business

the made-in-China business of the DGT’s V-16 beacons

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82 days. That is the time that has passed since the DGT approved for the first time a connected V-16 beacon on December 22, 2022 until March 14, 2023. Less than three months later from that December 22, Distribuciones Escudero Fijo SL You could now put your own connected device on the market. The Valencia-based company was the first to put a V-16 beacon connected and approved by the DGT on the market. made in china. The company specializes in the import and distribution of consumer products in our country, so it must have seen clearly that it was time to manufacture its own devices in the Asian country to reduce costs. The certificate confirming the approval and who is behind the manufacturing of the product is easily accessible. Both that of this Valencian company and that of any other approved product can be found on the DGT website. And with that list it is very easy to verify that the vast majority of connected V-16 beacons are being manufactured in China. Spanish approval, Chinese business Photo printers, a Philips car radio, activity bracelets or a Tesla Smart TV. They are all products that You can find it on the Distribuciones Escudero Fijo website. next to the connected V-16 beacon. The company, as we said, is by no means the only one that produces its beacons in China to approve them in Spain and sell them in our country. In fact, the DGT collects 29 companies with certifications to distribute its approved products in Spain. Only seven are Spanish. and the weight of products made in Spain It is reduced much more if we look at the total volume of registered beacons. Of 239 approved products, only 29 are produced in Spain, just over 10%. This company sells, under different names, up to five connected V-16 beacons, four of which have slight modifications to sell them as different products on the market. But this is almost a rarity because some Chinese brands have made it an art to sell the same licensed product under different names. The latter is the case of Limbur Technology, a company that manufactures these connected V-16 beacons in China and puts them on the Spanish market, highlighting the same product with different names. At this moment it has 99 active approvals despite having only seven different models on the market. The process is always the same. The Ningbo Chakesi Electronic company, based in Zhejiang (China), produces the connected V-16 beacons that are then sold under brands with names as diverse as Soslight, Orflect either Don Happy. The approvals are carried out in the Idiada laboratories (there are only two laboratories with permission to carry out these approvals) and in some cases the same device is approved repeatedly (up to 25 identical devices on June 30, 2025) to be sold under different names. Manufacturers have little room to play with approvals and put different products on the market. In some cases, for example, the new approval only corresponds to the addition of a new suction cup to facilitate installation or that the product is now brighter. The pattern repeats with other distributors. Ledel Solutions has 30 active approvals. Of them, up to 24 different brands sell the same product. Four of them repeat with a variation of the connected V16 beacon and only one of them sells an approved product such as EmergLight X, which has the same name as the company that puts it on the market. The manufacturing, as with any other product approved by Ledel Solutions, comes from China. And the connected V-16 beacon has all the conditions to be a product that China can easily supply. We are talking about a very low-cost technological product. A casing, some resistance to dust and water, active battery for 30 minutes and a space for a SIM card. It is the perfect product for mass produce at very low cost. With the approvals registered by the DGT, right now there are 239 products on the market but only 70 are, really, different products. Most of the time we are talking about the same product repeated and approved repeatedly by the same distributor and then sold under different brands in different channels. Photo | DGT and Escudero Fixed Distributions In Xataka | “Dangerous situations have already occurred”: three road safety experts respond to the imposition of the DGT’s V-16 beacon

Vigo has shown that Christmas can be a million-dollar business. So northern Portugal has decided to take note

