Month: October 2025

Madrid Metro has spent millions on advanced machines to cover them like shacks

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It was February 14, 2024 when the Community of Madrid confirmed the last investment with which he was going to get married had been committed: 145 ticket vending machines to access the Madrid underground. The deployment came in large numbers. The almost one hundred and a half devices are part of the second phase of the Metro Technological Improvement Planan investment that also includes, for example, the renovation of hundreds of Metro access turnstiles. The investment tries to give a new face to facilities that are beginning to become small after not having received large investments in the last 20 years. Now, line 6 is being modernized, line 11 is being expanded and the stations are receiving new equipment to adapt to the new transport titles. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Equipment that, in the case of these machines, will be deployed in 19 stations. The first ones, boasted the account of X of the Madrid Metrothey arrived this same week. The leap in quality is evident: 42-inch high-definition screens and even the possibility of opening a video call with Metro services to ask for help if any complications arise. Latest technology devices to be distributed at some of the busiest Metro stations in the capital such as those at the airport, Nuevos Ministerios, Feria de Madrid or Príncipe Pío, among others. Very advanced machines with “Metta’s 4.0 technology,”in the words of the company itself. Machines to which Metro de Madrid has had to put a plastic umbrella. And of course, they have unleashed mockery on social networks. 7.7 million euros and a piece of plastic “It’s plastic. Greetings” This has been the answer that the Madrid Metro has given X to a multitude of users who have asked why the company has put uralite umbrellas on its newest and most advanced machines. Despite describing the innovations and advantages of these machines, many users have focused on that plastic appendage that appears at the top of the machine. An appendix that, without a doubt, is reminiscent of the uralite roofs, everything must be said. Indeed, we could continue with the concise answers of how the person behind the social networks of the Madrid Metro has tried to appease the responses to the shabby difficult to explain solution that the company has used to protect its machines. Madrid Metro has defended itself reiterating that this plastic roof has been installed because the station is leaking. Some leaks that, according to the company, are not its responsibility and, therefore, for the moment the machines will be protected with this particular umbrella for as long as necessary. Meanwhile, Madrid Metro users will be able to use “the intelligent keyboard for destination selection” with “natural language recognition capacity” that the devices have. They can establish a video call with the operators if they need telematic help and they can even obtain new transportation tickets to travel. Of course, we recommend that users open the umbrella. There are leaks. Photo | Madrid Metro In Xataka | 1,500 tons in weight, 100 meters long and one objective: excavate Metro Line 11 in Carabanchel

