replace

The question is not whether the eSIM will replace physical SIM cards. The question is when

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We have been telling you for years how technology eSIM It is gaining ground little by little, so much so that today it is normal for smartphones to include these chips as a complement to physical SIM cards. It is a technology with its advantages and disadvantages, But it is increasingly clear that the idea is not that both technologies coexist, but that the eSIM ends up making physical cards disappear. At least that is the direction in which the industry seems to be heading if we look at the steps of recent years. This makes the question no longer whether it will happen, but when will it start to happen. There are no dates or calendars set for this technological change, but there are data and projections that seem to point to the next decade. The slow but sure adoption of the eSIM Evolution of SIM cards. Source: Thalesgroup Since their creation in 1991, SIM cards have become smaller and smaller. SIMs began to become MiniSIM, and then they became MicroSIM, and then the NanoSIM that the vast majority of mobile phones currently use. The next evolutionary step was eSIMan internal chip of the mobile phone where the data that has always been on the SIM cards can be downloaded and installed. This opens the door for you to have on your mobile not only the data of your operator, but also that of other third-party services specialized in cheap eSIM such as Saily of NordVPN and the like. Saily eSIM in +200 destinations, prepaid and with an extra level of security The price could vary. We earn commission from these links eSIM chips were created in the last decade, and over the years they have also been miniaturized to take up less and less space. But one thing is the existence of technology and another its implementation on commercial deviceswhich has been slow. First they began to arrive at smart watches like the Samsung Gear S2 Classic 3G of 2016, being a solution to give them connectivity without having to spend space in a physical card slot. And in 2017 the first compatible smartphones began to arrive, such as the Pixel 2 from Google (although it was only compatible with Google Fi) and since then they have been reaching more and more mobile phones. Until recently, the eSIM has been implemented as a complementary alternative to the SIM. Almost all users continue to use the SIM, but if you went abroad and needed a data card it was easier to contract an eSIM. There were also the most curious users starting to test this technology. Since then, the eSIM has begun to reach other devices such as home automation products, and even laptops. Some manufacturers like Apple have taken risks to promote the eSIM. First it was in 2022 with the iPhone 14which would be sold without a SIM card slot in the United States, and in 2025 launched the iPhone Aironly with eSIM in the United States, although in Spain it still has a physical slot. But currently this remains a rarity in Europe. The eSIM in Spain It already has the support of almost all operators. Besides, There is research that points Because in 2024, 70% of new mobile phones had support for this technology, and 10 to 15% did not have a physical SIM slot, numbers that will gradually grow. What are the benefits of the eSIM The main benefit of the eSIM is that you no longer have to request cards when contracting a service. And if you port, you won’t have to wait for a card to be sent to you either, although this will always depend on the method the operator uses to synchronize the eSIM, since sometimes you will need to receive documentation. Of course, you should know that activating an eSIM can take hours, or even a couple of days, until they send you the necessary keys. Furthermore, in all ports you will be asked for your identification by law, and depending on the operator you may even need to physically go to a store, something that is to avoid fraud. You won’t need to order duplicate SIMs either. if you want to use your data or phone number on multiple devices. In addition, there will be more facilities for using more than one data or calling rate on a single mobile phone, since there is support for storing the profiles of different operators and changing them as needed. There are also other advantages such as greater security. No one will be able to remove your SIM and steal it, because it is integrated and cannot be accessed. Besides, manufacturers save space physically inside their phones as they do not have this slot, something they can take advantage of, for example, to give their batteries more capacity. However, eSIMs also have some disadvantages. The main thing is to change your mobile phone can be somewhat more cumbersome, since it requires an extra process to migrate the data from the digital card. If you change to another mobile phone with the same operating system it is relatively easy, but changing from Android to iPhone or vice versa can be complicated. The eSIM will coexist quite a bit with the SIM No, the physical SIM is not going to disappear overnight. It’s going to be quite a long process. It will probably take more than a decade.although this is something that can always change depending on how manufacturers push in that direction. According to CCS Insight forecasts in 2025 collected by the BBCat the end of 2024 there were 1.3 billion smartphones with eSIM in use, and the figure is expected to reach 3.1 billion in 2030. Therefore, we are going to have sustained growth in mobile phones with eSIM. But this does not mean that traditional SIMs are going to stop being used at the same rate, but rather that most mobile phones will continue to use both technologies for … Read more

France wants to replace Windows with Linux. Extremadura and Munich tried it before, and both failed

