Providence Technology Group

If California’s state payroll system were a person, it would be nearing its 70th birthday this year. Like some septuagenarians, the payroll system periodically finds itself struggling to keep pace in the modern age. Unions, workers and lawmakers alike have taken turns over the years bashing the system for delays in payroll changes and occasional pay mistakes. In the last six years, two different state worker unions have either taken or threatened legal action against the state due to delayed raises. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

Modern cars are often described as “computers on wheels.” They come with automated driver assistance systems, large display screens, Internet connections and a multitude of ways to sync with smartphones. Yet in the rush to innovate and one-up competitors with ever newer technology, things may have gone too far. Some developments have made driving safer, but others veer toward tech excess that can actually harm drivers. Cars in the current generation can be pricier to repair, harder to understand and operate and, some experts in the field say, more likely to cause distraction and driver disengagement. And a report released last week now suggests that some new car tech also poses a major threat to data privacy. The new report was issued by the Mozilla Foundation, an Internet-focused nonprofi...[Read More]

Digital driver’s licenses are finally coming to California. If you’re a California resident, you can download California’s new DMV wallet application on your phone to scan your physical driver’s license or ID card and turn it into a mobile driver’s license, or “mDL.” You can use the mDL at participating airports across the country and select retail locations. The California DMV recently expanded its mobile driver’s license program, which was restricted to a few thousand participants in August. For now, signups are limited to 1.5 million state residents during the pilot phase. In January, Gov. Gavin Newson teased that digital IDs would be coming to his home state in a matter of months. Keep Reading This Article at CNET

How Capital Region creatives are adapting to generative AI If you could create an image of anything in the world, what would it be? The house you lived in when you were six? A design for a new wine label? An oil painting of your dog dressed as Napoleon? Generative artificial intelligence has made this a possibility. AI can create images and graphics, edit copy and even provide insightful advice on how to find purpose in life, all in a matter of seconds with just a few prompts from the user. AI technology is not new. From Face ID to unlock your phone to your customized Amazon and Netflix recommendations, the technology is already widely used in order to create a more personal experience for the user and help humans and machines work together more seamlessly. But generative AI takes it to th...[Read More]

The local chapter of the Project Management Institute, PMI-SVC, is holding their Project Manager Career Fair on Friday, September 1.  This is a great opportunity to network wiht other project managers as well as hiring managers. The Career Fair will be from 9:00AM – 3:00PM at the Rancho Cordova City Hall.  If you are interested in attending as a job seeker, please join us!  Lunch will be provided for attendees and employers/recruiters. Please register if you plan on attending this no-cost event, especially if you’d like lunch. Location: Rancho Cordova City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670 For more information about the PMI Sacramento Valley Chapter, please visit www.pmi-svc.org Bring your resume and prepare to network. See you Friday.

FOUR YEARS AFTER it was formed, the US Space Force has begun deploying its first satellite network. For the military, it marks a significant shift from relying on a handful of powerful, expensive satellites to a swarm of smaller, cheaper ones. From the Pentagon’s perspective, they’ll be a harder target for rivals to strike; a missile or a laser attack might take out an individual satellite, but would do little to weaken a whole swarm. Keep Reading This Article at Wired

The state’s leading consumer privacy agency is throwing its support behind a bill built to bolster protections around Californians’ online data. SB 362, also known as the “Delete Act,” would create a portal for residents to remove personal data that’s been collected by data brokers, from purchase history to internet browsing habits. There are currently 486 data brokers registered in the state of California, which aggregate and sell personal data to third parties. Many times, the information is only used for targeted ads, but state Sen. Josh Becker, who introduced the bill, worries about other potential uses. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com

Thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables, already in place across California, can shake up the study of earthquakes. New research out of Caltech used a section of telecommunication fiber to sense and measure a magnitude 6 earthquake, repurposing the assemblies to extract sharper details about the temblor. Zhongwen Zhan, professor of physics at Caltech, said the same fiber optic network used for internet and television can serve as a dense network of makeshift seismometers in a method called DAS, distributed acoustic sensing. Keep reading This Article at the East Bay Times

HAYWARD – Officials in the city of Hayward announced that the city’s internal computer network has been restored following a ransomware attack that took systems down earlier this month. In a statement Thursday, city officials said the network was brought back on Tuesday, more than two weeks after the cyberattack was first discovered. “The restored network ties together computer systems on which departments and divisions of City government normally rely for general municipal operations—each of which themselves has had to be painstakingly assessed, restored and brought back into service,” the city said in a statement. Keep Reading This Article at CBS News

Artificial intelligence is fast encroaching upon every area of our lives, and it seems like there’s no stopping it. This technology is proving particularly game-changing in the world of business, where it’s enabling data-driven decision-making, automation, and improved customer experiences. With things moving so fast, and so many sources of information available, we’ve gathered these up-to-date AI statistics to give you a snapshot of AI in 2023. Keep reading for fascinating insights on who is using AI, how they are using it, and how it’s impacting the workplace. Keep Reading This Article at Techopedia

In the wake of companies like Waymo and Cruise expanding their autonomous vehicle services to San Francisco, citizens have taken a unique approach to protest by placing traffic cones on the hoods of these vehicles. Videos of the group, who call themselves “Safe Street Rebel,” have gone viral on Twitter and TikTok, attracting both support and criticism from users. The companies that own these vehicles are, however, not pleased with the attention, considering it an act of vandalism. Keep Reading This Article at Interesting Engineering

Whether it’s picking a meetup location for a hike, choosing a campground from miles away or finding help if you stranded off the beaten path, California State Parks has announced a new tool that’s as simple as three words. New innovative location technology — known as what3words — will now be used throughout the state parks system. This revolutionary technology pinpoints exact locations through the app, giving users the ability to communicate precisely where they are or intend to be. Keep Reading This Article at MSN.com