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Christmas is a time of peace, reunion, carols, sweets and a lot of other positive things, but also (and increasingly) of ‘pique’ between cities. As the holidays have gained appeal as an economic engine, especially for attract tourists In the middle of the low season, town councils throughout Spain have launched a race to show off the tree with the most meters, the largest display of LED lights or simply be the first to debut the ornament. Vigo is perhaps the greatest exponent of that fever, which in recent years has led him to cross challenges (more or less casual) with Madrid either Badalona. However, its true rival appears from another corner: on the other side of the Miño. Christmas in November? Christmas in November. It’s nothing new. In Vigo they began to install their lights already at the end of July, when they were missing almost 150 days for the start of the festivities. It may seem extravagant (maybe it is), but it certainly has its logic: the Galician city boasts to deploy millions and millions of LEDs along hundreds of streets (12 million in 460 neighborhoods this year), which requires a notable logistical effort. Also a substantial investment. Other cities like Madrid, Badalona, Malaga either Cadiz (to cite a few examples), determined to stand out on the map of national Christmas decorations. In fact, a quick review of the newspaper archive comes to find cross challenges between the mayors of Madrid, Badalona or Vigo on account of the festivities. The objective: to claim itself as the city with the brightest offer (literally). Why’s that? For various reasons ranging from pure economics to politics. After all, Christmas offers a showcase of brilliance barbaric for municipal administrations. If there is one reason that has become more evident over the years, however, it is tourism promotion. It is no longer just a matter of decorations encouraging purchases or more or less boosting commerce. No. Having many lights, large XXXL trees, Ferris wheels, markets… has become an effective hook to attract visitors in the middle of winter. Vigo once again leaves a good example. In December 2012, before the lighting boom, its hotels recorded just 33,600 overnight stays, far from the 100,000 in August. In 2022, already in the midst of the Christmas frenzy, this figure exceeded 101,500 overnight stays. And that’s not just visits, it’s also hard euros. In July the mayor of the town, Abel Caballero, spoke that Christmas attracts some 6.3 million visitors to Vigo and generates an economic return for the city of “more than 800 million euros”. May or may not be suspicious of those figures, but something is undeniable: the city fills every year between November and January and merchants and hoteliers already they have made it clear your support for Christmas. Which city is ahead? The battle between cities is not just about seeing which one achieves the most spectacular display of lights or raises the tallest tree. Another detail that generates expectation are the dates: Which city turns on its lights first? Which one comes forward, in an attempt to be the first to catch the eager Christmas visitors? It may sound strange again, but little by little this struggle has brought forward the festivities until placing its ‘start’ (at least unofficially) in the first half of November, almost immediately after Halloween. In Estepa, a town in the province of Seville, they debuted their lights last friday. Yes, November 7th. This urgency theoretically makes it the first municipality in Spain to activate the Christmas lighting. It won’t take long for other cities to follow in their wake. In Vigo (rain permitting) a ceremony will be held this Friday (November 15) to mark the beginning of the festivities. In other cities you will have to wait longer: Madrid either Barcelona They will press their ‘red button’ the 22ndin Badajoz it will be the 27th and in Malaga the traditional light and music show on Larios Street will also be at the end of the month, on Friday the 28th. What happens in Portugal? The most curious thing is that Vigo’s competition will probably not come from other Spanish cities, but from the other side of the Miño: from the north of Portugal. The neighboring country shares an extensive Christmas tradition and seems determined not to give up the tourist wealth that its Galician neighbor is fighting for. reveals it Vigo Lighthouse in an article in which he explains that near Raia there are towns that this year will surpass Vigo both in dates and in ‘meters’. In Valongo they opened their lights on Friday the 7th. And the next day Ermesinde, one of their parishesalso activated a Christmas tree 55 meters high, the largest in Portugal. With that data it even surpasses that of Vigo, which reaches 45 m. Another early riser town in northern Portugal is Viana do Castelowhich has a light show on one of its main avenues. Viana do Castelo and Valongo share an interesting characteristic, in addition to their Christmas zeal: they are close to Vigo. From Ermesinde it takes about an hour and a half by car. Something less if visitors travel from Viana. Simple coincidence? The commitment of northern Portugal is better understood if one knows a fundamental fact: a large part of the tourists that Vigo receives during Christmas come precisely from Portugal. In fact, in December it is not unusual to find buses in the center loaded with visitors from the neighboring country. So much so that Vigo presume of being the main Christmas destination for the Portuguese, which in turn acts as the main foreign market of the campaign. Although the Galician city has advertised your Christmas United Kingdom, Italy or France, the proximity makes Portugal its great fishing ground for visitors. “Portugal discovered Christmas in Vigo. The city was Portugal’s favorite destination at Christmas. More than Madrid and Barcelona. In 2019 we were eighth, now the first. It is a very important qualitative leap,” … Read more

After renting swimming pools during the summer, a new business is on the rise in Madrid: private terraces in winter

