years

OpenAi wants to bill as much as Microsoft in five years. For this

by

OpenAi projects to enter 2030 about 200,000 million dollars. It is almost the same as Microsoft invoices today, 245,000 million dollars. A company that this year will touch the 12,000 million dollars believes that it will multiply its income in less than five years. To contextualize excess: Apple took four decades to reach those figures. Google, two decades. Openai intends to do so in decade and a half of life, with a nuance: Until three years ago I did not invoice or one hundred million. His “zero moment” was in 2022. The planned growth graph, published by The InformationIt has many layers. The excessive ambition is just one of them. The income is triggered exponentially, but the computer costs – both training as an inference – grow almost linearly. This equation only works if Openai ceases to be what it is today: a company that sells access to LLMS for 20 dollars a month. It needs to be something else that goes much further. The question is not whether they can multiply their income by 17, but what they have to invent to justify such assessment. The secret is in the agents. But not what we imagine. Openai does not aspire to sell you a smarter chatgpt. Aspires to replace entire departments. Deep Research The model already hints: do not charge for consultation but for work done. If a report that previously required three Junior analysts for a week now does an agent in a few minutes, supervised by a single employee, how much is it worth? It is not worth $ 20 of a subscription. It is worth $ 50,000 that these salaries cost. Multiplied by each department of each company of Fortune 500 … Suddenly, the 200,000 million do not seem science fiction. They seem to conservatives. But here comes the existential paradox of OpenAi: pato capture that value need their models to be irreplaceable, unique, unattainable. However, every month that passes, the gap with Claude, Gemini or Deepseek narrows. The Commoditization of the AI It is not a future threat: it is already happening. How do you justify monopoly prices when your product is becoming water or electricity? Openai’s response seems to be the speed: Arrive first. Dominate the market. Create dependence before others can react. It is the old strategy of companies such as Uber or Amazon: losing money to buy market share, praying so that when profitability comes, you are the only one standing. Plan B is in vertical applications. They will not sell generic but specific solutions: The complete customer service system of your company. The educational platform of your university. The legal co -pilot of your office. Each vertical, a new market of billions. This is where the numbers begin to make sense. Microsoft 365 generates Microsoft almost 100,000 million annually. The World Business Software Market Billón approaches. If OpenAI captures just 20% replacing traditional software with intelligent agents, it reaches its goal. You don’t need to invent anything new. You just need to make everything that exists obsolete. Openai’s real bet is not as technological as temporary. They are buying time with 350,000 million in computer costs, betting on the AGI “Or something similar enough, that For something Altman has been moving the goal for some time– It arrives before the money is over. If they get it, those 200,000 million will be an anecdote. If they fail, we will have seen the most spectacular bubble in technological history. And the fascinating thing is not that Openai is trying. Is that everyone who imports –Microsoft, Oracle, Softbank, the US government– They seem to believe they can achieve it. Outstanding image | Adolfo Félix In Xataka | The alliance between Oracle and Openai does not go only from data centers: it goes from advanceing Google, Apple and Microsoft on the right

The eruption of a volcano was synonymous with danger 100 years ago. Today has made Iceland a theme park

