed solar and wind energy the darkest and colder place in the world

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In a place where the nights last six months, wind gusts can reach 300 km/hy them the temperatures collapse below the −40 ° C, the idea of using solar and wind energy sounds like a joke. For a few months, however, China is feeding its Antarctica base with renewable energy. How the hell have they done it? Short. Five years ago, electrical engineer Sun Hongbin, today president of the Technological University of Taiyuan, received what seemed an impossible mission: to build a renewable energy system capable of supporting the most extreme conditions of the earth. As he has told Scientific AmericanThe objective was to align the new Qinling Antarctic Station with the green commitments of the Chinese government. The result cost 14 million dollars, was officially inaugurated in early 2025 and is a technological feat that now other countries with Antarctica bases want to imitate. Diesel logistics nightmare. Antarctica stations work almost exclusively with diesel generators, but this dependency has a very high cost. Not only because diesel is expensive, but because transporting it is a logistics nightmare that requires mobilizing breakwinds and military personnel for each replenishment trip, which is usually annual. In addition, environmental risk is huge. The spills are frequent and, in such a fragile ecosystem, where the low temperatures slow down the decomposition, any discharge is a catastrophe. Not to mention the emissions of the combustion itself. The renewables did not endure. The problem of conventional renewable systems is that they do not work in Antarctica. The extreme cold causes the blades of the wind turbines to become brittle, the performance of the solar panels plummeted and the lithium batteries stop working. And that without counting the polar night: six months without seeing the sunlight. Provided to overcome these obstacles, Sun Hongbin did not walk with little ones. His team raised A 2,000 square meters laboratory At the Technological University of Taiyuan that, basically, it was a piece of Antarctica in China. To put to the limit each component, they simulated freezing temperatures, winds of more than 200 km/hyams artificial. How the hell did it. After four years of tests, the team found a robust system that combines wind energy, solar energy, batteries and, the key of everything, hydrogen. The wind turbines have a vertical design reminiscent of an egg blender, which reduces the structural tension and lowers the center of gravity so that the wind does not take them. The solar panels are mounted on a special frame made of reinforced plastic with carbon fiber. This material has a lower thermal conductivity than aluminum, so it does not deform so easily with sudden temperature changes. As for the batteries, instead of the typical lithium ions, they used lithium-ditana. Its internal chemistry facilitates the movement of ions at temperatures below zero. In addition, they put them in a thermal housing that takes advantage of their own residual heat to stay at an optimal temperature. The cake widge. During the polar summer, when there is a sun and spare wind, energy is used to feed an electrolyzer that separates water into oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen is stored in high pressure tanks. When winter arrives and the other sources falter, hydrogen is recombine with oxygen in a fuel pile to generate electricity. The only residue? Water and heat, which are recycled to heat the system itself. According to those responsible for the project, the base can work for about 48 hours only with the energy stored in the form of hydrogen. The way to follow. The integrated wind, sun, hydrogen and batteries system has a total capacity of about 230 kW, which It is 60% of the capacity Total Qinling generation. The remaining 40% continues to depend on diesel as support, but the savings is gigantic, so it has received praise from the international scientific community. This is the “first large -scale clean energy system in the world capable of working all year in a polar environment.” And there are already other countries investigating how to adopt it while China maintains its goal of reaching 100% renewable energy. Image | CCTV

The largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world was born by revenge

