conquering

Reed Hastings became a millionaire by conquering the couch with Netflix. Now he wants to turn the snow into a gold mine

by

Reed Hastings is the co-founder and CEO of Netflix, one of the largest entertainment platforms in the world. If Hastings knows anything it’s how to have fun. The enterprising businessman started a project in 2023 designed for a handful of millionaires looking to have fun skiing on virgin snow through some private tracks that can only be used by a handful of members of a exclusive ski club in the mountains of Utah. ​An exclusive ski club for millionaires. Hastings has become the main investor and architect of an exclusive access ski community for high-net-worth individuals in Powder Mountain, northern Utah (USA). That private community is called Powder Haven and is conceived as a private ski resort reserved for the exclusive enjoyment of approximately 650 families, who ski in a highly controlled environment within a domain that covers approximately 4,860 hectares. high mountain. The private Hastings ski resort is planned as a kind of “VIP space” with access to the ski area that already exists at Powder Mountain and is still open as a public resort. The result is a hybrid model in which the fee of a few very rich people helps finance infrastructure that is also used by skiers who buy a conventional ski pass. Fees and millionaire houses. According to published Forbes, Hastings has already invested more than $100 million in the acquisition and improvement of the Powder Mountain private space, assuming debt equivalent to that of the previous owners. This new capital has been used to renew the lifts and to install new lines to other areas of the resort to expand the ski area. OK to what was published by The Wall Street JournalHastings is reportedly planning to invest $200 million more to improve services for wealthy homeowners. The station’s annual membership fee is $25,000, which is added to an initial contribution and, above all, to the purchase of a home within the community, a necessary condition to be part of the private club. The houses that make up the private ski complex start at 2 million dollars and the first phase, with 39 plots at an average price equivalent to about 2.4 million euros per unit, were sold out in just a few months. Arclodge and a new mountain neighborhood The project is not limited to building luxury villas. In the heart of Powder Haven, Arclodge is being designed, a large Swiss-style social and sports club with futuristic lines that aspires to become the center of the resort’s community life. As seen in the resort pagethe new 6,800 m2 building plans to include all the luxury services to which its millionaire members are accustomed: haute cuisine restaurants, thermal and sports pools, spa and treatment rooms, gym and spaces for cultural and sports activities. New neighborhoods have been planned around this new social nucleus to luxury homes of different sizesranging from large multi-hectare plots to turnkey luxury villas designed by high-profile architecture studios. Of course, all of them with direct access to the private ski slopes. There are only three private stations like this. The Powder Haven model that the Netflix founder is developing is not a pioneering project. In fact, it is the third private ski complex that exists in the US: Yellowstone Club in Montana, and Wasatch Peaks Ranchalso in Utah. In these three enclaves, access to the slopes does not depend on a ski pass open to the general public, but rather requires being a member-owner of a property in their luxury real estate complex. Reed Hastings is the only one that has been able to take advantage of this business model based on the exclusivity of private ski services for millionaires with almost total absence of queues and a certain coexistence with the public domain of Powder Mountain, so that the extension of its slopes is expanded at a very low cost. In Xataka | Ski resorts without snow at the end of the century: the most pessimistic models show what could happen in our high mountains Image | Unsplash (Republic GmbH), Powder Haven

A conflictive aesthetic is conquering the feet of thousands of Spaniards: “barefoot” footwear

