Barcelona is preparing a new edition of the eShow, to be held on 13 and 14 May. The annual event is the leading fair in e-commerce and digital marketing, bringing together professionals from the e-commerce sector, digital marketing, big data and AI.
The .barcelona domain will be represented at a joint stand with the .cat domain and the registration company Don Dominio. In addition, all those who drop in and see us will be offered a special promotion: a .barcelona domain with free hosting for a whole year. Through this promotion, we want to help local companies and start-ups to boost their business in the digital environment.
We’ll be delighted to share our new .barcelona domain image with everybody at the fair and address your doubts and queries relating to the domain. See you at the eShow Barcelona!
The registration period is now open for theChallenge Barcelona Triathlon, the leading competition set to be held on 27 October. The finest athletes will again be battling it out in a combination of athletics, cycling and swimming around the city’s streets and beaches.
One of the main new aspects to this year’s event is the opening up of80 places for amateur athletes over the Short distance. Those wishing to sign up for the triathlon.barcelona over this distance must meet two fundamental requisites: to be federated in the triathlon and to accept and satisfy the cut-off time and the established regulations for this distance.
As with last year’s edition, the event again offers anoption for youngsters: teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 will be able to compete over the Super Sprint distance, the goal being to promote the competition with maximum safety.
The categories can be found on the website triathlon.barcelona and are as follows:
Short: 1,500 metres of swimming (2 laps), 56 km of cycling (5 laps) and 15 km of running (3 laps).
Olympic: 1,500 metres of swimming (1 lap), 40 km of cycling (4 laps) and 10 km of running (2 laps).
Sprint: 750 metres of swimming (1 lap), 20 km of cycling (2 laps) and 5 km of running (1 lap).
Junior Challenge: 300 metres of swimming (1 lap), 9 km of cycling (1 lap) and 1.5 km of running (1 lap).
Aquatló: 750 metres of swimming (1 lap), 5 km of running (1 lap).
One of the most cherished celebrations among the people of Barcelona is here. The city will be decked out for Sant Jordi on 23 April, with roses, books and lots of culture. As ever, you’ll find full information on the Sant Jordi website.
Sant Jordi 2024 gets under way with theOpening Speech on Reading on 22 April, to be read by the British writer and actor David Walliams and held for the first time at the Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria.
You can now enjoy theSant Jordi Dialogues around the city’s libraries, with writers from different places engaging in conversation based on affinities in their latest works and meeting their readers.
There’s anopen day at the City Hall on Sunday, 21 April, from 10 am to 8 pm. Admission is free and open to everybody (limited capacity), offering a chance to visit the Escala Negra, the Saló de Cròniques, the Sala Tàpies, the Mirador M. Aurèlia Capmany and many other corners of the building.
There will also be a large block in the heart of L’Eixample closed to traffic on 23 April, located between Av. Diagonal, Gran Via and the streets of Balmes and Pau Claris, and extending along La Rambla and Gran de Gràcia. As ever, all districts will have spaces set aside for the sale of books and roses, plusvarious activities such as storytelling, puppetry, literary competitions and workshops.
The future of sustainable mobility has arrived in Barcelona. The city now has 1,000 recharging points, powered by 100% renewable energy. The network is used by 3,300 citizens and provides an average of 14,000 recharges a month, making it the largest public network in Spain and southern Europe.
This was possible thanks to an investment of 25 million euros through Europe’s Next Generation funds. Endolla Barcelona is anticipating the future growth in demand with the goal of reaching 3,000 recharging points in the next few years, increasing power output and halving recharging times.
This year will also see the network install battery exchange facilities for electric mopeds in BSM car parks, offering ready-charged batteries for users and making urban mobility easier and more sustainable.
The endolla.barcelona website offers full information: how to register as a user, current pricing and the recharging points available around the city. You can also keep up to date by signing up for the newsletter.
The meet.barcelona website is used by people visiting the city for tourism, to study or to do business. It is available in four languages and offers service information to facilitate visitors’ stays in the city, along with other information such as reasons for working here or coming here for a city break.
The site now includes a substantial improvement: an annual agenda with the unmissable events for 2024, along with recently held activities to strengthen the international side of the page.
Besides the classic annual occasions, such as the festivities for La Mercè, the Open House Barcelona and Sant Jordi, users can also find music recommendations (Jonas Brothers, Andrea Bocelli, Primavera Sound) and information on some of the main fairs (Saló Nàutic, Còmic Barcelona, Smart City).
And sports events! The America’s Cup, the Nose Race and the Comte de Godó trophy, a whole calendar with activities not to be missed by people arriving in the city.
Puerto Rico was the scene for the 79thICANN Community Forum, held from 2 to 7 March. The annual event is crucial for the evolution and governance of the global internet as it brings together professionals, experts and other interested parties from around the world to address the most pressing and important matters relating to internet infrastructure and policy.