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On April 8, 20226, the French Digital Interministerial Directorate (DINUM) advertisement that will migrate your jobs from Windows to Linux. He ordered all ministries to present a plan by the fall with the aim of eliminating dependencies on non-European software. The announcement in fact goes beyond changing Windows for Linux: it also affects collaborative tools, antivirus, AI, databases, virtualization or telecommunications. It is, on paper, the largest operation to replace proprietary software with free software that a Western State has ever attempted. And if the history of this type of projects teaches us anything, it is that many have ended in failure. French sovereignty. It is not that France is a lover of free software; What has happened is that the relationship with the United States has changed. Trump’s tariffs accelerated a debate that had been postponed for years: To what extent is it sustainable to depend on the US digital infrastructure? French companies like OVHCloud and Scaleway did not stop growing in 2025, but France has already taken some previous steps recently. In January 2026, announced the plan to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with its own video conferencing platform, called Visiowith the aim that its 2.5 million employees would use it. At the moment 40,000 of them are using it, and it remains to be seen if the deployment ends up being total. This was LinEx, the Linux distribution derived from Debian that was used in public organizations in Extremadura. Spain tried it in 2002. The Junta de Extremadura is one of the most famous cases of attempted replace Windows with Linux in public administration. In 2001 it launched LinEx, a Linux distribution based on Debian, and tried to implement it massively in the educational environment and in the health system of the autonomous community. That was imitated in other Spanish regions: Andalusia had Guadalinex, Valencia had LliureX, Madrid had MAX, Galicia had Galinux, Catalonia had Linkat and Castilla La Mancha had Molinux. All of these projects proposed an alternative to the absolute dominance of Windows on the desktops of public officials, and they all failed, but the biggest failure was the one that promised the most: that of LinEx. LinEx myths and realities. Although this distribution worked reasonably in the aforementioned education and health environments, it never fully penetrated the general public administration of the Autonomous Community. In 2011 the project was transferred to a state foundation due to budget cuts and by then only 1% of positions of the Extremaduran autonomous administration used free software. The final blow came when SAP, which managed the community’s medical records system, decided to stop supporting Linux. That made this body return to Windows, and in fact in 2024 the Board formally eliminated the obligation to use gnuLinEx. Rise and fall of Linux in Munich. another case even more famous At the European level it was Munich. In 2003, the city council of this German city announced that it would migrate 14,000 Windows computers to LiMux, its Debian-based Linux distribution. In 2013 the project seemed a success: there were 12,000 migrated computers and theoretically more than 11 million euros had been saved in licenses and other costs. However, in 2014, complaints about loss of productivity and debate began. ended sharply: At the end of 2017, the leaders of Munich decided to migrate 29,000 PCs of their employees to Windows 10 from LiMux. The initial migration was never complete, and in many cases there was a mix of Windows and Linux systems to complete the processes, something that seemed inefficient and never managed to eliminate the dependency on Windows and especially on legacy applications. But there are silent successes. LinEx and LiMux failed in Spain and Germany, but there is precedent to show that abandoning Windows in favor of Linux can work. It proves it GendBuntua version of Ubuntu that was implemented in the French National Gendarmerie. This organization was already a pioneer in the adoption of the OpenOffice.org office suite in 2005, and since 2008 the plan was to abandon Windows in favor of its own Linux distribution. In June 2024, GendBuntu runs on 103,164 jobswhich represents 97% of the IT park of this organization. This has also saved around two million euros per year on licenses, and has reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) by 40%. Another promising example: Schleswig-Holstein. This German state began its migration from Windows and Office to Linux and LibreOffice in 2021. In early 2026 had already completed almost 80% of the transition in its 30,000 jobs and according to its data that allowed savings about 15 million euros in licenses only in 2026. A one-time investment of 9 million euros is planned to complete 20% of the process, which is still tied to certain specialized applications and will therefore take a little more time. This is the model that is closest to the French initiative: gradual migration and above all a political will that is maintained among the legislatures that are in power. What distinguishes success from failure. Cases that work share three characteristics. The first, gradual and phased migration, not sudden and massive. The second, real internal technical support that goes beyond political declarations. And the third (and probably the most important), a sustained will beyond an electroral cycle. Those who fail share three others: trying to migrate everything at once, underestimating the cost of legacy applications and depending on the project not changing government, which certainly contributed, for example, to the failure of LinEx. A colossal challenge. Installing Linux on a computer is trivial today and it is true that today the learning curve has been significantly reduced and its use is very similar to that of Windows or macOS. The real problem is in the applications that run on top of it. In public administration there is often critical software tailored for Windows, forms that only work in certain browsers (including the old Internet Explorer), management systems that do not have equivalents in Linux or vendors that simply do … Read more

Hollywood has been debating for years whether AI can replace real actors. With Val Kilmer the debate turns into practice

