Mythos will be the most dangerous AI model, but companies are already taking note of its security tips

by

Top AI companies are in the race to create the best artificial intelligence model. That race has been won by Anthropic with Mythos. At least, That’s what they claim (of course)with phrases like it is so powerful that they cannot make it public. There is reasons to take Anthropic’s words with a grain of salt, but what is evident is that Mythos is already working. Although the company has not released it, has already given access to certain technology partners. The decision is based on the company’s fear that the model will be used maliciously. They themselves have described as a threat to cybersecurity based on the number of zero-day vulnerabilities that Mythos would have found in both the main operating systems on the market and in browsers. And, just when the model is arousing opinions from some and others, Mozilla arrives to affirm that the latest version of Firefox 150 It has security fixes for 271 vulnerabilities that have been discovered thanks to this preliminary version of Claude Mythos. For its part, OpenAI does not believe anything at all. “Just as capable as a human” Mozilla it details in one of the latest posts on his blog. The company had been collaborating with Anthropic for some time and using the Claude Opus 4.6 model to find errors. In January, it found 22 vulnerabilities in a couple of weeks, 14 of them rated very serious. Of those 22 found by Opos 4.6, which is already a powerful model, we move on to the 271 discovered by Mythos. It is a huge leap and Mozilla wanted to continue investigating to see to what extent the new model surpasses Opus. Analyzing Firefox 147, Mythos generated 181 functional exploits. Opus 4.6? Just two. 90 times less. Those results have led Mozilla to write that Mythos Preview is “just as capable as the best human cybersecurity researchers”adding that they have not found any categories that humans can detect that Mythos cannot. This has another reading since, as the company itself states, seeing that the model is capable of finding so many errors in such a short time makes them wonder if it is possible to stay up to date in cybersecurity work when alternatives to Mythos are developed that do fall into hands not controlled by those responsible. There is always the fact that Mythos has not found any errors that Mozilla’s human ‘watchmen’ have not detected and that a tool like this will help to have a more secure system. All of this, in the end, pushing that narrative that Mythos is practically a technological miracle. a nuclear bomb The other side of the coin is that Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, doesn’t believe anything. Taking advantage of his recent participation in a podcast, he has qualified The entire Anthropic movement as a fear-based marketing ploy. He accuses Dario Amodei’s company (Altman’s public enemy) of wanting to restrict AI to a small number of people in a strategy that he has compared to having an atomic bomb, threatening to release it and making a living by selling bunkers to protect themselves from that same bomb. “It is evident that this is an extraordinarily powerful marketing strategy. We have created a bomb and we are going to drop it. You can buy a bunker from us for 100 million dollars” It is one more point in that historical rivalry in which both companies (and managers) have been involved for some time, but it comes just when Anthropic is having a greater role and OpenAI is being forced to release ballast in the form of services like Sora. Altman is not the only one who thinks that Anthropic is repeatedly using this discourse of “We have something so powerful that we cannot make it public” because it is a good strategy to obtain financing. There are already voices that they point that Mythos is not that big of a deal and, in fact, other models have proven to be able to do the same, finding the same errors and problems detected by Anthropic. But, above all, we must remember that, in 2019, someone already said that a model was too dangerous for public release. Who? OpenAI itself with GPT-2. Obviously, it wasn’t that dangerous. In Xataka | OpenAI and Anthropic have proposed the impossible: lose $85 billion in one year and survive

