The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the death of a worker at a Rivian warehouse in Illinois this week, the federal agency told TechCrunch on Friday. The agency said the probe could take up to six months.
The man, identified by local authorities as 61-year-old Kevin Lancaster, reportedly died from “blunt traumatic compressional injuries” after getting pinned between a tractor trailer and a loading dock at the facility, which is located just a few miles from Rivian’s factory.
Lancaster was reportedly trapped in that spot for around 20 minutes on Thursday before firefighters were able to get to him, according to one local news report. Emergency crews responded to a call at 1:40 p.m. local time, and Lancaster was pronounced dead at a local medical center at 2:33 p.m. local time. The Normal Police Department and the McLean County Coroner are still investigating Lancaster’s death, according to the report.
“Safety at our facilities is our top priority. Unfortunately yesterday afternoon, a contractor passed away after an incident at our warehouse,” Rivian said in a statement to TechCrunch. “Our sympathy and thoughts are with their family and friends. We are working with the Normal Police Department on its investigation.”
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The safety of Rivian’s factory in Normal, Illinois, became a source of scrutiny in 2024 after a Bloomberg News report detailed 16 “serious” violations levied on the company across that year and the one prior.
Automotive factories are notoriously dangerous, though, and Rivian has received just one violation at the Illinois manufacturing plant since that report was published. OSHA even told Bloomberg at the time that Rivian “has improved their safety and health team and are very cooperative with the OSHA process.”
Rivian assembles its flagship R1 pickup truck, R1 SUV, and commercial electric van, known as the EDV, at its 4.3-million-square-foot factory in Normal. The company is expanding the space by another 1.1 million square feet to make room for its next EV, the R2. Once complete, the factory will have capacity to assemble 215,000 vehicles.
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This story has been updated with a comment from Rivian.
Depending who you ask, 3D pens are silly toys or handy tools. Those who use them as tools find them handy to fill gaps in printed assemblies or to use them as a PLA or PETG-based hot glue gun for their prints. [half-baked-research] on YouTube is in the second category, but knows that welding is better than gluing — so he built himself a 3D pen designed for plastic welding.
You can weld with a regular 3D pen, and [half-baked] demonstrates that in the video. But thanks to the low-conductivity tips on commercial pens, it’s a slow, fiddly business. By using a normal 3D printer hot-end, with its conductive brass nozzle, [half-baked] is able to get a lot more heat where it’s needed. That means the plastic on either side of the weld melts for a good bond with the stuff coming out the nozzle. He’s also able to push plastic much faster with the modified extruder he’s squeezed into the hot-glue-gun looking contraption. Those two things together conspire to make the whole process go much faster than with a commercial 3D pen. He calls his build a 3D pen, but given the form factor it might be more accurate to call it a ‘plastic extrusion gun’.
Starting at around 13:38 in the video, he performs some strength tests, something we wish more YouTubers would do. He’s able to demonstrate a stronger bond with his welding pen than the normal 3D pen, and a much, much stronger join than the usual superglue. A traditional plastic weld with hot air is even stronger, but [half-baked] points out elsewhere in the video that on thin-walled prints (as opposed to the solid test articles) hot air welding can be a very dicey business. Pen-welding offers much greater control, so is an interesting technique to keep in mind.
Alas, [half-baked-research] apparently still considers this idea too half-baked to release the design. If you don’t have time to wait or reinvent this particular wheel, we featured a much simpler implementation of a similar idea years ago, using PLA in a hot glue gun. If that won’t work for you — maybe you aren’t a fan of PLA — perhaps you might try friction welding with filament.
Watch Wrexham vs Chelsea live streams to see if the in-form Championship club can overcome their Premier League opponents and reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in almost 30 years.
Four years ago, this fixture would have been seen as a walkover for Chelsea. But after three consecutive promotions and in the midst of another excellent campaign, Wrexham now present a serious challenge for the eight-time winners of the FA Cup.
Phil Parkinson’s side are in the Championship play-off places and appear to be coming into form at just the right time. They currently have a four-point cushion over the chasing pack thanks to a run of three straight victories and will be determined to keep this streak going against Chelsea.
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They’ll certainly present a challenge for the Chelsea defenders, having shown their attacking quality last month when putting five past Ipswich Town, who arrived in Wrexham with the best defence in the league.
