Month: December 2025

Silver is right now the most sought after and most expensive metal on the planet. And the problem is that there is not enough

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Silver just surpassed $60 per ounce for the first time, and the impact is especially noticeable in the technology sector. The metal is essential for solar panels, electric cars, electronics and AI data centers, and demand has skyrocketed much faster than the mining industry can respond. In a matter of months, what seemed like a one-time rally has revealed a deeper problem: the world is entering a phase of real silver shortage. A record that marks a turning point. The escalation became historic this week. While this report is being written, silver is around $62.67 per ouncedoubling its value since January after five consecutive years of supply deficit. Although the rise is not surprising who follows this marketwhat impacts is its speed: according to Bloombergsilver is the best performing metal of the year, doubling its price and even surpassing gold in what is already its biggest increase in decades. But beyond the price, what is relevant is not how much silver has become more expensive, but why. The market structure has changed. Money doesn’t stop going up. For analysts and companies, this new peak has profound implications. Silver no longer behaves as a simple safe haven asset, it is a critical industrial input whose shortage can slow down entire sectors of the global economy. Unlike goldwhose function is mainly financial—, the silver it is a metal that supports electrification and the energy transition. However, the problem is amplified by the nature of the market which is narrow, volatile and without global strategic reserves. As Bloomberg recallsthere is no equivalent to gold central banks that act as a stabilizer of last resort. When physical money is lacking, there is simply no safety net. Source: TradingView A perfect storm. The rise of silver is not understood by a single factor, but by the convergence of industrial, monetary and geopolitical forces. First of all, according to Financial Timesthe silver market has been in deficit for five years, with inventories at minimum levels and production unable to respond. Silver is mostly obtained as a byproduct of zinc, copper or lead mining, making it difficult to increase supply quickly. Furthermore, the three largest producers—Mexico, Peru and China— face environmental and regulatory restrictions which further reduce production capacity. The Silver Institute foresees industrial demand increasing at least until 2030, driven by solar expansion, transportation electrification and the growth of digital infrastructure. Additionally, the global data center boom also adds to this pressure, because some of them operate with solar energy. Added to all this is a worrying dynamic: the United States has accumulated large reserves of silver due to the risk of new tariffs under Section 232. This diversion of metal to American deposits has drained inventories in London and Asia, generating a silver squeeze which skyrocketed metal borrowing costs. As pointed out in FTthe North American retail investor—for whom silver is “the poor man’s gold”—is also entering aggressively, fueling the bullish momentum. China enters the scene. The decisive factor comes from Beijing. The Ministry of Commerce of China announced in an official statement new strict conditions for exports of silver, tungsten and antimony during 2026–2027, including strengthened requirements, documentary controls and more rigorous supervision for state-owned companies that want to export metal. Likewise, the official text confirms China’s intention to protect its strategic resources for internal use, especially in sectors considered critical for its future competitiveness: renewable energy and artificial intelligence. The reason it’s clear: China wants to guarantee enough physical silver to power its own AI data centers, the expansion of which requires huge volumes of solar panels. With global mining production limited to 813 million ounces annually and new projects that take years to come online, Chinese controls could exacerbate an already structural shortage. China, the largest global refiner of silver and a central player in the solar chain, has real capacity to alter the global balance of the market. India and Russia complete the geopolitical map. On the one hand, India has become one of the great drivers of the physical silver market, with about 80% of global demand for bars and coins. According to ReutersIndian demand for jewelry and bullion has been so strong in 2025 that it has caused physical shortages and premiums on international prices during holidays such as Diwali. Added to this pressure is a new regulatory framework: India’s silver imports soared to $2.72 billion in October, partly due to measures that facilitate the monetization of physical silver, allowing consumers to convert their holdings into financial instruments. On the other hand, Russia decided at the end of 2024 start buying silver for its State Reserve Fund, a move that has contributed to skyrocketing prices against gold even further. It’s not just silver: a global reconfiguration of metals. The rise in silver coincides with a historic movement in gold. The golden metal exceeded $4,200 due to pressure from central banks, which already have more value in gold than in US Treasury bonds. A structural turn in the international monetary system. For their part, platinum and palladium have also become more expensive. This phenomenon indicates that strategic and safe haven metals are regaining a central role in the global economy. What to expect from now on. The forecasts for the coming months coincide in a common diagnosis: structural tension will not disappear, even if phases of technical correction appear. On a technical level, several analysts see room for further increases. According to FXStreetconsiders an advance towards 63.8–65 dollars plausible, supported by a weak dollar and the continuity of the buying impulse. However, since the TradersUnion portal introduce caution, the market is clearly overbought, and losing the $61.5 support could trigger short-term profit taking. Added to all this are two new forces compared to past cycles: the rise of AI, which multiplies solar demand, and China’s industrial policy, which can further restrict global supply. In this context, as analyst David Morgan warnsprecious metals are entering “a monetary inflection point,” driven by both the energy transition and loss of confidence in … Read more

