Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
The Internet is smaller.
In this universe the Net was under stronger regulations as it came into being that made it just as popular but with less different forums to choose from. This is how Peter and Valentine managed to get their work out under people's noses.- Hinted at in the book's description of Net restrictions. You have to be one of the top people in your sphere to move on to more expansive ones.
The Descoladores are Bean's children.
Radical genetic manipulation with Formic workers and short life-spans transformed Bean's descendants within a few thousand years.- According to an interview by Card (can't find it now), the Legumonites (Bean's children) are not the Descoladores, however they will intersect in some way in Shadows Alive.
The Piggies are Bean's children.
Radical genetic manipulation with Formic workers and short life-spans transformed Bean's descendants within a few thousand years. And don't forget that they change from being small and insignificant creatures into supergiants over the course of their "natural" lifespan. The ecosystem has virtually no life except what is necessary for the piggies' survival. You know - the sort of thing that might exist if the ecosystem were built from scratch by desperate people with minimal resources. The Descoladores are Piggies.
Or at least biologically identical. What if they terraform planets by creating an indigenous population of their own species ahead of time?