permission

another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites

by

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized Logos Space Services to deploy up to 4,178 satellites broadband in low Earth orbit. A few days ago we also discovered that Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, was getting on board the satellite internet race for corporate clients with the approval of some 5,408 satellites. Low Earth orbit begins a new period of competition in which, until now, starlink dominated. Why it matters. Starlink dominates the sector with approximately 9,600 operational satellites of the nearly 14,000 that currently orbit the Earth, according to data of the European Space Agency. The recent approval of Logos satellites begins to break the hegemony that Elon Musk’s company had until now. Just like account Satnews, the US regulator, under Brendan Carr, has taken a more agile approach to approving mega-constellations and maintaining US space leadership. Who is behind. Logos Space Services was founded in 2023 by Milo Medin, former project manager at NASA and former vice president of wireless services at Google, together with veteran Rama Akella. According to SpaceNewsthe company, based in Redwood City (California), last year closed a Series A financing round of $50 million led by US Innovative Technologies (USIT), the investment fund of businessman Thomas Tull that has also bet on companies such as Anduril or Stoke Space. The deployment plan. Just like point In the middle, the satellites will operate in seven different orbital layers, located between 870 and 925 kilometers in altitude, with inclinations ranging from 28 to 90 degrees. FCC regulations require Logos to launch and operate half of the constellation over the next seven years, completing full deployment by January 30, 2035. According to has declared Medin himself told SpaceNews, the company only needs about a quarter of the proposed satellites to serve its global customers. The goal is to have the first operational satellite in orbit by 2027. The key difference with Starlink. While Starlink focuses on offering home and consumer internet, Logos presents itself as a specialized alternative for business and government users, very similar to the proposal from Blue Origin. According to the company, the constellation will use high-frequency spectrum bands (V, E, Ka and Q/V), which allow extremely narrow beams that are difficult to intercept or block, ideal specifications for the war conflicts we currently have underway. Furthermore, just as point Satnews, the satellites will incorporate coherent optical links between them, reducing dependence on terrestrial infrastructure and creating a more resilient global network with lower latency. The target market. Logos is not looking to compete for home users, but rather to offer MPLS and Ethernet connectivity services with “fiber-like performance” for multinational companies, remote data centers or offshore naval vessels. This dual-use (civil and military) approach is what has attracted investors like USIT. “A secure and resilient communications infrastructure is a fundamental requirement for both global competitiveness and business operations,” declared Peter Tague, managing partner of USIT, in the statement announcing the FCC approval. Partial regulation. The authorization occurred on January 30, although the FCC partially granted the proposal: it approved operations in the K, Q and V bands under certain conditions, but deferred and denied parts of the requests at higher frequencies. Logos had presented its initial plans in 2024 for 3,960 satellites, later expanding the proposal to 4,178 after refining the design. And now what. The European Space Agency esteem that by 2030 there will be 100,000 satellites in orbit. SpaceX has requested The FCC recently gave permission to launch one million Starlink satellites, although the final figure is likely closer to the 7,500 approved in previous rounds. Cover image | Satellite In Xataka | We knew that there was water on Mars, but not how much. It turns out that 3.37 billion years ago an ocean covered half the planet

Satya Nadella knows that AI now has “social permission” to burn electricity. And also that everything has a limit

