Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Spotify killed the record and the industry pivoted to concerts. Netflix killed cinema and the industry was left with a “space crisis”

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Never in history have we seen so many movies: the streaming It allows us to see several a week but, nevertheless, the movie theaters are empty. Literally emptier than ever in decades. We consume audiovisual content en masse, but not where we historically enjoyed it. Meanwhile, concerts have become the leisure alternative par excellence. Why do we pay hundreds of euros to go to a stadium with 50,000 other people, but not fifteen to see a blockbuster on the big screen? The answer lies in how we value physical space in the experience economy. Some figures. Let’s look at some box office figures: the summer of 2025, traditionally the most lucrative season in the industry, has been the most disastrous since 1981 adjusted for inflation. There is no dream of returning to pre-COVID figures: in October 2025 in the US, only 445 million dollars were raised, less than half of last October before the pandemicwhich exceeded one billion. The average viewer attended only 2.31 times to theaters in 2024, a drop of 33% compared to the 3.5 annual visits in 2019. In Spain, theThe 2025 data is equally dark: The total box office falls by 14% (almost 30 million less), and Spanish cinema itself declines by 2.5-3%. The author of this last study, Pau Brunet, expressly says that “the Hollywood fantasy is crumbling.” And the erosion is constant: Spain had more than 105 million viewers in 2019, which represents a loss of a third of its volume in five years: we are now at 71 million. Windows that don’t perform. The problem is so multifactorial that it is ridiculous to focus only on the drop in the box office to explain it. For example, we have the collapse of display windows: The pre-pandemic standard was 90-120 days in theaters, three or four weeks later in digital sales and then home formats and streaming. After the pandemic, these windows were reduced by more than 60%, and although they now vary depending on the studio, Universal and Warner leave a 45-day window for their most sought-after productions (it can be reduced to 17 days), with the exception of Disney, which operates them for 60 days. In any case, the rest of the windows have been shortened or disappeared, and it is common to watch a movie in streaming just a month and a half after its release in theaters. It is one of the main reasons why people have left the theaters: even blockbusters like ‘Wicked’ can be seen streaming just 40 days after their release in theaters. Even China. A few years ago, China was the market that seemed destined to save Hollywood accountsbut experienced its own collapse in 2024: the box office fell 23% to 42.5 billion yen ($5.8 billion), returning to figures from a decade ago. Attendance fell by more than 200 million viewers compared to ten years ago. One of the main reasons is the degradation of the theatrical experience: cinemas without air conditioning and without customer service staff beyond the bar, a characteristic that has been spreading to theaters around the world for years. The crisis has been going on for a long time. In reality, this fall does not have its roots in the streaming not even in the pandemic. The attendance of the American public had been falling since the sixtiesgoing from one visit per person every two or three months to just twice a year before the pandemic. The real price of admission (adjusted for inflation) has remained stable since the 1980s, but consumers have decided that they no longer want to go to theaters. The problem, as this Bain & Company study states The thing is that, for decades, the industry has placed all the emphasis of its production on pure content, but the films have ended up arriving home in a few weeks. Meanwhile, music has come to understand something fundamental: the value is not in the recorded content, but in the unique, unrepeatable event. The triumph of music. He Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour It closed in December 2024 after 149 concerts in 51 cities, ggenerating gross revenues of 2,077 million dollars. That is, more than the annual film box office receipts of entire countries (compare with the pyrrhic 71 million box office receipts in Spain in 2024). AND We’re not just talking about the concerts.: The average expense per attendee ranged between $1,300 and $1,500, including transportation, accommodation, merchandising and dinners. More than fans, they are tourists generating systemic economic impact. “Swiftonomics“has ceased to be a metaphor and has become a real analytical category in government economic reports. Beyond Taylor. Swift is not an anomaly. The global live music market generated $28.1 billion in 2023 and projections place it at $79.7 billion by 2030. That growth is equivalent to tripling the size of the market in seven years, while cinema struggles to recover the levels of a decade ago. What does live music have that cinema has lost? The term “funflation“: Consumers prioritize spending on memorable experiences even during periods of high inflation Festivals have capitalized on this logic: They sell identity, belonging and experiences that are impossible to replicate at home. Just the opposite of cinema: a film is exactly identical all over the world and once seen, the incentive to repeat it in theaters is minimal, especially knowing that it will be in streaming in 45 days. Reinvention is required. The cinema crisis is not a death sentence, but it is a demand for reinvention. Because the physical space of entertainment is not dying, it is being reformulated. The path that the music industry has followed by completely pivoting its business model with the disappearance of physical formats is the one that cinema has to follow. At the moment, theaters have not gotten the premium experiences right (sophisticated restoration, more comfortable rooms, improvements in image and sound quality), but that is because they still do not differentiate themselves enough from the domestic experience. Cinema needs its own Taylor … Read more

Their companies know how to sell them better than anyone else.