We have been fascinated for years by the geniuses who come up with revolutionary innovations out of thin air. It’s always been smoke

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We live in times in which innovation, creative genius and the search for the next technological revolution are everything. We all want to know who it is the next Mark Zuckerberg, the next Steve Jobs either the next Albert Einstein. So much so that we project our way of looking at the world onto the past and, from time to time, texts appear that talk about the past. great forgotten geniuses to whom history did not do justice. But the truth is that most of the time, those great geniuses are rightly forgotten. Contrary to what we usually think, inventors usually do not exist. At least, if they are not lucky people. Smoke (or vapor) sellers Perhaps the best example is the steam engine. Which, in fact, must be one of the machines that has been invented the most times in History. The usual version is that the steam engine was developed and perfected in England between the end of the 17th century and the end of the 18th century. And that, on the other hand and always according to this version, was the engine of the industrial revolution. It’s not exact. Although archaeologists could surely give us previous examples, the aeolipilethe first “steam engine”, was invented by Heron of Alexandria in the first century after Christ. At first, and for many years, it had a recreational purpose (it is a sphere filled with water that, when heated, rotates). The first steam engine. But Heron too created automatic doors and hydraulic fountains which allow us to affirm, without risking too much, that Roman scientists had more than enough capacity to design Thomas Savery’s steam engine without messing up. Later, a century before, according to modern historiography, Mr. Savery invented the first steam engine, Jerónimo de Ayanz, a native of Navarra, also designed an incipient steam engine. Even before that we can find works by Florence Rivault, Taqui ad-Din or Giovanni Branca in which the steam engine was there, within reach. Windmills, mops and table football The same thing happens with water mills. Traditionally, it was considered that this type of mills had been discovered in the Middle Ages because it is the historical period from which we have material remains. But it’s not true. In ancient times, hydraulic mills were known, and very well. In fact, It is known that they also began to expand throughout the 1st century AD. And so on ad nauseum. The question is clear: no, the mop It was not invented in Spain, nor the lollipopsneither the table football. As evidently, and strictly speaking, neither the Spanish nor the Vikings ‘discovered‘America. A few days ago we discussed here in Xataka who was the “creator” of injectable insulin (Nicholas Paulescu either McLeod, Banting and Best?) in a reissue of the famous paradox of “if a tree falls in the middle of the forest and no one hears it, Has it made noise? Has it even fallen?” A key lesson we can draw from this is that, well, inventing something, discovering something, or developing genius is of no use. For hundreds of years we knew how to use water to produce physical work, but it wasn’t until the implosion of the slave system that mills really became popular. For fifteen hundred years we knew everything there was to know to create a steam engine. In fact, wealthy children had small miniature engines. It was not until the specific needs of British mining introduced Savery’s gadget that the steam engine set out to change the world. You don’t get here from nowhere. (Unsplash) Mops and tiled floors, lollipops and the decrease in infant mortality, table football and the incipient improvement in the quality of life of the working classes. Victor Hugo said that “there is nothing more powerful in the world than an idea whose time has come.” And he had to be right because “without their moment”, ideas are nothing. Technology, society and vice versa The cult of innovation, creative genius and disruptive inventions is one of those characteristics of our time that permeates everything. But, in general, innovations are only of degree. Also in the world of technology where we can almost always find a proof of concept that, twenty years before, already advanced the next revolution in the sector. Basically, as we examine technological history, we realize that seeing the world as a succession of great geniuses is very attractive, but not very realistic. Undoubtedly, there are people who advance the knowledge or technology of their time by decades, but if we want to get a real picture of how innovation has worked over the centuries, the strategy is different: think of history as a very long conversation full of opportunities, misunderstandings and moments of genius. There is no need to make it more attractive. Image | Md Mahdi In Xataka | One company has made the biggest breakthrough in toilet paper in 100 years. And its sales are skyrocketing In Xataka | We have a long-term problem with concrete. That’s why someone has come up with staple bricks that don’t need it.

