If we dont have Free Speech, then we just dont have a Free Country. Its as simple as that. President Donald Trump said inone of his campaign statementswhere he previewed how his administration would protect free expression. On January 20, the first day of his new term in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship (Free Speech EO). The order largely restates existing law, which prohibits the federal government from engaging in unconstitutional censorship, but as a statement of policy it could theoretically increase protections for legal speech and reduce the number of circumstances in which the federal government seeks the suppression of viewpoints it dislikes.But, not long after President Trump signed this order, he and his administration began to violate it. In the few weeks since President Trump took office, the administration has already taken multiple actions to censor or chill speech it dislikes online and off. It has also taken action to undermine tools of free expression even though they align with its stated foreign policy objectives of defeating authoritarianism.To wit:On January 20, the same day as the Free Speech EO, President Trump issued an executive order entitled Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid. Anodyne though it may sound, it is having a broad and deep impact on free expression globally. As our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)pointed out, the United States has long funded programs that support technologies that enhance privacy, fight censorship, and support internet freedomand this order is directly undermining those programs. Otherglobal free expression advocates, those that track internet shutdowns and attempts by authoritarian governments to suppress the speech of dissidents living abroad,are also impacted. This order undermines free expression globally, as well as the stated goals of the administration.It is a gift to our adversaries, particularly China and Russia.Two days after President Trump issued the Free Speech EO, on January 22, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)reinstated complaintsagainst broadcasters ABC, CBS and NBC over their coverage of the 2024 election. The complaints alleged that fact-checking of Presidential debates, news interviews with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and her appearance on Saturday Night Live before the election, as well as other election-related coverage, were biased and violated the broadcasters public interest obligations.The previous FCC chairhad already dismissedthe complaints as contrary to the First Amendment, because it is not the FCCs, nor any government officials, role to control the speech or editorial decisions of journalists or adjudicate bias. That power, in the governments hands, smacks of authoritarianism.Unfortunately, the FCCs actions appear to have been the start of a trend of investigating news organizations. In just the ensuing few weeks, it has opened investigations intoNPR and PBS, alleging they are all of a sudden breaking sponsorship rules, and intoKCBS in San Franciscofor reporting on the location of ICE officers. Even if these investigations are ultimately closed without action, the mere fact of opening themand the implicit threat to the news stations license to operatecan have the effect of deterring the press from news coverage that the administration dislikes.On January 27, seven days after the Free Speech EO, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo entitled Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs. The memo purported to order a pause in all federally funded programs pending a review of those programs for their alignment with the Trump administrations priorities, including ensuring that no funding goes toward advancing Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies. This order is a blatant attempt to force government grantees to cease engaging in speech that the current administration dislikes, including speech about the benefits of diversity in education or in employee pools, speech about climate change, and speech related to LGBTQ issues. The First Amendment does not permit the government to discriminate against grantees because it does not like some of the viewpoints they espouse. Indeed, those groups that are challenging the constitutionality of the order argued as much intheir complaint, and have won an injunction blocking its implementation.The administration has also issued multiple executive orders seeking to enforce its position that there are only two gendersand that diversity and equity goals are unlawful to implementin schools. Among other things, these orders prohibit people from having gender markers that differ from the sex they were assigned at birth on their federal identification documents, including passports. They also seek to excise teaching about historical discrimination, including about slavery, from K-12 curricula.Under the guise of fighting anti-Semitism, President Trump has threatened to remove non-citizen college students who protested Israels war in Gaza. In aFact Sheetthat accompanied anExecutive Orderissued on January 29, Trump said, ominously, To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses.Removing non-citizens on account of their speech or their sympathies cannot be squared with a commitment to free speech or with the First Amendment.The administration is alsocirculating lists of banned wordsfor staff of government agenciesprohibiting basic free expression of the many American citizens who work as researchers or government employeesand directly censoring thedisplay of pictures of women and people of coloranddisfavored words including diversity and integrity. In responsethe NSA is deletingwebsites and internal network content containing any of the banned words and theNSF isscouring research grants for any reference or use of the words. The Defense Department is also reportedlyrestricting access to bookson topics from immigration to psychology and more in its school system that serves military families. If banning words and books arent a speech restriction, its unclear what would be.In each case, administration officials are moving in ways that directly contradict President Trumps own executive order and their own stated goals of upholding a Free Speech agenda, attempting to use government power not just to promote their own views but to actively punish (and silence) those who disagree.These are just a few examples of the censorship efforts the new Trump administration has embarked on. There are likely many more examples in the growing pile of actions the administration has taken and more in those they will soon implement, including an announced plan todismantle the Department of Education, the federal agency responsible for ensuring all students in this country have access to education.The fact is that candidate-Trump was right. If we dont have free speech, we dont have a free country. An administration truly committed to the First Amendment would stand up and defend everyones speech rights, especially those of the people who express disagreement with it. But that time-honored principle is utterly incompatible with this administrations actions undermining constitutionally protected freedoms here in the United States and around the world. This administration, while it might tout its devotion to free expression with empty words, is doing profound damage to free expression with its actions.This story originally appeared on the Center for Democracy and Technologys website and is republished here with permission.

