spain
Latest
Uber ordered to cease operations in Spain
Taxi drivers protest Uber in Spain, (AP Photo/Paul White) Uber can't keep itself out of the news lately. The San Francisco-based company best known for creating a mobile app that connects taxi/livery services with smartphone users is now banned from operation in Spain. The injunction is a result of a complaint from the Madrid Taxi Association, and it forces Uber to cease operations in the country immediately; a statement from the Madrid court announcing the injunction points out that Uber didn't even get to defend itself, and cites Uber's business license being from Delaware (a tax haven where many companies file, despite not being based there) as the reason. If all this sounds a bit like a kangaroo court, that's because it likely is: entrenched taxi and livery companies have been working against Uber and other ridesharing services in a variety of cities all over the world. Uber is of course far from perfect -- this is a company that was recently caught plotting against journalists, headed by a CEO that's been heavily criticized for misogyny -- but it wasn't even present to defend itself in the Spanish court hearing that ended its ability to function in Spain. Expect Uber to push back in the coming weeks; the company didn't respond to request for comment as of publishing.
You can use Twitter activity to track unemployment
Governments aren't usually quick to react to changes in demographics. They frequently have to take surveys that are not only slow, but don't always paint a complete picture of what's going on. Researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid have discovered a far more effective way of keeping tabs on the population, however: tracking Twitter updates. They've found that the content, frequency and timing of tweets across Spain correlate well with joblessness levels in their respective regions. People in high unemployment areas tend to not only mention jobs more often in their posts, but tweet more in the morning and make a larger number of spelling mistakes. Since it's both easy and quick to collect that information, it's possible to track economic patterns almost as they happen -- you can see when a financial crisis hits a city hard, or when there's a job boom.
Spain is making Google (and others) pay news publishers a tax
For companies like Google, facing problems with the law across Europe has become a common thing. The most recent example of this is now taking place in Spain, where the country's parliament just gave the go-ahead to what's being known as the "Google Tax," a set of intellectual property laws that lets news publishers get paid every time their content is linked within search results. Last year, something very similar happened in Germany, and that fight ended recently with Google having to strip down its news service to accommodate the requests of German publishers.
Barcelona comedy club only makes you pay for the jokes you laugh at
Ever regret buying a ticket to a comedy show that just wasn't funny? Some day, you might not: the Teatreneu, a theater in Barcelona, Spain, has changed from charging for admission to charging by laugh. The theater has outfitted each of its seats with a front-facing iPad and PayPerLaugh, an app that uses facial recognition to detect smiles. Ever joke you smile at costs 0.30 euros (about $0.38), with a maximum charge of 24 euros per show (about $30). The theater says that ticket prices have actually gone up as a result -- monetary proof that its productions are legitimately funny. Teatreneu says its system is being copied in other venues throughout Spain, too. Would you prefer to pay by laugh? Skip through the break to the comments and let us know what you think.
High-res imaging satellite shows off with crystal clear pics of Madrid
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 satellite has only been in space for less than half a month, but it's already proven itself capable of shooting high-res images just like the company promised. Just a few days after Lockheed Martin flew it to orbit, the satellite quickly went to work, snapping pictures of Madrid, Spain. As you can see in the gallery below, it's pretty easy to spot vehicles, rooftops and landmarks in these images. DigitalGobe says its services can benefit companies and governments that want to assess vehicles and monitor a region's development (housing, infrastructure and road networks), among other things. Conservationists can also use it to monitor natural resources. While these first set of images are already great, the company will start delivering even clearer, closer satellite snapshot to all its customers by February next year.
Free WiFi provider admits to making up 90 percent of its revenues
If you live in San Francisco or New York, you likely know you can connect to free WiFi in certain locations. Your cities' governments partnered with Madrid-based provider Gowex to make that happen -- the same company that has recently admitted to doctoring its accounts for the past four years. Gowex might be an unknown to most of us, but it was considered a success story in Spain and performed really well at Madrid's Alternative Equity Market, a stock exchange for small companies. A few days ago, though, a short seller named Gotham City Research published a report that claims 90 percent of the company's revenues are falsified and that it actually earns only 10 percent of what it says it does.
Madrid's parking meters now charge extra if you drive a fuel hog
Madrid has an air quality problem, and it's taking an unusual approach to getting the offending vehicles off the road: it's discouraging their drivers from parking. As of today, the city's smart parking meters charge up to 20 percent extra if you drive a car that's likely to either be a fuel hog or put out a lot of exhaust fumes, such as pre-2006 diesels. Conversely, you'll get a discount as high as 20 percent if you're driving a newer (and presumably cleaner-running) car; it's completely free if you're using an electric vehicle. The system is based on a simple license plate check, although it's accompanied by parking space sensors that make you pay more if you're using up one of the last available spots.
