clients

TicketMaster executives privately admit what their clients have suspected for years:

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Slack messages exchanged in 2022 between two regional directors by Live Nation (declassified this past March 12 in full antitrust trial) describe their own clients as “idiots” from whom they are “robbing hands full.” These are not mere private outbursts: they are involuntary testimony to how a company that controls 80% of the primary ticket sales market in the US works. It is no surprise to those who have been paying parking fees of $250 for a Kid Rock concert for years. But seeing it in writing has a special weight. What they said. Ben Baker, then regional director of ticketing for Live Nation venues in Florida and Jeff Weinhold, senior director in the Virginia area, had been exchanging views on their work for months. In one conversation, Baker boasted about what he was doing with the add-ons that raised the base price of a Kid Rock concert in Tampa Bay. Baker wrote that the customers were “stupid” and that he almost felt sorry for taking advantage of them. Weinhold responded that he had VIP parking for $250. Baker’s retort: ​​They were “robbing them hand over fist, baby, that’s how we do it.” and there is more details: Baker speaks of income of $124,790 in upsells (upgraded tickets, VIP tickets, or better seats) for a Dead & Co. concert, followed by Weinhold’s suggestion to dynamically raise prices before sending the marketing email. “LOL. I’m evil,” Weinhold wrote. Baker used the internal term “dyn up” to refer to raising prices through dynamic pricing. There are also conversations about designing the purchasing interface so that artist names appear next to the upsellsa technique that Baker himself admitted to having “stolen” from the competition. Beyond the anecdote. Live Nation tried to keep the messages from reaching the jury. Their lawyers downplayed them, and when they became public, the company issued a statement attributing them to “a junior employee talking to a friend.” It is not clear Which of the two regional directors with responsibility for pricing are referred to as “junior.” Lawyers for the plaintiff states argued precisely that they are not irrelevant messages: artists have no interest in milking their fans, but Live Nation can do it because artists have nowhere else to go. The giant controls approximately 80% of the ticketing in large US venues and 60% of concert promotion, according to data cited during the trial. The construction of the empire. This vertical concentration was not built overnight. The merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster was approved in 2010 and created a model in which the same company promotes the tour, manages the venue and sells tickets. After, Ticketmaster also began to charge commissions for resale among fans, which was especially noticeable during the pre-sale of Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras ​​Tour’ in 2022, when the collapse of the system led to a Justice Department investigation and hearings in Congress. And the dynamic pricing model has already been successfully exported (pecuniary) all over the world. The agreement. On March 9, the DOJ and Live Nation agreed to a surprise settlement that ended federal involvement in the trial without the judge being informed until the last minute. The terms required the company to limit its service fees to 15%, cut exclusive contracts with venues to four years, divest from 13 amphitheaters and open its marketplace to competitors like SeatGeek. The agreed payment amounts to between 280 and 300 million dollars for the states that accept the agreement. What the pact does not contemplate is the separation of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. And now. More than 27 states, including New York, California and Illinois, rejected the federal settlement and decided to pursue the lawsuit on their own, since the crucial monopoly issue had not been addressed. Furthermore, the case is not exclusively American. In September 2024, the European Commission launched an investigation into Ticketmaster following the Oasis pricing scandal in the UK, where tickets went from £135 to £350 in a matter of minutes during the sale. The Live Nation model is neither an accident nor a deviation. Baker and Weinhold’s chats reveal, and this is the truly uncomfortable part, that company policy has been exactly what it seemed to be for years. In Xataka | Spotify killed the record and the industry pivoted to concerts. Netflix killed cinema and the industry was left with a “space crisis”