However, they did concede three in that game and there is no doubt that the likes of Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and João Pedro provide the sort of attacking quality that is a cut above Championship level. Liam Rosenior will also see the FA Cup as a realistic opportunity to win his first piece of silverware as a manager.
Here’s where to watch Wrexham vs Chelsea FA Cup 5th Round live streams online from anywhere.
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How to watch Wrexham vs Chelsea for free
Wrexham vs Chelsea: Team news
TBC
How to watch Wrexham vs Chelsea using a VPN
A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it’s back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with a 74% discount.
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How to watch Wrexham vs Chelsea live streams in the US
ESPN Select will broadcast Wrexham vs Chelseain the US.
A standalone subscription costs $12.99 a month or $129.99 a year, but you can also get their ESPN Unlimited package that includes everything ESPN has to offer. Or you can watch through the Disney Plus/Hulu/ESPN bundle, which costs from $19.99.
Of course, most broadcasters have streaming services that you can access through mobile apps or via your phone’s browser. For example, the BBC iPlayer app in the UK.
You can also stay up-to-date with all key moments from the EPL on the official social media channels on X/Twitter (@EmiratesFACup), Instagram (@emiratesfacup), TikTok (@emiratesfacup) and YouTube (@TheFACup).
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
In a bumper week of launches, Apple has just unveiled its latest MacBook Air series.
As the MacBook Air now sports the same M5 chip as the MacBook Pro, what really separates the laptops? Do you really need to spend more on the MacBook Pro?
To help you decide which laptop to should go for, we’ve compared the specs of the MacBook Air M5 and Pro M5 below.
We should disclaim that we’ll be looking solely at the MacBook Pro M5 specs, and not the recently announced M5 Pro or M5 Max. However, if you’re interested to learn more about the new chips in the MacBook Pro, then visit MacBook Pro M5 Pro vs M5 Max instead.
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Keep reading to see which MacBook will likely suit your needs best. Otherwise, make sure you visit our MacBook Neo vs MacBook Air M5 guide to see whether Apple’s affordable option is a better fit for you.
Not sold on a MacBook? Our list of the best laptops from the past year has you covered.
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Price and Availability
At the time of writing, you can pre-order the MacBook Air M5 ahead of its official launch from March 11th. Available in four colours (Sky Blue, Silver, Midnight and Starlight), the MacBook Air M5 has a starting price of £1099/$1099.
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The MacBook Pro M5 is available in just two colours (Silver and Space Black) and has a starting price of £1699/$1699.
MacBook Air has a choice between two sizes
The MacBook Air M5 comes as either a 13- or 15-inch model, while the MacBook Pro M5 sits firmly between the two at 14-inches. Although the MacBook Air 15-inch is the largest, the heaviest of the lot is actually the MacBook Pro which weighs 1.55kg.
With this in mind, if one of the most important factors in choosing a laptop is its portability, then the MacBook Air series will likely suit you best. In fact, the 13-inch MacBook Air isn’t just the smallest of the lot, but at just 1.23kg it’s impressively lightweight too – making it easy to slip into a bag.
MacBook Air M5. Image Credit (Apple)
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Both run on Apple’s M5 chip
As their titles suggest, Apple’s current flagship MacBook Air and MacBook Pro run on the M5 chip. While we’re yet to review the chip, Apple promises that the chip delivers “incredible performance for everything users want to tackle, from everyday productivity to creative workflows.”
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Do keep in mind that the default 13-inch MacBook Air comes with an 8-core GPU whereas the 15-inch model and MacBook Pro have a 10-core GPU by default. You can upgrade the 13-inch to a 10-core, but this will cost an additional £100/$100.
Otherwise, the M5 chip enables the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro to run the entire Apple Intelligence toolkit too.
MacBook Pro M5 Writing Tools. Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
MacBook Pro promises a longer battery life
The MacBook Pro not only claims a longer battery life between charges than the MacBook Air series, but it also promises faster charging too. That’s a pretty noteworthy claim, as Apple has never been a brand known for its speedy charging ability.