Although it is still the predominant aesthetic, there is a growing counter-culture that challenges the stereotype of gamer-centric designs. Traditional gaming desktops, laptops, and accessories, make generous use of dark bases, RGB lighting, and blinding neon accents, often to align with cyberpunk and sci-fi motifs. After all, these themes best flaunt a gaming computers power and technology, leaving no room for doubt about its gaming chops.Unless you have a dedicated space exclusive to gaming, as some pro PC gamers do, chances are, your tower PC could be clashing with the rest of your workspace, let alone your room. There are also some who affiliate themselves with the gaming crowd but not their aesthetic tastes, preferring designs that look soothing and pleasing or even blend with their surroundings. Thats the mood that the Mood PC case tries to evoke, making your gaming PC the highlight of your living space, but not in an obtrusive and loud way.Designer: Fractal DesignIf you didnt know any better, you might mistake Fractal Designs Mood PC case for a gigantic boxy speaker. After all, it seems to be the standard these days for these audio devices to stand tall and be wrapped in fabric that softens the usually harsh image of appliances. Considering the adjectives mostly associated with gaming PCs, soft, warm, and gentle are words that sound almost alien and, therefore, interesting.That fabric does have some practical use in addition to giving the PC case a striking and stylish appearance. Its significantly more breathable than having metal panels surrounding the case. Theres still a fan to guide from the bottom of the case to the top, but this material makes it possible to dissipate heat more effectively from all directions. The fabric also blends better with most decors, and the gray or black colorways definitely mesh with most minimalist interiors as well.The Moods square shape might be space-efficient, but it still has plenty of room not only for a 325mm desktop graphics card but also a 280mm radiator for even better cooling. The design puts all the important I/O ports in the front for easy access, and getting to the internals is as easy as popping out the back panel and sliding the fabric-covered enclosure up. No screws or convoluted cabling to mess with, thanks to its simple and minimalist design.Fractal Designs Mood PC definitely defies convention, standing out even among the more artsy gaming PCs that still embrace a long box design. It also stands tall, literally and figuratively, as a testament that these powerhouses dont have to be stuck with a specific genre or theme only, opening the doors for gamers with different tastes and needs for their interior designs.The post Fractal Design Mood gaming PC is a beautiful designer product in disguise first appeared on Yanko Design.

The game was made for this tech.

New iPhones, iPads and MacBooks could be coming.

Romance scams cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars a year. As people grow increasingly isolated, and generative AI helps scammers scale their crimes, the problem could get worse.

Watch Duty proved indispensable during the recent LA wildfires. John Mills, the apps creator, wants it to be the one place to go for tracking disasters. He just needs all the data to do it.

