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In a strange twist of fate, a fire broke out this week at the Rad Power Bikes retail store warehouse in Huntington Beach, California, Electrek reports. The structural blaze came less than two months after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned customers to "immediately stop" using and dispose of some of the company's e-bike batteries due to fire hazard. In December, Rad filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stating it couldn't afford to recall the batteries. The recent two-alarm fire hit a commercial complex with multiple businesses. Footage from the fire shows e-bikes outside of the warehouse as firemen fought the blaze. Engadget has reached out to Rad for more information on the fire's impact. The CPSC's November warning told of 31 reports of fire, with 12 of those involving property damage. In some cases, the battery was in storage, not being charged or used, yet still caught fire. The CPSC told customers to get rid of (in a safe, detailed manner) specific models of Rad's lithium-ion batteries. It claimed that the "hazardous" batteries were at risk of igniting or exploding, even more if wet or interacting with debris. Rad told the CPSC it couldn't recall the batteries as it couldn't afford to offer replacements and refunds. "Rad offered multiple good-faith solutions to address the agencys concerns, including offering consumers an opportunity to upgrade to Safe Shield batteries (described below) at a substantial discount. CPSC rejected this opportunity," Rad Power Bikes said in a statement at the time. "The significant cost of the all-or-nothing demand would force Rad to shut its doors immediately, leaving no way to support our riders or our employees." The company also said it disagreed with the CPSC's "characterization of certain Rad batteries as defective or unsafe." It also pointed to the incident rate being below one percent and stated that all lithium-ion batteries come with a risk when customers do things such as improper charging and excessive exposure to moisture that Rad cautions against. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/rad-power-bikes-warehouse-catches-fire-following-flammable-battery-warnings-133056542.html?src=rss
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The UK government has announced a consultation, asking people for their feedback on whether to introduce a social media ban for children under 16 years old. It would also explore how to enforce that limit, how to limit tech companies from being able to access childrens data and how to limit infinite scrolling, as well as access to addictive online tools. In addition to seeking feedback from parents and young people themselves, the countrys ministers are going to visit Australia to see the effects of the countrys social media ban for kids, according to Financial Times. Australia's minimum age social media ban went into effect on December 10. Its the first of its kind and covers several social media platforms, including Facebook, X, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, YouTube and Reddit. Just recently, Meta shut down nearly 550,00 accounts, most of which were on Instagram, to comply with the new law. The UK passed the Online Safety Act in 2023 and has been enforcing its rules since. Last year, for instance, it started requiring websites that publish pornography to conduct age checks for users. But British politician Liz Kendall said parents still have serious concerns about the content their children can consume online. As The Guardian notes, the announcement for a consultation comes just before the House of Lords votes on an amendment to the Childrens Wellbeing and Schools Bill. The amendment is seeking a social media ban on children under 16, which will be enacted within a year if and when the bill passes. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/the-uk-is-mulling-an-australia-like-social-media-ban-for-users-under-16-130000446.html?src=rss
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Part of a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit status claims Musk is owed anywhere from $79 billion to $134 billion in damages for the wrongful gains of OpenAI and Microsoft. Musk claims in the filing that hes entitled to a chunk of the companys recent $500 billion valuation, after contributing $38 million in seed funding during the AI companys early years. It wasnt just money according to the filing, Musk helped advise on key employee recruitment, introductions with business contacts and startup advice. If this sounds familiar, its because the lawsuit dates back to March 2024. Its still going. Mat Smith The other big stories (and deals) this morning ASUS changes mind, will continue selling the RTX 5070 Ti after all Musk claims Tesla will restart work on its Dojo supercomputer Microsoft issues emergency fix after update stops some Windows 11 devices from shutting down Anthropic opens up Claude Cowork to anyone with a $20 subscription Anthropics AI assistant can handle simple tasks on your PC for you. Engadget Claude Cowork, Anthropics AI assistant for handling simple tasks on your computer, is now available to anyone with a $20-per-month Pro subscription. It was previously an exclusive feature for its Max subscribers, who pay a minimum of $100 per month. As a reminder, the intriguing part of Claude Cowork is its ability to work on its own. If you have the macOS Claude app and a Pro subscription, you can prompt Claude Cowork to work on tasks on your local computer, like creating documents based on files you have saved or organizing your folders. Dont expect it to deal with high-level PC work just yet, but it can handle simple organizational tasks. Continue reading. Dr. Gladys West, whose mathematical models inspired GPS, dies at 95 Her decades-long career finally received wider recognition in 2018. Pioneering mathematician Dr. Gladys West has passed away at the age of 95. Her name may not be familiar to you, but her contributions will be. Wests work laid the foundation for the global positioning system, GPS, we all use (sometimes daily). Beyond DoorDash requests and Google Maps navigation, GPS is now an essential component of industries ranging from aviation to emergency response systems. Continue reading. ASUS will not release any new smartphones this year Will the company be joining the likes of LG? Engadget ASUS might step back from smartphones. According to translations of recent quotes from Chair Jonney Shih, the company does not plan to release new phone models in the future. Previous reports suggested ASUS would not introduce any smartphones in 2026, but Shihs recent comments indicate the pause may last longer, if not indefinitely. Weve reached out to ASUS for additional comment. It's not like the company changes its mind... Continue reading. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121509123.html?src=rss
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