network Archives - usatoday24

has just opened its warehouse and delivery network to any company in the world

May 6, 2026 by usatoday24

For decades, Amazon has built its business one of the most powerful distribution infrastructures on the planet, one that allows its workers to ship products anywhere in the world extremely efficiently. Now he is going to make it available to any business that wants to use it. global network. amazon has announced the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), a service with which any company, not just its marketplace sellers, will be able to access its global logistics network. Transport by sea, air, road and rail; warehouses; distribution centers; and last mile delivery: all under one umbrella and available for companies in all types of sectors, whether healthcare, automotive, manufacturing or retail, among others. Why does it matter? Amazon has a fleet of more than one hundred cargo planes, only behind FedEx and UPS, thousands of warehouses and sorting centers around the world, and its own last-mile delivery service. In fact, according to data from ShipMatrix, this parcel service is already the largest in the United States by volume, ahead of UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service. What changes now is that all that capacity, previously reserved for its own sellers and internal operations, is formally opened to the market. Likewise, the movement turns Amazon into a gigantic logistics operator, what is known in the sector as 3PL (third-party logistics provider) and places it in direct competition with giants such as DHL, Kuehne + Nagel or DSV. According to data From the consulting firm Armstrong & Associates, it is estimated that this global market moves more than 1.3 trillion dollars. The parallelism with AWS. In 2006, the company took the technological infrastructure it had built to run its own business and began selling it to third parties. This is how Amazon Web Services was borntoday the largest cloud service provider in the world. Now try to replicate that model with logistics. “Amazon brings the infrastructure, intelligence and scale of its decades-proven supply chain services to businesses around the world, just as Amazon Web Services did with cloud computing,” counted Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services, in the company’s official statement. Variety of services. According to the company, ASCS offers services divided into four large blocks: Transportation of goods (sea, air, land and rail freight). Distribution and storage with automated inventory forecasting. Preparation and shipping of orders through any sales channel, including rival platforms such as Walmart, Shopify, Shein or TikTok. Parcel delivery with deadlines of between two and five days, seven days a week. A blow to the sector. Following the news, FedEx and UPS shares fell more than 9% each after the announcement, while GXO Logistics plummeted around 13% and DHL lost 7.3%. For these companies it is a direct competitive blow, and according to analysts from the Baird firm, the impact could also extend to air and maritime cargo transport operators. With this blow on the table, another of the threatened segments is business-to-business (B2B) logistics, a niche with a high profit margin where UPS and FedEx have been focusing all these years. Between the lines. Beyond the competitive threat, Amazon seeks to monetize an infrastructure that already exists and in which it has been investing for almost thirty years. The company was already according to Armstrong & Associatesthe world’s largest logistics operator by gross revenue in 2025, although its services were sold in a fragmented manner and without a unified proposition for external clients. “They have warehousing operations, transportation management, and international air and sea freight, but they did not have a coordinated sale like 3PL, although together they are already the largest,” counted Evan Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong & Associates, told the Wall Street Journal. Customer data. Opening the network to external companies raises a question: what does Amazon do with the information of its logistics clients? The company has already been accused in the past of using data from sellers in its marketplace to compete against them, something it has always denied. Larsen assures told the WSJ that Amazon explicitly prohibits using ASCS customer data to make decisions in its own marketplace, citing the fact that hundreds of thousands of sellers already use its logistics services for channels outside of Amazon. Cover image | Garakhan Safarli and Claudio Schwarz In Xataka | What is the cheapest Amazon device you can use Alexa+ on?

The European Union is very clear about the future of its network infrastructure: there will not be a single Chinese device

