Month: November 2025

If you have to buy your V16 beacon, Leroy Merlin has them for less than 40 euros

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From the DGT, they have been reporting for some time that, starting January 1, 2026, we will have to have a V16 beacon connected. If you don’t have yours yet, at Leroy Merlin we have found some models that can come in handy and that, now, you can get a better price than when the rule comes into force. V16 emergency beacon Daewoo by 37.90 euros: with magnetic base and autonomy of six hours. V16 beacon RAYKONG by 39.99 euros: with Orange data plan until 2038. RACC Emergency Light V16 by 54.90 euros: with up to 10 hours of autonomy. V16 beacon LEDONE by 49.95 euros: with integrated eSIM and magnetic base. Pack of two V16 beacons RAYKONG by 77.99 euros: with three LED indicators. Daewoo V16 emergency beacon This one from Daewoo is one of the cheapest V16 emergency beacons that we have found at Leroy Merlin. Before it cost more than 40 euros, but now you can get it for 37.90 euros. Works with three batteries AA (which are included), which offer a maximum autonomy of six houryes. Comes with SIM card included and magnetic base. In addition, it has IP54 certification. Daewoo V16 emergency beacon The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Another of the cheapest V16 beacons that we find at Leroy Merlin is this one from the RAYKONG company. Its price is 39.99 euros and you should know that it is not sold over the phone or in a physical store, but exclusively through its website. This model has a design similar to that of all devices of this type. It has DGT 3.0 geolocation and emits visible light over a kilometer in 360º. Comes with suction cup and includes a paid data plan of Orange with more than 12 years of validity, until 2038 specifically. RAYKONG Beacon V16 Geolocation DGT 3.0 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links RACC Emergency Light V16 It could not be missing from our compilation about V16 emergency beaconsa RACC model. You can get this at Leroy Merlin for 54.90 eurosobtaining a discount of 25 euros compared to its usual RRP (79.90 euros). Like any beacon model that you must have in the car from January 1, 2026, it has a geolocation and V16 certification. This model comes with a magnetic mount and offers a autonomy of up to 10 hours. It can also be highlighted that it is resistant to water and impacts. RACC Car Emergency Light V16 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links V16 LEDONE Beacon Another of the V16 beacons that you can take into account to have in your car from next January 1, 2026, is this one from the firm Ledone. Its price at Leroy Merlin is 49.95 euroswith free shipping. This V16 beacon integrates a eSIM anonymous and geolocation DGT 3.0, which will send your position (automatically and without costs) until the year 2038. It is visible more than 1 km away and installs easily and safely thanks to its magnetic/adhesive base. LEDONE Connected – DGT Approved V16 Beacon with Geolocator The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pack of two V16 RAYKONG beacons If you have two cars at home and want to save by buying a V16 beacon for each one, at Leroy Merlin you have a discount on this pack of two from the RAYKONG brand and that you can get for 77.99 euros compared to the usual price of almost 120 euros. Like most models, this one emits visible light over 1 km in 360º. Presents IP54 certificationso it resists water and also wind. Comes with three LED indicators and runs on three AA batteries. In addition, it includes a paid data plan from Telefónica Tech valid until 2038. Pack of two V16 RAYKONG beacons 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. Images | RACC, RAYKONG, LEDONE and Daewoo In Xataka | Android Auto or wireless Apple Carplay: what you need to connect your mobile phone to your car without cables In Xataka | Safety, organization and entertainment gadgets and accessories for cars on long trips

Wearing glasses against “blue light” is a thing of the past. The future is anti-recognition glasses