the map of genetic dispersion that Europe does not know how to stop

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The sperm donors They are essential people to give a bit of hope to families who cannot conceive children due to different issues related to their health or even the biological impossibility of doing so. But sometimes this is something that can go very wrong, as has become clear with the case of sperm donor 7069a Danish man whose semen was used to conceive 197 children and to whom has transmitted a hereditary disease apart from them that can be fatal. The problem. what it seemed a standard donation process managed by the giant European Sperm Bankhas ended up uncovering some seams in assisted reproduction on the continent that were already announced. And this person has a mutation in their DNA, specifically in the TP53 gene, which is associated with a Li-Fraumeni syndrome. An extremely rare disease that is transmitted through genetics that drastically increases the risk of suffering from multiple types of cancer from childhood. Something that implies that part of his descendants will have a high mortality because of all these tumors. Something that immediately set off alarm bells. A mosaic patient. Donating sperm is a laborious process due to the number of studies that have to be passed, which include a genetic panel to rule out those donors who have serious diseases that can be transmitted to their offspring. But in this case this disease screening ended up failing. All because it is a mosaic patient. This donor managed to overcome all the medical filters because his genetic alteration did not occur in all the cells of the body, but that was only in his sperm and also only in 20%. In Spain this is something that can be overlooked since the genetic panel is done with a simple blood sample and without analyzing the genetic material of the sperm. Green card. The fact of doing a blood test caused a repeated false negative that led to this serious problem. Furthermore, two decades ago screening focused on specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis with the aim of not fertilizing an egg that also had this alteration. But in the end this donor had a green card until 2023 when the sperm bank blocked his donations. The regulatory problem. If biology explains why the flaw was not detected, bureaucracy explains why it spread so much. And this donor has highlighted the many seams that exist in Europe in terms of assisted reproduction. To give us an idea, andn Spain the legislation establishes that a donor cannot have more than six children (including their own), causing their donations to be blocked when they reach that limit. But in Spain this person has 35 children… Something that explains why there is no centralized registry that cross-references data with foreign banks. Spanish clinics import the samples relying on the data of origin, but they have no way of knowing if that donor has already reached their quota in another country or even in another Spanish clinic. Disparity of criteria. In addition to not having a common databaseThere are countries like Denmark that allow you to have up to 12 children or Germany that sets it at 15. Something that is also added to the fact that in Spain there is a large number of egg donations and attracts thousands of foreign patients, which increases the complexity of traceability. This lack of communication allows the existence of “super donors”, men who, following the law in each country individually, end up having hundreds of descendants globally, increasing not only the risk of the spread of rare genetic diseases, but also that of accidental endogamy between half-siblings who are unaware of their relationship. The solution. Seeing the serious consequences that this lack of control can have at the European level, the solution is very simple: have a European donor registry. In this way, each clinic or public service that performs a fertilization leaves it registered so that anywhere in Europe it is known that that donor has several children in another country. But this would also make it much easier to trace the problem that a child has presented and the possibility that the donor is to blame through his or her genetic material. This is something that have already requested eight EU Health Ministers and about which there is currently no news on the matter. Images | Elena In Xataka |