We have seen it in action and everything changes there

by

Hey, what was the title of Almodóvar’s last film? Play the song that uses the basis of “Saturday Night” by Aitana. Move the music to the living room. Daniela is coming to dinner, do you think she will like this dish? How do I look? Is this outfit formal for the event? Buy my favorite wine. Order a Cabify from here to Cibeles. There is nothing strange in these sentences. They are how we speak. The rare thing, until now, was for an assistant to understand them well. Amazon brings Alexa+ to Spain with the promise to change that. After seeing it in a presentation just a few hours ago, the idea is clear: talk to our Echo devices so naturally that we forget that they are machines. The Alexa+ leap is not only in AI, but in how we speak What Amazon is trying to sell with Alexa+ It’s pretty easy to understand, at least on paper: stop talking to a speaker as if we were giving orders to a robot. Instead, the idea is that we can express ourselves naturally, change the subject, leave half sentences or say things as we would say them at home, without thinking too much about how to formulate them. That was, in fact, one of the most repeated ideas during the presentation. Amazon summed up part of that ambition with a pretty clear phrase: “We no longer have to learn the Alexa language.” Said like this, it may sound nuanced, but it is not. Until now, a good part of the experience with this type of assistant involved us adapting to the machine: repeating the activation word, choose each term wellavoid detours and trust that he would not get lost along the way. With Alexa+, at least from what we have seen, the promise is just the opposite. We can ask him to change the music in the room, ask him about a movie, resume a previous conversation or chain several ideas in a row without having to start from scratch each time. That’s where Amazon believes the real leap is. From there the other great promise of Alexa+ comes into play: that it not only responds, but also does things for us. Amazon presents it as a leap from the assistant that informs the assistant that acts, and that is where functions such as managing the calendar, writing an email or playing music come in according to our tastes. The situation changes when that action leaves the ecosystem itself and fully immerses itself in real-world services, such as reserving a table or ordering a car. In Spain, this layer of actions starts with several partners already mentioned by Amazon, among them TheFork, Cabify and Tripadvisor,. Translated into day-to-day life, that means that part of the most ambitious usefulness of the assistant will not only be played in how it converses, but in how many services it manages to understand well outside the home. And there, at least for now, the initial photo is still quite limited. Another thing that Amazon wanted to highlight in the presentation is that Alexa+ not only improves when we talk to it, but also when we give it more context about ourselves. Some of that knowledge can come from our daily activities, from calendar entries or from what you already know from previous interactions, but also from information that we choose to share with you explicitly. The company showed, for example, how documentation can be sent to you by mail so you can incorporate it into your context, such as a school menu. From there, Alexa+ can retrieve that data later and use it in subsequent responses. That layer becomes even more striking when the camera on some Echo devices comes into play. In the presentation we saw how Alexa+ could “see” and answer questions about what is in front of you, from an outfit to other elements of the environment. There were also scenes in which he crossed personal context with practical suggestions, such as recommending a recipe based on what was at home and adjusting that proposal when remembering that a guest did not like a specific ingredient. Added to this is another strong promise: internet connection, real-time information, integration with music and video beyond Amazon’s own services and a well-worked adaptation to Spanish from Spain, both in accent and in cultural references and everyday situations. Our first impression, after seeing it in action just a few hours ago, is that the proposal makes sense and that Amazon has found a fairly clear way to explain why Alexa+ wants to distance itself from the usual Alexa. The presentation was solid and left a good feeling, especially due to the naturalness with which the assistant seemed to chain requests, understand the context and move between different tasks. Now, all of this happened in a controlled environment, prepared by the company itself to show the product in its best version. It promises, yes, but the important test will come when it starts to leave that framework and we see how it really performs in real life. Another important point of the launch is the price, because Amazon has decided to place Alexa+ in a very particular field. During early access it will be free, but after that it will become cost 22.99 euros per month if contracted separately. At the same time, the company has also confirmed that it will be included in the Prime subscription in Spain. And then there’s the most practical part of all: how to get started. Here Amazon proposes two paths. The first involves purchasing one of the compatible Echo devices, which gives immediate access to the early access program. The second is designed for those who already have one at home: in that case, you have to register on the website that the company has enabled, www.amazon.es/nuevalexaand wait to receive an invitation. Amazon assures that these additions will be made in phases over the coming weeks, so not all … Read more

