A declaration of intentions? What the closure of the APK tells about Spotify its sudden restrictive turn

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Spotify was founded in 2006 and it has not been until 2024 that has managed to be profitable. He has had gusts with green -green quarter and others in red, but this year has been the year, in capital and bold. This is a great news for the company, undoubtedly, and a tremendous chance that is right now, in full bonanza, when you have decided to stop that … Countless call Spotify modified APK. And that is right now, in this context, it is a small Leave vu of something we have already lived. Spotify what? It is no secret that looking for the right words on the Internet, any user could reach a modified Spotify application. An fully functional and illegitimate app that, in a nutshell, eliminated one of the great restrictions of the Spotify free plan: choose what song to listen. 27 Spotify tricks – Control your whole music like nobody! As every free service user will know, non -subscribers can only listen to music in random. They cannot choose which song reproduce, but choose a list and let the random mode do their own. In addition, only the songs can jump a few times and, of course, they are forced to listen to advertising. The modified APK eliminated advertising, allowed to choose songs and jump the songs as many times as we would like. Spotify benefits and losses | Image: Xataka The end. And if we talk in the past it is because Spotify, abruptly, without prior notice and from one day to another, has decided to take action on the matter. From a stroke, it has made these modified applications stop working. That has caused the users who used them and look for alternatives, thus creating An excellent culture broth for cybercriminals. Spoiler: Download a modified Spotify application is synonymous with potential problems. Leave vu. Obviating that the use of this application breaches the terms and conditions of the service and the user agreement, it is still striking that this decision has been applied overnight. Spotify is in his entire right, there is plenty of saying, but it is the accumulation of situations and the precedents that attracts attention. Streaming platforms, starting with Netflix and then all the others, decided overnight end the shared accounts. The difference is that Netflix did it when it went through a pothole, while Spotify has decided to stop the modified APKs while on the wave crest. Spotify has 675 million users of which 263 million are paying. Surely the impact of the modified APK is minimal, but its blocking is 1) normal and 2) a possible declaration of intentions. Image: Fábio Alves in UNSPLASH What if Spotify is getting serious? Now that Spotify has managed to be profitable, perhaps he is thinking of putting the points on the ís to all those users who violate their service. Using a modified APK is a clear violation of the terms and conditions of use, so it was evident that this was going to happen sooner or later, but there is something else that is a common practice in the service and through which Spotify has only passed on tiptoe. The shared accounts. The melon of shared family accounts has been opened several times, but it has never finished solving. Spotify Let it clear that the family plan is for up to six family members who live in the same direction, but the reality is that the verification system It is easily drawable. Spotify only verifies the introduced address, but does not seem to follow up like the one that does, for example, Netflix. Spotify shared family accounts have long been in the peephole, but their misuse has been passed. At least for now Spotify can surely know without much problem that your “family” of “six members” is distributed between Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Seville and a colleague who is from Erasmus in Brussels although all, for practical purposes, live in the same direction as the administrator. He simply lets him be, and that will be so until Spotify decide to stop being. And maybe that moment is now a little closer being, in any case, a risky movement. Spotify is alone. Especially since Spotify is a service that depends entirely on subscriptions and advertising. Apple Music, Amazon Music or YouTube Music have behind companies that sell and/or offer other more lucrative products or services than the musical product itself. Spotify, however, does not have that support and play with the number of subscribers is more movie. Image | Pexels Although Netflix has been afraid. Although users put themselves on a war on social networks and ink rivers were written about it, The reality is that Netflix has been great His crusade against shared accounts and the free plan with advertising. 55% of the new highs bet on the cheap plan with ads and the end of shared accounts have made the platform reach 300 million subscribers. Perhaps the end of the modified APK is the beginning of a new stage in Spotify. One in which shared accounts are with relatives, and with no one; one with high definition sound (plan that does not finish arriving) and one in which, finally, streaming music is profitable. Or maybe not, but the background is what they are. Cover image | Cottonbro Studio In Xataka | The great surprise of the Pódcast is not that people are listening to them. Is that he is seeing them

Filling a Tesla Cybertruck with solar panels only costs $ 10,000. Its owners now have 7.5 kilometers extra of autonomy