Microsoft is killing Xbox for Excel

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Microsoft has imposed a profit margin target of 30% on its Xbox division, a figure much higher than the average usually obtained in the video game industry, according to reveals Bloomberg. This guideline would explain many of the controversial decisions that Xbox has taken in recent years, especially in terms of project cancellations, massive layoffs and price increases are concerned. a goal to leagues. The average profit margin in the video game industry has ranged between 17% and 22% in recent years, according to share Jason Schreier in his article, based on estimates from S&P Global Market Intelligence. As the journalist states, on Xbox, that figure was between 10% and 20% over the last six years. On the other hand, court documents from 2023 revealed that Microsoft’s gaming business had a margin of 12% in the first nine months of fiscal year 2022. S&P Global analyst Neil Barbour affirms that “a margin of 30% or higher is usually reserved for a company that is really nailing it.” To give an example, look at Capcom right now, which is practically in its golden age and which in recent reports operating margins were seen that were close to 40%. Who is behind the change? According to According to Schreier, this goal was implemented in the fall of 2023 by Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, whose team has assumed a much more relevant role in the gaming business in recent years. According to sources As cited by Bloomberg, previously Xbox developers did not have to meet specific numerical targets and were asked to focus on making the best games possible without worrying too much about finances. The practical consequences. To achieve that margin, Xbox has had to take drastic measures. In 2024 it announced that it would release most of its games on Nintendo and Sony consoles for the first time. In July we discovered that canceled several expensive projects that had been in development for more than seven years, such as Everwild, Perfect Dark or Project Blackbird. Also has laid off thousands of employees and Game Pass prices have increased and of the consoles. To go up, they have even increased the price of your development kits. According to the sources of the reportlooking to the future, games that are cheap to produce or with high income expectations will be prioritized over riskier bets. The Game Pass dilemma. The strategy of including all Xbox games in Game Pass on launch day has hurt direct game sales, according to they point Schreier’s sources. And just as share In the middle, to compensate for these losses, Xbox offers its developers a credit calculated using an opaque formula that seems to favor games in which players spend more hours, such as online multiplayer titles. This makes it even more difficult to achieve that 30% margin. The next hardware bet. Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, has declared recently told Mashable that the company’s next console will be “a very premium, very high-end and polished experience,” suggesting a change in strategy compared to previous generations and, predictably, a significantly higher price. There are already voices that point to a console much more similar to a PC, a concept similar to what we have seen with the ROG Xbox Ally. However, there is no official information yet, so we will have to wait to find out more details. The official response. An Xbox spokesperson has declared that the company “has a long-term vision” for its business and that success “does not look the same in every project or priority.” He added that they evaluate “the business as a whole, balancing creativity, innovation and sustainability across a diverse portfolio of offerings.” Just like account Bloomberg, in July, Amy Hood said in a call with investors that the Xbox division’s operating income had grown 34% in the quarter ended in June thanks to “continued prioritization of higher margin opportunities.” Decisions. Xbox has been losing market share to PlayStation and Nintendo for years. Microsoft no longer discloses Xbox hardware sales, but analysts estimate PlayStation 5 has sold more than double of units than the Xbox Series the purchase of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023, the largest acquisition in the history of gaming. However, it seems that for Microsoft it is not enough, and everything indicates that the company will be much more aware of its gaming division than ever, a struggle between executives and senior managers that no one knows where it will end. In Xataka | There is a clear beneficiary of the success of Microsoft and AI: Satya Nadella, who pockets a bonus of $96.5 million

What are lightning bolts and how are they formed, the impressive electrical discharges that scare and fascinate in equal measure?