In Spain we have glorified the long nap. In scientific studies they have a different opinion on the matter.

by

The siesta is, for many, a fundamental pillar of the Mediterranean lifestyle and an essential pleasure during the afternoon to be able to endure the rest of the day. However, scientific evidence has put this habit under the microscope, especially when naps last several hours and even give you time to dream several times. And the duration, frequency and especially age have a lot to say about the impact on health. The border of time. The current scientific consensus draws a fairly clear line between the classic power nap and the nap of putting on your pajamas and getting into bed for several hours. Because the barrier is marked precisely at the half hour mark, meaning that whoever passes it may begin to notice changes in their health. Here, a recent study from the University of Murcia analyzed to more than 3,000 adults in a Mediterranean environment to analyze the effect of naps. And the reality is that spending more than these 30 minutes was associated with having a higher BMI, a higher incidence of obesity and also being more likely to have a metabolic syndrome such as, for example, diabetes or hypertension. And there is more. When it comes to cardiovascular health, the reality is that the heart can suffer. Here the European Society of Cardiology presented In 2023, different data associated naps longer than 30 minutes with almost double the risk of developing atrial fibrillation. But also the American Heart Association took data who supported this point by pointing out that naps lasting longer than an hour increased the rate of cardiovascular disease by 1.82 times. The age factor. In this sense, one of the most important studies published is found in JAMA, that after following 1,338 older adults for 19 years and objectively measuring their sleep, they were able to see the effect it had. Here it was seen that sleeping more during the day, doing so more frequently or concentrating the nap in the morning was associated with with higher mortality from any cause. Specifically, each extra hour of daytime sleep increased the risk of mortality by 13%. There is much left to investigate. Among the studies that are currently available, no clear correlation has been found, that is, that someone who takes a three-hour nap a day should not have any problems. The only thing that is pointed out is that having the need to sleep excessively during the day can be a consequence of a poor night’s rest because there is a disease that is beginning to see the light, such as sleep apnea. You can take a nap. Although it may seem that we are demonizing the nap, the reality is that it has an important beneficial component when it comes to naps. less than 30 minutes. Here we are achieving an improvement in cognitive performance and it is also a way to recharge our energy a little for the rest of the day. But from here to actively planning a nap that can last for hours, there is a long way that should undoubtedly be avoided. Images | Unsplash In Xataka | Sleeping four hours a day and performing at your best is not a myth, it is a genetic rarity of 1% of the population

seven Oscars endorse ‘El Golpe’

by

There are two things that we can assure without fear of being wrong. First, the strong point of Netflix’s catalog is not the classics: other platforms such as HBO, Disney+, Filmin or FlixOlé are infinitely more stocked with films not tied to current events. Second, everyone likes it ‘The coup’. It is infallible: the charisma of its cast, its sparkling sense of humor, its legendary soundtrack and its adorable classicism make seeing it again today still a joy. Luckily, the stars have aligned and you can now enjoy this sensational gangster comedy, unexpectedly, on Netflix. ‘The Coup’ brought together Paul Newman, Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill four years after ‘Two Men and a Fate’. The script, written by David S. Ward, is inspired by the real-life scams of brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and set in 1936 Chicago, it follows an apprentice con artist (Robert Redford) who teams up with a veteran (Paul Newman) to avenge the death of a friend by conning mobster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Bathed in a sublime episodic structure (with sections presented with cards that imitate the covers of the ‘Saturday Evening Post’) that announces to the viewer each phase of the scam, this is also a film that plays to scam the viewer: it shows its cards while deceiving you with others. A playful script with vibrant dialogue is one of the strong points of the film, which at the 46th edition of the Oscars, in 1974, won seven awards out of ten nominations: Best Film, Direction, Original Screenplay, Editing, Artistic Direction, Costume Design and Adapted Soundtrack. Among the most remembered ingredients of the film is the soundtrack, which has a peculiarity. Marvin Hamlisch adapted compositions by ragtime by Scott Joplin, despite the fact that the genre had already lost its validity twenty years before 1936, when the plot takes place. The fantasy worked anyway: the soundtrack went to number one… in the seventies. It was one of the key elements that helped turn ‘The Coup’ into a cultural phenomenon. In Xataka | Tomorrow the animated spin-off of the platform’s only powerful franchise premieres on Netflix: ‘Stranger Things’