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We said when the Cybertruck tesla was presented than the larger and more disruptive electric car of Elon Musk’s company arrived with a Important overpricing and with less autonomy of the fiancee. Since then, sales have grown at an irregular pace. For a time it earned him to become The best -selling luxury vehicle In the United States but a few months later he found that they were not going to be able to continue selling the electric pick-up above $ 100,000 for an indefinite time. What is clear is that Tesla Cybertruck has become something like an “image vehicle.” It is not a purchase based on rationality Well, it is not the most comfortable car and, Not much less, the most capable outside the asphalt. It is a purchase that aligns the driver with the most outgoing facet of Elon Musk’s products. Part of the interest raised by Tesla Cybertruck is in its ability to adapt, supposedly, to any circumstance. His facet has been highlighted to spend a few days in the field (although his finishes to camperize the model Leave much to be desired) and has unleashed the imagination of the owners to the point of transforming it into A tower with wheels and metrallet. And with that last purpose, that of carrying out something unexpected, a company has proposed to increase the autonomy of electric car based on putting solar panels distributed throughout the body. It doesn’t seem the best idea. An extra ridiculous at a very high price The transformation of this tesla cybertruck It could be seen live During the past Ces of Las Vegas. There, the company Sunflare Solar presented the electric pick-up wrapped in flexible solar panels that aim to expand the completely electric autonomy of this electric car. Or, rather, we should say that the case may be free of charge for a few kilometers. Few, if we take into account the price of the transformation and the results that are presented in the best conditions. According to the company’s accounts, collected by Electreck, Sunflare aloner promises to be able to travel a few extra kilometers daily for the modest price of $ 10,000. They believe that with their flexible panels distributed throughout the body can be obtained up to 1.5 kW extra daily. Assuming a consumption of 20 kWh/100 km, we would be talking about just 7.5 kilometers. The figure is far from what Elon Musk who before launching his Tesla Cybertruck mentioned that it would be offered with the option of adding solar panels on the roof that would deliver up to 25 kilometers of extra autonomy. Something that, obviously, has not occurred. Who could make sense for? Well, we could imagine that if we want to camp using the Tesla Cybertruck for our trip we can always use the vehicle to feed different devices. In that case, 1.5 kWh of extra power will always be of great help since we will not be draining the battery at all. In fact, to the company that has presented this option specialized in the use of solar panels in the roofs of the homes but, also, On the ceiling of camperized vehiclesFor example. Of course, we must bear in mind that we are talking about an “improvement” that costs $ 10,000. And, to this we must add that the electric car was sold as a kind of vehicle to the proof of any damage. Its body, of steel, is designed to not suffer with the blows and cover the entire body of solar panels is to buy all the ballots to leave us good money if someone brushes our vehicle. The effectiveness of solar panels in vehicles is a pending task. At the moment, no one has managed to get a good enough performance for it to deserve to invest in technology. Manufacturers like Mercedes continues to study their possibilities But, until now, everything has remained in an auxiliary element for feed electrical devices of the vehicle without increasing consumption so the profit is minimal. Photo | Tesla In Xataka | The owner of a Tesla Model and has filled his roof of solar panels to load “up to 100 km”. It is not a good idea