May 5, 2026 by usatoday24

Europe is intensifying its battle against Chinese equipment, both in its electrical network and in its telecommunications infrastructure. The European Commission has again recommended earlier this week the exclusion of Huawei and ZTE equipment by local telecommunications operators, paving the way for a review of the Cybersecurity Regulation in which it is proposed mandatory elimination of high-risk suppliers. A new touch. The European Commission has started the week with a reminder: member states must exclude Huawei and ZTE equipment from their telecommunications network. In January of this year, Europe published a draft establishing the mandatory withdrawal of “high-risk suppliers”, posing a formal veto on Chinese telecommunications companies. It is a particularly sensitive issue in Spain, where communities like Catalonia have ignored European recommendations and they have renewed again recently with companies that use Huawei equipment. The Generalitat case. Last March, the Generalitat of Catalonia renewed its contract with XCAT. A budget of 127 million euros to maintain Huawei as the main equipment supplier, despite the EU notice and challenges from Telefónica and Cellnex that paralyzed the process for a few weeks. {“videoId”:”x9gqo70″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR MOBILE if you are not using AI like this”, “tag”:”Webedia-prod”, “duration”:”617″} In addition to the Catalan case, practically a third of Spanish 5G networks are from Huawei, with an estimated replacement cost between 400 and 1,000 million euros. Beyond. It is not the only measure that Europe wants to implement against Chinese suppliers. The Commission also wants to protect itself in relation to renewable energies, vetoing access to community funds to those projects using converters made in China. “Our risk assessments have confirmed threats, including manipulation of electricity production parameters, interruption of electricity generation and even unauthorized access to operational data. In practice, this could mean a blackout, a remote blackout of Member States’ networks leading to nationwide power outages.” As with the network infrastructure, according to the Commission, this measure responds to a shield for security reasons, applicable from next November 1. Again, a blow to the giant Huawei, one of the main suppliers of solar inverters in Spain. In Xataka 6G is not being developed to improve mobile speed: it is geopolitics and China is going with the accelerator to the table The Chinese response. China is no stranger to the measures being prepared by Europe, and has made it clear that it considers these proposed acts to be discriminatory and harmful to trade. Without detailing his plans, he has made it clear that he will take countermeasures. The Swedish case. Decisions have consequences, and Sweden is a country that knows very well what happens if you ban Huawei on your telecommunications equipment. In 2020, the country banned the use of telecommunications equipment from Chinese manufacturers under the argument of national security. Although a priori this was a lifeline for Ericsson, the consequences were just the opposite. China retaliated, and China Mobile expelled Eriscsson from its network infrastructure, going from 11% market share to 2%. In case Europe hits China again. In Xataka | There is a crucial technology for the deployment of AI and China is also securing the lead: 6G (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 The European Union is very clear about the future of its network infrastructure: there will not be a single Chinese device was originally published in Xataka by Ricardo Aguilar .