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Facial recognition has been on our phones for years and is increasingly being implemented in more places. Airports, police investigations and even apps that want to implement it to prove that we are human. More and more systems they want to see our faces and concerns about privacy are increasing. The first invention to protect us from mass surveillance is here and comes in the form of glasses. ID Guard. It is the name that Zennia company that sells glasses online, has put its new lenses. They have a pink coating that reflects the infrared light used by many facial recognition systems like Apple’s FaceID. When we try to unlock the iPhone with them on, the eyes darken and that means the system is not able to verify the user. The problem. They count in 404media The problem with this technology is that it only works with systems that use infrared light. That is, we can still be identified through a normal photo. Most facial recognition systems that we can find on the street, for example those at airports or those used by the police, use normal cameras. New concern. We have been using biometric data to access mobile phones for years. However, unlike the fingerprint, our face is much more accessible and with the emergence of AI, Recognizing each other is easier than ever. There are services like PimEyes or Lenso.ai that recognize faces in just seconds simply from an image. Zenni’s glasses are a response to this new concern, although perhaps they arrive too soon, and they still have to solve the problem of recognition with normal cameras. Doxing. It is a type of attack in which a person’s private information is revealed. When we talk about mass surveillance we think of systems run by governments and authorities, but it goes beyond that. A “doxing“It is when, for example, someone records you, uploads the video to the networks and identifies you only from your image. We have recent cases such as the infidelity that was revealed by the kiss-cam at a Coldplay concert or that of that man who stole a child’s cap during the US Open. Video surveillance. There are many countries that have implemented massive video surveillance systems. The country that comes to mind before this mass surveillance thing is Chinabut there are many more places in the world full of cameras. In Europe we have the case of London, which has almost a million cameras installed in its streets. In United States, police are using facial recognition to arrest suspects (and making mistakes) and in The European Union approved the use of facial recognition in 2024 by the authorities. Image | Karola G, Pexels In Xataka | To what extent is it legal to use smart glasses like Facebook’s and record everything and everyone on the street?

The official story says that Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. Conspiracy theory says he escaped through Galicia

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There is nothing simpler, more fruitful and irreversible than lighting the fuse of conspiracy theories. This is demonstrated wonderfully by the fact that perhaps, and with the permission of the Neil Armstrong moon walkbe the mother of them all: the death of Adolf Hitler. Although there are recent research which show that the Fuehrer He passed away in 1945 with the help of a sip of cyanide and a bullet. Throughout the last three quarters of a century, stories have circulated, each one more outlandish than the other, placing him after May 1945 as—watch the list—a hermit in a remote italian cave, pastor in the Swiss Alps, croupier in a french casino, family man in Argentina or wandering around Ireland or Colombia. One of these theories, however, is much closer to us. And it aims for an escape worthy of Hollywood with a stop in Galicia. A well studied death. In 2018 the coroner Philippe Charlier published in European Journal of Internal Medicine a study which aroused almost as much interest among historians and conspiracy theorists as among his own pathological colleagues. The reason: corroborated that Adolf Hitler died in 1945. The conclusion is valuable because between March and July 2017 Charlier and his colleagues achieved a milestone: the Russian secret services allowed them to analyze the supposed remains of the Fuehrer which are preserved in Moscow for independent examination. Their study concludes, first, that the teeth are real because they could be identified thanks to complicated dental history of Hitler. Second, the remains show blue stains that indicate that their owner may have ingested cyanide to end his life. The researchers did not find traces of gunpowder, but they did analyze a skull fragment attributed to the Fuehrer with a hole in the left side, probably made by a bullet. Both data confirm the most accepted version about the death of the Nazi leader: Hitler died on April 30, 1945 in his bunker with Eva Braun after consuming cyanide and shooting himself. End of the speculations, then? This is certainly true for Professor Charlier, who he even guaranteed to the AFP agency that he has no doubts about the authenticity of the teeth and that his study puts an end to any conspiracy theory. “Now we can stop them all. Hitler did not go to Argentina on a submarine, he is not hiding in a base in Antarctica or on the dark side of the Moon,” the coroner insisted: “Our study proves that he died in 1945.” Of course, not everyone shares his conviction. Over the decades, theories have circulated that the Nazi leader managed to escape the bunker and the Soviet siege and started a new life in places as remote as northern Italy, the Swiss Alps, eastern France and of course Argentina, perhaps the version that has achieved the most popularity among conspiracy theorists. Why’s that? Such conspiratorial fecundity is largely explained by the circumstances in which Hitler died and date back to 1945, practically the same day of his death. On May 1, 1945, Hamburg radio broadcast without going any further a version which is quite far from what is considered official today: the chain claimed that Hitler had fallen “fighting until his last breath” and with “the death of a hero.” Little to do with a suicide with cyanide and a gun. It didn’t take long for stories to spread about an alleged murder, a brain hemorrhage, euthanasia and of course a successful escape. The end of Fuehrer did not help extinguish those stories. As the BBC remindshistory tells us that Hitler’s body was burned and ended up in a ditch in the Chancellery garden opened by a bomb. Soviet counter-surveillance agents found his body there shortly after, on May 5. The state of Fuehrer It was such at that time that, to identify him clearly, they decided to use his jaw. During the process they had the help Käthe Heusermannwho had served as Hitler’s dentist’s assistant. The remains were moved from one point to another until in 1970 it was decided to cremate them and throw their ashes. Hitler on a walk through Galicia? At the root of the conspiracy theories surrounding the end of Hitler there is a lot of geostrategy and politics, such as explains to the BBC Luke Daly-Groves, a historian at the University of Leeds, who remembers that Stalin weakened his opponents every time he claimed that Hitler could have escaped to Spain or Argentina. “Their strategy was to associate the West with Nazism and make it appear that the British or Americans must be hiding it,” agrees Anthony Beevorauthor of ‘Berlin: the fall of 1945’. With that backdrop, one of the versions that is closest to us emerged: that the Fuehrer ended up in Galicia. What it tells us such a theory is that after simulating his suicide Hitler managed to escape from the bunker, get on board a plane in the templehof airport and fly to Barcelona, ​​from where he went to Galicia. Once in Vigo he managed to board a submarine and flee to Argentina, where he lived until 1960 and started a new life with Eva Braun. another version talks about how shortly after the episode of FührerbunkerIn May 1945, a German plane arrived in Lugo with Hitler on board. There are those who even goes further and places it in the monastery of Samos. Worthy of Hollywood… and History Channel. True, the story may seem like something out of a book Dan Brown or the script of a Hollywood thriller with uchronic overtones, but Vigo’s theory has more preaching than it may seem a priori. Good proof is that a few years ago he starred in a History Channel documentary that was based, in turn, on 700 documents declassified by the FBI shortly before. There are variants about the supposed stay of the Fuehrer in Galician lands, but it is usually pointed out that he ended up getting on a submarine with which he … Read more

