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Climate protestors in Germany broke through police barricades on Friday, amid clashes between activists and law enforcement. The protestors either made it onto (according to protestors) or near (according to local police) the grounds of a Tesla gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, near Berlin. It’s part of a planned five-day demonstration ahead of a local government vote next week to determine whether Tesla’s plant can expand.

Wired flagged social media videos showing activists, many of whom have been camping out in treehouses in nearby forest encampments, running toward a Tesla building on the site. In addition, the German newspaper Welt said at least one person participating was injured. Police reportedly police used pepper spray and batons to try to thwart the crowd, and there were at least some arrests.

A spokesperson for one of the groups participating in the protests told Wired that they broke the police barriers and stormed the Tesla grounds. “Eight hundred people have entered the premises of the gigafactory,” Lucia Mende of Disrupt Tesla said. However, local police posted on X (Musk’s social media platform) that the activists only reached a field facing the site. “We have been able to prevent them from entering so far,” they posted.

Axel Schmidt via Getty Images

At least at first glance, it’s easy to wonder why activists are pouring so much energy into fighting Tesla. After all, despite Musk’s increasingly unhinged right-wing conspiracy-mongering and Nazi-catering on X, other automakers pushing gas-guzzling cars seem like more appropriate targets (not to mention the fossil fuel companies spending big bucks on anti-climate-reform disinformation). However, several factors make the issues at the heart of the protests less simplistic.

A (nonbinding) vote in February showed Grünheide residents opposed the expansion by almost a two-to-one ratio. If for no other reason, the local government having a chance to brush aside the overwhelming will of the voters in the name of capitalism is enough to raise the eyebrows of anyone who balks at minority rule.

Wired notes the area is also one of the most water-scarce in Germany, and residents worry the gigafactory will drain the resource, leaving much less for the humans who live there. The plant could also pollute local water supplies.

Those fears appear to have merit: The plant is licensed to use 1.4 million cubic meters of water annually, and a separate Wired report from Tuesday noted that’s enough to supply for a large town. As for the contamination fears, Tesla was fined in 2019 by the EPA for several hazardous waste violations at a California factory. The company paid a grand total of $31,000 to settle. (Tesla had a market cap of almost $76 billion in 2019.)

But some of the groups protesting have concerns that go much farther than those more immediate issues affecting the locals, instead taking issue with the entire electric vehicle movement. “Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate,” Esther Kamm, spokesperson for Turn Off the Tap on Tesla told Wired.

Another activist, who only gave Wired the name Mara, described the factory as the result of “green capitalism.” She views the EV movement as little more than a theatrical performance in the name of profit. “This has been completely thought up by such companies to have more growth, even in times of an environmental crisis,” she said.

I wouldn’t exactly say flipping the bird to the EV movement is a “workable” solution to the very real and pressing climate crisis. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, the world needs to move quickly to fend off climate change’s most ravaging effects, and the scientific consensus is that the planned shift to EVs will need to play a central role.

Tesla reportedly told its employees at the factory to work from home on Friday, shutting down the plants for the planned protests. As for Friday’s protests, Welt reports that the situation had calmed by afternoon — at least for now.

Swiss start-up Climeworks has done it again. The company just opened the world’s largest carbon capture plant in Iceland, dwarfing its own record of how much CO2 it can pull from the air. The company’s previous record-holding carbon capture plant, Orca, sucks around 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, but the new plant can handle nearly ten times that, as reported by The Washington Post.

The plant’s called Mammoth and boasts 72 industrial fans that can pull 36,000 tons of CO2 from the air each year. Just like with Orca, the CO2 isn’t recycled. It’s stored underground and eventually trapped in stone, permanently (within reason) removing it from the environment. The plant’s actually located on a dormant volcano, so it’ll make a great hideout for a James Bond villain should it ever cease operations.