The Chinese no longer marry

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China wants more babies. That is clear. Which generates doubts in a society In transformationin which young people marry less and less, divorces grow and birth It has been In free fall it is how to get it. Over the last years the Xi Jinping government has tested solutions of all kinds, since Finance painless births either Grant aid to proclaim the benefits of marriage in classrooms or even call directly Women to encourage them to have children. Now it is proposed to try A new trick: Reduce the legal age to marry. There are those He already warns That will serve as little. AGE QUESTION. When there for the 70s China raised how to stop his overpopulation not only designed his famous “Politics of the only child”the rule that for decades (until 2015) prohibited the country’s couples from having more than one rod. Another of the measures promoted by the government was to limit marriages placing the legal age to marry in 22 years for men and 20 for women. The result, like I remembered a few days ago Global Timesdaily backed by the Chinese State, is that the country now has one of the most restrictive norms in the world. By prohibiting boys under 22 and young women with less than 20 can go through the Chinese altar became one of the nations with the legal age to contract the highest marriage in the world, moving away from the 18 years that mark the common threshold at international level. In the EU for example the Minimum age To marry is 18 years old in Scotland, where young people can give the ‘yes I want’ from 16. Most laws foresee marriages before age, but only with permission from parents or a judicial body. What if we change the norm? That is the idea that the professor of Econometry Chen Songxi He has transferred to the National Committee of China’s Political Advisory Conference (CCPPCH), An important political advisory body of the country. Chen’s is not just any voice. First because he is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Second because it is part of CCPPCH itself, which meets these days precisely to consider proposals in different areas, from economic and social to technological. In that prestigious (and influential) forum one of the issues that generates the most in China will be touched: the loss of population that the country drags Since 2022 And its consequences both social level As economical. Precisely for this reason Chen transferred some proposals to CCPPCH: completely eliminate birth restrictions (since 2021 they are allowed Only three children as a couple), apply a system of incentives to marriage and birth rate and review the age at which Chinese young people can marry. Objective: greater birth. In The chronicle of Global Times It is clarified that Chen’s goal is very clear: encourage birth. With the proposal, The newspaper requires Chinese, you want to “expand the fertile population base and release the reproductive potential.” It is not Beijing’s first movement in that direction. Throughout the last months (and years) the government has opted for tax advantagesimprove access to treatments either campaigns which highlights the advantages of motherhood and life as a couple. And that between a long etcetera of questionable success initiatives. In 2024 China saw how its birth rate increased (registered 9.54 million births compared to 9.02 of 2023), but even that rebound leaves a bittersweet flavor. First because the data of 2023 had been lousy, marking the minimum since 1949. Second because even that slight rise prevented the country from closing the year with a bad demographic balance, losing 1.39 million inhabitants and chaining its third year of population fall. Will the new measure work? One thing is that the CCPPCH endorses Chen’s proposal and the government decides to cut the legal age for Casere, placing it in 18 years, and another very different that this movement will really encourage Chinese birth. There are experts who are already quite skeptical. “It will do nothing to increase the fertility rate now that people have accustomed to marry and have children later,” Explain to Financial Times The demographer Yi Fuxian. Is not the only one that thinks so. The data of course invite you even though the measure will have a small effect. In 2020 the average age of the first marriage in China stood quite above the 20 years that mark the legal minimum for them and 22 of them: among women it was from 28 years and among men of 29.4. Can the fact that couples go through the altar will make this measure reduce? And yet, do you have to translate that into greater birth? South Korea neighbor leaves an interesting example: despite the fact that there the legal age to marry It is already 18 years oldPeople continue to decide to go through the altar much later. The trend It approaches In fact at 30 years. Who thinks of weddings? That is the second weak point of Chen’s idea. Experts may see in the marriage a way to improve the reduction of the country, but the truth is that the Chinese themselves think less and less about marriage. The 2024 data Disseminated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs itself, they are of course revealing. Last year they gave the ‘yes I want’ in China 6.1 million couples. Not only represents 20.5% less than in 2023. The data confirms the downward trend since 2013, but also marks a new historical minimum in official statistics, which date back to 1986. Beyond demography. Cen’s proposal has not awakened too much enthusiasm in networks. Largely because it is not entirely new. As the Chinese birth rate descended the idea of ​​lowering the legal age to marry has been giving a hole in the public debate with moments when gaining greater prominence. It happened already in 2019. And then in 2021. The South China Morning Post collected these days Comments from Weibo users who are skeptical: … Read more

These are your best offers in technology

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Although for the change of station there are still just over two weeks, the last promotion of Aliexpress, called Long live spring, It is just a few hours after finishing. We have a discounts up to 60% To take advantage of a huge variety of devices, although only until 23:59 tonight. Next, we leave you some discount codes that we can use so that our purchases leave a little cheaper: code discount Minimum purchase ESCD02 or CDES02 2 euros 19 euros ESCD05 or CDES05 5 euros 39 euros ESCD10 or CDES10 10 euros 79 euros ESCD20 or CDES20 20 euros 159 euros ESCD30 or CDES30 30 euros 239 euros ESCD40 or CDES40 40 euros 349 euros ESCD50 or CDES50 50 euros 439 euros All these codes They cannot accumulate or are valid with other promotionsIn addition to that they are not compatible with mobile phones or virtual products. Last hours to take advantage of Aliexpress spring Renewing device is always cheaper if we have a promotion as spring. As there is a lot to choose from, we leave you below A selection of the best offers: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Fean excellent quality-price tablet, by 248.68 euros with the ESCD30 code (or CDES30). Little x7 proa very balanced mobile phone, by 263.55 euros. Headphones Sony Wh-1000xm4great sound quality and fantastic noise cancellation, for 202.54 euros. Nintendo Switch Litethe most economical version of the console, by 141.98 euros. Nubia Z60s Proa telephone with a great processor and very good fast charge, for 379.01 euros. Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Fe A tablet is a very versatile device, ideal both to work and to enjoy our leisure time. This one from Samsung, as usually happens with its Fan Edition models, stands out for having A great balance between features and price. It stands out for its SOC (an exynos 1380) and for its 10.9 -inch screen. And be careful, because it comes with the S-PEN, which is an addition of the most useful. It comes out by 248.68 euros with the ESCD30 code (or CDES30). * Some price may have changed from the last review Little x7 pro At this price, it is difficult to find a device that offers as much as this Little x7 pro. It is a mobile phone that comes with a 6.67 -inch AMOLED screen (1.5K resolution), a Dimensity 8400 ultra chip inside And a huge 6,000 mah battery that we can load in a sigh thanks to its compatibility with fast charging of up to 90 W. Right now we can buy it for 263.55 euros. * Some price may have changed from the last review Sony Wh-1000xm4 Sound quality, great noise cancellation and an experience that has little rival. So are these Sony Wh-1000xm4highly recommended headphones for all those users who are looking for Something comfortable to use to enjoy the best sound. They arrived at stores at a price of almost 370 euros, but right now we can buy them for 202.54 euros. * Some price may have changed from the last review Nintendo Switch Lite It is true that Nintendo Switch 2 It is just around the corner, but it is still a great time to take a switch home, especially the Lite model. It is a console that stands out for being economic and laptopbut above all for having access to a gigantic jewelry catalog, among which plays such as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom either Super Mario Bros. Wonder (among many others). Costs 141.98 euros. * Some price may have changed from the last review Nubia Z60s Pro Another great option if we are looking for a new phone is this cloud z60s pro. It is a very powerful device Thanks to its snpadragon 8 gen 2In addition, it has a 6.78 -inch AMOLED screen with 120 Hz of refreshment rate. Its photographic system stands out a lot, a triple camera system that is off -road and that will allow us to take very good photos regardless of the stage. It comes out by 379.01 euros. * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Images | Chi Liu in Unspash (with edition), Aliexpress, Samsung, Little, Nintendo, Sony, Zte In Xataka | The 17 best 2024 video games In Xataka | Best air fryers. Which to buy and 10 airfryers recommended from 50 euros