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Before changing forever The history of transportation On two wheels, Soichiro Honda was simply a Japanese young man from the late 30s obsessed with the engines. He spent hours in the workshop trying to improve motor parts and creating designs that thought they could make a difference. His most precious creation was a motor piston made with parts of an old radio that, according to him, could Improve the performance of engines. How our partners say Motorpasion motorcyclein those years, Toyota was already The biggest Japanese company of the engine, so the young Honda decided to take his piston with the hope that they would hire him. However, there they did not receive him as the young Soichiro expected. According to He counted Honda himself in an interview for Japanese television: “I took my first pistons to Toyota. I was young, stubborn and dreamer. I thought the engineers would be impressed. But they laughed on my face: ‘This does not meet our standards.” Years later, Honda would remember that moment with a phrase that says everything: “They rejected me in Toyota … so I founded Honda“That” no “of Toyota did not demotivate him, on the contrary. He decided to continue on his own and demonstrate what he was capable of. “I grab my dreams with these hands” After that rejection, Honda did not lament in a corner “I returned to my workshop with my heart broken, but not empty,” he said. He sold to his wife’s jewels to be able to manufacture a prototype and continue working to transform transport. I slept little and spent so many hours in the workshop that he came to confess that “I worked until my hands bleed.” And yet, fate seemed to go against. During World War II, his small factory was destroyed by the bombings. Then, an earthquake razed it again. And what did Honda did? He sold the remains of what was left to Toyota and with that money he set up in 1946 the Honda Technical Research Institute. Such and as they tell in Motorcyclingthe war had left Japan in ruins, so thousands of people needed move in a simple and cheap way. Soichiro thought: If there are engines that are left over, why not put one on a bicycle? Thus their were born First motorized bicycles. They were not the most beautiful or the fastest, but they worked and helped move Thousands of people that before they could not go anywhere. “It was not glamorous, but it worked. And then, the failure ceased to be my enemy … and became my fuel,” Honda told his memoirs. Honda Dream Type D In 1948, Honda associated Takeo Fujisawaan entrepreneur who complemented Soichiro’s business vision. A year later, they launched their first motorcycle designed from zero per Honda motor: the Dream type da motorcycle that mounted a two -stroke engine of 98 cc and 3 hp. It was simple, effective and designed for day to day. As he said: “I grabbed an engine, I rode it on a bicycle, and something new was born.” That way of thinking – resolving real problems with simple ideas – was what ended up marking all its history and that of Honda. The (first) best selling motorcycle on the planet In 1958, Honda was already a recognized brand that built its own engines and assembled them on a small motorcycle that was razing sales: the Honda Super Cub. It was a total success. More than 110 million units have been sold worldwide. That makes it The best selling motorcycle in history. A year later, in 1959, Honda’s motorcycles landed in the US and from there to the world. Today Honda is in more than 160 countries, produces motorcycles in 35 factories distributed throughout 21 different countries. In 2025, they have overcome The 500 million motorcycles produced in total. Honda was always clear with his way of seeing life: “Do you know how that is achieved? Falling so many times that you already know how to get up even before touching the ground“. And everything, for a revenge. In Xataka | The world has been filled with SUVs and electric cars. The Honda Prelude is the confirmation that Japan will be salvation Image | Sling

The world of technology is no longer “the seven magnificent.” Now that scepter has “the Trinity of AI”

