La mejor báscula de cocina inteligente

COMPRA POR 29,99€ EN AMAZON

Seguir leyendo

¿Por qué puedes confiar en mí?

Soy periodista especializada en prueba y recomendación de productos y, en los últimos años, he analizado y comparado todo tipo de dispositivos, herramientas y artículos de consumo, poniendo a prueba sus prestaciones, funcionamiento y rendimiento en condiciones reales. A lo largo de este tiempo han pasado por mis manos desde gadgets y pequeños electrodomésticos hasta dispositivos de cuidado personal y tecnología aplicada al día a día, siempre con el objetivo de entender qué ofrece realmente cada producto más allá de sus especificaciones.

Además, estoy especializada en moda y belleza, un sector en el que sigo de cerca las tendencias y en el que he probado cosméticos, herramientas y productos de cuidado personal de todo tipo. En cada análisis busco ofrecer una visión clara, práctica y honesta que ayude al lector a elegir con criterio entre las distintas opciones del mercado.

Es curioso. Con todo el mundo hablando de la IA en clave de destrucción de empleos, lo cierto es que el gigante Amazon parece demostrarse como esa excepción que podría confirmarnos la regla. De hecho, es que la empresa con base en Seattle está contratando más que nunca y captando talento para su filial de Web Services, aprovechando sobre todo los despidos masivos en Meta.

Lo hace además en un entorno complicado, con los empleados reconociendo que ahora con la adopción de la IA trabajan más que nunca para analizar y corregir procesos que la involucran, sumando una rotación altísima, quejas al sistema salarial de la compañía y en plena reorganización interna para mejorar las sinergias entre equipos y reducir la burocracia.

Y ahora llega el último capítulo de toda esta historia contada por los compañeros de Business Insider, que mencionaban en una reciente nota a la mismísima Julia White, directora de marketing de Amazon Web Services, pidiendo en una reunión interna de la empresa a sus empleados que intenten "reclutar" a los trabajadores despedidos de Meta para cubrir las vacantes que continúen abiertas en AWS.

"Si tienen amigos, familiares o colegas —y, como saben, Meta acaba de despedir a 8.000 personas—, avísenles. Nosotros tenemos puestos de trabajo vacantes y necesitamos a los mejores talentos."

Con algunas divisiones de Amazon en pleno recorte, otras como AWS se "pelean" por captar talento

Decía Julia White a sus empleados, preguntada por la rotación y los posibles cambios en las compensaciones precisamente para mejorar la retención del talento, que la mayor dificultad en este entorno era precisamente la contratación.

Al parecer, sólo la unidad de marketing de AWS cuenta con más o menos unas 160 vacantes en estos momentos, algo que para la directiva de la empresa norteamericana "es demasiado". Por eso, es que están haciendo hincapié en que deben acelerar.

Otras divisiones de Amazon, sin embargo, están recortando puestos, con más de 30.000 posiciones eliminadas en varias rondas de recortes en los últimos meses, incluyendo curiosamente algún despido en este mismo departamento de Amazon Web Services e incluso en robótica o en comercios minoristas.

Dicen desde Amazon, directamente desde el despacho de su CEO, Andy Jassy, que estos despidos tenían como objetivo reorganizar profundamente la compañía a todos los niveles, buscando un cambio cultural y no sólo organizativo, que les permita reducir niveles jerárquicos y burocracia para ganar sinergias entre equipos y una mayor velocidad de desarrollo.

Las "áreas estratégicas" seguirán creciendo, aunque Amazon se centrará "en contratar y desarrollar mejor el talento en un mercado muy competitivo". Tienen claro, eso sí, que los problemas de Amazon y la rotación más elevada de su plantilla no se centran sólo en las compensaciones, siendo éste "uno de los factores pero no el principal".  Los empleados buscan oportunidades de crecimiento personal y profesional, además de mejorar su calidad de vida a nivel general junto con otros aspectos.

Así pues, AWS se centrará ahora en "atraer, retener y motivar al talento de más alto nivel" evaluando periódicamente qué se ofrece y qué necesitan los empleados, eliminando esa estructura "profundamente compartimentada" para pasar a un modelo operativo más colaborativo en el que los equipos aprendan nuevas formas de trabajar juntos y buscar objetivos comunes.

"Hay demasiadas transferencias de información y poca comunicación directa. Estamos en la fase de perfeccionamiento para asegurarnos de que sea eficiente".

Xena the Greek warrior princess, who started as an antagonist of Hercules, captivated audiences around the world more than twenty years ago. One of the joys of looking back at Xena is its playfulness. It features some badass female characters and at times offers a serious message about female solidarity and feminism.

By Amanda Potter

Xena the fictional Warrior Princess, played by Lucy Lawless, captivated audiences around the world for six series with her high kicks, sword skills, and distinctive war cry. The series followed her as she fought her way through armies, monsters, and gods alongside her soul mate and moral compass, Gabrielle (Renee O’Connor).

Xena travelled across space and time, taking us from ancient Greece to Rome, Egypt, Britain, China, India, Scandinavia, and finally to Japan, where it all came to an end twenty years ago on June 18, 2001.