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In a chalet in Boadilla del Monte, a group of friends drinks their wine as the afternoon falls. In the center of Madrid, a couple celebrates a birthday on a stranger’s terrace. In Lavapiés, a group of twenty-somethings toast in a room. In all cases, there is something in common: none of them are owners, but for a few hours they can pretend that they are. Madrid is rented in fragments: swimming pools in summer, terraces in autumn and lounges in winter. The everyday turned into a stage, intimacy turned into a product. Renting all year round. What started as a summer curiosity —renting private pools by the hour— has become a new form of urban leisure. Platforms like Cocopool, Born as the “Airbnb of water”now they also rent interiors for the rest of the year. However, behind this fashion there is something deeper than a simple leisure trend: an attempt to buy a life. aestheticthat ideal of calm, natural light and well-being that we see every day on social networks. From the dip to the shelter. Renting pools by the hour is still very popular and there are more and more platforms where you can choose where to take your next dip. What seemed like a seasonal business has become deseasonalized. In 2022 Cocopool launched as the “Airbnb of swimming pools”. Now, as explained by its CEO Gerard Xalabardéthe company has come up with “new verticals that cover the same needs the rest of the year.” In autumn and spring, users can rent terraces and gardens; in winter, private lounges with fireplace, sofas and equipped kitchen. In Madrid, the company has 15 interior spaces and 62 terraces or gardens, with prices ranging from 15 to 300 euros, depending on size and luxury. The average cost is around 32 euros for interiors and 34 for terraces, according to company data. The wish of a life aesthetic. This boom not only responds to a practical demand, but also to an aesthetic desire. Renting a well-kept terrace or a designer living room is not just about seeking comfort, but —as Xataka Home explains— “engage in an aspirational lifestyle, even if just for a few hours.” What used to materialize in Pinterest photos or TikTok videos is now experienced in the flesh: a garden with garlands, a light wooden table, a blue pool without background noise. According to Trendsthe phenomenon aesthetic It combines nostalgia for bygone eras with an obsession with the visually perfect: a life that seems orderly, beautiful and under control. In parallel, one could speak of “silent luxury” as the new form of exclusivity: minimalism, noble materials, neutral colors and absence of ostentation. In other words, renting a beige living room is not just leisure: it is a little aesthetic therapy to escape, for a few hours, from everyday clutter. “All for hours.” Pool rentals were just the beginning. The logic of sharing has been extended to almost any experience: terraces, gardens, living rooms, naps and even weddings. But beyond business ingenuity, there is a clear drift: the capitalization of any redoubt of private life. The intimate becomes the stage, the everyday becomes the product. Fewer and fewer things escape the logic of express rental. What was once shared among friends is now reserved with a card. What was rest is now sold as an experience. However, there are also those who find in these platforms a practical solution, not a fantasy. aesthetic. In a city where the flats they shrink and houses rarely allow more than six people to gather, renting a terrace or living room for a few hours can be a reasonable—and affordable—way to celebrate a birthday, a family reunion, or a meal with friends. Not everything is posturing: sometimes there is simply a lack of space. Although, in the words of geographer Vicent Molins, “Madrid has become a product.” And economist Juan Torres López warns that this trend “erodes urban ties and deepens inequality,” because it turns coexistence into business. In other words: if everything can be rented, everything can no longer belong to us. A copy of a copy. In just five years, Spain has gone from renting other people’s beds with Airbnb to renting moments of life: a pool, a terrace, a nap or, soon, a wedding. Everything is offered by the hour, everything is measured in experiences. Platforms like Cocopool, HolaPlace or Nap & Go They capitalize on a shared desire: to experience what we see on networks, even if it is for a while. A more orderly, beautiful, more aesthetic. Maybe, as El País warned“the brand grows, but the city gets worse for those who live in it.” Or maybe we’re just learning to put a price—literally—on what used to be free: the feeling of belonging, of having something of your own. Because, in the end, that life that we so long for on screens is nothing more than a copy of another copy. And we, paying to imitate her, are also a little bit. Image | FreePik Xataka | Neither air conditioning nor fan: the best thing to cool off in summer is a swimming pool. On these platforms they are rented by the hour

Marcus Licinius Crassus was the richest man in the Roman Empire thanks to an old business: real estate speculation

