Providence Technology Group

From apps to robots, technology is playing a key role in the fight against the Los Angeles wildfires. A computer simulation of a fire as it spreads, designed to give insight to crews on the scene, was created by the San Jose State University Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC). Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

Of all the rich and powerful people cozying up to President-elect Donald Trump, few have rushed to Mar-a-Lago faster than the crowned heads of big tech, including California’s own chiefs of Google and Meta. And few have a stronger motive to curry Trump’s favor than Silicon Valley: The fate of the H-1B visa program that permits foreign-born computer scientists, engineers and other highly skilled workers to migrate to the United States hangs in the balance. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

The University of California, Davis will be part of a new, $285 million nationwide institute dedicated to advancing research and manufacturing of American semiconductors. The new institute, known as SMART USA (Semiconductor Manufacturing and Advanced Research with Twins USA) will develop, validate and use digital twins to improve domestic semiconductor design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, assembly and test processes. Keep Reading This Article at UC Davis.edu

Undocumented orphaned wells pose hazards to both the environment and the climate. Scientists are building modern tools to help locate, assess, and pave the way for ultimately plugging these forgotten relics. Scattered across the United States are remnants from almost 170 years of commercial drilling: hundreds of thousands of forgotten oil and gas wells. These undocumented orphaned wells (UOWs) are not listed in formal records, and they have no known (or financially solvent) operators. They are often out of sight and out of mind—a hazardous combination. Keep Reading This Article at Phys.org  

  In a strategic move to streamline operations and recover from financial losses, Intel Corporation announced plans to sell its Folsom campus and lease back a portion of the space under new ownership. This decision, part of a broader cost-cutting strategy, comes after significant layoffs and industry challenges over the past two years. The 150-acre campus, located at Prairie City Road and Highway 50, has been a hub of Intel’s operations since 1984. Once home to approximately 10,000 employees, the site now houses fewer than 5,000 workers across its 1.6 million square feet of office space, laboratories, and testing centers. Despite downsizing, Intel confirmed the Folsom campus will remain operational, with the sale and leaseback approach ensuring a more efficient use of space. Keep Read...[Read More]

Growing up as the only hearing child in an all-Deaf family — a circumstance he says is rarer than being struck by lightning twice — Thibault Duchemin was always translating. From phone calls to doctor’s appointments, he often served as the de facto bridge between his parents and sister and the hearing world. That’s something he says a lot of CODAs (children of deaf adults) end up doing, since live interpreters can be prohibitively expensive.  Keep Reading This Article at University of California

After years of missed deadlines and documented safety issues surrounding the rollout of California’s Next Generation 911 system, project insiders are now speaking out, saying they feel compelled to warn the public about “major problems” with the years-long overhaul that has cost Californians nearly a half-billion dollars and counting. Keep Reading This Article at NBC Bay Area

Fresh waves of layoffs are poised to eliminate the jobs of several hundred tech workers in the Bay Area, a disquieting series of setbacks that suggest the wobbly sector’s staffing reductions have yet to run their course. The current cutbacks for the Bay Area tech industry are slated to eliminate more than 400 jobs, according to this news organization’s compilation of official WARN letters that several companies have sent to the state’s labor agency. Amazon, Dropbox, GoPro, Article and Visa are the most recent companies to slash tech jobs in the Bay Area, WARN letters on file with the California Employment Development Department show. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

Climate change is making farm work more difficult and dangerous. But workers worry technology could lead to further exploitation. Jeremy Ford hates wasting water. As a mist of rain sprinkled the fields around him in Homestead, Florida, Ford bemoaned how expensive it had been running a fossil fuel-powered irrigation system on his 5-acre farm — and how bad it was for the planet. Earlier this month, Ford installed an automated underground system that uses a solar-powered pump to periodically saturate the roots of his crops, saving “thousands of gallons of water,” he estimated. Although they may be more costly up-front, he sees such climate-friendly investments as a necessary expense — and more affordable than expanding his workforce of two. It’s “much more efficient,” said Ford. “We’ve tried ...[Read More]

Adventist Health Rideout shares dramatic ‘door-in-door-out’ data since implementing tool called Viz.ai UC Davis Health partner hospital Adventist Health and Rideout (AHRO) has dramatically cut the time it takes to transfer stroke patients to specialty care thanks to a new artificial intelligence tool. The Marysville, California hospital launched the new tool, called Viz.ai in May. As a result, AHRO’s stroke program reduced what’s known as door-in-door-out time from an average of 202 minutes in 2023 to 109 minutes now.Door-in-door-out time measures how long it takes for a patient to be transferred from one hospital to another for specialty care. It is an important metric, as stroke care is time sensitive. Keep Reading This Article at UC Davis Health

When the current class of college seniors started their studies four years ago, tech companies were hiring new graduates as fast as they could. Now, amid a downturn in Silicon Valley that has included thousands of layoffs, job seekers who are about to get their diplomas are scrambling to find work. The signs of trouble are easy to spot at University of California at Berkeley, usually a hotbed for tech recruiting. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

On September 28, California became the second US state to officially recognize the importance of mental privacy in state law. That pink, jelly-like, throbbing mass under your skull—a.k.a. your brain—contains all your thoughts, memories, and ideas. It controls your feelings and actions. Measuring brain activity can reveal a lot about a person—and that’s why neural data needs to be protected. Regular Checkup readers will be familiar with some of the burgeoning uses of “mind-reading” technologies. We can track brain activity with all sorts of devices, some of which measure brain waves while others track electrical activity or blood flow. Scientists have been able to translate this data into signals to help paralyzed people move their limbs or even communicate by thought alone.   Keep Rea...[Read More]