Convert an abandoned island into a world weapons shipping base

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At the end of February, satellite images revealed something that had not been made public. Washington was Restoring the Base of the Pacific that launched atomic bombing over Japan, an action nothing trivial with which the United States prepared a “possible” scenario. Now, new images at another Pacific point reinforce the theory of American “rearmament.” An atoll turned into a kind of “Amazon” for the sending of artillery throughout the planet. Rocket position. The United States Space Force has given green light To the plans to reactivate Johnston Atolla remote island in the Pacific with a dark history of nuclear tests and storage of chemical weapons. The idea? Convert it instead of cargo transport tests by rocket under the program Rocket Cargo Vaguard. The project seeks to develop the ability to transport military supplies to any point on the planet in a matter of hours, using large -capacity rockets. In fact, the notification of intention (NOI) Published by the Department of the Air Force A few hours ago confirming the construction of two landing platforms on the island and planning up to 10 landing tests per year for four years. The tests are expected to begin as soon as this year, depending on the results of the ongoing environmental evaluation. Why this island. The analysis of the Air Force Department identified Johnston Atoll as The only adequate location For this type of tests. Other sites evaluatedlike Kwajalein Atoll, Midway Island and Wake Island, were discarded for various operational reasons. Johnston Atoll, on the other hand, was chosen by be a remote territoryunder the control of the United States government with maritime and aerial access, and for its ability to receive and store equipment transported by rocket. Plus: The island’s location makes it less vulnerable to extreme climatic events, a key concern after Kwajalein It would suffer severe damage Due to storms last year. The island from the image of NASA A dark past. We said it at the beginning. Johnston Atoll has a highly controversial military history. The enclave was used as Naval Reporting Baselanding floor and center of Nuclear, biological and chemical tests. Among the most notorious events are nuclear tests in the atmosphere between 1958 and 1975, including The Starfish Prime test In 1962, the largest nuclear explosion made in space. Also for the use of the island as Chemical and Biological Weapons Warehouseand as the center of its destruction until 2003, when it was finally abandoned by the United States Army after completing pollutant cleaning. Despite its current status as a National Wildlife Refuge and part of the National Marine Monument of the Pacific Islands, the satellite image reveals that the island continues to host abandoned military infrastructuresuch as a 2.7 km landing floor and other facilities that will be reused. A revolution for military logistics. It is the great proposal. The Rocket Cargo Vaguard program, led by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFR), seeks to prove the viability of using commercial rockets for Global military supplies transport. From at least 2020the Pentagon has explored this technology with the idea of ​​reducing the delivery times of days or weeks just a few hours. The concept implies the use of reusable rockets to transport up to 100 tons of load Or even personnel to strategic locations in the world, using orbital or suborbital trajectories. Spacex and the potential use of Starship. And here a code name arises. One of the main candidates for the program is the Spacex starship, the rocket bigger and powerful ever built. In 2022, Spacex received A 102 million contract of dollars to provide flight data and technologies tests for the transport of load and humanitarian aid. However, to date, Starship tests They have been mixedwith multiple explosions during launch attempts. Despite this, the Pentagon has shown great interest in acquiring Spacex launching systems for sensitive and high -risk missions. General Philip Garrant, commander of the Space Systems Command, declared in November that the use of Starship for the Rocket Cargo program is One of the most logical optionsmainly due to its large load capacity and reusable design. Future perspectives and expansion. The approval of the environmental assessment next month could open the door in par, not only to evidence of Rocket Cargo Vaguardbut also to the total reactivation of Johnston Atoll as an landing center for other reusable space vehicles. In fact, we would say that it is almost insured if we take into account that there are practically no locations in the United States that can house rocket landing operations of this scale. No doubt, if the island ends up being approved, it could become A key strategic asset for the United States space force in the development of reusable spatial infrastructure. One, in addition, nothing trivial: a worldwide logistics and ultra -grape center to replenish artillery in records in the appearance of any modern conflict. Image | POT In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: the US has restored the base of the Pacific that launched atomic bombardment over Japan In Xataka | The United States fears that China’s long -range missiles will reach Guam. So he just launched one himself