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Six G1 humanoid robots from Unitree They appeared last week performing perfectly synchronized somersaults on a concert stage, acting as dancers for pop singer Wang Leehom. They were dressed in shiny silver tops and black leather pants, and completed a choreography that included arm movements, kicks and spins before winning over the audience with their acrobatics. The video has ended up going completely viral on social networks, so much so that even Elon Musk he rated it of “impressive” in Humanoid robots created to go viral. Chinese companies specializing in robotics have been turning each demonstration of their humanoid robots into a viral phenomenon for months. Last August they were the first robot Olympics in Beijingwhere the Unitree H1 model broke speed records by completing 1,500 meters in 6 minutes and 34 seconds, reaching 4.78 m/s and surpassing the Boston Dynamics Atlas. Previously, H1 humanoids also appeared on the Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched TV show. Now we see them hogging the stage (We we also know about thatreferring to the last Xataka Awards gala). They know how to sell themselves. The most common thing is to see this type of robots in technical conferences or corporate videos, but in recent years they have also starred in electrifying videos showing their capabilities and, in the process, gaining millions of views. Chinese firms have chosen to turn robotics into mass entertainment, perhaps a strategy to bring them closer to the public and so that they are not strangers when it is time to buy them in the future. The performance At Wang Leehom’s concert it was part of his “Best Place Tour” before 18,000 spectators, a perfect showcase to demonstrate the capacity of these robots and their versatility in all types of scenarios. Figures. Beijing has made humanoid robotics a national priority. Your five-year plan for the industry set in 2021 an annual growth of more than 20%, supported by a state fund of 140 billion dollars for technology startups. This year they aimed to produce more than 10,000 humanoid robots. China also leads in patents: according to Morgan Stanley, submitted 7,705 applications related to humanoid robots in the last five years, compared to 1,561 in the United States and 1,102 in Japan. Cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing are where investment and development is concentrated. Unitree as national flag bearer. The company behind the robots at the Chengdu concert has established itself as a benchmark in the sector in China. Launched in 2024, the G1 measures 1.27 meters, weighs 35 kilos and has between 23 and 43 joints, and can reach a speed of 2 m/s. In August won the gold medal in the 100 meter hurdles at the first World Humanoid Robot Games by completing the race in 33.71 seconds. Its R1 model was recognized by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of 2025. From spectacle to real application there is a distance. “I don’t think anyone has found an application for humanoids that requires several thousand robots per installation,” pointed out in September Melonee Wise, former product manager at Agility Robotics, to IEEE. Technical problems persist: limited energy autonomy, industrial reliability still far from the required 99.99% and practically non-existent commercial applications. Although the predictions from Bank of America Global Research that mentioned that about 18,000 units would be sold in 2025 or that the market will reach $5 trillion by 2050, there are hardly any real commercial deployments beyond highly controlled pilot tests. The power of marketing. Wang Leehom’s website boasted that “the show marked a rare example of robotic dancers in concert, fusing advanced technology with powerful live music.” Many fans praised the performance as one of the most creative moments of the tour, and there was no shortage of comments like those of this userwhich highlighted that “China’s robots are at another level.” And now what. China is investing massively in creating a market that does not yet exist, trusting that artificial intelligence will solve the problems of autonomy, reliability and practical usefulness. And it applies a strategy that has served it well in other sectors: that of finding practical, large-scale applications that justify the investment and having a presence in the market before it even exists. We’ll see where we go. Cover image | CNC GROUP In Xataka | I have asked for water from the first humanoid robot working in Beijing. It’s a weird vending machine.

The great plan of Chinese brands to open hundreds of dealerships in Spain: a movement against the current

