milliondollar

Until now, launching satellites was the business. The US has just turned its exorbitant cost into a million-dollar opportunity

by

For years, the space business has revolved around a very specific idea: launch more satellites, faster and cheaper. The race to fill low Earth orbit with large constellations has skyrocketed demand and turned takeoff into a multibillion-dollar industry, but it has also brought to the table a problem that for a long time remained in the background: what to do with these satellites when they reach the end of their useful life and continue to take up space in orbit. In this context, the United States has taken a decisive step by promoting and beginning to materialize the exorbitant market. New business on the horizon. This step forward has already resulted in a concrete contract. Starfish Space has been awarded of an agreement valued at 52.5 million dollars by the Space Development Agency (SDA) of the United States Space Force to offer a service for deorbiting satellites at the end of their useful life. The assignment includes the development, launch and operation of the otter ship in low orbit intended to deorbit satellites of the PWSA when they are no longer operational, with a first operation and the possibility of carrying out several more. The launch is planned for 2027. behind the scenes. This shift cannot be understood without the economic context that has turned space into a high-volume industry. Global space launch services market reached $21.19 billion by 2025 and, according to estimates by Precedence Researchcould climb to 70,560 million in 2035, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.56%. A substantial portion of that revenue comes from continuous satellite deployment, driven by constellations that require frequent launches to maintain and renew their in-orbit networks. An increasingly saturated orbit. Having thousands of satellites operating at the same time is not only a question of deployment, but also of end-of-cycle management. Those responsible for large constellations must decide whether to deorbit their satellites relatively early to limit the risk of orbital debris or whether to keep them active for as long as possible to extract their full economic and operational value. This tension, without a simple solution, has become one of the main drivers that push us to search for new formulas to manage the end of life in orbit. What changes with “deorbit-as-a-service”. Starfish’s proposal is based on separating the end of life of the satellite from its design and daily operation, allowing an external spacecraft to be responsible for deorbiting without requiring prior modifications to the devices in orbit. The company maintains that this approach allows operators to maximize the useful life of their constellations and delegate the retirement of those satellites that cannot deorbit themselves. The previous step. Although the deorbit mission has not yet launched, Starfish Space comes to this point with a previous history of in-orbit demonstrations. The company launched Otter Pup 1 in June 2023 and managed to maneuver it to within 1,000 meters of a target ten months later, a relevant milestone for approach and control operations. In October, an Impulse Space Mira spacecraft used Starfish software to approach another spacecraft to within 1,250 meters, and in June 2025, Otter Pup 2 was launched with the goal of performing the first commercial docking of satellites in low orbit. The big question to answer. What is now being tested is whether satellite deorbiting can go from being an exception to becoming a recurring industrial practice. The expansion of constellations and the pressure to keep low orbit operational force us to look for solutions that do not depend solely on each individual satellite. In this context, the United States’ decision to contract this type of services offers a first sign of where the sector can evolve, although its real scope can only be measured when the first missions begin to operate. Images | Starfish Space In Xataka | Human beings have not set foot on the Moon for 54 years: the mission that aims to correct it has just entered its final phase

Xania Monet is one of the most popular artists of the moment. It is also an AI that has just signed a million-dollar contract