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

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

clients VS rooms without doors in the bathrooms

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If you travel frequently, it’s probably happened to you. You arrive at the hotel, tired, wanting to take a good shower, and suddenly you realize that the room you are going to share with your brother, a friend or a co-worker has a small problem: there is no door in the bathroom. The beds are soft, the closet is spacious, the room is spacious and well-lit, but there is nothing to isolate the toilet from the rest of the room. So… How the hell do you shower or use the toilet without the other person seeing/hearing everything? There are those who have said ‘Enough’. What has happened? Fed up with finding more and more hotels that do away with the doors that should separate the bathroom from the rest of the room, recently a tiktoker named Sadie had a curious idea: launch a crusade against this trend in accommodation design. Literally. The young woman created a website and several profiles in networks from which he dedicates himself to two things. First, denounce hotels that have banished toilet doors. Second, promote others who remain faithful to the idea that when you enter a bathroom (whether it is your home, office, a restaurant or a hotel located on the other side of the planet) what you want is privacy. After all, you don’t always share a room with people you trust enough to take a shower or use the sink in plain view. @bring_back_doors Hotel Name 👇👇👇 Riu Plaza Times Square New York City, NY, USA I don’t know if I can make a difference, but I do know it’s not too late for the hotel industry. The airline industry is a lost cause, but only a few hotels have really hopped on this glass trend, which means it’s very possible to always make sure you are giving your money to hotels with proper bathroom doors. Find hotels with proper doors visit BringBackDoors.com Hotel submitted by many people, photo from Google images. Submit your own bad hotels by sending me a DM with the hotel name, location, and door type (none, glass, or sliding). If you have a photo I’ll (try to) post it, but either way it will be added to the website. #hotel #bathroom #hoteldesignfail Bathroom doors | hotel bathrooms | hotel privacy | no privacy | travel problems | hotel issues | travel | hotel design | hotel design fail | hotel designers | design fail | concept hotel | bathrooms | hotel recommendations | hotels in NYC | NYC hotels | new york hotels | visit nyc | visit new york city | travel to new york ♬ original sound – Bring Back Bathroom Doors But… Why? Sadie explains it clearly in her Bring Back Doors websitein which he has posted a kind of manifesto in which he proclaims his hatred towards businesses that have decided to do without doors. “I can’t stand arriving at hotels and discovering that they have removed the bathroom door. Something that should be as common as having a bed has been sacrificed in the name of aesthetics,” the young woman laments. “That’s why I created this website, where I compile hotels that guarantee doors in the bathrooms and others that need to work on their privacy.” To that end Sadie assures who has sent emails to “hundreds” of accommodations to ask them two questions: Do their toilets have doors? And if so… Are they glass? “Everyone who says yes to closing doors and no to glass doors has been sorted by price range and city so you can easily find accommodation,” the manifesto continues published on Brongbackdoors.com, which invites all users who come across hotels that leave their toilets exposed to report it by sending an email. Thanks to these collaborations, the website includes a list of businesses in different cities around the world that do and do not have open toilets. @bring_back_doors Hotel Name 👇👇👇 Pendry Hotel San Diego, CA, USA I get it, you save a few inches on every room and eventually you get to make an extra room without any noticing. That doesn’t mean I accept it. Find hotels with proper doors visit BringBackDoors.com Photo submitted by @allisonsmyname (Hotel submitted by so many people) Submit your own bad hotels by sending me a DM with the hotel name, location, and door type (none, glass, or sliding). If you have a photo I’ll (try to) post it, but either way it will be added to the website. #hotel #bathroom #hoteldesignfail Bathroom doors | hotel bathrooms | hotel privacy | no privacy | travel problems | hotel issues | travel | hotel design | hotel design fail | hotel designers | design fail | concept hotel | bathrooms | hotel recommendations | hotels in San Diego | san diego hotels | hotels in california | visit san diego | san diego tourism | visit California ♬ original sound – Bring Back Bathroom Doors Why do without doors? The tiktoker ventures with a theory that explains the increase in accommodations that banish toilet doors. They do it, he says, because it allows them to save on materials and make their rooms look larger without having to invest more money. “And my dignity?” he wonders the young woman, clearly upset. She is not the only one who uses that explanation. A year ago Thrillist already published an article (‘Where have all the hotel bathroom doors gone?’, is titled) in which he slips that the beginning of the trend probably dates back to the Japanese capsule hotelsa notion (that of ‘microhotel’) that has not taken long to expand to Western countries. Behind doorless bathrooms, however, there would not only be a practical issue. The phenomenon is also explained by design and psychology. Without doors, spaces appear larger and this generates a feeling of spaciousness, a highly appreciated value in large cities. Are there so many cases? Thrillist assures that the problem is not just hotels without doors. The same feeling of discomfort … Read more

