service

In the face of the fires that devastate Madrid, Ávila and Toledo, Starlink supports free with its satellite internet service

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The fires that They devastate the Community of Madrid, Ávila and Toledo They have become hell for thousands of families. The list of evacuees and confined almost reaches 100,000 peoplebut it has not been the only aggravating factor, since many of them have also lost the possibility of communicating with other people. Given this blackout, starlink communicated to users who will be able to connect directly with the mobile phones of those affected through their satellites, without the need for antennas or additional applications. What has happened? The fire has destroyed antennas and fiber cables, in addition to generating interference that has further complicated communications in the area. While Movistar, Orange and Vodafone worked on the ground to restore their networks, from BandaAncha confirmed that many users were beginning to witness a change in their networks. And several people claimed to see the “Orange Space X” network on the interface of their mobile phones. Satellite connectivity. Starlink itself confirmed through its official account on X, ensuring that “Starlink Mobile is providing free connectivity to MasOrange and Movistar customers in the regions affected by the forest fires near Madrid.” The same goes for Movistar, Orange and Vodafoneteleoperated companies that have confirmed the activation of this emergency satellite service in their networks. The company explains that families, communities and companies with compatible LTE phones can continue to communicate by SMS even if terrestrial networks do not work, since mobile phones automatically connect to this satellite network. Of course, they warn that the service “will work better with a clear view of the sky”, since it requires a direct connection with satellites in low orbit. Months in testing. According to they count From Broadband, Orange had been testing for months in Valladolid to offer mobile satellite coverage directly to conventional terminals, thanks to a special permit from the Ministry to use its terrestrial frequencies from space. Everything indicates that this technology being tested has been advanced and urgently activated through an agreement between the Ministry, Orange, Movistar and Starlink, also opening the signal to other operators in roaming mode to provide coverage in the fire area. Without European alternatives would you be. The service is not suitable for browsing the internet or making calls. Its capacity is limited to sending SMS and very low data usage. But in an emergency situation, that connection thread can make the difference, allowing you to notify that you are safe, coordinate an evacuation or for rescue teams to locate someone, just when traditional telephone towers have been disabled by the fire. In the absence of European alternativesStarlink is positioned as one of the most effective solutions to obtain satellite connection in domestic environments. Today there are several European agencies that are sending satellites to low Earth orbit, although most projects are not aimed at offering Internet connection on a commercial level, but rather are specialized constellations for companies, governments, teleoperators, defense or aviation. Some well-known proper names are OneWeb, the Luxembourg SES either Hispasatthe latter being a relevant actor in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. All of them are beginning to move, but at a pace and efficiency that is still much lower than SpaceX. This means that in emergency situations, such as the one thousands of families in Spain are experiencing with the fires, communication depends on a completely private company. Hence, the fact that there is a European alternative, detached from the control of a private company of the stature of SpaceX, is important and makes sense as part of the technological sovereignty strategy of the continent. And now what. Starlink had already resorted to this same free connectivity formula in other disasters, such as the earthquake that shook Venezuela just a few weeks ago. In Spain, for now, the service remains as an emergency measure and not as a commercial launch. Orange had already planned to market this technology in the future, but its actual deployment as a public network has arrived earlier than expected, driven by the magnitude of the fire. It will be necessary to see if, once the flames are controlled, the service is withdrawn or if this crisis accelerates its definitive release to the market. Cover image | The reason and Starlink In Xataka | The Ministry of Labor reminds that no one has to “choose between their security and their job”: four days of paid leave

Play Station Network is down: the service is giving an error and does not allow you to log in

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Friday in the middle of summer, with unbearable heat, seems like a good time to play some games on your PlayStation. Not so fast… If you were planning to play an online game, forget about it because the PlayStation Network service is down and failing all over the world. What is happening. When the service tries to log in, the message “Something went wrong” appears. According to Downdetectorthe problems started today, Friday, July 24, around 12:45 noon and at this time reports are still coming in. The curious thing is that on the PlayStation status page It says that all its services are operating normally. Clearly this is not the case. something went wrong. This is the message that appears when the service tries to log in. This is not a total failure and you will still be able to play locally, but it is not possible to play online titles such as Fortnite, Call of Duty and others. You also cannot download games from the PlayStation Store nor can you see your friends’ activity on the platform. In development…

