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Epic Games has won. Fortnite will return to the Play Store and developer commissions will be lower than ever

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It’s been almost six years since it started the war between Epic Games and Google. A battle in which the American court ended up determining that the Google Play Store it was a monopolyand in which the company was forced to change its commission system and policy with third-party stores. Today, we know exactly what those changes will look like. A new era. We don’t say it, Google says it in its publication titled “A new era for choice and openness.” The lawsuits with Epic Games have forced the company to take a new directionmaking its commission system more flexible and allowing third-party developers to implement their own stores. The change in commissions. Google will eliminate its 30% commissions and move to a new 20% one. This rate refers to the commission charged by the application store when a user purchases something within an app (in app purchase). New developers who join the new Google programs will be able to reduce this commission up to 15%. These figures say goodbye to the 30% rate that giants like Epic Games described it as abusiveand which were modified by judicial order of the US Supreme Court. Third party stores. Epic Games had to launch your Epic Games Store outside of Google Play to avoid commissions, something that will no longer be necessary. Just like Apple had to do, Google will have to facilitate the installation process of third-party stores. As they have shown in their own publication, there will be an interface on Android dedicated to third-party application stores, so that users who download them have a more simplified and unified installation flow. This interface will be available to all developers who want to join the program. Otherwise, we will continue to be able to install them like any other APK. The before and after. The Google/Epic case marks a before and after: it is a warning to the rest of the giants. The PC platform Steam charges a 30% commission on game sales and microtransactions. Same figure that Sony charges developers on the PlayStation Store. For years, 30% became the name of large stores, but European regulatory pressures and the antitrust trials held in the US are the first blow to this wall of 30. In Xataka | Obtainium: what it is and how this alternative application store to the Google Play Store on Android works

An 80-year-old retiree won 2.7 million euros in the lottery and invested it in something unexpected: creating a drug trafficking network

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That a chemistry professor sick with cancer becomes one of the largest manufacturers of methamphetamine is something that gave us hours of entertainment with Breaking Bad. What we didn’t see coming is that a retiree from the United Kingdom could serve as inspiration for a sequel to the popular series. As detailed police sourcesan 80-year-old man won a small fortune in the lottery and, instead of investing it in Nvidia stock either in Hermès bags, He displayed an unexpected entrepreneurial spirit by setting up a fake pill factory that generated hundreds of millions of euros. The stroke of luck that changed everything. John Eric Spiby, from Wigan in Greater Manchester, won €2.77 million in the British Lotto in 2010. With that money he bought a rural property in Astley (west of Manchester) and started his new business venture there: manufacturing pills. The detail is that the pills he was manufacturing were etizolama thienodiazepine six to ten times more powerful than diazepam, and mixed it with other ingredients to make perfect imitations of legal anxiolytics. In Xataka Millions of Spaniards consume benzodiazepines to sleep at night. They don’t know it’s poisoned candy The Retiree’s Band. John’s son, John Colin Spiby, 37, was responsible for managing daily production in a rented container next to the house. A friend, Callum Dorian, was responsible for distributing the pills through encrypted chats on platforms such as EncroChat. For his part, Lee Ryan Drury, 45, helped with logistics. Each member of the band had an assigned role so that the entire production and distribution infrastructure functioned on an industrial scale. They sold the pills to 65 pence each (the equivalent of 75 cents) but the total estimated value reached 332 million euros on the black market. The raid that uncovered him. Spiby’s “pharmaceutical” scheme was uncovered in April 2022. Police stopped a vehicle at a hotel in Manchester and found 2.5 million fake pills valued at 77 million euros. The investigation took them to the Spiby farm, where they found hydraulic presses, automatic packaging machines, firearms, ammunition and enough equipment to produce million pills a month. The etizolam they manufactured reached a magnitude that, in the previous months, 58% of the opioid-related deaths in 2021 in Scotland, they were because of pills like those manufactured by Spiby. Dorian, the distribution manager, boasted in messages comparing Spiby’s business to drug trafficking empires, while the gang armed its distributors to protect the companies. key distribution routes. {“videoId”:”x8px49v”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”ANTIBIOTICS are CEASING TO BE EFFECTIVE and the PROBLEM is SUPERBACTERIA”, “tag”:”Webedia-prod”, “duration”:”327″} The judge has just sentenced the band. The case came to Bolton court in November 2025. According to published The Timesduring the trial Spiby denied any knowledge of the organization that manufactured etizolam pills, claiming that he only rented his property to make some extra money. However, the chats, bank transfers and machinery pointed to him as the main financier, in addition to having found a Lotus and a Porsche that he had hidden in his garage next to the pill manufacturing machines, and the testimony of some neighbors who claimed to have seen him driving around in a Lamborghini, as he collected the BBC. The judge sentenced Spiby and his henchmen in January 2026. “Despite winning the lottery, he decided to continue a life dedicated to crime, far from what would have been normal years of retirement,” the court noted in its ruling. John Eric Spiby was sentenced to 16 years and one month in prison; his son at 9 years old. Drury, the logistics manager, was sentenced to 9 years in prison and Dorian, who already had a 12-year sentence pending, received more time. In total, 47 years in prison for the retiree’s gang. In Xataka | 13% of Spaniards have tried cocaine once in their lives. If we ask the dogs of Madrid the percentage will be higher Image | AMC, Unsplash (Candace Mathers) (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news An 80-year-old retiree won 2.7 million euros in the lottery and invested it in something unexpected: creating a drug trafficking network was originally published in Xataka by Ruben Andres .

