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Madrid Spain Apple Store set to open this weekend
Apple's sixth store in Spain and the third in Madrid will open this weekend at 10AM on Friday, April 27th. The store will be located in the suburbs of Madrid at the Centro Comercial Gran Plaza 2 shopping mall located northwest of Madrid's city center. As noted by ifoAppleStore, the Centro Comercial Gran 2 store is located in an upscale residential area that has some of the highest per capita income in the region. The store will be open from 10AM to 10PM Monday through Saturday, but will be closed on Sundays. Sunday closures are common for retailers Spain.
Youzee: Spain's streaming startup answer to Netflix
A new streaming service has shed its beta cloak, only this one isn't made for U.S. eyes. Youzee, a Madrid-based start-up, aims to offer Spaniards the best of both pay models, offering up a monthly subscription service alongside separate à la carte pricing. According to the company's site, its catalog of films and TV shows will be made available in a range of dubbed and subtitled versions to suite language and viewing preferences. You'll have to pony up 6.99 Euros (about $9 USD) monthly for access to those selections, but for any titles -- new releases or otherwise -- that reside outside of its collection, there's a one-time fee required, ranging from either 2.99 Euros (about $4 USD) for 480p DVD-quality or 4.99 Euros (about $7 USD) for 720p HD. Plans are also on deck to grow the outfit's content library of paid content with an assortment of free exclusives. So, if you call the Iberian peninsula home and the return of the Bluths on Netflix just isn't enough to tide you over, well, now you have an alternative online video fix.
Game Iberia's 291 stores sold to UK buyer's 'sister company'
Game has effectively checked itself before it wrecked itself, first selling its UK operations and now selling its stores in Spain and Portugal, MCV reports. OpCaptia, the same investment company behind the UK deal, established Cherrilux Investments for the Iberian transaction and bought all 290 stores across Spain and Portugal.Cherrilux is a "sister company" to Baker Acquisitions, which bought the UK branch, and both businesses will most likely run independently but share revenue, MCV says. The sale saves 1,000 jobs, and Cherrilux "has no plans to close stores at Game Iberia and will continue to run the business as a going concern while evaluating the possible sale of the business."
Kindle Touch update adds Europe-friendly languages, landscape mode
April 27th is nearly upon us, heralding the arrival of the Kindle Touch in Europe. Before that happens, Amazon's pushed out a software update packed with language support for the continent, landscape mode and text-to-speech, amongst others. You can manually download version 5.1.0 now or wait for the over-WiFi update in a couple of weeks. Pre-orders for the device are open as we speak, the WiFi-only model costing £109 / €129, the 3G edition costing £169 / €189.
Report: Google TV coming to Europe in September
Sony is making some more definitive statements on its plans to bring Google TV across to Europe. According to financial paper, Les Échos, Sony France's marketing director said that two devices, a set-top box, priced at €200 ($266) and a Blu-ray player, selling for €300 ($399), will launch in France this September. The paper reports that it could launch across the UK, Spain and Germany at the same time. Sony's Stephane Labrousse added that remotes for the new devices would also include a dedicated Android Market Google Play button to access the Android progenitor's apps and media content. The Japanese manufacturer's own Music Unlimited service will also be baked inside. Phew. There's no word just yet on whether these are the older Intel-based models or the new, possibly cheaper, ARM range set to ship later this year. However, we expect to hear plenty more noise from Sony on its Smart TV intentions over the next few months.
'Brunchstorming' is Spanish for 'work,' if you're Pendulo Studios
Every Friday, the team at Pendulo Studios gathers in "Sala 2," a conference room covered floor-to-ceiling in posters, cut-outs and screenshots from the games it's created over the past 18 years as one of Spain's first independent game studios. For two hours or so, everyone in Sala 2 discusses ideas for new games, ways to fund ongoing development, fixes for current titles and what games they're playing on their own; they call this process "brunchstorming," and it's a vital part of Pendulo's operations.Last Friday, March 16, Pendulo's brunchstorming meeting also served as a celebration: Yesterday, its seventh graphic-adventure title, had just gone gold, and after working on it for a year, the team took that time to celebrate and reminisce about its development with a handful of questions from Joystiq, all in true Spanish style."Pendulo is not your usual game developer," Josué, Pendulo's writer, said. "Maybe because we're Spanish and we put some fiesta in everything we do, or maybe because we're more than workmates and we've become friends along the years. Or maybe it's because everyone has a say."Around a table piled high with "jamón, chorizo, a Madrid specialty called 'callos,' cheese, chips, empanada gallega (a sort of tuna-and-pepper pie), and something to drink," as Josué described it, the following Pendulo team members sat down to relax and candidly answer our questions about indie living in Spain.%Gallery-151879%
Kindle Touch gets April 27th release date in Europe
Good news for our friends on the other side of the pond waiting to get their fingers on the Kindle Touch's e-ink display: nearly half a year after hitting the States, the e-reader is getting ready for its official European debut. The reading device will be hitting the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy on April 27th, though you can plunk down your cash for one right now. The UK version of the reader will run you £109 for WiFi-only and £169 when you tack on 3G functionality.