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Search, compare and if you find something better, buy it It was the 80s and Colón’s detergents had snuck their famous slogan into every house in Spain. 40 years later, a BYD worker explained to me how they sought to break down prejudices in Spain: “We are letting people take the car home. We don’t want to do the typical 20-minute test with the salesperson inside the car. We tell the customer not to be afraid, to take the car and bring it to us the next day” BYD barely had a handful of points of sale in Spain those days in 2023. Shortly before we had attended the official presentation of the brand. The Chinese company arrived with three electric cars (two of them with a clear premium focus) and I saw it clearly: the brand had to attract the customer to the dealership. Let him sit in the car, touch it and feel it. It was the only way to dynamit prejudices. We are just over a month away from the end of 2025. At the end of October, BYD has sold 22,357 exclusively plug-in units in Spain according to data from Anfac. They easily double Fiat. They surpass Mazda and Volvo. They left Tesla behind a long time ago. They have Opel or Cupra on the near horizon. They begin to approach Ford. At the same time, BYD will close 100 dealerships this year (96 are already active throughout Spain) and they plan to open another thirty next year. At the same time, Chery has placed 31,493 cars in our country at the end of November between Ebro, Omoda and Jaecoo. And we are facing the first full year in which they have sold cars in our country. The sum of all of them also easily exceeds one hundred points of sale. MG adds 38,989 units between January and October 2025. With 11 points of sale available throughout Spain. The irruption is such that 10% of the cars purchased in Spain they are Chinese. It was a figure that was difficult to imagine just a few years ago. A figure that has been achieved by taking the customer to the dealership. And dynamiting their prejudices. The importance of being on the street There are many factors that explain the brutal growth of Chinese brands in our country. We can talk about its low prices, about offering a gateway to a technology (electric or plug-in hybrid) that has made the product more expensive or the extensive equipment offered in each car. But in addition to the price, which overrides all the previous arguments, we find an expansive effort by all these brands to be on the street, at the customer’s feet, with the dealers. “We had been waiting for its arrival for a long time. Already 15 years ago, in the brand’s first foray, we had one of its models, now I don’t remember exactly the name. In terms of volume, manufacturing capacity and development, it is a really excellent product. We think it is above the rest of the Chinese brands that are arriving in our country.” The speaker is José María Blitz, Project Director at the dealership that BYD has on Concha Espina Street in Madrid (next to the Santiago Bernabéu) and which belongs to Astara Retaila distributor with a presence in 19 countries and that sells you a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce as well as a BYD. This time it is the Chinese brand he is referring to. He tells us that the public has welcomed the company with open arms and that since they opened their first dealership, this one next to the Madrid stadium, interest has only increased. “The client It has already surpassed that of ‘unknown brand’. There could have been one at the beginning, three or four years ago, but I think it is practically expired. What’s more, the customer’s perception of the brand is excellent,” he explains. Added to that, “the European product was very expensive and the equipment was very fair. Chinese brands offer a quality product at a competitive price with a much higher level of equipment. We can easily be 20% or 25% below competing brands with higher equipment levels,” says Blitz. BYD is just one of the Chinese brands that sell in our country. Together with MG and the Chery Group (Omoda, Jaecoo and Ebro) they form a kind of quintet representative of the 28 Chinese brands that already sell in our country, according to Faconauto. The dealer association of our country says it has about 600 points of sale right now, between dealers and official services. Of course, they point out to us that “it is convenient to contextualize this figure: the majority of points of sale in Spain continue to correspond to consolidated manufacturers – European, Japanese, Korean or American – whose presence is structural and has developed over decades. Right now, Faconauto has 28 Chinese companies selling cars through 600 dealerships spread throughout the country. What happened to find us with this explosion? Blitz is clear, the product, he assures, is part of the success. But also who these brands have partnered with. “Their strategy has been to close agreements with large groups of dealers, people who are really professional,” they say from this dealership owned by Astara. The same is the opinion of Faconauto, who point out that “they have decided to enter our market with a ‘traditional’ model, taking advantage of the establishment of business dealers. And the key is the word ‘businessmen’, who choose where to invest their money. It is evident that many dealer groups have seen a good opportunity in investing in the distribution of Chinese brands.” This commitment generates trust in the customer, which has allowed them to grow “to the level of any other European brand,” for Blitz. The key: a disruptive product and good after-sales service. “They are very agile and they want their employees to be agile too. There is a sense of … Read more

Nothing has done with CMF what OnePlus and Xiaomi did not know: divide before betraying each other