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Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison are the richest people in the world. Your personal assets It exceeds the annual GDP of many countries, which gives an idea of ​​the size of their wealth. However, that proportion of wealth is not exclusive to modern fortunes. Marcus Licinius Crassus was one of the richest men of the Roman Empire and his fortune was estimated to be equivalent to the entire annual budget of the Roman treasury. The most curious thing about the history of this Roman millionaire is that the way in which he amassed his fortune would not be out of place in Spain in the 20th or 21st century. Millionaire on father’s side The historian Plutarch was responsible for recording the life and work of Crassus in different chapters of ‘Parallel lives‘. Thanks to this work we know that Crassus amassed one of the most formidable fortunes in Ancient Rome. Marcus Licinius Crassus was born around the year 115 BC in Rome, into the Licinia gens, a family of plebeians with roots in the early days of the Roman Republic, so, although they did not enjoy a great fortune, let’s say that their economic situation was comfortable. His family had already held important consulates during the Republic, so they had a certain presence in Roman political life. His father, Publius Licinius Crassuswas consul in 97 BC, but during the civil war between the supporters of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (which took place between 88 and 82 BC), his father and brother were killed in those clashes, and the family lost their property. Bust of Marcus Licinius Crassus After the death of his family, Crassus inherited a small fortune, but had to flee to Hispania, where he hid for months. Later, he joined the side of the general and dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman general and dictator who defeated his rival Gaius Marius and ruled Rome from around 82 BC. Sulla supervised the entry of Marcus Crassus into the Senate and thus opened a way for Crassus to start building your wealth from a position of power and began to be known as Dives“the rich one.” According to his biographer Plutarch, Crassus began his political career with a fortune of 300 talents. According to the inventory of his fortune on the eve of his last campaign, his fortune reached 7,100 talents. Real estate speculation is not a modern invention The basis of Crassus’s extraordinary wealth was the massive purchase of property confiscated from political enemies during Sulla’s rule. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla took control of Rome, those who opposed him lost their properties, and these were sold at very low prices. Crassus bought almost all of them for prices well below the market price. In Rome it was common for the insulaebuildings built of wood and cement crowded together on several floors, they would burn to make fire inside, and it would jump from building to building burning entire neighborhoods. Remains of a Roman insulae As his fortune grew, Marcus Crassus bought more and more slaves that he would use to make his fortune grow even more, forming a small army of more than 500 highly qualified slaves such as architects, bricklayers, carpenters, etc. The Roman millionaire, aware that the fires of the insulae They used to extend to several buildings, he created a brigade of slaves who acted as firefighters and, it was rumored, also arsonists. As and how did he count The CountryCrassus arrived at the fires and offered the owners of the burning buildings and their neighbors ridiculous amounts of money for the property. Faced with the imminence of being left with nothing left over from the flames or having it collapse, they could at least recover part of their investment, so many accepted the sale. Only at that moment, his army of slaves went into action and put out the fire. Afterwards, the rest of the slave architects and builders restored the building, and then resold it, making an enormous profit from its sale because, after all, slave labor was free. As and how do they count In National Geographic, his slaves were even more valuable than the silver mines and land he also owned. According to Plutarch’s story, this strategy helped the skillful negotiator Crassus to gain a good part of the insulae from Rome. Plutarch said that Crassus always built for speculation, never for his own enjoyment. Crassus’ excessive ambition led him to negotiate with Julius Caesar and Pompey the creation of the First Triumvirate, although in reality Crassus’ aspirations were more about obtaining the granting of public contracts and perks for his businesses than the good government of Rome. In fact, hated Pompey. His downfall: exchanging ambition for envy However, as his fortune and political position increased, Crassus yearned for more than wealth. He sought military glory. In 72 BC he received command to end the slave rebellion led by Spartacuswhich had the support of an army made up of between 70,000 and 120,000 slaves who rose up. Marcus Crassus managed to defeat a large part of the rebels and crucified 6,000 slaves along 200 km of the Appian Way as punishment and warning to the rest of the rebels. However, many of them managed to escape, and it was his hated political partner Pompey who managed to hunt them down, putting an end to all the work that Crassus had done. By giving the final blow to the revolt, Pompey took all the credit for the victory, being received in Rome with all the honors of the laurel crown, while Crassus had to settle for a discreet owatta minor recognition. Orodes II, king of the Parthians Crassus did not give up in his attempt to demonstrate his superiority against Pompey and tried to expand his conquests and fortune by facing Pompey. to births in Syriabut his defeat in the Battle of Carras (53 BC) was catastrophic on a strategic level. There he died along with … Read more

Building data centers in space was the new hot business. Elon Musk just broke it with a tweet

