Providence Technology Group
California’s strategy to improve Caltrans worker safety? ‘Spot’ the robotic dog
Caltrans is turning to some four-legged friends to help maintain the state’s sprawling highway system. To reduce the need for human inspectors to go into potentially dangerous confined spaces, the California Department of Transportation is instead sending in “Spot,” a headless, robotic dog produced by the technology company Boston Dynamics. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com
Data centers are guzzling California’s water. We have no idea how much
Data center builders don’t tell the public how much water they use, according to a new report — and the industry is encroaching into water-stressed and vulnerable communities. The report, by the think tank Next10 and researchers at Santa Clara University, finds that planned data centers — the ganglia of artificial intelligence — are spreading to regions reliant on overtapped groundwater and strained surface water, with potentially major effects in the Central and Imperial Valleys. Keep Reading This Article at CalMatters
Why surveillance pricing bans are suddenly gaining traction this year (and not just in California)
Last year, California lawmakers backed off on a plan to do something about surveillance pricing, the practice of using someone’s personal information to determine what they pay. This year — with voters across the country facing rising inflation and an affordability crisis — lawmakers in California and in other states are cracking down. A proposed surveillance pricing ban cleared a key vote in the California Legislature Thursday. It would forbid retailers from altering prices based on information about shoppers like their age, gender, or location. Keep Reading This Article at CalMatters
The newest AI boom pitch: Host a mini data center at your home
Data centers may be coming to your neighborhood as side installations associated with new homes—and in exchange would offer subsidized electricity and Internet access along with backup batteries to homeowners. The company behind the plan has already begun pilot testing in preparation for a 100-home trial run this year. The “distributed data center solution” announced by the San Francisco startup SPAN would deploy thousands of XFRA nodes that contain liquid-cooled Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs operating with minimal noise, according to a press release. By harnessing excess power capacity among US households, SPAN aims to quickly expand the available compute for AI workloads without the costs and delays associated with trying to build warehouse-size data centers. Keep Rea...[Read More]
Sacramento Battery Upstart Plugs Into Data Center Boom With New U.S.-Made Power Play
Sparkz, a Sacramento-based battery maker betting big on American manufacturing, pulled back the curtain Wednesday on its new U.S.-built lithium battery system, the SparkzCore22, at its Metro Air Park factory. Executives pitched the hardware as a compact, scalable power bank for homes and businesses that can also be clustered to support power-hungry data centers and ease strain on the electric grid. The debut doubled as the finale of a media tour during Sacramento Climate Week, putting the company’s onshoring message squarely in the spotlight. Keep Reading This Article at Hoodline.com
AI helps humans have a 20-minute ‘conversation’ with a humpback whale named Twain
In a remarkable encounter off the coast of Alaska, human scientists had what they describe as a “conversation” with a humpback whale named Twain. Dr. Brenda McCowan from the University of California Davis (UC Davis) and her team, known as Whale-SETI, have been studying how humpback whales communicate. They’re aiming to understand whale communication systems to help in the search for life beyond Earth. Keep Reading This Article at Earth.com
Welcome To The First-Ever Store Designed, Developed And Run By AI
A new retail experiment in San Francisco, Ca. is testing how far AI can go, not just as a tool, but as the boss. At 2102 Union St. in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, Andon Market, a boutique that opened April 1 (appropriately enough), an AI system named Luna is in charge, developed by Andon Labs and given a three-year lease, a $100,000 budget and access to a company credit card, then told to build and operate a profitable store. Keep Reading This Article at Forbes
Santa Clara University to open AI and human potential center
Santa Clara University will establish the Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential after receiving nearly $25 million from Nvidia executive Debora Shoquist. The center will advance research in healthcare, medical imaging, intelligent robotics, information access, and human-computer interaction, and will support faculty grants, student fellowships, hackathons, and events. Leaders expect it to serve as a collaborative hub linking academic expertise with Silicon Valley companies to develop AI tools that enhance human capability and reflect ethical values. Keep Reading This Article at Mercury News
Tech company Solidigm invests over $100M to grow operations in Rancho Cordova
As some businesses across the Greater Sacramento region are announcing layoffs and closures, one high-tech company in Rancho Cordova is actually expanding. If you’re watching a YouTube video or surfing the net, there’s a chance that data is being stored on computer drives created by the Rancho Cordova-based company, Solidigm. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com
The gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home
When Zeus, a medical student living in a hilltop city in central Nigeria, returns to his studio apartment from a long day at the hospital, he turns on his ring light, straps his iPhone to his forehead, and starts recording himself. He raises his hands in front of him like a sleepwalker and puts a sheet on his bed. He moves slowly and carefully to make sure his hands stay within the camera frame. Keep Reading This Article at MIT Technology Review
California CIO Liana Bailey-Crimmins announces retirement
California State Chief Information Officer Liana Bailey-Crimmins announced on Friday she will retire after a 38-year career in public service, stepping down from her role leading the California Department of Technology. Appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022, Bailey-Crimmins led statewide efforts to modernize infrastructure and expand digital services. Her departure marks a transition point for one of the largest state IT organizations in the country. The state has not announced a replacement. Keep Reading This Article at StateScoop