by

Exactly one year ago, Iceland took a unexplored path In his fight against mass tourism: in essence, tell the truth to the visitor. Thus began a marked campaign For a slogan: “No one will save you if you fall”, which unequivocally came to confirm the hordes of the dangers of getting too close to an erupting volcano. Today, Iceland wonders if it was worth “opening” both the world. The awakening that changed everything. In 2010, when Eyjafjalajökull volcano interrupted air traffic European with an ash cloud that paralyzed the continent, Iceland went from being a remote island and evoked in Nordic sagas to become a global stage. The images of glaciers, black beaches and hot springs spread by international chains aroused the curiosity of the world in a country that had just suffered the blow of The financial crisis. With the campaign Inspired by Icelandthe government and tourism industry They took the moment. From then on, the landing of low -cost airlines and Viral phenomena In social networks (including a Justin Bieber video clip between waterfalls and aircraft remains) they catapulted the island to essential destination. Mass tourism. In just fifteen years, the number of visitors went from less than half a million to More than 2.3 million annuallymultiplying the local population several times during the high season. Tourism revitalized villages, generated employment and transformed the economyto the point of becoming the Main motor of the country. Locations Like Vikonce agricultural, they saw how the stables gave way to guest houses, improvised coffees in school bus and attractions of adventure. Immigration accompanied This boom: in some municipalities, foreigners are already a majority, and the arrival of new residents has even caused an unexpected “baby boom”. For many mayors and local businessmen, current problems are preferable to the decline of peoples that previously seemed condemned to abandonment. The identity dilemma. However, obviously not everything is good news. Tourism has contributed economic vitality, employment and infrastructure, but also tensions. Farmers complain about visitors who enter their lands or feed horses without permission, even causing deaths of animals. In Vikthe massive arrival of foreign workers has altered the social and urban fabric, with prefabricated homes that change traditional aesthetics. Even in schools they have had to Put posters to prevent tourists from photographing children. In the environmental plane, basic systems as the sewer They have been overwhelmed. Many Icelanders recognize the prosperity that tourism has given them, but they wonder how much local culture can resist without diluting. Iceland as theme park. More than a decade later that Eyjafjalajökull Cover the European sky with ashes and put the country on the global map, many critics argue that the island has run the risk of becoming in a “volcanoes theme park.” The geysers, glaciers and mountains of fire are today part of an itinerary Almost prefabricated, driven by low -cost airlines and Instagram selfies, which concentrates crowds in a handful of iconic landscapes while other regions remain outside. What was previously perceived as an indomitable and mysterious territory has become a tourist decoration subject to the logic of rapid consumption, where the eruption that attracted the world was transformed In advertising claim permanent. For many Icelandic, the paradox is evident: the volcano that saved the economy now threatens to devour the essence of their country. The future. Thus, academics and analysts propose Diversify the routes and offer deepest experiences linked to the history and culture of the country, to prevent tourism from reduced to a handful of “postcard places.” Regions such as Western Fjords or Fisheries North are still relatively on the sidelines, although the opening of direct flights could change the situation. The issue, according to many Icelanders, is not to close the door to visitors, but rethink the model: Attract those who want a longer and more conscious experience, instead of fast visits dictated by social networks. The national phrase Þetta Reddast (“Everything will work out”) reflects the resilient optimism of the country, although now faces the most uncomfortable question: Can Iceland continue to receive the entire world without sacrificing what made it unique? Image | Pexels, Berserkur In Xataka | “No one will save you if you fall into the volcano”: Iceland reopens one of its greatest claims with the best anti -tourism slogan In Xataka | In Barcelona, ​​the anti-tourism movement is adopting a radical tactic: harass tourists down the street

Two years ago, an asteroid exploded over France with unusual violence. What saved the French was their size

by

February 13, 2023. It was 4:59 in the morning when a violent explosion illuminated the skies of Normandynorth of France. It was not a ray, nor a missile. It was the end of a travel of millions of kilometers for a small asteroid called 2023 Cx1. Seven hours of notice. The 650 -kilogram rock had just a meter in diameter, so it had been detected only seven hours before impact. But the most disturbing thing was not his surprise arrival, but his behavior when entering the earth’s atmosphere. An exhaustive analysis published two and a half years later in Nature Astronomy He has revealed that, if the asteroid had been larger, the consequences of his extraordinary explosion could have been devastating. A high -risk meteor. Most meteorites are fragmenting as they descend through the atmosphere, but 2023 CX1 endured intact until it reached a distance to the ground of only 28 kilometers. At that point, the pressure made it explode like a pump. After traveling through space for about 30 million years, the asteroid released 98% of all its kinetic energy in a second fraction. And in a very concentrated region of the atmosphere, when it reached a dynamic pressure of 4 megapascal. It does not compare with Cheliábinsk. The 2023 CX1 behavior was radically different from that of the car whose explosion of 500 kilotons He broke windows and caused hundreds of injured in Russia in 2013. The one in France generated a spherical shock wave instead of cylindrical, concentrating much more energy and greatly increasing the area of ​​soil affected by overpressure. According to researchers, this type of abrupt fragmentation could cause much more damage than the progressive fragmentations of similar size bodies. The French were lucky that it was so small. More firewood for planetary defense. The analysis was based on an unprecedented number of observations after mobilizing the scientific and citizen community in those seven hours of margin. The prediction of the fall by ESA and NASA had a margin of error of less than 20 meters between the planned and observed trajectory, which in turn facilitated the recovery of more than one hundred fragments of the meteorite in the commune of Saint-Pierre-Le Viger. According to the CSICwhich participated in the investigation, this event confirms the existence of a new population of asteroids, type L chondrites, capable of these violent explosions. “These asteroids must be taken into account in the Planetary Defense Strategiessince they represent a higher risk for populated areas, “says Auriane Egal, first author of the study. With what we know today, perhaps the authorities activate evacuation plans the next time an asteroid of this type threatens us. Provided that detection systems do not fail, and detect the threat in time. Image | THAT In Xataka | Tunguska: the explosion of 12 megatones that reminds us that space is full of wonders, but also of horrors