The KF-21 is no longer a project and is one step away from operational service

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South Korea has been trying for a quarter of a century to turn a political ambition into a fighter jet manufactured under its own direction. What we are seeing now is the moment in which this journey begins to materialize: the first production KF-21 has already left the factoryhas flown and It is scheduled for delivery to the Air Force in September. That does not mean that the entire fleet will be fully operational from that day, but it does mean that the Boramae has left the prototypes behind to begin its incorporation into military service. The succession of milestones in recent months explains this change in stage. KAI introduced the first production unit on March 25 and flew it on April 15, before the program passed final combat fitness evaluation on May 7. A little over a month later, June 15the initial type certification arrived, which certifies compliance with government airworthiness and flight safety requirements. The next step will be the formal acceptance of the device and its delivery to the South Korean operator. The project that would end up becoming the KF-21 began to take shape in March 2001when then-President Kim Dae-jung expressed ambitions to develop an advanced fighter of his own. The initiative, however, took years to overcome feasibility studies and debates about its cost. The industrial leap arrived in December 2015when the procurement agency DAPA signed the system development contract with KAI. Indonesia joined as a partner and initially assumed about 20% of the cost, in exchange for technology, industrial participation and local production capacity. That distribution began to break down when Indonesia accumulated delays in its financial contributions. After several renegotiations, both governments agreed in June 2025 to reduce its contribution to about 600 billion won, about a third of the original commitment, and also limit the technology it would receive. The withdrawal of local co-production was made public in April 2026 and confirmed by Indonesian authorities in June. Jakarta is still studying the purchase of a smaller number of aircraft completed in South Korea, although there is no final order yet. Converting the KF-21 into a fleet has required two large pools of investment. The first, of about 8.8 trillion won, equivalent to approximately 5.24 billion euros at the exchange rate on July 24, 2026, corresponds to the development of the plane. The second, estimated at 7.92 trillion won, nearly 4.72 billion euros, includes the initial plan to acquire 40 unitsits weapons and other associated costs until 2028. This item does not offer a clean price per device, because it also includes engines, training, spare parts, documentation and logistical assistance. What the South Korean Air Force will receive is a 4.5-generation twin-engine fighter, not a fifth-generation stealth aircraft comparable to the F-35. The KF-21 can reach approximately Mach 1.8 and transport up to 7.7 tons of weaponsin addition to integrate an AESA radaran IRST infrared sensor and electronic warfare systems. The first units will belong to Block I, a configuration focused mainly on air-to-air missions. Broader air-to-ground and air-to-surface capabilities will come with the further evolution of the program. The industrial leap is best understood when we look at who is actually building the aircraft. The South Korean KAI leads the design, integration and assembly, while its compatriots Hanwha Systems and LIG Nex1 provide, respectively, the AESA radar, part of the avionics, electronic warfare and weapons management. Hanwha Aerospace, also South Korean, Assembles in Korea and produces components under license for the F414-400K engines from the American GE Aerospace. Since the first flight of the prototype on July 19, 2022, the six test aircraft have completed around 1,600 flights and around 13,000 test conditions without accidents. The arrival of the KF-21 does not mean that South Korea will do without foreign fighters either. Seoul has ordered another 20 US F-35Aswhich will begin to arrive from 2027, and a fleet made up of platforms of different origins and functions will continue to operate. The change is elsewhere: the country can now lead the design, production, maintenance and much of the future improvements of its own combat aircraft. When the first installment is completed, the Boramae will not have eliminated external dependence, but it will have tangibly reduced its limits. Images | Government of Korea/Ministry of Defense In Xataka | Airbus has made a revolutionary bet for its business model: manufacturing the hydrogen engines of the future

The US has put into service a new anti-satellite weapon. The most striking thing is that it doesn’t shoot anything