the mythical episode that changed the history of television

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On October 29, 1995, on the brink of Halloween, Fox aired a very special episode of the already very popular ‘The Simpsons‘. It was ‘Treehouse of Horror VI’, the sixth episodic special in the series, which has become an annual tradition. It’s been exactly thirty years since that, and the result was so visionary and revolutionary as was everything ‘The Simpsons’ did in the nineties. What was happening. In ‘Homer’Homer passes through a portal that transports him from his traditional 2D animated world to a strange 3D computer-generated universe. Quite a technical challenge unprecedented for the series and a true milestone in television animation, as it was one of the first visible incursions of CGI graphics in an animated series, which is doubly surprising because we are not talking about an experimental program, but rather one of the most watched series of the moment. For many viewers it was their first encounter with an aesthetic of this type: a pioneering work by the company Pacific Data Images (PDI), who with limited resources managed to create a few minutes of sequence that today are considered a benchmark. Why it is important. The segment not only attracted attention for its impressive technical innovation, but also for its characteristic humor. In short: it never stopped being a ‘The Simpsons’ sketch. The episode aired just a month before the premiere of ‘toy story‘, helping to mark that year as essential for CGI animation. How it was born. The original idea was conceived by series executive producer Bill Oakley, inspired by the episode ‘Little Girl Lost’ of the legendary ‘The Twilight Zone’. To carry out this vision, the pioneering computer animation studio Pacific Data Images (PDI) was contacted, but the economic and technical demands were very high: the budget assigned by Fox for the segment was extremely low, barely $6,000, but the real cost to make the four minutes planned exceeded hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hair and other problems. PDI decided to take on the project almost as a strategic investment to achieve visibility and prestige in the industry, which would later allow them greater commercial opportunities (as indeed happened with their subsequent link with DreamWorks, by whom they were acquired and with whom they collaborated on ‘Antz’ and ‘Shrek‘).The animation ended up being limited to just Homer and Bart, and a few minutes of footage. The PDI team had to reinvent the characters, creating three-dimensional models that preserved the essence of the original design. Significantly, Homer’s iconic hairstyle was among the biggest challenges, as it was difficult to replicate with the digital tools of the time. The production process required the coordination of the series’ traditional animators team and PDI specialists. And with easter eggs. The backgrounds and objects in the 3D world were designed for both a sense of strangeness and an urgent minimalism, and included easter eggs like the iconic Utah Teapota test standard in computer animation. And there were also references to the video game ‘Myst’. This setting sought to emphasize the feeling of being in an artificial dimension, leaving behind the familiarity of Springfield. As a total exhibition of the possibilities of 3D animation, a scene was included where Homer appears in the real world, filmed on Ventura Boulevard. It was another nod that sought to experiment with different styles and genres within a single special. The legacy. The positive response was immediate. It was the most watched fiction program of the week on Fox, with an audience of 22.9 million viewers, a very notable figure for an animated special. In addition, ‘Homer³’ received awards such as recognition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, highlighting its innovative and artistic value. A milestone that, thirty years later, continues to amaze due to the daring and disruption it presented in a series that, at that time, no longer needed to prove anything. In Xataka | In 1997, a construction company had the crazy idea of ​​building the Simpsons’ house and putting it up for sale. It ended so-so