The location was chosen for its proximity to the Hellisheidi geothermal energy plant, which is used to power the facility's fans and heat chemical filters to extract CO2 with water vapor. After extraction, the CO2 is separated from the steam, compressed and dissolved in water. Finally, it’s pumped 2,300 feet underground into volcanic basalt. This compound reacts with the magnesium, calcium and iron in the rock to form crystals, which become solid reservoirs of CO2. It’s pretty nifty technology.

However, it’s not the end-all solution to climate change. It’s barely a blip. For the world to achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2050, "we should be removing something like six to 16 billion tons of CO2 per year from the air," said Climeworks founder Jan Wurzbacher, according to reporting by CBS News.

Therein lies the problem. This facility, the largest of its kind by a wide margin, can capture up to 36,000 tons of CO2 from the air each year, but that’s just 0.0006 percent of what’s needed to meet the minimum annual removal threshold as indicated by Wurzbacher. There are other plants, of course, but all of them combined don’t make a serious dent in what’s required to pull us from the brink.

To that end, Wurzbacher has pleaded with other companies to take up the cause. He says that Climeworks has a goal of surpassing millions of tons captured per year by 2030 and a billion by 2050. The company’s chief technology officer, Carlos Haertel, told 60 Minutes that scaling up the process globally is possible, but requires political will to rally behind the initiative.

The Biden administration recently committed $4 billion to jumpstart the industry here in the states and earmarked $1.2 billion for a pair of large-scale projects. The US Department of Energy also started a program called Carbon Negative Shot, with a goal of fostering the development of budget-friendly carbon capture technology.

The method of carbon capture deployed by Climeworks is just one of many approaches. These processes range from stacks of limestone blocks that absorb CO2 like a sponge to giant hot air balloons that freeze and trap the chemical compound. Restoring forests is another option, which is something companies like Apple and Goldman Sachs have experimented with. Which one is best? All of them together deployed at global scale. Whatever it takes. Climate change isn’t fooling around.

The new iPad Pro and iPad Air — and the internet's reaction to how they've been advertised — may have been the big Apple news of the week, but we're turning our attention to AirPods for our latest deals roundup. More specifically, all four models in Apple's wireless headphone lineup are currently on sale. The noise-canceling AirPods Pro and third-gen AirPods back down to lows of $180 and $140, respectively, while the entry-level earbuds and top-end AirPods Max are both cheaper than usual at $80 and $450. Beyond that, we've also found noteworthy discounts on Amazon's Kindle, LG's C3 OLED TV, Keychron's budget-friendly C3 Pro keyboard and annual Paramount+ with Showtime subscriptions, among others. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Not all connected speakers have a voice assistant built in. The Sonos One SL, for instance, doesn't have a microphone. So, if you want to use your voice to control such devices, you may need to pick up a secondary smart speaker, such as Amazon's Echo Dot. As luck would have it, that little Alexa-enabled device is on sale for $28. That's 44 percent off and just $5 more than the record-low price.

That's not to say the Echo Dot isn't a decent speaker in its own right. In fact, we think it's the best smart speaker under $50.

Amazon has been steadily improving the Dot's audio quality over the years and the most recent version from 2022 pumps out far louder and clearer audio than could be reasonably expected from a sub-$50 speaker. The globe-shaped speaker has some physical buttons, including ones for volume control and another that mutes/unmutes the microphone if you don't want Alexa to remain alert for voice commands at all times.

If you'd prefer to save a few extra bucks, you could instead opt for the Echo Pop. That Alexa-enabled speaker is currently half off at $20. The colorful speaker also has a mic mute switch. It could prove to be a handy bedside speaker for listening to podcasts or a sleep story when it's time to nod off.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

They say "Twitter isn't real life," but Black Twitter proved otherwise. For years, that phrase has been a way to ignore the real-world impact of social media conversations, especially when they spark radically new ideas. But that's clearly not true when you look at Black Twitter, an unofficial community made up of the site's black users, which inspired culturally significant movements with hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite. Hulu's new documentary, "Black Lives Matter: A People's History," adapted from Jason Parham's Wired article, explores the rise and global influence of the community. Over the course of three engaging and often hilarious episodes, the series cements itself as an essential cultural document.