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The debate over the feasibility of building gigantic data centers in orbit had been heating up for months. It is Silicon Valley’s new big idea to solve the insatiable energy appetite of artificial intelligence. Until, as usual, Elon Musk has entered the conversation with the subtlety of a hammer. Elon Musk has joined the chat. After weeks of debate about the feasibility of building servers in space, Eric Berger, editor of Ars Technica, argued that will end up being a more plausible option when the technology exists to assemble satellites in orbit autonomously. It was the moment chosen by Elon Musk to enter the conversation. “It will be enough to scale the Starlink V3 satellites, which have high-speed laser links,” wrote the CEO of SpaceX. “SpaceX is going to do it,” he said. A phrase that has probably fallen like a blow on startups that are taking advantage of the momentum of AI to go out in search of financing. Why the hell do we want servers in space? The idea of ​​moving computing to Earth orbit responds to a very real crisis: AI is an energy monster, and Demand for data centers continues to grow. Given this panorama, space offers two advantages that are impossible on Earth: Almost unlimited energy: In a sun-synchronous orbit, solar panels receive sunlight almost continuously (more than 95% of the time). Free Cooling: Land-based data centers consume millions of liters of fresh water to cool. With a large enough radiator, the gap can be “an infinite heatsink at -270°C.” The heat would be radiated into the vacuum without wasting a single drop of water. The new titans of space AI. Musk is not the first to see the business. In fact, he arrives at a party where the first contracts are already being distributed. Jeff Bezos predicted during the Italian Tech Week that we will see “giant training clusters” of AI in orbit in the next 10 or 20 years. Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, bought rocket company Relativity Space precisely for this purpose. And Nvidia, the undisputed king of AI hardware, has actively backed startup Starcloud, which plans to launch the first NVIDIA H100 GPU into space this November, with the goal of eventually building a monster 5-gigawatt orbital data center. Why Musk would win. The vision of Bezos, Schmidt and Starcloud faces two colossal obstacles: the cost of launch and the construction of the servers themselves. Calculations for a 1 GW data center would require more than 150 launches with current technology. And Starcloud’s plan for a 4 kilometer wide array is a logistical nightmare. Elon Musk has Starship, the giant rocket on which all of his competitors’ business models depend to be profitable. And you don’t need build a new orbital data center. Just adapt and scale the one you already have. 10,000 satellites and counting. SpaceX’s Starlink constellation no longer competes against satellite internet, goes for terrestrial fiber. Musk’s company has already launched 10,000 satellites and is preparing the deployment of the new V3 satellites, designed for Starship with high-speed laser links. According to SpaceX itself, each Starship launch will add 60 terabits per second of capacity to a network that is already, in practice, a global computing and data mesh. While Starcloud needs to hire a rocket and assemble 4km-wide solar and cooling panels, Musk simply needs Starship to finish development to continue launching satellites. In Xataka | Starlink stopped competing with satellite Internet companies a long time ago: now it is going for something much bigger

The two largest travel agencies in Spain fight to sell trips to Disney. This is the business of children’s dreams

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Ávoris has lost the exclusivity it maintained in Spain to market trips to the Disney parks. El Corte Inglés Travel obtained authorization in May to distribute these packages through its Smytravel platform, breaking a monopoly that allowed its great rival to consolidate its leadership in the ranking of Spanish travel agencies. Now both giants compete directly for the same pie: the 500 independent agencies integrated into Traveltool and the thousands of Spanish families who ask about the price of a trip to Disney every year. Why is it important. Disney is not just another product: it is the star product of family tourism in Spain (and increasingly even for adults without children). Its parks received 142 million visitors in 2024, almost doubling its closest competitor, and Disneyland Paris is the loose leader. This trip is sold almost exclusively through physical agencies, generates high margins and attracts families who are especially willing to spend a lot of money to make their children’s dreams come true. Whoever controls Disney controls a substantial part of the family travel business. The background. The exclusivity of Ávoris has never pleased its competitors: For years, agencies that wanted to sell Disney had to resort to the group’s tour operators: LePlan and Touring Club. That made Ávoris the inevitable intermediary of a business with guaranteed demand. This privileged situation used to generate recurring complaints in the sector for what they considered unjustified favorable treatment. Yes, but. Ávoris has not sat idly by. It has launched improvements to the LePlan and Touring Club platforms with a new centralized page that offers training, inspirational content and tools to design personalized Disney experiences. The answer comes weeks after Tourmundial (the brand of El Corte Inglés) announce combined packages to Disneyland Paris with accommodation, transportation, tickets and complementary services. Between the lines. This trade war points to something deeper in Spanish society: the touristification of childhood. Going to Disney has become an almost obligatory milestone, a natural extension of the first communion as a rite of passage and as an experience that “must be lived.” Not taking your children to see Mickey and company can generate a feeling of social exclusion, as if the experience were an essential requirement for a complete childhood. So agencies don’t just sell trips, they sell the feeling of tranquility from meeting social expectations and the fulfillment of the child. In Xataka | The incredible story of the couple who lived at Disneyland for 15 years without the visitors realizing it Featured image | Capricorn song

