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France leaves Zoom and Teams behind in its administration and aims for something greater

January 28, 2026 by usatoday24

For years, digital services from American companies have enjoyed a clearly dominant position in Europe. A mix of consolidated trust and lack of regional alternatives competitive on many fronts, it has been constantly expanding its user base, both individuals and companies, while fueling a shower of million-dollar contracts also coming from governments and public administrations. The footprint of large American technology companies in the Old Continent is impossible to ignore. Gmail, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube are part of the daily lives of millions of Europeans. Likewise, it is common to find public organization computers running Windows, Office or Microsoft 365, a scene so normalized that it is rarely questioned. To this visible layer is added another much less obvious, but perhaps even more strategic: cloud computing. Providers such as Microsoft’s Azure, Amazon’s AWS, or Google Cloud host everything from everyday services to critical infrastructure. In parallel, in the field of cybersecurity, platforms such as CrowdStrike Falcon They are integrated into the core of sensitive systems used by airports, airlines or financial entities. When technological dependence becomes a strategic risk However, this balance is beginning to show cracks. The question is no longer just who provides the service, but what would happen if that partner considered reliable suddenly stopped being so. How would Europe respond to such a scenario? And, above all, are you preparing to face it? For some this is an extreme hypothesis; for others, a risk that can no longer be ruled out. The truth is that the debate is no longer marginal and has reached the offices of Brussels and several European capitals. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Since the re-election of Donald Trump, those responsible for strategic sectors in Europe are putting pressure on the large American cloud service providers to facilitate quick exit mechanisms. The objective is clear: to be able to transfer systems and data to local centers or to European suppliers if necessary. And what is considered an emergency situation? The possibility, remote but not impossible, that the United States limits or even suspends access to services and data centers operated by its own companies. It would be an unprecedented move, with profound consequences for the European economy and public services. Finding an argument to justify it is as difficult as it is simple: everything can end up revolving around a concept that is increasingly present these days: “national security.” Despite the existing tensions between Europe and Washington, everything indicates that such a scenario remains unlikely in the short term. Even so, there is one incontestable fact: The concern is real. In Brussels and in several European capitals, discrete but constant steps are already being taken to reduce dependencies and gain room for maneuver. Visio, the alternative to Zoom and Teams promoted by France France has become one of the most illustrative cases. The Government is promoting the progressive withdrawal of extra-European videoconferencing solutions in the public sector to replace them with Visioa “sovereign” and open source alternative. The State’s own digital strategy portal admits that, until now, the different departments have operated with a mosaic of tools and expressly mentions Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Webex. According to the official statement, this fragmentation “weakens data security, creates strategic dependencies of external infrastructures, generates additional financial costs and makes cooperation between ministries difficult.” The answer lies in a unified solution, developed by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital, under government control and based on French technology. Visio already has about 40,000 regular users and its deployment is planned to reach 200,000 public employees. Among the first organizations to adopt it widely during the first quarter of 2026 are the CNRS, the National Health Insurance Fund, the General Directorate of Public Finances and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Zoom, the video conferencing platform that became popular during the pandemic The scope of the movement is better understood with a specific piece of information: the CNRS will replace your Zoom licenses with Visio at the end of March for its 34,000 employees and the 120,000 researchers associated with its research units. American solutions are thus beginning to lose ground in France, as has already happened in other countries. Denmark moves towards LibreOffice and Munich opted for Linux for years, although in this last case the path was not linear and ended with a partial return to Microsoft due to compatibility problems. These types of strategies, extrapolated to other attempts to promote sovereign alternatives, are not without obstacles either. It is worth remembering that open source does not automatically guarantee quality or pace of evolution. When maintenance, auditing, and development fall to a limited number of actors, product progress can slow down. Pointing out these tensions does not invalidate the approach, but it does help to understand its real complexity. Furthermore, the debate is not limited to public services. In a hypothetical decoupling of American platforms, ordinary users could also be affected. Some people, like our colleague Jose Garcíahave chosen to start a process of technological emancipation with respect to the United Statesa path that is not without friction. After years of moving in an ecosystem dominated by North American Big Tech, getting out of it requires time, sacrifices and assuming new limitations. Images | Government of France | Mika Baumeister | Yoyus sugiharto In Xataka | France and Germany have created a “European Notion” with a very simple objective: depend less on the United States

Almost all phones with optical zoom have the same problem. This Chinese brand believes it has solved it in a curious way