by

From time to time, a number of billionaire people get together to discuss topics that are considered important. This time he played at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, has issued a warning clear about the use of artificial intelligence and its excessive energy consumption. And for the executive, this technology only makes sense if it generates a real and positive impact on society, otherwise, “social legitimacy” would be lost to allocate scarce resources, such as energy, to its development. Energy. It is no surprise that AI data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water. They already did it before dedicating themselves purely to the operation of AI, but now that expense has more than multiplied. A while ago, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, gave some estimated figures about ChatGPT’s power consumption, stating that it used about 0.34 watt-hours for each response generated. On a larger scale, the combined electricity consumption of Microsoft and Google exceeded that of more than 100 countries in 2023, according to the analysis by Michael Thomas, founder of Cleanview. The demand is not only energy, since a disproportionate volume of production of critical components is being allocated towards the development of projects related to AI, such as is happening with RAM in the world. Nadella’s warning. During his intervention In Davos, the CEO of Microsoft said that “We will quickly lose even the social permission to take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it to generate these tokens, if these tokens are not improving outcomes in health, education, public sector efficiency or private sector competitiveness.” The CEO of Microsoft assured that the ultimate goal must be “to use AI to change tangible results in people, communities, countries and industries.” Otherwise, “none of this makes sense.” Tokens as a new global currency. Nadella mentioned in the conversation the “tokens” as the new currency among big technology companies. In this area, tokens are the basic processing units that users of AI models purchase to execute tasks. According to the CEO, “GDP growth anywhere will be directly correlated” with the cost of energy used in AI. In this way, Nadella says between the lines that if a country can produce tokens more cheaply, it will have a competitive advantage. The medical example. Among the specific applications that Nadella sees as valuable is the use of AI in the healthcare sector. He mentioned doctors who can spend more time with their patients while AI transcribes consultations, enters data into medical records systems and assigns correct billing codes. The risk of bubble. Nadella also addressed growing warnings about a possible AI bubble. For him, it will only be a bubble if everything remains in partnerships between technology companies and infrastructure spending. “A telltale sign that it’s a bubble would be if all we talk about are tech companies,” pointed out in his conversation with Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock. The executive was confident that AI will “bend the productivity curve” and bring global economic growth, not just driven by capital expenditures. Mass adoption necessary. Microsoft’s CEO also insists that companies must start using AI on a large scale, describing it as a “cognitive amplifier” that grants “access to infinite minds.” It calls for workers to develop AI skills, similar to “how they master Excel to improve their employability.” Microsoft plans to invest 80 billion dollars in building AI data centers, with 50% of that spending outside the United States. Cover image | İsmail Enes Ayhan and World Economic Forum In Xataka | Europe is discovering right now that the US is not the partner it thought. And that is a problem in AI.

Ouigo already has permission to stand up to Renfe between Murcia and Alicante. And that only means one thing

by

There will be two trains between Alicante and Murcia, stopping in Elche, and another additional train for this last link from Elche and Murcia. It is the approval that the CNMC has given to the Ouigo service that will rival Renfe in the east of the country. A service that will be provided on the high-speed line and that, if everything happens as before, will have an immediate effect on prices. The line. The line between Alicante and Murcia is currently operated by Renfe with two services, one high-speed and another Cercanías. Now it will be Ouigo that also provides service on that last line, the one that Renfe operates with Avant trains, those high-speed ones for medium distances. has confirmed it the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) in a statement in which it gives the go-ahead for Ouigo to offer two daily trains in each direction to cover Alicante-Murcia, with an intermediate stop in Elche. In addition, there will be an additional train in both directions each day to cover the Elche-Murcia route. Does not affect. According to the CNMC, the new service proposed by Ouigo does not affect public services. They point out that the conventional network is guaranteed by Renfe, with a service with many more stops and slower. High speed, they say, is also assured because, they point out, Ouigo services “have much fewer frequencies and are more expensive.” Right now, if we take a look at the price of trains Within a few months, we can find Avant or AVLO high-speed trains between Alicante and Murcia between 10 and 15 euros. The AVE trip costs about 25 euros. The current offer is also supported by 10 Avant or AVLO services and two more AVE services in each direction from Monday to Friday. Ouigo’s proposal. Until now, Renfe has been offering this service with an average duration of about 55 minutes. The Ouigo proposal, which is already active, allows you to take the same route for nine euros but saving travelers 10 minutes, covering the section between Alicante and Murcia in 45 minutes. With the very low prices that Renfe currently offers on the line, Ouigo does not have much room for maneuver but hopes to attract passengers who travel without large suitcases (these options can raise the price up to 26 euros, equivalent to the price of the AVE). What is clear is that it is tough competition for the 15 euro Avant services which are only more attractive if you cannot travel at another time. The proposal between Murcia and Alicante It’s clear. The train leaves this first city at 06:35 in the morning and offers a return to Murcia at 21:27. From Alicante to Murcia, the train leaves in the morning at 10:57 and offers a service to Alicante at 19:53. That is, the day will be more useful for those who travel from Murcia to Alicante and return on the same day, since there is only one train available between both cities. With transport doubts. The approval from the CNMC comes after Transport has tried to stop the process or, at least, delay it as much as possible. And the Ministry asked the organization for an economic report on the impact on Renfe’s public services. That is why the CNMC highlights in its statement that they do not observe an impact on it. What is certain is that Renfe now faces new complications in a corridor that is on the rise. They point out in The Economist that the corridor between Madrid and Alicante registered its historical passenger record in the last quarter analyzed, adding 1.29 million travelers between July and September. Now, travel between Madrid and Murcia, after passing through Alicante, has more offers than ever. a trend. Although in this case the room for maneuver is much less, it is expected that the average prices between both cities will decrease slightly. With Ouigo offering trips for nine euros between Murcia and Alicante and, above all, saving 10 minutes of travel in a stretch of less than an hour, there are not many reasons to go for more expensive options. It is a maxim that has followed Ouigo in all the corridors where he has put up a fight against Renfe. For very little, where they compete Ouigo always has the cheapest ticket price and has managed to reduce them drastically in the first months of competition. Although with time It is something that is softening and tending towards stabilitythe first step is always to lower prices. Photo | Eric Salard and Joana Hall In Xataka | Renfe is selling its AVLO for 7 euros in Andalusia: it is the new battlefield in the price war against Ouigo and Iryo