Apple closed Intel years ago. Intel now wants to sneak into Apple with a clear argument: they are from the US

by

Intel is one of the most important companies in the technological sector and one of the heavyweights of integrated circuits. However, these last ten years, The company lost a third of its value. Intel’s decline is due, in part, to its inconsequential position in the mobile erawith ARM being the Winning bet of giants such as Microsoft or Apple. At that time, he lost one of his biggest clients: Apple. But history may have hit a turn with an unexpected reconciliation. And also very important for both parties. Intel wants Apple. The information comes from Bloombergmedium with journalists very close to Apple’s world and to which several anonymous sources have contacted these last hours to comment that Intel would have approached Apple with an objective: that those of Cupertino invest in them. They need it, and although it is nothing more than a rumor, the volatile market of shares has already given its opinion with a 6.4% rise after the medium report. Intel looking for money in Apple’s pockets is logical. His shares are around $ 30, while Apple’s move around $ 250, and getting such a large client would be a lifeguard. As were the 5,000 million dollars that Nvidia invested in Intel a few days agoturning the GPU giant and artificial intelligence into a holder of 4% of the actions of the semiconductor company. Apple needs Intel. Own Nvidia snatched Intel the crown If being the most valuable chips manufacturer in the world, but in that scenario in which Intel needs money and customers of Apple’s caliber, Apple needs Intel for a very concrete reason: local manufacturing. In August, and in an agreement as controversial as it is unconventional, United States acquired 10% Intel. Because? Because it is an American company, one of the most important functions and the current United States government is promoting that its technology to manufacture within its borders, leaving China or India. The previous executive, With the Chips law, he already gave huge incentives for this. With the current one, the incentive for companies is not to cold tariffs. And that is where Intel can be tremendously valuable for Apple. It does not go from processors. For a long time, the two companies seemed inseparable. Intel provided some of his best processors to Apple, as well as some internal components of the iPhone. However, things began to twist when Apple, looking for greater control over the manufacturing process of its devices, sought components on other sides, began to Design your own processors Based on ARM (Humbing Intel along the way) and even bought Intel’s modems business for 1,000 million dollars. First time the government intervened in a company from the rescue of the automobile industry In the 2008 crisis. But this agreement would not be for the manufacturer to supply pieces to those of the apple, at least, Bloomberg points out: the real interest is the commented: that An Apple that depends on TSMC To manufacture numerous components of SIS different families of devices go to manufacture them on American soil in Intel factories. Intel as touchstone. Neither Apple nor Intel have made statements, but a few days ago, Tim Cook commented that they would love to see Intel return to the business and there are many cross investments in this story. Apart from 10% purchased by the US and the 5,000 million NVIDIA, another company that has recently invested in Intel is Softbank, a Japanese giant who wants to expand in the US and It has arrived with 2,000 million for Intel. For its part, Apple advertisement which has 600,000 million to invest in national initiatives over the next four years. And that is where Intel could fit perfectly into that piece of the puzzle that is currently the semiconductor business, the companies that manufacture in China, India or Taiwan and the US demands to manufacture in local territory. It only remains to be waiting to see if all these lifeguards get Intel to recover his ancient glory. It will not be easybut we will be here to tell if the story changes … or if the great disaster of 2011 is repeatedsince its archirrival, TSMC also has great plans for the United States. Image | Intel In Xataka | The US confesses its worst nightmare: if China invades taiwan and controls TSMC the US economy will go to pique