includes up to a 50 euro Amazon card

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Protecting our equipment (whether mobile phones, tablets or computers, among others) is important. We have a wide selection of tools for this, such as an antivirusas well as others designed for our Internet traffic, such as VPNs. The relevance of betting on these applications in our personal sphere is great, but it is much more so if we have a company. The reason for this is simple: not only our information comes into play, but also that of employees and customers. If we are looking for a complete and secure enterprise-level solution, then the Kaspersky Small Office Security package (or KSOS) may fit us very well. Much more now, which is on promotion: if we use the code ‘AFBIZ’, we can get a whole year for just 143.33 euros. A beautiful piece that also includes a couple of very interesting gifts. Kaspersky Small Office Security – 1 year The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A very secure business solution that is super easy to install This is a great opportunity to get KSOS if we take the discount into account. Outside of the promotion, the price of this service for five different devices for an entire year is priced at 227.50 euros, so we would be saving almost 85 euros. Not only that, but we will also take, totally free, a 50 euro Amazon gift card and a global eSIM with 1 GB of Internet, ideal if we are going to travel outside of Spain. Now, let’s talk about what Kaspersky’s Small Office Security offers. As you can imagine, KSOS comes with a complete antivirus that we can use on any device in our company, regardless of whether it is a computer, a mobile phone or even a file server. Besides, It is compatible with both Windows and MacOSwhich gives it a lot of versatility. To the antivirus we must add software that is to avoid all types of malware and ransomware, as well as a password manager that will allow us to give extra security to an element as important as these. Additionally, KSOS also includes a VPN that stands out for being fast and very secureso we can protect both Internet transactions and our IP and our traffic. All in a package that is very easy to install, so it will not be necessary to request help from a technician. In short, a quite interesting and complete pack that stands out especially now that we can get it at a lower price (and with two very good gifts). Finally, we cannot forget that KSOS includes a 30 day trial period in which we can test the service as much as we want and, if it does not convince us, request a refund. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Image | Kaspersky In Xataka | Best antivirus for computer: the best paid alternatives to protect your PC In Xataka | Password managers: which ones are the best to protect and remember all the ones you have

with smuggled NVIDIA chips, according to The Information

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The Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek would have been training his next model with thousands of NVIDIA Blackwell chipsthe most advanced on the market and whose export to China is expressly prohibited by the United States. So The Information states itciting six sources close to the company, who claim that the chips would have arrived in the country through smuggling. ANDl alleged smuggling scheme. According to the media, the chips would have been acquired legally through data centers in countries where their sale is allowed. Once installed and inspected by NVIDIA or its authorized distributors such as Dell or Super Micro Computer, the servers would have been disassembled and the components would have been shipped to China in separate pieces, passing customs under false declarations. This method would allow no trace of the end user to be left. The response of NVIDIA. The company has flatly denied these accusations in a statement: “We have not seen any evidence or received notices of ‘ghost data centers’ built to deceive us and our OEM partners, which are then dismantled, smuggled and rebuilt elsewhere.” NVIDIA adds that, although this type of smuggling “seems implausible,” it investigates any information it receives about it. Why Blackwell chips are so valuable to DeepSeek. NVIDIA’s Blackwell processors began shipping in the final quarter of 2024, with companies like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI being the first to receive them. These chips include specialized hardware to accelerate sparse computing (Sparse Computing), executing this type of calculations up to twice as fast as traditional methods. According to The Information, DeepSeek would have been using a technique called “sparse attention” that activates only certain parts of the model to respond to requests instead of the entire model, which significantly reduces inference costs. Blackwells would be especially useful for this approach, although their application in larger models is proving more complicated than anticipated. Geopolitical context. US President Donald Trump came to boast to Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Blackwell chips are “10 years ahead of any other chip” and that he would not allow China access to them. However, this week Trump authorized the sale of H200 chips from NVIDIA to China, a generation before the Blackwells, although Beijing is still considering whether to allow its acquisition. Of course, this measure could reduce demand for smuggled Blackwell chips in the Asian country. lThe difficulties of enforcing restrictions. Most NVIDIA chips are manufactured in Taiwan and sold through a complex network of distributors around the world. Jacob Feldgoise, analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies at Georgetown University account to the media that “the burden of proof to enforce and prosecute chip smuggling cases is quite high. Clear and convincing evidence is needed.” DeepSeek remains silent. The Chinese startup has not responded to the allegations. Previously, DeepSeek had trained its models with older NVIDIA chips: 10,000 A100 units stored by its parent company, hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, before US export restrictions took effect in 2022. The company’s research documents from last year indicated that they also had used hopper chipsthe generation immediately before Blackwell. DeepSeek faces several sticks from Washington: in April, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party published a report calling the startup “a profound threat” to American national security, accusing it of illegally using export-controlled NVIDIA chips. Qregulatory repression. NVIDIA confirmed this week that it has developed a verification technology location through software that could indicate in which country its chips operate, although it has not yet been launched. This tool would use the computing capabilities of your GPUs to monitor the performance and location of the processors. The company has clarified that this is read-only software that does not allow NVIDIA to remotely control the chips or disable them. “There is no off switch,” the company said. Cover image | DeepSeek, Xataka with Mockuuups Studio and NVIDIA In Xataka | If anyone thought that Europe had no role in the race for AI, Mistral has something to tell them