While OpenAI takes all the media glory with ChatGPT, Alibaba is already taking important clients with Qwen. The latest: Airbnb

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Alibaba has been investing in its family of open language models for quite some time.qwen‘, which are gaining increasing acceptance between developers and users. Although OpenAI takes all the media glory with ChatGPT and the rest of the services, the Chinese firm is not short and already is overtaking him with some clients. The latest example: Airbnb, which has chosen to rely mostly on Alibaba’s Qwen AI model for its automated customer service, leaving ChatGPT in a secondary role. Airbnb’s decision. Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of the tourist accommodation platform, explained Bloomberg this week that his company “heavily relies” on Alibaba’s Qwen model. As he admitted to the outlet, ChatGPT’s integration capabilities “are not quite ready” for Airbnb’s needs. On the other hand, Chesky assured that Qwen is “very good, fast and cheap.” It is curious, especially considering that Chesky is a personal friend of Sam Altman, head of OpenAI. How the system works. Airbnb’s customer service agent, which the company deployed to all its users Americans in English last May, is built on 13 different AI models, including those from OpenAI, Google and open source providers. However, Chesky recognized that, although they use the latest OpenAI models, “we usually don’t use them much in production because there are faster and cheaper models.” Just like point the company, the system has allowed them to cut their human workforce by 15% and claims to have saved average resolution time, going from almost three hours to just six seconds. Open source is gaining ground. Open source models, which developers can modify as they wish, are increasingly challenging closed systems like those from OpenAI. Although the company also has an open model (gpt-oss), Chinese tech companies are releasing models much faster, more cost-effectively, and open source. Joe Tsai, president of Alibaba, declared recently that the winner in AI should be determined by “who can adopt it the fastest,” not “who creates the most powerful model.” A future integration with ChatGPT in the air. Although Airbnb is awaiting the development of ChatGPT app integrations and could consider a collaboration in the future, similar to those of its competitors Booking and Expedia, the platform is not currently among the first applications available on the OpenAI chatbot. Chesky even advised to OpenAI about its new ability for third-party developers to integrate their applications into ChatGPT, a feature that the company announced this month and which he described as a “developer preview.” And now what. Airbnb plans expand its AI agent with support in Spanish and French this fall, and 56 more languages ​​next year. Meanwhile, the company claims to be betting on new social functions to foster connections between users and improve travel recommendations within the application. For Chesky, these features are “probably the most differentiated part of Airbnb.” Cover image | Unsplash (Oberon Copeland), Wikimedia In Xataka | OpenAI is no longer a startup. Now it is a black hole of 500,000 million that threatens the world economy