Correos is desperate to find the business that will save it from the red numbers. And that has led her to selling insurance

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There was a time (not so long ago) when Correos was basically an intermediary, a company you went to to send letters, postcards or packages. That’s how it grew. And thus he strengthened his brand for decades. The changes in demand and fierce competition in the logistics sector have, however, forced the public company to reinvent yourselfan endeavor in which he has been engaged for years without this having allowed him to abandon the red numbers that weigh down their accounts. What has altered is its relationship with users. The last (and most revealing) example is left the decision of Correos to market insurance taking advantage of its vast network of offices and postmen, which has already earned it the union reproach. What has happened? That Correos has led a curious movement in its efforts to diversify income and leave behind the red numbers. a few months ago reached an agreement with the company AXA to market its private insurance. The alliance was announced in spring, when it was applied in 32 offices with a view to expanding to more than 800 branches throughout the country over the months. At that time, the Post Office detailed which would initially be dedicated to distributing policies for vehicles, homes, health and life and death insurance, although without closing the doors to expanding that offering to “any product” from AXA. Why is it news now? The agreement It closed in February and Correos began to market AXA insurance in mayupon registration as exclusive agent. The initiative has now made headlines again for a reason that has more to do with form than substance, although it gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the public company is committed to diversifying its services. CCOO has denounced that the company is entrusting postmen in rural areas with the task of selling policies, “a function completely unrelated to their traditional delivery work.” “Instead of strengthening the public service and hiring more staff, the management is dedicated to improvising and diverting work towards commercial tasks that have nothing to do with Correos’ mission,” ditch CCOO, which warns from its office in Castilla y León: “The viability of the company cannot be reduced to the sale of insurance by rural postmen. Correos cannot become a network of street vendors. Its function is to communicate, connect territories and guarantee rights, not do business with private insurance.” Why is it important? Because of the context, which is as or even more important than the measure itself. Insurance is not the public company’s first bet to strengthen its accounts in a challenging context, marked by the collapse in postal demand and an increasingly disputed parcel sector, in which it has to compete with multinationals and is losing market share. It’s nothing new. Years ago the company already launched one of its bets more ambitious: Post Marketa space of its own e-commerce who aspired to become ‘Amazon Post Office’. The objective: to take advantage of the boom in online commerce with a differentiated commitment to mark distances from giants such as Amazon or eBay, a “market for local products in which national producers and artisans (…) come together with online buyers.” In the presentation of the platform, in 2020, in fact focused on those two concepts, “local” and “artisan”. Today in Post Market It can be found from food and drinks to beauty, home, toys, fashion and pharmacy items. Have there been more initiatives? Yes. A few. In an attempt to find its place again, the company has opted for prepaid cardsthe telephony and fiber or the marketing of O2 servicesfrom Telefónica. In recent years he has also experimented with such ambitious projects as Correos Cargoan air parcel transport service in the Latin America-Europe-Asia axis, and even studied launching to commercial rail transport with the help of Renfe. Why this effort? Because Corres is very big. A lot. And the scenario in which he has to deal has changed. A lot too. With more than 50,000 employees and 2,000 offices it is usually said which is the largest public company in Spain. And how recently recognized to elDiario its strategy director, José Miguel Moreno, the company has been faced with the delicate situation of reinventing itself or disappearing. “Society is transforming and postal operators either do it or die.” It’s not just theory. According to the data revealed a few months ago by ABCLast year, Correos recorded losses worth 95 million euros, a hole that widens the carryover in previous years and that even has taken its toll to the accounts of the State Industrial Participation Company, to which it is linked. And how to turn it around? The million dollar question. That is what Correos has sought in part with its Strategic Plan 2024-2028, validated a little over a year ago by SEPI and that aspires to “transform, recover and reposition” the company to “change its business model.” With this purpose, it aims to reinforce its weight in the postal sector, give a boost to parcel delivery and “increase and diversify income” through “new activities, such as financial services, administrative procedures, insurance marketing or logistics services.” If in 2023 the postal business represented around 66% of income of the public company, followed by 24% from parcel delivery and 10% from “diversification” (“new lines of business”), the idea for 2028 is to turn the tables by making these quotas represent (respectively) 49, 35 and 16%. The goal: “Reverse the losses to end the period with an Ebitda margin of 6%, a consolidated profit situation and a healthy financial position.” Are they all challenges? No. The scenario may be complicated, as demonstrated by the fact that Correos can’t quite find the key to gain market share or the challenges it has encountered in its commitment to insurance marketing, but the company still has two good assets. Both closely interconnected. The first is its geographic penetration and vast network of operators and offices. The second, its focus as a “provider of essential services.” … Read more