MacworldApple last updated the iPad Air with an M2 processor in 2024, more than two years after the launch of the M1 model. Apple didnt change much, though it did introduce a larger 13-inch model for the first time. It looks like the wait wont be so long for the next modelless than a year later, rumors of a new iPad Air are already flying, and weve collected everything we know here.2025 iPad Air release date: When will the new iPad Air launch?Spring 2025 (expected)In October 2024, Bloombergs Mark Gurman reported that Apple will release an iPad Air update at the same time as the new iPhone SE, which will likely launch in February. In January 2025, Gurman reiterated that the iPad Air would become available this spring.The current M2 iPad Air was released in May 2024, so a spring 2025 release for a new iPad Air would be short of a year later. Heres when the past five iPad Air models launched:iPad Air (M2): May 2024iPad Air (5th generation): March 2022iPad Air (4th generation): October 2020iPad Air (3rd generation): March 2019iPad Air 2: October 20142025 iPad Air price: How much will the new iPad Air cost?The iPad has remained at $599 since its 2020 redesign.The price depends on the features of the new model.The current 11-inch M2 iPad Air starts at $599/599 while the 13-inch model starts at $799/799. 2024 was the first year Apple offers the iPad Air in two sizes.We havent heard anything about a potential price increase for the new iPad Air. When Apple released the M4 iPad Pro in May 2024, it raised the prices by $100/100, so its possible Apple will increase the 2025 iPad Air as well. However, that price hike was also accompanied by a new tandem OLED display, which the iPad Air is unlikely to receive.2025 iPad Air features: What specs will we see in the new iPad Air?A new chip is the main upgradeOther major upgrades are unlikelyWith the 2024 iPad Air release, Apple revamped the iPad Air lineup. In addition to creating two sizes (11- and 13-inches), Apple upgraded the chip from an M1 to an M2 and moved the front-facing camera to the landscape edge. Apple made a few smaller changes, such as upgrading Bluetooth to 5.3, Wi-Fi to 6E, and the Smart HDR implementation in the camera to HDR 4.The 2025 iPad Air is expected to be a chip upgrade without much else. What that new chip will be, however, is in question. When Apple upgraded the iPad Air in 2024 it used the older M2 chip due to numerous issues with the M3. In mid-January 2025, Bloombergs Mark Gurman said that he wouldnt be terribly surprised if the 2024 iPad Air jumped to the M4.Tthe 2025 iPad Air will feature an M3 or M4 chip.Petter AhrnstedtA private post by leaker Evan Blass in January claims to show what is supposedly an official Apple document that identifies the new iPad Air as with an M3 chip, not an M4. However, that document also contained an image of the iPhone SE 4 with a Dynamic Island, which has been largely debunked.Well update this article as more information becomes available. Until then, you should check out our best iPad Air deals, ourbest 10th-gen iPad dealsandbest iPad dealsroundups to see if you can find a bargain on the current range.

MacworldApples AirPods are very popular, but unfortunately also very expensive. On the Apple Store right now the cheapest option is the non-ANC version of the 4th-gen AirPods at $129/129; theres also the ANC version at $179/179, while you can pay $249/229 for the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro. And dont forget the AirPods Max at a whopping $549/499.With prices like that its no wonder that customers are hunting for a discount, and luckily you can often find AirPods deals, especially at times like Black Friday or one of Amazons Prime events. But what if you find an even better deal somewhere like eBay or eBay U.K.? Can you be sure that the supposedly brand-new in original packaging AirPods are the real thing?More and more often, the supposed bargain turns out to be a counterfeit. Fake AirPods Pro, which look like the genuine article but are made by a different company with vastly inferior manufacturing standards, often turn up on second-hand sales platforms, and are getting better and better. How can you spot fake AirPods and identify if the AirPods youre buying are the real deal?How to spot fake AirPods 1.Check the packagingFoundrySome Apple counterfeits are easy to spot. The packaging and labels are often poorly produced; you might notice typing errors (such as Dseigned by Apple), a failure to match the companys house style (such as ios instead of iOS), or clumsy mistranslations.In the example above, provided by our colleagues on Macwelt, the warning signs are comparatively obvious but could be missed by a buyer in a hurry. The English section has missing punctuation. In the German section, there are missing umlauts. In the French section, ipadOS should be iPadOS.Apple is famous for its attention to detail, and considers packaging an important part of the customers product experience. Any mistakes should put you on guard.2.Check the serial numberFoundryThe next step is to check the serial number. This can be found on the side of the packaging and then entered into Apples website to check