Chatgpt costs $ 700,000 a day, Deepseek just 83,000. A key is huawei and play cards differently

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2025 began with a tsunami in the segment of the artificial intelligence. After months and months talking about different models and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Goal And, of course, OpenAIa Chinese company took off the manga Deekseekan AI that shook industry foundations. Beyond its possibilities or how good it worked, which stirred the waters were economic and hardware issues. Almost from the beginning the question of How China had taken out an AI like Deepseek With the hardware limitation they have due to the Commercial War with the United States and the impossibility of buying the most powerful graphs of Nvidia (although with controversy). To do this, the company defended that it had to pull ingenuity Thanks to an infrastructure of NVIDIA H800 chips and a training of more than 2,788 million hours with a ridiculous cost: 5.6 million dollars. And it seems scarce because Openai He invested about 100 million dollars to train GPT-4. Another melon is what it costs to keep it. As noted ReutersIf Chatgpt costs about $ 700,000 a day, Deepseek drops to $ 87,000. And here some things that have to be taken into account. Deepseek is 10 times cheaper to maintain than chatgpt, according to Depseek Last Saturday, and as noted ReutersDeepseek revealed some data on costs and income related to its V3 and R1 models. The first is a traditional, more conversational chatbot, resulting ideal for the writing and creation of content. R1, however, is a reasoning model. It stands out solving problems, using logic and is able to show step by step reasoning, using continuous learning. To compare with better known models, Depseek V3 would be like GPT-4 and R1 something similar to OPENAI O1. In the report, Reuters highlights that the theoretical relationship of Deepseek-benefit costs is up to 545% per day. Of course, the company itself warns that real income is significantly lower, but another pearl they have left since Deepseek is the cost of maintenance. Keep chatgpt working costs about $ 700,000 a day to OpenAI (at least two years ago). The reason is that the infrastructure of Microsoft Azure Serversit has a considerable energy cost, you have to pay wages and, obviously, all the power in hardware to process the consultations you receive every second. In yellow, the costs. In blue, theoretical income Deepseek “only” 87,072, a ridiculous price compared. A few days ago affirmed That, renting the H800 costs less than two dollars per hour and the estimated theoretical income is just over 560,000 dollars, which would add more than 200 million dollars in a year. In the upper graph, Depseek shows the cost of maintaining R1 and theoretical income thanks to the tokens that are generated, whose price depends on the moment of the day, being cheaper at night. They also clarify that Deepseek V3 is “significantly cheaper.” This opens more issues. One is how it is so cheap because training an AI, of course, is not. Ignoring the accusation of theft by OpenAIif Deepseek has not deflated the numbers, puts on the table a situation in which it is not needed so many graphic power to train an artificial intelligence. Here the key is the ‘reinforcement learning’, the way Deepseek has found do with much lessbut it should also be noted that, although during training the Nvidia chips are used for the R1 model, in the inference it is using The Ascend 910b of Huawei. Huawei chips are cheaper And, supposedly, more efficient, and this decision of Deepseek is almost more relevant than what may cost to maintain the system. The reason is that you can teach the rest of artificial intelligence companies that, perhaps, It is not worth using the latest generation GPUs For everything, but only for training that occurs sometimes counted, before the implementation of AI, and then use other more efficient and cheap GPUs for inference. This inference is what is done later, in a use that we could call “real” The training would be the equivalent of swallowing technical manuals in a five -year career and the inference such as implementing that knowledge and reasoning starting from the base you have and without having to learn them again. In the end, the controversy of five million dollars Deepseek is going to be there for a while, especially when we compare with OpenAi numbers, but it is clear that Depseek is doing things from another approach and can be a good mirror for companies that come behind. And, with one China very focused on the development of both AI as of Hardware for AIit can be the perfect ‘spearhead’ model. Images | Github (Deepseek), Xataka In Xataka | Deepseek has created another Milmillonaria fortune: Liang Wenfeng has become popular but its wealth is still a mystery

The huge ZTE stand in the MWC is a reminder that it is still alive under the radar. And it is also a message: they will return