EE takes 4G roaming to France and Spain, more destinations to follow
If you're an EE customer, and reading this on the 12:15 from St Pancras International, then you can continue to do so -- over 4G -- once you emerge from the tunnel without it costing you un bras or une jambe. That's because the UK network has just announced it's offering 4G roaming in France and Spain. EE states that you'll be able to get 100MB of 4G roaming data for £3, which is probably less than the price of a Eurostar coffee. While the deal covers just the two countries at the moment, EE states that this is the beginning of a broader scheme that will see similar agreements in the USA, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Netherlands just in time for your summer holiday.
Geeksphone's Firefox-and-Android phone launches February 20th for 289 euro (update)
Spain's Geeksphone has been teasing the Revolution for a few months now, but today's the day we find out how much the thing will actually cost. The device, which can switch between Firefox OS and Android, will be priced at 289 euro ($395) when it lands on February 20th, just four days before MWC 2014 begins in Barcelona. If you're fast, however, the company has hinted that it'll offer the handset for 269 euro with an online-only early-bird sale. There's no word on how much more (or less) this one will set you back if it arrives over in the US, but we'll keep our ears close to the Iberian ground. Update: We've heard back from Geeksphone, with two more important details to share with you. There's no separate US price, it'll all be handled with the exchange rate, so the handset will currently set you back $395, as we said before. Secondly, despite being pitched as a multi-OS device, if you actually want to swap between Firefox OS (Boot2Gecko) and Android, you'll have to install the former on the hardware yourself. Bit disappointing, really.
Spain fines Google $1.2 million for allegedly violating privacy laws
Google triggered investigations in six European countries when it revealed its unified privacy policy last year, but Spain is the first of the bunch to draw blood. The country just fined Google a total of €900,000 ($1.2 million) for allegedly violating data protection laws through its current approach. The firm isn't properly explaining why it's collecting personal information, the Spanish Data Protection Agency claims; it also isn't saying how long it will keep that content, and it isn't giving Spaniards enough control over who sees what. For its part, Mountain View tells Reuters that it will read the full report before deciding on its next steps. However, there's a real chance that Google will have to make at least some concessions when the Dutch (and possibly other European nations) also believe that it broke the law. [Image credit: Contando Estrelas, Flickr]
PSA: New Nexus 7 launches today in UK and Europe, O2 to sell LTE model starting September 13th
Now that you've picked up a freshly discounted Nexus 4, how about a seven-inch Android tablet to go with it? Well, the next-generation Nexus 7 goes on sale today in UK, Germany, France, Spain, and, er, Japan. British readers will need to digitally transfer £200 to Google Play for the 16GB entry-level model, while the 32GB version rings in £240. Want LTE? Well, O2 UK promises that its 4G-ready version will go on sale September 13th, for £320 -- no details on data plan pricing though. Pre-orders for that start tomorrow and if you do, you'll get a free "premium case" for your enthusiasm.
Crew building Apple Store discover 15th century hospital
Here in the US, we tend to think something like a 200-year-old barn is "old." Then someone makes a discovery like the one a construction crew in Madrid, Spain, recently unearthed, putting that barn in perspective. A construction crew working on a forthcoming flagship Apple Store at number 1, Puerta del Sol in Madrid have come across the remains of what appears to be a 15th century hospital. The site was formerly the location of a hospital that was demolished in 1854 to make way for a square. While the ruins will be covered back up, the floor will be outlined to mark their presence, and a plaque will explain the outline. As of this time, it's not known if the marking or the plaque will be publicly visible or only accessible to employees, as they'll be on the store's basement level.
Spanish researchers use AR glasses and smartphones to aid student-teacher classroom communications
Gunners. They are a unique subset of students found in most any university lecture hall who steer classroom conversations with constant comments and questions directed at the professor. But what if you want a more inclusive environment that lets even timid students ask questions? One where they can communicate with their professor privately, during class, without interrupting. Well, researchers from la Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) have built a system that lets professors receive feedback from students and know which ones have questions by using augmented reality technology. It works by leveraging the smartphones in students' pockets and giving the professor a set of AR smart glasses. Using an app connected to the system's server, students can indicate when they do or don't understand a concept, that the professor should go more slowly, or that they know the answer to the question. Then, an icon indicating which action the student has taken will be displayed over that student's head on the smart glasses' displays. Using the system, the professor can also push predefined questions to students' phones and control presentation slides using hand gestures and a Kinect. Intrigued? Speak Spanish? A demo video of the system in español awaits you after the break.
Angry Birds soda release makes for huge sales jump
Yes indeed: Angry Birds soda. A Nordic beverage company named Olvi got the rights from Rovio to make some Angry Birds-branded sugar water, and apparently it's a huge hit for them, raising the company's sales by 85 percent. Exports were especially huge, going from 3 percent of Olvi's market to a whole 20 percent, with exports focusing primarily on Spain, Norway and the UK. There's no indication that any of this drink has made it over to the United States for sale just yet, so if you have a chance to try some, you'll have to let us know how it tastes. Hopefully "eggy" isn't a word included in the description. This is far from the last we'll hear about Angry Birds merch, especially with that movie set to arrive in the next few years. You can bet that even bigger companies are looking at sales figures like this, and then lining up to make a deal with Rovio as fast as they can.