either you tell him how much money you earn or there is no pension

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Social Security will apply from 2026 more rigorous control on non-contributory retirement and disability pensions, activating a mechanism already provided for in the regulations. The key is simple: those who do not submit the annual income statement during the first quarter of the year will stop receive your pension until they regularize the situation. In this way, the Administration ensures that all recipients of these aid really continue to meet the economic requirements to receive them. Differences between contributory and non-contributory pension. First of all, it is worth making an important qualification in this new measure. As and how do they clarify from La Moncloa, contributory pensions are granted to those who they have quoted enough throughout their entire working life. The legal age, the years of contributions and the contribution bases determine the final amount of that pension. Once that pension is recognized, the annual personal income they do not modify the law. Instead, the non-contributory pensions They work differently since the beneficiary has not provided prior contributions. They are precisely designed for people who have not had a sufficient working career to access a contributory benefit, or have not contributed directly. In this case, the decisive element is not the working life, but the lack of resources to survive. The system only guarantees this aid as long as the beneficiary can demonstrate that they continue to meet the financial requirements. Social Security improves the verification system. In 2026, no requirement is added that was not already contemplated in the existing regulations, but Social Security has reinforced the mechanism that is responsible for verifying the requirements of beneficiaries. If they cannot be verified due to lack of data, the benefit is no longer paid. He article 368 of the Social Security Law establishes that “the beneficiary must present, in the first quarter of each year, a declaration of the income of the respective economic unit of which he is a part, referring to the immediately preceding year.” That is, the beneficiary of the benefit has the obligation to demonstrate annually that his or her family income meets the requirements to receive it. This certificate must be sent to the Administration through a form available in the IMSERSO portalthe body that coordinates this type of benefits with the different autonomous communities. The regulations leave no room. The existence of the pension depends on the beneficiary periodically demonstrating that he or she is still in a situation of financial need. This is the reason why the system requires that the declaration be delivered during the first quarter of the year. That is, between January 1 and March 31. The failure to comply this procedure It has also been regulated for more than three decades and is included in the article 16.2 of Royal Decree 357/1991. “Failure by the beneficiary to comply with the obligation to submit the annual income declaration will result in the suspension of receipt of the pension.” In other words, if this income is not reported, Social Security will stop paying the benefit. Suspension does not eliminate the right. However, the suspension included in the regulations does not imply the loss of the right to receive it. It means that payments are stopped until the person presents documentation and proves that they meet the requirements. From that moment on, the Administration checks the declared income and, if the requirements are maintained, reactivates the payment of the pension. Reactivation may include payment of arrears, but with a limit: they can only be recovered up to three months prior to the date on which it is regularized. Starting in 2026, Social Security will apply without exception the suspension of payment when the income declaration is not submitted within the established period. It is an operational change, not a legal one. The regulations already existed, what changes is the level of control and monitoring. Hence, the annual declaration is not a formality, but rather a condition for receiving the non-contributory pension. In Xataka | The Government’s latest idea in labor matters: a “flexible” leave that allows you to work at the same time Image | Social Security, Unsplash (Jordy Muñoz)