discovering the largest railway network in the world at 347 km/h

April 25, 2026 by usatoday24

A new day dawns in Beijing. After a long (and exhausting) day at the Motor ShowToday we have a long train journey ahead of us. Today we leave Beijing to head to Wuhuthe city where the headquarters of the Chery group is located, and yes, we do it by train. I admit that I am excited: it is the first time that I have gotten on both a bullet and a Chinese train. When I ask local Chery employees about Wuhu, what it is like, they all tell me the same thing: “for you it is a huge city, but for us it is a small city.” Wuhu has four million inhabitants. Madrid, to put us in context, has 3.4 million. I imagine that living in a country of 1.4 billion inhabitants causes the dimensions of things to become distorted. I suppose that for someone from Beijing traveling to Madrid is like when we go to town. Buildings in Wuhu | Image: Xataka Wuhu is located around 1,000 kilometers south of Beijing. Specifically, between Wuhan and Shanghai. Google Maps, which is not the most reliable reference in China, shows me almost 11 hours by car. By train, the trip lasts around four and a half hours, which is more than enough time to talk a little about this other small-big city and, in the process, get to know the city more closely. chinese railway network and the experience of traveling on one of its trains. China has made leaps and bounds in its electrification, we have seen that in the two previous installments of this daily blog. Well, in the same way that the electric and hybrid car has evolved, so has its railway network. Let’s go in parts. To get into flour let’s look at some numbers. Let’s talk about Spain. Our country has 15,652 kilometers of road, of which 4,000 kilometers are high-speed (+200 km/h). It is the second most extensive high-speed network in the world. The first, indeed, is the Chinese one. And it is with an absolutely insane difference. Roads in China | Image: Xataka According to the Chinese government and according to the local Xinhua agencyChina closed last year with 165,000 kilometers of track, of which “more than 50,000 kilometers” are high-speed. In 2025 alone, Chinese railways transported a whopping 4.59 billion passengers, 6.4% more than last year. In Spain, the figure was of 177.6 million. We cannot make the direct comparison because the size of China is like 17 times that of Spain, but it helps us put into perspective how enormous this infrastructure is. And it is getting worse, because this year they intend to put 2,000 more kilometers into operation. Only in the first quarter of 2026 will Chinese railways they completed an investment in fixed assets of 20.9 billion dollars. By 2050, the country’s goal is to achieve 274,000 kilometers. Image | Xataka The body in charge of managing most railway operations is in the hands of China State Railway Group Company, a state-owned company created in 2013 after the dissolution of the Ministry of Railways. Since 2019 it has been under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance. There are other “private” lines that connect mines with refineries, for example. The network is divided into several horizontal and vertical corridors, mostly concentrated in the east of the country where, evidently, most of the population is concentrated and where coal is produced. Only one line extends to the northwest (crossing the Gobi Desert and bordering the Taklamakan Desert) and southwest of the country (near the Tibet Plateau). A train on the way to Wuhu | Image: Xataka But let’s leave geography and talk about experience, because it is not only that the Chinese network is larger than the Spanish one (for whatever reason), but it is also significantly faster. And no, it is not noticeable | Image: Xataka The Spanish high speed can be up to 300 km/h, but on a line like the one from Andalusia to Madrid it is normal for trains to not exceed 250 km/h. Sections of 200 km/h are also frequent. Also, recently, there have been more aggressive speed limitations on some lines. I write this on a train that moves exactly at 347 km/h and I must admit that because I have seen the figure on a screen, otherwise I would not have known. I don’t know if it will be the same on all trains, but the experience on this one has been exquisite. The train, despite going 50% fast, vibrates much less than the trains I am used to taking in Spain. I think the video speaks for itself. This speed, which has remained relatively constant throughout the trip, allows us to get from Beijing to Wuhu in about four and a half hours. The train has made some stops of just a few minutes at certain stations, but little more. In a country of these dimensions it makes all the sense in the world to bet on the railway. Not only to transport people, that too, but for the transport of goods. If we have discovered something these days it is that China has a competitive advantage by having all the links of the supply chain very close at hand. That, however, is of little use if the transport of goods does not accompany. It is not the case, although half. In Wuhu, where Chery was founded, the brand’s presence is much, much more evident | Image: Xataka Again, according to official Chinese government data, in 2025 alone railways moved a whopping 5.27 billion tons of freight, 2% more than the previous year. However, road and air transport remains very important when moving goods in the domestic market. At an international level, air and sea are the two great cornerstones. Tomorrow more, this time in Wuhu. More deliveries: Journey to the center of the Chinese motor (part 1): a walk through Beijing, Ebro, Chery and the silent streets Journey to the … Read more

the controversial measures with which we have shielded the network a year after the collapse