So, while the MacBook Air promises up to 15 hours of wireless web and up to 18 hours of video streaming, the MacBook Pro should see up to 16 hours of web and up to a whopping 24 hours of streaming too. We’re yet to put these claims to the test, but they undoubtedly sound impressive.
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In addition, the MacBook Pro is fast-charge capable when paired with a 96W or higher power source. The MacBook Air, on the other hand, supports 70W instead.
Again, we’re yet to see how long the laptops really take the charge, but it’s certainly a promising upgrade.
MacBook Pro M5. Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
MacBook Pro has more ports
Apple has taken a “less is more” approach when it comes to supplying the MacBook Air series with ports, which is undoubtedly a shame. That means both the 13- and 15-inch laptops are equipped with just two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MagSafe charger. This is more or less the same as the MacBook Neo, although the affordable laptop’s USB-Cs aren’t Thunderbolt 4.
Instead, the MacBook Pro is equipped with everything found on the MacBook Air plus an additional Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, a HDMI and an SDXC card slot too. It might not be as well equipped as the likes of Asus ProArt P16 or Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Pro, but it’s certainly an improvement over the MacBook Air.
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MacBook Pro has a Liquid Retina XDR display
Arguably one of the main reasons to opt for the MacBook Pro is its display. While the MacBook Air’s Liquid Retina display promises up to 500 nits brightness, supports the P3 wide colour gamut and True Tone technology, the MacBook Pro’s own panel has a few extra features up its sleeve.
Firstly, the MacBook Pro sports a Liquid Retina XDR display which also supports the P3 wide colour gamut and True Tone technology. However, the panel also benefits from 3024×1964 pixels, up to 1600 nits peak HDR brightness and ProMotion technology. Essentially, this means the MacBook Pro has an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate which means streaming, scrolling and games look and feel smoother. The MacBook Air instead caps out at just 60Hz.
MacBook Pro M5. Image Credit (Apple)
Finally, you’ll also have the option to kit the MacBook Pro with a nano-texture coating which helps to reduce glare and reflections. Although it will cost an additional £150/$150, it’s something we would recommend investing in, as we found the coating in the MacBook Pro M4 was brilliant, and made looking at the screen for longer periods that bit easier.
Early Verdict
Judging by its specs, the MacBook Air M5 seems like a brilliant alternative to the MacBook Pro M5, for those who want a powerful laptop but for a cheaper price. However, you’ll have to keep in mind that you will miss out on the more generous port selection, a Liquid Retina XDR display and longer battery life.
We’ll update this versus once we review both the MacBook Air M5 and MacBook Pro M5.
There’s a lot to love about popcorn: the crunch, its customizable nature and especially the fact that it’s a great source of fiber. Plus, it’s even healthier if you air-pop it without using any oil. But if you, like me and don’t have a popcorn maker, you’re likely to make it in a pot on the stove.
However, the last time I made popcorn, I looked over at my air fryer and wondered if I could pop popcorn in it. When I went online to search for an answer, I couldn’t find a conclusive response, so I decided to reach out to an air fryer manufacturer and professional chefs for their expert advice.
Well, technically it can, but that doesn’t mean it should.
“At Ninja, we’re always testing the boundaries of what our technology can do, and popcorn in an air fryer is something our culinary and product development teams have explored. However, we advise against trying to make popcorn in an air fryer,” a Ninja Kitchen representative tells CNET. “Air fryers circulate heat differently than traditional popcorn makers, which means kernels don’t reach the sustained heat needed in the required time.”
Because popcorn is lightweight, Sharniquia White, chef and registered dietitian, explains that if you try to make it in an air fryer, it can fly up into the device’s heating element, get stuck near the fan, burn from uneven airflow and leave you with a frustrating amount of unpopped kernels. All cons, no pros.
Given the safety hazards and unsatisfying results, you’ll want to avoid using an air fryer for popcorn. At least until the technology catches up.
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While air fryers such as the Ninja Crispi Pro can roast an entire chicken, they can’t pop popcorn just yet.
Ninja
Pro chefs on the best way to make popcorn
Since the air fryer is out for popcorn, I asked my chef sources for their recommendations on making the best popcorn.
White says that the stovetop wins every time if you want a fluffy texture, rich flavor and full expansion of your kernels. She provides these handy instructions for getting the best results:
Add 2-3 kernels to test if the oil is hot enough. When they pop, add ½ cup kernels.