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For decades, when we talked about weapons against satellites, the mental image was almost always the same: a missile, an impact and more space junk. But space warfare doesn’t always need an explosion to be effective. Sometimes it is enough to act on what we do not see: the link that connects a satellite with those who depend on it. That is what makes the US’s latest step especially striking. We are not facing a system designed to shoot down an object in orbit, but rather one that aims at something less visible and much more everyday in any modern military operation: communications. Attack communications. US Space Force Combat Forces Command operationally accepted on June 8 to Meadowlands, a new addition to its family of electromagnetic warfare systems. It’s not an isolated program: the Space Force describes it as an upgrade to Counter Communications System 10.2 and says it can detect, deny, disrupt and degrade adversary capabilities in active defense of joint force objectives. Its operation remains in the hands of Mission Delta 3, Space Electromagnetic Warfare. The key is in the sign. A satellite is not just an object in orbit, but a chain of links, antennas, ground stations and users that need to communicate with it. Meadowlands acts on that less visible part of the system. L3Harris, program contractor, describes the Counter Communications System as a deployable ground platform aimed at denying communications from satellites in orbit, and presents Meadowlands as a more compact and mobile version. A change of era. Meadowlands fits into a broader transformation of conflict in space. The Secure World Foundation classify capabilities counterspace in several families, from co-orbital capabilities and direct ascent missiles to electronic warfare, directed energy and cyber capabilities. That distinction matters because not all of them seek to destroy a satellite. Some, such as electromagnetic warfare, seek to degrade services, limit communications or alter access to a space capability during a specific operation. Space Force itself places it in that first invisible line of the electromagnetic spectrum. Looking at the precedents. When an anti-satellite weapon physically destroys its target, the problem does not end with the impact: a cloud of debris begins that can continue orbiting for years. The US Space Command assured that the Russian direct ascent test against Cosmos 1408, in 2021, produced more than 1,500 traceable pieces. NASA had already documented something similar after the Chinese test against Fengyun-1C, in 2007, with more than 2,000 fragments of about 10 centimeters or more identified. Meadowlands belongs to another logic: act without adding more junk to the orbital environment. The paradox. The less Meadowlands looks like a conventional anti-satellite weapon, the better you understand why it matters. Its value is not in converting a satellite into orbital debris, but in acting on the layer that allows it to be used in a real operation. This difference helps explain the US movement and also the fundamental change that we are seeing in the military space. The battlefield is not only in the orbit or in the objects that travel through it. It is also in the signs, in the links and in the ability to maintain them when they are most needed. Images | United States Space Force In Xataka | “We are going to see more and more cases like this.” There are six mysterious spheres on a beach in Australia, and everything indicates that they came from space

The US has more than 800 F-35 fighters in service. Only one in four is ready to do everything he should

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We have talked many times about F-35 as one of the great symbols of American air power, but its most pressing problem is not in the capabilities that have made it a centerpiece of US military aviation, nor even in the number of units planned for the coming decades. It’s on land. The latest GAO report once again puts numbers on the tension: the US has many F-35s, but the fleet spends much less time fully prepared than it should. Deterioration. According to the GAOthe rate mission capable It measures the percentage of time in which an aircraft can fly and perform at least one of its assigned missions. The rate full mission capableon the other hand, measures when you can fulfill all of them. In fiscal year 2025, the US F-35 fleet recorded 44% in the first category and just 25% in the second. Simply put: America’s F-35s can do something a limited portion of the time, but are only fully ready a quarter of the time. Background. The report shows that the problem has been accumulating for several years. Between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2025, the rate mission capable of the fleet fell from 67% to 44%, while the rate full mission capable fell from 38% to 25%. The difference matters because we are not facing a minor maintenance oscillation, but rather a sustained loss of availability. What we have seen is a fleet that remains central to the United States, but that spends less and less time in a position to fulfill its missions. New planes, old problems. One of the most striking parts of the document is that the 2025 drop is not explained only by aging devices or accumulated wear. Air Force officials attributed part of the decline to the acceptance of new aircraft that could not fulfill missions due to software delays. Added to this were the shortage of parts and inspection and repair work due to corrosion. The report also points to maintenance not optimized to reduce workload or time on the ground, and to high technical complexity due to the continuous development of the program. Global Support Solution Reset. The F-35 Joint Program Office launched this update to its sustainment strategy in June 2025, with an ambitious goal for 2030: to bring the rate mission capable at 80% and the full mission capable 65% in the fleet as a whole. On paper, it is the attempt to correct years of accumulated problems in maintenance, parts and industrial support. More money, not necessarily more margin. The solution is not only to reorganize processes or order more parts from the industry. It also requires a considerable budget injection. The document estimates that an additional $13.7 billion will be needed through fiscal year 2031, although not all of that money officially belongs to the GSS Reset. The Joint Program Office itself places that part at about 2.2 billion. The other 11.5 billion covers a wider gap: what the military branches had planned to spend versus what sustaining the fleet actually demands. The most expensive plane also becomes more expensive on the ground: The problem does not end with availability or missing parts. Since 2021, according to the report, F-35 sustainment costs have continued to rise while the program has not met its performance goals and its performance has continued on a downward trend. The scale helps understand why it matters: the F-35 is the Department of Defense’s most expensive weapons system, with sustainment costs for the United States estimated at $1.6 trillion over its lifetime, according to 2024 figures. By the mid-2030s, military branches would face an annual gap of more than $1 billion between what it will cost to sustain their F-35s and what they consider affordable. The exit. Auditors propose risk mitigation plans for initiatives such as the GSS Reset, a review of contractual incentives and a reliable system to record what is paid, why it is paid and with what results. The Department of Defense said it agreed with the recommendations, according to the report, but the challenge remains intact. The F-35 will remain a centerpiece of American military aviation for decades. The question is whether the US will achieve that this centrality is measured less by the number of aircraft purchased and more by how many are ready when needed. Images | Aawyer Andrews In Xataka | The European fighter may have died, but there is a plan B to avoid the F-35. One with Spain, Germany and an unexpected guest