April 21, 2026 by usatoday24

Next April 28 will mark exactly one year to the day that Spain and Portugal faded to black. An unprecedented “zero energy” in the last two decades that left nearly 60 million citizens without electricity, without internet, without traffic lights and with the banking system paralyzed for up to 16 hours. As they reflect in the magazine freenthat day we suddenly discovered that something we take for granted—electricity—is the fragile foundation on which our entire modern life rests. One year after the event, the initial shock has given way to data. We no longer ask ourselves only if such a blackout can happen again, but how much it is costing us to avoid it and if we have really learned our lesson. D-day is about to arrive. Twelve months later, we finally have the “official autopsy.” The European Network of Network Operators (ENTSO-E) published a comprehensive report of 472 pages where he concludes that there was no single cause, but rather a “perfect cocktail” of multiple factors. A sudden surge originating in Spain triggered instability that the system was unable to stop. As we have already explained in Xatakathe failure can be defined as “operational blindness.” The renewable plants operated with a fixed power factor; They did not know how to read the network surge and, for safety reasons, they disconnected suddenly, causing a rebound effect. Besides, as he adds BBClocal generator voltage controls were not fully aligned with operator requirements. The crisis required millisecond reflexes, but tension control was done manually. In fact, if Europe did not fall like a house of cards, it was due to an almost miraculous technicality: a relay in the Hernani substation (Gipuzkoa) acted like a “fusilazo”, cutting the connection with France in milliseconds to shield the continent. Ironically, just ten minutes later, it was that same interconnection that served as assisted breathing to resuscitate the system. The big question: what has Spain done differently? The fear of a new blackout has changed the rules of the game, but at a high price for the citizen. Electrical Network has imposed a “reinforced model” of operations. This means that they prioritize safety over cost, keeping more expensive and stable backup plants on, such as gas combined cycles. The result? The Spanish They have been paying an extra cost of 666 million euros In these eleven months only in “adjustment services”, which have shot up 43%. In the legislative sphere, the Government has approved the Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 to streamline bureaucracy through the “Renewable Acceleration Zones” (ZAR). However, experts warn thatSince there is still no structured capacity market, investing in the necessary storage systems (batteries) continues to be a financial risk for developers. There’s more shielding going on. The collapse not only left us in the dark, but it left us cut off, although in a very uneven way. While some completely lost the signal, others managed to maintain it thanks to the logistical efforts of some operators. To avoid this coverage lottery, the CNMC has proposed that Telefónica, Vodafone and MásOrange offer a “national roaming” plan in case of emergency. If your operator’s network goes down, your mobile phone would automatically connect to the competition, based on the Swedish model. Added to this is the request to make the alert system (ASA) mandatory in cars with digital radio (DAB+), to send warnings to the population immediately even if the internet is down. The false culprit and the new energy guzzler. After the collapse, many were quick to blame green energy, but the reality is different. As explained from freenthe problem is not that Spain has a lot of solar and wind energy, but that the electrical grid is still stuck in the 20th century, designed for fossil power plants and not for a decentralized system. In fact, Spain is a fascinating laboratory. According to EUObserverthe country has managed the recent price crisis caused by the Third Gulf War much better than its European neighbors thanks to its enormous solar shield. However, the trauma of the blackout has caused an absurd side effect: operators are so afraid of overloading the grid that they force solar and wind farms to disconnect more frequently. Curtailment (clean energy generated that is thrown away) has gone from 2% to 7%. And if that were not enough, the saturated network assumes the imminent arrival of a new energy-consuming giant: the massive data centers for Artificial Intelligence. The exchange of accusations is served. In the offices the short circuit has only just begun. As detailed Financial Times, The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has opened formal investigations. Red Eléctrica (REE) faces proceedings for “very serious” infractions, while giants such as Iberdrola, Naturgy, Endesa and Repsol face possible fines of up to 60 million euros for “serious” infractions. Besides, as accounted Public, up to twenty open sanctioning files. REE defends itself by ensuring that the opening of the file does not prove its guilt. Meanwhile, a Senate report promoted by the PP directly blames the Government, REE and the CNMC for ignoring known vulnerabilities, according to Reuters. And the tension reaches the limit: electricity companies like Endesa and Iberdrola They have demanded a judge access more than 8,000 calls and emails from REE executives during the hours of the blackout, after the leak of audios where technicians warned of the danger 15 days before. An electric heart that remains at risk. Spain is “a gold mine without a road”, as defined by Patxi Callejadirector of Iberdrola. We have the sun, the wind and the technical capacity. But the great lesson of this last year is that true energy independence is no longer played at the national level, but at the local level, where factories and homes install their own batteries and hybrid panels so as not to depend on the fragile central system. We survived the blackout and avoided another one by reaching for our wallets and operating defensively. But as long as the line procedures last a decade, mass storage … Read more

The US has invested 16 years and 8 billion dollars in renewing the software of its GPS network. Result: a failure of epic proportions