17 years later, it has come out with 7,000 million dollars in the pocket

by

For more than 17 years, the investment firm Berkshire Hathaway led by Warren Buffett and his partner Charlie Muger, maintained one of his most profitable bets in the automobile sector: Byd, the Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles. According to He informed Reutersin recent months the veteran investor has been undone of their shares until they sell them all, such and as confirmed CNBC. The markets have reacted sinking the value of their shares by 3.4%. Warren Buffett always wins. In 2008, few investors were interested in the future of the electric car, Berkshire acquired 225 million shares of an unknown Chinese company called byd for about 230 million dollars. The equivalent of 10% of the company. Since then, the value of that investment has fired more than 4,500% until March 2024, confirming as one of the Many investment successes of the American billionaire. With this long -term operation, the veteran investor confirms its Good eye for profitability since the 230 million would have become about 7,000 million dollars, multiplying their money in just 17 years. The impact on the byd price. However, not everything is good news in Buffett’s withdrawal from Byd’s shareholders. The news caused An immediate reaction In the markets: the value of Byd’s shares fell 3.4% in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in what represents its largest setback in three weeks. At the stock level, the last months have been convulsive for the electric car manufacturer, which in July carried out a unfolding shares (Stock Split) After which his price fell 16%. To that scenario, the drop in the stock market that occurred after the news of the output of a “trust” investor such as Berkshire Hathaway, chaining up to 30% fall From its annual maximum registered in May. Tranquility is what is most sought. Berkshire Hathaway’s departure from Byd has been taking shape since 2022, when the electric car war began to give its first measures, but has stepped on the accelerator as the uncertainty that surrounds the electric vehicle market in China was growing. In the context of Overproduction of the factories Chinese, and the Freezo in demand of electric cars, a scenario opens where strong competition is deriving in A price war that threatens to erode the margins of the manufacturers. Several analysts suggest that this Perspective of instability It could have been a weight factor in Berkshire’s decision to completely liquidate his position in Byd. Byd reactions. On the other hand, from the Chinese manufacturer, the movement of the Buffett company has been responded with thanks to Berkshire Hathaway and its historical leaders. According The published by BloombergLi Yunfei, general director of brand and public relations at Byd, published a message on the Chinese social network Weibo: “We are grateful to Muger and Buffett for their recognition to Byd, and for their 17 years of investment, support and company. In investment in shares, buy and sell are normal practices,” he explained trying to calm the uncertainty of the shareholders for the departure of Buffet. This message reflects the symbolic importance that Buffett had as an early investor in ByD for almost two decades. In addition, Charlie Muger played a crucial role in the Initial decision to invest in bydwhen he recommended the operation with the president of Himalayas capital, li lu. In Xataka | In his effort for not leaving fortune, Warren Buffett made a unique decision: to deny a loan to his daughter Image | Flickr (Fortune Live Media), Byd

The wolf has been a huge hot political potato for years. In Asturias they will allow the hunters to dejize them