eliminates another service and prices are through the roof

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In May 2024, The Madrid-Galicia AVE was launched. After years of complaints, high speed was entering Galician territory to change the rules of the game in mobility between the two autonomous communities. We were not aware of the latter two years ago. And it is that he AVE to Galicia He arrived surrounded by controversy. The first days were marked by delays. In order to take the trains to the Galician railway tracks, Renfe has had to use those known as Talgo S-106 or AVRIL. They are trains that can combine two different track gauges, essential in a country where the train was founded on Iberian gauge tracks and which, later, has added international gauge tracks for its high speed. This historical peculiarity It is one of the reasons why Renfe has taken so long to arrive in Galicia and also the main reason why Ouigo and Iryo do not consider entering to compete with the company in this line. And, at the moment, Talgo trains are the only ones that provide this service. But also, as as the Galicians could see in the first days of 2025 and how the people of Madrid and Catalans have verified that move on the Madrid-Barcellona, ​​are not the most reliable trains on the market. And despite everything, despite the fact that Renfe is looking for new partners that they offer you this “jumping the road” solution and despite the fact that Passage times are still higher than promisedthe train has managed to win the battle against the airlines. The result: fewer tickets and very high prices. By air, at 180 euros (in the best of cases) Since high speed reached Madrid-Galicia, the movement capacity between both autonomous communities has skyrocketed. We saw the first clues last summer. Iberia retracted its offer between both autonomous communities because the train, especially the early one, was more attractive despite taking four hours longer. The reasons are obvious: lower prices and easier access to the station in relatively small cities such as Vigo or Santiago de Compostela (compared to the airport). And, adding the time to get to the airport, boarding, getting off the plane and the time it takes to get to the center of Madrid from Barajasthe traveler had spent more or less the same time but with a more uncomfortable means of transportation. The result is that the options for flying have decreased and are less competitive. The first flight between Vigo and Madrid is the Air Europa that lands at Barajas Airport at 9:50. To that time we must add the time to get off the plane and get to the city center, which may well be an hour in the best of cases. Practically at the same time (five minutes later) the first train arrives from Vigo to Madrid but one is already inside the city. Something similar has happened with the return trips to Madrid, although here the plane continues to win. The train, however, allows speed up time more until reaching the station from the center of the city, which results in better use of the day and greater comfort. Right now, with the decline of the airlines, only Air Europa with a flight at 9:05 p.m. allows you to take advantage of the day until the end. Despite the decline, this air offer was still very useful for those who spend the weekend in one city or another and return late on Sunday. However, the use of the train continues to narrow the supply on airlines. As they say in Vigo LighthouseIberia has eliminated one more Sunday flight and now its offer is limited to two journeys at the end of the week. These flights leave Vigo at 1:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m., so they are not very competitive for those who live in Madrid during the week and travel to Galicia on the weekends. Much less so are their prices, which do not go below 180 euros and, with less supply available, dynamic prices have reached 330 euros in some cases. Furthermore, being operated by Air Nostrum with a Bombardier CRJ-1000the available places are even smaller, moving into the hundreds. Very far from the 180 places that the Airbus A320common in national trips. The success of Renfe among Galicians has been reducing the air supply and for now only Air Europa remains firm in its commitment with 1,500 seats daily and four flights in each direction. Outside of this low cost offer, the options are minimal. And they are getting smaller and smaller. The problem in this case is that the departure of Iberia puts even more pressure on the AVE supply on Sunday afternoon which, as in the case of the airline, does not allow you to take advantage of the afternoon because the last trip leaves before 2:00 p.m. from Vigo. Yes indeed, given dynamic prices It is possible that we will see increases in their prices because the air alternative is less. As little used as it is. Photo | Phil Richards and Bene Riobó In Xataka | Renfe is looking for new trains for the AVE and something much more important: not making the same mistake as with Talgo