In Singapore, luxury is not having a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. True luxury is simply driving

by

Singaporethat small city/country-state between Malaysia and Indonesia where there are barely more than five million inhabitants, is a place of contrasts. While the enclave has a high degree of government control and certain practices that can be classified as repressive, on the other hand, new technologies are embraced to the point of being a world reference in the public sphere towards AI. There, having a car is not a practical necessity, it is a statement of status. Driving in Singapore. The story was told a year ago. the new york times. In Singapore, owning a car is not practical, it is more of a statement comparable to wearing a designer suit or sporting a luxury watch. The reason? He property certificate system (introduced in 1990 to control congestion and pollution) requires citizens to pay astronomical sums just for the right to buy a vehicle. These certificates, known as certificates of entitlement (COE), can reach up to $84,000raising the total price of common automobiles to exorbitant figures more typical of a supercar. As insurance agent Andre Lee, who in 2020 paid $24,000 for a Kia Forte Second-hand, having a car was simply part of his professional image, although he later recognized that the expense was not justified and chose to sell it. The price in 2026. This year, the COE system has prices that exceed usually $100,000 Singaporeans (about 70,000–85,000 euros) just for the right to circulate for ten years. The different categories oscillate in that range, with large and premium cars reaching the highest figures, while even commercial vehicles and motorcycles have seen notable increases compared to previous years. This volatility, with biweekly auctions that can move prices by thousands of euros, reflects a deja vu: an extremely stressed market where artificial scarcity imposed by the State continues to be the dominant factor, even above the cost of the vehicle itself. An unnecessary luxury. The underlying problem is also explained from another side. With a public transport network affordable and effective, few residents They really need a car to get around the city. Long rides cost less than two dollars and transportation apps like Grab are available. widely available. Despite this, twice a month they celebrate COE auctionswith limited quotas set by the government. This policy has been very effective: Singapore has only 11 cars per 100 inhabitants, far below countries like the United States or Italy, where the figure exceeds 75. Other cities have adopted anti-congestion measures, such as urban tolls in LondonStockholm or New Yorkbut none charges as much to own a car as Singapore. The car and social classes. For the richest in the country, purchasing a vehicle with all the associated costs does not represent a problem. Su-Sanne Ching, a businesswoman, said that paid $150,000 by a Mercedes-Benzincluding a COE of $60,000. On the other hand, for the middle class, especially families with children, the car becomes a luxury that is difficult to sustain. Joy Fang and her husband told the Times that they bought a used Hyundai Avante in 2022 for $58,000 to take his two children. Every month they allocate more than 10% of their family budget to maintain the vehicle, which has forced them to reduce outings and trips. Even so, they consider that the alternative (moving with small children and bags on public transport) is unviable. Help for electricians. Regarding “electrification”, the main aid (EEAI) has been reduced by half. Previously up to 15,000 SGD, and now it has a maximum of SGD 7,500. Not only that, apparently, it already has a date of disappearance by 2027. Plus: the VES system too has been adjusted and has progressively reduced incentives. In other words, this year, the nation seems to be in the phase of progressive withdrawal of aid to electric vehicles. Sometimes not even the symbolism. There are more extreme cases. Even for those who purchase a car for symbolic or professional reasons, as Andre Leecumulative expenses can cause the decision loses meaning. Maintenance, gas, parking and insurance end up exceeding initial expectations. Lee, for example, sold his car three years after purchasing it and now commutes by public transportation, or borrows his father’s vehicle when he needs to meet clients. In his opinion, there are other priorities that ended up outweighing the image projected by having your own car. Rational choice versus chaos. Singapore’s restrictive model contrasts with that of other Southeast Asian cities like Jakarta or Bangkokwhere extreme traffic turns travel into an odyssey. For many Singaporeans, giving up the personal car is a reasonable price to enjoy clearer streets and fast journeys. In this regard and according to sociologist Chua Beng Huatthe choice is cultural and practical: the population prefers to avoid long hours behind the wheel. The man himself, despite owning a BYD SUV to transport his grandchildren, says he uses the subway when he goes downtown. Ultimately, the car in Singapore appears to have become an aspirational rather than a functional commodity, one reserved for those who can afford it without compromising their finances. Unlike other parts of the world where the vehicle represents an almost imperative need for mobility or independence, in the island-state it is, for many, a luxury that compares with the most ostentatious objects. Driving there is like having a Rolex, or almost. Image | William Cho In Xataka | Guide to know if your car will be able to circulate in the ZBEs of Madrid in 2025: labels, registrations and areas In Xataka | How to make an appointment at the IMSS online in Mexico A version of this article was published in 2025. We have updated its content with everything that has happened since then.