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The world of cinema has some fixation with number seven. It is demonstrated by the mythical ‘The Seven Samurais‘(1954, Akira Kurosawa) which would then be adapted to the genus Western with’The magnificent seven‘(1960, John Sturges). The idea ended up moving to the business world and for a few years there has been talk of “The magnificent seven“In reference at seven most important technology companies in the world. Well, that number is no longer so relevant. It seems that we will have to change it for a three. The four billion club. Last week Microsoft became the second company in the world to achieve a stock market capitalization of Four billion dollars. Just two weeks before Nvidia had been advanced. Both have climbed into the AI car and benefit widely from it, but there is a third leading protagonist that is still far from that milestone but that goes like a rocket. The 10 companies with the greatest stock market capitalization today. Goal is far from the four billion, but its recent growth is spectacular. Source: CompaniesMarketcap.com Goal. The recent ones Financial results presented by goal served to make the company redouble their commitment to this segmetno. Those responsible spoke of a much larger capex than expected that will rise to 66,000-72,000 million dollars. That, added to all movements they are doing to sign talent and creating a new superintelligence team have caused remarkable optimism among investors. Meta actions rose more than 10% after these ads, although in recent days their value – like that of their competitors – has reduced significantly. We have gone from “the magnificent seven” … In recent years that list with the most important companies in the world (by stock market capitalization) was dominated by large technological ones. Among the first 10-15 positions were always those “seven magnificent”, namely: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. All of them remain very relevant, but the rise of AI has changed the panorama. … to “the trinity of the AI”. Dec Mullarkey, manager at the Capital firm SLC Management, He spoke How “the Magnificent seven have compressed (and became) in the Trinity of AI.” The expectation that these companies do not stop generating remains extraordinary, and that has made investments and interest in these companies absolutely triggered. Overvalued? The Ratio P/E (also known as Per, Price to Earnings Ratio) is a metric that evaluates whether an action is expensive or cheap in relation to the benefits of the company. A high P/E means that investors expect a high growth of benefits, and a low one may indicate that the action is undervalued. According to this metric, Tesla is very, very overvaluedwhile Google is relatively undervalued with respect to its competitors. The companies of “The Trinity of AI” are somewhat overvalued. Graph: Xataka. Data: Companymarketcap.com Google’s mysterious case. It is strange that in that “trinity of AI” is a goal but not Google, which at least in practice is much stronger: His family of Gemini models is more capable than those who have a goal, for example, but for now, investors do not seem completely convinced of their ability to lead that segment. The situation of Amazon and Apple It is very different: both have made their respective bets, but they are still very relegated in that AI race. Image | Chatgpt In Xataka | All against Nvidia: the strongest Chinese companies in Chips and IA have created a historical alliance

Most of microwave that are sold in the world are manufactured by the same company. And it is China

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When you look for a New microwave It usually goes to a commercial area to see the available models, which are of different brands and that have different benefits and prices. The surprise is that most of them are manufactured by a single company. The microwave company. Based in Guangdong, Midea is the most important appliance manufacturer in the world. It is by far the largest microwave producer throughout the planet, and although part of them are sold under that brand, many others are actually made for other brands such as GE, Whirpool, Toshiba or badge. Although they look different on the outside, it is enough to take a look at the rear to verify that many models are variants of the same template. Source: Wirecutter. A first level OEM. It measures not only manufacture their own appliances, but also a good part of their business is to be a gigantic OEM (original equipment manufacturer). Or what is the same: build for others. As They point In Slashgear, brands such as GE, Whirpoool, Badge or Sharp use those services Market share. There are no official data of the company, but it is estimated to measure factory about 40 million microwaves a year, and the global market In 2023 it was between 110 and 130 million distributed units. That means that it measures between 30 and 35% market share, even more. Shared components. This is the reason in addition to the fact that many microwave have such a similar aspect at external levelbut also are similar internally. Components such as capacitors, ventilation grilles or rear panels or coincide – as if they start from the same template – or are very similar. A silent giant. Measurefounded in 1968, had a total of 190,000 workers in 2023, and its geographical presence is enormous: it is in more than 200 countries, which basically its products are to a greater or lesser extent present worldwide. Both directly and through its role as OEM. Hello, scale economy. Midea’s domain is due to its domain of the economy of scale in this sector. By manufacturing huge amounts of microwave, this manufacturer benefits from cost savings and that allows to offer better prices in these models. That, in turn, contributes to such “white brand” models – as happens With many food products– Be bought by brands that only have to add aesthetic details to these models. Brands save the manufacturing part and invest in marketing, distribution or support services. Local competitors. There is some other OEM like Galanz – also Chinese, and also based in Guangdong – that manufactures microolandas for RCA or Avanti. These brands are better known among American consumers, but in reality these manufacturers work for brands of appliances around the world. Above all, those of entrance range. The brands, of course, are not especially transparent in this area and there are no specific data on the agreements they have with measures or which of their models (if there are) are manufactured by this Chinese giant. Even so, the practice is common in its input range models, both in the US and in Asia or Europe. Here Siemens, Bosch, Electrolux or Teka (which announced that I measured it in April) are some of the brands that use Midea services as OEM. For the average and high ranges models, manufacturers do usually produce their own microwave. Well for our pocket. The truth is that this Midea domain allows consumers to end up benefiting ourselves from entry ranges that have more accessible prices. The options for those who prefer models with more performance are there, but in the end you opt for an economic model, we insist: it is quite likely that whoever is behind is measured. That does not take away for that there are no risks: When a manufacturer dominates both a market, it can also impose its own conditions. Image | Jonathan Cooper In Xataka | The reason why televisions have lost one of their historic identity signs: white noise