March 31, 2026 by usatoday24

The Next-Generation Operational Control System project (OCX) was going to modernize the constellation of the United States’ more than 30 GPS satellites. The company RTX Corporation (previously known as Raytheon) managed to win the project in 2010 with a budget of 3.7 billion dollars. The project was supposed to be completed in 2016, but in reality the US has spent $8 billion and 16 years later has an absolute disaster on its hands. 16 years of broken promises. In 2010 the iPad had just appeared on the scene and cloud computing was a somewhat diffuse concept. The project of the US Government was reasonable, and proposed that the OCX system be operational by the time Lockheed Martin’s new GPS III satellites debuted. The development became a chaos of bugs and requirements changes, and to this day it is unclear when, if ever, it will be completed. In Xataka 90% of Iran’s oil industry depends on a tiny island. One that is already on the radar of the US and Israel A fortune invested. The financial management of the project is the first big disaster. The initial budget was estimated at 1.5 billion dollars, but since the award until today that figure has risen to reach almost 7.7 billion of current dollars, to which another 400 million are added to support an improved version of the satellites, the GPS IIIF. This increase is not due in large part to the project suddenly being much more ambitious or more capable, but rather to the costs of having been fixing everything that has gone wrong since they started working on it. Software costs more than satellites. Every time software fails an integration test, the bill runs into tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. That has made the OCX system one of the most expensive and least efficient software projects in recent US military history. In fact, it far exceeds the cost of the satellites themselves that it had to control: the 22 GPS III satellites of the contract signed in 2018 have a budget of 7.2 billion dollars. Satellites of the future controlled by a fairground shotgun. Currently the United States has a fleet of GPS III satellites in orbit capable of emitting much more powerful “M-code” signals and interference resistantsomething that among other things allocates them especially for military applications. The problem is that since the OCX software not workingthey are managing them with control systems inherited from the 90s. It is as if we had a VHS video connected to watch movies on an 8K Smart TV: the potential is there, but one of the components is an absolute bottleneck. {“videoId”:”x8wlh9q”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”United States vs. China: The CHIPS WAR”, “tag”:”webedia-prod”, “duration”:”1611″} The cybersecurity nightmare. One of the big problems of this project has been the cybersecurity requirements. OCX was designed to resist cyberattacks from powers such as Russia or China, but that requirement has become a spectacular technical burden. Pentagon standards have evolved so quickly that they have not been able to be adapted to an architecture that begins to become obsoleteand covering successive patches is locking the system in a complex vicious circle: the software is never finished because more and more vulnerabilities appear. Failed tests. The latest report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been the final straw. During the tests the system again showed once again instabilitywhich has forced the final delivery to be delayed to the end of 2026 or even 2027. Frank Calvelli, of the Air Force, has expressed his dissatisfaction with that unacceptable management of private industry: the strategic advantage that this project should offer at a time like this is inaccessible due to the disastrous progress of the project. It’s not that difficult. for a long time the excuse for justify the delays was that OCX was “the most complex software ever created for space,” but other players in the sector have shown that achieving these types of technical milestones is possible. SpaceX has demonstrated this with technical “miracles” like its reusable Falcon 9 or with the development of Starship, for example, so those arguments are falling on deaf ears now. Waiting for a better GPS. These problems also affect us end users, who will not be able to enjoy the L5 signals for now. This much more robust frequency will significantly improve accuracy in urban centers with many tall buildings. The irony is tragic: we cannot use extraordinary space infrastructure because the base stations cannot cope with it. While waiting for the problems to be resolved, the learning is clear: the software cannot be a monster that takes 16 years to build In Xataka The GPS in the Baltic has been experiencing interference for months and the culprit is becoming increasingly clear: Russia And while as always, China. While the US crashes against its project to renew the GPS constellation, China has once again managed to “become independent” from Western technology. Your satellite navigation system Beidouit does not replace GPS, true, but It already complements it in 140 countries. Once again China’s long-term view has its obvious result: it has taken 20 years in deploying its constellation, but they already surpass the GPS system in metrics such as signal availability or integrated messaging services. Europe, by the way, also has its own alternative. In Xataka |GPS “dead zones” are spreading around the world: jammers are to blame for confusing drones (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 The US has invested 16 years and 8 billion dollars in renewing the software of its GPS network. Result: a failure of epic proportions was originally published in Xataka by Javier Pastor .