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The good news is that the chance of being struck by lightning this year is less than one in a million. Even better news is that 90% of people struck by lightning survive. Even so, it is always advisable to avoid risks when we are talking about atmospheric phenomena as violent as these. Lightning strikes cause both fear and fascination, a fascination that sometimes leads us to ask questions about the nature of these immense electrical columns. What is lightning Lightning is an electrical discharge (each lightning can generate several discharges), generally of very high power, that occur in clouds. These are meteorological phenomena that, although they have its origin in the atmospheresometimes they reach the surface of the Earth. We usually associate lightning with storms and cyclones, but these discharges can occur in other contexts, for example during volcanic eruptions, during fires of a certain intensity or when nuclear weapons are detonated. How lightning is formed Lightning usually occurs in stormy conditions and, the truth is that we do not fully know how. We know that under certain conditions, clouds can go accumulating electrical charges both positive and negative. In these cases, the air acts as an insulator between areas of positive or negative accumulation, as well as between these areas and the Earth. At a certain point, the accumulation of these charges exceeds a threshold that causes this insulating capacity of the air to give way. So all that accumulation of charges generates an electric current capable of traveling long distances (even several hundred kilometers). The discharge allows the electrical charge to balance, but the charges can accumulate again until the next lightning strike. What remains a mystery to us is the beginning of this process, how positive or negative charges accumulate in certain regions. The main hypothesis suggests that the origin of this accumulation is in tiny hail particles (also called graupel) that grow as they encounter supercold water droplets (in a liquid state but with temperatures below freezing). In thunderstorms, these icy particles would frequently collide, colliding with other icy particles. These collisions would cause the charges of the different particles to gain charge of one sign or another. Difference between lightning, thunder and lightning Electrical shocks are usually invisible to the human eye and they also do not generate noise, but this is not the case with lightning. Lightning generates not only a flash of intense light, but also a significant roar. We call the zigzag luminous path of lightning lightning. As it passes through the atmosphere, the electrical discharge causes the air to heat up to exceed temperatures of 27,000º Ceslius, a temperature higher than that observed on the surface of the Sun. This causes the air to become incandescent, generating lightning. Such rapid and intense heating of the air has another effect, making it “explode” outwards. This rapid movement of air is responsible for the second element that makes up lightning, sound or, in other words, the thunder. Light and sound move through the atmosphere at very different speeds. This is what makes us see lightning even seconds before its sound reaches our eardrums. This gap gives rise to an old trick to measure the distance at which the storm is from us. If we count the seconds of lag between light and sound and divide the result by three, we can estimate the distance in kilometers at which the lightning occurred. Types of lightning Cloud flashes and cloud-to-cloud Among conventional rays we can distinguish various types depending on the location of the points they join. The first of the groups that we can distinguish is that of the cloudy flashes. Most lightning strikes never reach the ground, in fact it is common for them not to even escape the cloud in which they occur. These rays are also often called intra-cloud rays. Within the category of lightning that never reaches the ground, there are some whose path partially escapes the cloud and even some that start in one cloud and reach another different cloud. Cloud-to-surface We distinguish these cloudy flashes and rays from those that do manage to reach the Earth’s surface. These types of discharges occur from the top down, at least when they happen naturally. The rays that join cloud and surface can be both negative and positive depending on where the respective negative and positive charges are located. Negative rays are the most common rays (they represent around 95% of impacts). In these rays, the clouds accumulate a negative charge and the Earth has a positive charge. When lightning opens the channel, the negative charge moves from the cloud to the ground, hence the name. The positive rays They are less frequent but at the same time more powerful. The reason is that these originate in higher areas of the cloud, so they must travel further. This in turn means that they accumulate more energy before discharging. Other unique events However, there is a different category that we call transient light events, or TLE (transient luminous events). These phenomena are much less frequent, more difficult to observe and, as a consequence, much more mysterious. How powerful is lightning? The strength of lightning can vary considerably depending on atmospheric conditions and the Earth’s surface. As explained According to the United States National Weather Service, a “typical” lightning strike can discharge about 30,000 amperes with 300 million volts. However, we pointed out before that a positive ray can transport much more energy. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the organization on which the American meteorological service depends, these types of discharges can be an order of magnitude higher, discharging 300,000 amperes with 1,000 million volts. Many will wonder Why don’t we take advantage of this energy? and the answer is that, today, there are too many difficulties to make this technology a reality. First, we must keep in mind that lightning is a transitory phenomenon that can occur in different places: to obtain its energy we would have … Read more