Belgrade’s “liquid trees” are the fascinating biotechnological solution to clean the air in cities

by

Today, the city of Belgrade has a significant problem in terms of air quality, which is already something quite typical of large cities. The situation here, the truth is, is quite critical, with some areas where the limits recommended by the WHO are exceeded by up to 5 times, and to solve it, the idea that we can have in mind is need to plant more treesbut the reality is that there is little space available to plant them, so they have had to choose to install what they have called liquid trees. The solution. Under the name of LIQUID 3this project has been operating since 2021 in front of the Stari Grad City Hall in the Serbian capital, and to the surprise of many it is not shaped like a tree, but is a simple glass tank that is filled with 600 liters of water inhabited by local microalgae. But just because it doesn’t have the shape of a tree doesn’t mean it doesn’t work as such, since it literally uses photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide from the environment and release pure oxygen into the environment, and the truth is that they are very efficient, since a single tank of LIQUID3 is equivalent to the absorption capacity of two 10-year-old trees or 200 square meters of grass. How is it possible? That a simple tank surpasses an adult tree when it comes to ‘purifying’ the air, the truth is that it seems strange, but biotechnology has achieved something incredible. Specifically, science has seen how microalgae have the ability to capture carbon dioxide and fix it between 10 and 50 times faster than land plants under controlled conditions. In fact, studies indicate that these algae can fix approximately 1.8 grams of CO₂ for every gram of biomass generated, achieving CO₂ removal efficiencies close to 50%. And designed for the city. Being in the center of a city is not easy, and that is why scientists have had to use strains of Serbian freshwater microalgae that grow with simple tap water and withstand extreme temperature fluctuations. And here the research indicates that these species are ready for the most hostile environments. And another positive point they have is that they hardly require maintenance, since it is limited to the fact that the biomass generated must be extracted every month and a half, and in addition, water and fresh minerals are added. The positive here is also that biomass can be used as a great natural fertilizer. More than a lung. The LIQUID3 is not just a laboratory experiment that has taken to the streets, but has been designed as multifunctional urban furniture, since, in addition to purifying the air, the structure functions as a bench to sit on and even adds solar panels to charge your cell phone or provide night lighting. It is not definitive. Although it seems incredible, the truth is that we must put our feet on the ground in the face of technological enthusiasm. Although right now the figures are very good, there is still a lack of studies that can validate the impact it has in the long term and measure whether they are really giving good results, and above all that they are real. But the most important nuance here is that these systems do not replace traditional trees or forests, which logically must remain where they are and promoting their implementation. In this way, we are left with the fact that this technology has been designed for dense and highly polluted urban areas where traditional planting is logistically impossible. Where the asphalt does not give an inch to the roots, the liquid trees rise like a high-tech green oasis, giving the city’s lungs a break. Images | LIQUID3 In Xataka | Tell me where you live and I’ll tell you how healthy your tap water is: the map of Spain that analyzes each municipality