The network does not always respond. Orange wants to remedy it by charging extra

March 25, 2026 by usatoday24

In big events there is a moment that we all recognize: we are at a concert, at a fair or at a massive celebration and just when we need the cell phone, the connection does not respond as it should. We want to send a location or publish something on networks and everything takes longer than normal or does not load at all. There is no mystery behind it, but a known problem: the network has to serve too many devices at the same time. And when that happens, the experience suffers. An extra connection. About that experience that we all know, Orange has launched “5G Fast Track”, a service that seeks to improve the connection in very specific situations. The company proposes it as a solution for events with a high concentration of people, where the demand for data skyrockets in a matter of minutes. What it introduces is an interesting nuance: the user can activate a connectivity boost to try to maintain a more stable experience in the midst of that saturation. “This service is complementary to the usual network: it is an optional extra, activated for a limited time, which optimizes the use of the network in extraordinary situations of high traffic and that are important for the customer.” Timely activation and different formats. One of the keys to “5G Fast Track” is that it does not require you to change the rate or maintain the service permanently. As our colleagues from Xataka Móvil explainthe user can activate it only when needed, for example, before entering a busy event. Orange sells it in three formats: 24 hours for 3 euros, 7 days for 7 euros and 1 month for 10 euros with automatic renewal. In this first phase, the service is available to residential, self-employed and small business customers. The company has announced that it will soon launch a modality for companies and public administrations. What about net neutrality. The idea of paying for a better quality of connection in these contexts may raise questions, and the main one has to do with whether this clashes with the principle of net neutrality. The European regulation, in force since 2016, requires that traffic be treated equitably and without discrimination, something that Spanish legislation also includes. With the information available, there are no clear reasons to conclude that this service violates current regulations, among other things because it does not discriminate between specific applications or content, but rather acts on the quality of the user’s connection in a general way. The question. However, regardless of how it fits within the current framework, the proposal leaves an open question that is not minor. If paying for a better experience at specific times becomes established as an option, it is worth considering how far this type of services can evolve within the market. For now we are talking about a specific extra linked to very specific situations, but the idea of introducing differentiated levels of quality in connectivity could generate debate if it is extended. Images | Orange In Xataka | MásMóvil has said goodbye to triple coverage. Although it may seem like it, it is not bad news.

A year ago, the blackout caused the Spanish data network to collapse. The CNMC believes it has the solution

March 23, 2026 by usatoday24

In April 2025 Spain suffered a zero energy of which, precisely now, we are going to begin to pay some of its consequences. I remember quite clearly being cut off, not being able to call or send messages via data connection. However, when I changed locations and arrived at my relatives’ houses, some of them could do it. The fall of telecommunications It was uneven in Spainand the CNMC has published a document with preventive measures in case a similar situation occurs again. What happened. The energy blackout that left Spain plunged into darkness resulted in a large part of the population being cut off from communication. However, some operators They managed to keep their mobile network active for hours. Backup generators, generating sets moved to each area, backup systems… The challenge for operators to maintain coverage in Spanish territory was a titanic challenge, quite dependent on internal logistics, the state of the reserve batteries (some of them run on fuel), and the network infrastructure itself They were variables that influenced such unequal conditions to be experienced. A single network. In its statement, the CNMC proposes that the four giants of the Spanish territory put roaming plans at the service of the population in emergency cases. The experience of other countries shows that it is viable to incorporate roaming plans between operators in case of emergency. In this way, in areas where this was necessary due to the unavailability of service in an operator’s mobile network, the networks could be prepared to quickly enable the basic telecommunications services of the affected users through roaming in the networks of other operators. According to the regulator, this is an “ideal measure to strengthen resilience”, but it is not so easy to apply. Yes, but. What the CNMC proposes is a cross-roaming service between Telefónica, Vodafone and MásOrange, something that requires coordination and agreement between the three giants. The best example is Sweden where, after two years of preparation, any mobile phone can connect to any operator. Go deeper. In addition to this proposal, the CNMC requests the mandatory nature of the alert system HANDLE in those cars with DAB+ radio receivers (the evolution of FM radio). Although DAB+ works via antenna (like AM and FM radio), its signal is digitally encoded. The ASA system allows you to automatically activate a DAB+ radio connected to power, being able to quickly launch alerts. At the moment, there is a distance from proposal to fact. In Xataka | Europe has a million reasons to fear an increase in the price of electricity. Spain has something else: renewables

MásOrange has begun to completely dismantle its 3G network. Not good news for elevators