which companies are winning in the great rearmament of Spanish industry

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Europe has entered a new era of rearmament. The Russian invasion of Ukraine reopened a arms race that seemed surpassed, and the governments of the continent have returned to look at their defense industry with urgency. In that map of reactivated factories, million-dollar contracts and multinational programsSpain occupies an important place. From Navantia to Indra, from ITP Aero to Escribano, the country has a network of companies that design frigates, radars, engines or intelligence systems for the most ambitious projects in Europe. This is the portrait of who is who in the Spanish defense, how much they really weigh and what role they play in the rearmament of the continent. Opportunities and challenges in European rearmament A study prepared by PwC For the employers’ association, TEDAE offers a precise overview of the industrial weight that defense has today in Spain. According to this report, published in 2024, the Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space industries generated 21,919 million euros of GDP (1.4% of national GDP) and 260,049 direct, indirect and induced jobs. The document does not establish a ranking, but it does make it clear that the Spanish defense ecosystem is one of the most diversified in Europe. Reading it helps to dimension the magnitude of an industrial fabric that supports a good part of European rearmament. The momentum of the sector does not advance without friction. In an interview with El Paísthe president of Indra, Scribe Angelrecognized that Spain still lacks a giant comparable to Rheinmetall, Thales either Leonard. “We need a greater dimension,” he noted, adding that the objective is not to create a “national champion,” but to consolidate a fabric where companies cooperate and share capabilities. A vision that reflects both the ambitions and the internal tensions of the integration process in Spanish defense. Industrial reactivation is not enough on its own to guarantee sustainable defense. The Elcano Royal Institute warns that the rearmament effort It cannot be measured only in investment figures or signed contracts. In one of his recent analyses, he points out that “the revitalization of Spanish defense will only be sustainable if it is based on strategic and national security criteria.” To do this, it proposes reinforcing the so-called “strategic culture”, a long-term vision that transcends industrial logic and that makes it possible to clearly define what role Spain wants to play in the European security framework. “The revitalization of Spanish defense will only be sustainable if it is based on strategic and national security criteria” With this warning on the table, European rearmament is also understood as an exercise of concrete capabilities. Behind every contract, every European program, there are factories, engineering and shipyards that support the modernization effort. Spain is not starting from scratch: it has a network of companies that have grown in the heat of the great projects of NATO and the European Union. Some of them are public, others private, but they are all part of the same ecosystem that is once again gaining prominence today. The names that are defining the new defense industry in Spain Navantia It is the main reference of the Spanish naval industry and an essential piece in European rearmament. From its shipyards in Ferrol, Cartagena and Cádiz Ships have left for the Spanish Navy and for navies around the world, like the F-100 frigates or the Avante corvettes. Currently, it concentrates efforts on two strategic programs: the F-110 frigates, with a contract of 4,325 million euros, and the S-80 submarines. The F-111 “Bonifaz”, the first unit of the F-110 series, was launched on September 11, 2025 and the delivery of the first ship is scheduled for 2028. In submarines, the S-82, the second unit of the S-80 classes, He was sponsored on October 3, 2025. One of the frigates that bears the Navantia seal But there is more. With revenues of 1,528 million euros in 2024 and more than 5,600 employeesthe public company is committed to the model “shipyard 4.0” to modernize and thus respond to the growing demand for maritime capabilities of its clients. Indra acts as the technological backbone of Spanish defense: integrates C4ISR systems, radars, electronic warfare and simulation, and is the national coordinator in the FCAS program for the sensor and combat cloud pillars. His legacy in Eurofighter —with avionics, defensive aids and modernizations— is complemented by sustained defense contracting. Indra closed 2024 with 4,843 million in income and a portfolio of 7,245 million. To this he adds “combat cloud” demonstrators with the Air and Space Army. The PW800 engine is behind the first transatlantic flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel ITP Aero is the literal and figurative engine of Spanish defense. Specialized in design, manufacture and maintenance of turbines, is part of Europe’s most advanced programs, from the Eurofighter to the future FCAS system, where it leads in Spain the development of the new generation engine. In 2024 he allocated 102 million euros to R&D—55% more than the previous year—and closed the year with 1,612 million in revenue. Its industrial expansion includes the Ajalvir plantwith a million-dollar investment for maintenance of GTF engines, and the reinforcement of its Zamudio center. These investments consolidate its role as a strategic propulsion supplier in NATO and the EU. SAPA is the great Spanish specialist in armored vehicle mobility and one of the few European companies with their own capacity to develop new generation transmissions. Its technology equips to the vehicle 8×8 Dragon of the Army. Besides, has been selected by General Dynamics Land Systems to supply transmissions to US Army programs linked to the replacement of the Bradley (XM30), a long-term industrial agreement valued by the press at up to 5,000 million euros. Based in Guipúzcoa, the company works on hybrid and electric systems for military platforms, in line with trends. Escribano Mechanical & Engineering represents the most dynamic face of the new Spanish industrial fabric. Specialized in remotely controlled weapon stations (RWS), optronics and smart ammunition, the company has managed to position itself as a key supplier of … Read more

