Spain

Amazon Prime Day returns in Spain with confirmed dates and benefits

by

Amazon announced weeks ago that during this month of June that we have just begun, a new edition of its Prime Day: several days full of bargains, exclusive for Prime members, with which we can save a pinch on technology, home, video games and much more. But it was not until today, June 2, when has confirmed the final dates. Amazon Prime – annual subscription The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Amazon’s Prime Day 2026 arrives at the end of June with four days of offers Specifically, will take place between the 23rd and 26th of this month June. That is to say: it will kick off at midnight from Monday the 22nd to Tuesday the 23rd and will last for four full days, ending at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 26. We therefore have four days ahead of us to take advantage of the thousands of offers that Amazon will launch, compared to two days in previous editions. That is to say, double the time to save us a pinchFor example, in that cheap television that we had been thinking about buying for some time to watch the soccer World Cup. Or in that phone with which to replace our old mobile phone and much, much more. Furthermore, another change that we see this year compared to previous editions of this summer Prime Day is the chosen month. In this sense, the usual thing in recent years was for it to take place in July, but This time it will be done in June. Right now, in fact: exactly, in three weeks. An exclusive campaign for Prime members Like the dates of this Prime Day, Amazon has also announced that It is an exclusive sales campaign for its Prime members. Contrary to what happens with the Spring Sale Festival a few weeks ago or the Black Friday November, whose bargains are accessible to any type of user. So, how to take advantage of the sales this Prime Day if we are not subscribed? Very easy: just enjoy the free trial that Amazon offers for new registrations, which not only opens the doors of Prime Day to us but also allows us to save the cost of shipping, access a wide catalog of movies, series and documentaries through Prime Video and more for thirty days. Amazon Prime – 30 days free trial The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Once we are Prime members, we will be able to access the Prime Day offers which, as in previous years, will have guaranteed discounts on Amazon devices (Kindle, Echo, fire tv…). And also in brands such as Braun, Puma, Samsung and Philips, among othersas they have already confirmed. More offers, now available on AliExpress In case we don’t want to wait until then, right now we have another very powerful one available. AliExpress sales campaign. From yesterday until next June 10, we found bargains in nintendo switch 2, PlayStation 5 Pro, garmin watches, Xiaomi’s best-selling phones and much more in their Summer Promo. Some Amazon deals that you can now take advantage of XIAOMI REDMI Note 15 Pro 5G The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Midea Portasplit Portable Air Conditioner 4 in 1 | 3000 frigories The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | amazon In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Which smart air conditioner to buy. How to choose a connected air conditioning system and featured models

The Chinese brand that sells the most cars in Europe decides on Spain

by

MG will manufacture cars in Spain. It is official after weeks of rumors in which we had been hearing that the Spanish region was one of the best positioned to produce cars from the Chinese firm of British origin. It is its first major investment outside China in almost a decade and, without a doubt, an endorsement of its European plans. The advertisement. MG has confirmed it: Galicia is the region chosen for the return to MG manufacturing in Europe. The announcement had been advanced by Alfonso Ruedapresident of the Xunta, this morning but it was not until this afternoon when the MG herself confirmed the news. For months it has been known that the Xunta de Galicia has been in talks with the Chinese brand to settle on Spanish soil for its new arrival in Europe. And in April, Rueda himself held a series of meetings with representatives of the brand between April 23 and 25 in China, according to The Automotive Tribune. The project. The company assures that, from the outset, the project has an investment of 200 million euros and that it will create “more than 2,000 jobs in Europe, establishing a strategic center for the next phase of MG’s growth.” That is, the press release provided by the company does not specify how many of these jobs will be in Spain and how many will be created by the increase in cars in the European market. The company assures that this new plant is scheduled to come into operation in 2028 and that it will have an annual capacity to manufacture up to 120,000 vehicles. At the moment, it has not been confirmed what types of vehicles will be manufactured (pure combustion, hybrid or electric) nor have the models been specified. For its part, in information collected by The Worldthe Xunta raises the figure to 2,300 jobs, of which 1,000 would be direct, another 1,000 indirect and 300 would be related to the company’s activity in As Pontes (a town near Ferrol). In this location, the company is expected to build a components plant. Some doubts. For now, what is known is that the company will establish itself in Ferrol and build an auxiliary plant in As Pontes. The choice of Ferrol is determined by its port, which has already served as a gateway for other Chinese manufacturers for sale in Spain or subsequent distribution throughout Europe. What has not been confirmed, in addition to the type of vehicle used, is what manufacturing method will be carried out. The Chery Group in Barcelona uses the DKD method where the local impact is minimal. The companies (Omoda/Jaecoo/Ebro) have repeated that they will increase the number of operations that will be carried out in Barcelona but, for the moment, the cars arrive semi-assembled in containers and on Spanish soil only the last pieces of the puzzle are being put together. At the moment, in its information SAIC (owner of MG) does not refer to whether the cars will arrive more or less assembled on Spanish soil. The more processes that need to be carried out in the Spanish plant, the more direct jobs and the more work will be given to auxiliary companies in the area. “In Europe, for Europe”. That is, according to MG, the maximum of this landing in Galicia. And the company has found a vein in our continent with the sale of cars with all kinds of technologies at very low prices. In Europe it is the Chinese brand that sells the most carsplacing in 2025 a total of 211,014 units in the European Union and 305,717 units if we put the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom into the equation. These sales are understood because the SAIC Group has found in MG a vein to sell cheaply in Europe. The brand, previously British, is not unknown to the public and both its hybrids and electric ones are cheap compared to traditional European proposals. In Spain, so far this year, the MG ZS is among the 10 best-selling non-plug-in hybrids and is the sixth best-selling car in the sum of all technologies, according to ANFAC data. Furthermore, the brand is the tenth best-selling company in our country. Duty. It remains to be known, as we said, what the bet is in terms of specific models but it is clear that the landing of Chinese brands such as BYD in Hungary and Turkey or the Chery Group in Barcelona is directly associated with the implementation of European tariffs on Chinese electric cars. SAIC, which owns MG, is the company facing the highest tariffs. Manufacturing in Europe may allow them to compete, even more, on price, but the European Union has already made it clear that it will be necessary to make a minimum number of investments to consider that the car is European. This does not mean that the car is electric. Although cars with combustion engines do not have tariffs, rumors point to greater European shielding of their economy. And producing in Europe for Europe can help, even more, to lower the price of cars with combustion engines, partially alleviating the economic effort that the company has to make with electric cars. Photo | MG and Counting Stars In Xataka | Spain has a new brand of Chinese cars and it arrives with an ambitious plan: “Five million units by 2030”