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A year after his death, Val Kilmer will appear in a fiction film without filming a single scene. ‘As Deep as the Grave’ uses generative AI to bring the actor to life with the explicit support of his family and respecting the rules of the actors’ union. It is the first documented case of a Hollywood star being digitally recreated on this scale and with this level of legitimacy. Perhaps in the future this film will be seen as the point at which there was no turning back. As deep as the grave. Val Kilmer died on April 1, 2025, at the age of 65, from pneumonia resulting from the throat cancer that he had been fighting since 2014. This week, almost a year later, the production company First Line Films has announced that the actor will return to the screens in a role that he was never able to film. The film, initially known as ‘Canyon of the Dead’, is a historical drama based on the true story of Ann and Earl Morris, early 20th century archaeologists who documented the culture of the Navajo people in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. Kilmer was cast five years ago to play Father Fintan, a Native American Catholic priest and spiritualist. The role was designed around him: Kilmer identified with the character’s Native American heritage and with the story’s spiritual link to the American Southwest, where he made his home in New Mexico. “We were ready to film his part. Just, (Val Kilmer) was going through a very, very difficult medical time,” has counted director and screenwriter Coerte Voorhees. Go for AI. The production accumulated six years between filming and forced stops due to the pandemic. When the Voorhees brothers (Coerte directs, John produces) reviewed the material, they saw that Father Fintan’s scenes were essential to the story. Replacing the actor was a possible solution, but they did not have the budget to repeat the shoot. So they chose to generate it artificially. What makes this recreation technically unique is not only the use of images of the actor at different stages of his life, many contributed directly by his family, but the decision to use his real voice, deteriorated by the tracheotomy that Kilmer had to undergo during cancer treatment. Father Fintan suffers from tuberculosis in the fiction, which turns his altered voice into a character trait. The character generated by AI occupies, according to those responsible, a significant part of the final footage. Pioneer Kilmer. The curious thing is that Kilmer was one of the first actors to actively resort to AI to preserve his communication skills. In 2021, while working on the documentary ‘Val’, he collaborated with the startup Sonantic to reconstruct your voice from hours of archival recordings. The company had to develop new algorithms (the available material was ten times less than what they used in other projects) and generated more than 40 different models before selecting the most expressive. That work reached the general public in 2022, when Kilmer appeared in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, in an appearance that was one of the most talked-about moments of the film. Seal of approval. What distinguishes ‘As Deep as the Grave’ is the consents that support it. The actor’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, states that “my father always looked at emerging technologies with optimism, as a tool to expand the possibilities of the story. This spirit is what we honor within this film.” The producers also assure that the film followed the SAG-AFTRA union guidelines and that the actor’s family receives financial compensation. The environment. This news comes amid constant updates on the topic of AI to generate prototypes of real actors or completely new virtual creatures. In recent months, the Xicoia company launched Tilly Norwooda character entirely generated by AI whom she presented as an actress, and which SAG-AFTRA unambiguously condemned, calling her a direct threat to the profession. Here, however, we have the posthumous realization of a job that the actor himself had accepted. But… what will happen when the technology is accessible to productions without family endorsement? How is compliance with SAG-AFTRA standards monitored in independent productions? Can a case like this normalize practices in less scrupulous hands? Header | Variety In Xataka | Seedance’s strategy was to copy first, go viral later and back away later. Until Hollywood said “enough”

In 1997 Blockbuster decided that DVD would never replace VHS. With that decision he began to dig his grave

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In 1997, Warner Bros. proposed blockbuster an exclusivity agreement to rent DVDs. The deal replicated the model that was already practiced with the VHS format, which gave 60% of income to the video store chain. Blockbuster declined because they were confident that magnetic tape would maintain its dominance for years. Warner responded by drastically cutting the wholesale prices of its records and Walmart was quick to take advantage of the opening: In less than a decade, it overtook Blockbuster as Hollywood’s biggest moneymaker. The DVD arrives. In 1997, this format arrived promising better imaging, more durability, and interactive features (we were so young). But it had a giant before it: in 1988, after defeating Sony’s Betamax format, VHS already controlled 95% of the home video market. And a decade later, in 1997, it was an empire: VHS rentals generated $10 billion annually for movie studios, with Blockbuster pocketing about half of that revenue. VHS had reasons not to be afraid: DVD players were very expensive, between $300 and $500, and VHS devices were very accessible. And they were not wrong: DVD sales would not surpass those of VHS until 2003, six years after its commercial release. Warner’s proposal. Warren Lieberfarb, head of Warner Bros.’s home video division and one of the key figures in the development of the DVD format proposed to Blockbuster a deal that replicated the VHS model: exclusive rights to rent the company’s new DVD releases before they hit stores for sale to the public. Warner would receive 40% of the rental income from those records. John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster, had just arrived at the company after passing through Taco Bell, and his decision could be key to the company’s future. The rejection. Blockbuster decided to reject the proposal because it believed that VHS would maintain its dominance for years. As we said above, a not unreasonable assumption. Furthermore, creating an inventory of DVD movies was an unnecessary expense under the profitable and peaceful reign of VHS. Some later format releases, before the advent of DVD, possibly made Blockbuster think it had done well: JVC’s D-VHS digital tape, which allowed high-definition recording, was a flop. But Blockbuster didn’t have two things: Hollywood support for DVD and the inevitable drop in player prices. The answer. Warner Bros. responded with a strategy that would transform home cinema: it drastically reduced wholesale prices for its DVDs, in order to compete directly with the rental industry. This allowed businesses to sell records at prices that made purchasing more attractive than renting. The North American giant Walmart detected the opportunity very quickly and began to sell DVDs below the cost price, and in this way, for example, they sold their discs for 15 or 20 dollars when renting a VHS cost between 3 and 5 dollars per day. The power of Walmart. Walmart’s network of stores had power in distribution, covering the entire country, that Blockbuster could not match. In addition, it had privileged deals with suppliers and, in general, a fund and resources that allowed it to absorb the losses from the DVDs. In this way, Walmart replaced Blockbuster as the studios’ main source of income in less than a decade. This led to redefining the balance of power in the industry: the most valuable distribution channel was no longer the video store, but became large commercial stores, where consumers no longer only bought movies. Blockbuster, free fall. As is well known, It was not Blockbuster’s last catastrophic decision: in 2000, when Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, co-founders of Netflix, approached John Antioco about selling their DVD-by-mail rental service for 50 million dollarsthe executive declined the offer. A decade later Blockbuster declared bankruptcy in 2010 while Netflix reached a valuation of billions. They are not the last. The case has parallels with recent technological transitions where dominant companies have underestimated the speed of the public’s adoption of new formats: the physical media industry believed that Blu-ray would maintain its relevance against streaming. And it is also easy to draw lines that link current technology companies with the adoption of AI: who will be the next giant to fall? Header | Stu pendousmat In Xataka | VCR Virus: the anti-copy system of the VHS era that looked like something out of a B horror movie