Madrid consumes more and generates less energy than anyone else. And their neighbors are also refusing to install solar panels.

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Between the grain fields and the family housing estates of eastern Madrid, the residents of Villalbilla and Torres de la Alameda live a battle that is repeated in many corners of Spain: that of a territory that wants clean energy, but afraid of losing his identity. In short. On the banks of the Viso, a residential and natural area closely linked to family life, a macro photovoltaic solar plant is planned of 70.8 megawatts promoted by Envatios Promotion XXIV SL, a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational Smartenergy. The project, known as “Envatios XXIV – Phase III”, would occupy about 335 hectares of agricultural and natural land, the equivalent of more than 470 soccer fields, between both municipalities. The resolution that grants the declaration of public utility was published in the Official State Gazette, a step that paves its execution. However, the approval has set off alarms in the area: Neighborhood platforms and associations have begun to mobilize to stop what they consider a threat to their environment and quality of life. The spark of conflict. The Platform for the Defense of Visibility complaint the “lack of transparency and absence of participation” in the processing of the project. They claim that Villalbilla City Council was not even formally notified during the process, a defect that could have legal consequences. The macro project, they explainwill cause possible environmental and social risks: local increase in temperature due to the reflective effect of the plates, noise pollution, loss of vegetation and risk of fires. At the information meeting held on October 7, the technicians and neighbors summarized their position in a phrase that has become the movement’s motto: “We are not against solar energy, but rather its poor location. Energy yes, but with common sense.” A wave of institutional opposition. Neighborhood rejection has found a political echo. Villalbilla Town Hall approved a motion against the project with the support of 17 councilors from different parties. The decision reflects the concern shared by residents and municipal representatives regarding the environmental and landscape impact. A few days later, the council announced that it will present an appeal to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO). It has also maintained contacts with the Government Delegation in Madrid and has requested a review of the process. On his Facebook page, the mayor, José Luis Luque Lorente, qualified the situation: “The plant is located in Torres de la Alameda. In Villalbilla no permanent facilities are implemented, only some plots will be temporarily affected as accesses during the works.” Even so, the council has joined the mobilizationarguing that any large energy infrastructure must be done with planning and consensus. ANDon the other front. The promoting company has with the favorable environmental impact declaration and that its capacity—70.8 MW—could supply the annual electricity consumption of some 90,000 homes. Some landowners have already signed rental contracts with the developer. “The project is unstoppable, and it is better to make a profit,” one of them explained to Infobae. The debate has even divided the municipalities themselves: while Villalbilla and Torres prepare legal appeals, Mejorada del Campo has chosen for negotiating with the company. This last municipality has achieved reduce plant size by 40%, establish a local employment plan and compensation of 3.8 million euros. Even within the regional administration itself there are divergences: the General Directorate of Environmental Quality of the Community of Madrid issued a favorable report, while the General Directorate of Agriculture considered it unviable for affecting woody crops and recommended finding another location. The dilemma of the landscape. The Platform for the Defense of Viso insists that the problem is not solar energy itself, but the model of massive implementation without territorial planning. As we well knowthe debate is not new. In a forum for El País, energy expert Eloy Sanz warned that “rejecting almost any renewable development is a mistake,” and that “the less renewables, the more fossil fuels.” But he also criticized the use of the term “macro” as an emotional label: “The prefix ‘macro’ is key on an emotional level, regardless of the actual size of the project.” The dilemma extends throughout Spain. The motto “Renewable yes, but not like this” has caught on in rural areas of Andalusia, Aragon and Galicia. In Jaén, neighbors and farmers oppose an installation that would involve cutting down more than 100,000 olive trees. In Galicia, the Supreme Court provisionally suspended a wind farm for failing to evaluate its cumulative impact on the territory. The conflicts share a pattern: rural communities that support the energy transition, but demand order, transparency and balance. It will have to be distributed. The point is that the case of Villalbilla and Torres de la Alameda has an additional paradox: it occurs in one of the regions that produces the least energy and consumes the most. The Community of Madrid generates only 4.8% of the energy it usesbut it concentrates 11% of national demand. Meanwhile, other areas of the country—Extremadura, Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha or Andalusia— support the thickness of electricity generation. This shows that the background is the same: an energy transition that advances at an uneven pace and with little territorial planning. As the country seeks to meet 2030 climate goals, local communities are demanding a say in how and where their environment is transformed. “We want a just transition.” That is the phrase most repeated by the residents of Viso. His message coincides with that of many citizen movements that have emerged throughout Spain: support for renewables, but with respect for the territory. Maybe the key is in what pointed out Eloy Sanz: “The dilemma is not between progress or landscape, but between doing it well or doing it badly.” Between climate urgency and fear of change, Villalbilla and Torres de la Alameda embody a question that Spain has not yet resolved: how to achieve clean energy that is also fair? Image | Unsplash Xataka | The Altri megaplant has caused an enormous social response in Galicia. And now the Government has given … Read more

OpenAI has purchased a software called Sky. And the loser in this equation is Apple