Cover and gently shake the pot occasionally.
Remove from heat when popping slows.
You control the oil, the salt and the outcome.
However, if you make popcorn all the time, plant-based chef Shauna McQueen, MS, RD, founder of Food School, recommends purchasing a low-cost pan with a lid you can crank to move the popcorn kernels around.
“The other option is automatic and will self-stir the kernels,” McQueen adds. “I’ve used both and have had to replace both within a few years of use, but find the automatic one most convenient.”
As for the healthiest way to make popcorn…
“If you’re reaching for the air fryer because you want to use less oil, you’re thinking in the right direction,” White says. “However, an inexpensive air popper or a measured stovetop method is more reliable and safer. Popcorn is already a whole-grain, fiber-rich snack. The goal isn’t to eliminate oil entirely; it’s to be intentional about how much you use and what you add.”
Whether you pop it on the stove or buy a device that air-pops your popcorn, it’s best to avoid microwave popcorn. According to McQueen, it may contain additives like TBHQ, which is used to extend the shelf life of processed foods. While the FDA considers it safe in appropriate amounts, it has been linked to potential health issues.
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If you want less oil on your popcorn, you may want to invest in an air popper. Or, be more intentional about the toppings you use.
Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images
The healthiest popcorn toppings
If extra flavor is what you’re after, McQueen suggests the following anti-inflammatory toppings: curry powder, cayenne, garlic powder or chili powder. For a cheesy flavor plus B-vitamins, opt for nutritional yeast. Her favorites include a curry-style popcorn made with curry powder, garlic powder and a small amount of nutritional yeast; chili powder with lime and za’atar; or everything bagel seasoning.
As for White, she likes adding smoked paprika, cinnamon with a pinch of salt, fresh lime zest and sea salt or dried dill, “for an unexpected herb twist.”
The bottom line
Though it’s tempting, you shouldn’t make popcorn in your air fryer. Instead, use what you already have on hand and prepare it on the stovetop.
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If you can’t get enough of the stuff and make it all the time, consider these options that are under $50: a stovetop popcorn maker or an oil-free air popper.
Either way, to keep your popcorn as healthy as possible, go light on the oil, butter and salt. Personally, I’ll be topping mine with chili powder, lime and za’atar next time my popcorn craving strikes, which will likely be in a few minutes after writing this tasty piece.
There’s a reason we’re called WIRED. If there’s one thing most of today’s gadgets have in common, it’s that they typically need to be plugged in from time to time. But all those cables, cords, and wires can be tough to manage. They don’t have to end up in a tangled nest under your desk; you can bring order to the cable chaos.
As a gadget reviewer, I have more cords than most people, which is why I also have a regimented cable management strategy to keep everything orderly. Here are my tips and product recommendations for hiding those cords and power strips, and keeping your desktop tidy.
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Planning and Prep
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Start by surveying the scene, unplugging and untangling everything, and removing anything that doesn’t need to be there. You might be surprised to find a stray USB-B or Micro-USB you haven’t used in years in the mix. Before you get started on cable management, take a slightly damp microfiber cloth and wipe down all the surfaces and cables. Now, you can start planning routes and figuring out which cables it would make sense to bundle together.
Ideally, cables will be the exact required length, so if you have spares or you don’t mind snagging some new cables, it’s worth switching and getting as close as possible to exact lengths to reduce the excess cable you have to hide. If you have a standing desk, remember to take into account the cable length required for a standing position (trust me, dear reader, it’s no fun when you hit stand on the desk and it pulls your PC tower into the air by a DisplayPort cable that is now forever stuck in that port).
Cable Management
Tidying your tech often comes back to cable management, but there are several ways to keep those cords neatly out of sight. Many desks have channels, grommets, and power strip trays built-in, so have a quick look to make sure you’re using what’s available. Some monitor arms also have built-in cable management. You also likely have a bunch of cable ties in your junk drawer or toolbox, so gather them together.
‘Our world is full of these wild ghosts’: Werner Herzog’s new National Geographic documentary gives a rare glimpse of some of the world’s most elusive animals
When Dr Steve Boyes first saw himself in Werner Herzog’s new film Ghost Elephants at the Venice International Film Festival in August last year, he saw an intensity within himself that he didn’t always realize was there.