that some Tesla clients go to diesel

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Tesla is losing the battle for the loyalty of her clients in the US since Elon Musk began His political adventure and Tesla stagnated in the renewal or expansion of its electric cars. A Global S&P report reveals that many Tesla users are changing to other brands, and some are even driving cars with diesel engines. This fall in the loyalty of Tesla users is a thermometer for the reach of the brand reputation crisismore than a change in trend in the electric car market in general. The elephant in the room. Tesla is not living its best commercial moment. Even though their shareholders trigger the price of their actions promoted by the enthusiasm that has caused the Elon Musk Billonario BonusTesla’s sales do not trace. According The published By Euronews, the data of the Association of European Automobile Constructors (ACEA) suggest that Tesla has suffered a sales drop of 40%, and only in July the company sold 42.4% less in the EU. The bad news for Tesla are that this fall It is not generalized throughout the sector of the electric car. In comparison, during the month of July its main rival, Byd, put on the street 200% more cars than in the previous registry, ensuring a market share of 1.1% in the EU, while Tesla remains at 0.7%, falling from 2.1% share that the brand signed in 2024. That means that Tesla still has an important weight in the electric car market, but it is no longer a priority option because the market It has become much more competitive in prices and models. The stagnation of Tesla. Tesla’s reputation has been seriously affected Since Elon Musk began to get involved in politics. According to A report From the S&P Global consultant, in the second quarter of 2025, the loyalty of customers in the US to Tesla fell 9.4% compared to the previous year. This percentage places the brand below Ford, although even above Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda or Mercedes-Benz. This Down in Loyalty to Tesla On the part of its clients it is not due to a loss of reliability of their cars as it could happen in other cases, but to its decisions as a company. Many Tesla users decide not to return to Buy a car Tesla and look for rival brands that offer broader ranges and equipment options that Tesla no longer offers. As a relevant fact, with the exception of Cybertruck, which is not available in all markets, Tesla does not present a new model Since 2019 with Model Y. During that time, the electric car market has been filled with options for all sizes, prices and finishes that do connect with the needs of Tesla users and, when it is time to renew it, they opt for other brands. Tesla is an atypical manufacturer. Tesla’s problem with respect to those who are already customers is that it is not a car manufacturer to use, but in the background it is a software manufacturer and electrical infrastructure. That is, its business model is not based on taking out a new car every three or four years like the rest of the manufacturers, but on creating a platform and updating its software to improve its benefits throughout its useful life. That makes, when a Tesla user seeks to renew his car, he does not find in the concessionaire A new model that makes him feel that he is buying something more modern and current, but that he meets the same car that has parked In his garage, with some aesthetic touch -ups at most. As much as at the software level they have Improved and added new functions and benefits during that time. The electric car user is not loyal. The Global S&P study data show that, in general, the electric car customer is not faithful to a single brand, not even a type of fuel. So far this year, only 58.7% of households with electric car changed to another electric, compared to 68% registered two years ago. On the other hand, combustion car users do remain on this platform when they change car by 84%, although the study indicates that they gradually lose strength in the market. The Tesla client is no different. If we focus on Tesla users, in 2025, only 52.1% of Tesla customers repeated purchase with the brand, compared to 67% recorded in 2022 and 2023. Of those who decided not to buy a tesla again, 68.9% did so to an electric car of another brand, while 31% made a more drastic change and went to combustion cars, being 28% diesel This last fact is striking, since diesel cars are very uninfused in the United States and are mainly available in pick-ups and large SUVs, which leaves Cybertruck in Very bad position Among the purchase options for this segment. In Xataka | Tesla has a good reason to offer a bill bonus to Elon Musk: it is no longer his golden egg chicken Image | Flickr (Gage Skidmore), Xataka

Hertz hired an AI company so that his clients felt safe by returning cars. Are more insecure than ever