A British MP did not have permission to build a house in the countryside so he was left with only one option: dig it up

by

Housing is one of the main problemsnot only because of the scarcity that makes its price skyrocketsbut because, even if you already have a plot on which to build the house of your dreams, urban planning and environmental legislation will not always allow you to build it. That is precisely what happened to British MP Bob Marshall-Andrews in the late 90s, when he wanted to build a house with sea views in Wales, but faced a huge dilemma. Environmental regulations did not allow him to erect any buildings since it was a natural space. There was only one way out so that your home was legal: dig it out. A house in a hole with sea views As and how did he count Wales Onlinelawyer and Labor Party MP Bob Marshall-Andrews and his wife Gill wanted to escape the bustle of the city and enjoy the leisurely pace of the waves crashing into St. Bride’s Bay on the Pembrokeshire cliffs in the far west of Wales. For years, he and his family had been spending vacations in an old military barracks. on Druidston Cliffuntil the structure began to deteriorate and the need to build something new became apparent. That’s where his problems began. The land of the MP and his wife Gill is located about 150 meters from the sea, in the heart of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, a protected area since 1949 that covers more than 300 kilometers of coastline with cliffs, open beaches, sheltered bays, marshes and dunes. In this environment, the authorities have been traditionally very strict: the neighbors considered practically impossible to obtain permission even for small glazed extensions in existing houses. To comply with the regulations and still stay in that place, the only way was to literally hide the new house underground, excavating the land and taking advantage of the natural ridge of the cliff as part of the construction. The idea came from his son Tom, who thought it would be a good idea to integrate the house into the landscape by excavating it between two hills. The result was Malatora semi-buried house, almost invisible from afar, which today has become one of the most striking examples of architecture integrated into the landscape of the Welsh coast. So much so that it even has your own reference on Wikipedia. A crazy idea that ended in genius The British parliamentarian left the commission to the architects Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levetefounders of the Future Systems studio, had a central premise: to obtain legalized housing that would not give arguments to those responsible for the park. to deny license. To avoid any feeling of privilege towards a parliamentarian, the project was planned from the beginning as a construction that would not compete with the landscape, but would hide in it and reduce its visible impact to a minimum, just as Tom, the son of the owners, had proposed. Thus, the architects chose build downexcavating the hill instead of raising a traditional construction, so that the house will be buried under a cover of earth and grass that continues the shape of the hill. This strategy is reminiscent of ancient techniques from northern Scandinavia, where layers of earth and grass were accumulated to form thick walls with good thermal inertia and great camouflage capacity in the terrain. The designers were inspired by the wing section of an airplane for its visible part. The façade facing the sea is resolved with a large glass plane and portholes, while the upper part and sides are buried and covered with grass and vegetation, so that from the park path the house is perceived as a simple mound covered with grass. This extreme integration with the landscape It was decisive for the local authorities to give their approval, since the construction does not break the undulating line of meadows and bushes nor does it introduce visible plot limits, fences or gardens separated from the rest of the park. Furthermore, technically, no construction had been “raised”. Inside, the curved floor plan is organized around a central fireplace, inspired by the great medieval halls. A large semicircular sofa and prefabricated walls that separate the rooms of the house without touching the ceiling, reinforcing the feeling of continuous space. Respect for the environment was taken to the extreme even during its construction, as many of the internal elements, including the bathrooms, were manufactured in workshops and brought in small pieces to the plot. A decision designed to reduce heavy truck traffic to a minimum on a narrow road adapted to the orography of the cliff. The house soon became popular in the area and, given its peculiar design, the locals have baptized it as “the Teletubbies house” due to its resemblance to the half-buried house from the children’s series, a nickname that its owner receives with humor. In Xataka | Of all the places there were to build a $400,000 house, this millionaire chose the most unusual: in a tree Image | Geograph.org (Cered, Deborah Tilley, Simon Mortimer, Michael Graham, Dave Challender)