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OpenAI has bought Skyan AI application for macOS that had not even been released on the market. Behind them are Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, the creators of Workflow, the automation app that Apple bought in 2017 and became Shortcuts. Why is it important. Three people with years of experience within Apple, a deep knowledge of macOS, and a unique understanding of automation have decided it was better to build outside than inside. And OpenAI has just signed them to integrate ChatGPT precisely into Apple’s operating system. The context. Sky promised to be exactly what Siri should be by 2025: An AI that floats above your desk. Who understands what you do. That sees the context of your screen. And that executes complex actions with a simple instruction in natural language. The vision of AI-assisted computing taken to the maximum. The founders of Software Applications Incorporatedthe company behind Sky, spent years within Apple after purchasing Workflow in 2017. They left in August 2023. 26 months later, OpenAI buys them. The entire cycle has lasted less than two years. That’s speed. That’s what happens when you have a clear vision and there aren’t a hundred committees holding you back. What has happened. Kim Beverettthe third co-founder, also came from Apple. Almost ten years working on Safari, WebKit, privacy, Messages, Mail, FaceTime, SharePlay. They are product people. People who understand macOS better than almost anyone on the planet. And this is not just any startup. It’s a startup founded by people who know the ins and outs of macOS intimately, who know exactly what it can do and how to do it. And they decided that it was better to do it outside of Apple than inside. Between the lines. OpenAI does not buy Sky for the technology. Buy Sky for the talent. The twelve team members join OpenAI to, according to ChatGPT’s vice president, accelerate “deep integration with macOS.” Apple trained these people, gave them access to their systems. Now OpenAI is going to use that knowledge to build exactly what Apple should be building. Apple has been promising for months that Siri is going to improve, that Apple Intelligence It’s the future. But beyond hardware increasingly specialized in local modelswe’ve only seen delays and a fairly muted value proposition so far. Meanwhile… OpenAI has launched Atlasyour browser with deep ChatGPT integration. Now buy Sky to bring that integration to all macOS. With people who know exactly how the innards of the system work. Apple is being outplayed on its own turf. And it’s not just Sky. Jony Ive, the most important designer in Apple’s history, left in 2019. Now work with OpenAI on an AI device. With financing from SoftBank. With Sam Altman directly involved. The alarm signal. Apple has a cultural problem: it is too slow. Too cautious. Privacy is an important differentiator, but it may cost you to be left off the generative AI map. The talent that Apple trained is leaving because it can’t build what it wants inside. At least not with the desired speed. Sky will at some point arrive as an OpenAI product or as an integration into ChatGPT desktop app. But it will also be a symbol of what can be done with deep knowledge, clear vision and freedom to execute without twenty layers of approval. And now what. Apple needs speed. You need ambition. You need to be willing to take risks. Because talent doesn’t wait. And AI does not forgive slowness. In Xataka | OpenAI is already a binary bet: either get AGI, or everything blows up Featured image | OpenAI

China continues to draw up five-year plans in the old communist way. Objective: tech self-sufficiency

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Let’s talk about five-year plans. Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov She had no idea, but her exaggerated productivity ended up messing her up. In 1927 he began working in the Tsentrálnaya-Írmino mine and realized that he was good at it. In fact, he was much better at it than the others. In August 1935 smashed the record of mine productivity and extracted 102 tons of coal (14 times its quota) in five hours and 45 minutes. Days later he crushed it again and extracted 227 tons. He became a hero to socialist workers—in addition to appearing on the cover of Time magazine—and from that was derived the stakhanovismwhich advocated the increase in labor productivity based on the workers’ own initiative. That didn’t matter to Stalin: the Soviet Union was already completely immersed in its second five-year plan with a clear objective: the frenetic industrialization of the country based, of course, on trying to convert all workers into new Stakhanovs. And from those five-year plans we ended up moving on to others. China signs up for the five-year period That idea of ​​five-year plans ended up being used by China, which began to apply them in 1953 – with the help of the former Soviet Union – and has maintained them until now. In fact, the Asian giant has debated these days what will be your 15th Five Year Plan and the focus is clear: technological self-sufficiency. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China published on Thursday a statement in which he made it clear. Its objective was to “greatly increase” the self-dependence capacityand in that plan there are clear fronts for the medium-term future of the Asian giant: Promote R&D in critical technologies such as semiconductors, robotics, high-performance computing and, of course, artificial intelligence. Build a “modern industrial system“that allows reduce dependency of foreign components, equipment and knowledge. Promote the domestic market as a pillar of growth and reduce exposure to possible impacts of the export model Integrate technological development with national security: self-sufficiency not only makes economic sense, but also geopolitical sense. This five-year plan is clearly a consequence of the times we live in: the trade war with the US that it started years ago has marked the apparent end (at least partial) of globalizationand now both are looking for the same thing: not depend on others. China’s new five-year plan goes precisely in that direction, and has a clear impact both for that country and for the rest of the world. On the one hand, greater state investment in strategic sectors and greater interventionism are proposed (Hello Mr. Trump). On the other hand, this move may reduce Chinese demand for foreign technology, exacerbating technological rivalry with the US but perhaps opening new opportunities for collaboration with other countries. If successful, China’s five-year plan can stabilize growth in the face of potential external threats, but if self-reliance is prioritized too much, international openness and competition could be neglected, which could slow innovation or lead to less efficient companies. Source: Bloomberg And there is another problem: as they point out on BloombergChina is the great world exporterprecisely because their internal consumption is insufficient: they produce much more than they need. The contribution of exports to the country’s GDP is getting biggerbut consumption has stagnated or falls. All the details of the final five-year plan will be published in March, and will intensify the focus on everything related to the technological field. This effort, which began after that first veto of the Trump administration on Huaweiseems to be bearing promising fruits for China, which is becoming in an overwhelming machine of technological innovation. That pace will not slow down. Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov would probably be proud. Image | Chinese Communist Party In Xataka | Spain has an antidote to mental and emotional exhaustion: the nap

the questions you have sent us (and their answers) about this air conditioning for cold and alor