PSA: Get your new iPad today in Austria, Ireland, Mexico and many other places
If your homeland wasn't part of the initial iPad roll out we've got good news -- today is the day for iOS tabletry. Maybe. The latest slab of Retina display-equipped machinery out of Cupertino is landing in 25 additional countries today, including Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. So, if you haven't been waiting on line since the 16th in anticipation of this day, then go to your local Apple store to score one. Or don't. For the full list of countries check the PR after the break.
Spain's Falles celebration invades Apple Store
I would probably describe Apple Stores as "busy," "happening," or maybe even "populated," but I wouldn't have ever described them as "boisterous" .. until I saw the videos below. These two videos are via ifoAppleStore and were recorded at the Apple Store Calle Colón in Valencia, where the local celebration of Falles, to commemorate St. Joseph, has spilled over into the iPhones and iPads. As you can see, a band takes up residence right there in the MacBook section, and while some of the customers look a little frazzled, it does look like a great time. Kudos to the employees for clapping along, too -- I used to work in retail, and I know that as fun as it would be to have live music playing, it would make my job of helping customers and securing the store just that much tougher. But they handle it as well as expected, given that the festival is basically a continuous party over the better part of a week. Viva el iPhone!
Madrid's visitors can rent tourist-friendly iPads
If you're vacationing in Madrid, you may want to check out PadInTheCity before you arrive. The local service lets you rent an iPad for the duration of your stay. The iPad is filled with apps and games to make your stay more enjoyable. According to Springwise, you'll find apps like Metro Madrid, Weather HD, City Maps 2Go, Emergency Numbers, iTranslate, and the Prado Museum Audioguide. They even put Angry Birds on the tablet for some casual entertainment. The iPads are delivered to your location in Madrid and individuals can rent one for €25 (US$33) per day after a €390 ($516) deposit. The company also offers volume rentals to hotels and corporations who can insert their own branding onto the device.
Do we have the right to be 'forgotten' on Google? Spain asks ECJ to investigate
Google has already tasted European hot water over its revised privacy policy, and soon the European Court of Justice (ECJ) may expand its remit to consider other related issues too. Spanish judges are asking the top court to consider complaints from 100 Spaniards who wish to have their names removed from news articles and websites. Among the complainants are a plastic surgeon who wants to delete archived references to a botched operation, and a man who appears on the Google News aggregator for alleged non-payment of social security. Google itself told Reuters that it supports the "right to be forgotten," but only if it's applied to search engines "in a way that protects both the right to privacy and the right to free expression." If only life was as simple as Pay N' Spray.
Spanish retailer lists Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for November
We don't even officially know that there is a Black Ops 2 yet (though of course there is), but we're already seeing information about when it's allegedly coming out. OK, yes, it's November. No, we didn't need outside help to figure that out. But Spanish retailer Fnac took it one step further than obvious guesses, as it's actually advertising Black Ops 2 with a November release date.The store isn't going so far as to take reservations -- instead having people sign up to be alerted when they can -- but it is still advertising a product that doesn't officially exist. To us, that's at least circumstantial evidence that Black Ops 2 does exist.
We're live from Mobile World Congress 2012!
It may be the dead of winter, but you wouldn't know that in Barcelona. The sun's shining bright on Fira, the Spanish city's main exhibition center, as construction crews work furiously (read: gather on staircases for seemingly day-long lunch breaks) to prepare for Mobile World Congress. We've arrived in the Catalonian capital to bring you the latest and greatest from el mundo de la telefonia movil, beginning with tomorrow's manufacturer previews. For now, grab a glass of sangria and enjoy el fin de semana -- the fun begins at dawn.Protip: Use our "mwc2012" tag to see all of this week's Mobile World Congress news and hand-ons!
Valencia Apple Store opening forces reseller to close
An authorized Apple Premium Reseller in Valencia, Spain -- Illa Digital -- closed its doors four weeks after an Apple Store opened just four blocks away. ifoAppleStore reports that competition from the Apple Store caused Illa Digital to start losing revenues almost immediately after the official Apple outlet opened for business, and finally laid off four employees before closing up shop earlier this week. There's a second reseller in Valencia, K-Tuin, located further away from the city center where the Calle Colón Apple Store and Illa Digital locations are, and it's apparently still in operation. ifoAppleStore notes that Apple executives have claimed for years that business for nearby resellers actually improves, but that resellers have "generally disputed that claim." To survive, they need to adjust their customer focus to remain relevant -- for instance, putting an emphasis on out-of-warranty repairs, selling used equipment, and so on. For Illa Digital, it looks like it's too late to change the focus and try a slightly different business plan.