March 16, 2026 by usatoday24

If you are one of those who usually browse even on a 3G connection, we have a curious fact: you are from the club of 1.82% of global traffic. The operators carry years saying goodbye to this networkand MásOrange has been the last to take the step. The operator is going to say goodbye to its 3G network for good reason. Hello to 5G. MasOrange has been the last of the large operators to start with the shutdown of 3G. Vodafone finished turning off its networks two years ago, and Telefónica is about to finish the process. With the release of the spectrum used by 2G and 3G connectivity, operators have additional bands to reinforce 5G technology. Specifically, the 900 and 2,100 MHz bands allow expanding coverage in areas with lower population density without the need to build new towers. A progressive plan. Although 2G and 3G connections sound completely obsolete, they are still necessary to connect a good number of day-to-day technologies. Elevators Cars with eCall system with 2G modules Telecare services security cameras Home alarms Old dataphones For this reason, the plan to dismantle the Spanish 3G network is being carried out progressively, giving time for a good part of these devices to update their connection modules. Although 3G was scheduled to say goodbye forever between 2025 and 2026, current plans keep it alive until 2030. A great challenge ahead. The 3G network continues to be a great ally, both for older devices and for times when 5G coverage does not have range. The challenge now is, precisely, that the deployment of 5G is even greater. For three decades, 3G invaded every corner of Spain, and some of the networks it uses (900 MHz) are especially good at passing through walls and operating in rural areas. Therefore, in complicated areas your mobile still connects to 3G. The end. Maintaining 2G and 3G networks is unsustainable. The radio space they occupy is especially valuable and, although there are devices that still use old technology, their dismantling is necessary. Cover image | Baatcheet Films In Xataka | How to request an eSIM from each operator in Spain: in which cases it is free and application methods

the amazing feather trade network that existed before the Incas

March 15, 2026 by usatoday24

On the arid central coast of Peru, hundreds of kilometers from the magnificent Amazon rainforest and separated by one of the most important mountain ranges in the world, archaeologists encountered something they did not expect. We are talking about a cemetery of the pre-Hispanic Ychsma culture in Pachacamac and the surprise was specifically in the funeral bundles of the elite that They were adorned with macaw and parrot feathers. that could never have survived naturally in that ecosystem. So… How did they get here? The answers. Faced with this question, archaeologists had to start thinking about it, because seeing a parrot in the middle of an arid mountain range is not the most common thing. Until then, it was believed that ancient people traded only the feathers already plucked from parrots that had been in their natural habitat. However, a new study published in Nature has revealed a much more complex and fascinating reality: the ancient Peruvians transported these live Amazonian birds through the treacherous passes of the Andes. How do you know? It is not that we have a time machine to see what specifically happened, but it is possible to analyze the ancient DNA found in these cemeteries through stable isotopes and spatial modeling of routes. In this way, the study focused on the remains found in 34 funerary bundles from Pachacamac that were dated before the expansion of the Inca Empire. This is precisely where the mummies were provided with “false heads” very well decorated with the mysterious feathers. The results. The genetic analysis in this case indicated that the extracted DNA corresponded to many species of birds that were purely Amazonian, such as the red and green macaw. But the most interesting thing comes when the isotopes are applied to the remains of the birds, because a drastic change is seen in their diet. The chemical fingerprint revealed here that these parrots were born and grew up in their natural habitat in the Amazon eating a natural diet, but in their last months of life they began to have a diet provided by humans themselves, and that did not correspond to what they ate when they were in the wild. It’s a test. This unequivocally demonstrates that the birds were not hunted for their feathers in the jungle, but captured alive, transported across the mountain range and kept in captivity on the coast to be repeatedly “plucked” or sacrificed to make the funerary goods that would end up among the elites of ancient society. It’s not easy. Crossing the Andes today is something that is not easy, which is why it was much less so a thousand years ago. In this way, through landscape models and geographic information systems, the researchers mapped the most probable routes they used from the Amazon basin to the Pacific coast. In this case, the birds had to suffer great stress with drastic changes in altitude, freezing temperatures at the highest points of the mountain and, above all, a diet to which they were not accustomed. In this way, the fact that they arrived alive at Pachacamac underlines the existence of an incredibly sophisticated animal trade network with knowledge about their care. But above all, the great value that this animal must have for the society that mobilized to bring it to its cities despite the difficulties along the way stands out. Why so much trouble? As one of the researchers points out, in the pre-Hispanic Andean world, Amazonian feathers were not a simple ornament, but rather were absolute symbols of political power, status and connection with the divine. And having access to the vibrant colors of the jungle demonstrated the elite’s control over long-distance commercial networks and gave great prestige. This discovery in Pachacamac is not an isolated case, but rather confirms a trend that archeology was already beginning to glimpse. In 2021, a study published in PNAS documented similar finds much further south, in the arid Atacama Desert, where mummies of Amazon parrots that were bred in captivity and routinely plucked were found. Now it is confirmed again. Images | Dmitry Chernyshov In Xataka | 60 years ago we discovered a Dorado hidden in the jungle of Peru. We now know that it was actually much more

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