Mexico City began a battle against the last of its markets that sold live animals. And he just won it

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Mexico City says goodbye to a historical image: the stalls dedicated to the sale of live animals in the Sonora Marketa complex of almost seven decades located southeast of the historic center of the capital. Since January 1, CDMX applies a restriction to this type of commerce, which in practice means that stalls with cages of chickens, ducks, sheep pigeons or fish tanks will no longer be seen in the square. The veto also extends to the marketing of dogs or cats. The authorities of the capital warn that the measure aims to mark a before and after in the sector: “There will no longer be the sale of animals in the public markets of Mexico City and the example begins with the Sonora Market.” New times, new approach. “As of today, the Sonora Market begins a new stage, leaving behind the sale of animals and moving towards a model that respects the law and protects sentient beings,” claimed on Thursday the head of Government of CDMX, Clara Brugada. According to the data managed by the Venustiano Carranza district, where the Sonora Market is located, there were 84 locations (out of a total of 400) dedicated to the sale of living creatures. The idea is that they will now refocus their positions towards other areas, such as the marketing of pet accessories and food or herbalism. Precisely for this purpose, the authorities have committed to giving them financial support: about 50,000 pesos (2,400 euros) to each affected person. Why that decision? What matters, but (at least in this case) when matters even more. The decision comes after a court order that responds to a request from the animal rights group. ‘He goes for his rights’ and calls into question the sale of live animals in the capital’s markets. However, the controversy around Sonora goes back much further: in 2021 a fire which affected several locations and has already attracted interest in the situation of their animals. Complaints on the subject can also be traced years back and they explain the ruling that now forces part of the market to refocus. Those who ignore it and continue selling animals risk closing their stores or even losing their concession. Among the affected merchants there are those who consider the measure “unfair.” “We live in a country with double standards: everyone eats chicken, but criticizes those who sell it,” laments in The Country a saleswoman. Why is it important? First, for its impact in Sonora. Second, because the CDMX Government wanted to present the measure as a turning point, a change that will go beyond the venue and extend to other similar spaces. “It is a historic day in which we tell Mexico City that there will be no sale of animals in public markets. And the example is set by Sonora,” claimed on Thursday Brugada. “We are an animalistic city.” The truth is that the Sonora Market has been particularly controversial. In December the Efe agency cited to an animal rights organization that claims to have documented the presence of mutilated dogs, with ailments or even painted to pass them off as exclusive breeds. The agency assures that it is not unusual for animals to be purchased in markets that are then dedicated to unorthodox uses, such as rituals, target shooting or bait. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What does the law say? The legislation already restricts the sale of live animals, as the deputy recalled Manuel Talayero during a speech in the Congress of Mexico City in September, when was banned the exhibition of pets in cages. “Removing animals from display cases is one more step to tell society that they are not things. This initiative is a step to end something that is already in the law: the prohibition on the sale of live animals in markets.” The Animal Protection and Welfare Law of CDMX, reformed in 2023, makes clear the prohibition of “selling live animals in public markets” or places that do not meet certain minimums, which include guaranteeing “good sanitary conditions” and facilities that prevent the spread of pests. Businesses also need a permit to raise and sell pets. Are there exceptions? In case there were doubts about the role of venues like Sonora, in a resolution In November, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) clarified that “the exception to the general rule of allowing the sale of live animals in places that comply with the regulations does not extend to public markets.” The Chronicler was echoed yesterday that the Court declared that the CDMX congress has jurisdiction to legislate on issues related to animal protection. Images | Sasha India (Flickr), Thomas_H_foto (Flickr) and Carlos Adampol Galindo (Flickr) In Xataka | If the question is how to protect bees and other insects, in Peru they are clear: recognizing their legal rights

