Tag Archives: safety

Technology makes travel easier by allowing us to research and map out our travel plans. But for the disability community, technology can be the most valuable travel companion. The following apps and sites help people with disabilities make smart and safe choices so they can get out in the world …

Lithium-ion battery fires can be intense and frightening. As someone who used to repair second-hand smartphones, I’ve extinguished my fair share of flaming iPhones with punctured lithium-ion batteries. And the type of smartphone battery in your pocket right now, is similar to what’s inside of electric vehicles. Except, the EV …

Amazon failed to adequately alert more than 300,000 customers to serious risks—including death and electrocution—that US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) testing found with more than 400,000 products that third parties sold on its platform. The CPSC unanimously voted to hold Amazon legally responsible for third-party sellers' defective products. Now, …

OpenAI has faced opprobrium in recent months from those who suggest it may be rushing too quickly and recklessly to develop more powerful artificial intelligence. The company appears intent on showing it takes AI safety seriously. Today it showcased research that it says could help researchers scrutinize AI models even …

Air travel has entered an especially fraught place in the public consciousness lately, mostly due to a recent spate of incidents in which Boeing planes have caught fire, lost a wheel during takeoff, or sprung a hole mid-flight. These high-profile mishaps have given flying a bad name and made countless …

What the hell is going on up there in the sky? The incidents feel like they started in January, when a door plug blew out of a midair Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines. Ensuing investigations have led to a series of revelations about a faltering safety …

On February 22, a fire swept through a 14-story apartment block in the Campanar neighborhood of Valencia, Spain. Ten people died in the blaze. Smartphone footage showed an awning on a seventh-floor balcony catching fire at around 5:30 pm CET, before the flames rushed upwards. Within 15 minutes, the entire …

It's hard to escape the fact that American trucks and SUVs have been on a steroid-infused diet for the past few years. The trend was all too apparent at the last auto show we went to—at Chicago in 2020, I felt physically threatened just standing next to some of the …

As Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 neared 16,000 feet, a boom thundered through the plane as a chunk of the plane’s bodywork was ripped away. The rush of air as the cabin depressurized pulled mobile phones out of hands—an iPhone was found intact on the ground below—and a teenager sitting close …

To adapt an old Oscar Wilde quote: To lose one aircraft may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness. So what to make of a third Boeing 737 Max suffering a major issue in recent years? Flying at 16,000 feet shortly after taking off in Oregon …