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We will respond to your doubts about the FreshIN FTAan air conditioner that is used for cold, but also for heat and to purify the air. We have been testing it for several days, and now we bring you a video with all the answers to the questions that you have been sending us about it to our Instagram profile. TCL FreshIN Q&A Air conditioners are devices that can have a lot of technology and innovation. We begin the video by answering your questions about what exactly that technological term FreshIN means, clarifying that they are devices designed for improve efficiency spending less energy and increasing the feeling of comfort. The device has one of the most efficient energy ratings, with grades of A+++ for cooling and heating modes. It also has inverter technology and smart ecological mode. Regarding the comfort functions, a characteristic that it has and is not so common is that able to renew the air bringing in fresh air and expelling air from the house… as it could be with a bad smell. This air has up to four layers with filters to ensure that what enters is clean. We also clarify doubts about the installation, since you can request that a company come to your house to do it if you cannot. In addition, we tell you what its dimensions are and the space it occupies. We also take advantage of the video to answer questions about its maintenance, and we focus on its smart features. Just because, you can control the air from your mobile in addition to the remote control, and the device connects to your home WiFi. Using it from your mobile will allow you program it or activate it from your mobile whenever you want, even choosing the temperature you want to have at all times. The app makes everything much easier to understand. But the best thing is that you watch the full video to see all the answers we give to the questions you have sent us. This content is a collaboration and sponsorship between Xataka and the brand, but there is no agreement on the script or the selection of the topics. The editorial content is created entirely by Xataka.

an outlet with iPhone, Pixel and more with discounts

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When MediaMarkt stops displaying the newly launched mobile phones in its stores, these terminals are sold at a reduced price, with very interesting discounts. Specifically, they go to the MediaMarkt outlets that the different stores of the chain have on eBay. If you are thinking of renewing your old mobile phone, these are some of the models that are worth it. Apple iPhone 15 by 689 euros: 6.1 inches and with Dynamic Island. Google Pixel 9 by 543.32 euros: 6.3 inches and 256 GB. Nothing Phone 3a by 257.72 euros: 6.77-inch AMOLED and 256 GB. iPhone 16e by 589.50 euros: 6.1 inches and with Apple Intelligence. Xiaomi 15T Pro by 611.32 euros: 6.83 inches and with cameras signed by Leica Apple iPhone 15 He iPhone 15despite not being Apple’s most recent smartphone model, is still a good purchase option today. At the MediaMarkt outlet you can buy it, in its 128 GB versionopened and unused by 689 euros. This iPhone 15 has a screen 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED with resolution of 2,556 x 1,179 pixels. Its brain is Apple’s A16 Bionic chip and it has the Dynamic Island. Its photographic system is made up of a double 48+12 MP rear camera and it was the first iPhone model to incorporate the USB-C port, leaving behind the Lightning connector. Apple iPhone 15, Black, 128 GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Google Pixel 9 Another of the mobile phones that are worth taking a look at in the MediaMarkt outlet is the Google Pixel 9. Now, you can take this terminal with a 46% discount since it has gone from costing 999 euros to 543.32 euros. The Google Pixel 9 has a screen 6.3-inch Super Actua OLED compatible with HDR10+. Its brain is the Google Tensor G4 chip and it comes with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage. Its battery supports fast charging at 45 W and it is a mobile phone that guarantees operating system updates for seven years. Google – Google Pixel 9 256GB + 12GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nothing Phone 3a If what you are looking for is a groundbreaking mobile (in terms of design), this Nothing Phone 3a It is one of those phones that attracts attention. At the MediaMarkt outlet you can take it open, unused, for 257.72 euros. This Nothing Phone (3a) It has a 6.77-inch Flexible AMOLED screen with Full HD+ resolution. It has a triple rear camera of 50+50+8 MP and has 256GB storage. One of its hallmarks is the Glyph Interface, a system of LED lights that reacts to some functions of the phone. Nothing Phone (3a) 256 GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iPhone 16e If you want the affordable mobile phone that Apple launched this year and that replaced the previous one iPhone SEthis offer interests you. Now, you can take the iPhone 16e at the MediaMarkt outlet 589.50 eurosopened but unused. This iPhone 16e On offer it has a storage capacity of 128 GB. His 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display and it supports HDR and comes with ‘Dynamic Island’. Its processor is the A18 Bionic chip and it is compatible with Apple Intelligence. Apple iPhone 16e 128GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi 15T Pro Finally, if what you are looking for is an affordable high-end mobile, this Xiaomi 15T Pro It is a very good option to consider. At the MediaMarkt outlet on eBay you can get it now (in its version of 512 GB) by 611.32 euros. The Xiaomi 15T Pro mounts a 6.83 inch AMOLED screen with 1.5K resolution. Its processor is the MediaTek Dimensity 9400+, accompanied by 12 GB RAM. Its photographic system is signed by Leica and its battery supports fast wired charging up to 90 W. Finally, it can be noted that it works under the operating system Xiaomi HyperOS 3. XIAOMI – Xiaomi 15T Pro 12GB + 512GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Images | Webedia, Apple, Xiaomi and Nothing In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | The best quality-price mobiles. Their analyzes and videos are here