We have been fighting with fish bones for centuries. China just won the war with molecular scissors

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For fish lovers, carpin (gibel carp) has historically been a culinary paradox: a meat appreciated for its tender texture and its rich protein profile, but a real challenge for the diner due to its more than 80 “Y”-shaped intermuscular spines (IBs). This inconvenience has caused countless incidents in cafeterias and visits to the emergency room, but now China has made a radical decision: rewrite the DNA of the species to adapt it to our needs. The “Zhongke No. 6”. The research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), led by academician Gui Jianfang, has announced success of the creation of a new variety called “Zhongke No. 6”. Unlike other scientific advances that remain in the laboratory, this specimen is a variety specifically designed to reach consumers’ tables and transform the aquaculture industry. Molecular surgery at the embryonic level. The key to success lies in a “surgical attack” on the fish’s genome. Scientists identified the gene runx2b as the “architect” responsible for giving the order to the fish’s body to develop those 80 pesky spines. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, described by researchers Like “molecular scissors,” they cut this specific genetic code during the embryonic stage. The process has proven to be of unprecedented precision. The main skeleton of the crucian carp – spine and ribs – develops completely normally, allowing the fish to grow, swim and stay healthy. However, the biological pathway that activates intramuscular spines, the ones that really get in the way of eating, do not develop. A six-year challenge: From the laboratory to production. Although the announcement of “Zhongke No. 6” is recent, the journey began years ago. According to the scientific journal Aquaculturethe seminal study that demonstrated the viability of these spineless mutants was originally published in early 2023. That initial work was the result of a six-year systematic effort under the CAS strategic program called “Design and Creation of Precision Seeds.” This project is especially complex because the crucian carp is hexaploid (it has six sets of chromosomes), which forced Gui Jianfang’s team to simultaneously edit all copies of the genes involved to ensure that not a single spine appeared in the new generations. More than an easy-to-eat fish. “Zhongke No. 6” has not only been emptied of thorns; has been optimized for industrial efficiency. According to published technical data, this variety presents accelerated growth since it reaches “commercial size” in less time than wild varieties. Additionally, it is designed to survive in dense, intensive aquaculture environments, where diseases often decimate production. Finally, it requires significantly less feed to produce the same amount of protein, reducing costs and the environmental impact of feed. The limit of the natural. However, this scientific advance places us before an uncomfortable mirror. As official sources conclude from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, this milestone represents a triumph of applied science that solves an ancient problem, transforming a difficult-to-eat fish into an efficient and safe source of protein. But, from a more critical perspective, an inevitable question arises: by optimizing every stroke of life for our comfort, what are we losing along the way? If we keep editing species so that they grow faster, are more resilient, and have no natural “defects,” we will reach a point where we won’t really know what we are eating. “Zhongke No. 6” is undoubtedly an engineering miracle, but it is also a reminder that the line between nature and the factory is increasingly thin. Image | Needpix Xataka | All the fish we eat are contaminated by methylmercury. But there are only four specific ones to avoid

Someone bet $30,000 that Maduro would fall the night before he fell. He has won $400,000