by

It seemed like an area of ​​culture that remained for the moment in the background before the million-dollar demands of Hollywood production companies and publishing giants, but hostilities are also intensifying in the field of pop music: through AIthere are composers who create singers that do not exist, who have a considerable following on streaming platforms and who get them million-dollar contracts. And meanwhile, distributors and producers defend their corralito with demands for the tools that generate these new phenomena. The figures are beginning to be in the millions, so this has only just begun. The Xania Monet case. The poet Telisha Jones, 31, tried a new method in the summer of 2025 to capture her verses: she introduced her poems into Sunothe artificial intelligence platform capable of converting text into complete songs. The tool not only put music to their words, but gave them a powerful voice, with the timbre of a professional R&B singer. Jones’ lyrics were brought to life through an algorithm trained on millions of previous recordings. This is how Xania Monet was borna digital avatar with a presence on social networks and, shortly after, a catalog that soon circulated on social media platforms. streaming. The climb. In just two months, Xania Monet accumulated figures that many human artists take years to achieve. Your theme’How Was I Supposed to Know‘ rose to first place in the Billboard R&B Digital Sales Chart. This same month, the song reached number 30 on the Adult R&B Airplay: that is, real radio stations are playing it. Another song, ‘Let Go, Let God‘, more in the thematic parameters of gospel, reached number 21 on Hot Gospel Songs. All of this points to a reach that is not exactly small: 17 million total views in the United States in two months. It reached a peak of more than 5 million streams in just seven days. On Spotify, the number of monthly listeners is around 530,000, while on social networks, the avatar accumulates close to 770,000 followers between Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The millionaire contract. From there, success (and money). According to Billboardseveral record labels initially requested meetings with Jones, but she refused to activate her camera and sing for the executives, for obvious reasons. But the offers have ended up arriving, one of them from 3 million dollars. Some labels linked to major record companies such as Universal, Sony or Warner withdrew from the bid for Monet because their respective companies have lawsuits against Suno for copyright infringement. The winner was Hallwood Media, an independent company owned by a former president of the legendary Geffen Records. It is not his first signing of these characteristics: weeks ago he had signed imoliveranother music creator by using Suno. The doubts. The case raises multiple legal and ethical questions: who is really the author of a song whose lyrics are written by a human but whose music, voice and arrangements are generated by a machine? Jones claims that she owns all songwriting and production rights, based on Suno’s terms of service. However, the United States Copyright Office has established that will not grant protection to works whose “expressive elements are determined by a machine”making it unclear who is going to pocket the $50,000 generated from rights to date. But there is also the eternal issue of generative AIs: Xania Monet’s voice bears notable similarities to established singers, such as Beyoncé. If their voice was generated by training the model with protected recordings, to what extent would the original artists not have to be compensated? That’s without going into the primary ethical question, with almost existential overtones: the implications of an artist without a body and without years of practice behind her competing with flesh-and-blood musicians for space on the lists. The imoliver case. He was ahead of Xania Monet and behind him is Oliver McCann, who He defines himself as a “musical designer”since he also lacks traditional musical training. His work with Suno consists of introducing textual indications into the platform describing atmospheres, emotions or genres and polishing it. In July 2025 he was signed by Hallwood Media, which has replicated that same strategy with Monet: in August a song was uploaded to streaming, and a series of songs followed with marketing support, to finally release a complete album. The legal controversy. In June 2024, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) launched what would become one of the most significant legal battles of the music industry in recent times. On behalf of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, he presented simultaneous lawsuits against Suno and Udiothe two dominant platforms in music generation by artificial intelligence. They were accused of massive and systematic copyright infringement: both companies had fed their AI models millions of protected songs without obtaining licenses or permissions. In August, Suno acknowledged that this was indeed the case, and that this practice was perfectly legal under the doctrine of “fair use”. According to her, the songs generated are new and legal. So the companies increased their attack, adding to their lawsuit an accusation that they had obtained their songs through Youtube piracy and ripping: “the largest theft of intellectual property in human history.” To resolve this conflict (which has led companies like Anthropic to pay 1.5 billion dollars to resolve a lawsuit of the same type, but in the literary field) we must answer a fundamental question, and one that will determine the future of people like Monet and imoliver: who is the legal owner of the songs generated by these platforms? In Xataka | We have created these three songs using Suno AI v3. It’s the most spectacular thing we’ve seen in a long time.