its valid. In the case of the fake device provided to Macwelt, when the serial number was entered it was immediately identified as invalid, exposing the device as a fake.If you havent got the packaging, you can instead find the serial number inside the charging case. You might need a magnifying glass to read it, though. You can also see the serial number if you open Settings > Bluetooth on your iPhone and tap the Info button beside your AirPods.Unfortunately, this check doesnt always work because some forgers use serial numbers that are recognized by Apple. So well continue our investigation.3.Check the accessoriesFoundryAt first glance, fake AirPods can seem perfectly fine, with a complete set of plausible-looking accessories inside the box. When the team at Macwelt got their hands on counterfeit AirPods via a reader they found all the usual documents and instructions, a cable and more.However, the enclosed instructions immediately raised suspicions. The print quality was lower than expected and the text was blurred.4.Check the firmwareDavid Price / FoundryTo check the firmware on your AirPods, grab your iPhone and go to Settings > Bluetooth. Tap the Info button beside your AirPods. The firmware is the number listed next to Version.The AirPods firmware doesnt change very often. The latest versions are listed on Apples website. At time of writing, theyre as follows:AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe Charging Case (USB-C): 7B21AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe Charging Case (Lightning): 7B21AirPods Pro 1: 6F21AirPods 4: 7B20AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation: 7B20AirPods 3: 6F21AirPods 2: 6F21AirPods 1: 6.8.8AirPods Max (USB-C): 7A291AirPods Max (Lightning): 6F21If the version on your AirPods is similar to the above but a lower number, its possible they simply havent updated to the latest firmware yet; you cant force them to do this but there are ways to encourage the process. But the firmware on our fake AirPods was listed as 0A2097, a designation Apple has never used. Thats a huge red flag.5.Are the AirPods recognized by an iPhone or Mac?FoundryFake AirPods wont contain one of Apples proprietary W1, H1, or H2 chips.The W1 features inside the 1st-gen AirPods.The 2nd- and 3rd-gen AirPods and the 1st-gen AirPods Pro have H1 chips.The 2nd-gen AirPods Pro and 4th gen AirPods have H2 chips.These chips manage the Bluetooth connection; theyre the reason why AirPods can switch between devices seamlessly and sync instantly with an iPhone, iPad or Mac. When you open the charging case, a nearby iPhone should immediately recognize and connect to the AirPods. If this doesnt happen, thats a strong hint that your AirPods are fake.In addition, the H1 adds the ability to launch Siri by voice and Audio Sharing, while the H2 adds active noise cancellation and the Adaptive Transparency mode. Without these chips, none of these features will be available to you.When we opened our iPhone near the fake AirPods, a message appeared. But there was a giveaway that something was wrong: an instruction to press the button on the back of the case in order for the earphones to be recognized. Legitimate AirPods dont require additional key presses.We also found that switching between a Mac and iPhone was only possible via the Bluetooth menu, and there were also problems recognizing the microphone. All of these problems point to there being no Apple chip inside.6.Test the functionalityFoundryAs weve seen, its one thing to make headphones that look like AirPods or AirPods Pro, but something else to replicate the way genuine AirPods work.Depending on the quality of the counterfeiting, a fake pair of earbuds may support some AirPods functions. We were able, for example, to carry out the fit test for ear inserts on our fake device. Strangely, however, the test always succeeded. Even when we wore just one of the earphones, the optimal fit of both earphones was certified. Thats a clue that something is wrong.The fake AirPods werent suitable for phone calls, suggesting that the counterfeiters had saved money by skimping on the microphone. The audio quality was mediocre, lacking clarity and bass. The 3D audio function was absent and wireless charging did not work either.We also found that we could activate Active Noise Cancellation and switch on the Transparency mode on the fake AirPods, but quickly noticed that turning on these features made no difference to the way the earphones behaved.Note that it wont always be this obvious. Some victims of fake AirPods scams have reported that the devices have a functioning noise cancellation feature. Just because theyre fake AirPods, that doesnt mean they cant contain real microphones. As with all the steps here, were checking multiple criteria and drawing a conclusion based on all the data.7.Take a look insideFoundryLook closely at a pair of fake AirPods and youre likely to notice manufacturing defects. In our example, the small plastic cover on the outside fell off after a few minutes of use. The cap at the bottom of the stems was also relatively easy to pull off to reveal the inside.According to teardowns posted online by iFixit, we should see