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Early on Saturday, January 3, a raid by the United States Delta Force broke into the Fuerte Tiuna military complex, located in the south of Caracas, to arrest Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, the president of Venezuela and his wife. Shortly after, someone was looking at his account. Polymarket and he rubbed his hands: that same Friday he had invested $30,000 betting on Maduro’s departure. With his arrest on Saturday, he had obtained a profit of $436,759.61. How lucky. A new account and a lucrative “hunch”. Polymarket’s Burdensome-Mix account barely I was a week old on the PolyMarket platform, but in record time it became one of the most fervent and active in “predict”“ Maduro’s departure during the hours before the operation. In a few hours he had gone from injecting money when the bet investment was at bargain prices to skyrocket: his participation had obtained a total return of more than 1,333.33% and a profit of at least 1,233.33% more than what he bet in less than 24 hours. PolyMarket. Tyson Brody Many people may have been caught off guard by Maduro’s arrest, but it certainly wasn’t for everyone: there are people who anticipated events and earned thousands of dollars as a result. Whether for him pizzometer or looking at Polymarket and company, something was brewing. In fact, there are already those has developed a tool to track suspicious activity on Polymarket because yes, there are those who decide to invest in what Elon Musk will become president of the United States and throw away his money like that (spoiler: he is South African and the US Constitution vetoes the presidency to foreigners), but he has long since emerged as one of the best seers of immediate events. As explained one of the creatorsPolymarket API keys are available to everyone and from here, it’s a matter of analyzing new wallets, unusual sizes and repeat entries into certain market niches. Suspicious behavior like the one that took place on Friday, when his tracker flagged five different alerts hours before Operation Absolute Resolve happened. The market that was betting on Maduro’s departure rose strongly before 10 p.m. on Friday after being at very low figures during the previous weeks, as picks up The Wall Street Journal. Polymarket What has happened in Venezuela. Nicolás Maduro was captured by US special forces following Operation Absolute Resolve in an intervention that threatens international lawalthough the United States relies on its domestic jurisdiction. Yesterday he was transferred to Stewart Air National Guard Base, a military airport in New York, and later landed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he will face trial for drug trafficking and weapons possession. Donald Trump gave the details of the operation at the relevant press conference ensuring that “We are going to govern Venezuela until there is a safe transition” and that after the operation, American energy companies will take care of Venezuela’s oil industry. The official White House rapid response support account published a video where Nicolás Maduro was seen detained, being escorted through a hallway while he congratulated the new year to the people who were in his path. Tap to go to the post The insider trading of the prediction market. The Polymarket user’s operation draws so much attention that it seems evident that he knew what was going to happen in some way, which closes the circle to spheres very close to the president insofar as neither Congress nor his Defense Committee knew about this operation (much less had they authorized it, as he complained the governor of New York State on Twitter). Needless to say, what is known in financial markets as insider trading (trafficking of privileged information) It also happens in prediction markets like Polymarket, Kalshi either PredictIt and it is not only that it is allowed, but it is an ecosystem that favors it: Polymarket accounts are anonymous, global and transparent using technology from the blockchainso from there it is not possible to pull the thread of that lucrative operation. Furthermore, they are decentralized systems and operations are in USDCa stablecoin linked to the US dollar to avoid volatility and with very low commissions. The Polymarket phenomenon returns to its old ways. This is not the first time we have talked about Polymarket in terms of striking movements linked to politics, so Maduro’s thing is not something that is new. Without going any further, these markets came to the fore when they were revealed announcing a clear discrepancy in the 2024 United States Presidency elections compared to traditional analyzes and in turn, most accurate with respect to reality. With that move, French investor Freddi9999 struck gold: betting Due to Trump’s victory, his profits amounted to 85 million dollars, according to Bloomberg. Polymarket and company are not a mere betting platform like those for sporting events, but they have changed the discourse from betting to investmentwhich affects both linguistics and regulation. Thus, they are defined as “event contracts”, which allows them to sneak into the traditional financial system with the approval of leading players in the sector. like the owners of the New York Stock Exchange. The idea on paper is simple: as a user, you can express your opinion by buying or selling shares in eventual outcomes of events in operations executed between peers using smart contracts. Markets grow as they have more participants and prices mirror the perceived probability of an event occurring. It is clear that a lot of money can be made by predicting major news events, although we will have to see how long. In Xataka | Five years ago he worked from his bathroom on the brink of ruin. Today he runs a company valued at 8 billion In Xataka | I don’t bet, I invest: Polymarket and company have sophisticated gambling addiction to the point of making it indistinguishable from “investing” Cover | Chancellery of Ecuador from Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0 and Hanna Pad