the questions you have sent us (and their answers) about this sound bar

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The downside of any television is usually always in the sound, and therefore, to enjoy movies and video games to the fullest, it is usually advisable to invest in a sound bar. An example of a good alternative is JBL BAR 1300MK2the brand’s high-end bar. 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. JBL BAR 1300MK2 Q&A We start the video talking about their channels. The JBL BAR 1300MK2 has a 11.1.4 configurationwhich are distributed between the central bar, two removable satellites and a subwoofer. In total we have 8 front speakers and another four upwards in the center bar. The satellites have three each, and the subwoofer has a double speaker. We also talked to you about the wireless features of this bar, with the peculiarity that the wireless ones are the two satellites so you can place them wherever you want at all times. The body of the bar does have to be connected via HDMI to the TV. Then we do an express round, where by answering several short questions we tell you that it has 2470W peak power, its Dolby Atmos support or its many wireless compatibilities with technologies such as Chromecast, AirPlay, Alexa Multi-Room Music or Spotify Connect. The sound bar has 4 HDMIs, being an eARC. Another thing we talked to you about is its sound quality and its sensationstelling you about the experience we have had testing. Be careful with content with surround sound, because that is where it shines the most. And we end up talking to you about other aspects such as the vibrations of the bar, how you can control it with the remote or with the mobile application, the options of this app, and many other aspects of the bar. 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.

OpenAI knows that it needs to continue generating memes and virals. That’s why she’s willing to pay Disney a lot of money for her content.

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Disney and OpenAI have announced a three-year licensing agreement that will allow users to create short videos featuring more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters through soraOpenAI’s AI video generation platform. The operation includes an investment of $1 billion by the Mickey Mouse company in the AI ​​startup. Change of sight. Disney has gone from sue AI platforms like Midjourney for unauthorized use of its characters to become OpenAI’s first major content licensing partner. The company also sent a cease and desist letter to Character.AI in September for the same reason. This change in strategy gives clues to Disney’s move, choosing to monetize and control the use of its intellectual property instead of trying to stop it completely. What users can do. Starting in early 2026, according to OpenAI, Sora users will be able to generate short videos for social networks with characters such as Mickey Mouse, Iron Man, Darth Vader, Elsa, Simba or Groot, as well as iconic costumes, accessories, vehicles and settings from these franchises. From ChatGPT, users will also be able to create static images of these same characters using text instructions. The agreement expressly excludes the faces and voices of real actors. The business model behind the agreement. OpenAI need viral content to maintain the attention of users, and in recent months it has made it clear to us that this route is its current main source of income to attract more users who want to go through the hoops of its subscription plans. Disney characters are precisely the type of content that fits this vision. That is why the company is willing to pay to license this intellectual property. Disney as a corporate client of OpenAI. Beyond the license, Disney will become a “major customer” of OpenAI, under the terms of the agreement. The company will deploy ChatGPT to its employees and use OpenAI APIs to build new tools, products and experiences, including functionality for Disney+. In fact, perhaps the most striking thing about the agreement is that a curated selection of videos generated by Sora It will be available to play from the streaming platform. Investment and purchase options. Disney will provide $1 billion in equity investment and will receive warrants to acquire additional stakes in OpenAI in the future. The transaction is still subject to negotiation of definitive agreements and approvals prior to closing. Commitments on responsible use. Both companies say in the joint statement that they will maintain “robust controls” to prevent the generation of illegal or harmful content, respect the rights of content creators and protect the use of people’s voice and image. OpenAI is further committed to implementing age-appropriate policies and other safety measures on the service. The vision of the CEOs. Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, assures that “the rapid advance of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry” and defends that collaboration will allow “extending the reach of our narrative in a thoughtful and responsible way.” For his part, Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, affirms that the agreement “shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to advance innovation.” What’s coming now? It remains to be seen if this licensing model extends to other studios and large content owners. Everything indicates that it certainly will not be the only large company to take advantage of this type of agreement. The litmus test will be when all the content in Sora is released and if it gains enough traction on networks for OpenAI to consider it a small victory in its quest for make ChatGPT a profitable tool for your business. In Xataka | Quietly, a country is becoming a technological power thanks to data centers: India