HTC shutting down Watch movies in six countries by May 31st
While there are signs HTC's fortunes might turn a corner through the launch of the One, few would doubt that its finances could use some streamlining. The company has just outlined one of the ways it will be pinching pennies: it's closing its Watch movie stores in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden by May 31st, with some Italians reporting a shutdown on the 15th. As the company explains to us in a statement (after the break), it's concentrating on supporting Watch in those regions with the "highest engagement" while dropping those with "less application traffic" -- in short, markets with poor performance get the boot. HTC stresses that Watch isn't going away, however, and it's delivering a steady stream of content. We're glad to hear that the company is sharpening its focus rather than cutting the cord. Still, that won't be much consolation to movie-loving Europeans and Scandinavians.
Google Art Project adds nearly 2,000 works, from street art to prized photos
The Google Art Project could be considered a safeguard for culture when it's preserving work that's not just difficult to see, but may disappear at the drop of a hat. Witness Google's latest addition of 30 partners, and almost 2,000 pieces of art, as proof. The collection includes 100-plus examples of high-profile graffiti and street art from Sao Paulo, some of which aren't guaranteed to survive unscathed; there's also 300-plus photos from Spain's Fundacion MAPFRE and a famous Hungarian poem whose original copy is usually too fragile to show. Although the digital expansion won't replace booking a flight to visit the artwork first-hand, it may prevent some urban masterpieces from fading into obscurity.
Google Flight Search reaches France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK
While Google Flight Search covers the far corners of the Earth, many of the people who live in those corners haven't had a similar option to explore the world of air travel. Google is taking at least a small step toward ending that discrepancy with a fresh expansion to Europe. Jetsetters in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK can now find flights to and from many parts of the world, with prices and languages tailored to their home countries. As before, travelers can both see real-time prices, gauge the best (read: cheapest) time to book a vacation and filter flights through criteria like prices, timing and WiFi. There's no surprises for locals if they've had the luxury of using Flight Search before -- we just wish we'd had access in time for our recent trip to Barcelona.
New in-car GPS tech uses motion sensors for accurate, autonomous city driving
In-car GPS developers have long had to wrestle with the urban canyon effect that blocks or bounces signals downtown: they often have to make best guesses for accuracy when they can't count on cellular or WiFi triangulation to pick up the slack, like a smartphone would. The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid has nonetheless found a way to borrow a page from mobile devices to get that accuracy back. By supplementing the GPS data with accelerometers and gyroscopes, researchers can use direction changes and speed to fill in the blanks, improving accuracy from a crude-at-best 49 feet to between 3 and 7 feet. The University's creation doesn't just minimize the chance of a wrong turn; it could be key to intelligent or driverless cars that have to perform sudden maneuvers all on their own. While the enhanced system is just a prototype without a commercialization schedule, it already slots into just about any car, including the University's own intelligent car prototype (not pictured here). We may no longer have to lump car GPS units into the same "close is good enough" category as horseshoes and hand grenades. [Image credit: Steve Jurvetson, Flickr]
Proportional VR experiment shrinks man down to rat size, lets us play games with rodents
Sure, you can always play catch with the dog, but what kind of game can you play with a caged rodent? Well, "find the poster," apparently. A team of researchers from Universities in Spain, Germany, Austria, England and the US have put together a virtual reality system designed to let humans interact with rats at the rodent's scale, challenging human participants to find and lead the rodent to a unmarked goal. According to a paper published in PLoS One participants were "beamed" into the rat's environment by linking a head-mounted display and joystick to a rat-sized telepresence robot. Human players were then treated to a proportionally accurate representation of the game arena. The rat was there too, tracked with an overhead camera and represented by a human avatar. Participants were tasked with coaxing their opponent in front one of three posters in attempt to sleuth out which one represents the "winning" position. When both players are in front of the correct mystery poster, a bell sounds and the game ends. The game was primarily created to test a scaled immersive virtual reality teleoperator system, but researchers are optimistic the technology could be used to observe animal behavior from a new perspective. Check out the setup in action after the break, or read on through to the source link below for a detailed description of how mankind and some of nature's smaller creatures can get along in a virtual space.
Google Music comes to Europe November 13, brings Google Music match, too
Folks may be more excited about the newest Nexus phones, tablets and their fresh flavor of Jelly Bean, but Mountain View also unveiled a little something for music lovers across the pond today. That's right, Google Music is coming to Europe beginning November 13th. Unfortunately, not everyone on the continent will gain access, but residents of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will have Google's musical cloud services in just a couple weeks. Not only that, Big G is adding an iTunes Match-style feature to Google Music that'll scan your songs and add them to your cloud library, no uploading required. The feature will launch in Europe, with US residents enjoying the feature "soon after."