a small high-quality microphone here. Instead, there was a circuit board with the label dxc-t18U8 and no microphone, which explains why these AirPods were no good when making phone calls. They use the speaker as a microphone.How to get a refund for fake AirPodsWhat should you do once youve identified that your new earbuds are fake? If the online shop or eBay seller is still active, you should apply for a return or refund. Sellers can usually be persuaded to reimburse the purchase price, although things may be more difficult if some time has passed since the purchase.To return an item for a refund on eBay you should follow these steps:Find the item in your Purchase History.Select More actions > Return this item.Give your reason for the return. You can add images to back up your claim. If you purchased the fake AirPods from somewhere else, the process for applying to return them for a refund will be similar.Apple AirPods 4 (with ANC)Read our reviewPrice When Reviewed:199 EuroBest Prices Today:184 at Computeruniverse | 184 at notebooksbilliger.de | 188.9 at AlternateApple AirPods 4 (without ANC)Price When Reviewed:149 EuroBest Prices Today:135,00 at amazon.de | 138,00 at notebooksbilliger | 138,00 at nullprozentshop.deAirPods Pro 2 USB-CRead our reviewPrice When Reviewed:279Best Prices Today:0.01 at idealo | 247 at Computeruniverse | 254 at notebooksbilliger.deAdditional reporting by Stephan Wiesend on Macwelt.

Chatbots quickly surpassed human physicians in diagnostic reasoning the crucial first step in clinical care according to a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine.The studysuggests physicians who have access to large language models (LLMs), which underpin generative AI (genAI) chatbots, demonstrate improved performance on several patient care tasks compared to colleagues without access to the technology.The study also found that physicians using chatbots spent more time on patient cases and made safer decisions than those without access to the genAI tools.The research, undertaken by more than a dozen physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), showed genAI has promise as an open-ended decision-making physician partner.However, this will require rigorous validation to realize LLMs potential for enhancing patient care, said Dr. Adam Rodman, director of AI Programs at BIDMC. Unlike diagnostic reasoning, a task often with a single right answer, which LLMs excel at, management reasoning may have no right answer and involves weighing trade-offs between inherently risky courses of action.The conclusions were based on evaluations about the decision-making capabilities of 92 physicians as they worked through five hypothetical patient cases. They focused on the physicians management reasoning, which includes decisions on testing, treatment, patient preferences, social factors, costs, and risks.When responses to their hypothetical patient cases were scored, the physicians using a chatbot scored significantly higher than those using conventional resources only. Chatbot users also spent more time per case by nearly two minutes and they had a lower risk of mild-to-moderate harm compared to those using conventional resources (3.7% vs. 5.3%). Severe harm ratings, however, were similar between groups.My theory, Rodman said, [is] the AI improved management reasoning in patient communication and patient factors domains; it did not affect things like recognizing complications or medication decisions. We used a high standard for harm immediate harm and poor communication is unlikely to cause immediate harm.An earlier 2023 study by Rodman and his colleagues yielded promising, yet cautious, conclusions about the role of genAI technology. They found it was capable of showing the equivalent or better reasoning than people throughout the evolution of clinical case.That data, published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), used a common testing tool used to assess physicians clinical reasoning. The researchers recruited 21 attending physicians and 18 residents, who worked through 20 archived (not new) clinical cases in four stages of diagnostic reasoning, writing and justifying their differential diagnoses at each stage.The researchers then performed the same tests using ChatGPT based on the GPT-4 LLM. The chatbot followed the same instructions and used the same clinical cases. The results were both promising and concerning.The chatbot scored highest in some measures on the testing tool, with a median score of 10/10, compared to 9/10 for attending physicians and 8/10 for residents. While diagnostic accuracy and reasoning were similar between humans and the bot, the chatbot had more instances of incorrect reasoning. This highlights that AI is likely best used to augment, not replace, human reasoning, the study concluded.Simply put, in some cases the bots were also just plain wrong, the report said.Rodman said he isnt sure why the genAI study pointed to more errors in the earlier study. The checkpoint is different [in the new study], so hallucinations might have improved, but they also vary by task, he said. Our original study focused on diagnostic reasoning, a classification task with