One of the main questions addressed in the meeting was the new ICANN Subsidy Programme, as well as the development of the next ICANN Strategic Plan and preparations for Universal Acceptance Day on 28 March. The latter is an initiative to promote standards and practices that guarantee compatibility with all domain names and email addresses, and to foster the implementation of these practices on a global scale to enhance the internet experience for all users.
Other key themes discussed include the management of domain names and IP addresses, the promotion of diversity and inclusion within the internet community, and the future of internet governance in a changing geopolitical context. The ICANN has been under constant scrutiny to ensure that its policies and decisions reflect the interests of all network participants, regardless of geographical location or institutional affiliation.
Besides the formal ICANN sessions, the event offered a platform for informal meetings, talks and networking between members of the internet community. These informal exchanges are essential for building ties and collaboration that can influence the future of the network.
As the network continues to evolve and grow, it is essential for the global internet community to continue collaborating and working together to guarantee a sustainable, safe and inclusive future for all internet users.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced a programme of preparations ahead of ICANN79, with a series of sessions designed to get the ICANN community ready for the upcoming ICANN79 forum, to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 2 to 7 March 2024.
The preparatory programme for ICANN79 is being held from 20 to 22 February and includes a dozen sessions looking at various topics of interest to the ICANN community. These include updates on Universal Acceptance (UA), International Domain Names (IDN), the relationship between the ICANN board and the community and the implementation of new gTLD programmes etc.
The ICANN79 community forum is an ideal opportunity to address important topics for internet governance and the management of domain names, such as:
Domain name policies: to discuss changes and proposals for policies relating to the assignment and management of global domain names.
Network security and stability: to address cybersecurity matters and measures to ensure the stability and reliability of the internet infrastructure.
Privacy and data protection: to discuss matters relating to the privacy of internet users and the measures to protect their personal data in the context of domain names.
New domain extensions: to review requests for new domain extensions and discuss the criteria for approving and managing these.
The ICANN operates through a multilateral governance model that includes the participation of different interested parties, such as governments, companies, civil society organisations, technical and academic communities and the internet industry. The community forums organised by the ICANN are fundamental for ensuring that the decisions made benefit all internet users.
A Coruña recently hosted a meeting of representatives for the cultural and geographical domains of .barcelona, .cat, .eus and .gal. Held on 1 February, the meeting enabled the participants to share their plans for the future, commercial actions planned for this year and forecasts about the evolution of the market and the network.
The four domains are part of the GeoTLD group, which brings together domains with geographical, linguistic and cultural identities such as .scot (Scotland), .london and .bzh (Brittany). The group coordinates shared communication actions with the public and governing bodies for the network, such as the ICANN. Some of the most important domain registration companies also took part in the meeting, which offered the chance to work together for the future of cultural and geographical domains.
The session began with a presentation by the director of Cidade das TIC, Alfonso Martínez, on the importance of new infrastructures and decentralisation for the value of ICT industries. The decentralisation of regulating agencies was also addressed, taking the imminent opening of the AESIA in A Coruña as an example.
In the second part of the meeting, each domain set out their current situation and their plans for 2024. Topics addressed here included artificial intelligence, changes in European legislation, protecting user data, cybersecurity and cooperation amid geopolitical changes.
The meeting also served to discuss the possibility of implementing joint action, commercial action or brand measures in 2024. The session concluded with a working supper, the aim being to strengthen ties between registers and registration companies.
A new edition of Barcelona Districte Cultural is here! The programme runs until 27 April and offers a chance to enjoy over 230 free shows, concerts, performing arts activities and film sessions around local community centres.
You’ll find productions from theatre companies which talk about migration, family relationships, war, love and memory. The elasticity of dance and the magic of circus also form part of the programme, courtesy of local and international companies with shows for all ages.
As for music, there are nine concerts planned in a wide variety of styles, including electronic music, pop, rap, soul and punk. For its part, the Petit Cineclub section will be screening a diverse selection of animated films which have won international awards.
Some of these options come accompanied by discussions, talks, presentations and complementary activities, and there are also special sessions for primary and secondary schools.
At the .barcelona domain we’ve developed a project to help sports clubs and organisations in Barcelona to go digital. Entitled elmeuclubesportiu.barcelona, the initiative has enabled them to launch a website (or update an obsolete site) and to link their digital identity with the city’s values.
“For many this was an unresolved project they couldn’t take on for financial reasons, and this opportunity has come as a gift to them as they’ve managed to cover their needs”. Toni Burrueco is a sports promotion specialist with the Barcelona Institute for Sport and has been one of the main facilitators for this project.
The digital revolution we are immersed in forces us to adapt to new ways of consuming information. This also applies when it comes to engaging with members of organisations.
“Sports organisations and their communication have a mainly dynamic reality that transforms social media into the website for many of them. Yet a website with its own domain enables them to post content that goes well beyond the day to day, explaining who they are, what they do, their history, the connection with their surroundings… A website for a sports organisation is a diamond that needs polishing”, insists Burrueco, “it’s the gateway for discovering their work for anybody interested in taking part or joining the organisation, and even for sports rivals”.