the largest streaming music service is not working

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It’s Tuesday afternoon. You probably just finished the work day and are on your way home. Good time to listen to your favorite music, right? Well, if you are trying to do it with Spotify, we have to tell you no: it is not a matter of your mobile phone or your Internet connection. The largest streaming music platform on the planet is down. She has been my companion Amparo Babiloni who gave the alert. Your app has stopped responding when trying to play music online, while songs included in playlists downloaded for offline listening continue to work. So this drop can be an especially annoying problem if you don’t have a Premium plan or if you haven’t previously downloaded music to your device. 27 SPOTIFY TRICKS – Control all your MUSIC like no one else! Spotify also has a web player, a practical option if you don’t want, or can’t, use its application, available on computers, televisions, consoles and, of course, mobile phones. In our case, when trying to access the service from the browser, we have encountered the message “Error 503 first byte timeout”. For now, Spotify has not offered an official explanation for the crash, although the error message gives you an idea of ​​what may be happening. The warning appears when the server receives the request, but takes too long to return the first response. In other words: it is usually related to temporary saturation, a partial outage, maintenance tasks or an internal server failure. If we look at Downdetectoranother good way to follow in real time what is happening with popular services, we see that the problems with Spotify began around 5:52 p.m. this Tuesday and were growing rapidly. After 6:00 p.m., there were already hundreds of reports from users indicating problems with the service. In development. Images | Spotify + Nano Bana | Screenshot In Xataka | What is Cloudflare, how it works and why a crash or block causes half the Internet to fail

Renfe wants you to use a folding bike when you ride the train. For this, it has announced a subscription service from 41 euros

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Getting on a train with a scooter or one folding bike It is a situation that we see more and more in our country, especially in more crowded cities and in cases where the situation requires this convenient type of mobility. For this reason, Renfe wanted to take advantage launching a service in collaboration with the bicycle company Brompton, to promote the combo of using a bike and train on daily Cercanías journeys. The idea is to rent a folding bicycle for a monthly subscription and combine it with the train to cover the stretch between home, the station and the final destination, without the need for a car. The problem they want to solve. Using a bicycle to get to the train has the main drawback of needing secure parking for the bike, and of course many prefer to avoid what the stations offer due to the risk of theft. On the other hand, during rush hour, getting a conventional bike onto a crowded car is quite stressful, and anyone who has ever done it knows it perfectly well. A folding bicycle avoids this type of situation, and Renfe wants to take advantage of it. What is included and how much does it cost?. The subscription starts at 41 euros per month with a 12-month commitment, or 49 euros per month if you opt for six months. The package includes a Brompton C Line four-speed (intermediate handlebar), theft and damage insurance, a full annual service and home delivery within three to five working days. At the end of the period, the user can renew, return the bicycle or buy a new one at a discount. The brand also offers a bonus of 200 euros for the purchase of a new bike to those who decide to keep the model, according to they count from El Periódico. why now. Spain is the third market in which Brompton launches this subscription service, after Germany (where it premiered last year) and France, where it launched this same year. The landing in Spain makes sense: the Renfe Cercanías network is one of the densest in southern Europe and last kilometer routes without a practical solution are a widespread problem in large cities. The argument of sustainability. Renfe frame the initiative in its environmental strategy. The company claims to have reduced its emissions to 3.79 grams of CO₂ per transport unit in 2024, a figure that, according to the Spanish Climate Change Office, is up to 35 times lower than that of private cars. Replacing short car trips with bike plus train is, in this context, the natural complement to that narrative. For the end user it is a very convenient option, although in a context of fatigue due to the flood of subscriptions that many of us pay for, it can make a certain dent in the proposal. What remains to be seen. The proposal makes sense on paper, but there are some factors that must be resolved, including the number of bike racks at the stations, the reliability of the service and whether the price is attractive for those looking for an alternative and convenient type of mobility. Buying a Brompton usually means spending more than 1,000 euros, so we will have to see if the economic argument convinces enough travelers for this business model to be successful. Cover image | Renfe In Xataka | Renfe has launched a real-time map to know where your surroundings are in 2025. And it works quite well