Wallapop believed it had conquered the second-hand market in Spain. Until Vinted appeared

by

Wallapop, formerly known as Fleapster. Wallapop It was founded on May 23, 2013 in Barcelona with that name that referred to the famous “flea markets”. Its promoters, Agustín Gómez, Gerard Olivé and Miguel Vicente, started with the support of the Antai Venture Builder accelerator and an initial catalog that they had obtained by shopping at flea markets. The app was designed to meet someone nearby and do the exchange in person, so geolocation was essential for this first version. The team understood a couple of ideas that gave the app a definitive boost: sending a sofa from Seville to Vigo is a pain, and trust between buyers and sellers grows when the seller is three streets away. To make themselves known, they gave part of the company to Atresmedia in exchange for television advertising space. The result was a campaign that turned “Walla!” into a recognizable catchphrase before anyone knew quite what it meant. Vinted, the power of moving. Vinted has five more years of history. Milda Mitkute ​​founded it in 2008 in Vilnius, Lithuaniawhen I was 22 years old and needed to get rid of more than a hundred clothes before moving. At a party he met Justas Janauskas, a computer engineer who built the first version of the site in ten days. The original name was manodrabuziai.l (“second-hand clothes” in Lithuanian) and in the first version they forgot to include a buy button. The platform expanded to Germany the following year, under the name Kleiderkreiseland did not arrive in Spain until many years laterwhen Wallapop already dominated the local market. Differences in use. The most visible difference between both platforms, and the one that most influences the behavior of their users, is who assumes the costs of the transaction. At Vinted the seller does not pay commission. Publish, sell and receive the full price in your wallet. The buyer assumes a protection fee of 0.70 fixed euros plus 5% of the price of the item, which covers incident management and payment retention until confirmation of receipt. Vinted eliminated seller fees in 2023. At Wallapop, in-person sales have no commission, which for bulky or high-priced items is more profitable for the seller. When Wallapop Envoys is used (the logistics service integrated into the app, which generated 74 million euros in 2024) the platform applies a management fee of around 10% of the sales price. There is also a second way of monetization for the platform, which has grown strongly: visibility services that give more relevance to an ad. generated 22 million euros in 2024, 27.6% more than in 2023. An important income for Wallapop, since it represents money for the platform regardless of whether the sale closes. The figures. Let’s look at some figures from 2024 and 2025 that allow us to trace the real state of each company. Vinted closed 2024 with 813 million euros in revenue36% more than the previous year, and a net profit of 76.7 million, which represents an increase of 330% compared to 2023, its first positive year. In 2025, Revenues rose to 1.1 billion (+38%). Net profit, however, fell 19% that year to 62 million due to spending on the expansion of Vinted Go to Spain and Portugal and the launch of Vinted Pay. Wallapop, for its part, closed 2024 with 101 million in revenue (+13%)consolidated losses of 25 million and the first break-even operating in the Spanish market since its foundation. In an average year, platform users generate sales of between 2,000 and 2,500 million euros, according to the company itself. Since 2013 it has accumulated more than 120 million euros in lossesalthough the trend is for a sustained reduction in those red numbers. Enter Korea. This same year, Naver, South Korea’s largest technology company, completed in January 2026 the acquisition of 100% of the company in an operation valued at 600 million euros. The transaction makes Wallapop the European spearhead of Naver in the recommercejoining Poshmark, which already performs these functions in the US and which the Korean group bought in 2023. The CEO of Naver Europe, Seokjoo Han, declared in Barcelona that the group intends to use the city as a base to expand into more European cities, relying on the parent company’s capabilities in artificial intelligence and search. Southern Europe: here we are. What is happening right now in Spain is the clearest reflection of the evolution of the sector. The trade in reused items in Spain reached a volume of 13.8 billion euros annually by 2025equivalent to 0.86% of the national GDP. It is a market that has been growing at a faster rate than general consumption for years, driven by inflation since 2021. Vinted has responded to this situation with the launch of Vinted Go in 2025. The company already operates this network in five markets (Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), following the leap that Wallapop made some time ago from being a second-hand app to having a delivery infrastructure (although Vinted has its own logistics operator and Wallapop works with InPost). Wallapop, meanwhile, has been expanding its catalog beyond household objects for years. The engine is one of the categories where it maintains leadership in Spain. And the entry of Naver introduces the possibility of technological improvements in search and personalization that until now were out of reach. Both are getting closer to their rival as time goes by: Vinted is becoming less specialized in clothing, Wallapop is becoming more technological. A final and personal appreciation. Without this implying tipping the balance towards one of the two apps (which is not the purpose of this article), I would like to express my personal experience, linked to my long career selling items especially related to leisure (books, comics, movies, video games). For some time I have noticed how Vinted, which just a couple of years ago did not allow you to buy much beyond clothing, has made a very notable leap towards collecting: its presence in … Read more