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Carl Pei released Nothing in 2022 with the classic manual of technological ‘covering’: A distinctive design. An aggressive price. An anti-narrativeestablishment. But some time later he did something that no brand in his position had attempted: he cloned himself before he grew up. ‘CMF by Nothing‘is not just any sub-brand. It’s an insurance policy against the cycle that killed OnePlus’ mystique and tamed Xiaomi. Let’s go in parts. The pattern is known: A brand emerges promising “more for less” and building a tribe with early adopters that they feel part of something exclusive. The forums are burning, unboxings They go viral, people practically tattoo the logo. But commercial success eventually requires betraying that promise: you raise prices, chase better margins, and normalize. We have seen the same process in two brands dominating that space in two stages: OnePlus went from “flagship killer” in 2014 to sell mobiles indistinguishable from Oppo around 2018. Xiaomi went from being the Robin Hood of telephony in 2017 to having 1,200 euro models in 2021. In 2025 it’s already going for 1,500. It’s not that they are hypocrites, it’s that that position cultural requires smallness. As soon as you grow big enough to matter, you’re no longer credible as an alternative. Xiaomi tried it with POCO and Redmi, but without all the conviction. POCO was born in 2018 with the F1 as flagship killer perfect, direct heir to the original Xiaomi mystique, and this year it has given a brutal terminal like the F8. But instead of keeping the brand as a permanent outlet for purists, they let it languish with erratic launches, confusing positioning and some constant cannibalization with Redmi. And Redmi, although successful in volume, never had its own narrative beyond ‘Xiaomi, but cheaper’. They were functional subbrands, but not cultural. And CMF is the opposite: it has a recognizable design from fifteen meters, and most importantly, explicit permission not to last. Xiaomi wanted POCO to grow and mature. Nothing knows that CMF must burn bright and short, and when it goes out, they will light another match. CMF breaks this logic because it externalizes the growth hacking to a separate entity. Nothing can chase premium (and is doing so, Their prices rise discreetly every year) without contaminating the narrative indie. Meanwhile, CMF inherits the role of “brand of the enthusiast who knows”: singular design, brutal prices, no pretense of long-term sustainability. It is disposable by design, but consciously so. When CMF burns or has to raise prices, Nothing can launch another sub-brand and repeat the trick. They have turned the inevitable betrayal into a rotation maneuver. The interesting thing is that this can work precisely because Nothing does not pretend. OnePlus promised not to change and it changed. Xiaomi built an incredible base of Mi Fans and then the phenomenon faded away. Nothing from the beginning structures its growth as a fork: If you want to continue being early adopterhere you have CMF. If you want to join us in the premium life, here is Nothing. There is no betrayal because there was never a promise of immutability. It is a brand that understands that maturing means disappointing, so it institutionalizes disappointment in its brand architecture. Possibly the genius is not in CMF, but in having understood that the “enthusiast’s position”, the brand that “those in the know buy”, is not a long-term sustainable brand identity, but rather a industrializable growth phase. Just like adolescence: you can go through it just once, or you can design a system where there is always someone in your business family as a teenager while you mature and start coming home whenever you want, earn your own money and stop hiding your tobacco. OnePlus and Xiaomi played Peter Pan and that stage is over. Nothing has built a nursery. In Xataka | Nothing Phone (3a) Lite, analysis: it seems like black magic that a mobile like this costs less than 250 euros Featured image | Shawn Rain

This is the DGT map to visualize where there are active V16 beacons in Spain. There is another more useful unofficial map

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We are in 2026 and that means goodbye (or not) of the signal triangles in favor of the beacons v16 to signal accidents or breakdowns on the road. Don’t you take it? Well fine of 80 eurosalthough these first days Pere Navarro assured that “they would be flexible“(sic). In addition to avoiding accidents, the great advantage of the V16 beacons is their connectivity: it is true that It’s half-connectedness.but it does allow the DGT to notify the vehicles with signal V-27 and the rest of the drivers through light panels. And an interactive map to accurately geolocate the V16 beacons active in the state. The DGT traffic map also shows the beacons. Go ahead that the officer It is much more than the map where we can see these luminous devices: we can visualize closed roads, detours, landslides and meteorological events such as low visibility due to fog, accidents or stopped vehicles. Precisely here the beacons would come in, marked in the legend of the map with the danger traffic sign. However, if we tap on the ‘Filters’ area (the button with the three stripes in the upper right corner) you can alleviate the display a little. DGT traffic map As you can see below these lines, when you touch the icon, information appears such as the cause (by default the vehicle appears stopped), which road and direction it is on, the orientation, since when the notification has been operational, the province and the municipality. It is worth remembering that the data is anonymous as long as the DGT only receives the location of the stopped vehicle and not the identity of the occupant or other personal data such as the license plate or policy data. Beyond zooming, selecting areas or screening, this is what the DGT map allows you to create. You just have to activate it. To see your V16 beacon on the map, simply touch the button so that the signal is sent to DGT 3.0 platform: The function is technical and automatic, transmitting data such as the device ID, its GPS coordinates, the exact time of activation and the status, but not the cause (it could be a puncture, a mechanical breakdown, you have run out of fuel, an accident). The person who categorizes the cause of the incident is the roadside assistance operator, such as the tow truck, with the signal V-24 and the obligation to inform the DGT when they arrive at a service and what type of incident they are attending to. A reminder: you can fine up to 30,000 euros for a false positive, that is, activating the beacon as a test and leaving it activated for more than 100 seconds. The unofficial map of the beacons If you just want to see the beacons, there is another map. The data collected by the DGT 3.0 platform is public through the DGT 3.0 API. So the cybersecurity engineer Hector Julián Alijas has created a specific map for the beacons with some extra advantages from public data and official sources, such as explains in their FAQ. This beaconmapv16 displays all devices that are currently or recently active, regardless of beacon manufacturer and operator. The map shows active beacons in yellow and those that have recently been operational in dark, updating periodically to report changes in the status of the beacons and the activation of new units (you can check the latest update in a message located in the upper area). As with the DGT map, you can tap on the beacon icon to see information related to that device. The information provided by this alternative map is exactly the same, but it has an extra that can be useful if you want to go there: the possibility of sharing it with a GPS navigator such as Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps. I want to see the beacons on Google Maps and Waze. GPS navigators do not offer the option of viewing activated beacons on the road per sebut they do warn of incidents on the road such as stopped cars or accidents. The DGT 3.0 platform itself explains that: “It facilitates the interconnection of all the actors that are part of the mobility ecosystem. Vehicle manufacturers, navigation service providers, mobility applications, city councils, public transport platforms, fleet management systems, etc.” Furthermore, both Google (behind Maps and Waze) and Apple uses information from the authoritiesso technically they can do it. And it has a great advantage: ruling out false incidents, which may be reported by mistake or intentionally, and which can later be verified through the platform. In Xataka | From today, connected V-16 beacons are mandatory in Spain: what should be clear between controversies and doubts about the rule In Xataka | The DGT’s great plan does not end with the V16 beacons: it wants to connect all traffic as they already do in China Cover | DGT and V16 Beacons Map Hector Julián Alijas