Google has managed to integrate Apple’s AirDrop into Android. Without the help or permission of Apple

by

Google has announced that Quick Shareyour file transfer system on Android, now also works with Apple’s AirDrop. The users of a Pixel 10 They can send and receive files directly from iPhone, iPad and Mac without intermediaries or servers. Support is two-way and works when the Apple device activates “Everyone for 10 minutes” mode in AirDrop. The Pixel detects the iPhone as an available destination, the user accepts the transfer and the connection is established directly. Ta-da. The turn. Apple has not participated in the development. Google has confirmed that it has implemented this feature on its ownwithout your collaboration. “We have achieved it with our own implementation,” they said from Google. This contrasts with other recent interoperability advances between both platforms—messaging RCS or the unknown tracker alerts— where there was coordination. Between the lines. Google appears to have reverse engineered AWDL technology (Apple Wireless Direct Link) that underpins AirDrop. Although it is proprietary, it relies on open standards such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct, which makes it technically possible to implement unauthorized support. The company has developed the feature using Rust, a programming language considered more secure against vulnerabilities. It also hired NetSPI, an independent security firm, to validate the implementation. His assessment: the system is “notably more robust” than other solutions in the sector. The threat. Apple may end up blocking this functionality and in fact it is a very likely scenario given the history. In 2023 closed Beeper accessan app that allowed iMessage to be used on Android through reverse engineering. But the context has changed. Google is much bigger than Beeper. In addition, Apple now has greater regulatory pressure than then around anti-competitive practices, both in Europe and the United States. Yes, but. The current implementation only works in “Everyone for 10 minutes” mode. AirDropless convenient than the “Contacts Only” mode. Google has expressed its willingness to collaborate with Apple to enable that mode. The feature starts exclusively on the Pixel 10, although Google has promised to expand it to more Android devices. At stake. This move attacks one of the elements of Apple’s walled garden that most frustrates cross-platform users. If Google manages to maintain this operational compatibility, it erodes another barrier to change. If Apple takes it down, it reinforces the narrative of monopolistic practices just as regulators take a closer look. In the coming weeks we will surely hear about this case again. In Xataka | Privacy was Apple’s ace in the hole in the age of AI. Google just took it away Featured image | Google