"The way I would define Black Twitter is a space where Black culture specifically was hanging out in a digital way," said Prentice Penny, the series director and former show-runner of HBO's Insecure, in an interview on the Engadget Podcast. "And even though it was a public space — clearly, it's Twitter, anybody can get on it — it still felt like you were having conversations with your friends that are like on the back of the bus. Or like on the stoop, or in the lunchroom. I mean, that's the energy of it."

In particular, Penny says that Twitter felt special because there was no real hierarchy, especially in the early days. That meant that even celebrities weren't immune to being mocked, or acting out on their own social media profiles (like Rihanna's notorious early Twitter presence). Twitter in its heyday felt like a place where money or class didn't really matter.

"This was kind of an equalization of a lot of things, that somebody in Kentucky who nobody knows could have the same strong opinion as someone who you revere, right?" Penny said. "And I think that's what made the space so fresh, because we don't really have spaces that are kind of a level playing ground in this country."

Twitter also felt genuinely different from the other social networks in the late 2000s. At the time, Facebook was mostly focused on connecting you with schoolmates and family members — it wasn't really a place for simply hanging out and joking around. Prentice notes that the forced brevity on Twitter also made it unique, since you had to really focus on what you were trying to say in 140 characters. 

"Each of the creators [in the series] had a different idea of what Twitter should be," Penny added. "Some thought it should be a town square, some people thought it should be a news information thing... I think like with Black culture, the one thing we do really well is, because we're often given the scraps of things, we have to repurpose something, like taking the worst of the pig and making soul food... I think we are really good at taking things that could kind of be different things and make it be pliable for us."

The documentary recounts the many ways Black Twitter leveraged the platform, both for fun and for kicking off serious social movements. The community helped make live-tweeting TV shows a common occurrence, and it's one reason Scandal became a hit TV show.  

Google has released a security update for the Chrome browser to fix a zero-day vulnerability exploit that has been used by threat actors. This is the fifth time this year the company has had to issue a patch for one of these vulnerabilities, as reported by Bleeping Computer.

"Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2024-4671 exists in the wild," the company said in a short advisory. It did not issue any specifics as to the nature of the real-world attack or the identity of the threat actors. This is common for Google, as it likes to wait until a majority of users have updated the software before announcing specific details.

We do know some stuff about the exploit. It’s being classified as a “high-severity issue” and as a “user after free” vulnerability. These bugs arise when a program references a memory location after it has been deallocated, leading to any number of serious consequences from a crash to a random execution of code. It looks like the CVE-2024-4671 vulnerability is attached to the visuals component that handles rendering and the display of content on the browser.

The exploit was discovered and reported to Google by an anonymous researcher. The fix is available for Mac, Windows and Linux and updates will continue to roll out to users over the coming days and weeks. Chrome updates automatically with security fixes, so users can confirm they are running the latest version of the browser by going to Settings and About Chrome. Users of Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi should also update to a new version as soon as they are available. 

As stated, this is the fifth of this type of flaw addressed by Google this year. I don’t mean “within the last calendar year.” I mean in 2024. Three were discovered back in March at the Pwn2Own hacking contest in Vancouver. This isn’t a record or anything. Google found and fixed five in one month back in 2020.

Zero-day exploits have been a constant thorn in Google’s side. These are a type of cyberattack that take advantage of an unknown or unaddressed security flaw in computer software, hardware or firmware. The company typically pays out big money for bug discoveries, as part of its Vulnerability Rewards Program.

A Prince of Persia game from the studio behind Dead Cells was supposed to hit early access on PC on May 14. That’s no longer the case. Evil Empire says The Rogue Prince of Persia’s debut is delayed until later this month, and it’s because of a little game called Hades II.

Soon after a technical test wrapped up, Supergiant Games released Hades II into early access on Monday. It skyrocketed up the Steam charts and quickly reached a peak of 102,000 concurrent players. Evil Empire suggested that “everyone and their mom” is playing Hades II, including its own team, so it’s getting out of that game’s way. The new early access date for The Rogue Prince of Persia will be revealed on Monday.