Since Iryo and Ouigo compete with Renfe, we have had ultra-cheap high-speed tickets. Everything has an end

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There is a problem in the supply of high-speed trains in Spain. We believed that with the arrival of competition to Renfe we ​​would see ticket prices reduced. This has been the case during the last four years and in different regions, but now the three operators have begun to raise their rates in most corridors during the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest report of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). The change of trend. In the Madrid-Barcelona corridor, the busiest in the country, prices rose by an average of 25% compared to the same period in 2024. Iryo led the increases with an increase of 52.9%, placing the average ticket at 63.82 euros. Renfe AVE raised its fares by 13.3% to 70.58 euros, while Ouigo, traditionally the cheapest option, increased its prices by 20.2% to reach 51.86 euros on average. The context that explains the rise. The withdrawal of Avlo, Renfe’s ‘low cost’ brand, from the Madrid-Barcelona corridor in September after cracks were detected in the bogies of its Avril trains, has reduced the supply of tickets economical on the most popular route. This has caused the remaining operators to adjust their rates upwards. Despite the increase in prices, tickets are still 26% cheaper than before the liberalization of the sector in 2020, as indicated by the CNMC. The exception: Andalusia. In this Autonomous Community, the evolution is different. The entry of Ouigo in January 2025 on the Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Málaga/Granada routes caused a price war which has kept rates down. On the Madrid-Málaga route, only Iryo raised prices (+2.6%), while Renfe AVE lowered them by 8.9% and Avlo by 15.3% to compete with the 32.54 euros on average offered by the French operator. In Madrid-Seville, the average price fell by 2.8% despite the fact that individual operators such as Iryo (+12.5%) and Renfe AVE (+0.9%) did make their tickets more expensive. The Levantine corridor. Regarding routes to the Valencian Community, these show moderate increases. In Madrid-Valencia, prices rose by 1.3% to 30.56 euros on average, the cheapest ticket on the entire network. In Madrid-Alicante, the increase was 1.5% to 37.96 euros. Iryo was the one that increased its fares the most on both routes (with increases of 24.6% and 23.9% respectively), while Ouigo maintained its low price strategy with slight reductions. The thing is about profitability. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has been publicly demanding this price increase in recent months, going so far as to accuse Ouigo of operating at losses and dragging Renfe into an unsustainable dynamic. And while the rest of the operators have been gaining ground, we are now at a point where they are looking for the economic viability of their operations, and that is where the price increases come in. The balance of passengers. Despite price increases, demand remains robust. High speed will reach almost 40 million travelers in 2024, 77% more than in 2019, before liberalization. In the third quarter of 2025, routes such as Madrid-Málaga/Granada (+17.7%), Madrid-Seville (+13.2%) and Madrid-Alicante (+8.9%) reached record passenger numbers. Only Madrid-Barcelona registered a slight decrease of 0.3%, possibly weighed down by the withdrawal of Avlo and the increase in fares. The future of the sector. After four years of aggressive offers by the rest of the high-speed operators, the sector seems to be entering a phase of maturity in which it seeks to attract travelers without losing sight of the sustainability of the business. Renfe maintains a market share of 62% in most corridors, although in Madrid-Valencia it is already at 50%. It will be very interesting to know the figures in the coming quarters to know how the panorama evolves. Cover image | Jose Garcia Nieto In Xataka | High speed in Madrid is at risk of collapsing. And that’s why Adif wants to send her to Parla