Your mind can activate a loop song without asking you permission. Science knows why he does it … and why he doesn’t know how to stop

by

You are silent. Walking down the street, serving a coffee, looking distracted by the mobile. And suddenly … there is again. A melody you have not chosenbut who insists on returning. As a drop in the tap, as a notification that you cannot deactivate. In my case, it is the same song for a couple of days. Always the same part, as if the rest did not exist. It does not bother me, but it has made me think: why does this happen? Does our brain make sense, sometimes it works like a striped disk? What is exactly an Earworm. The Earworms – Also called “ear worms” – they are musical fragments that are installed in the head and repeat themselves again and again, without you chosen. The term comes from German Ohrwurm And today describes a mental phenomenon as recognizable as elusive. It is not something weird: As the National Medicine Library of the United States collectsup to 98% of the western population has ever experienced them. Most live them as a simple anecdotebut for some people they can become annoying or even distressing. We speak in a very specific way of spontaneous mental activity that science has been trying to understand. Why do some songs stuck. Earworms are the result of a combination of musical and neurological factors. The themes that are most repeated usually have simple structures, fast tempos and easy to hum melodies. This was revealed by a study led by musicologist Kelly Jakubowskiwhich analyzed more than 3,000 songs and found that those who stayed in their heads tended to have common melodic contours and a medium tempo faster than the rest. Among the most mentioned songs such as Earworms in Jakubowski’s study and his team, several Anglo -Saxon pop hits stand out. It is no accident: the work was done in the United Kingdom with English -speaking participants, so most of the topics that appear are in English. Even so, many of them have been true global successes, also known by the Spanish public: ‘Bad Romance’ – Lady Gaga ‘Can’t get you out of my head’ – Kylie Minogue ‘Don’s Stop Believin’ ‘ – Journey ‘Hoilebody That I used to know’ – Gotye ‘Moves Like Jagger’ – Maroon 5 ‘California Gurls’ – Katy Perry ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – Queen ‘Alejandro’ – Lady Gaga ‘Poker Face’ – Lady Gaga The decisive occurs in the brain: the auditory cortex – the same one we use to listen to real music – is reactivated even when we simply imagine a song. The emotional state also influences: stress, distraction or nostalgia can open the door for a melody to be installed without prior notice. Auditory cortex Some minds are more prone to loop. Not everyone lives the Earworms the same. Some people barely notice them, while others suffer with intensity, as if the brain stayed in a loop. In most cases, Earworms are lived as a simple curiosity or even as something entertaining. But when the repetition becomes persistent and annoying, it can be a sign of something more serious. According to psychiatrist Srini PillayProfessor at Harvard’s Faculty, “these persistent loops can be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorders, migraines, unusual epilepsies, palinacousis, stroke or cerebral metastases.” It is not usual, but it can happen. What to do if you don’t want to keep listening to her. There is no magic formula to eliminate an EARWORM, but there are strategies that help. Curiously, try to block the song It is the least effective: the more struggles against her, the more she clings, a phenomenon described by Daniel Wegner as “ironic process.” Instead, accepting it without resistance usually works better. As the Kennedy center collectssome people choose to listen to the complete song; Others replace it with another melody. There are specialists who point to chew gum To interfere mental repetition. And you, what song isn’t you going from your head? Since I started investigating the Earworms, the song in my head has not disappeared. Now I know that I am not the only one, that there are reasons behind and that, deep down, that loop is part of how our brain works. And you? Have you ever had an Earworm that you couldn’t take off from your head? What was that song impossible to erase? Do you have any technique to take it off? We read you in the comments. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 Flash | Amanz | Kennedy Center In Xataka | I put myself in the hands of some “sleep headphones” in the hope of reconciling sleep. It has come out regular