China has found a giant “tunnel” to introduce its cars into Europe without Europe. And it is facing Spain

by

In 2007, when Morocco inaugurated the port from Tangier Med off the Spanish coast, many saw it as an ambitious logistical gamble. Less than two decades later, that port has not only become the largest of the Mediterranean and Africabut has begun to surpass historic European giants like Algeciras in traffic. What seemed like a regional infrastructure ended up becoming one of the main commercial gateways to Europe. A half-open door to Europe. Europe has been trying for years reduce your dependency China’s industrial sector and, more recently, protect its manufacturers against the avalanche of electric vehicles from the Asian giant. The tariffs imposed by Brussels, in fact, respond precisely to that objective. However, I remembered the weekend the financial times that, while attention was focused on Chinese ports and factories in the country’s interior, Beijing began to build a much closer alternative: an industrial network located on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The growing concern in Brussels does not arise because China is exporting more cars from its territory, but because it is transferring part of its production capacity to a country that enjoys privileged access to the European market. Map of the surroundings of Tangier, with Tanger Tech City (to the south), Tanger Automotive City and the port of Tangier Med Morocco as an industrial platform. It explained the means that the transformation is visible around Tangier and Kenitrawhere Chinese investments in tires, brakes, electronic components, battery materials and future gigafactories are multiplying. What is emerging are not simple isolated plants, but a supply chain increasingly complete capable of feeding the European electric car industry. Morocco offers practically everything you are looking for manufacturers: geographical proximity to Europe, competitive labor costs, renewable energy, tax advantages and an extensive network of trade agreements. For many Chinese companies, producing there is more attractive to continue manufacturing in China and then face the growing European trade barriers. The fear of Brussels. European concern does not lie solely in foreign investment. What is worrying is the possibility that Morocco will become in an indirect way so that products backed by Chinese capital, technology and subsidies enter Europe with much more favorable conditions. The European Commission already has detected cases in which components manufactured with Chinese financial support end up benefiting from preferential agreements. The challenge is to distinguish where it ends an authentic Moroccan industrialization and where a strategy designed to circumvent tariffs begins. Put another way, the more complex supply chains become, the more difficult it becomes to answer that question. Beijing’s geographical advantage. If you like, China too. has understood that geography can be as important as technology. Off the Spanish coast is a country connected by trade agreements with Europe and the United States, equipped of modern ports and increasingly integrated into global production chains. From the Chinese perspective, installing factories in Morocco does not mean abandoning Europe, but rather get even closer to her. Instead of shipping finished products from thousands of miles away, companies can manufacture components and vehicles a few hours of the main European markets. The strategy reduces costs, limits commercial risks and makes the application of protectionist measures difficult. A battle for European industry. What happens in Morocco reflects much broader economic competition. Europe tries to protect an industrial base that consider strategicas China looks for new ways to keep its huge manufacturing capacity running despite increasing Western restrictions. The result is that North Africa is becoming a space increasingly disputedwhere the interests of Brussels, Rabat and Beijing intersect. For Morocco, investments mean jobs, infrastructure and growth. For China, they represent a privileged platform next to the gateway to the European market. And for the European Union they constitute a uncomfortable question: If Chinese production can be installed just on the other side of the Mediterranean, to what extent are tariffs really capable of slowing its advance? Image | Adam Cle, The Spanish Monkey In Xataka | China and Europe do not trust each other when it comes to electric cars. And someone is taking advantage of it: Türkiye In Xataka | The Chinese auto industry is moving to colonize Africa and Latin America. Also to be your springboard