The iPhone can do much more than we think. The key is in the Shortcuts and this way you can start taking advantage of them

by

A few days ago I was in a cafe with a friend when, in the middle of the conversation, he took out his iPhone and showed me how much of a Shortcuts expert. At that time I thought more people should know that. Barely two weeks have passed since then and now I have to present to you this video that my colleagues at Xataka have made, a very good opportunity to start using the mobile “like a pro”. Ana Boriawhich has tested devices like the Plaud Note Pro or the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro and that even you have been encouraged to home automation your homenow wants to help us make life easier for iPhone users. This is a video in which he shares his experience with a tool that can be very useful and explains how to use it for tasks such as scheduling the sending of messages, reading news with a single click or creating a QR code to share the WiFi network. The video that we have just published on the Xataka YouTube channel It starts precisely with that last possibility. “You probably know that on Android, simply clicking on the Wi-Fi network gives you the QR code to share it with everyone. Well, then on iPhone it is not so simple”, says our colleague. How to do it then? With Shortcuts. We just have to add the shortcut that Ana left us and configure it exactly as she explains. In addition, it proposes three different options so that everyone can choose the one that best suits their needs. “If you have traveled, it may have happened to you the same as me, that when you go to another country they don’t speak your language, but they don’t speak English either. Well, for that, this shortcut has been great for me,” says our colleague when presenting her next recommendation. In this case You don’t even need to download any additional applications. All you have to do is take advantage of a shortcut that is also capable of detecting the language automatically. Ana also reviews other especially useful shortcuts, such as one designed to read the last 10 articles from our favorite websites, another to obtain a personalized note with parameters from the Health app and several automations for the iPhone to execute certain actions based on the time or location. It is true that launching these shortcuts requires following some steps, but In the video there are all the necessary links to download them and start playing with them. I hope you like preparing it as much as we do. And, of course, we invite you to leave your comments both here and on YouTube. Images | Xataka In Xataka | The foldable iPhone is getting closer every day: this is everything we know about it so far

Ryanair has grounded its passengers twice in one week. The culprit has a first and last name: EES

by

For a plane to take off on time and end up leaving hundreds of passengers behind is something that does not happen often. However, it has already happened on several Ryanair flights in recent weeks, and the explanation, technically, has little to do with the airline really. The new border system. The European Union has launched the Entry and Exit System (EES), a digital border control that forces non-EU citizens (including the British, since Brexit) to register their biometric data every time they cross a Schengen area border. That includes facial scanning and fingerprints. The system began rolling out in October and was due to be fully operational in all Schengen countries from April 10. What no one calculated quite correctly is the time it would take to process each passenger at the controls. What happened in Milan. On April 16, a Ryanair flight bound for Manchester took off from Bergamo airport, leaving behind a group of passengers still stuck in border control queues. According to counted one of those affected, Adam Hassanjee, 18, told the BBC, they had not moved in the queue for an hour and a half when they saw the plane leaving. He had to make a living on his own: first a flight to Malta, then to Leeds. In parallel, to EasyJet something similar happened to him at Linate airport, also in Milan, where of the 156 passengers on a flight to Manchester only 34 boarded. It has not been the only case. That same April 10, the date on which the EES was to be activated throughout the Schengen area, another Ryanair flight between Tenerife South and East Midlands, United Kingdom, also left passengers on the ground. Among them, according to reported BBC, a 42-year-old teacher, his wife and two-year-old son, who had to spend £1,600 finding an alternative route home because the next available Ryanair flight didn’t leave for a week. Ryanair’s version: they didn’t leave anyone. The airline has rejected firmly the narrative that he “left passengers behind.” His argument goes through the fact that everyone who was at the gate when it closed flew away. Those who did not arrive on time simply missed their flight. They also explained that, once boarding is closed, the passenger manifest is legally signed and sent to the captain, from which point nothing can be done. The EES thing, according to the airline, is a border control problem, not theirs. Punctuality. Technically, Ryanair may be right. But the image it conveys is that of an airline that prefers to leave on time, without dozens of passengers, rather than wait for a new, slow and technically problematic border control system to let its people through. It is not that it is illegal or unusual in the industry, but after the general chaos due to the implementation of the EES, there was a striking lack of communication to travelers. Peter Walker, the teacher who was stranded in Tenerife, counted to the media that at no time was there anyone from the airline to inform them or help them with options. What Brussels says. The European Commission has defended that the EES “works very well” and that in the vast majority of countries there have been no incidents. He acknowledged, however, that in some member states technical problems were detected in the first days. Just like share According to the media, since it started in October, the system has recorded more than 56 million border crossings and has prevented the entry of 28,500 people, of which 700 were identified as a security threat. Cover image | Niels Baars In Xataka | Commercial aviation is based on very old aircraft. The Iran war is going to make it even worse