“While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it’s not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into early access a week before you plan to do the same,” Evil Empire wrote on X. “We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our early access journey.“

As it happens, the delay will also give Evil Empire some extra time to polish up The Rogue Prince of Persia. While the whole point of releasing a game in early access is to get feedback from players on a project that’s far from the finished article, developers still want their games to be in as good a shape as possible when the public goes hands on with them for the first time.

Evil Empire says it can “add even more cool things” and try to squish some bugs before the game’s debut. The team also has a bit more time to test and refine the “hefty” day one patch.

Getting out of Hades II’s way is a smart idea given the two games are both roguelikes. It’s nice to see Evil Empire being transparent about the reasons for the delay too. But there are a bunch of other indies that were released this week that reviewed well and have been overshadowed at least to some degree by that blockbuster sequel.

Another Crab’s Treasure (a cute spin on From Software's Soulslike format), PS1-style survival horror Crow Country, sci-fi title 1000xResist and adorable-looking adventure Little Kitty, Big City all debuted to strong reviews this week. So too did Animal Well, a Metroidvania about which the word “masterpiece” has been invoked by some reviewers (though that’s actually the number one best-selling game on Steam at the time of writing, just above Hades II).

The train doesn’t stop there as some other buzzed-about indies are arriving over the next couple of weeks, including Lorelei and The Laser Eyes (we’re very excited about that one) and Paper Trail. There’s another one coming next week that I’ve been playing and is worth checking out, though I can’t talk about it just yet.

Although there might not be too many AAA games from the likes of Sony, Microsoft and EA dropping at the minute, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff going on in the indie scene. So maybe go check some of those games out if you haven't already.

As rumors foretold, Apple has revamped the iPad Pro with an M4 chip, tandem OLED screen and a thinner case. There's also a new Magic Keyboard that should deliver a more MacBook-like typing experience! In this week's episode, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss how Apple is shining a new light on tablets (which also includes the new iPad Air models) and reworking its vision of mobile computing. Does anyone really need the iPad Pro today? And could it be more compelling if iPadOS improves its multitasking capabilities? Also, we discuss the launch of Google's new mid-range phone, the Pixel 8a.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Topics

• New iPad Pro with OLED and M4 processor, iPad Air and Apple Pencil announced at ‘Let Loose’ event – 1:04

• Google announces Pixel 8a with 120Hz OLED screen and AI capability – 20:50

• What the heck happed with Helldivers 2? – 28:31

• Microsoft shuts down Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin – 34:10

• Hades 2 early access is out now – 42:01

• Around Engadget: Steve Dent reviews Fujifilm X100 VI – 45:39

• Working on – 48:38

• Pop culture picks – 52:08

Subscribe!

• iTunes

• Spotify

• Pocket Casts

• Stitcher

• Google Podcasts

Livestream

Credits 

Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

As rumors foretold, Apple has revamped the iPad Pro with an M4 chip, tandem OLED screen and a thinner case. There's also a new Magic Keyboard that should deliver a more MacBook-like typing experience! In this week's episode, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss how Apple is shining a new light on tablets (which also includes the new iPad Air models) and reworking its vision of mobile computing. Does anyone really need the iPad Pro today? And could it be more compelling if iPadOS improves its multitasking capabilities? Also, we discuss the launch of Google's new mid-range phone, the Pixel 8a.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Topics

• New iPad Pro with OLED and M4 processor, iPad Air and Apple Pencil announced at ‘Let Loose’ event – 1:04

• Google announces Pixel 8a with 120Hz OLED screen and AI capability – 20:50

• What the heck happed with Helldivers 2? – 28:31

• Microsoft shuts down Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin – 34:10

• Hades 2 early access is out now – 42:01

• Around Engadget: Steve Dent reviews Fujifilm X100 VI – 45:39

• Working on – 48:38

• Pop culture picks – 52:08

Subscribe!

• iTunes

• Spotify

• Pocket Casts

• Stitcher

• Google Podcasts

Livestream

Credits 

Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

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