Gather physicists from all over the world

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In Spain there are a group of 25 scientists who have spent the last two weeks discussing advanced theoretical physics together with professors of such prestigious centers as the King’s College or the universities of London, Cambridge and Edimburg. So far exceptional. One more summer course. The striking thing is that this brain meeting willing to unravel the mysteries of the universe has not been held in Madrid, Barcelona or any other great city in the country. The appointment It was organized in As Barreirasuntil recently an abandoned village of Galicia. And all thanks to an Italian physique who one day believed that an uninhabited area of Ourense was not a bad place to unravel the mysteries of physics. In a place in Galicia … Castro Caldelas is a town of little more than 1,200 inhabitants located in full Ribeira Sacra, in the province of Ourense. There, in the parish of Poboeiros, there is a small core called As Barreiras that according to The last census The INE has a single neighbor. In that remote point of Rural Gallego he put his eyes a while ago the cultural association La Ricottawhich has been marked among other objectives Organize courses and divulation workshops. One of its promoters is Paolo Benincasaan Italian physicist of long experience that has gone through universities Wenster Ontario, Durham, Santiago de Compostela or the Theoretical Physics Institute and Niels Bohr International Academybetween Other centers first level. His role is important because he has combined his interest in recovery and as barreiras with his scientific profile. Slowly cooked. How to fit a priori pieces so different? Beninnsa began to spin over a decade ago, in 2013, and a few years ago he took a key step in As Barreiras. “I bought this site and started reforming it in 2021,” he says in statements collected by The avant -garde. What it refers to is the place where it has ended up organizing its peculiar summer of Sages, a large house surrounded by a farm and a Palleira (a traditional Galician construction) that has rehabilitated patiently to turn it into a classroom. To carry out the project, Beninnsa created the association, in which two physicists who work in Madrid and a Galician who are responsible for finance participate. Could you go further? Beninnsa and his companions decided that yes, so this year they decided to boost a summer school In As Barreiras, an initiative aimed at 25 students Postgraduate and postdoctorals interested in fields such as theoretical cosmology. Not just that. In addition to gathering students, the course was attended by four King´s College of London, the University of London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh. The long twenty participants are offered free accommodation and food. Although, yes, if the environment was not conventional the stay Nor was it: They stay in tents with mattresses and sleeping bags on the plot. All this of course in full as Barreiras, an environment that, Remember The organizers were “evicted until the creation of the La Ricotta project.” And how did he? At least the course has generated expectation. The voice of Galicia sign that the organizers received 50 requests for 25 places and the selected ones come from places so distant As India, the USA, Japan, Brazil and different parts of Europe. Classes They started on July 21 and end on August 1, 12 days of Border Research They also served to insufflate as Barreiras. The course even had dissemination workshops. The school has also had the economic support of the Galician Institute of High Energy Physics (IGFAE), a center linked to the University of Santiago de Compostela, and the European Research Council. Now Benyncans already dreams of go further And why not? Continue to encourage the old village with science. Images | Google Maps and Max-Planck-Institut Für Physik (Facebook) In Xataka | A town in Zamora had been abandoned for years. Until an American arrived with enough money to buy it

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