either they create giants, or China wins

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Orange has confirmed that it can simultaneously undertake the purchase of 50% of Masorange and its proportional share of Altice’s assets in France without affecting the dividend. Or so he claims. Laurent Martínez, financial director, has said it unequivocally: both operations are viable while maintaining “profitability for the shareholder as an absolute priority.” Why it is important. Five years ago, any European operator that had announced two large acquisitions in parallel would have suffered an immediate stock market punishment. Now the market digests it. It is the first major sign that the consolidation of the sector has ceased to be a regulatory taboo and has become an accepted strategic necessity. There are even signs that Europe begins to give way after decades of anti-concentration dogma. Between the lines: Orange is looking for customers and spectrum in France, not duplicate infrastructure. In Spain, the Masorange shareholder agreement blocks any movement until April 2026. But CEO Christel Heydemann has been clear: “There is no rush.” They can wait because they have financial muscle. That capacity for patience is, in itself, a competitive advantage. The context. Europe has 34 main operators for 450 million inhabitants. The United States has three for 335 million. China, four for 1.4 billion. Proportionally, Europe has eight times more operators than the United States and 27 times more than China. The result: compressed margins, insufficient investment and a 41% drop in the sector’s market capitalization between 2015 and 2023. Unexpected twist. Teresa Ribera, new European Commissioner for Competition, said in spring that the rules will “evolve” to allow for greater scale. It’s a radical departure from her predecessor, Margrethe Vestager, who systematically blocked mergers for a decade. The Draghi Report has explicitly called for facilitating consolidation. Something is moving in the bureaucracy. Marking agenda. Marc Murtra, president of Telefónica, has led a manifesto signed by twenty European telecommunications companies calling for drastic changes in merger regulations. It’s not rhetoric: Telefónica has liquidated its businesses in Latin America to concentrate on Europe with the addition of Brazil. Murtra has declared that the teleco “will be active in a future scenario of European mergers.” They want to be much more than the large Spanish telecom. It’s been rumored for months its interest in taking over Vodafone Spain and with the German 1&1. Digi has even sounded. Yes, but. Not two of the three large Spanish operators can finance a state-of-the-art fiber network without external help. PremiumFiber, presented by Masorange and Vodafone A few days ago, it needed the Singapore sovereign fund with 25% of the capital. That is the real picture: without consolidation, European telecommunications companies will increasingly depend on Asian capital to maintain competitive infrastructures. The big question. Will Europe allow its operators to consolidate now, while they still have muscle, or will it wait for American and Chinese giants to absorb the European market piecemeal? Orange has shown that it can play on two boards at once. It remains to be seen whether regulators are going to let the game continue. In Xataka | Telefónica wants to lead Europe. But he resists turning Spain into his letter of introduction Featured image | Xataka, operators