Buying tickets for Rosalía’s tour has been chaos for everyone. Except for Banco Santander clients

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The sale of tickets for the concerts in Madrid and Barcelona Rosalia have generated the expected collapse. An apocalypse of people running out of tickets, waiting at the seventy-something thousand stall in a virtual queue, and a lot of resellers rubbing their hands. We had the precedent of Bad Bunny, but not only have we not learned, but we have made it worse with an exclusive pre-sale that has left those who have approached through the general sale almost without tickets. He ritual than usual. Frozen screens, virtual queues that exceeded 50,000 people and the frustration of thousands of fans who after hours of waiting were left without access to the many seats available for pre-sale last Tuesday the 9th for the eight Rosalía concerts scheduled in Madrid and Barcelona between March and April 2026. Just 48 hours later, the general sale on Thursday the 11th replicated the same scenario, but much faster: all the tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. The immediate result was predictable: platforms resale offering seats for up to 1,200 eurosmore than ten times its original value. The bank account as an entrance to culture. In September 2023, the Banco Santander launched SMusica platform that links financial services with exclusive offers linked to concerts and musical events after close deals with relevant industry brands, such as Live Nation (owner of Ticketmaster), Universal Music, the Los 40 radio network and festivals such as Primavera Sound and Mad Cool. The mechanism is as simple as, in its essence, exclusive: Bank customers get early access to tickets 48 to 72 hours before the rest of the public. In practice, this means that when the general sale opens, most of the best-located seats (and sometimes all the capacity) have already been purchased. For her part, Rosalía simultaneously activated an “Artist Presale” through prior registration on her website. In this way, two privileged channels were generated before the official sale. But… how many tickets went to pre-sale? There are no official public figures. However, an expert (Chema Lamirán, director of the Master in Digital Marketing at the European University of Valencia) provides data about the usual operation of this system: “as a general and ethical rule of the industry, a quota should always be reserved for general sales.” According to their analysis, between 15% and 20% of the total capacity is usually reserved for general sales. But “in phenomena like Rosalía, where demand exceeds supply by 10 or 20 times, that 20% flies in seconds, giving the sensation that there were no tickets.” This would explain why in social networks comments abounded like this one: “They’re making fun of us, they must have sold all the Lux Tour tickets in the pre-sale, otherwise I can’t explain it.” The system also established differentiated limits: a maximum of two tickets per person in the Santander pre-sale compared to four in the general one, which in theory should leave more seats available for the general public, but in practice it barely makes a difference when the demand is so disproportionate. The precedent of Bad Bunny. May 8, 2025 marked a turning point in public perception of the ticketing system in Spain. What began as the announcement of three Bad Bunny concerts ended up becoming twelve dates spread between Barcelona and Madrid, an improvised increase on the fly while the Ticketmaster website collapsed under the weight of hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users. At 12:45, fifteen minutes before the official start of the pre-sale, the platform began to display errors 503 and 500, leaving buyers trapped in a digital limbo where virtual queues exceeded 400,000 people. But the technical chaos It was just one dimension of the problem. The OCU filed a formal complaint before the Ministry of Consumer Affairs after documenting how an entry initially announced at 79.50 euros It ended up costing 269 euros by including management fees (€36.50), “suggested” donations (€3.30) and additional VIP charges (€150). FOMO and banks. The phenomenon of concerts, without a doubt the “place to be” (and one of the few entertainment sectors that not only enters into crisis but also grows without apparent roof), extends its appeal to entities such as banks. The concerts of Rosalía or Bad Bunny are not considered as recitals for fans, but rather as massive events to which one must go, with the music being only a circumstantial element. The essential precedent of Taylor Swift (whose Eras Tour generated in Spain similar episodes of uncontrolled demand) has established a pattern where megaconcerts are perceived as unrepeatable events that banks, always on the hunt for young customers, are willing to take advantage of. In Xataka | Rosalía has entered her Catholic phase: she is only the latest in a long list of Spanish artists and filmmakers

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