There are more and more guard dogs in Spain. They cost up to 15,000 euros and the law treats them the same as a poodle.

by

Spain has a new symbol of domestic security: the old guard dog, which once lived sadly tied up permanently or surrounding a property, has now returned as a vitamin-rich walking dog. Breeds such as the Cane Corso, the Malinois or the Doberman have found a new home in middle-class family homes and social networks, where footballers, other elite athletes and also influencers exhibiting them has accelerated that trend. Large, strong, robust dogs that do not appear in the list of Potentially Dangerous Breeds Spanish. All with another link in common: they have bought them for the same reason, fear of theft, harassment and insecurity in general. But perception is one thing and what the data says is another. what’s happening. According to data from the Royal Canine Society of Spain, of which El País echoesthe two breeds that have experienced the most growth in the records are the Cane Corso and the Doberman, something confirmed by two kennels of these breeds, the Catalan X-Man and the Madrid The Guardians. Depending on the level of training and pedigree, the prices of these breeds range from 2,000 to more than 15,000 euros. This phenomenon is not unique to the Spanish state: the United Kingdom is experiencing this boomwith the Cane Corso as the star breed. Thus, from 2015 to 2023 their number has quintupled, according to the British Kennel Club. In the United States, the American Pet Products Association documents sustained growth in the acquisition of working and protection breeds since the pandemic. Why is it important. The fact that these dogs are not on the PPP list means that anyone can acquire them without special procedures, which generates a certain ambiguity: they are stronger than average and are used as working dogs, but there is no need to have special training or pass psychotechnics. All dogs need RC insurance from la Animal Welfare Act of 2023but a 45-kilogram Cane Corso trained for guarding has exactly the same legal obligations as a poodle. The law treats them the same because, formally, they are. Obviously it is a good idea to get a trained Cane Corso and take a training course, but the law does not require it. The list of Potentially Dangerous Dogs is the classification of the different states of certain breeds of dogs that, due to their physical conditions, require special handling. For the American Veterinary Medical Associationthe risk of bites has more to do with handling and socialization than with breed. Simply put, it’s not the dog’s fault, it’s the owner’s fault. And a level above the individual, the system that does not filter who can have them. Context. The increase in demand for guard dogs cannot be understood without the feeling of citizen insecurity. The data tells another story: the Statistical Crime Yearbook of the Ministry of the Interior of Spain sample that conventional crime has been declining in the state for years. What is increasing is cybercrime, but a Malinois is of little use against that. The sociologist Luis García Tojar frames it with surgical precision: The purchase of guard dogs is part of the same phenomenon as anti-squatting alarms or the huge consumption of true crime on digital platforms. Media hyperexposure reinforces that availability biasthat is, we overestimate the frequency of what we see or hear most intensely, even though it does not reflect the reality of the statistics. The hatchery business. The guard dog market moves shocking figures. He X-Man owner gives the price range of their cane corso: from 6,500 euros to 15,500 euros. To that we must add maintenance costs, veterinary costs, that recommended insurance and continuous training, a notable investment that is not within everyone’s reach. However, the sector has grown thanks to this demand sponsored by fear and amplified by the visibility of social networks. Within the global pet products and services industry, which exceeded $260 billion in 2023 and growing, the specialized training segment is one of the most added value. Simply put: selling a guard dog is very lucrative. The risks of these guard dogs. A poorly trained guard dog or in the hands of an untrained owner is a real risk. There is solid studies on canine bites and aggression directed at strangers as a function of education and socialization. The problem with these dogs is the human context that surrounds them. Regarding insurance, the situation is more complex than it seems. The Animal Welfare Law 7/2023 requires all dog owners to have civil liability insurance regardless of breed. But the regulation that sets the minimum amounts is still pending approval and standard policies usually exclude dogs trained to bite. We insist, in practice a Cane Corso trained for the guard has the same legal obligations as a poodle: generic insurance, without a license, without accredited training, without any additional requirement that reflects its real capacity to cause harm. Yes, but. That said, it would be unfair to reduce the phenomenon to the consumption of fear. There is legitimate demand ranging from people who know the breed, have experience and assume responsibility to those who have real protection needs such as women who have reported harassment or assault and feel safer with a dog trained to alert. The problem is not the dog or the responsible owner. The thing is that the system does not distinguish between one and the other. There are trainers who filter buyers, reject sales if they detect that the buyer is not prepared and include mandatory training for the owner as part of the process, as Marga Dernoncourt of Los Guardianes explains. It is an ethical and necessary practice, but completely voluntary. In Germanythe European country with the most demanding regulations, states such as Bavaria classify the Cane Corso as a dangerous breed and require authorization, an animal temperament test and specific insurance, and the Doberman falls into a restricted category in several Länder with similar requirements. In Spain, none of these breeds trigger any additional requirements beyond general liability insurance. In … Read more