literally live inside them

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If they told us 10 years ago that the houses were going to be about such crazy prices that even the “guiris” were going to resign frightened of their golden retreats in the Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands, few would have believed it. but so things are. In 2019 someone did a simple sum: empty stores and expensive apartments gave a logical result. What then was an experimentliving in commercial premises, is now becoming the norm in the town councils of Spain. A new housing policy. Móstoles has decided look at the closed basement as an urban housing reserve: a Special Plan makes the change of use of empty premises more flexible to incorporate them into the residential stock, cuts license times, reduces the ICIO, limits the prohibitions only to strategic commercial axes and pursues a dual purpose (creating more affordable housing and at the same time avoiding the visual and functional degradation of streets where commerce has died). This is not an isolated occurrence: the City Council itself frames the measure in a larger package than will add thousands of new units via urban developments, although the decisive gesture is that it recognizes as legitimate and necessary a route that, until recently, many municipal governments ruled out due to regulatory, reputational or political fear: exchange dying trade for housing effective and fast on already built surface. Live in a place. The logic that Móstoles has turned into structural policy todayhad surfaced before as a tactical response in municipalities under acute pressure: Petrer (Alicante) rewrote its PGOU to accept the change of use in areas where commerce had become extinct, with 42 premises already converted in habitual residence and strict control to avoid substandard housing. The idea is not born in the political center but in the edge where scarcity is experienced as an operational urgency. In those places the discussion “if it should” was replaced by “how to do it without making basements”, and the city council acted on the only level it controls: the urban planner. The Canary Islands confirmed the drift. In Arrecife, the technical office has authorized this year 39 conversions taking advantage of Decree Law 1/2024, which accelerates changes of use if habitability and ventilation are accredited. The argument reproduces the same reasoning: extract supply from where commerce will not return, reduce rental pressure and, simultaneously, revive depressed urban fabrics. This is not “experimental” housing but rather legally consolidated housing under the accelerated rule: a preview of how the State and the Autonomous Communities seem willing to cut procedures if the housing benefit is immediate. Zaragoza provides critical mass. The Aragonese capital demonstrated shortly after that the phenomenon was not marginal: 177 authorized homes since 2021, 36 licenses in 2025 alone, expansion to neighborhoods where it was previously prohibited after making the PGOU more flexible and minimum technical conditions adjusted to noise, surface and ventilation. Here, the relevant figure is not the absolute volume, but the conceptual leap: the change in use is recognized as a stable instrument of residential policy, deployed on empty stock and correlated with the fall of physical commerce. Plus: the City Council does not present it as an exception, but as ordinary tool treatment of built heritage in the consolidated city. Something more than politics. Ultimately, the success of all these reconversions does not depend on political speeches but on follow clear rules: that the PGOU allows it, that the premises have sufficient size and height, natural ventilation, a project approval and construction and first occupation licenses, in addition to its registration. By standardizing and accelerating these steps, what was once exceptional becomes a repeatable procedure. The difference between city councils is not one of ideology, but rather of friction: how long it takes, what they require and on which streets they allow or prohibit the change of use. The turning point. If you like, the 2025 scenario has followed a more or less logical line: what in Petrer tried himselfin Reef accelerated and in Zaragoza was systematizeduntil finally Móstoles converted it in strategic leverage with fiscal incentives, administrative priority and a desire for scale within a broader housing production agenda. That a large metropolitan municipality adopts this logic means that reconversion stops being a kind of peripheral repair and becomes a central policy of offer on already built land. By reopening the debate on what to do with the exhausted trade in Spain, Móstoles pushes other municipalities to choose: or accept the inertia of those hundreds of dead stores as scar urban, or convert them into housing to alleviate the housing bottleneck. Hence the question has shifted: it is no longer whether it should be done or not, it is directly how to do it, and that is probably the true structural change that is now seems to spread in Spain. Image | Pexels, Pexels In Xataka | In its accelerated touristification, Madrid has taken another step: converting commercial premises in the center into paid bathrooms In Xataka | Houses are so expensive in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands that they are expelling even Germans and British people from the market.

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