by

In Spain there is a group that has been aware of the wolves. And they are not the zoologists, animalists, hunters or farmers. Even more so that they are politicians who have spent the last years discussing The legal status of the Canis lupusa delicate issue that has generated a deep debate. The last arrives from Asturias, where the Principality has taken A decision Radical: Allow hunters to shoot the wolves in certain community reserves. Not everyone believes it is legal. What happened? What Asturias will allow That hunters shoot Lobos during their beaters in certain areas of the Principality, those reserves in which there has been an increase in cattle attacks. The decision, which has already generated an intense debate and has encountered The frontal opposition of the animalists, directly connects with a series of legal changes that have gradually cracking the legal shielding of which the Canis lupus. What do Asturias want to do? Open the door to the hunters to participate in the reduction of the population of Lobos. As a “complementary control method”, the Ministry of Rural Affairs has decided that hunters of those regional reserves “in which a greater number of damage to cattle have been detected” can shoot wolves during hunts scheduled to capture other species. That is, it gives the green light to the hunters so that (if certain conditions are met) they can reduce them while looking for prey. “The goal is Clarifies the Principalitywhich has also asked that in the “most affected” hunting preserves the guards participate in the controls together with the natural environment agents. Why do you do it? To answer that question you have to go back several months, to April, when the Government of Asturias presented its annual “road map” (applicable until the end of March 2026) to “reduce damage to the primary sector and social conflict” related to the wolves. That is, its ‘Wolf Management Plan’an official document that among other things clarified how many catches of Canis lupus The Asturian authorities have authorized. In that document It was revealed that the minimum wolves are around 345 copies and, based on that, the Ministry of Rural Affairs has decided to give green light to “the extraction of a maximum of 53”. Even the maximum number of animals that would be “extracted” in each area of ​​the Principality was required, some guidelines were given on the periods to carry out “the controls” and it was clarified how they will be carried out. Among them, in addition to the beating made by the environmental agents of the Principality, It was already progressing that one of the options contemplated by the plan was to resort directly to the help of hunters in regional reserves. But the wolf was not protected? Throughout the last months the status of the wolf has changed considerably. And with him he has done his legal armor. In Spain the most relevant novelty It happened in March. During the processing of A law of food waste (yes, you have read well) Congress approved several amendments centered on the wolf. And among them there was a specific one that returned the species to the situation in which it was before 2021year in which the Canis lupus It had been added to the list of wild species with special protection (Lespre). In the practice that the wolf appeared in the Lespre valed the hunting of specimens north of the Duero, something that already happened south of the river. The decision of the Congress to take it out meant that the Peninsular North packs lost their armor, which in turn opened the door for the autonomous communities to decide on their hunt. The Principality itself I recognized Last April that launched its ‘Wolf Management Plan’ after the last changes in Lespre. It was not the only one. Cantabria did something similar. In fact rtpa It revealed This same week that the community has already “extracted” more than half of the wolves of the quota authorized for the 2025-2026 period, which translates into 25 copies of a total of 41. And why do you turn to the hunters? That is one of the keys to the controversy that has emerged in Asturias. The Principality explains that it has decided to allow hunters to shoot wolves while looking for other species in reserves for “Increase efficacy” of the plan, which provides for the “extraction” of a maximum of 53 wolves. There are those who have seen in that argument an alarm signal. “If the reason for involving hunters is the difficulty in reaching the number of dead wolves established in the quotas, perhaps the cause is not so much the lack of efficiency of the method to hunt them, but the shortage of wolves itself, something that seems that the Asturian government does not even value,” warns The Wolf Protection Fund, very critical of the new decision of the Principality. How many wolves are there? In spring the regional government calculated that the wolf is present in 83% of the Asturian territory, where some 45 herds inhabit between 360 and 405 animals. “Since 2001, the year in which 22 herds were registered, the population has shown a general growth trend, as well as the damages caused by livestock,” Concrete the Principality. To be more precise, remember that last year damage to 3,257 head of cattle and the cost of compensation grew to exceed the million and a half euros were confirmed. These figures are those that justified the control plan, although It is unknown How many wolves have fallen in the community today. Have there been reactions? Yes. And of different types. The Government insists in which his is a “balanced positioning” between the preservation of the species and the interests of farmers and ranchers, but the truth is that everything related to the legal framework of the wolf has been involved in a deep debate for months. The hunters They recognize Having received the last announcement from the … Read more

Kojima’s ‘Od’ trailer not only reveals the most scary video game in years. It also brings back to its competitors

by

As an elephant in a potter has broken into the conversation the trailer of the new video game of Hideo Kojima. Visually overwhelming, it also promises a considerable ration. And yet, that is not the most striking of the trailer, but also functions as a conglomerate of messages between lines directly directed for competitors and former partners. This kojima never gives stitch. What is seen. Some unknown knocks on a door (the ‘Knock’ of the full title of the game: ‘OD: Knock’) and slide inside a house a card in which the fires are requested “(or the candles). Then, in the first person, inside a seemingly empty house, some trembling female hands light with matches the candles of an altar with some sinister candles (a baby head that melts expelling a liquid that looks like blood, while a large number of worms leave a jar close to the altar). Behind the person who is before the altar, someone or something insistently calls for the door of the room. The hands belong to a terrified Sophia Lillis, who feels behind her a threatening presence, who ends up opening the door, entering the room and surrounding her with giant hands. Impressive realism. Animations are, as always happens with Kojima’s kinematics, spectacular. To the point that in a first viewing, until our hands do not appear it is not clear that we are in a digital environment. All thanks to the Metahuman technology that uses Unreal Engine 5. A demonstration of technical muscle that, however, retroaches us a decade ago in time. Vietnam flashbacks. Specifically, from ‘The PT‘, an enigmatic Kojima game for Konami that was born as a new’ Silent Hill ‘and that remained in a mere technical demo, today impossible to find by legal roads, and that many consider that it is one of the most scary video games of all time. In this new ‘OD: Knock’ there are obvious winks to that ‘The PT’ from the same title with acronym, the temporary reference to a decade ago, some of the setting (the house as a framework for fear, without open spaces) and even the participation of a filmmaker in the project (there Guillermo del Toro, here Jordan Pele). It could be said that the output of ‘OD’ now, when ten years are turned out that Kojima left pears with Konami, is a perverse anniversary celebration. Especially now that the Japanese company … takes out the new ‘Silent Hill F’ this week. It seems almost a late revenge, with Kojima monopolizing some of the attention that Konami’s game was going to have this week. For you, screaming. But there is more. This game will be exclusive to Xbox, at least temporarily and there some sneer is detected with the farewell of the video, “For All Players and Screamers”. Winking to the popular PlayStation slogan “for the players” (“For you, players” in Spanish translation)? Of course, if it becomes an absolute exclusive Xbox, it will be a good Microsoft zambombazo, although seeing its recent policy of Turn everything into multiplatformit does not seem likely. But there is the recoven. Ten years of Kojima Productions. The producer of Kohima is celebrating in style her tenth anniversary with a ristra of advertisements and news in the event ‘Beyond the Strand’. It has been seen live hereand in addition to the shocking trailer of OD, we have seen Details about the A24 adaptation of ‘Death Stranding’the animated film ‘Death Stranding Mosquito‘, from which we have seen a teaser, the new stealth game’ Physint ‘, and the announcement of a collaboration with Niantic Spatial also linked to Death Stranding. In Xataka | Kojima locks himself again in his bubble with ‘Death Stranding 2’. The result is a work as strange as necessary