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“I only have one problem, I am too perfectionist.” No, if you have thought about saying this in your next job interview, I would say you park the idea aside. And I would say that it is not the best idea if you want the work to move forward efficiently. It can be very effective but very little efficient. If you have doubts, ask Hertz. What happened? Hertz is one of the large rental cars companies. In his search to clarify the possible conflicts with customers about whether or not that scrape was before taking the car keys, the company associated with Uveye in April and since then it has been deploying verifier tunnels in the airports that analyze the state of the car. In its statementHertz pointed out that “AI -driven camera systems and Uveye automatic learning algorithms allow automated inspections in real time of the body, glass or tires.” The ultimate goal is to give “greater precision to our maintenance process, so that we can focus on our vehicles being ready when and where our customers want them.” Too much precision. And what if they have achieved precision. As soon as a few months have passed before the company has to face its first controversy. At the International Airport Hartsfield-Jackson From Atlanta, in the US, the system has already been mounted and one of the clients already knows what it is to face the scrutiny of the AI. Patrick, a client who had rented a Hertz car, found a $ 440 sanction by the company. This alleges that the customer marked the car with a scratch of 2.5 centimeters. With the contract signed by Patrick, the company defends that the driver must pay almost half of that amount for the repair of the car and, in addition, pay $ 125 for the processing and another $ 65 to administrative expenses. This reached the sum of more than 400 dollars. Nail clients. The client, they explain in The Drivehe refused to pay for the damage after seeing the images provided by the company that, through an application they advanced that, as if it were the soon payment of a fine of the DGT, he would receive a bonus of 50 euros. But Patrick’s case is not the only one. Carscoop He explains that more than one client has had problems with the artificial intelligence system that Hertz’s cars is reviewing. The problem, they say, is that the system is failing on some occasions, either ignoring friction in cars or by giving bodies that do not have any damage. There is nothing. This last medium echoes a client who has told his Reddit experience (Akkasca of user name). There he presented his case. Before leaving the car at Houston airport, Texas, she checked that everything was in order. The tunnel passed without novelty but when he already set up to the terminal, a notification came to the mobile phone that there was a body damage. Strange, he went to the car again and found that the detail shown by the AI should only be a reflection. He decided to record a video and, subsequently, present it as proof to Hertz. However, he says, the rent is washed and says that she has to talk to those responsible for the company of AI who, in turn, have dismissed the video in which nothing is seen. This is not. Chaos has also been followed by New York Post. The media indicates that among the few solutions that are there is, obviously, not to rent a Hertz car where they have implemented the tunnels with AI. The problem: at the end of the year they hope to have 100 operating tunnels distributed throughout the United States. The problem would be such if it were not for the small detail that the AI is not only being extremely careful on some occasions or making errors for the incident light in the body. As if that were not enough, there are friction that does not contemplate and, therefore, the next client runs the risk of being accused of touching a car that was already damaged. The solution should be to record a video in which the status of the car is shown before getting on it but we have already seen that in case of error Hertz’s clients are not obtaining the best response from the company. In fact, The New York Times It tells the story of a client who was sanctioned by the AI with more than $ 100 dollars despite the fact that a Hertz employee had verified that the car had been delivered correctly. Photo | Uveye In Xataka | We are less and less owners of our cars. The renting in Spain accelerates even between individuals