Spain has been without an essential weapon for war for years. Airbus has found the solution in Seville, and fires torpedoes and sonobuoys

by

One of the most outlandish ideas of World War II was to convert old B-17 bombers into giant loaded drones. with almost ten tons of explosives. The pilots would take off, activate the remote control system and parachute before the plane continued toward its target without a crew. The project it was a failurebut it left a curious lesson: finding submarines and destroying hidden targets has always required the development of some of the strangest and most advanced technologies of each era. The capacity that Spain lost. Modern warfare still relies on highly sophisticated technologies, but some capabilities remain as essential as they were decades ago. One of them is the surveillance and pursuit of submarines. Spain lost that tool in December 2022 with the withdrawal of veterans P-3 Orionleaving a void that was especially striking for a country with thousands of kilometers of coastline, a strategic position between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and intense naval activity in its waters. Since then, the Armed Forces have lacked an aircraft capable of locating, tracking and attacking enemy submarines, a situation that is now beginning to be resolved. thanks to a program developed entirely in Seville. Cockpit of the new maritime patrol C295 The answer comes from Andalusia. Airbus advances in the construction of the new C295 MPAa version specifically designed to return to the Air and Space Army a capability that had been missing for years. The program has already passed several important industrial milestones, including powering up systems and commissioning the engines of the first aircraft. The company ensures that the deadlines remain as planned and that flight tests will last for more than a year before the delivery of the first unit in 2028. Beyond a simple replacement, Airbus considers this development the most ambitious project carried out on the C295 platform and aspires to turn it into an international reference within maritime patrol. View of the interior of the warehouse from the airplane ramp The return of the submarine chaser. The characteristic that distinguishes this aircraft from the rest of the C295 versions is its ability to combat underwater threats. The device will be able to carry between two and four Mk46 or Mk54 torpedoes and deploy up to sixty sonobuoys, small floating sensors that listen to sounds underwater and allow hidden submarines to be located. The combination of both systems returns to Spain a fundamental tool for contemporary naval warfare. For years, the country has lacked a platform capable of searching for submarines at great distances, classifying them, tracking their movements and, if necessary, attacking them. The new plane recovers precisely that function, one of the more complex and strategic within any modern air force. An arsenal of sensors. Anti-submarine warfare depends on both sensors and weapons. Precisely for this reason, the C295 MPA will incorporate a very extensive set of specialized equipment. Among them are synthetic aperture radarselectro-optical systems, magnetic anomaly detectors capable of perceiving the presence of large metallic masses underwater, automatic vessel identification systems and an advanced acoustic system to process information collected by sonobuoys. Added to this are self-protection equipment against missiles, encrypted satellite communications and tactical data links that will allow information to be shared in real time with other naval and air units. An industrial project. Although Airbus leads the program, development has also become in a shop window of the Spanish defense industry. Companies such as Indra, SAES and Tecnobit participate by providing self-protection systems, acoustic sensors and encryption equipment. The contract also includes simulators, infrastructure, training and logistical support, consolidating a technological ecosystem that goes far beyond the manufacture of the aircraft itself and reinforces Seville’s role as one of the main military aeronautical centers in Europe. Much more than a new plane. The acquisition of eight devices of maritime surveillance and eight of maritime patrol is part of an investment greater than the 1.7 billion eurosto which other contracts for new versions of the C295 have been added. The program reflects the extent to which Spain is rebuilding capabilities considered essential in an international context where submarines once again play a leading role. In essence, the history of new C295 MPA It is not just about a plane that has just come off a Sevillian assembly line, but rather about how a country that had lost one of the most important tools to control its seas is recovering the ability to find invisible threats underwater and respond to them with its own means. Image | Airbus In Xataka | The S-82 is Spain’s second new generation submarine: it has just completed a critical test before delivery In Xataka | Spain is selling military technology for scrap: the latest was a Navy submarine for 130,000 euros