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This is my fifth time in the Mobile World Congress. The first four were between 2013 and 2016, and from all those editions I remember the imposing Zte stand well. They didn’t have then an especially relevant market share or a reputation that will justify so much space (At that time I dedicated myself to trying mobiles and I took a 3 a zte, the lowest note I have ever put), but its staging suggested otherwise. ZTEs set up show. Of the good, with thunderous music and a generous free bar of life -threw canapés for journalists in trouble, and also of the Chungo, resorting to hostesses with attire that made eyebrows arise even in an environment as little progressive as a global technological congress. His strategy seemed clear: to be noticed as it was. Nine years after my last MWC I have returned to the fair, and there is still Zte, with a stand As big as then. But something has changed, in addition to the fact that they already dress more elegant to their hostesses: the manufacturer has vanished from the Spanish market. Their phones no longer occupy space in the lines of the stores, they do not appear in any sales ranking and It is virtually impossible to cross one on the street. What has been of that Chinese giant who tried to conquer the West? Where has Zte got while we didn’t look? The perfect storm To understand the apparent disappearance of ZTE of the European panorama, it is necessary to go back to 2018, the year in which This manufacturer suffered an existential crisis. He Department of Commerce From the United States, he imposed a veto for the sale of US components to ZTE for seven years for violating a prior agreement related to sanctions to Iran and North Korea. The measure was devastating: Zte depended completely on Qualcomm chips and Google software among other American technologies. The company literally stopped its operations for three months, until it agreed to pay a fine of 1,000 million dollars, change its entire directive dome and submit to the supervision of an external committee designated by the US. It was a blow that never recovered completely in western marketsespecially because it coincided with the beginning of the commercial war between China and the United States. Touched and sunk. Unlike Huawei, which Betterly resisted geopolitical attacks, Zte was more vulnerable. With less resources and a much weaker brand positioning, they opted for a strategic withdrawal of the markets in which their profitability was compromised. A silent strategy The surprising thing is not that ZTE has disappeared – he has not done it – but that he has reconfigured his business completely … without making noise. He has pivoted from a global conquest strategy to a more selective and pragmatic approach: Geographical concentration. ZTE has reinforced his presence in markets where he had competitive advantages or privileged relationships: China, of course, but also Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and some areas of Latin America. Focus change. Their smartphones were the most visible for the final consumer, but only represented one third of their income. The true ZTE nucleus was always the telecommunications infrastructure equipment, a much less visible but much more profitable B2B business. 5G specialization. ZTE has become one of the main world suppliers of equipment for 5G networks, competing directly with Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia. According to data from Dell’oro GroupZTE maintains approximately 10% of the global 5G infrastructure market. Zte not only survived the storm, but has grown, but otherwise different from the previous one. His income in 2024 was about 16,000 million euros. Far from the figures of the greats, but also far from the ghosts of bankruptcy. Invisible markets ZTE’s commercial map today is curious. They have opted strong for countries that do not usually appear in Western technological headlines: Mass bathroom of ZTE managers after announcing an agreement with the largest Turkish telecus. Another somewhat alien market for the western radar. Image: Xataka. This presence in “invisible markets” for Western radar Add contracts that are worth a lot of money although they impose so much on their Newsroom. While Europe and North America have progressively restricted the access of Chinese manufacturers to their critical networksthese other territories have received with open arms to the affordable alternatives to traditional suppliers. A silent industrial revolution Maybe ZTE’s most interesting turn has been towards industrial digitalization. Has developed solutions for “smart factories”digital mining, autonomous ports and intelligent energy networks. This market, much less sexy than that of smartphones but much more profitable for a brand like yours, has allowed Zte to grow under the average consumer radar. It is the silent metamorphosis of a manufacturer of Gadgets to an industrial technological provider. Contrary to what it may seem to us from Spain, ZTE continues to manufacture mobile. It maintains several product lines, including some names that are still familiar to us, such as the Axon series of high -end and the mid -range blade. They are sold mainly in China and emerging markets, where Google’s absence is a minor barrier. The intersection between telephony and gaming remains a constant in ZTE. Image: Xataka. It also maintains Nubia, a more innovation and design oriented submarket. The clouds Z50 and Redmagic 8 Pro (The latter focused on Gaming) They have had some reception in Asia, although they go completely unnoticed in Europe. At this fair his asset has been to announce A fairly reasonable folding for less than 1,000 eurosin addition to Hold the commitment to telephony Gamer. It is a calculated movement: they do not aspire to master the market, but to occupy specific niches where the benefits/price ratio can make them competitive. In product positioning, and in regional availability. ZTE’s strategy with his smartphones is clear: Do not compete where you can’t win. Why invest in marketing and distribution channels in Spain, where getting a 1% market share would cost millions, when that same … Read more

