Automakers have been pursuing the dream of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for decades — who wouldn’t want a car that runs on renewable hydrogen and only emits water vapor? But many challenges, from designing cars that can easily hold the fuel, to setting up reliable hydrogen distribution, have made it difficult to turn that dream into a reality. But what if you used those fuel cells to set up a remote EV charging station, or to replace a traditional gas or diesel generator for a large camp? That’s what GM is planning to do with its HYDROTEC fuel cell technology, the company announced today.

GM’s Mobile Power Generators, or MPGs, are pretty self descriptive: they’d basically let you bring large amounts of electricity anywhere without burning fossil fuels, or expanding a local power grid. It could be useful for concerts, movie sets, or neighborhoods that frequently lose power. (In my town outside of Atlanta, almost everyone owns a gas generator to deal with storm-related outages.) 

The announcement also makes plenty of sense for GM, as it’s already bringing its fuel cell technology to trucking, aerospace and rail partners. The company says the MPGs will be able to spit out 60 to 600 kilowatts without producing much noise or heat.

GM plans to show off an MPG-powered EV charging station in the middle of 2022, a project co-funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the U.S. Army. Additionally, the California Energy Commission is exploring how MPGs could help provide energy during power shutdowns. GM is also working together with Renewable Innovations to build the EMPOWER rapid charger, which could deliver fast EV charging to existing stations without the need for huge infrastructure improvements. Taking things to an even more extreme level, there’s a large MPG implementation that could potentially power large military camps and heavy-duty equipment. (And as a bonus, those camps can actually use the water the MPG emits.)

While it’ll likely be years before MPGs can actually deployed, it’s heartening to see GM explore uses for fuel cells outside of cars. Battery-powered EVs have evolved so quickly that hydrogen-powered cars don’t have much of a future (sorry, Toyota). So it’s about time we start considering other ways fuel cells could help.

Source: Engadget – GM aims to use hydrogen fuel cells for mobile power generators

President Biden is following his executive order on cybersecurity with more concrete action. The leader has signed a memorandum aiming to improve digital security for the Defense Department, the intelligence community and national security systems. The notice sets firmer requirements, both for schedules and for the technology needed to lock down government data.

The memo lets the NSA require agencies to take “specific actions” in response to threats and security flaws, and asks the NSA to coordinate with Homeland Security on directives. Agencies will also have to identify their national security systems, report incidents and secure tools that transfer data between classified and unclassified systems. The President’s move also sets timelines and guidance for implementing technologies required in the executive order, ranging from encryption to multi-factor authentication.

Biden’s move complements an order that was initially signed in response to critical infrastructure cyberattacks. In theory, this will tighten security at some of the most sensitive federal government institutions. As with the order, though, the memo can only accomplish so much without Congress’ support. Virginia Senator Mark Warner, for instance, used the signing to ask Congress to pass legislation requiring notices of critical infrastructure breaches within 72 hours.

The timing is apt, at least. The President’s effort comes as tensions rise between Russia, the US and American allies, with Ukraine blaming Russia for a string of cyberattacks that knocked out government websites. The situation might not lead to outright cyberwarfare, but the US still has a strong incentive to close as many security holes as possible.

Source: Engadget – President Biden signs memo to help improve military cybersecurity

Instagram creators are getting another way to create income from the platform: subscriptions. A very small number of influencers in the US have access to the feature for now as Instagram tests the feature.

At the outset, they’ll be able to put some livestreams and stories behind a paywall. Those stories, which can be saved to subscribers-only highlights, have a purple ring to make them stand out, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said.

As with Twitch and YouTube, subscribers will receive a purple badge next to their usernames. Creators can see the badge in comments, messages and elsewhere. As such, they’ll be able to devote more of their attention to subscribers, if they like.

More subscription features may be added in the future. Mosseri also said his team is working on ways for creators to export their subscriber lists and “bring them off of Instagram to other apps and websites built by other companies.”

Creators will be able to set a monthly price of their choosing and followers can subscribe via a button on their profile. Instagram plans to expand the test to more creators in the coming months and parent company Meta previously said it won’t take a cut of creators’ earnings until at least 2023.

“This will help creators earn more by offering benefits to their most engaged followers like access to exclusive Lives and Stories,” said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Instagram’s parent company Meta. “I’m excited to keep building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and to put these tools in more creators’ hands soon.”

Facebook added subscriptions in 2019. It seemed inevitable that, given the platform’s popularity and large number of influencers, the option would come to Instagram as well. Mosseri previously said creators would be one of Instagram’s major areas of focus this year, and subscriptions certainly play into that. It follows Instagram offering creators payouts for hitting certain livestreaming targets and other monetization features.

Last summer, Zuckerberg announced plans to invest $1 billion in creators by the end of 2022. With so many influencers finding big audiences on other platforms (many of which are investing heavily in creators), the company was left with little choice but to try and draw them to Facebook and Instagram with the promise of payouts.

Source: Engadget – Instagram starts testing creator subscriptions