Someone stole 56 million liters of water during the last 18 months in Murcia. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

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A pendulum and a couple of wooden sticks are the only tools that dowsers need to, supposedlydetect the magnetic flows of water currents to find underground water. Actually, a dowser is not much use, but it is the name with which SEPRONA baptized a surveillance cycle to catch the water thieves. One of the last cases It is that of the 50 million liters looted by two businessmen in a period of 18 months. But it is neither an isolated case nor something that shows signs of stopping. Louvres. One of the latest SEPRONA operations have taken place in Puerto Lumbreras, in the Region of Murcia, where agents have opened proceedings against two businessmen as alleged perpetrators of a crime against natural resources and the environment. It is estimated that they carried out well exploitation activities for decades, but to be specific, in the last 18 months alone, 56 million liters of groundwater were allegedly stolen. Those investigated used a clandestine well without a volumetric meter that was hidden in one of the companies and was not water that they used to irrigate their own crops (something that is usually common in this type of activity), but to sell. Pirate hydrological. They were capable of extracting more than 100,000 liters a day, which they sold and distributed through their own tanker trucks. Its use? Intensive livestock pig farms. Sale to other companies. Sale to individuals for filling swimming pools. Fine or “operational cost”? SEPRONA began the investigation after a complaint signed by 128 residents of Zarzalico who detected an illegal pipeline of several kilometers built to supply feedlots, and it is estimated that the two businessmen invoiced about 275,000 euros during the 18 months already mentioned. The curious thing about the matter is that, as we say, it has only been investigated for a year and a half, so the figure could be astronomical if the estimate that the activity was carried out for decades is true. Water theft is not something new, far from it, and in fact there are studies which suggest that, for more than a century, it was a practice that occurred in the Spanish southeast. It makes complete sense if we take into account that the area, with Almería or Murcia, being the “orchard of Europe”, is not exactly in which the most rainfall is recordedbut where it is most needed for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. In fact, this is called “virtual water” that these areas export in tomatoes, lettuce or avocados. This theft of water has been taken as a “survival mechanism”, something necessary to maintain activity during droughts, and there is also studies which point out that the administrative fines received by those who commit the infraction are lower than the economic benefit obtained from the stolen water. Illegal wells in southern Spain in the Andalusia region Devastating. The problem is that the accounts don’t add up where it matters most: in nature. The systematic depletion of aquifers due to illegal well activities has led to the depletion of some of the most important wetlands in our geography. Doñana is the clear examplero, since the national park has been, and is being, drained by hundreds of illegal wells for cultivation. But you don’t have to go far from Puerto Lumbreras to see the effects, and the Mar Menor is another example. Fresh underground water is looted and, sometimes, used to irrigate agricultural fields in which nitrate fertilizers are used that, due to runoff, filter into the soil or end up directly in the sea. This causes the water to have less oxygen than it should, and when it ends up in the lagoon, the fish die from anoxia. Add and continue. Unfortunately, as we say, it is not even a problem new… neither isolated. These last years We have been talking about dozens of people investigated, detained and convicted. The Malaga water company, in fact, has even hired private detectives to monitor employees, suppliers and customers. According to WWFthere are more than 500,000 illegal wells in Spain, the benefits offset the administrative fines and fevers like avocado fever They don’t help at all. Images | Greenpeace, Niriho khoka In Xataka | Andalusia has become a hostile land for the avocado. So an unexpected region is taking over: Galicia