Statistics tell us that we read more than before. The problem is that books are much simpler than a few years ago

by

It is not the same to read much than reading well, just as not all books are the same. Some of these conclusions can be taken from a series of recently published statistics and that analyze reading habits both in the United States and Spain. Interestingly, trends in Spain seem to contradict those of the rest of the world, but … is positive news? Global descent. Antonio Ortiz told In his Newsletter ‘Causes and Azares’ that there has been a global decrease in the Reading habits. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US, the time dedicated to reading for pleasure fell 23 minutes in 2003 to 15 minutes in 2018, 40%, and the trend continued to reduce up to only 16% of the population that reads daily in 2023, as explained by the New York Times in Spanish. In the United Kingdom, the National Literacy Trust He found that in 2023 only 47% of adolescents said they regularly read for enjoyment, lowering 60% in 2005. The Iberian contrast. In Spain the data are more positive: the 2024 reading habits of the Ministry of Culture of Spain It indicates that 65.5% of readers do so by leisure, which represents the highest percentage in historical series. And 70.3% read books in general. In addition, for age stripes, 14 to 24 years represents the greatest readers (82.1%), while the indices fall in over 55 years, indicating that a habit of reading in young people who will give a more reader adult population is being found. Does that perspective make sense, are hopeful data for reading in Spain? Reasons to doubt. These data can be inflated by social bias: when responding to surveys, people tend to overreport Activities considered “educated” how to readand surpassed those perceived as “banal”, such as watching television and spending time with the mobile. And why do we doubt? Because the social prestige of reading is still in force (as reflected The controversy with María Pombo), and recent measurements, such as Eurobarometer 2025They talk that Spain is one of the European countries where more people link reading with being “more cultured and intelligent”, which probably explains some inflation in the answers. Shorter phrases, simpler readings. For example, as Ortiz also points out, ‘The Economist’ has detected that the vocabulary and grammatical structure of the Best-Sellers They have been simplified between the thirties and today: The phrases are 30% shorter due to the least amount of subordinate sentences. And there are more: academic investigations such as the COH-Metrix Project of the University of Memphis have measured that the average readability of the current best-seller equals the level High School Junior (16-17 years), while in the sixties and seventies it was closer to the initial university level (COH-Metrix). On the school level, data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that the active vocabulary of written adolescents has been reduced compared to decades ago. And, finally, essays like ‘Reader, eat home’ Maryanne Wolf warns how fragmented reading in digital media impoverishes the capacity for deep reading. We presume more than we read. If we combine these data with others, which tell us that the UNESCO esteem that only 5% of the population read a book per month or that 40.3% of Spaniards declares never read or almost nevera constant figure in the last decade, we find a certainly contradictory situation. We like to presume that we read, but they are perhaps fattened by our own perception. And in addition, they are readings of a complexity much lower than that of a few decades ago. With readers like that, who needs María Pombo. Header | Clay Banks in Unspash In Xataka | Alatriste’s new book revalidates a throne that remains empty: Pérez-Reverte has created our most popular franchise