by

At seven in the morning, Fernando puts on his shoes barefoot before leaving for the school where he works. They are thin, soft, almost like a second skin. “Before I ended up with sores on my little fingers; now I can stand all day,” he tells us in an interview for Xataka. A few years ago you would have been looked at strangely for wearing sneakers with minimal soles and separated toes. Today, however, it does not go unnoticed as modern: the barefoot It has become a trend. From an alternative corner of the wellness world it has jumped to the feet of thousands of people. Influencers they recommend itshoe stores are multiplying and even Queen Letizia He wears them at public events. The phenomenon mixes fashion and physiology, and promises something as simple as it is powerful: walking again as we were born, barefoot. From niche to phenomenon. The rise of barefoot It has been meteoric. In just a couple of years, the concept has gone from health and natural parenting forums to digital catwalks. “At first they were ugly and almost no one used them,” remembers Fernando, 39, one of the first to try them in his circle. “But I saw people on Instagram talking about them, they said they were good for the feet and I decided to try them. From the first moment I felt very comfortable.” Like him, thousands of consumers discovered this type of footwear on social networks, recommended by social media accounts. physiotherapy either chiropody. Mar Oncina, owner from the shoe store DePeus in Alicante, confirms the change to Xataka: “When I opened, 80% of my clients were children. Now almost half are adults.” In just a year and a half, he says, interest has grown “hugely.” Schools ask for discounts for AMPAs and large chains, from Inditex to Mustang, have begun to launch their own minimalist lines. “People have understood that this is not just fashion, it is health,” he says. Walking ‘natural’. He barefoot proposes an idea as simple as it is radical: walking again without artifice. The difference with conventional footwear is in the structure. These shoes eliminate the heel (the so-called drop), cushioning and rigid insoles; Instead, they offer a thin, flexible sole that allows the foot to move and feel the ground. As explained in Podoactivathe main purpose of minimalist footwear is to promote a more natural gait and posture, strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the foot and promote proprioception. The foot, with its 28 bones and more than 100 tendons, is prepared to cushion naturally; What happens is that we have spent our entire lives enclosing it in rigid structures that atrophy it. a study published in Nature reinforces that idea: walking barefoot modifies the way the feet interact with the ground and how forces are distributed when walking. The researchers, led by evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman, discovered that people who walk without shoes develop thick calluses, but without losing tactile sensitivity. In other words, leather soles protect, but do not disconnect from the ground, while cushioned soles alter the natural way of walking and increase the impact on the joints. From children’s footwear to the adult boom. Paradoxically, the revolution of barefoot It started with the little ones. Mar tells us clearly: “It all started when my sister, an occupational therapist, decided that her daughter would only wear respectful shoes. She explained to us that children who go barefoot better develop gross motor skills, balance and foot strength.” From that family conviction, their store was born, and with it, a new market. Iraia, 36 years old, explains to Xataka that she discovered the barefoot looking for the best footwear for her daughter Alazne, who was unstable when taking her first steps. “I was convinced by the idea that the feet should move freely and without being deformed. Soon I started using them too and my posture changed. The lower back pain has disappeared, and my toes have literally separated.” Stories like yours are repeated in shoe stores and online forums. And although most started looking for health, many stay for comfort. “I no longer feel like coming home and taking off my shoes,” says Iraia. “It’s like going barefoot all day.” The view of the experts. Almost everyone agrees on the same idea: barefoot It’s not for everyone. “Whether it eliminates back or hip pain is questionable,” clarifies podiatrist Carles Espinosa interviewed by RAC1. “Yes, there are benefits if it is done with adaptation, but you cannot go from a shoe with a heel to a flat one overnight.” From the podiatry portal insist on the need of a progressive transition: gradually reduce the height of the heel to avoid injuries to the Achilles tendon or muscle overload. They also warn that hard surfaces, such as asphalt, are not the best to start with. Dr. Alberto Martínez Oller, from the MO podiatry clinic It’s even more concrete: “It is not recommended for people with flat feet, bunions, injuries or neuropathies. Nor for impact sports or uneven surfaces.” Their recommendation is clear: consult a podiatrist before making the change. Still, he recognizes the potential benefits: improved balance, muscle strengthening, increased mobility and prevention of deformities. In fact, some specialists fear, precisely, that viralization will turn a medical recommendation into a fast-moving fashion. “Walking naturally does not mean walking without control,” warn. The fever for well-being can lead to confusing minimalism with miracle, and each foot tells a different story. Digital fever and the power of the algorithm. If anything has driven the expansion of barefoothas been digital word of mouth. “The role of networks has been fundamental,” says Mar, from DePeus. “There are people who have known how to communicate it very well, such as podiatrists or physiotherapists who have reached thousands of people. The problem is that along with good information, many hoaxes also circulate.” “Transformation” videos abound on TikTok and Instagram: feet before and after months using barefoot, posture comparisons or 30-day barefoot challenges. … Read more