The conservation biologist and National Geographic Explorer has devoted the past decade of his life to finding a mysterious, elusive herd of elephants in the highlands of Angola with such dedication that it immediately caught the attention of Herzog, who has since chronicled the epic journey in a National Geographic documentary.
“Watching it I thought, ‘wow — I look completely deranged’,” Boyes told TechRadar. For the record, Boyes is anything but deranged. He was more so referring to Herzog’s filmmaking style, which often focuses on chasing what the director calls “static truth” through protagonists with obsessive, almost mythic passions.
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Boyes fits the bill perfectly. He’s dedicated his life to pursuing these animals long believed to be a myth, and runs one of the largest land based scientific, exploration programs with National Geographic in the world.
“We’ve discovered more than 300 new species and mapped major wetlands and water systems across Africa. But despite that I still spend most of my time on expeditions sitting around fires eating rice and beans sleeping under the stars. I’m supposed to be chairman of several organizations but I always joke that I’m still working on the factory floor,” Boyes said.
Ghost Elephants | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films – YouTube
Despite not having seen may of Herzog’s acclaimed documentaries (the two biggest are Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo), Boyes immediately hit it off with the filmmaker after a meeting in “the strangest place imaginable”.
That place was a restaurant in Beverly Hills, where the two didn’t just talk about Boyes’ search for the elephants but the meaning of life, philosophy and even their personal experiences of loneliness.
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“Eventually [Herzog] came to Namibia as a creative adviser. I’d invited him out at the last minute after we received a small grant from National Geographic. Within the first two days it became clear to everyone that he needed to tell this story himself. And then this unstoppable creative force just took over.”
One of the few Herzog documentaries that Boyes remembers most is Grizzly Man, which funnily enough follows a very similar story to his own about a conservationist that lived with wild grizzly bears on an Alaskan reserve.
It’s these stories stories centered around obsession that tend to gravitate towards Herzog in a peculiar way, Boyes reveals. “Werner has a funny way of describing how stories come to him. He says it’s like hearing a noise downstairs in your kitchen and realizing that someone has broken in and when you go down there you find four burglars and one big one runs straight at you and that’s the story you have to deal with. That’s the film you make.”
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This intangible link also extends to Ghost Elephants, which showcases how cutting-edge tools like motion heat-sensing cameras failed where the wisdom of Indigenous master trackers succeeded.
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“Technology is really about measurement. Cameras and acoustic sensors are measuring things. Even a photograph is just a measurement of a moment. But it’s incredibly limiting. We tried everything. Camera traps, acoustic sensors listening for elephants, drones, satellite imagery. None of it worked.
“When the master trackers joined us, everything changed. Someone like [a master tracker] interacts with an elephant footprint the way we interact with a human face. He sees a track once and then again the next day and instantly recognizes it as the same individual. Very quickly he starts naming the elephants and building stories about them,” Boyes said.
The documentary isn’t just about finding an elusive animal, it’s about spotlighting what Boyes believes is the most endangered human resource on the planet right now: traditional ecological knowledge. “Our world is full of these wild ghosts,” Boyes revealed.
Ghost Elephants will premiere on National Geographic on March 7, and be available to stream the following day on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally).
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
Samsung has been quietly cooking up smart glasses since 2023, and at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, executive vice president Jay Kim finally let some details slip to CNBC. Not everything — Samsung isn’t that generous — but enough to understand what the company is actually building.
Here’s the confirmed bit: the glasses will have a camera positioned at eye level. That camera feeds what you’re looking at directly to a connected Galaxy smartphone, which handles all the processing and sends useful information back to you. The glasses are the eyes; your phone is the brain.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Glasses as the eyes, phone as the brain
It’s a smart way to keep the hardware light without compromising on capability, and it’s essentially the same approach Meta took with the Ray-Ban glasses — which currently own a majority of the smart glasses market, so the playbook clearly works.
What Kim wouldn’t confirm is whether the glasses have a built-in display. When pressed, he pointed to Samsung’s watches and phones for anyone needing a screen — which is about as close to a “no” as you’ll get without actually saying it.
A separate report suggests a display-equipped version might arrive in 2027, making this year’s model more of a camera-and-AI-first experience.