Starting life as an antagonist of Hercules in three episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena was so popular as a character that she was given her own spin-off series that ran from 1995 to 2001. At the time, Xena: Warrior Princess was considered groundbreaking, as it starred a strong female action heroine and was the only popular adventure, action, science fiction, or fantasy show that featured female leads without male counterparts.

On the twentieth anniversary of the final episode, it is worth revisiting this great show and exploring why it was loved by a broad spectrum of viewers, from young girls drawn in by an active female role model to ancient history buffs, sci-fi fans and the LGBTQ community.

The Fictional Greek Warrior Princess and the Amazons

A reformed warlord from ancient Greece, Xena was not an Amazon but a friend to the tribe of warrior women. To ancient Greek writers, the Amazons were women who fought and behaved like men and were unnatural barbarians. They have since been adopted as positive female role models who break with misogynistic stereotypes of womanhood—they live in a self-sufficient, female-dominated society as warriors and intellectuals. The term “Amazon feminism” is now used to describe a branch of feminism that promotes female physical prowess as a way to achieve gender equality.

Before Xena, the Amazons featured in the 1970s Wonder Woman television series. Not quite the feminist icons we expect today, these women wore pastel-colored negligees as they adopted a peaceful life—without men—on Paradise Island.

In Xena, while the Amazons may also have been attired in revealing costumes made of furs and skins, their separatist society valued martial, as well as academic, skills. An Amazon tells Gabrielle that the Amazon world is based on “truth and an individual woman’s strength.”

The Amazons from Greek mythology lived apart from men at the edge of the known world and fought bravely against male heroes such as Hercules, Theseus, and Achilles. In Xena, the Amazons also lived in a matriarchal society and were skilled fighters who could hold their own against men.

The Amazons in Wonder Woman (2017) can be seen as Xena’s big-screen descendants. The costumes and fighting prowess of Penthesilea (Nina Milner) in the BBC drama Troy: Fall of a City (2018) has tinges of Xena. The leadership ability of the immortal Amazon Andy (Charlize Theron) in the Netflix film The Old Guard can also be seen as inspired by Xena.

But while Troy: Fall of a City and The Old Guard are aimed at older audiences, Xena was popular across all age groups. For instance, episodes of Xena were broadcast in the UK on Channel Five’s Milkshake! Saturday morning slot in the ’90s and early 2000s for young viewers. This led many young girls to adopt Xena as their role model.

The Xena subtext

Xena was also popular with gay and lesbian viewers. In the 1990s, openly gay relationships were mostly missing from popular US television series. However, Xena’s relationship with Gabrielle was interpreted as friends and lovers as much as hero and sidekick. Series producers began to play with this idea, for example, putting Xena and Gabrielle together in a sexy bath in season two fan-favorite episode “A Day in the Life,” so that for many, the subtext became the main text.

Although a lot of fans were dismayed that Xena died in the final episode, they were treated to a long goodbye kiss between Gabrielle and Xena’s ghost. Series producers never openly made Xena and Gabrielle a lesbian couple. But LGBTQ+ fans championed their relationship, which is believed to have paved the way for the openly gay relationships we see in television series today.

One of the joys of looking back at Xena twenty years afterward is its playfulness when compared with dark sci-fi fantasies like Game of Thrones. It features some badass female characters and at times offers a serious message about female solidarity and feminism, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some of the special effects may now seem dated, but the storylines still ring true, and the characters of Xena and Gabrielle can continue to be inspirational for a new generation of young female viewers.

Amanda Potter is a Visiting Research Fellow at The Open University. The article was published in The Conversation and is republished here under a Creative Commons License.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is addicted to money. The major labs developing AI models are intoxicated with the dollars that will finance the technology’s evolution. The three leading companies in the sector, Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX, have announced in recent days plans to go public to raise more funds in an endless race. Other long-established tech multinationals such as Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon have also launched financial operations in what is shaping up to be the biggest capital raising effort in the sector’s history.

Seguir leyendo

Amazon and Sony among firms that may have sourced coltan, used in phones, from supply chains controlled by the M23 rebels, says Global Witness

Leading global brands including Amazon, Ericsson and Sony are “likely” to have sourced minerals linked to a militia accused of widespread sexual violence, summary executions and torture, a new investigation claims.

The companies allegedly, but unknowingly, acquired coltan smuggled from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that are occupied by the M23 militia, which has committed myriad atrocities in eastern DRC.

Hace tiempo que los difusores de aromas dejaron de ser un simple capricho decorativo y se convirtieron en uno de esos pequeños gestos cotidianos que cambian por completo una casa. Basta con encender uno al final del día para que el ambiente resulte más agradable, acogedor y, por supuesto, más relajante. Hay quien los utiliza para crear un rincón de calma antes de dormir, quien recurre a aromas cítricos para trabajar con más concentración y quien simplemente disfruta de esa sensación (casi de hotel) que son capaces de crear en cualquier estancia.

Seguir leyendo

Tech company received infrastructure relief as its five biggest UK divisions generate £32bn in revenues

Amazon’s main division in the UK was handed a £7.6m tax credit last year by HM Revenue and Customs, despite profits at the retail-to-streaming company surging by more than a quarter to £355m.

Amazon UK Services – which employs 66,000 staff, the vast majority of the company’s 75,000 employees in Britain – said it owed £9.1m in “current tax” last year.