five top technology offers from El Corte Inglés that are about to end

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The first weekend of 2026 coincides with the days before Three Kings Day. It also coincides with the end of some outstanding promotions that we have had in recent weeks, all of them with the presence of important offers and bargains. One of the stores that ends promotion in a few days is The English Courtbut good news: We still have a few days left to take advantage of your discounts. As usual, we have offers for all tastes, needs and pockets. It is true that some have already disappeared, but there are still several that are very worth it. Below, we leave you five of them: Samsung Galaxy Book4 by 649 eurosa very interesting device for working or studying. Hisense 65A7Q QLED Smart TV by 499 eurosa TV with QLED technology and 65 inches. Star Wars LEGO by 52.49 eurosfrom the iconic logo of this space movie saga. PlayStation 5 console by 509.90 eurosin a pack that comes with the GOTY of 2024 and a Dragon Ball game. HP OmniBook 5 Laptop by 699 eurosa laptop that stands out for having good autonomy and an OLED screen. Samsung Galaxy Book4 The first of the offers stars this Galaxy Book 4, a lightweight laptop that is perfect for working or studying. It has an Intel Core 5 120U processor, as well as 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. At the connectivity level, it more than meets the requirements with two USB-C ports, two USB-A, an HDMI, an RJ-45 port and even a microSD slot. All rounded off by a 15.6-inch SuperAMOLED screen with 1080p resolution. It is reduced to 649 euros. Samsung Galaxy Book4 NP750XGK-KG2ES laptop, Intel Core 5-120U, 16GB, 512GB SSD, 15.6″, W11 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Hisense 65A7Q QLED Smart TV If we are looking for a television and prioritize quality-price ratio, look out for this 65A7Q from Hisense. This is a 65-inch model that uses QLED technologyso we can expect bright colors and a good level of contrast. It is compatible with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, in fact having a fairly complete sound system that even includes a subwoofer. Its price is very attractive: it costs 499 euros (also in amazonwhich equaled this price). Hisense – QLED TV 164 cm (65′) Hisense 65A7Q, UHD 4K, Smart TV. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Star Wars LEGO If we think about Star Wars, there are few things more iconic than its traditional logo with yellow letters. This LEGO set allows us to have it at home and assemble it ourselves, which is always a plus. It is made up of 700 pieces and even includes a small surprise at the top of one of its letters. It is reduced to 52.49 euros (also in amazonwhich equaled this price). LEGO – Construction Set 75407 Star Wars LEGO – 75407. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links PlayStation 5 console It may not be the most economical pack of PlayStation 5but it is still worth taking a look at this one that El Corte Inglés has right now. In addition to including the standard version of the console (which comes with a disc reader), it comes with two truly great games. One of them is the GOTY of 2024: ‘AstroBot‘, which is undoubtedly one of the best 3D platforms of recent years. The other, ‘Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero‘. The pack costs 509.90 euros. PlayStation 5 console + Dragon Ball Sparking Zero + Astro Bot The price could vary. We earn commission from these links HP OmniBook 5 Laptop We close with another laptop, in this case from HP. This is the OmniBook 5 16-bf0000ns, a device featuring the Snapdragon X chip (X1-26-100) and 16 GB of DDR5 RAM. In addition, it has 512 GB of SSD and a 16-inch screen that, in addition to using OLED technology, has 2K resolution. All taking into account that it barely weighs 1.57 kg, which makes it ideal for traveling with it. It is reduced to 699 euros (also in PcComponents). HP OmniBook 5 16-bf0000ns Copilot+PC Laptop, QC Snapdragon X1-26-100, 16GB, 512GB SSD, 16″ OLED, W11 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 | El Corte Inglés and Compradicción (header), Samsung, Hisense, LEGO, PlayStation, HP In Xataka | Best home theater projectors. Which one to buy and five recommended models from 299 to 18,000 euros In Xataka | Mega-guide to set up a home theater: projector, screen, sound system and more