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Gemini AI
Will there be a display?
The bigger pitch is what the AI actually does with what it sees. Samsung wants the glasses to catch you glancing at a restaurant menu and translate it, look at a landmark and tell you its history, or quietly handle tasks — booking, messaging, navigating — without you fishing your phone out of your pocket.
Qualcomm and Google have been in the room since 2023 helping build the chips and software to make that happen.
As for when all this actually lands, Kim said Samsung wants something out for industry this year, and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon echoed the same 2026 commitment at the same event. A specific date? Still anyone’s guess — but given how much Samsung showed its hand at MWC, it probably isn’t far off.
A case for the Pixel 11 Pro XL has already shown up online
We may get a bigger but thinner camera bar
These handsets could well be launching around August time
The chunky camera bar sitting around the back of Google‘s flagship Pixel phones certainly makes them stand out, but it seems there may be a design tweak on the way with the Pixel 11 series that’s expected later this year.
Case maker ThinBorne (via Android Authority) has already posted a listing for a Pixel 11 Pro XL case, which gives us some idea of what might be coming. The case design suggests the phone’s camera bar may cover a slightly larger area, and protrude a little less.
Take a peek at our Pixel 10 Pro XL review, and you’ll see the rear camera island does stick out a fair bit from the phone. That’s partly to enable features like the 5x optical zoom, but the additional thickness isn’t to everyone’s tastes.
In 2026 it appears that Google may have found a way to trim down on this protrusion without affecting the camera specs too much — although of course we don’t know yet which cameras the Pixel 11 handsets are going to be fitted with.
To be confirmed
The Pixel 10a, without a camera bar (Image credit: Google)
Bear in mind that this updated design is far from confirmed, although case makers do often get a heads up from manufacturers about the dimensions of upcoming devices, so that the cases can be ready to go on launch day.
This is almost the first Pixel 11 leak to appear, although there was talk a few months ago about changes that may be coming with the Tensor G6 chipset — the processor that’s expected to be fitted inside all of these phones.
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If Google follows the same approach as last year, we’ll get a Pixel 11, a Pixel 11 Pro, a Pixel 11 Pro XL, and a Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The current Pixel 10 flagships were unveiled in August, so their successors are likely to appear around then as well.
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We’ve also just had the launch of the mid-range Google Pixel 10a, which — like the Pixel 9a before it — eschews the classic Pixel camera bump for a flat back casing. We’ll have to wait and see which direction the Pixel design team goes in next.
Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes went bankrupt and was acquired by Life Electric Vehicles Holdings of Florida. (Rad Power Bikes Photo)
Robert Provost has big plans for Rad Power Bikes, the recently bankrupt Seattle-based electric bike maker that he thinks can reclaim its industry dominance — and grow even larger.
In an interview with GeekWire on Friday, Provost, the CEO of South Florida-based Life Electric Vehicles Holdings, Inc., laid out an ambitious roadmap to overhaul Rad following his company’s acquisition of the startup’s assets, which closed this week.
“It’s not a continuation of Rad Power, more like a phoenix,” Provost said. “The rebirth.”
Under a new corporate entity called Rad Life Mobility, owned by Life EV Holdings, Provost said offers have been extended to re-hire 95% of employees who were laid off as part the bankruptcy process. Many of them are based in the Seattle area where Rad grew over the years.
Provost said about 70 people have accepted so far and he wants to hear from anyone who may have been missed — even former employees who helped build Rad during its heyday before and during the pandemic.
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“We acquired all the digital assets, all the tangible assets. It was up to us on the workforce, we could actually hire them or not,” he said. “So we made the decision to go ahead and hire them. They’ve done a really great job.”
Provost said Life EV added another 15 or 20 of its people to Rad Life Mobility, including a new president, Salt Lake City-based Jim Brown, a Life EV investor who has extensive automotive dealership retail experience with Larry H. Miller Automotive Group in Utah.
“Some of the front office will be in person in Utah, but we are maintaining Seattle,” Provost said.
Based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., Life Electric Vehicles Holdings — publicly traded on the OTC market as LFEV — is a micro-mobility platform company focused on acquiring and scaling established e-bike brands. In November 2023, it acquired Serial 1, the in-house electric bicycle company originally started by motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson.