The companies of AI tell us that they want to achieve an AGI. What they are really conquering is the economy of attention

by

Sora 2 is already with usand with it a tool that will allow anyone to create great videos generated by AI. The problem is that we will have an even greater problem of “Ai Slop“(” Bazofia generated by AI “): Internet is direct to become an even more gigantic hay career for the economy of attention. What’s happening. In recent days we have seen a goal to launch vibes Ya Openai launch Sora 2. Both applications are actually platforms in which to discover, create and share videos generated with AI. Both democratize that access to generate video content easily through their AI models, and we will no longer have to be an expert in Premiere, Davinci or dedicate hours to the script, recording, editing and publication of the videos, because AI does everything much easier. That does not mean that this content will be better: only there will be more. A lot more. Sora’s website greets us with a “Explore” section in which we can move vertically to see content destined for one thing: to have us trapped by the Doomscolling. Trapped in doomscrolling. The result of these initiatives can be seen quickly in the Sora websitein the application of iOS (for the moment, only in the US) or in the Meta Ai Ai and vibes. Here we have infinite content that moves and whose cost of production for the user is zero euros (for a video, if you want to create many the thing changes and you will have to pay a subscription) and just a few seconds. The incentive not to stop creating videos is huge, because the promise is that “anyone can create viral videos.” But. What these tools raise is to turn the viral into a formula. For this, it is possible to use emotional templates in a simple and direct way and that appeal to our attention. We have filters of nostalgia, indignation and tenderness on demand, for example, and the risk is the death of authenticity: everything seems designed by an algorithm. Quantity (and immediacy), no quality. These platforms – and those that are to come – are like gigantic automated content farms and are designed for user retention, not to give value. The content is the new slot machine, and the “AI Slop” manages to exploit our cognitive biases better than ever. It is synthetic dopamine at an industrial scale. 11 tricks to dominate Tik tok More creators = more slaves on platforms. Facebook created its empire convincing users to create content for it. Suddenly they were creators and consumers, and social networks took advantage of the reef and put us to publish reflections, links, and share photos and videos of all kinds. For some that was not enough claim, but being able to do everything with AI can attract new audiences (creators?). The user is more than ever the unpaid worker and the product. And those platforms want to attract the maximum possible number of usuals for the same thing that Facebook did it 20 years ago: to monetize that attention. Will it give us the same not to believe anything? In that martemágnum of content generated by the contamination of the contents, it promises to be so exceptional that it will be more difficult to distinguish the real from what is generated by the. A couple of years ago the thing was relatively complicated with imagesbut today it is almost impossible. There is an obvious risk that goes beyond the Deepfakes and the possible fraud and scams: the threat is that We will not even believe that real images and videos are indeed real. The AI ​​Slop era began. The “AI Slop” or “Bazofia generated by AI” is content generated by AI which is technically impressive but probably lacks meaning, authenticity or purpose beyond achieving that immediate attention by users. We have already seen how these tools already serve to generate comments and texts of text and images, but the video is even more powerful. OpenAI wants to kill Tiktok. In fact, with Sora 2 and its new website and app the objective, whether indirect or not, is to end Tiktok, which He owned and lady of the short video format. That users can now generate content with themselves as protagonists doing all kinds of impossible things thanks to AI is an extraordinary claim for many traditional Tiktok users. The “cameos” are a possibly addictive and brilliant product to achieve that goal. Before uploading a video with which to create cameos or mixtures, Openai warns of the implications. Is that enough for us not to create them? But. Of course, risks are important in security and privacy. The fraud and scams with increasingly credible deepfakes will be difficult to detect, but it is also asked where privacy ends if a platform ends up having ours images, videos and audios that can be edited and remix if we allow it. OpenAi offers configuration options, parental controls And warnings when it comes to uploading content, but it is not clear if that will be enough. In Xataka | Differentiating the AI ​​content on the Internet is increasingly difficult. The solution goes through something similar to fillets