Spain still has dozens of reservoirs that cannot be used because literally no one has laid pipes

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It was inaugurated in 2015, cost 57 million euros and has a capacity for 30 hm3 of water, but the Siles dam in Jaén hasn’t been used for a decade because no one has made the necessary pipelines to irrigate the Sierra del Segura. It is not an isolated case. An example. The Rules dam was inaugurated a little earlier: in 2004. Today, while the province of Granada is at 29% of its capacity, the Vélez de Benaudalla reservoir is close to 70%. The secret is the same: going 20 years without pipes that allow us to use water. These flagrant cases, but there are many more: Alcolea in Huelva, Mularroya in Zaragoza, Castrovido in Burgos… Is there anything more Spanish than making reservoirs and taking years—or decades—to build the pipelines that make them useful? The house on the roof. In a country like Spain, each useless cubic hectometer is not only de facto lost water, it is also a tremendous ecological damage inflicted on river channels for no reason. And, if that were not enough, it is economic nonsense. It makes no sense to mobilize all the resources necessary to launch a reservoir and then leave it forgotten. Above all, because (whether we like it or not) we live in an agricultural giant that needs water security that we cannot guarantee. The opportunity cost of delaying the pipelines necessary to launch these reservoirs impacts the economic and employment development of entire regions. A Spanish problem? To tell the truth, we cannot say that it is a purely Spanish problem either. Portugal, France or Italy have had similar problems. What happens in Spain is that there is an enormous fragmentation of powers that means that, when any problem appears, everything comes to a standstill. In our case, the central State designs and finances the main dams and key sections. However, it is the autonomous communities, the hydrographic confederations or the municipalities that they must run the secondary networks. And in determining what is the main or secondary tranche (and who should pay the bill) most problems arise. But not the only ones. And it is that, as the processes become eternallicenses expire, works are not awarded, litigation drags on, environmental requirements become stricter and solving the problem becomes impossible. In the end, the dams are what is striking (what is politically profitable). The “last mile” (that whole set of pumping stations, pipelines and treatment plants) is much less striking, as crucial as it is. When problems become entrenched, there are no good solutions and administrations prefer to put the issue aside rather than make decisions. The country of a thousand preys. Because yes, it is true: Spain has many damsbut dozens of them remain vats of water without any use. And as much as the causes are clear, it is still striking that not even water crises like those of recent years manage to solve this. Image | Red Zeppelin In Xataka | “In the next ten years, Spain and Latin America are going to suffer (a lot) with water,” Robert Glennon (University of Arizona)