A Pakistani astronaut at the Chinese space station is not only unusual. It is China occupying US power vacuum

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In the coming years, the Chinese Space Station Tiangong You will receive your first crew of another nation, Pakistan. Although it will be a short -term mission, it represents a cycle change: China opening to other countries, while the United States closes. The agreement. China and Pakistan They signed a cooperation agreement on Friday To train Pakistani astronauts and perform the first international missions to the Chinese Space Station Tiangong. China and Pakistan will dedicate a year from May to select Pakistani astronauts, who will be trained in China before joining their counterparts in the neighboring country in the Orbital Laboratory for short -term missions. Chinese-Pakistan ties. Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China in 1950. The two nations have continued to strengthen ties since then, both economically as in the military and technological: according to the CIA, China even helped develop Pakistan’s nuclear program in the 80s. In recent years, Pakistan has sought to improve his spatial capabilities by resorting to the help of his neighbors. In May, it was one of the countries that placed experiments aboard the Chang’e-6 lunar probe, which ended up turning China into The first country to recover successfully Soil samples of the hidden face of the moon. Which symbolizes tiangong. China decided to develop its own space station after the United States prohibited Any direct collaboration between NASA and the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA), preventing its participation in the International Space Station. After trying two prototypes (Tiangong-1 between 2011 and 2018 and Tiangong-2 between 2016 and 2019), China launched the first module of its permanent space station in 2021. The Tiangong Space Station has three modules and is uninterruptedly inhabited Since 2022, with astronaut rotation missions, first, every three months, and then, every six. The twilight of the ISS. With 16 pressurized modules (the oldest, 26 years old), the International Space Station has long been the maximum exponent of cooperation between countries. But Structural fatigue begins to be a problem and maintenance investments have been increasing. The official plan (Elon Musk has his own) is to keep the ISS operational until 2030 and then tow it to a safe place where to let it disintegrate by entering the atmosphere. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, wants to have its own space station, and NASA trusts that the ISS is replaced by a commercial stations plethora. The future of the low orbit. There are few companies that are developing commercial space stations to offer space tourism services, experiments in microgravity and, ultimately, cover the hole that the ISS will leave from 2030: Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Voyager Space and Airbus… But neither does it lack ambition to China in the extensions planned for its space station, Tiangong, which in the coming years will double the number of modules to six And it will begin to accommodate, as we have seen, astronauts from other countries. Another next milestone will be the launch Xuntian Space Telescopescheduled for 2026. It will share the same orbit as the station (400 km altitude) and may be coupled to it for maintenance and improvement tasks. China occupies power vacuum. When NASA definitely abandons the low terrestrial orbit (or delegate it to its commercial partners), China will be there to occupy the void, opening to other countries to accommodate its astronauts, taking advantage of a abandonment of functions in international cooperation. It will not be the first time that China occupies a space that the United States leaves free. It has occurred on the Moon, ignored by NASA for a long time from the Apollo missions, occasion that the Chinese space agency took the opportunity to achieve symbolic milestones such as alunizar on the hidden satellite face and bring the first soil samples. Cycle change. With NASA receiving instructions to conquer Mars after Elon Musk convinced Donald Trump that the moon is a distraction, the NASA Artemis missions They are questioned. Now China has an opportunity. Not only to establish the “De facto International Space Station” in the low terrestrial orbit, but also a series of milestones that NASA had marked in its calendar of symbolic victories. The First woman who steps on the moon It could be China, if Artemis ends up falling apart. And then the first lunar orbital station? And then the First manned lunar base? If there is a cycle change, China will take advantage of it. Images | Shujianyang, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs In Xataka | 400,000 meters above the earth, China is undertaking a crucial mission in its space station: fortify it In Xataka | It is not that Elon Musk has managed to introduce its influence on NASA. Is that he has entered sweeping