Spain already experienced it between 1900 and 1912

by

Many people in the world have never seen a solar eclipsedespite There are usually between 2 and 5 in a year. The reason is that yes, they are relatively common; But, unlike the lunar eclipse, which is seen in all places where it is night at that time, the solar eclipse is seen in a very small strip of territory. In general, They usually spend between 300 and 400 years for an eclipse to repeat itself in the same place. Therefore, that In 2026, 2027 and 2028 there will be three solar eclipses visible from Spain is most peculiar. It is true that not all of them will be total, since the third will be annular, and that they will not be seen from the same points in the country, but, even so, it is something rare. Now, just because it is rare does not mean that it is impossible, since in mainland Spain we already had another trio of eclipses a little over a century ago. The first was in 1900, the second in 1905 and the third in 1912. They were not three consecutive years, as will happen with this Iberian trio, but they were very close dates for what is usually normal. May 28, 1900: a total solar eclipse that left the railway without tickets The first of these solar eclipses took place on May 28, 1900with the onset of totality at 14:53 UTC. The strip of totality, in which the complete occultation of the Sun could be seen, measured 70 kilometers wide and It extended from the north of Extremadura to Elche. Although there was still a lot of superstition surrounding eclipses, they were already beginning to be seen as something positive and, above all, as a spectacle worth experiencing. For this reason, thousands of people traveled to the locations of the strip of totality to witness it. The strip of totality was from the north of Extremadura to Elche Two of the most visited places were Plasencia and Navalmoral de la Matain Cáceres. This last town was the one that attracted the largest audience, with more than 4,000 railway tickets sold from Madrid. The influx was so great that when the tickets were sold out it was decided to release another edition, with a 25% increase in price. Still, many people bought them. Nobody wanted to miss this event that attracted scientists from Spain, England, France and Ireland. In Spain, the photographs taken by Manuel Gil, a science professor at the Central University of Madrid (the current Complutense University) stood out. There was great media coverage and many anecdoteslike those who said that the bees revolutionized, the sheep bleated uncontrollably and the storks returned to their nests. Night fell shortly after noon and this baffled the animals and fascinated the humans. August 30, 1905, the eclipse that ended religious prejudices Although in 1900 religious prejudices were slowly beginning to be put aside, they were still quite present. However, possibly the fact of seeing a solar eclipse and the world not ending led to the 1905 eclipse being received much more calmly among the general population. Totality, which began at 13:03 UTC on August 30, was observed in a strip from the north of Galicia to the north of the Valencian Community, passing through Castilla y León and Aragón. It lasted more than 3 minutes in some of these locations. Specifically, The center of the strip was in the town of Quintanillain Burgos, although the places where it was best seen were Burgos capital and the Leonese town of Cistierna. Unfortunately, the weather was not the best, so there were many places where the clouds They prevented the viewing of the eclipse. Despite that, this total solar eclipse had great media and scientific coverage, with astronomers from all over Europe meeting mostly in Burgos and León. April 17, 1912, a peculiar eclipse The solar eclipse of April 17, 1912 It was quite peculiarbecause it was a mixed annular-total eclipse. There was a very small strip of totality, just a few meters long, in northwest Spain. Furthermore, that totality lasted only a few seconds, so very few people were able to see it. On the other hand, annularity was seen in a larger area of ​​land, from Porto to Gijón. During an annular eclipse it is not night, but rather the Moon hides the center of the Sun, which is seen as a kind of bright disk. It attracted the attention of many astronomers, both Spanish and French, who gathered mostly in the Leonese town of Cacabelos. However, being so short, it did not attract as much of the general population and much less the press, which was busy with international news such as the sinking of the famous Titanic. October 2, 1959: the Canary Islands It is often said that 1912 was the last total solar eclipse in Spain. However, this is an unfair statement, since in 1959 one took place in the Canary Islandswhich also attracted a lot of national and international press and scientists. Totality occurred from 9:26 UTC and could be seen in La Orotava, Santa Úrsula, La Victoria, La Matanza, Tegueste, La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, el Rosario and Arafo in Tenerife, Las Palmas Santa Brígida, Ingenio, Telde and San Bartolomé de Tirajana in Gran Canaria and the Jandía area in Fuerteventura. That was the last total solar eclipse in Spain, but only until now. Soon we will be able to enjoy one more. And then another. And another one. How can we not be excited, releasing one news item after another? It is a very special period. Image | Wikimedia Commons colored with Gemini | Ministry of Defense In Xataka | A third of Spain will be completely dark for a minute or two. The astronomical event of the century is approaching