A Chinese artist is turning the least artistic thing into art

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It hasn’t rained this much since that video of Will Smith eating spaghetti appeared online. However, within a few years technology has evolved tremendously. Taking other people’s content as inspiration, you can now create videos with absurd fidelity. The funniest thing is that, If AI “steals”there is an artist “stealing” which makes the AI-generated videos appear to be AI-generated videos. And it’s delirious. Tianran Mu is a Chinese actor and content creator who, at the age of 29, asked himself how he could create content inspired by what AI does. take a look to the video which we leave below in which you can see Tianran Mu -the one with the noodles- and another person. Exactly, there are clumsy movements, misplaced facial expressions and inconsistencies galore that we associate with failures and hallucinations of artificial intelligence generative, and it is where the 29-year-old creator has seen an opportunity to create a series of videos taking advantage of these gaps in technology. 40 years of forgiveness Recently, Wired He was able to chat with Tianran Mu. At 29 years old, he spent some time looking for work in the film industry, specifically at the huge Hengdian World Studios, but there was no luck. In 2019, he started creating ‘sketches’ on Chinese social networks and things went well for him. After experimenting with content creation using AI, began to detect those patterns in which technology fails. For example, unnatural body gestures, erratic glances, plots that turn somersaults or elements that overlap and, in 2024, it began to release short videos imitating this which means that, luckily, we can still know if a video is AI or not. And it’s… fun. In some videos, he uses different actors to play the same role, emulating the continuity problems that AI often has. The characters are also not looking anywhere and feel like robots. The impact is there. In Chinese networksit seems that the young man has hit hard, but it was a few weeks ago when part of his content began to be shared on Western networks such as X or Instagram, accumulating more than 10 million views and thousands of reactions on platforms where he is not present. The phenomenon has viralized in a very organic way at a time when there is an intense debate around these AI creations. That debate has intensified with the Sora 2 releasethe OpenAI model that has evolved tremendously compared to the tools we had until now and that makes really difficult to guess if certain videos are AI or not. It is something that has already had its share of controversy, of course. content theft to train the modelbut Mu saw an opportunity in Sora 2. He identified that the human characters generated by Sora laugh in unpleasant ways and have hair with strange “physics.” So, he imitated it in a video he released a few days ago: It’s curious because being 100% artisanal and human, Mu’s video is more uncanny valley than some videos made with AI. I think this speaks very well of his work, but also of the dark side of Sora 2. In fact, the actor himself confessed to Wired that It has been much more difficult for him to parody Sora 2 because the quality has gone up several notches. In fact, he comments that it is almost impossible to create parodies and states that in a few months “there will be nothing left to imitate. If I try to act as the AI ​​will, I would only be acting like a human.” And this is really sad. Yes, it is having enormous virality, but that does not pay the mortgage and Mu says that, in two years, many directors and actors will use AI to replace not only the special effects departments, but the actors themselves. And, as an actor, he confesses that if it is already difficult to compete against other actors, it will be more difficult to do so against those who do not even exist, but who can potentially act like a human, bending to whatever the studios want. You don’t have to go in two years. It is true that thanks to this virality, in China he has had some contracts with companies that want him to use AI for campaigns, but he affirms that, in his own content, everything he does is human because his goal is… well, to be hired for his acting skills. Images | Tianran Mu In Xataka | YouTube is becoming much more important to Google than its video platform: in its search engine

How Spain has achieved that one in every four series reproduced is its own

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The impact of Spanish series on the streaming market it is indisputable. a few years ago’The Money Heist‘ was on everyone’s lips, but in the same way that Korean fictions are much more than ‘The squid game‘, the Spanish are beginning to go much further than ‘Bella Ciao’. The latest data supports this: it may be that the streaming is hitting where it hurts the most to Spanish cinema, but in other aspects it is doing very well for the Spanish fiction industry. 25%. One in four of the most watched series on streaming is Spanish, according to a study by Parrot Analytics. It is a fact that reflects the international boom and consolidation of audiovisual content produced in Spain. ‘La casa de papel’ not only revolutionized the public’s perception of fiction in Spanish, but also paved the way for new Spanish productions. will conquer global audiences. Titles such as “Elite” or “Manual para senoritas” reach prominent positions in global rankings, confirming that Spanish content not only competes for local attention, but is capable of influencing and attracting viewers from multiple countries. Increase in demand. There is more notable data in this study: Spanish content has experienced notable growth in availability and global demand on streaming platforms between 2021 and 2023, with a 22% increase in the number of titles available. More than 200 Spanish productions are among the 10% most in demand on the main platforms, showing that interest transcends beyond the Spanish-speaking markets. And that is the genuinely relevant leap. In money. The economic value of this growth is significant: in the last four years, Spanish productions have generated 5.1 billion dollars in global revenue for the main streaming platforms. streamingwhich represents almost 9% of the total income generated by non-English titles. If we compile a ranking, Spain is in fourth place in the world in terms of income generated by non-English content, ranking only behind Japan, South Korea and India, all Asian countries. The importance of Netflix. Netflix has been leader in the global expansion of Spanish content: The role played by ‘La casa de papel’ and ‘Elite’ is indisputable, to which are added Spanish films such as ‘Nowhere’, among those that have acquired and retained the most subscribers on the platform in recent years. But Netflix is ​​not the only one: Prime Video and Apple TV+ are also joining this trend with Spanish titles such as ‘Red Queen’ or ‘Land of Women’ respectively. In fact, we are turning 10 years of the arrival of Netflix in Spain, and the figures make it clear to what extent it was key in turning around the situation of Spanish series: already in 2017 it premiered its first Spanish series, ‘The cable girls’, and that year the production of series in Spain doubled (from 11 to 22, not counting new seasons). Since the pandemic, the number has been growing consistently: in 2020 52 series, in 2022 53, in 2023 55, and there was a record in 2024 with 68 series, which has not been equaled. Netflix has partly led this trend: in 2022 it launched 15 Spanish series, the platform’s most productive year, and in 2025 it has already released 10 titles, the second best record. Spanish fictions are going further. It is almost a decade that has served to leave behind a stigma that had partly marked Spanish television fiction: despite the popularity of titles such as ‘Pharmacy on duty’, ‘Family doctor’, ‘Los Serrano’, ‘Cuéntame’, ‘No one here lives’ or ‘Águila Roja’, to list a few, they were considered series of lower quality than those coming from abroad. In recent years that perspective has changed: Spanish series, and the audience makes it clear, can be measured in technical and artistic quality with productions from abroad. The importance of Latin America. The Hispanic market has become a fundamental pillar for the expansion and success of the streaming in Spanish. In the United States, Spanish-speaking consumers dedicate more than 55% of their television time to streaminga figure in which, for obvious reasons, the content in Spanish is of great importance. This trend also moves to the south of the American continent, where the increase in subscribers and the expansion of streaming are transforming audiovisual consumption habits. In Xataka | The golden age of Spanish series: more and more is produced thanks to platforms and pay TV