Their lands are in the hands of only 421 landowners

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While the whole world watches how digital and financial power is concentrated in the hands of a handful of millionaires in Silicon Valley, Scotland stands out for something much more physical but which serves as an example that this concentration of power in a few hands has been happening for centuries: land. Only 421 owners control around the 50% of private rural land of the country. It is a figure that is difficult to find in other countries and makes Scotland practically unique in Europe. What is surprising is not only the concentration of land in a few hands, but its persistence. While much of the continent fragmented property after revolutions, agrarian reforms or wars, Scotland has reached the 21st century with a territorial structure that has barely changed in centuries, maintaining its feudal structure. An anomaly with historical roots. The key to this territorial anomaly is intrinsically linked to its history. Scotland never experienced a radical break with its system of large estates. The power of the tribal clans first and the landowning aristocracy later consolidated enormous areas under a single owner. When other European countries redistributed land among their citizens, in Scotland the right to property remained almost intact. The historical studies reveal that already at the end of the 19th century the land was concentrated in a few hands, and the arrival of the modern State did not substantially alter that map. The result is that Scotland enters the 21st century with a property map that appears frozen in time. A European rarity considered “exceptional”. Why wasn’t it distributed? The absence of a profound territorial reform was not accidental. Unlike France, Germany or the Nordic countries, there was no massive redistribution of the land when feudal privileges were abolished. One of the reasons that weighs most heavily in this “anomaly” is that in Scotland there was no revolution or civil war that promoted a social change and land ownership, as happened in Europe with the World Wars, with the French Revolution, with the different dictatorships. Thanks to this territorial calm, the United Kingdom avoided major agrarian redistributions and protected private property as a pillar of its economic and political system. From lords to billionaires. For centuries, the great owners were dukes and great lords of aristocratic families. Today the profile is more diverse but equally wealthy. Scotland has become a magnet for international millionaires, heirs to large fortunes, investment funds. The reason why has attracted so many millionaires It is simple: few regions in Europe offer such large areas of land and the legal stability with respect to territory that Scotland offers. This is the case of Danish businessman Anders Povlsen, fashion magnate at the head of brands such as Jack&Jones and one of the main investors in the online giant Zalando, which in recent years has become one of the largest private landowners in the United Kingdom. Along the same lines we find the billionaire heiress of the Lego empire who, according to published The Timeslittle by little has been acquiring huge plots in the Scottish Highlands. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, emir of Dubai, is also among the new landowners who is acquiring land in Scotland at a frenetic pace. He already has eight houses in that area Owning land is a sign of power. In the Middle Ages, owning land was a symbol of economic power since a productive benefit was obtained from the crops. Today, it also maintains that powerful status, although for different reasons. Whoever controls thousands of hectares of land influences housing development, in energy projectsin land use and in the future of entire communities. a study of the Scottish Land Commission warns that such extreme concentration of land in the hands of a few landowners can limit local democracy and slow rural development, as a few people make key decisions about huge territories and those who live in or around them. Reforms that advance slowly. The Scottish Government has attempted to correct this anomaly with new territorial reform laws. Transparency has been improved, public procurement has been facilitated and the introduction of “public interest” mechanisms for large urban plans is being debated. However, both analysts and British media agree that current tools are completely insufficient to substantially change the balance on Scotland’s land ownership map. Concentration remains the norm, not the exception. Instead of dividing, they regroup. The most paradoxical thing about this situation is that, despite the political debate, recent data They show a reconcentration driven by the new millionaires turned landowners, who are buying large tracts of land and their surroundings. That is, properties that already belonged to others are once again concentrated under a single owner. He follow-up carried out by former MP Andy Wightman reveals that most big land deals end up in the hands of those who were already big landowners. These operations are supported by a real estate market that works in their favor due to high prices, a low supply and buyers with great financial capacity. The high prices of farms make them inaccessible to local communities or farmers who cannot compete against the financial capacity of millionaires. The gentrification has arrived to the Scottish Highlands. In Xataka | In California, the funds discovered that there is no investment more profitable than farmland. Now it’s Spain’s turn Image | Unsplash (Toni Tan, Garvit Nama)

the three winners as electrification gains weight

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The closing of 2025 leaves more than just a registration figure. It leaves a market that is beginning to organize itself more clearly in the middle of the transition, with electrification gaining weight. With the aggregated data in hand and without going into readings that the sources do not allow, there is a podium that clearly imposes itself on the Spanish market and that helps to understand how it is being reconfigured. The manufacturers podium. With the year closed, the podium by brands is defined. Toyota led 2025 with 96,290 registrations, followed by Renault with 83,308 and Volkswagen with 76,545. It is not a minor detail, because this leadership occurs in a market that is growing and, at the same time, transforming. Monthly behavior provides an interesting perspective. After two consecutive months exceeding pre-pandemic benchmarks, December broke that dynamic with a year-on-year decrease of 2.2%, to 103,012 units, and the employers’ associations point out that this decline was influenced by the fact that in the same month of 2024 DANA increased vehicle sales in Valencia. It should be noted that in the accumulated annual period, registrations grew by 12.9% to 1,148,650 units, still below the 1.26 million in 2019, and the private channel was the most dynamic, with 539,642 units (+18.1%), ahead of companies (418,574, +12%) and rental companies (190,434, +2.3%). Electrification accelerates. The most striking leap of the year is in electrified passenger cars. BEV+PHEVs grew by 94.6% in 2025, up to 225,617 units, an unprecedented figure in a single year. In parallel, pure electric vehicles exceeded 100,000 sales in the year and plug-in hybrids reached 124,000 units, 111.7% more. Even with the market far from being mostly electric, the change is already big enough to begin to influence the general distribution. We must keep in mind that this advance coexists, however, with a market still dominated by non-pluggable technologies. In the annual summary by energy sources, hybrid and plug-in hybrid passenger cars accounted for more than 50% of the market, with 483,000 units (+23.1%) and 124,000, respectively, while gasoline and diesel fell, with 318,210 registrations (-16%) and 62,669 (-35%). The DANA effect, with nuances. The impact appears in the data and in the sector’s discourse, but always as a partial factor. The employers’ associations point out that the comparative effect of December 2024 helps explain the adjustment at the end of 2025 and FACONAUTO also highlights the registrations linked to the Valencian Community after DANA. From Moncloa, in an update from October last yearcontext is provided, the Insurance Compensation Consortium registered 250,034 applications, processed 244,426 and paid 3,735,525,301 euros. Within that volume, more than 144,000 requests were for damage to vehicles, with more than 98% already managed, a figure that measures the impact, but does not allow it to be attributed to a specific engine. Thus, 2025 closes with several certainties. The market is growing, electrification has gained weight and the brand podium is clear in a year of transition. Toyota, Renault and Volkswagen lead the ranking of registrations. At the same time, the sector is still far from full normalization and carries the burden of an aging fleet, according to ANFAC. The question remains open for 2026, when it will be time to see if this trend is sustained. Images | Christina Telep In Xataka | London has started a silent war in its streets: one with the supercars of Saudi millionaires parked incorrectly