Brands are eager to turn our cars into a subscription service. Honda has reminded us again

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Buying a car today can be a whole box of surprises. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes, as recently happened to a Honda Passport owner, for the worse. And just as has shared user on Reddit, the function to open your garage that previously came as standard, has become an option included in a subscription package offered by the firm. The story has some nuances that are worth mentioning, but the reality is that this example has become another reflection of something that has been happening for years in the automobile industry: manufacturers are determined to turn your vehicles into recurring revenue platformsand software is your main tool to achieve this. From opening the garage with a little button in the car, to doing it from an app The Honda Passport in question has removed the rearview mirror with integrated Homelink, the system that allows the car to be synchronized with the garage receiver via radio. In your place now offers the function as standard through the MyQ applicationintegrated into HondaLink. For it to work, the user needs an internet connection in the car, Apple CarPlay or Android Autoand you must also install a MyQ receiver connected to the home Wi-Fi at home. The result is a system that provides more technical complexity to do something that was previously solved with a small radio control attached to the visor. Sling confirmed According to CarBuzz, customers receive a free 30-day trial period, after which they must contract a three- or five-year subscription. If they don’t, the feature is still accessible through the standalone MyQ app, and Honda also sells a rearview mirror with Homelink as an additional accessory for around $170. That is to say: What used to come as standard now has to be paid separately. The main advantage of the new system (being able to check if you have left the garage open from anywhere with a connection) makes some practical sense. But the price of the subscription, between $129 and $179 for three or five years, plus the possible connectivity costs of the vehicle itself, turns something so simple into a payment chain that is difficult to justify. BMW and heated seats: the case that started it all To understand where we are today with the issue of subscription services in vehicles, it is worth remembering the most talked about episode in recent years. In 2022, BMW began to offer in some markets (South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, among others) the possibility of activate seat heating through a monthly subscription about 18 dollars a month. The problem here is that the hardware is already installed in the car from the factory, and it is the owners who had to pay a monthly subscription to unlock this feature. Both the press and the users attacked them so much that they had to back away. In September 2023, BMW Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Pieter Nota will confirmed to Autocar the end of that practice: “What we no longer do, and it is a well-known example, is to offer seat heating in this way. Either it comes from the factory or it doesn’t.” But BMW did not abandon the subscription model, but rather reoriented it. The brand confirmed that it would continue to expand the services and functions it offers through subscriptions, but that it will stop charging for hardware functions already installed in the vehicle. After the move, the firm continued with its plans to add subscription services, but this time only in its software, such as driving or parking assistance systems. Through your ConnectedDrive platformoffers functions such as adaptive suspension, high beam assistant, adaptive cruise control or even welcome animations with the lights, through subscription. Mercedes: up to 80 horses per subscription BMW’s example ended up spreading to many other firms. Mercedes-Benz launched its “Acceleration Increase On-Demand” function in 2023 for the electric EQE and EQS models: for $60 per month or $600 per year in the case of the EQE, or $90 per month and $900 per year in the EQS, owners could unlock between 60 and 80 additional horsepower and cut the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h by up to one second. They also added a single payment option for life, which is around 2,000 or 3,000 euros, depending on the model. Mercedes’ logic with which it tried to distance itself from BMW’s case was that standard hardwired functions, such as seat heating, would not be offered as “digital extras”, leaving subscriptions for software upgrades. However, the principle is the same– The car has the necessary hardware, but the feature is blocked until the user pays. Mercedes-Benz aimed reach 2,000 million euros of revenue from software subscriptions in 2025, with plans to reach between 7,000 and 9,000 million euros before 2030. This growth would be driven above all by its own operating system (MB.OS) and its autonomous driving system. If we think about it coldly, electric cars usually have lower maintenance costs than combustion cars, which reduces the income of dealers and the brands themselves. Software subscriptions are presented as a way to compensate for that loss. Tesla, GM and Ford: the model that already works Tesla has been the benchmark for this model for years, and in its case the discussion has important nuances. Your system Full Self-Driving Supervised (supervised autonomous driving) could be purchased for about $8,000 as a one-time payment or as a monthly subscription. And we tell it in the past tense because earlier this year, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla would offer this mode only as a subscription service and not as a one-time payment. The good news is that those who had paid to get the lifetime feature will continue to have this feature. The subscription option costs about $99 per month. Perhaps the main difference here with BMW or Mercedes is that Tesla updates its software continuously with new capacities, which gives greater meaning to the recurring fee model. In the case of General Motors, … Read more