Apple believed that I was conquering China. Actually China conquered her

by

There are books that arrive at the right time to make you rethink what you thought were to know. ‘Apple in China: The Capture of The World’s Greatest Company‘, just published by Patrick McGee, he is one of them. Your central thesis It smells awkward truth: Apple did not conquered China. It was China who conquered Apple. For years we have seen this relationship from our perspective: not China and not American, but western. Apple brought innovation, jobs and modernity to China. Silicon Valley’s classic story exporting democratic values ​​through trade. But McGee turns that narrative around. And when he does, everything takes on another meaning. More uncomfortable. More real. On March 15, 2013, the exact moment in which Apple understood the rules. After a campaign orchestrated on Chinese state television, Tim Cook was forced to publish an apology letter in Mandarin for iPhone guarantee policies. That was a symbolic genuflection that revealed the true nature of power in that relationship. The CEO of which It was already the most valuable company in the worldPublicly forgiveness to an authoritarian regime. From the western perspective, he was humiliating. From China, it was probably logical: a multinational adapting to local customer service standards. The trap was perfect because Apple had fallen in love with something that only China could offer: ability to climb without limits. Pasa from zero to 200 million iPhone manufactured a year required impossible industrial coordination anywhere else. Apple was completely delivered: it formed 28 million Chinese workers, invested $ 7.3 billion in own equipment within foreign factories, sent its best engineers. McGee makes a devastating comparison: A private company investing in a country more than the greatest industrial effort of the American state. But Apple built that cathedral without understanding what land erected it. Without a single executive residing permanently in China. No diplomatic strategy. No contingency plan. While Apple taught its industrial secrets, Beijing did not trap, it simply applied state capitalism strategically. Used their advantage (giant market + industrial capacity) to achieve technological transfer and know-how That then be able to explode. It is not very different from what the United States does with Tiktok or Huawei. Over the years, the balance was reversed. In silence. It was no longer Apple who imposed conditions: Apple adapted. One after another. Noiseless. Without public protests. What was the alternative? Lose access to 20% of its turnover and dismantle a supply chain that had taken decades to perfect. No CEO would come out of a board of directors after proposing this idea. The book has an important weakness: It is deeply western in its sources: McGee builds his narrative mainly from Apple internal documents and testimonies of American executives. There is barely Chinese perspective. We do not know what Beijing really thought, what its internal strategy was, or how they see this relationship from the other side. It’s like counting the cold war only with pentagon files. Chinese workers appear more as a statistical resource than as actors of their own destiny. And there comes the paradox. Instead of transforming China, Apple ended up transformed by it. The most controversial decisions of the Cook era – centered, transfer of data, silence against repressions – are the calculated price of continuing to operate in the largest consumer market in the world: 1.4 billion. It is a price that Apple continues to pay each quarter. Tim Cook inherited an Apple admired for its creative independence. AND In his legacy It will be triggered financially, expand it towards the services and diversify catalog in vertical and horizontal. But will also leave an Apple cornered by its logistics units. Today Try to diversify towards India and Vietnambut structural damage is already done. Not only because most of its chain continues in China, but because Apple learned to bend. And to each market, someone else dictates the conditions. Especially when it has no alternatives. “Apple in China” is not really a book about Apple. It is a book about power in the global era. On how The company that believed that the excellence of the product guaranteed strategic independence discovered that in geopolitics, margins do not vote. Behind the iPhone that we carry in the pocket there is more than technological innovation. There are calculated assignments, silent adaptations, a reheilibrium of power so progressive that it was barely noticed until it was irreversible. If the Chinese market could redefine the rules for Apple, what multinational company really controls its destination? Outstanding image | Patrick Fore in Unspash In Xataka | The decline of the “Apple culture”. Blind devotion has evolved towards critical enthusiasm