is putting them in front of stores

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There are those who are clear that, not soon, robots will be like current smartphones: we will all have one. There is not enough time for prices to become as democratized as to get to that pointbut if there is a country that has taken the lead when it comes to push humanoid roboticsthat’s China. And the Hobbs W1 is the latest example: a humanoid robot with a human face, and hands capable of doing fine motor work. And they have already put it to work. Hobbs W1. A far cry from Star Wars robots and closer to the uncanny valley. Hobbs W1 still looks like a robot, but the fact that they have given it a face and a body with an absurdly stylized female silhouette is a declaration of intent: they want us to feel “comfortable” with their presence. Very low on the evolutionary scale of robots are those tray holder (or Sardinator) with faces that look like emojis and cat ears: the Hobbs W1 has no legsbut it does have a face, upper joints and a screen. They are tools that are used to give instructions to people. Because Hobbs W1 is already working and those responsible, the Pekingese Noetix Roboticsthey point to a very clear segment: commercial spaces where you can guide clients, answer questions and perform reception tasks. great players. Noetix is ​​one of the many – many – Chinese startups that the country itself is promoting. The strategy of China is to become a robotics power (technological, in general, especially promoted by the ‘Delete A’ plan), and although there are many companies, we can now talk about very prominent names. Hobbs W1 It is estimated that Unitree, UBTECH and AgiBot they control practically the humanoid robot market in China. It is still a small market, but these three companies are looking to position themselves as soon as possible. Its key is the ability to manufacture at scale, but also specialization: Unitree may be the best known name. The most direct comparison would be with Boston Dynamics, since it has its ‘robodog’ – the Unitree Go2 – and its humanoid, the G1. Unitree is already selling units to end customers. In fact, you can buy that Go2 on Amazon. UBTECH has the Walker S1, a robot focused more on professional use. It is the one that directly seeks to replace humans on assembly lines and, in fact, it is already working in one of the plants Geely -manufacturer of electric cars-. AgiBot It is the third in contention. Instead of being specific, it has specialized in being multiplatform and going to volume so that they can do tasks in different sectors. It has humanoid robots from its X series, but also much more specialized ones from the A and G series (although they also give them faces to humanize them. Image: Unitree. Muscle and brain. These companies are closely linked to the development of another of China’s priorities, lto artificial intelligencebut there is a fourth that stands out for its focus. It’s Galbot, and he’s taken a less conventional route. Instead of focusing on promoting their robots as mountebanks or capable of lift heavy weights in factoriesGalbot has developed multimodal AI models with one thing very clear in mind: that they can now care for humans in the real world. When we talk about topics of this type, it is always difficult to know to what extent it is smoke, promises or there is someone with the controls behind the scenes. In the case of Galbot and his G1I can say that, although slow, it works. It already serves a store of just 10 m² in Beijing and you can order drinks perfectly. There is no human nearby and the company plans to expand with more than a hundred automated stores throughout the rest of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. From the laboratory to the store. Therefore, the Hobbs W1 is just one more of those humanoid robots that China has already put to work. And the truth is that it contrasts with what we see in the West. We have been talking about robotics for many years, but the proper names were different. China has arrived later in this racebut it has managed to position itself as the country to beat. And the reason is your approach. While Tesla promises to have “many” Optimus and Boston Dynamics continues to show his Atlas performing jumpsChinese robots are already in stores, but also walking through the subway supplying the 7 Eleven either extinguishing fires with real firefighters. The vast majority of the startups that are starring in the conversation have been created in the last two years and make it clear that the country is very interested in leading the sector. It’s not only to show off. And it may not just be a strategy to demonstrate technological muscle. we come it counting for months: China faces a future with many more elderly and, as a consequence, much less labor. Have a tremendous rate of youth unemploymentbut even so in the medium term the country faces a dramatic demographic contraction. Putting the elderly to work It’s an option –also in Japan-, but at a certain moment, and with a low birth ratehaving only the elderly work is not an option. That’s where the country’s strategy comes into play: leading the conversation in roboticsattract talent and, in addition, develop robots that can fill that job hole that is anticipated in a few years. Stepping on the accelerator. In whatever way and for whatever reason, it is clear that both the country and the startups are in a hurry. HE they estimate 800 humanoid robots sold in 2024 compared to more than 4,000 in 2025. By 2045, the projection is that they will have more than 100 million operational units with a market of 1.4 billion dollars. And the main advantage is that economy of scale, the national push and being able to access key elements in the … Read more

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