The country has no real alternative to Telcel

by

The sale of Movistar Mexico to the Melisa Acquisition consortium (450 million dollars for an operator with approximately 15% of the market) closes a chapter of more than two decades in which the Spanish operator has invested more than 3,600 million euros to end up competing, in permanent structural inferiority, against a monopoly that has never ceased to be a monopoly. Why is it important. Anyone might think that the departure of Telefónica changes the Mexican telecommunications market, but the reality is that it does not change it much. On the contrary: it confirms it. Mexico has one of the most concentrated mobile markets in the developed world, with Telcel, owned by Carlos Slim, controlling almost 60% of users. No competitor has managed to gain share in a sustained manner so far this century. The strange thing is that Telefónica has taken so long to leave the country, because it has only done so in the context of a total withdrawal in Latin America after years of losses. The backdrop. Telcel inherited the commercial muscle, infrastructure and customer base of Telmex, the former state monopoly privatized in 1990. Since then, Mexican regulators have not been able to balance the market, or have not been willing enough to do so. AT&T has been trying for years with its own network and remains below 16%. In fact is also looking for a way out. Telefónica, which In 2019 it had to return its spectrum and relying on AT&T’s infrastructure to survive, it already operated in practice as a kind of “premium MVNO”: with its own brand, but without its own network and without room to grow. Between the lines. The buyer says a lot. Melisa Acquisition is not a typical telecommunications operator: it is the sum of Oxio (technological platform for virtual operators with barely 350,000 clients) and an investment fund. They are not there to build network infrastructure or to dispute Telcel’s quota. They simply arrive to manage what is there: an inherited customer base, an asset-light model, and the hope that Oxio’s technology will allow some more margin to be squeezed out of an operation that Telefónica no longer wanted to maintain. In figures. The ARPU (average income per user) tells in numbers the trap in which Telefónica operated in Mexico: 64.7 pesos per month per customer, less than half that of AT&T (141.1) and less than a third that Telcel (176). It is no longer that Movistar had few clients, it is that each client was worth little in terms of billing and profitability. A model like this does not allow for investment in the network, in spectrum or in the future. The sale is not an elegant strategic retreat: it is the logical conclusion of years competing in the cheapest segment of an already cheap market. Yes, but. The sale will generate heavy accounting losses for Telefónica, something inevitable given the historical outlay, but it fits perfectly into its strategy. In less than a year and a half, the telecom chaired by Marc Murtra has undone practically all of its positions in Latin America: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia… and now Mexico. Only Brazil remains, the only market in the region where Telefónica has enough scale to truly compete and which has become one of its growth enginesif not the main one. Main loser? The Mexican user. With Telefónica jibarized, the Mexican market is even more unprotected in the face of Telcel. Effective competition in price, coverage and quality of service now depends almost exclusively on AT&T, which has also not demonstrated the ability to challenge Slim’s dominance and, as we have already said, look for a way out for a long time. Mexico doesn’t just lose one operator: it loses one of the few that at least had incentives to try. In Xataka | Mexico has an ambitious plan to be the tenth economy in the world and that involves technology: semiconductors Featured image | david carballar