Many clients are no longer believed that who is attending to them is not an AI

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Customer service is one of the most susceptible departments of being replaced by AI agents, such and As we have seen In recent months. Although the experiment They have not gone quite well To some of them, other companies keep their chatbots as the first line of attention of their customers. Such and as they counted in Bloombergthat is generating an unusual situation when those who attend to customers are human of flesh and blood: they confuse them With an AI and are forced to constantly demonstrate that they are real people. AI in the call-centers. Although the recent movements of the great technological ones pointed out that the customer service departments were going to be the first to notice the Impact of AI on employmentthe truth is that, According to data From the Gartner consultant, 95% of the companies surveyed intended to keep their human operators on the payroll. Others, however, yes They are depositing their trust in chatbots -based call centers to serve their customers. That does not mean that AI and systems of Natural language processing (PLN) are not used in marketing campaigns. That has made customers doubt whether who attends them are really human operators. “I tell you: ‘I swear, I’m a real person,” he said Bloomberg Lindsey, an operator dedicated to customer service and sales of American express credit cards. “I even ask them: ‘Is there anything they want to say to prove that I am a real person?” We no longer know what is true. In many cases, the AI ​​does not replace the operator in its role as final customer service, but acts as technology to redirect calls, so, when they reach the human operator, the client has already had to deal with an AI. Lindsey says that sometimes the clients ask “you are an AI?” Other times, they simply start shouting for talking to an operator or hanging directly. Nir Eisikovits, Professor of Philosophy and director of the Applied Ethics Center at Massachusetts University, He pointed outin The conversation that the current ability to talk about AI models is only an advance of the efforts of companies that develop that Technology to imitate humans in the rhythm or tone of the voices. “The inability to distinguish whether you are talking to a human or not only will go more,” making it much more complicated to distinguish if a client is Talking to an AI or with a real human. Sales scripts do not help. Sales techniques used by human operators do not help when distinguishing them from an AI. The call centers sector has evolved a lot From its birth In the 60s. Now the operators are monitored to control the conversation time and ensure that sellers follow a certain scripted structure For the entire sales process. In that script it is indicated from the tone in which they must go to the client, lists of words of obligatory use or prohibited, etc. All this cornering in communication, with predefined responses and protocols, does not help the client to distinguish whether there is a person or an AI on the other side. “It seems to me a compliment that I think I am professional enough to sound like a recording,” said BJ, a computer support agent. For his part, Seth, Lindsey’s partner offering American Express services, said that at least they ask if it’s an AI once a week. On one occasion, a client was questioning it for 20 minutes To check if it was an AIasking him about his hobbies, if he liked to fish in his free time and what kind of cane he used “it was as if he wanted to see if he failed. At a certain moment, I even felt that it was an AI tried to learn to be human,” said the telephone operator. What makes us human. The sense of humor is perceived as a feature intrinsically human, closely linked to intelligenceto the social context and the domain of language inflections to fit their meaning in a joke or joke. Therefore, humor is a resource that some operators use to confirm that they are human. Faith Lau, who works in an AI sales company in Canada, said that the first time they confused her with a bot she answered telling the customer’s joke. What his client did not know is that an AI is also Able to count jokes. Sarah’s strategy, which works in the US government anti -fraud, is much more visceral. “When I interact with an AI, it simply lets me speak, it does not interrupt me,” says the operator, for that reason when someone asks him to show that he is human, he tries to interrupt everything he can when they insist that he is not human. Certainly, There is nothing more human Someone interrupts you while you talk. In Xataka | We have tried Sesame’s conversational. It is the experience closest to a “human voice” that we have seen Image | Unspash (VAGARO)

“I feel responsible for my team and my clients”

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According to The records of LayoffsMicrosoft has fired more than 6,000 employees in what we had of 2025. One of those employees was Freddy Kristiansen59, fired from the Microsoft subsidiary in Denmark in May 2025 after a 23 -year career in the company as a product manager. However, although officially it is no longer part of the company, Kristiansen Keep going to the office. “It may sound rare to appear in the office after being fired, but I still feel committed to the products, with the people who use them and with my colleagues,” he explains In an interview for Business Insider. A link that goes beyond the contract Its history began in 2002, when it was hired by Navision, a company that shortly after It was acquired by Microsoft. What thought it would be a temporary job finally became a professional career of more than two decades. “I thought: ‘Maybe this can be something in the long term.’ And so,” Kristiansen recalled. Although the Danish law he grants him A period of six months and three months of compensation after the dismissal for being an employee more than nine years old, Kristiansen affirms that his motivation to continue going to the office It is not economical. Microsoft relieved him of all his functions, but due to Danish legislation, Kristiansen is still an employee of Microsoft until November. Instead of using that time to look for a new job (What is designed for what is designed), the product manager continues to attend his office daily. His last great project was Somethinga tool for github. “I feel a responsibility not only to maintain the product, but also to reassure customers to know that they are in good hands,” he told the American environment. “If you need my help, I will answer questions, I will share advice or whatever necessary. There is no reason to stop doing it,” he says. Actually, they have done a favor The employee’s reaction can be surprising for continuing to go to the company Instead of racing in angerbut the truth is that Kristianse’s dismissal came at a time when new personal and professional challenges had already begun. “I thought I could feel annoying, but it really was a relief,” he confesses. While some of his companions were worried about Kristianse’s future, he saw an opportunity to lower the rhythm after two decades at the foot of the cannon. In fact, during The layoffs of 2023the veteran employee presented an anonymous consultation about the possibility of asking for a voluntary dismissal. “I never did,” he clarified. “During the last decade I have worked very hard and I have thrown many hours. But now I am no longer interested in working 60 hours a week. It seemed to me that it was the right time to finally chase my dream long postponed to work in my own terms,” ​​he said. As published in Your personal blogKristiansen focuses on designing his own business plan with the intention of offering consulting services such as CTO, management of projects and motivational talks, while Enjoy more free time And he takes up healthy habits. “From the dismissals, I repeat that there is no evil that for good does not come.” Respect for the fruit of his work Despite the dismissal, Kristiansen continues Share your experience and the decisions that marked his career. “No one forced me to work 20 hours on weekends or strive so much, but I did it because I felt it was the right thing. I did it because I really felt a connection with our partners, our clients and my colleagues. And, honestly, I still feel it,” says the former employee. Its involvement With customers, partners and products it remains so strong that, although its contract ends, respect for everything that it built during its years in Microsoft remains intact. At least until November, when you will have to deliver your corporate laptop and credential. In Xataka | A company hired a worker, dismissed the boss who selected him and forgot about him: he has been charging without working seven months Image | LinkedInUnspash (Sam Torres, Valent lau)