replace two veterans and harmonize the fleets

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Spain continues the process of renewal of your military transport with the progressive departure of two aircraft that have been in service for decades. He CN235 and the C212 They have been common pieces in training and support tasks, especially in the training of pilots and paratroopers. The Ministry of Defense has formalized the acquisition of 18 Airbus C295 aircraft. This is a contract that is divided into two different phases and establishes a delivery schedule spread over several years. The incorporation of these aircraft will be used to instruction and support functions within the Air and Space Army. All this within a program aimed at harmonizing fleets and achieving maximum “logistical and operational commonality” with the C295 that Spain already operates. Two veterans leave the scene and the C295 takes over with a calendar The agreement is structured into two groups of aircraft with different tasks. The first will be assigned to the Military Air Transport School, at the Matacán base, in Salamanca, where it will assume tasks of training and transporting passengers, paratroopers and cargo, functions that currently fall to CN235 aircraft. If we talk about the second group, this will be destined for the Military Parachuting School, at the Alcantarilla base, in Murcia, and will be used in manual and automatic launches of paratroopers and cargo, missions that today are carried out with C212. The schedule establishes a staggered deployment. According to Airbusthe aircraft of the first batch will begin to arrive in 2026 and will be completed in 2028, while the second group will be delivered later, between 2030 and 2032. This scheme spreads the baton over several years and sets the pace of incorporation of the new aircraft in the two schools involved. Airbus C295 In transport configuration, the C295 offers a profile adjusted to the tasks that these units will assume. Can carry up to 70 troops or 50 paratroopersoperate from unprepared runways and carry out cargo and personnel launches, as well as medical evacuation missions. Where do these capabilities fit? Precisely in continuous use in schools, where flexibility and availability outweigh extreme performance. The aircraft is designed for intensive flight cycles and to operate in diverse environments, a relevant factor in training tasks. Airbus C-212 Aviocar The agreement includes a training and support package designed to sustain the schools’ activity for years. Airbus will supply an advanced system of ground training which combines flight simulators, computer-assisted teaching and training management software, adapted to the needs of each center. Airbus explains that this set is designed to maximize the efficiency of training flights. The training will be deployed both at the Military Air Transport School in Salamanca and at the Parachuting School in Murcia. Airbus CN-235 The contract also contemplates a long-term support framework for the fleet destined for the Military Air Transport School. Airbus will take care of the aircraft maintenancethe management of the necessary material and the associated training center itself, with a horizon that extends until December 2032. With this acquisition, the Air and Space Army will operate a fleet of 46 C295s in different configurations. Spain, let us remember, was the model’s first customer: acquired nine aircraft in 1999 and received the first in 2000. The program also has a direct industrial dimension in Spain. The design and engineering work of the C295 is being developed at the Airbus facilities in Getafewhile the final assembly of the aircraft is carried out at the San Pablo Sur plant, in Seville. According to the manufacturer, this industrial chain supports both production, maintenance and training associated with the model. The fleet replacement thus supports a national aeronautical fabric, closing the circle between operation, support and industry. Images | Airbus | Air Force In Xataka | Spain already has its first A330 MRTT: this is the modern tanker plane that promises to change the rules of the game in the air