Two students have the same university degree. One will go further than another: whoever comes

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Where you come from matters a lot if we talk about “social elevators.” Without going too far, the problem nuclear of housing for young people is not such depending on the family that has touched. But these inequalities begin to be noticed much earlier. In fact, it has been found that even the university degree itself does not depend so much on the grade, but on your origins. Gap after the title. a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research with massive data on graduates from public universities in the United States show that, even when students have the same major, the same grades and leave the same institutions, those who come from low-income families finish five years later earning substantially less than their peers from families with more resources. In other words, this means that graduating (which for years was the central objective of equity policies) does not close the gap, it simply transfer to the labor marketwhere he reappears strongly despite having followed the same academic itinerary. The first job. When the researchers adjusted the data by including characteristics of the first job (starting salary, company size, average employer salary level and sector) the gap between poor and rich graduates fell by a third of its original size. This result indicates that a large part of the inequality does not occur years later, but in the instant of jump to the market: the first salary alone explains almost half of the income difference in year five, and other attributes of the first job destination added another substantial part. In other words, that first match between graduate and employer weighs more for future economic trajectory than most previous academic factors. The differences. There’s more, as research indicates that graduates from lower-income households tend to reach the end of their degree less likely to have a secure jobaccept offers with lower starting salaries and enter companies that, on average, pay less and offer fewer promotion and training options. Every extra thousand dollars in starting salary is associated with seven hundred dollars plus five years afterwards, and those who remain in first place for at least two years register several thousand more income in the medium term. This suggests that, even without differences in talent or record, the social origin determines the type of first job that is accessed, and that starting point chain conditions what happens later. Implications. In a political key, the picture that emerges the work forces us to shift the focus of intervention: it is not enough to guarantee access and graduation if inequality re-establishes itself just as we cross the door of the labor market. The researchers say that if the first job explains a good part of the gap, then the policy that aspires to real mobility must act explicitly about that transition (early information, networks, search preparation, paid internships, matching with better quality employers) because that is where today the nuclear difference is formed between equals on paper, but different in origin. Without that final layer, the title stops functioning as a ladder of equality and becomes a filter that validates inequalities that are already written before the first contract. The weight of origin. In short, the evidence suggests that inequality reappears in the transition to work because the resources that mattered before university (social networks, early information, financial cushion and room to wait for a better offer) continue to operate when the time comes to choose the first job. Those who can finance a few months without salary can reject bad offers and wait for a better one, and those who cannot, accept the first one. Those who have relatives or contacts in large companies obtain recommendations that reduce entry friction, and those who do not compete blindly. Even the most sensitive information about how, when and where to apply is unevenly distributed. From that perspective, the “first step” is neither chance nor pure merit: it is a translation in labor terms of the previous advantages that are not seen in the academic record, but that determine the quality of the first contract, and of a “bright” future or simply a future. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The paradox of the “American dream”: the place where it is least likely to be achieved is the United States In Xataka | The dream of young Spaniards is no longer buying a house: it is waiting for their parents to donate it to them

The Internet has become such a hostile place that there are people making drastic decisions: go back to MySpace