While Europe studies reintroducing military service, Mexico has taken the opposite path: reducing it

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the shift in international policies of the US have caused Europe to no longer trust NATO as a defensive shield, betting on improve your defense resources. Thus, while several European countries debate whether to return to introduce military service mandatory, Mexico decides to take the opposite path and shorten the mandatory military training of its citizens so that it fits better into the lives of young people and is more attractive to them. The change of Mexico. The Government of President Sheinbaum has applied the largest operational change in the conditions of the National Military Service (SMN) in Mexico since 1942. As stated in the article 5 of the Political Constitution of the Mexican States, the service of arms is mandatory for all Mexicans between 18 and 40 years old. This call-up is divided into two modalities: Framed and Available. The former remain quartered for about three months, while the latter remain at the disposal of the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) for a year, during which time they are instructed in training sessions on Saturdays. However, with the last reform which has come into effect in January 2026, the training phase has gone from 44 weeks to just 13, with limited classes for those assigned as “On Availability” on Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. so that the fulfillment of this duty does not interrupt the studies or work of recruits. New civil-military program. Colonel Juan Sandoval Muñoz, commander of the 78th Infantry Battalion, explained to The Universal that the new “Availability” model prioritizes civil-military subjects to reinforce military values ​​and discipline. The dates for this training are divided into two periods: from February 14 to May 9, and from August 1 to October 24, adding a total of 13 sessions. Participants cover 10 subjects focused on basic training, discipline and support for the population, first aid, civil protection and DN-III-E Plan and knowledge of weapons. All subjects are taught by officers and sergeants of the Armed Forces so that recruits become familiar with the military hierarchy. 13 weeks in the barracks. For its part, the Framed option remains with 13 weeks of admission to barracks, with tailored training as if they were professional soldiers. According to Colonel Sandobal, many of these recruits requested this modality to release their SMN Identity Card in less time, which certifies that they have fulfilled their duty, but they ended up requesting entry into the army or military schools. For this reason, it was decided not to change this modality to keep this recruitment route open, despite being equal in time to the other alternative. European rearmament brings the military back. In Europecountries like Denmark accelerate compulsory military service from 2026 for womenwhich was previously only voluntary, and they extend it to eleven months in its basic version. For its part, Germany is discussing bringing back the voluntary military service before the end of the year, after abandoning it in 2011, and Croatia reactivates it on a mandatory basis with a duration of two months for men starting in January 2026. Other countries like france and Poland are starting ten-month voluntary programs for 18- to 19-year-olds, with the option of joining the reserve or the army if a military crisis arises. In Spain the Minister of Defense continue betting by a voluntary reservation instead of resume military servicebut that does not prevent the debate circulate in the army. At least on a theoretical level. In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Europe has realized an unimportant detail: it does not have enough bullets Image | Government of Mexico, Unsplash (JEsus Herrera)

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