replace 50,000 workers with an army of Terminators

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For decades, movies like terminatorby James Cameron, we were accustomed to thinking about armies of robots since a dystopian perspectiveif you will, as an exaggeration typical of science fiction, a narrative resource to talk about fear of the future. The problem is that, little by littlethat future has stopped seeming so distant, and some of the ideas that previously only fit in the cinema are beginning to appear in the real world with a disturbing naturalness. From the worker robot to the soldier. Most of the humanoid robot startups that have emerged in recent years sell a reassuring promise– Machines designed to work in factories, warehouses, hospitals or even homes, alleviating labor shortages and increasing productivity. Foundationa young Silicon Valley company, shares that ambition, but takes it to much more uncomfortable terrain: his Phantom robot It is not only designed for industrial work, but also for armed combat, with the United States Army as an explicit client. Its founder, Sankaet Pathak, does not hide the intention nor the schedule: manufacture 50,000 humanoids before the end of 2027 and turn them into an operational tool for both the civilian economy and the battlefield. Impossible calendar. They counted in Forbes that Foundation boasts an unusual development speed even by industry standards. In just 18 months since its founding, Phantom was already making real production tasks in facilities of undisclosed industrial partners, a pace comparable to that of the most advanced players in the market. This acceleration is explained by two key acquisitions in artificial intelligence and new generation actuators, but also by a recruited team directly from companies like Tesla, Boston Dynamics, SpaceX or 1X. The scaling plan is as ambitious as it is risky: 40 robots this year, 10,000 next year and 40,000 in 2027. Pathak admits which is an extreme goal, but insists that there is a “non-zero probability” of achieving it, relying on a philosophy inherited from Tesla: do not try to automate everything too quickly. Foundation The economic model. The commercial bet by Foundation It is not about selling robots, but for renting them. The company isn’t looking for dozens of small customers, but rather a few gigantic contracts capable of generating hundreds of millions in recurring revenue. If the plan is fulfilled, 50,000 rented robots between 2026 and 2027 could translate into about 5 billion dollars annuallywith an approximate price of $100,000 per robot per year. At first glance it seems expensive compared to an average human salary, but the argument is purely industrial: A humanoid can work almost 24/7 and replace between three and five people. Even discounting maintenance, human supervision and downtime, the potential savings per unit could be around $90,000 annually. All of this, of course, under a crucial condition that no one has yet demonstrated: that the robot is really as fast, reliable and versatile as a human worker. Technology that does not exist. Phantom boasts of advanced “muscles”, efficient and reversible actuators that allow it to operate for several shifts without overheating and coexist with people with a reasonable level of safety. Still, there is an uncomfortable reality in the sector: no manufacturer has yet achieved a humanoid that is fully equivalent to human performance in complex environments. Therefore, the money intelligent It discounts delays, reduces expectations, and assumes that it will take additional years for hardware and software to reach true maturity. The recent history of robotics is full of promises ahead of their time. An armed robot. It is in the military sphere where Foundation definitively breaks with the comfortable narrative. Pathak defend that an armed humanoid can be “the first body in” in high-risk situations, because a docile robot does not force the enemy to reveal itself. PhantomAccording to his vision, it must be lethal. The range of uses it’s wide: carry ammunition, perform dangerous tasks, explore buildings, cross ridges or enter caves where no officer would want to send a soldier. In fact, it is not pure science fiction: terrestrial robots have already been seen with similar functions in the Ukrainian war, although not humanoid in shape. More precise (or easier) warfare. Foundation argues that these robots could make war more precise, not more brutal. Instead of bombing or heavy weapons, a terrestrial humanoid could evaluate situations directly. The operating model would resemble that of current drones: the robot would move and navigate autonomously, but the lethal decision would remain in human hands, remote and safe. If that scheme works, armed humanoids could alter the logic of deterrence, substituting human deployments for robotic force demonstrations scalable. Pathak even arrives to affirm that an army with tens of thousands of visible robots could prevent wars before they start. The ethical dilemma. There is no doubt, the other side of the argument is just as disturbing. If sending robots reduces the political and human cost of war, it can also make it more likely. History shows that when the threshold for sacrifice is lowered, resort to force becomes more tempting. The ethics of armed humanoid robots become like this more complex than everespecially in a world where China, Russia and the United States are already developing lethal autonomous systems, even if they do not take human form. In reality, automated warfare is not new: Nazi V-2 missiles They already incorporated a primitive form of autonomy during the Second World War. What changes now is the degree of sophisticationthe distributed decision-making capacity and the physical proximity of the robot to the human combatant. Image | Foundation In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new: drones are disguising themselves as Russian soldiers, and it is working In Xataka | When we thought we had seen all kinds of rehearsals for an invasion, China makes science fiction: robots taking over an island

The V16 wanted to replace the triangle and reduce risks. They have ended up proving that they can also create them