Spanish firm NT-K beats Apple in court, files extortion charges
Two months ago, Spanish tablet maker Nuevas Tecnologías y Energías Catalá (or NT-K for short) won a design infringement lawsuit Apple filed against it a year earlier. Now, NT-K is on the offensive and seeking damages from Apple; the company has filed extortion charges against Apple, according to The Mac Observer. NT-K's tablets were all seized when Apple successfully obtained an injunction against sales of the devices, and NT-K argues this was a severe detriment to sales. It's hard to argue with their reasoning, but analysis by FOSS Patents questions whether Apple pursuing its legal rights in an infringement case falls under the umbrella of extortion. "For now I don't see evidentiary support for the claim that Apple sought to 'extort' NT-K and possibly other small companies," Florian Mueller writes. Over the past year, Apple has aggressively targeted companies it feels are copying designs of the iPad and iPhone. Companies both large and small have borne the brunt of Cupertino's wrath, from smaller outfits like NT-K all the way up to industry giants like Samsung. .
Sinde Law brings SOPA-like restrictions to Spain
The Spanish government has passed legislation aimed at cracking down on websites illegally sharing digital content. Called the Sinde Law, it will create a new government commission that Spanish right holders can engage when they feel that a site is illegally distributing their content. After an alleged infraction, the commission examines the complaint and determines if, under the new statute, legal action is necessary. Should a site be found in violation, the case is passed to a judge and the decision is made either to shutter the offending website, take action against the site's service provider or dismiss the complaint altogether. The BBC reports that the entire process, from first report to final decision, should take no more than ten days. Open internet activists have voiced concerns about the breadth and implications of the law. United States residents will recognize many of the arguments for and against the Sinde Law in light of the SOPA Act (Stop Online Piracy Act) debate that's been raging here in the United States for several months.
Amazon launches Kindle in Italy and Spain, brings Kindle Store to the Mediterranean
After having already conquered France, Germany and the UK, Amazon has now brought the Kindle and its associated online store to the shores of Italy and Spain. With today's launch, Iberian users will be able to choose from a selection of more than 22,000 Spanish-language titles, which they can now devour on their very own Kindle devices, available for the first time on Amazon.es. Italian readers will have a slightly smaller selection to choose from, with about 16,000 native-language books available online, though they too now have a Kindle to call their own, giving them access to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service, as well Both country-specific versions of the e-reader are available for €99 at the source link below, but curious lettori can dig up more information in the dueling press releases, after the break.
RIM, Telefonica announce NFC trial, aim to launch mobile wallet next year
RIM's NFC campaign is about to roll into Iberia, now that the BlackBerry manufacturer has announced a new partnership with Madrid-based Telefonica. This week, the two companies unveiled plans to begin testing a mobile payment and ID card system across the Spanish capital, in the hopes of launching commercial services next year. The so-called Telefonica Wallet for BlackBerry trial will involve some 350 Telefonica employees and a select group of testers within Madrid, each of whom will be able to make payments, access offices and check bank statements from their BlackBerry handsets. Telefonica's Matthew Key told Reuters that his company chose RIM to participate in the trial primarily because of the security of its BlackBerry platform, stressing the importance of earning enough consumer trust to handle sensitive personal data. No specifics yet on when or where the carrier will launch a full payment system, though Key said that Telefonica's aiming to bring it to a handful of markets in 2012.
New computer system can read your emotions, will probably be annoying about it (video)
It's bad enough listening to your therapist drone on about the hatred you harbor toward your father. Pretty soon, you may have to put up with a hyper-insightful computer, as well. That's what researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid have begun developing, with a new system capable of reading human emotions. As explained in their study, published in the Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, the computer has been designed to intelligently engage with people, and to adjust its dialogue according to a user's emotional state. To gauge this, researchers looked at a total of 60 acoustic parameters, including the tenor of a user's voice, the speed at which one speaks, and the length of any pauses. They also implemented controls to account for any endogenous reactions (e.g., if a user gets frustrated with the computer's speech), and enabled the adaptable device to modify its speech accordingly, based on predictions of where the conversation may lead. In the end, they found that users responded more positively whenever the computer spoke in "objective terms" (i.e., with more succinct dialogue). The same could probably be said for most bloggers, as well. Teleport past the break for the full PR, along with a demo video (in Spanish).
Spain's fourth Apple Store to open on Friday
¡Apple Store cuarto de España para abrir el viernes! Yes, the fourth Apple Store in Spain is set to open on November 25 in the city of Marbella on the southern coast. The city is small -- only 125,000 residents call it home -- but it is a major tourist destination, so a lot of visitors are always willing to spend money in the city and especially at the La Cañada mall. As you've probably noticed on TUAW, there have been many international Apple Store openings during 2011. This won't be the last one for Spain this year -- it's expected that another store will open along the Carrer de Cristóbal Colon in Valencia. The grand opening is scheduled for 10 AM on Friday, and as usual we'd love to see any pictures of the festivities if you happen to attend.