China has built a space empire in 30 years after being expelled from ISS. Your revenge is about to complete

by

If the space race of the last century was decided on the moon, that of this century could be a few years after its final act. The space is again the great theater where the two greatest economies in the world demonstrate their technological muscle, and China He has been preparing a master function to close your arc of redemption. A little paint in the face. This story has a clear origin: 1994. That year, China requested to join the International Space Station program with the other partners, But the United States vetoed its entrancearguing that the Asian country was not trustworthy. China developed its own manned space program, but in 2011, the United States Wolf amendment was a second blow, prohibiting NASA from any type of cooperation with Chinese counterparts. In parallel, China suffered the consequences of a world increasingly dependent on navigation satellites. In 1993 he had a first affront when the United States deliberately turned off GPS satellites on the Chinese ship Yinhe, leaving it drifting for 33 days. In 1996, a new blackout made the GPS guidance of a Chinese missile fail. In 2003, China invested 230 million euros to join the Galilean satellite navigation system of the European Union, but also ended up being expelled from this project. Of isolated to self -sufficient. Instead, China started a long -term plan to build, piece by piece, everything they had denied. In 1999 he launched the Shenzhou ship 1. In 2003, it became the third country, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to independently send a man to space: Yang Liwei aboard the Shenzhou 5. In 2007, China undertaked at the same time its lunar career and its own navigation network. The Chang’e 1 probe began to orbit the moon, and the Beidou-1 satellite meant the first stone of an alternative system to the American GPS. Similarly, in 2011 he launched Tiangong-1, the embryo of what would be his future space station. In 2022 he was no longer interested in ISS: China put the Tiangong Space Stationthat since then It is permanently inhabited. Even in areas such as planetary defense, China is replicating and improving Western missions. After the success of NASA’s dart mission, will launch its own mission to divert an asteroidwith a key improvement: a second ship that will observe the impact in real time and measure the live result. The first milestones. China’s space exploits have been growing in complexity. In 2020, the Chang’e 5 probe brought samples of the visible face of the moon for the first time in 44 years, and of a geologically younger area than the samples of the Apollo missions, so that They also interested NASAdespite the law that prevents them from collaborating. It was not until 2024, with the Chang’e-6 mission, which China achieved an impressive unpublished feat: bring to Earth The first samples of the hidden face of the moona tremendous effect in the new space race that now seeks to repeat on Mars, going for the first soil samples of the red planet. While NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is in a limbo, China plans to launch its Tianwen-3 probe in 2028 and bring samples of Mars in 2031, foreseeably advanceing NASA. He could do it alone, but in a brilliant geopolitical movement, he has invited agencies around the world to join with their own instruments, which leaves the United States in an awkward position. Sorpasso in sight. Beyond the robotic missions, the most important milestones at stake are the missions manned to the moon. While the NASA Artemis program accumulates numerous delays and cost overruns, China advances firmly towards its objectives of stepping on the moon and establishing a lunar base. NASA has already arrived six times to the surface of the moon between 1969 and 1972, but the new lunar race does not go to put a flag, but to control resources. The one who arrives first and establishes a base in the South Lunar Pole It will have a key advantage to select areas with ice water and establish the communication protocols of the cislunar space. Nervousness in Washington. The United States reaction to China’s spatial advances show that the Sorpasso It is possible. The Wolf amendment has fallen short, and now NASA has hardened its position, prohibiting Chinese citizens Access to all its facilities, programs and even zoom meetings. The agency alleges reasons for “cybersecurity.” At the same time, NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, has adopted A belligerent rhetoric against China: “We are in a second space race. We will win the Chinese on the moon.” You can intuit the fear of a defeat, and one of the strategic movements of the United States to avoid it will be to install a nuclear reactor on the moon before China does, to be able to declare an “exclusion zone”, de facto controlling the most valuable areas. In 30 years, China has gone from being a spatial outcome to an undisputed leader who marks the rhythm in the exploration of the 21st century. The veto that had to stop her became the fuel of her ambition. His space empire is no longer a promise; It is a reality that orbits our heads and perches on other worlds. Revenge, patient and meticulous, is already served. Image | Xinhua In Xataka | While NASA faces the cancellation of 41 missions, China is making authentic virguerías in space