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On January 1, 2026, it will be mandatory to carry in the car an approved V16 beacon. The introduction of this device is surrounded by a great controversy regarding its implementation, its real usefulness or the emergence of illegal devices. What has just been discovered is that more than 250,000 beacons are affected by serious cybersecurity vulnerabilities. It is the umpteenth disaster that affects these devices. what has happened. Luis Miranda Acebedo, cybersecurity expert, has published a complete and in-depth analysis of the digital security (or rather, lack thereof) of one of these V16 beacons. Specifically, the Help Flash IoT model, which is especially striking because the person who distributed it is Vodafone and the operator confirmed months ago that it had sold more than 250,000 units in Spain. The document and its conclusions are worrying. Vulnerabilities everywhere. In his analysis Miranda explains that although the analysis only focuses on this device, “the security problems found in the communications part seem to be common to all devices.” Specifically, the errors found by this expert for that part were the following: Sending data in plain text– The beacon transmits exact GPS coordinates, IMEI and network parameters without any encryption. Anyone who intercepts the signal can read them. Lack of authentication and integrity: There are no mechanisms to verify that the server is legitimate or to ensure that the message has not been modified along the way. Susceptibility to false stations– It is possible to spoof a cell tower to intercept traffic, block alerts from being sent, or inject false data. Private APN Exposure– Although this beacons a private Vodafone network, the connection commands and keys are exposed on the debug port, making the network accessible to an attacker. The V16 Help Flash IoT beacon is a real trick. Image: Luis Miranda Acebedo. OTA updates, another disaster. The problems are not only limited to that part of the V16 beacon’s communication with the APN and the servers of each provider, but are also present in the OTA (Over-The-Air) update system: Insecure update: Simply press the power button for 8 seconds to activate a maintenance Wi-Fi network. The name (SSID) of the Wi-Fi and its password are identical (HF-UpdateAP-5JvqFV), they are “harcoded” in the firmware. Not only that: Miranda tested two different units and those credentials coincided, which leads him to think that they are the same in the 250,000 devices sold by Vodafone. unsecure HTTP: To download the new firmware, the HTTP protocol is used without further ado, not the secure version (HTTPS), allowing an attacker to intercept and modify the file in transit. No digital signature: The device does not verify the authenticity of the firmware, and accepts any file sent to it, allowing the installation of malicious software. DNS Spoofing– By not using DNSSEC it is trivial to trick the device into connecting to a fake server controlled by a cybercriminal. Open debug port: The port is also physically accessible without a password, allowing you to view all the logs and extract sensitive information from the hardware. Hacking a beacon is easy and cheap. The researcher explained that it is possible to buy a device that simulates a telephone antenna (500-1,000 euros). Using a Rasperry Pi 4 or a laptop, free software can be used to “intercept and manipulate the “secure” communications of these beacons.” After running a proof of concept, he managed to hack a beacon in 60 seconds and install malicious firmware that allowed him to have full control of the beacon. With this firmware it could send false locations, access the operator’s private APN, generate massive false alarms or turn the beacon into a brick. What Netun says. The company that manufactures these beacons, Netun Solutions, has sent out a press release to try to clarify these risks. Exposed data: The signature indicates that the beacon transmits geolocation, a device identifier and some technical parameters. They admit that this data can be exposed, but they emphasize that there is no transmission of personal data such as license plates or user IDs. Logical: they are not associated with the beacons. Plain text: Netun officials explain that the decision to send plain text was made to “guarantee long-term interoperability and robustness.” Private APN: It is also noted that the beacons connect through a private APN and a VPN from the operator, but Miranda explained how the connection parameters are exposed on the serial port. Physical access and removing the eSIM are enough for an attacker to connect to that private network. Netum in turn points out that physical access means that “the impact is limited to that specific unit.” OTA problems: Regarding the OTA functionality that also shows a vulnerability, Netun states that this function has been disabled through firmware updates. Improbable mass attacksFinally, those responsible point out that massive attacks could only be carried out by compromising a large number of beacons. They also explain that the Netun platform “limits the number of frames that each SIM can send” and the frequency of sending. What Vodafone says. At Xataka we have contacted Vodafone, and one of their spokespersons tells us the following: “The V16 beacons approved and marketed by Vodafone Spain constitute an adequate system that complies with current regulations for road emergency signaling. In particular, Help Flash IoT is certified in accordance with the regulations required by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) for connected V16 beacons, meeting the necessary technical requirements in terms of visibility (sufficient light intensity), resistance, flash reliability, signal duration, etc. These requirements also include the data communication protocols of the beacon with the servers. The V16 beacons have internal security mechanisms and the Vodafone network provides an additional layer of security with controls that ensure that communication is made from the beacon authorized by the network. On the other hand, the beacons integrate NB-IoT connectivity, which guarantees that the beacon is only used for location in an emergency by authorized entities with the user’s knowledge. The communication that passes through Vodafone … Read more