This is conquering the key technologies of the future

by

The tension held by the US and China for more than five years is due to a very evident purpose: these two countries are disputing world supremacy. It is no secret. In fact, the government led by Joe Biden Openly recognized In the document that collects your National Security Strategy October 2022 that China has the necessary capacity and resources to dispute the US Its world leadership position. The following literal extract of this document reflects very clearly why the US government considers China a threat: “The People’s Republic of China (RPC) is the only competitor that has both the intention of remodeling international order and every time, every time Moreover, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological capacity to do so. The social, economic, military and technological development that the country led by Xi Jinping has experienced during the last two decades supports this conclusion. In fact, China is currently a world leader in five key technologies from a strategic point of view because of the relevance they already have, and, above all, due to what they will have in the future. And in other bids increasingly high. Even so, there is an area in which this gigantic Asian country still seems to be far from reaching a domain position: The semiconductors. These are the five strategic technologies in which China has already managed to lead One of the objectives of SANCTIONS TO CHINA that the US and its allies have deployed during the last two and a half years is to stop the development of the Chinese semiconductor industry. And to achieve this, the US governments, the Netherlands and Japan have banned their manufacturers of lithography equipment, among which are ASML, Tokyo Electron either Apply materialssell your most advanced machines to your Chinese customers. China is world leader in unmanned aerial vehicles, solar panels, graphene, high -speed trains, electric vehicles and lithium batteries Chinese lithography equipment manufacturers have the support of the XI Jinping administration to develop machines from extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) as soon as possible, but due to its complexity with all probability They will not be ready before five years. In addition, most semiconductor experts, including Chinese technicians, defends that China is Between 5 and 10 years more backward than the West in the development of photolithographic equipment. The country of Xi Jinping, as we have just seen, does not lead in chips. However, as we can verify in the graph that we publish under these lines, it is the world leader in non -manned aerial vehicles, solar panels, graphene, high -speed trains, electric vehicles and lithium batteries. This graph has been prepared by JOSTEIN HAUGEwhich is professor of economics at the University of Cambridge (England), taking as reference the data collected by Bloomberg Intelligence and Bloomberg Economics. This leadership position in these areas is the result of the “Made in China 2025” plan announced by XI Jinping himself in 2015. His starting point in some of these technologies, such as solar panels or practical graphene applications, was very solid a decade ago, but still there is no doubt that this strategy has been a success. And, in addition, it will remain in force to allow China to fight from you with other great powers for leadership in semiconductors, Quantum computers, artificial intelligence either Robotsamong other technologies that have enormous strategic relevance. Key Technologies of the Plan ‘Made in China 2025’ 2015 (real data) 2024 (real data) 2030 (expectation) Unmanned aerial vehicles Global leader Global leader Global leader Solar panels Global leader Global leader Global leader Graphene Global leader Global leader Global leader high -speed trains Competitive position Global leader Global leader electric cars and lithium batteries Competitive position Global leader Global leader Liquefied natural gas transport ships (LNG) Competitive position Competitive position Global leader medications Behind market leaders Competitive position Competitive position Great tractors Behind market leaders Competitive position Competitive position industrial machinery Behind market leaders Competitive position Competitive position Robots Behind market leaders Competitive position Competitive position artificial intelligence Behind market leaders Competitive position Competitive position semiconductors Behind market leaders Competitive position Competitive position Commercial aircraft Behind market leaders Behind market leaders Competitive position China’s domain is indisputable The “Made in China 2025” plan has a very clear purpose: cease to be the world’s factory and consolidate as THE MOST SUPPLIER OF SERVICES AND PRODUCTS high value of the planet. As we have just seen, the country led by Xi Jinping has failed to lead in integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, robots, commercial aviation or medicines, among other areas, but its domain of the market of solar panels is overwhelming. China’s quota in the world photovoltaic cell market Broken 80%and for the moment only India seems to have the ability to disturb him in the long term. Its manufacturing capacity is 17 times greater than the rest of the planet togetherwhich has encouraged the Chinese administration to support the manufacture of More than 1,000 GW in N -type cell capacity As the other countries fulfill their net emission commitments. Of course, a good part of Chinese solar panel manufacturers is selling to losses with the purpose of growing as much and as fast as possible. China produces 60% of the world graphite because it has the largest natural reserves of the planet, and graphene is manufactured from this raw material We are now with unmanned aerial vehicles. China controls 90% of the world market of consumer drones and professionals thanks to the success that in recent years are having manufacturers such as DJI (Dà-Jiāng-Innovations), FIMI or Autel Robotics, among others. The domain of this country of the markets of drones and solar panels is the result of a recipe in which the support of the Chinese government, the continuous improvement of the technologies involved in the product and Extremely competitive prices. In the graphene market, the same thing happens essentially as in the two we have just explored. China produces 60% of the world graphite Because it has the largest natural reserves of the … Read more

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.