OpenAI has turned ChatGPT into mainstream AI. In the business world the game is being won by its great rival

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Anthropic is nowhere near as well-known as OpenAI, but its AI model, Claude, is gaining traction almost unnoticed. Perhaps because he is doing it in a somewhat more opaque sector like that of companies. at least like this I pointed it out this summer a study by Menlo Ventures that certainly paints an interesting picture for this corporate AI war. Overtaking on the right. The data of that company venture capital companies reveal that at the beginning of 2023 OpenAI dominated the business segment with its AI models: it had a 50% share, when Anthropic barely had 12%. In July the situation had changed radically, and while OpenAI had reduced its share to 25%, Anthropic had managed to grow it to 32%. Source: Menlo Ventures. Companies bet on Claude. According to data from OpenAI itself, the company already has 800 million users. A small part of them already use a paid subscription, and that has allowed annual revenue to rise to $13 billion by 2025. Of them, 30% come from companies. Anthropic itself points out that revenues in 2025 will be about 5,000 million dollars – although they may end the year with 9,000 – but 80% of them come from business clients, whose number now amounts to 300,000. The difference is notable. The programmers, protagonists. The Menlo Ventures report further argues that there is one type of professional user that is especially important in those numbers: programmers. In fact, Anthropic’s market share among developers is 42%, while OpenAI’s is 21%. A priori and according to this data, the developers’ preference is clear: they like Claude more than ChatGPT—and specific products, Claude Code and OpenAI Codex—when it comes to programming. Source: Menlo Ventures. Companies pay more easily. This reality seems to make it clear that for business users the benefits seem to be clearer and that is why companies do not seem to have qualms when it comes to paying for subscriptions to these AI models. Not only in programming, but for example in legal or administrative departments is where ChatGPT or Claude can improve productivity and save work for professionals, who pay to be able to use these options without the limitations of free plans. Even Microsoft signs up. Anthropic’s reputation is making companies traditionally linked to OpenAI also want to start betting on its models. This is what happened with Microsoft, which in September announced that Claude would be available in the Copilot suite in addition to ChatGPT. Meanwhile, OpenAI conquers the ordinary user. OpenAI’s approach is quite different. Although it obviously has part of its business focused on companies, its latest movements are very focused on attracting the largest possible number of users. The launch of Sora 2 and its social network Sora, and the recent presentation of the ChatGPT Atlas browser – which of course can also be used by professionals – indicate this. But. The data that puts Anthropic in this excellent position among companies comes from the Menlo Ventures study, but this company is an interested party because one of the startups in which it has invested is precisely Anthropic. Not only that, it is a common criticism among Anthropic users that their models are comparatively more expensive than those of competitors like OpenAI. These conclusions from the Menlo Ventures study may therefore be subject to suspicion. Image | Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2023 In Xataka | Anthropic has seen what OpenAI is doing with its circular financing and has decided that you only live once

OpenAI has become the “Fast Food” of AI. And that means that for Sam Altman the business is attention, not AGI