Europe believes it has won the gas war against Russia, but it has forgotten one small detail: infrastructure

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Europe has made a historic decision: 2027 will be the year in which the last trace of Russian gas disappear from the energy system of the continent. However, between the offices in Brussels and the reality of homes there is a chasm that is not measured in cubic meters, but in months of construction. The continent’s security no longer depends on diplomacy with the Kremlin, but on the speed at which terminals can be erected, tubes connected and ships deployed. The new European sovereignty is in the hands of the engineers. A system to build. As analyst Giacomo Prandelli explainsthe focus of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market has been on the price, but the real crisis is infrastructure. Europe is in a frantic race to replace Russian gas, but much of the necessary capacity is still under construction or in the planning phase. This has created a golden opportunity for a very select group of companies that own the physical assets. According to Prandelli, there are vital European companies that still go unnoticed. He gives as an example a firm valued at 662 million euros that operates “at a bargain price”: Their profits are very high compared to their stock market value and, most importantly, they already have government contracts secured until 2030. They are, basically, the owners of the “plugs” that Europe is forced to go through. The reasons for structural change. The reason for this urgency is an irreversible “divorce”. According to data collected by OilPriceRussian exports by gas pipeline to Europe have fallen by 44% in 2025, reaching lows in the 1970s. The definitive closure of the Ukrainian route this December leaves the continent without its historic arteries. The reasons for this new reality are three: US dependence: US gas It already represents 56% of LNG imports in Europe. The July 2025 agreementby which the EU will buy 750 billion dollars in energy from the US, has reconfigured the global board. The physical rigidity of the system: Although there is plenty of gas in the global market, European regasification plants (especially in the Netherlands) have operated at the limit of their technical capacity. Spain has the gas, but cannot send it to the rest of Europe: its pipelines with France they only allow export 8,500 million m³ per year. The problem is not the lack of fuel, it is the “funnel” of the pipes. Gas as an eternal backup: A report from McKinsey & Company issues an uncomfortable warning: Gas demand will grow by 26% until 2050. Europe needs gas to stabilize its electricity grid when renewables fail. The energy transition, far from eliminating gas, has turned it into a “permanent strategic pillar.” The Black Sea axis and the ghost fleet. However, the European wall has cracks. Hungary and Slovakia they keep injecting money to the Kremlin via the Druzhba pipeline and the TurkStream route. While Brussels asks for disconnection, Budapest and Bratislava build new connections towards the Black Sea, claiming that the cut would be “economic suicide.” Added to this is the fear of the “ghost fleet.” Brussels fears that Russian gas will repeat the oil scriptan opaque market of ships that change flag and documentation to hide the origin of the gas. To avoid this, the EU has imposed fines of up to 3.5% of global turnover and certificate of origin systems, but the crude oil precedent shows that, when Europe closes a door, the market usually opens a clandestine window. Europe’s floating lifebuoy. Given the slowness of concrete, a technical solution arises. According to Professor Alexandre Munspoints towards FSRUs (Floating Storage and Regasification Units). These ships are mobile regasification plants that use the heat of the sea to process the gas. According to Muns, their advantages are the speed of deployment and the cost since they can be rented for about $155,000 per day. Giants such as Excelerate Energy or Höegh LNG are those that today allow the EU to keep the pulse. Without these ships, the gas crossing the Atlantic simply would have nowhere to enter the continent. The tyranny of the calendar. Europe closes 2025 with deceptive calm. As reported by El Economistaprices have fallen to four-year lows (€27/MWh) thanks to a mild winter and the constant flow of ships. But, as the president of Sedigas, Joan Batalla, warns, this stability is “conditional.” Any extreme cold snap or technical failure in a saturated terminal could skyrocket prices again, because the network operates without margin for error. Europe’s autonomy is no longer negotiated in Moscow; It is built in the ports of Germany, in the interconnections of the Pyrenees and in the FSRU shipyards. The success of the 2027 plan will not depend on politicians’ promises, but on cranes and welders finishing their work before the climate changes the rules of the game. Image | freepik Xataka | The European Union has finally made the decision that has terrified it for so many years: stop importing Russian gas