depends on something more difficult to replace

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Europe has just learned an uncomfortable lesson. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union moved at unprecedented speed to cut the umbilical cord of Russian gas. He succeeded—more or less, because It has been a story in fits and starts– with REPowerEU: new infrastructures, supplier diversification and painful but effective adjustments. The metals are coming. However, in the background, a deeper vulnerability that is difficult to reverse has been consolidated. As Richard Holtum, director of Trafigura, warned, in his column for the Financial Times“Europe has stopped being dependent on Russian gas and has become vulnerable in something even more structural: its metal supply chains.” And that, according to himself, has a very simple and very serious consequence: “Without critical metals there are no semiconductors, no renewable energy, no military equipment, no artificial intelligence.” The continent has emerged from a trap to enter a labyrinth. The labyrinth of critical metals. The root of the problem is twofold: an overwhelming dependence on foreign countries and a silent erosion of European industrial capacity to produce and transform the minerals that sustain the modern economy. Holtum sums it up with a devastating fact: Europe has not built a single new refining complex since the 1990s, and in the last decade it has closed or cut about a third of its existing ones. Meanwhile, China deployed a deliberate strategy to absorb global refining capacity, the key link in the chain. Today controls between 70% and 90% of global processing of many essential metals. The figures confirm it. A European meta-analysis, published in Springer Naturereveals that the EU does not produce any of the gallium, germanium, vanadium or rare earths that it consumes; only residual percentages of lithium (0.1%), cobalt (0.5%), nickel (1%) or natural graphite. The same study concludes that the community objective of covering 10% of its needs for critical raw materials by 2030 is simply “unrealistic” for most metals. Europe depends almost entirely on others to access the materials that make it possible to manufacture everything from batteries to advanced weapons. Added to this structural weakness is a problem of scale: demand will multiply between six and fifteen times between now and 2050 due to the electrification of transport, the massive deployment of renewables and accelerated digitalization. The Union needs more metals than ever just when it has the least capacity to produce or refine them. A strategic industry that is reeling. The impact is already visible. According to Euronewsthe European steel industry speaks openly of “survival” in the face of the flood of heavily subsidized Chinese steel and punitive American tariffs. The chemical industry, another historical pillar of the European industrial fabric, is going through even more severe deterioration: closed plants, evaporated investments and a growing consensus among analysts that “deindustrialization is no longer a risk: it is a reality.” The irony is bitter. The EU wants to electrify everything, but it does not control the minimum materials for that electrification. Wind turbines contain more than 8,000 parts, many containing critical metals; solar panels generate increasing amounts of waste whose recycling is still in its infancy; 85% of a turbine can be recycled, but almost no one does. What should be the European passport to energy autonomy becomes a bottleneck that threatens to stop factories, delay infrastructure and undermine the green transition. China, from supplier to industrial minotaur. Friction with China is no longer just commercial: it is structural. Beijing has tightened its export controls on critical metals in the last year. According to the World Economic Forum, Recent restrictions on rare earths, gallium, germanium and antimony have raised prices, forced European plants to shut down and generated a climate of permanent uncertainty for entire industries. can be explained with a recent example: To obtain import licenses, German companies must provide the Chinese government with extremely detailed information: manufacturing diagrams, photographs indicating where rare earths are located in a product, customer lists, inventory volumes, production data for the last three years and future forecasts. Meanwhile, the German government acknowledges that it does not even have that level of detail about its own companies. The paradox is evident: China knows more about the German industrial anatomy than the German state itself. That asymmetry fuels a form of surgical coercion: delaying a critical license here, slowing a key flow there, straining bilateral negotiations, pushing through rotating checks every six months. The underlying message is clear: whoever depends, obeys, or better known as “Second China Shock”. A response that arrives late. The European reaction is underway, although many recognize that it is late. According to the European CommissionBefore the end of the year, Brussels will present the new RESourceEU plan, aimed at guaranteeing supply, creating strategic reserves, strengthening agreements with third countries and boosting mining and refining within the EU. To this will be added the creation of a European Center for Critical Raw Materials, in charge of coordinating joint purchases, monitoring risks and acting as a nerve center for industrial intelligence. The Commission’s work program for 2026, under the motto “Europe’s Independence Moment”also places access to raw materials at the heart of its sovereignty strategy. Along with strengthening defense capabilities, protecting critical infrastructure and promoting innovation, Brussels admits for the first time that without stable access to essential minerals no industrial autonomy project is viable. The return of stockpiling. One of the most relevant developments is the debate on strategic reserves. According to a Financial Times reportthe EU will launch a consultation to decide which metals to store, how much to buy and how to finance it. It is a profound change: Europe has had oil reserves for decades, but has never considered storing critical minerals. However, an obvious problem arises. Some materials—such as lithium hydroxide, recalls Fastmarkets—have a useful life of just six months even when stored correctly. Others, such as certain metal oxides, require very specific humidity and temperature conditions. And in the case of metals such as gallium or germanium, buying massively would imply acquiring them from China. … Read more

In Ukraine, the difficult thing is not to replace a drone, but its pilot. So Russia has started the hunt with something unprecedented: Rubikon