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While Rad takes on a new corporate identity, the Rad Power Bikes branding will continue on bikes, products and retail locations. And despite the struggles it encountered, Provost thinks there is still a lot of value in the brand.
“We’re all excited,” Provost said. “It was No. 1. It was the highest-valued electric-bike-only company in the U.S. Our goal is get it back to that value, if not beyond that.”
Speaking during a Zoom call from his Florida office, Provost could hardly slow down while listing all that he and Life EV hope to accomplish with Rad Life Mobility, including:
Bike assembly: Provost plans to shift Rad from a traditional overseas manufacturing model to a “just-in-time” U.S.-based assembly process to lower costs and manage inventory. While parts will still be sourced globally, final assembly will move to a 100,000-square-foot facility in the central U.S. Provost noted the company will utilize a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) structure to mitigate the tariff burdens that plagued previous management. “We build only a few weeks out. It’s more of a just-in-time type of production,” he said.
Distribution and logistics: Provost called the reliance on third-party logistics and the associated costs a primary reason for Rad’s previous financial struggles. “We don’t need [3PL] because we’re managing that side of it,” he said. “We clean all that up, Rad becomes immediately profitable.”
Retail stores: Seven Rad stores will remain open in the U.S., including the flagship store in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Provost said he was sad to see stores close in Vancouver, B.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla., earlier this year. Re-opening in Florida is a priority and getting Vancouver back would be nice, he said, adding that opening new Rad stores in at least 24 other key U.S. markets is the goal. Provost also said previous margins “weren’t sufficient” to dealers that carried Rad bikes and a new program “will have pricing that will be very attractive to them.”
Battery replacement program: Provost said the new company will take care of customers with Rad bikes and batteries impacted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s warning last fall, about potential fire hazards. “We’re going to put a program in to go ahead and replace those batteries for everyone, at like a 50% discount,” he said. “We will make sure it’s a Safe Shield Battery — the newer product. It’s gonna take us a little time to get that done.”
Another acquisition: “There’s another company we’re looking at that is actually a perfect complement to Rad Power. We’re most likely going to acquire that company, in the next week or so,” Provost said, adding that he couldn’t share a name yet but that he thinks it’s a company everybody knows.
(Rad Power Bikes Photo)
Rad Power Bikes launched in 2015 with a direct-to-consumer model and sub-$2,000 e-bikes aimed at casual riders, and in short time became a high-flying startup in Seattle.
The company saw demand surge nearly 300% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rad raised more than $300 million in 2021 and branded itself as North America’s largest e-bike seller.
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But the momentum faded in 2022 as demand cooled and a series of missteps and macroeconomic challenges led to more than seven rounds of layoffs.
The startup, originally founded by e-bike tinkerer Mike Radenbaugh and longtime friend Ty Collins, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2025 following surprising news in November that the company was fighting for survival as it faced “significant financial challenges.”
In its bankruptcy filing, Rad revealed a steady drop in gross revenue — from $129.8 million in 2023 to $103.8 million in 2024, and $63.3 million toward the end of 2025. The company reported total liabilities of nearly $73 million, more than double its assets of $32 million.
Rad’s assets were acquired by Life EV for $13.2 million, which Provost called a deal in relation to its onetime valuation of $1.65 billion. He said that the Life EV ownership group was ready to bid higher — and it’s prepared to spend far more to revitalize the brand.
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Backed by a group of over 200 private shareholders and “very significant entrepreneurs,” Provost described the investor group as having “extremely deep pockets.”
The new Rad will still face some of the industry issues that caught up to the old Rad, chiefly that competition is much stiffer now than it was 10 years ago and the market has become saturated with a wide variety of e-bike brands.
But Provost said the company intends to introduce new products, build up sufficient inventory, make the company profitable and get everyone from investors to employees excited again. Not to mention Rad riders.
“The most important part out of this conversation, for me, is to let the Rad community know we are there for them,” Provost said. “We are going to support them 100%.”
Developer Embark Studios has acknowledged that Arc Raiders’ Discord SDK logged more user data than intended and issued a hotfix to address the problem. The studio says Discord logging has now been disabled while the team investigates to ensure no deeper issues remain. Read Entire Article Source link