It is proof that China has won the robot vacuum war

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Already it was seen coming for a long time: iRobot is sinking and bankruptcy is knocking on the door. The one that pioneered robot vacuum cleaners has been going through difficulties for years and their current situation is critical: they have admitted that they barely have cash to operate and there are no more ways to earn income. It looks very bad. what has happened. iRobot has published the third quarter results of the year and paint a very gloomy scenario. Revenue was $145.8 million, down 33% in the United States, 13% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and 9% in Japan compared to the same period last year. The serious thing, according to its CEO, is that due to “market difficulties, production delays and unforeseen interruptions in shipments” the use of cash increased and right now they only have 24.8 million dollars and no additional source of income in sight. Why is it important. iRobot was the one who started the robot vacuum cleaner market in 2002 with the first Roomba model. In 2016 They were market leaders. with a share of 64%, but the emergence of more competitors meant that the pie began to be shared more and more, reducing its portion. iRobot reached its peak valuation in 2021 and from there it was downhill and without brakes. In 2022 Amazon threw her a lifeline and tried to buy herbut regulatory problems in the European Union they caused the agreement to end up being diluted. Its fall is not only important because it was the company that inaugurated the sector, which made us call robot vacuum cleaners ‘Roomba’, it is also confirmation that Chinese companies have conquered the sector. Possible bankruptcy. In a document addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission Last October, the company warned of its critical situation and opened the door to bankruptcy as soon as December 1st. The reason is that it has a credit agreement with The Carlyle Group and has two key requirements: to demonstrate that the company can continue to operate and to maintain a minimum of core assets, something they cannot currently meet. The problem is that they have already received two extensions and the deadline is December 1. They need another extension or sell the company, but they have no buyer. What’s wrong with my Roomba. In statements to The VergeiRobot says the company continues its daily operations, including support for its products. However, if the company closes and the cloud stops working, it will mean that the Roombas will lose their online connectivity. That is, they cannot be controlled from the mobile phone with the app, but they will continue to work using the buttons. It’s already happened. Even if iRobot goes bankrupt, its cloud services may continue for a while, the question is for how long. This is what has happened with Neato vacuum cleaners. The company closed in 2023 and their cloud continued to function, until a couple of weeks ago when they announced that they turned it off permanently. Neato vacuum cleaners only work in manual mode and it is no longer possible to use the app to control the robot or create cleaning routines. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Dyson is late to the robot vacuum party. Your ace in the hole is an AI that identifies and removes difficult stains

A Spanish company won the “golden” contract for the Stonehenge highway. It came out regular