the shadow business that moves VTCs in Spain

by

Before the boom of Uber and Cabify, the acronym VTC They were an enigma. Now they have become almost a popular nickname. In Madrid, it is enough to see the sticker of the red flag with stars of the autonomous community on a car to think “it is a VTC”. The urban center is littered with this type of vehicles. But the VTCs, which respond to “transport vehicles with driver“, existed for decades. They were cars intended for luxury transportation, the typical car that was rented with a driver. These actors are still in the market and operate in the tourism sector or as transportation for companies, but they are a minority. Apps changed everything. Cabify, Uber and Bolt have taken VTCs out of their niche to bring them to a mass audience. Thanks to the immediacy they allow, these cars with drivers have become so close to the taxi figure that they now constitute direct competition. But unlike taxi drivers, who tend to be small self-employed, a large part of the VTCs are in the hands of large companies. And they do not correspond exactly to the apps. “There are three large groups, which are Moove Cars, Auro and Vecttor,” says José María Cazallas, Secretary of Organization of the Free Transport Union, which represents around 80% of the workers in the VTC sector and also has significant representation in the taxi sector. “These three groups come together more or less around the 60% of licenses VTC in Madrid.” They are different entities from the applications that the user knows, although Cabify and Uber have participation in these companies. VTCs vs taxis The rise of VTCs in Spain cannot be understood without taxis and the framework in which they traditionally operated. “The model of one license for each taxi driver was followed. It was a very interventionist model. I’m talking about the beginning of the 20th century until the end of the 90s, in which they tried to distribute the business,” explains Alejandro Román, professor in the Department of Law at the University of Seville and author of the book The legal regime for the transport of passengers on demand in tourist vehicles (Taxis and VTC). Román affirms that for a long time the granting of licenses was contaminated by the clientelism. In times where well-paid work was scarce and there were many arduous jobs, a taxi license was a safe option. “These people had a guaranteed job, with a guaranteed profitability, because they had no competition,” says the professor from the University of Seville. “The number of operators in the market was calculated so that all license holders could live reasonably well.” (Unsplash) In a limited market, which barely issued new licenses, these became a scarce commodity. Their buying and selling occurred at astronomical prices. But the panorama changed completely with the arrival of Cabify and Uber. License prices fellalthough later it has come back. Now, in a look on Wallapop you can see taxi licenses for sale for between 180,000 and 210,000 euros for Madrid. In Barcelona they have a similar price, slightly less than 200,000, although some advertisements exceed them. It depends on the schedule for which the license is scheduled or if the car is included. The history of VTC licenses is different: their price has not stopped growing and they have reached almost the same level. Again taking Wallapop as a quick barometer, you can see that a VTC license in Madrid is available for around 180,000 euros. In Barcelona, ​​where the sector faces regulatory uncertainty, the price is much lower, around 75,000 euros. But the most important change that Cabify, Uber and Bolt have brought is technological mediation. “In the VTC the model is different. What happens is that over time it has become increasingly closer to the taxi model,” says Román. The VTCs could not take clients on the street or at taxi stops, while the contracting of their services had to be done in advance. This is established by law to guarantee a market reserve for taxis, which in return are obliged to perform certain public functions, such as not rejecting clients or providing transportation support in situations of health emergencies. “With the arrival of applications, this required pre-contracting is diluted. The technology itself makes it immediate. Because you open the application, you pre-contract the VTC, but you can start using it five minutes later,” concludes Román. In practice, the two models provide the same type of transportation service, although they have different regulations. A sector of large companies The similarity of the service they provide, however, differs in their back room. The exploitation of VTCs is dominated by large companies with hundreds or thousands of licenses in their name. These companies are intertwined with some of the platforms. “Cabify is the owner of Vecttor. And Moove Cars and the Auro Group are owned by Uber,” says Cazallas, from the Free Transport Union. “While the number of licenses that each taxi driver can have is limited, in the case of VTCs there is no limitation on the number of licenses per owner. That is why a market of large companies that request many licenses has emerged,” emphasizes Román. And the number continues to increase. Cabify has deployed in Madrid 800 new licensespart of a package of 8,500 requested in 2018 taking advantage of a legal loophole. (Unsplash) The Estonian platform Bolt, the only one of the three that does not have its own fleet and claims to work with freelancers and small businesses, criticized the granting of these licenses as a form of market concentration. According to their calculations, the addition of 8,500 licenses to the Cabify/Vecttor fleet would put 70% of the active VTCs in the autonomous community under the control of a single company. One of the main figures behind Vecttor has been the Sevillian businessman Rosauro Varofounder of PepePhone. He built a VTC company that accumulated 2,000 licenses for later sell it to Cabifybecoming part of its shareholders. … Read more

In 1910, a comet approached Earth. And half of Spain panicked when they believed that she would die from poisoning.