The electric SUV that no longer asks for permission

by

It is not necessary to look twice to realize that Wuhua city 1,100 km south of Beijing and 340 km west of Shanghai, it is not exactly Detroit. But in its own way, This Chinese city begins to resemble the epicenter of something. Chery – and all its brands, including Omoda and Jaecoo– He has turned his facilities into a kind of living laboratory of the future of the car. Here it is executed, it is not rehearsed. And in the midst of that deployment, I have had the opportunity to drive the new Jaecoo 5 EV: the electric version of this Chinese SUV, reasonably accessible … and very serious. The silence that speaks The first thing that attracts attention is how well they have done, in addition to their suspicious nothing similar to the lines of the Range Rover (with whom Chery has an old agreement to be your manufacturer in China). There is no trace of that condescension with which the West used to look at the Chinese automobile industry. Jaecoo 5 EV does not come to learn, but to compete. In Wuhu they know it, and that is why an almost provocative calm is breathed. As if they were already clear that they will win, but they were not in a hurry to prove it. Image: Xataka. The second thing that attracts attention is autonomy: it marked 94% km with the activated echo mode. At the end of the test it marked 329 km for the remaining 73%. If we make a rule of three, at 73% should be superior, about 343 km, but we made use of the air conditioning and some moments of forced driving to test it through its sport mode. So and everything, it is still a more than remarkable autonomy. Image: Xataka. In motion, the car confirms suspicions: this is not an experiment, but a mature product. The driving is soft, as expected in an electric, but also firm in what is not usually expected in a SUV: stability. Take curves without drama or unnecessary inclinations. There is no ship feeling, not even when hurrying in faster sections. The suspension filters with solvency, in the potholes with some forcefulness, and at all times seems more focused on transmitting security than show. He gets it. And also with the sepulchral silence that can be expected from an electric. Do like us on this trip and Stay connected whatever your destination. Always navigate at high speed and With unlimited data with the ESIM from Holafly and forget about unpleasant surprises on the bill. Easy to install, keeping your physical Sim card to receive calls and No positions of Roaming. And with a 5 % discount! Council offered by the brand The finishes, another maturity symptom, point in the same direction. There are no luxuries, but Criteria: Where to play, there are pleasant and padded materials; Where it is not seen or touched, hard plastics appear. The fair and the intelligent to keep prices at bay. It is a car that aims to be around 30,000 euros, perhaps something else, in this electric version, and that, More than reasonable, it is strategic. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. Regeneration, yes, needs one more return. It has three levels: the lowest, which is almost decorative; Another intermediate but still very soft, and a third that flirts with excess. I miss a real intermediate point. Also the brake pedal, otherwise, has a somewhat more abrupt stretch, as if he resisted to accept that the car has already stopped. It’s not much less serious, but it’s not the most elegant. And matters in a car that aspires to seduce for its silent refinement. What is surprising is everything else: the visualization of surrounding traffic – at the style that Tesla marked the industry – works precisely and without histrionisms, as adequate are the recreations of the car in 3D and 360º. Mention for driving aids, especially the anti -collisions system, which worked great: the speaker sounds and the steering wheel vibrates if the car detects that we throw ourselves towards an obstacle in braking. Not only in static, but detecting that the car in front is stopping even if it continues to move. The 360º view and the recreation of the traffic around us. Image: Xataka. This kind of pip with recreation appears when we use the intermittent. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. The ventilation in the seats in a car of this price fork is a detail. Image: Xataka. Image: Xataka. At the end of the journey, the Jaecoo 5 screen indicates that we have 1 hour and 37 minutes of driving and that the average consumption has been 13.1 kWh per 100 kilometers. It is a very competitive consumption for an electric SUV of this size, which speaks of its good mixture of aerodynamics, efficient motor management and weightly contained weight. Is A autonomy consistent with what the car projects: more solidity than show. Image: Xataka. More than a car, a statement But the most interesting is not the car. It is the context. Wuhu is not just a geographical place. It is a coordinate on the map of who wants a change of rules. From here, Chery has created a pair with omoda and Jaecoo who no longer wants to imitate Europeans, wants to advance them. And with a known recipe: ATIBORRAR OF EQUIPMENT. Take care of aesthetics a lot. Offer technology that works. And maintain an aggressive price. But they They do it without asking permission. They are not in the phase of learning from the greats or gaining respect. They do not copy or ask for validation, do not queue at the door of the European club to see if the goalkeeper is Majete and lets them in. They are already inside. And with products that no longer have a “Chinese car” aroma, but “this makes a lot of sense.” With own design decisions, with functional technology, with well -chosen materials and a … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.