clear right and wrong answers. Management reasoning, on the other hand, is highly context-specific and has a range of acceptable answers.A key difference from the original study is the researchers are now comparing two groups of humans one using AI and one not while the original work compared AI to humans directly. We did collect a small AI-only baseline, but the comparison was done with a multi-effects model. So, in this case, everything is mediated through people, Rodman said.Researcher and lead study author Dr. Stephanie Cabral, a third-year internal medicine resident at BIDMC, said more research is needed on how LLMs can fit into clinical practice, but they could already serve as a useful checkpoint to prevent oversight.My ultimate hope is that AI will improve the patient-physician interaction by reducing some of the inefficiencies we currently have and allow us to focus more on the conversation were having with our patients, she said.The latest study involved a newer, upgraded version of GPT-4, which could explain some of the variations in results.To date, AI in healthcare has mainly focused on tasks such as portal messaging, according to Rodman. But chatbots could enhance human decision-making, especially in complex tasks.Our findings show promise, but rigorous validation is needed to fully unlock their potential for improving patient care, he said. This suggests a future use for LLMs as a helpful adjunct to clinical judgment. Further exploration into whether the LLM is merely encouraging users to slow down and reflect more deeply, or whether it is actively augmenting the reasoning process would be valuable.The chatbot testing will now enter the next of two follow-on phases, the first of which has already produced new raw data to be analyzed by the researchers, Rodman said. The researchers will begin looking at varying user interaction, where they study different types of chatbots, different user interfaces, and doctor education about using LLMs (such as more specific prompt design) in controlled environments to see how performance is affected.The second phase will also involve real-time patient data, not archived patient cases.We are also studying [human computer interaction] using secure LLMs so [its] HIPAA complaint to see how these effects hold in the real world, he said.

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.A few weeks ago, a fire broke out at the Moss Landing Power Plant in California, the worlds largest collection of batteries on the grid. Although the flames were extinguished in a few days, the metaphorical smoke is still clearing.Some residents in the area have reported health issues that they claim are related to the fire, and some environmental tests revealed pollutants in the water and ground near where the fire burned. One group has filed a lawsuit against the company that owns the site.In the wake of high-profile fires like Moss Landing, there are very understandable concerns about battery safety. At the same time, as more wind, solar power, and other variable electricity sources come online, large energy storage installations will be even more crucial for the grid.Lets catch up on what happened in this fire, what the lingering concerns are, and what comes next for the energy storage industry.The Moss Landing fire was spotted in the afternoon on January 16, according to local news reports. It started small but quickly spread to a huge chunk of batteries at the plant. Over 1,000 residents were evacuated, nearby roads were closed, and a wider emergency alert warned those nearby to stay indoors.The fire hit the oldest group of batteries installed at Moss Landing, a 300-megawatt array that came online in 2020. Additional installations bring the total capacity at the site to about 750 megawatts, meaning it can deliver as much energy to the grid as a standard coal-fired power plant for a few hours at a time.According to a statement that site owner Vistra Energy gave to the New York Times, most of the batteries inside the affected building (the one that houses the 300MW array) burned. However, the company doesnt have an exact tally, because crews are still prohibited from going inside to do a visual inspection.This isnt the first time that batteries at Moss Landing have caught firethere have been several incidents at the plant since it opened. However, this event was much more significant than previous fires, says Dustin Mulvaney, a professor of environmental studies at San Jose State University, whos studied the plant.Residents are worried about the potential consequences.The US Environmental Protection Agency monitored the nearby air for hydrogen fluoride, a dangerous gas that can be produced in lithium-ion battery fires, and didnt detect levels higher than Californias standards. But some early tests detected elevated levels of metals including cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese in soil around the plant. Tests also detected metals in local drinking water, though at levels considered to be safe.Citing some of those tests, a group of residents filed a lawsuit against Vistra last week, alleging that the company (along with a few other named defendants) failed