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It was sung that OpenAI was going to launch its browser, so the Yesterday launch of the Atlas browser It didn’t take us too much by surprise. What is important is the fact that the company does not stop constantly releasing products and services. The pace is the most extraordinary we have experienced in recent years, and the obvious question is, what is OpenAI pursuing with this strategy? OpenAI is the great machine churros AI products of the world. In recent weeks we have seen how OpenAI has not stopped launching new AI services and products that have managed to flood the market. Some examples: And that’s not counting the Recently announced agreements with NVIDIA, AMD and Broadcom which make it clear that the pace of OpenAI announcements is absolutely dizzying: too many new things too often. Because? The hype race as a business priority. That extraordinary flurry of releases suggests that OpenAI’s big corporate priority is not so much the vaunted pursuit of AGI as it is dominating the conversation and, above all, the attention economy. What OpenAI wants is for us to be constantly talking about it, and the truth is that these launches are not exactly small: they all pose notable changes in its ecosystem and in the technology industry itself. Smokescreen. And such frenzy also acts as a strategic smokescreen. With this bombardment of releases (browser, applications, SDKs, improved models), Altman and his team not only generate more hype, but saturate the competitive space. Rivals barely have time to assimilate or replicate a feature when the next one has already been announced. Towards an operating system. The launch of Atlas is an especially significant move. With it it seems to be clear that OpenAI no longer wants to be a simple layer, the engine of AI, but a complete operating environment in the style of WeChat or the App Store. In fact wants to be the Windows of AIbut either it turns out well, or it is going to be the mother of all bubbles. Expectations attract new users (and investors). These constant movements also mean that these products also generate new expectations, even if only temporarily. OpenAI has managed to partly conquer the attention economy with launches such as Studio Ghibli style images or more recently with Sora. This has allowed it to attract millions more free users, which the company then tries to convert into paying users. Not only that: its growth also helps investors want to participate in the company’s multimillion-dollar investment rounds. And the AGI, what? And while all these launches are taking place, we see how the holy grail of AI, getting a general artificial intelligence (AGI), seems to take a backseat. It is as if that speech had become an empty mantra or a long-term goal that is not credible in the middle of this chaos. Altman has achieved replace philosophical conversation —the one that caused the hypothetical arrival of the AGI— due to a consumer conversation. The Fast Food of AI. The AI ​​ecosystem that OpenAI is creating has adopted a consumption pattern similar to that we experience on social networks: fast and ephemeral, based on the latest viral news. The Studio Ghibli-style visuals were exciting for a couple of weeks, and the same has happened with Sora 2, but that “wow” effect fades quickly. What is OpenAI doing to revive the hype again? Launch a new product. Atlas is the latest example. Seeking to be a de facto monopoly. With all these movements, OpenAI continues to attract more and more users and dominate the conversation and gain attention. That may not get you what you really need (income) at the moment, but it solidifies your absolute benchmark position and helps make it what you’re really looking for: the de facto monopoly of AI. Image | Mariia Shalabaieva In Xataka | ChatGPT will let you have erotic conversations. Welcome to emotional intimacy with an AI

The rise comes just when he is considering selling part of his business

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Warner Bros. Discovery has once again touched one of the most sensitive keys in the entertainment market: the price of HBO Max. The company has announced in the United States a new increase that coincides with a stage of internal transformation, marked by the review of its divisions and conversations with potential buyers. The movement confirms that the period of low prices to attract subscribers is fading. Instead, the giants of the sector seek to consolidate their business, even at the cost of raising rates. While new increases are announced in the United States, in Spain theirs is about to be applied. The adjustment was communicated at the end of September and will come into force this October 23with prices ranging from 6.99 euros per month in the basic plan with ads to 15.99 in the premium, and an annual option of 109 euros. It is the first rate review in quite some time and, according to the information available, there is no confirmation that it will be repeated in the immediate future. In the United States, the increase is already effective. Starting this October 21, new HBO Max subscribers pay between one and two dollars more per month depending on their plan. The basic one with ads now costs $10.99, the standard one $18.49 and the premium one $22.99. Current monthly customers will see the increase reflected in their next bill, starting November 20, while annual customers will notice it when they renew. Warner Bros. Discovery has assured that everyone will receive at least 30 days’ notice. A long anticipated move. In September, its CEO, David Zaslav, publicly acknowledged that the company saw room to charge more for its services. “We believe we are well below the price,” stated during a conference at Goldman Sachs. That idea sums up the moment the industry is experiencing: many platforms are seeking profitability after years of accelerated expansion. For now, nothing indicates that HBO Max will raise prices again in Spain in the short term. The company has not communicated any additional adjustments beyond the one that comes into effect this October 23. In any case, it is advisable to be especially attentive to subscription renewals and promotions from this moment on. On the verge of a large-scale transformation. The company has confirmed that it is moving forward with its plan to divide into two companies before 2026: one dedicated to streaming and content production, and another to the international television business. In recent months, the company has received interest from several firms and an offer from Paramount Skydance. According to its CEO, David Zaslav, the objective is “to identify the best way to value all the group’s assets.” Images | HBO Max In Xataka | That Apple is going to broadcast F1 is just the tip of the iceberg: its plan to become “the iTunes of sports”

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