December 4, 2025 by usatoday24

The greatest illusion trick in mobile photography is continuity between cameras. When we zoom from 1x to 5x on a telephoto smartphone, we are not moving lenses like on a camera; the mobile jumps between fixed sensors and fills the gaps with digital cropping and AI. The result is those sudden jumps in color and image in the viewfinder and a loss of quality in the “intermediate zooms” that we make when pinching the screen. Tecno, the star brand of the giant Transsion—the fifth largest manufacturer in the world hot on Xiaomi’s heels in some markets—has taken advantage of its annual event to present two technologies that attack precisely this problem: a zoom that does not “jump” and a periscope that shrinks. Optical continuous zoom. And from an increase, up to nine. The most ambitious proposal is the “Freeform Continuum Telephoto”. On paper, it promises to maintain optical sharpness throughout. It represents an important leap, although it is not the first: Sony tried it with the Xperia 1 IValthough its range was more limited. LG also showed similar concepts a few years ago, but no one had promised to cover the main angle lens to the long telephoto lens in a single module. To achieve this milestone without turning the mobile phone into a brick, the Chinese firm moves away from the traditional design of lenses that move longitudinally. Instead, they turn to physical principle of the “Alvarez Lenses”: a system that employs two lenses with free-form surfaces that move perpendicular to the optical axis. By sliding one over the other from the side, they change the optical power of the set and achieve that zoom effect. This technology is related to recent reports that Samsung was developing cameras with continuous zoom for Chinese manufacturers. A periscope that folds on itself. The second innovation presented by Tecno attacks the volume. We are obsessed with increasingly larger sensorsbut the space inside the mobile is finite. Periscopic telephoto cameras require a lot of space, but Tecno and its “Dual-Mirror Reflect Telephoto” promise to reduce the size of the module by 50% and its height by 10%. Instead of a simple prism that bends light 90 degrees, the system uses coaxial optics that bounce light multiple times inside the lens using reflective mirrors. It is what allows long focal lengths in a shorter physical distance. However, this design has a physical trace– When using a central obstruction, the bokeh is not circular, but rather takes on a donut shape. Tecno sells it as an artistic feature, the truth is that it is a consequence of mirror optics. Battle against the accused. The new thing from Tecno comes at a time when mobile photography It depends a lot on the processing what are you looking for the photo instagrammable above realism. Going for better optics instead of digital cropping and AI rescaling seems to be the right direction to achieve naturalness. However, we must maintain some caution. The challenge of this zoom is not only that it works, but that it is bright. Maintaining a decent aperture throughout that range is no easy task. If the system is too dark, the ISO will shoot up, generating noise that the software will have to remedy: back to processing. For the moment, we must wait to see if these concepts end up in a commercial mobile phone. Images | Techno In Xataka | I am an amateur photographer, and I will tell you which are the best phones to take almost professional photos without leaving you a fortune.

Now NASA has vetoed Chinese citizens even in zoom

September 13, 2025 by usatoday24

The tension between the two largest space superpowers has reached a new peak. The unprecedented measure of Block the access of Chinese citizens To all the programs, facilities and networks of NASA remembers the last century, with some turns of the times that are running: the veto is so strict that It extends even to zoom meetings. Beyond the Wolf amendment. US laws They already prohibited direct collaboration Between NASA and Chinese entities. The most famous law is the Wolf amendment, which prevents China’s access to the International Space Station since 2011, which is why the Chinese Space Agency has put in orbit Your own space station permanently inhabited. The new veto, which entered into force on September 5, affects all citizens of Chinese nationality, although they reside in the United States with visas in order. NASA not only prevents them from working on agency projects as contractors, but also as postgraduate students or university scientists. All Chinese have restricted physical access to NASA’s facilities, materials and networks for a matter of “cybersecurity.” In full lunar career. The veto is produced just when NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy has adopted an aggressive rhetoric against China. “We are in a second space race,” he said In a recent meeting With NASA employees. “We are going to win the Chinese on the Moon. We are going to do it safely. We are going to do it fast. We are going to do it well.” Not everyone shares their optimism. The former NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine, the original promoter of the Artemis program, declared otherwise Before the United States Senate: “Unless something changes, it is very unlikely that the United States exceeds the calendar planned by China to reach the surface of the moon.” Duffy’s response? “That they condemn me if that is the story we write.” A cold war for the control of the moon. The background of this new lunar career is both geopolitical and economic. Whoever first arrives at the South Lunar Pole and establishes a permanent basis will have a decisive advantage to exploit resources such as ice water and communications: the country that installs the first antenna in a high place will be the one who establishes the protocols and technical standards of the southern space. But the greatest fear in Washington is that China can declare an “exclusion zone” installing a small nuclear reactor on the moon for its electrical systems. A concern that led the government to order NASA that Accelerate your plans to install your own nuclear reactor Before Ilrs do it, the Sino-Rusa Alliance to establish a laboratory on the Moon. A spying plot. The distrust climate is also fed by a long history of accusations of industrial and technological espionage between countries. This fear has been revived with the Artificial intelligence boomtaking giants such as Google and OpenAi to harden their selection processes to avoid the filtration of commercial secrets. The semiconductor sector, a pillar of modern technology, has been one of the most affected by blockages between the two countries. Not for reason: key companies such as Dutch Asml and Taiwanese TSMC have suffered Theft of commercial secrets by employees linked to Chinese companies. The United States even extends its concern to the renewable energy sector, where it claims to have found Non -documented communication components on Chinese manufacturing devices. The veto to Chinese citizens is the last movement. An unequivocal sign that, before The internal problems of your lunar programThe United States is willing to take drastic measures to protect what its technological leadership and national security consider. The new space race has ceased to be an engineering competition to become an open conflict, where talent and scientific collaboration now have a passport. Image | POT In Xataka | While NASA faces the cancellation of 41 missions, China is making authentic virguerías in space

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