Providence Technology Group

Two of California’s top technology officials said Tuesday that a new, five-year cybersecurity “road map” will put the state government on track to a more consistent approach to securing its IT assets and critical infrastructure, including aligning cybersecurity more closely with homeland security. The “Cal-Secure” plan, which Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday, aims to expand and improve security technologies and controls, conduct broader oversight and compliance operations and fill job vacancies across a statewide enterprise with more than 150 agencies and a highly federated IT governance structure. The plan is also an extension of “Vision 2020,” an IT agenda the state implemented in 2017. While the Cal-Secure framework has been in the works for some time, its goals were greatly influence...[Read More]

For the 6th consecutive year, The City of Roseville in 2021 was selected as a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Information Technology Practices from the Municipal Information Systems Association of California (MISAC). Even with a significantly higher bar set this year in order to be awarded the coveted MISAC Excellence in IT award, thirteen MISAC member agencies received Excellence awards this year. Keep reading this article at Rosevilletoday.com.

Multinational esports organisation Gen.G has announced a partnership with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). As part of the deal, the two entities will join forces this fall to host the Colts Generational Gaming Academy at Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School in Elk Grove, Californi The 20-week after-school programme, which launches on October 4th, will feature 100 students interested in gaming engaging daily with STEM, sustainability, and innovation. Keep reading this article at esportsinsider.com.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – As millions of acres smolder and smoke billows across America, Vibrant Planet today launched its first application – called Land Tender – which catapults the country’s decades-old, paper-based land management system into the Cloud and provides land managers with the integrated, dynamic, high-resolution data and modeling they need to make more agile and informed decisions. With this new tool, land managers can plan, prioritize, and execute fire prevention and forest health projects in months rather than years, including thinning hazardous timber, clearing fuels from roadsides, and conducting prescribed burns. Keep Reading this article at tahoedailytribune.com.

Alarmed by more than a year of dysfunction and fraud in California’s unemployment benefits system, state lawmakers have sent the governor a raft of bills aimed at fixing the agency that stumbled in helping those left jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic.Legislation approved by lawmakers Thursday would require the state Employment Development Department to enact far-reaching changes recommended by a pair of state audits that found the agency was unprepared for the joblessness caused when many of the state’s businesses were shut down during the health crisis.Keep reading this article at msn.com.

Sacramento Regional Transit District’s (SacRT) light rail network claims it is the first in California to accept open-loop contactless payments. The roll-out, in collaboration with CalSTA’s and Caltrans’ California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP), began on the Green Line in late June and has been extended across all light rail trains. For this demonstration, transit-focused payment service provider Littlepay is handling payment processing at the heart of an end-to-end solution. Keep reading this article at smartcitiesworld.net

San Francisco startup Zippin, which develops technology powering checkout-free retail stores in the style of Amazon Go, has tripled its funding with a new $30 million round to scale its platform across “tens of thousands of stores” by 2025. The Series B trough — courtesy of new and existing investors OurCrowd, Maven Venture, Evolv Ventures and SAP — brings its total backing to more than $45 million. The company said the new money will fund further development of maintenance functions and time-to-deployment. Zippin’s technology facilitates entry and purchases for customers via a smartphone app and utilizes overhead cameras and shelf sensors to monitor goods… Keep reading this article at bizjournals.com.  

Smoke from several large wildfires burning in Northern California can be seen traveling miles into the atmosphere. As of Aug. 24, wildfires in Northern California—including the McCash, Antelope, River Complex, Monument, and Dixie fires—have scorched more than 1 million acres of land. The Dixie Fire, the state’s second largest in history, accounts for 731,310 acres. Keep reading this article at phys.org.

It’s safe to say that esports — multiplayer video games played for live or online spectators — and the general concept of watching people play games online have exploded in popularity in recent years. Twitch, a live-streaming platform for gaming, measured more than 9 million active streamers as of April 2021. YouTube channels for popular gamers draw tens of millions of views. Flagship publications within the gaming world have suggested that professional esports players are athletes. Even the Sacramento Kings have gotten in on the burgeoning trend with an esports facility inside Golden 1 Center and their team, Kings Guard Gaming, which plays NBA 2K in a virtual league. Keep reading this article at comstockmag.com  

As Humboldt State University gears up to welcome the first wave of students back  on Saturday, the campus released its “near-final draft” of a self-study conducted as part of the process for becoming California’s third polytechnic campus, a final version of which is slated to go before the California State University Board of Trustees for consideration in January. With the designation, HSU forecasts a rapid increase in enrollment over the next few years, growing from this fall’s student class of about 5,500 to nearly 11,000 students by 2028. And it would bring a name change, with the current recommendation being California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt — or Cal Poly Humboldt, for short. Keep reading this article at northcoastjournal.com.

California’s new stricter data privacy law takes effect January 1, 2023 but companies must be ready to provide a personal data report for the prior 12 months to any California resident — it’s one of several provisions in the new law that are not well understood but could result in massive fines. If you’re like most people, you’re probably using Google Chrome as your default browser. It’s hard to fault Google’s record on security and patching but privacy is another matter for the online ad giant. The upcoming California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) is considered a pioneer in data privacy and it strengthens the current California Consumer Privacy Act with stricter rules. Enforcement is also beefed up with the creation of the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) plus the...[Read More]

Companies like to talk about their journey in raising money and growing over time, and one waypost for such journeys is to reach the ringing bells of a stock-market debut. PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. heard those bells today, as the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange—though the initial price ended up on the low end of expectations. It looks like the company, which offers student information systems for schools, will raise about $711 million, with shares priced at $18 each (some thought the price could be as much as $20). Much of that money will apparently go toward paying off debt and covering fees related to going public, though officials say they are also putting $1 million in a donation to “philanthropic initiatives to benefit K-12 educators.” Keep reading this article a...[Read More]