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In a thread on Reddit’s r/Millenials subreddit, a user named Blue_Bi0hazard counted that had signed up for SpaceHeya curious MySpace clone, and I was happy about two things. The first, due to the personalization that this new social network offered. “I can’t stand today’s social media,” he explained. “There is hardly any personalization, everything is gray and simplified. Remember how MySpace or Tumblr was: there you really felt that your profile represented you.” Second, because of how the algorithm has taken over everything: at SpaceHey, he explains, “your feed is chronological, rather than what Facebook or Twitter think you should see, plus the damn ads.” These criticisms are not new, and for some time they have caused a unique Internet revolution. Small communities are returning to using clones of myspace as SpaceHeyor of GeoCitiesas NeoCitiesand although their scope is limited, they are the symptom of something very worrying. Beyond nostalgia Behind these seemingly nostalgic gestures, something deeper is drawn. Not only the desire to return to a retro design, but to raise a kind of digital demand. A “I want to have my corner again” in a sea of ​​feeds that no longer belong to us and over which we have no control. The return to MySpace, or rather, to something that evokes it—like SpaceHey—is actually a critical and rebellious act. It is a gesture that says “I am tired of the current Internet turning me into a consumer rather than a user, that everything I do is subject to the algorithm, the subscription and the ads.” And that’s when that return to those rehashes of the past takes on that other meaning. That of a more or less silent protest. Twenty-five years ago, opening the browser was like doing digital zapping and extremely garish. Amateur blogs were interspersed with local forums, profiles with flashing GIFs, view counters (view counters!), and pages that didn’t open on their own, but also had music on autoplay. It was the internet of the 2000s. GeoCities, LiveJournal, ICQ, Friendster, Blogger and MySpace conquered users and they did so with hardly any algorithms. Was a more hippie internetmessy and unpredictable but full of personality. The profiles were their own spaces, not showcases optimized for clicking. Now we remember that time fondly and smile when we realize that the Internet was full of defects. Loading times were much longer, handling HTML was almost a craft, and mixtures of fonts and designs often resulted in strident and garish web pages. However, they also had virtues. They let you make mistakes without charging you for it. They let you be weird without having to ask permission. Nobody (or almost nobody) had to sell anything, and nobody yet knew that they would end up selling you (or your data). It was the internet as a workshop, not as a gallery or showcase. but then standardization arrived. With Facebook, YouTube, Google or later Instagram and TikTok, we were promised order, efficiency and global connection. The Internet went from being its own territory to a service platform in which profiles became uniform, timelines identical, and rules impersonal. The “enshittification” of the internet This is how we have reached the digital fatigue that many experience today. 20 tabs are opened and the same ads, the same formats and the same giants appear. The Internet is no longer so much a “site” as a “medium” in which we only consume, and what we do more than explore and navigate is end up being victims of doomscrolling. This is where the concept comes into play. “enshittification” (“shitification”, in a loose translation) coined by writer Cory Doctorow. This neologism, as recently explained in an interview with Voxdescribes the drift of many online platforms, although it is applicable to all types of companies: “At first they are great for the end users. Then they find ways to retain those users (switching costs, network effects, contracts, DRM) and once the users are trapped, the company makes the product worse to get more value. They then use that surplus to attract business customers (advertisers, sellers, creators), they trap them and start making the product worse for the business side as well. In the end, everyone gets trapped and the platform becomes a pile of garbage. You can see this in places so like Google, Facebook, Uber and Amazon. In other words: what started out promising becomes mediocre, predictable and profit-oriented, not user-oriented. Shitification clearly manifests itself on today’s internet in various ways. It does this with mandatory subscriptions, with algorithms that decide what you see, with constant advertisements and with data that no longer seems to be yours, but rather turns you into simple merchandise. Before, you opened a blog to publish what you wanted. Now the objective seems to be to gain clicks or provoke engagement. All of this has caused users to become target audiences, consumers and even simple data. It seems that there is no more time to browseand we only have it to consume what the algorithms offer us. On Reddit someone asked if others were nostalgic for the internet of the 2000s and the comments were conclusive. The first of them, in fact, made it clear: “nothing seems genuine anymore.” Reviving MySpace That’s where platforms like SpaceHey, which appeared in 2020 and it is totally inspired by MySpace. Its creator, a young German named Anton Röhm and nicknamed “An” on the platform, is in fact the contact that by default is added to your “friends” on the platform, as on MySpace you added that of its creator, Tom Anderson. Long live the wild and original internet. Like a good clone, the similarities between SpaceHey and MySpace go much further. In SpaceHey, personalization shines, and that aesthetic of early 2000 It is evident in strident and shocking designs. The social network — which has around two million users — does not intend to compete with Facebook or Instagram, but it allows its users to recover part of that feeling of freedom and control … Read more

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