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

by

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

a million-dollar luxury yacht sank just 200 meters from the dock

by

What should have been a day to celebrate ended in disaster off the Turkish coast. A luxury yacht, valued at approximately one million dollars, sank for only 15 minutes after its launch in the Black Sea. The boat disappeared underwater just a few meters from the shore, while the owner and his crew managed to swim to land without major problems and without suffering any damage. The boat simply floated…but just a little. An ephemeral joy The ship called Dolce Ventowas going to be a nautical jewel, but a video that has gone viral due to the paradoxical nature of what happened shows that even the most expensive and luxurious projects can fail unexpectedly.

This is what the law says about the controversy over million-dollar fines

by

Installing a security camera at home or in a business is an increasingly attractive option. The price of security systems makes them affordable, but it is also easy to control them from your mobile phone and they have live alert systems. It is a good way to gain security and are a deterrent against possible crimes. The problem is that it is not as simple as placing a camera wherever we want and starting to monitor: the Data Protection Law comes into play. It is something that happens in Spainbut also in Mexico, and in recent days controversy has erupted: if you install surveillance cameras, you will face a million-dollar fine. The commotion that has arisen is such that the Government itself has come out to clarify the issue. The controversy. A few days ago, a popular TikToker posted a video in which he talked about the situation. “Did you know that you can get into legal trouble because of the cameras you have in your business or home?” This is how the video begins, which, with a pejorative tone, accuses the Government of not acting to guarantee the safety of the citizen. Subsequently, and throughout the video, it clarifies the scenario in which these fines can be applied: if the cameras record public spaces or you as the owner disseminate the images. The seed, however, had already been planted. Media and users used this video to affirm that Mexico could denounce the owners of the surveillance cameras, causing the payment of million-dollar fines: up to 18 million pesos. Some of these media clarified the fact of the dissemination of the images or the orientation of the cameras, but others did not. The answer. The commotion has been tremendous, so much so that different institutional bodies have rushed to address the issue. They have done it in two ways: one, through the INAI, or National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data. In a videocomment that they have received several calls asking for information in this regard, commenting on the following: “The regulated subjects are those responsible who use personal data for purposes of disclosure or commercial prospecting. “If a person has cameras in their home and they do not have that purpose, but are used for personal treatment, the INAI will not impose any sanction.” The second, during an information section from the Treasury Room of the National Palace in which the Government denied the information. “The Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data held by individuals applies only to private individuals or legal entities that process personal data,” they comment. Basically, the same as the INAI. Cover of the PROFECO guide The buying guide. In fact, a few months ago it was the Government itself that published, through a document from the Federal Consumer Prosecutor’s Office, a purchasing guide with cameras for both internal and external use. In this studythey analyze various models, pointing out their pros and cons in a complete buying guide that would not make much sense if they were prohibited. The keys. But at the end of the document is the key. In a section called “Is the use of security cameras legal in Mexico?”, they confirm that it is. There are nuances: if it is inside a home or pointing towards private property, there is no problem, but if they record from the house to the outside, there are certain rules and restrictions to protect the privacy of others. What must be taken into account, according to the Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties, is: It must aim to protect assets and facilities, as well as the prevention and detection of crimes. Images of people should not be captured without their consent, especially in public areas, unless they are police forces. When you can face a fine. In the document, the LFPDPPP clarifies that “it is legal to install surveillance cameras inside a property, as long as people’s rights to privacy and personal data are not violated.” Regarding outdoor cameras, it states that “if you plan to install security cameras, we recommend you notify your neighbors, either by putting up a sign notifying you of the existence of the camera or through a meeting. This ensures that they will be aware that they are being monitored and can take steps to protect their privacy.” However, it is true that there are establishments in which it is illegal to place cameras: Dressing rooms, bathrooms and private business rooms. Schools. Hospitals. Churches. Furthermore, in these last three, use is restricted if you do not have authorization from the authorities. Therefore, it is legal to have a security camera in Mexico if you do not broadcast the recordings and if, pointing to common areas, you warn in advance with a sign or a meeting with people likely to be recorded. Image | Eufy In Xataka | Best surveillance cameras: which one to buy and 11 recommended models for indoors, outdoors, babies and pets

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.