to implement adequate safety measures despite previous incidents at the facility. The suits legal team includes Erin Brockovich, the activist famous for her work on a 1990s case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company involving contaminated groundwater from oil and gas equipment in California.The lawsuit, and Brockovichs involvement in particular, raises a point that I think is worth recognizing here: Technologies that help us address climate change still have the potential to cause harm, and taking that seriously is crucial.The oil and gas industry has a long history of damaging local environments and putting people in harms way. Thats evident in local accidents and long-term pollution, and in the sense that burning fossil fuels drives climate change, which has widespread effects around the world.Low-carbon energy sources like wind, solar, and batteries dont add to the global problem of climate change. But many of these projects are industrial sites, and their effects can still be felt by local communities, especially when things go wrong as they did in the Moss Landing fire.The question now is whether those concerns and lawsuits will affect the industry more broadly. In a news conference, one local official called the fire a Three Mile Island event for this industry, referring to the infamous 1979 accident at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant. That was a turning point for nuclear power, after which public support declined sharply.With the growing number of electric vehicles and batteries for energy storage on the grid, more high-profile fires have hit the news, like last years truck fire in LA, the spate of e-bike battery fires in New York City, or one at a French recycling plant last year.Battery energy storage systems are complex machines, Mulvaney says. Complex systems have a lot of potential failures.When it comes to large grid-scale installations, battery safety has already improved since Moss Landing was built in 2020, as Canary Medias Julian Spector points out in a recent story. One reason is that many newer sites use a different chemistry thats considered safer. Newer energy storage facilities also tend to isolate batteries better, so small fires wont spread as dramatically as they did in this case.Theres still a lot we dont know about this fire, particularly when it comes to how it started. Learning from the results of the ongoing investigations will be important, because we can only expect to see more batteries coming online in the years ahead.In 2023, there were roughly 54 gigawatts worth of utility-scale batteries on the grid globally. If countries follow through on stated plans for renewables, that number could increase tenfold by the end of the decade.Energy storage is a key tool in transforming our grid and meeting our climate goals, and the industry is moving quickly. Safety measures need to keep up.Now read the rest of The SparkRelated readingE-bike battery fires, including ones started by delivery drivers vehicles, have plagued New York City. A battery-swapping system could help address the problem.Insulating materials layered inside EV batteries could help reduce fire risk. A company making them just got a big boost in the form of a loan from the US Department of Energy.New chemistries, like iron-air batteries, promise safer energy storage. Read our profile of Form Energy, which we named one of our 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch in 2024.Keeping up with climateData centers are expected to be a major source of growth in electricity demand. Being flexible may help utilities meet that demand, according to a new study. (Inside Climate News)The worlds first lab-grown meat for pets just went on sale in the UK. Meatly is selling limited quantities of its treats, which are a blend of plant-based ingredients and cultivated chicken cells. (The Verge)Kore Power scrapped plans for a $1.2 billion battery plant in Arizona, but the company isnt giving up just yet. The new CEO said the new plan is to look for an existing factory that can be transformed into a battery manufacturing facility. (Canary Media)The auto industry is facing a conundrum: Customers in the US want bigger vehicles, but massive EVs might not make much economic sense. New extended-range electric vehicles that combine batteries and a gas-powered engine that acts as a generator could be the answer. (Heatmap)Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were told to search grants for words related to climate change. Its not clear what comes next. (Axios)It might be officially time to call it on the 1.5 C target. Two new studies suggest that the world has already entered into the runway to surpass the point where global temperatures increase 1.5 C over preindustrial levels. (Bloomberg)States are confused over a Trump administration order to freeze funding for EV chargers. Some have halted work on projects under the $5 billion program, while others are forging on. (New York Times)Cold weather can affect the EV batteries. Criticisms likely portray something way worse than the reality, but in any case, heres how to make the most of your EV in the winter. (Canary Media)