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For two years, Ukrainian drone operators had managed to maintain a decisive tactical advantage: the ability to detect, harass and destroy Russian positions with an agility that Moscow could not match. Pilots worked in small teams, in makeshift basements or camouflaged trenches, piloting from a distance FPV that turned the front into a transparent space where the enemy could rarely move unobserved. All that has changed with an appearance. The dark turn. Yes, that domain has been abruptly broken with the appearance Rubikona Russian unit created to track, locate and eliminate not so much drones as to those who operate them. The testimony in the financial times by Dmytro, a Ukrainian pilot and former rapper, summarizes this change of era: he went from being a hunter to being hunted in seconds when a Russian drone detected him on a reckless walk. That moment, which two years ago would have been exceptional, has become part of the daily routine on a front where the survival of the operator has become a strategic objective for Russia and a critical weak point for Ukraine. The result is a complete investment of roles: Innovators, previously almost untouchable, are now a priority target. Rubikon structure and ambition. This Russian elite corps is not simply a drone unit, but an organization of about 5,000 troops endowed with ample financial resources, tactical autonomy and a defined mission: deny Ukraine the ability to operate its drone network. Unlike the heavily bureaucratic operation that characterized the Russian army in the early stages of the war, this unit acts with speed, initiative and an approach more reminiscent of the Ukrainian groups it seeks to destroy. Their main task is not to attack the infantry on the front line, but penetrate behind the frontup to 10 kilometers in depth, to destroy logistics vehicles, ground robots and, above all, locate the operators who control the Ukrainian defensive swarms. Emblem of the elite Russian unit And much more. For Russian and Western experts, Rubikon functions as a development center of unmanned systems: trains other units, analyzes tactics, refines procedures and continually adapts its way of operating. Each technical or doctrinal improvement that emerges from Rubikon ends up radiating to the rest of the Russian army, which explains why the Ukrainians detect unexpected qualitative leaps in the performance of enemy drones. This ability fast learning It is one of the most disturbing elements, because it allows Russia to correct in months the technological gap that Ukraine built for years. The new invisible dimension. The combat is no longer limited to the visible sky, but is fought in a domain more abstract and lethal: the electromagnetic spectrum. Both Ukraine and Russia deploy electronic intelligence stations, signal guidance equipment and jamming systems capable of defeating, jamming or even hijacking adversary drones. This rivalry makes any radio broadcast a potential risk. Operators, no matter how hidden, need clear lines of sight, elevated antennas, and transmitters relatively close to the front, factors that Rubicon systematically explodes. Their teams track antennas on hills, thermal shadows in forests and emissions that reveal the presence of a pilot a few kilometers away. Andrey Belousov inspecting the Rubikon unit The signs. The inhibitorsdespite their usefulness, generate visible electrical signatures that can attract attacks. And in the midst of these maneuvers, both sides resort to signal hacking video to observe enemy cameras or locate the exact source of a remote control. Expert Tom Withington resume this complexity with a precise image: it is a game of cat and mouse where physics dictates the rules, and where each action leaves a trace that the opponent can exploit. Pressure on the pilots. Plus: unlike the Russians, Ukraine lacks the necessary troops to maintain continuous shiftswhich creates physical and psychological exhaustion that becomes as dangerous as the enemy itself. Zoommer, a Ukrainian soldier from a small drone unit, explained in the Times that Rubikon can operate without breaks because it has enough staff to rotate every few hours, while they must remain alert almost all day. The arrival of this unit to Pokrovsk area (a city that has been in a desperate defensive struggle for a year) has transformed life on the front, going from manageable days to a constant tension in which any movement can mean death. Before, says Zoommer.the area was almost “a vacation”, now it is an invisible hell where every antenna, every fleeting signal and every movement outside the trench can be a fatal mistake. This pressure has forced the Ukrainians to change routines, camouflage positions with extreme care, hide transmitters, disperse equipment and create anti-drone cells that act as a defensive mirror of Russia’s own tactics. The loss of transparency. Drones had provided Ukraine with a crucial tool: the ability to see and hit farther and faster, giving its defenders situational transparency that compensated for numerical inferiority. According to the RUSI analysisup to 80% of current casualties are attributed to drone operations, underscoring their central role in a war in which artillery and infantry depend on these mechanical eyes. What’s happening? Than Rubikon and the like have eroded that advantage in forcing Ukraine to reallocate resources from offensive missions to the protection of its own operators. The result is that, while Russia advances at an increasing pace, Ukraine devotes more efforts to stopping than hitting, losing the initiative at a critical moment in the conflict. Moscow has quickly absorbed the enemy’s lessons and turned them into doctrine, a process that would normally take years and that here has been compressed into months, tipping the balance on an increasingly dynamic front. Psychological warfare. The latest analysis show that the front is no longer defined only by the technology deployed, but by psychological pressure endured by Ukrainian operators and by the transformation of the Russian army towards a more agile structure, represented in Rubikon. The pilots, who have become priority objectives, live under constant tension that forces them to minimize any movement and operate with the permanent feeling of being watched, because … Read more

The Meta Ray-Ban Display wants to replace the smartphone. The question is whether they will be able to do it: Crossover 1×25

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Mark Zuckerberg believes that In 2030 we will not take our smartphones out of our pockets so much because we will do almost everything from the glasses. This may be a fairly accurate prediction, especially after the launch of the Meta Ray-Ban Displayconnected glasses that are an important qualitative leap compared to traditional Ray-Ban Meta. Precisely to talk about If glasses can end up replacing the smartphone We have gotten together Jaume Lahoz, Jota and a server in Crossover 1×25. In this new episode we discuss everything about a launch that is certainly promising and even disruptive. So, we begin by talking about the integrated screen on the right lens of the glasses, an extraordinary option that allows you to display notifications and relevant information at all times. Added to this is that bracelet with electromyographic technology for gesture control, a fantastic way to interact with the interface of these glasses. Of course there is a worrying hidden face in this product: privacy risks. As with their predecessors, glasses can be used to capture images and video of what is in front of us, and that can spark new controversies in this regard. We also talk about how several manufacturers in China have similar models that even surpass Meta’s glasses in technical performance. And of course we review the history of devices that already wanted to tempt us in 2013 with the legendary Google Glass. Will other large technology companies enter this race? It seems inevitable, but the real question is whether glasses will actually become a great alternative to smartphones. Mark Zuckerberg is clear that yes. If you want to know what we think, We encourage you to take a look at the debatewhich we think has turned out great and interesting. Enjoy it! On YouTube | Crossover

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