a battery that charges in six minutes

by

CATL, literally the largest Chinese battery company in the world, has just presented its new technologies at its Tech Day, and has left us some very interesting gems, including its new ultra-fast charging batteries. And the manufacturer has managed to develop a battery capable of charging the car in just over six minuteswith an autonomy that far exceeds current limits. The Achilles heel of the electric. The biggest psychological barrier for anyone considering buying an electric car remains the same: how long it takes to charge and how far it goes on a charge. CATL has been trying to eliminate this problem at its roots through innovation for years. What it has presented now has possibly been the biggest leap that the company has taken on both fronts at the same time. What you have presented. The company has announced two technologies main. The first is the third generation of its Shenxing battery, made of chemical LFP (lithium-ferrophosphate), which manages to charge from 10% to 98% in 6 minutes and 27 seconds. In just 3 minutes and 44 seconds it reaches 80%. The company claims that even at temperatures of -30°C, the battery can be charged from 20% to 98% in just 9 minutes. The key to these magnificent figures is the world’s lowest internal resistance for ultra-fast charging: 0.25 milliohms, half the industry average. On the other hand, there is the new version of its Qilin condensed battery, aimed at long-haul vehicles, which reaches 1,500 kilometers of autonomy on a single charge, according to affirms the company. That is more or less equivalent to going from Madrid to Paris without recharging, and on paper you would still have autonomy. The previous version reached 1,000 km. How is it compared to BYD. CATL’s main rival in the global electric vehicle battery market is BYD, and there is so much competition between both companies that they are pushing the pace of innovation to an unprecedented level. Just a few days ago we were in Paris at the European presentation of Denza, where BYD showed the capabilities of its Blade Battery 2.0capable of charging from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes. On paper, CATL’s new Shenxing improves that time significantly, achieving practically the same load in just over 6 minutes. In extreme cold conditions, the difference is also in favor of CATL: 9 minutes compared to the 12 minutes needed by the BYD system for similar loads at -30 °C. But hey, regardless of the manufacturer, the truth is that the figures being achieved today are quite spectacular. Together, both companies control more than half of the global electric car battery market. According to data From SNE Research, CATL closed 2025 with 39.2% of the global market, while BYD occupied second place with 16.4%. Other technologies. CATL has also announced relevant developments on other fronts. presented the second generation of its Freevoy hybrid battery, which mixes LFP and NCM chemistry at the powder level for extended range hybrid vehicles (EREV). This battery allows up to 600 km of pure electric range with ultra-fast charging as standard. By the end of this year, in addition, the company has promised to begin mass production of sodium-ion batteries, a technology that reduces dependence on lithium, cobalt and nickel. Charging points. In infrastructure, which is perhaps the part that most interests the consumer, CATL has announced which will build 100,000 battery charging and changing points in China before the end of 2028, in collaboration with several car manufacturers in the country. As usual, in Europe we have to wait. Mass adoption and infrastructure is one of the fundamental steps for the end customer to opt for an electric vehicle. In Spain we have plenty of charging pointsbut according to latest Anfac barometeronly 4% of the available charging points reach 250 kW of power or more, the threshold necessary to access this type of ultra-fast charging. In fact, BYD needs 1,500 kW of power, and they plan to bring about 3,000 points in Europe by 2026. So yes, there is still some way to go in this. Cover image | Zaptec In Xataka | Xiaomi or Xpeng car factories are so advanced that they have become the favorite destination of Chinese schools

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.