When the host becomes a spectator

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As every year at this time, Barcelona is adorned (and blinda) to receive the world technological elite. He Mobile World Congress It transforms the city into an epicenter of innovation for a few days, but this annual party hides an increasingly accentuated paradox: we are the hosts of a conversation in which we barely participate. The choreography is repeated. Technological giants (as many Americans as always, as many Chinese as never before) occupy the main spaces of the enclosure. They show their innovations while Europe looks from the stands, politeing politely And taking note about what trends will chaste the future, to see what you can do. A future that others are designing. Telefónica or Orange have their space, true. Also Ericsson, Deutsche Telekom or T-Mobile. But the voices that really sound in the pavilions are those of Qualcomm, Huawei, Samsung, Oppo, Honor, Lenovo … and separate mention for the great care magnet of this year, Xiaomi and his Su7 Max. This asymmetry reflects A transformation that has occurred little by little but has left a crater. In less than two decades, Europe has gone from being the protagonist (Siemens, Nokia, Ericsson, Alcatel) to become a sophisticated consumer market, so to speak. He stand of Nokia, in fact, is a perfect metaphor. It is a corporate environment that compensates with fluorine colors the executive gray that abounds in its space. Executives who talk about infrastructure while the giant ghost that defined mobile telephony fades between ties. It has another logo, it has another story. Of the iconic 3310 to the Networkingof the Connecting People to survival thanks to networks. Its fall, that of a colossus that went to Microsoft appendix and then Resurrection Zombie under HMDIt is the story of how empires can evaporate when they confuse their present domain with future immunity. Today Nokia exists as a 5G network supplier, as a solid company B2B Invisible for the consumer who once adored her. A Mori memento For Silicon Valley. Ashes of what it was. Image: Xataka. This emptiness where European innovation was bustled before It is not just a guard change, it is a giant transformation. Nokia represents the delivery of technological leadership in Europe. We set up the party in which others triumph. We consume technology that we do not believe. We regulate innovations that we do not lead. The transformation is particularly painful for Spain: we organize the largest technological fair in the world while our participation in the development of the global digital ecosystem Languidece. We have Telefónica (precisely imploring a regulation that leaves European telecos better compete), to the Spain Pavilion of Red.es with half a hundred local businesses and a good representation in the 4yfn, the entrepreneurship event. We have actors on stage, yes, but very few considering that the show It happens in our own theater. The worrying thing is not the absence of first -level Spanish hardware – seeing who competes against Asian economies – but our lack of prominence in software, services or AI, where entry barriers are lower. This paradox of the absent host raises Uncomfortable questions about technological sovereignty. While MWC pavilions are filled with visitors, we assume the role of spectators, except for honorable exceptions that are not at the level of the giants. That the global technological conversation continues to occur on our soil is a privilege, but true greatness would be to participate in it as protagonists, not only as decorated of a future that others write. In Xataka | Consolidation or irrelevance: Marc Murtra launches an ultimatum to the EU in his debut as president of Telefónica Outstanding image | Xataka

Bill Gates has a fortune of 107,000 million dollars and his collection of watches is not worth more than $ 100: but they are jewels

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The Microsoft co -founder has been one of the richest people in the world for almost four decades, and today It holds a fortune of 107.6 billion dollarsaccording to Forbes. During that time, his taste for watches has been molded. Unlike Mark Zuckerberg, who has directed his collection of watches towards models of more than 1.3 million dollarsGates’ tastes are much more practical. Gates’s watches Rather Collect high -end watches as they usually do The millionairesBill Gates maintains a curious fidelity that goes back several decades ago with a Japanese brand: Casio. This choice reflects its pragmatic approach in terms of meaning that watches have For the millionaire, being an object with a functional end and not as a complement of luxury and ostentation of its wealth. Gates has at least three different models of this Japanese brand, famous for its reliability, durability and a functional design that is again fashionable with the return of the 90s aesthetics. One of the watches that has been seen most on Bill Gates’ wrist is the hard casio, an analog diving clock. One of those occasions was during Your visit to Harvard University In 2018. This model, also known as Casio Marlin MDV-106-1AVstands out for its water resistance (up to 200 meters), with a stainless steel box and black sphere, all for a price less than 70 euros. However, one of Gates’s favorite watches is even more minimalist and sober, betting on a completely black finish. It is the Casio MRW-200H-1B2Va light clock without great pretensions that has LED lighting, long -term battery, water resistance, stopwatch and a price that Round the 20 or 30 eurosdemonstrating that it is not necessary to spend a fortune to have a functional and reliable accessory. Another of the usual models in the Gates wrist is Casio W214H-1AV Illuminator Sports Digital Chrono Watch. Unlike the previous ones, the W214H is completely digital and retains a very marked novelty aesthetic. Its price ranges from the 20 and 30 eurosalthough being an already discontinued model they can only be found in the second -hand market. The “nokia” of the watches Gates’ loyalty for the Japanese brand is not an exception or an exclusive fixation of the millionaire. Casio was one of the most relevant brands in electronic watchmaking in the late 80s and 90s, with such models mythical and indestructible such as F-91Wwhich continues for sale 30 years after its launch. Thanks to that Nostalgic factor Already the extraordinary reliability and simplicity of its watches, the brand has resurfaced strongly in recent years with reissues of its old models for The nostalgic that we have spent much of our life with a casio on the wrist. Some even see it as A future proposal. In Xataka | There is nothing wrong with you comparing you with a casio: how their watches made him a glorious brand Image | Casio, Flickr (Ted Conference)

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