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The United Kingdom has just shelved a project that has been on the table for 20 years: build a road near Stonehenge connect once and for all the jammed London with the southwest of the country. And along the way it has won a ‘golden’ contract that had been awarded to the Spanish company FCC. The figure? 2,000 million euros that remain on the way and a London connection that will continue to be gibberish. Let’s go in parts. Stonehenge is one of the most visited monuments. It is estimated that every year they come 1.5 million tourists to participate in the mystery of this set of monolithic rocks that someone placed it there more than 5,000 years ago. Everything has been theorized and we have two things clear: it is unlikely that one day we will know the motivation behind the workbut we know that the acoustics were impressive. Less imposing is the A303, the road next to it and which is a real nightmare. London is one of the most congested cities in the world. With a population of nine million, 14 in the metropolitan area, and thousands who go to work daily, that connection with the southwest has become one of the entrance arteries to the city. The tunnel is going to cost how much? The problem? Although it is a highway, in the section that passes through Stonehenge it becomes a two-way road. This implies brutal congestion, and that is why in 1995 work began on a solution. The Highway Agency has explored alternative routes, but in the end the easiest thing was to bury the road. Easy, but not cheap: four kilometers long for a tunnel with a cost My dear of 183 million pounds. Then it doubled up to 470 million, 540 million and up to 1.7 billion pounds that they estimated in 2020. It was a stratospheric increase, but Highways England was clear that it was the only way. In fact, They developed a firm project and, in 2022, was awarded to the Spanish FCC Construction. Next to the Italian Webuild and the Austrian BeMo Tunnelling, would give shape to that tunnel whose cost had promoted up to 2 billion pounds. But in the end it was not even the UNESCO (concerned because the tunnels will pass through a World Heritage site) nor the environmentalists who have managed to stop the project. It was the Labor Party. In 2024, the Conservatives were out of power, Labor came in and they found themselves a £22bn hole. Already last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that there would be cuts and that if there were projects they couldn’t afford, they wouldn’t do them. He also commented that all transport projects exceeding £1 billion would be subject to a “comprehensive review”. And, as a result of that situation, and after months on the tightrope, a few days ago communicated that The British government had definitively canceled the project of the new Stonehenge road. Apart from the tunnel, there was a viaduct, new intersections between the A303 and local roads and green bridges for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, but for Reeves and his government, the work was “unaffordable” in the “challenging legacy financial landscape”. The legal battle begins The problem is that something that has been around for 20 years and that was awarded to three companies a year ago has not been frozen in time. At this point, the different companies and Highways England itself had already invested around £180 million in the development, including land assessment, archaeological and heritage preservation studies, as well as public consultations. Although the Government has shelved the A303 Stonehenge project, the problem of which is still there, there is still a way to go for the parties involved. Now the FCC legal fight begins, which, as we read in Expansionhad already completed all the design work for the highway. And it is expected that both the Spanish company and Webuild and BeMo will receive compensation for this cancellation, although the amount has yet to be determined. Images | National Highways In Xataka | They find next to Stonehenge a ring two km in diameter made up of enormous underground wells

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

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

He won an art contest with an image made with Midjourney. Now he is fighting in court to be recognized as an artist

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It seems like an eternity has passed, but in 2022, AI image generation tools were already achieving the most convincing results. And if not, tell the participants in the Colorado art contest, who saw how An image created with Midjourney took first prize in the ‘digital art’ category. The controversy was afoot: can we call something that an AI does art? Its author is very clear about this and has gone to court to defend it. What has happened? Jason Allen, the author of the image (or rather, the prompt), tried to register ‘Théâtre D’opéra Spatial’ a month after winning the contest, but was not allowed. According to the US Copyright Officethe image contains “more than a minimal amount of artificial intelligence-generated content.” Allen began a legal battle to get the image registered. According to what they say in 404medialast August they filed a request in court defending that it is a work of art and Allen an artist. The prompt. Although it was created by software, Allen states that the creation of the prompt is an artistic process in itself and therefore should be considered an artist. In the text presented to the court, his lawyers defend that “he created the image by providing hundreds of iterative text prompts (…) to help express his intellectual vision.” However, for the copyright office, just providing the instructions was not enough and they repeatedly rejected his request. Art or not. The news unleashed a wave of criticism on networks and brought to the table the debate of whether images generated with AI should be considered art. This controversy has polarized the artistic and technological community, creating two marked and opposing positions: on the one hand, those who They consider that it cannot be considered art because it lacks human intentionality, on the other hand those who defend that AI is one more tool with which the artist expresses himselfjust like a brush, a graphics tablet or a camera. It’s not the first time. Art has faced more debates like this and there is a very clear example. The same thing is happening with AI that happened with photography in the 19th century; was rejected by defenders of drawing and paintingwho saw their jobs threatened by new technology. More than a century later, photography is considered art and fills galleries and museums. And most importantly, the painting still exists. The intention. The debate arises when mechanical means come into play. In the case of photography it was the camera and with AI it is software, very complex but software nonetheless. If we accept that photography, digital illustration or 3D modeling are art, AI can be too. The key that makes the difference is the intention behind it. Setting any prompt and sticking with the first result that comes to mind is not the same as having a clear idea, a story to tell, a feeling to express, and looking for the result that captures it as best as possible. Of course, it would be fair that those works compete in their own category. The problem. AI has turned the art community against it from the beginning. Image generators, especially the first ones, were trained with countless works of art by authors who received nothing in return. Some authors they began to “poison” their works for AI to go crazy and there are several initiatives that artists can join to prevent your jobs from ending up training AI. Image | Jason Allen and Midjourney In Xataka | Either you pay or we will use your works to train AI: the threat of hackers to an artists’ website

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