Tesla promised a revolutionary robotaxi service. They have humans supervising and fans as the only clients

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On June 22 he will go to Tesla’s own history for being the first day in which the company has operated on the streets with its own robotaxi. He has done it, as there was no other, with strong restrictions, leaving some doubts in the environment and with a good handful of unfulfilled promises. This is all we know about the new service. June 22. “It is the culmination of a decade of hard work.” With these words he has referred Elon Musk in X To the first trips made by their robotaxis service, taking advantage of the publication to thank your team highlighting that “both the AI ​​and software chips equipment were created from scratch within Tesla.” The company has put in the streets of Austin the first trips of its robotaxis, the completely autonomous vehicle service that it intends to have full performance next year. At the moment, the service has given the departure gun between the expected Restrictions. Hard restrictions. Limited to Very specific spaces of the city of Austin, with a Tesla worker in the passenger seat to monitor the operation of the vehicle and with a chosen audience. This has been the First Tile Trips in Texana Cityfulfilling restrictions that their competitors have previously lived. Although travelers have confirmed that Tesla supervisors had not allowed to make any comments not to condition the user, the truth is that Tesla wanted to limit the risks in this launch, selecting very well who can use the service. Fans. It is undoubtedly the black point of the launch. In the deployment of these autonomous taxis, US regulations force them to function limitedly with a closed group. Waymo, in his day, opened the offer to his own workers And, once the favor of the regulators was won, he was able to open the general public with waiting lists and finally any user. In this case, Tesla has also had to close the circle of its potential clients but has done so by choosing fans of the company itself. A look by X demonstrates that those who have climbed into the car are workers from some Elon Musk company, company enthusiasts And some of them They presume to be Tesla investors. They do not comply. This careful selection of users has left us x full of messages propaganda Positive on service. However, there are two key premises that Elon Musk’s company has not fulfilled. They do not travel alone (1). The first is that cars work autonomously but maintain a supervisor in the passenger seat. It is true that during the Presentation of Tesla Cyberercabthe alleged robotaxi that should come into operation next year, Musk took care not to make reference to whether these first trips would be made with a human next. He did not do it because one thing is to talk about deadlines and not fulfill them and another thing is lie about regulations. And it is that all autonomous cars that have been put in the streets of the United States have had to go through this phase of human supervision. Tesla could not promise that the first steps would be given with a completely autonomous car for those focused on the presentation of what it will be (or should be) its service already stable. However, remember that In 2021when the completely autonomous car looked like a chimera, Elon Musk did promised that their cars could be used without human intervention. And that this would be possible in 2023. Something that, of course, has not happened. Flyers and pedals. The same story can be followed as to the “form” of these robotaxis. Almost a five years ago Elon Musk said that in 2023 we would drive a model 2 of less than $ 30,000 and that he could forget the steering wheel. The Tesla Cybercab presented with that same premise but, again, it was omitted what the service would be like and focused on what was to come. As now We count on Xatakaright now American regulators do not allow this type of cars to put on the market. It is something that ended with Cruise’s dream And one of the reasons is very simple: if the vehicle suffers some type of breakdown or disconnection and Emergency services have to move itThey need an alternative available. The steering wheel and pedals are still essential. The deadlines. Once the reality has hit the company and had to adapt to the regulations that mark the future of the autonomous car in the United States, it remains to be known if Elon Musk can fulfill deadlines that seem almost impossible. In statements that almost seemed a parody of itself, Elon Musk said during the presentation of Tesla Cybercab that it tends to be “unusual in the deadlines.” And, perhaps because of that, another impossible deadline was set. That their robotaxis will work in full performance “before 2027, allow it to say so” as conceived. That is, in 18 months Tesla should have an open service to the public on the street, which can charge for it, that reaches the entire city where it is in operation and that, in addition, it does so in an artifact without steering wheel or pedals. It would be to fulfill something that nobody has in the market. Not even Those who have been burning billions of dollars for years To support something similar. Photo | In Xataka | Tesla wants to approve her autonomous driving in Europe. He has chosen the most demential site to demonstrate it: Rome