by

In 1908, while reviewing the spectroscopic analysis of the tail of a comet, astronomer Daniel Walter Morehouse realized that it was full of toxic gases (such as cyanogen). The publication of the discovery made half of humanity’s hair stand on end. Above all, because there were just two years left until the Earth crossed paths with the largest known comet: the Halley. Plus, it was very close. Every year, between April 19 and May 28, our planet crosses the trail that Halley has left in its wake over the last few million years. This is what we know as the Eta Aquarids: a shower of very fast stars that peaks this year on the early mornings of May 5 and 6. In 1910, we encountered the comet on May 18. Our grandparents could almost touch it with the tips of their fingers. And that’s where the problems began. As explained Pedro Ruiz-Castell, Ignacio Suay-Matallana and Juan Marcos Bonet A few years ago, the vast majority of astronomers “seemed to be clear that this presence did not pose a danger to the visit of the comet. After all, “the tail of the comet was much less dense than the most perfect vacuum that could be produced in the laboratory”, what effect could such a tail have, no matter how many toxic gases it carried with it? However, the people she went crazy. Whether they were justified or not (which I already say they were not), the doubts about the extension of the comet’s tail and, “consequently, about the possibility that our planet could pass through it and be involved in it” became mainstream. So much so that José Comas i Solà In La Vanguardia on January 23 he even said that “we have been waiting for him (Halley) for 76 years to give us nothing but dislikes“. The confessionals filled to the brim In the end, as constantly happens today, “astronomers do not cease, even without intending to, to alarm the public with the statement that from May 18 to 19 we will have to pass through the tail of Halley’s Comet. On the one hand they assure that nothing bad will happen, and on the other they enumerate the dangers that await us on that day” said El Restaurador de Tortosa. But it was not something uniquely Spanish. Wherever there was a newspaper, there there was dozens of news stories dedicated to denying the hoaxes and prophecies that spread on the street. During those weeks, enormous sales were made. amounts of oxygen in pharmacies throughout Europe and thousands of wills were written before the imminent catastrophe.” In England, many citizens were convinced that “the comet is a chariot of fire, sent by the Supreme Being to take the soul of King Edward to heaven” who had just died on May 6. In Italy there were hundreds of psychotic outbreaks motivated by the comet and from the United States news came of “the strange rites celebrated in the countryside during the early mornings by African Americans in the south”. In Spain, the correspondent of The Impassionate in Bilbao, he wrote on May 18 that “the famous comet is the obligatory topic of all conversations. Many people see the critical moment arriving with real fear, and as proof of this, this morning an extraordinary number of faithful could be seen in the communion boxes in the churches. The priests, even trying to be brief and lenient in the court of penance, were not able to dispatch all those who requested confession, and tonight the churches were full. Tomorrow there will be a almost cometary queue before the sacred tables” Luckily, astronomers they were right and the passage of Halley did not end life on Earth. It did leave us priceless scenes of what would become, with the passage of time, hoaxes, collective hysteria and scientific journalism. Oh, and he “renewed” the material that we come across every year in the month of May: the wonderful Eta Aquarids. Image | Frank Cone In Xataka | Mysterious lights have been appearing in a remote valley in Norway since 1811. And we still don’t know what they are In Xataka | We had always believed that galaxies preceded black holes. James Webb has discovered something else

Quietly, a mobile phone manufacturer is skyrocketing in Spain. One that hits right in the nostalgia

by

There was a time when it seemed that consumers only had eyes for Xiaomi when looking for an affordable mobile phone. Things are starting to change. The data of Omdia For the first quarter of 2026 they show a significant drop compared to 2025 for the Asian manufacturer, with Motorola taking center stage. The numbers. The European phone market grew 2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, with Samsung as the big name. The company, according to data from the consulting firm, already has a 38% share, its best number in years with a growth of 3%. But Apple. The good global results of the iPhone 17 They already left us a clue about what could happen in Europe. Apple grew 9.9%, thanks to relatively affordable price models such as the iPhone 16e and the commercial success of its new models. Apple remains in second place, but with a striking fact: it sold 8.8 million iPhones compared to Samsung’s 12.6, and still grew at three times the rate of its rival. Samsung depended largely on the Galaxy A16 4G to sustain their numbers. Xiaomi. The Chinese company maintained third place, although its fall was the most pronounced. Xiaomi falls no less than 15% in Europe, although the numbers have fine print: the company sold fewer phones, but the ones it did sell were more expensive. Xiaomi’s average price (ASP, Average Selling Price) rose by 21%, mainly after the launches of the series Xiaomi 17 and the good sales of the Xiaomi 15T. It is a strategy that is working for them: although they sell fewer units, they sell much more expensively. Mainly, the markets in which these ranges worked the most were France, Germany and… Spain. And Motorola arrived. Motorola has been obsessed with the Spanish market for some time. It knows that we like quality-price phones, and that the buyer still has a certain nostalgia for a brand that always had a good product. Thanks to its expansion in Spain and Portugal, the company has grown 17% year-on-year, with almost two million units sold. A quick look on Amazon makes it easy to understand what’s going on. Motorola has a barrage of phones available at competitive prices, clean software that does not generate any type of friction, and an acceptable update policy. to stay. Motorola has a clear market strategy in which Spain is a fundamental market: affordable and accessible mobile phones. For its part, Xiaomi is turning towards Be increasingly premium to improve your margins. A golden opportunity for a manufacturer that once flooded Spain with Moto G, to once again travel the path of commercial success. In Xataka | Motorola Edge 70 Fusion, analysis: putting 7,000 mAh in such a thin mobile phone seemed like magic. The trick is under the hood

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.