70 years ago the United Kingdom took the most remote islet in the world to frustrate the USSR. Today is a huge headache

by

Rockall is a sharp stone in the middle of the Atlantic. Literally. Small, inhospitable, isolated, The islet It seems molded on purpose to repel any human presence. No one lives there and the few adventurers who have challenged the island, tried to spend as long as possible on their surface, have endured as much a month and a half. However and despite all that, Rockall stars in an exciting story that Even today It is marked by the controversy. After all, it has gone from being an important piece for the national defense of Great Britain (and the whole of NATO) to an important economic asset. In a (remote) place of the Atlantic … Throughout the Atlantic there are countless islands, archipelagos and rocks, but few are as inhospitable as Rockalla small rocky promontory of the North Atlantic. He arrives with reviewing a few data to get an idea of ​​to what extent he is isolated and is the last place on the planet in which one would want to spend his vacation. Rockall is among the coasts of Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, hundreds of kilometers from anywhere inhabited. To find houses and population you have to look at 370 kilometers From there, a NORT UISTin the Exterior hebrids (Scotland). “The most isolated rock”. It is not just that Rockall is far from everything. It is directly thought to repel the presence of humans. The islet measures only 25 meters wide and rises 17 m above sea level, which explains that its slope is often shaken by the waves of the Atlantic. There is no one to live there, but the few people who have tried to try their luck have encountered an inclined and rocky surface, a granite block in which there is hardly any space of 3.5 x 1.3 m level enough to stand. In the middle of the last century the British naturalist James Fisher described Rockall as “the little most isolated rock of the oceans of the world.” Even more graphic was a few years ago Lord Kennet, torque and exmarinero than He referred to the islet as the “most desolate, most despair and more horrible” place on the planet. The person who has spent more time on his sharp rocks was the surveyor Nick Hancock, who endured 45 days on its surface. A few years ago a teacher and veteran of the British army wanted ‘Solo’ a month. A rock with an intense story. Given its characteristics, one might think that Rockall is a rocky point without any interest in the middle of the North Atlantic, an islet away from political debate or territorial disputes. Not at all. Its history can go back several centuries agobut he became especially intense in the mid -XX. It was then, at the end of the summer of 1955, to be more precise, when Queen Elizabeth II authorized the annexation of the islet and ordered the British Royal Navy to “take possession of the island.” That same year, Remember the BBC chaina commander reported the successful “conquest” of Rockall. An indomitable island. That episode has already demonstrated how indomitable the rock islet is. The HMS Vidal, a recognition ship by the British Royal Navy, arrived in the area on September 15, 1955, but the sailors It took several days to be able to raise your flag. The reason: the very strong and violent wind gusts. The BBC Slide which was the last territory claimed by the British Empire. Years later, In 1972Parliament voted in favor of incorporating (already formally) Rockall into the United Kingdom, integrating it into the Western Islands of Scotland. But … why? 70 years ago Rockall was the same inhospitable, uninhabited and isolated rock that is today, so why the hell was Great Britain interested in his possession? What was lost there? To understand it you have to keep in mind the complicated geopolitical map of the 50s, In full cold warwhich conferred to Rockall a special value. With the NATO submarines and the USSR patrolling the North Atlantic, its possession became a festive issue. Not just that. Rockall may be isolated from everything, but less than 400 kilometers from there, in the exterior hebrids, London had its first Test field For American guided nuclear missiles. The islet may be hell on Earth, an sharp rock in which it was impossible to live more than a few weeks, but … what if “hostile agents”, as spies at the service of Kremlin, managed to settle in the area to monitor British tests? Beyond the Cold War. The USSR collapsed in the early 90s and London’s priorities in defense became others, but Rockall did not lose interest. Of course: this went from the military strategy to the field of economy and resource management. On the island the geologists identified a special type of granite, but if for something he stood out it was the potential of their marine bed and its waters. They interested their possible oil reserves. And interest (and much) the fishing richness that hid their waters, where rappes are captured, North Gallo, haddock or squid, among other species of high value. The problem is that this wealth not only interested London. He also did Islandia or Ireland. A headache. In 1982 the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Convent) established that rocks without population or economic fabric, as was the case of Rockall, could not be used as a basis for territorial claims. In other words, the islet could no longer be used as ‘key’ to argue the theoretical legitimacy of the United Kingdom over the surrounding waters. However, a Google search arrives to verify that in recent years law and fishing in the area have been a reason for friction With Ireland, Iceland or even Denmarkas representative of the Faroe Islands. The ‘Roces’ of 2019. One of the most tense episodes was lived before the pandemic, in 2019, when Scotland warned the Irish ships on the “illegal” drag fishing that … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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