Tariffs have made Temu an economic experiment in real time: see how far their clients endure

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Trump tariffs have turned Temu into an interesting behavioral economy laboratory. When the tariffs rose to 145%, the Chinese platform did something unheard of: Show exactly why prices uploadedbreaking down the price and explaining the origin of each extra charge. Why is it important. This radical transparency avoided a total collapse. Although Daily users fell 58% and the GMV (gross merchandise value) was reduced by halfTemu managed to retain 40 million users when some predictions talked about a collapse. Honesty over tariffs has transformed a debacle into a manageable crisis. In Xataka China’s rare land block is very delicate for Europe for another reason: high -power magnets In detail. Temu’s strategy is brutally direct. Instead of hiding the increases, they explain: “Imported articles may be subject to import positions. These charges cover all customs -related processes and costs.” A mobile cover went from $ 1 to $ 1.50. It looks like a rise of “only 50 cents”, but it is 50%. It is difficult to resist such a percentage increase. However, $ 1.50 remains a much lower price than American equivalents. The context. Trump eliminated the exemption “of Minimis” which allowed shipments from China without tariffs for packages of less than $ 800. Initially it applied 145% tariffs, then reduced them to 54% for 90 days. 90% of Temu’s business depended on this model that took advantage of the legal lagoon. When it disappeared, the company had to reinvent itself. Yes, but. The experiment has limits. Temu eliminated 3.4 million products from its catalogleaving only 150,000 sent by boat. 20% of vendors went to other platforms or markets. The company reduced its advertising expense in the United States and redirected resources to Europewhere his advertising investment has multiplied by twelve. {“Videid”: “X8RH2E2”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “A very fast air fryer but is not for everyone”, “Tag”: “Webedia-Prod”, “Duration”: “489”} The partial resistance of consumers says a lot about price psychology. When Temu showed total transparency on tariffs, many buyers interpreted the increases as something external to the company, not as Temu’s greed. This perception of “we against the system” translated into an unexpected loyalty between the hard core of users. TeMU is transforming its business model on the fly. Launched the “Model Y2“That allows Chinese merchants to send directly without storing inventory in the United States. The “local to local” model is expanding where American sellers sell locally stored products. Its objective: that 80% European sales come from local vendors to avoid tariffs. The big question. What does the US consumer say that 40 million remain willing to pay almost double for Chinese products? Trump wanted to kill Chinese electronic commerce, but has ended up airing the existence of a huge group of consumers for whom the equation-value equation of Chinese products is still irresistible. Even with 145%tariffs. In Xataka | China has made a drastic decision and unpredictable consequences: prioritizing “its” technology, even worse Outstanding image | Alain G. ShumbushoTemu (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news Tariffs have made Temu an economic experiment in real time: see how far their clients endure It was originally posted in Xataka by Javier Lacort .

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