Providence Technology Group

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]

In a new study, researchers at UC Davis Children’s Hospital have shown that virtual family-centered rounds are a valuable resource for families with children in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The study was published in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health. It showed that minority families, and those without college educations, particularly benefited. Overall, the virtual option increased attendance and gave families enhanced opportunities to support their child’s care. Family-centered rounds are designed to improve communication and patient care. Families join the regular morning medical rounds, which generally include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and other medical team members. They learn about their child’s condition and care and ask questions....[Read More]

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 2426, a new law that requires digital marketplaces to make clearer to customers when they are only purchasing a license to access media. The law will not apply to cases of permanent offline downloads, only to the all-too-common situation of buying digital copies of video games, music, movies, TV shows or ebooks from an online storefront. The Verge spotted the development, which could see marketplaces facing fines for false advertising in the state if they don’t use clear language to explain the limitations of what access entails. In other words, you won’t be seeing language like “buy” or “purchase” once the law takes effect in 2025. Keep Reading This Article at Engadget  

Apple launched California identity cards and driver’s licenses for iPhones today (09/19/2024), making the digital IDs easier to present — but for now they are only accepted at select airports and a small number of businesses selling age-restricted items such as alcohol, tobacco, fireworks, or guns. Drivers are still legally required to carry their physical licenses, even if they get a digital one. And they cannot use digital licenses at offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles, which issues them, since the agency only accepts them online, through an app. In the near future, however, use of digital IDs are expected to spread both in government and the private sector, with sales terminals rolling out to enable more stores to accept them, more California state agencies accepting them, and ...[Read More]

California’s legacy is defined in part by its pioneering spirit. Now, the state is again aiming to strengthen progress as we look to improve healthcare in California with the Data Exchange Framework (DxF). The vision of the DxF is simple yet significant: Every Californian, no matter where they live, should be able to walk into a doctor’s office, a county social services agency or an emergency room and be assured that their providers can access the information needed to provide safe, effective, whole-person care. The law, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and went into effect Jan. 31, marked the start of statewide, secure exchange of health and social services information. The DxF is a first-ever mandate to integrate our state’s health and social services information exchange to better ...[Read More]

AFLOAT THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER — Grant Jeide looked like another dude riding the rollicking waves left in the wake of a 23-foot (7-meter) boat ripping through the water at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour on a river in Northern California’s Delta earlier this summer. But Jeide was performing his aquatic acrobatics behind a different breed of boat — one powered by electricity instead of gasoline. Unencumbered by the din and acrid smell of a combustion engine, the boat’s passengers could chat with Jeide as he surfed behind them while they savored the afternoon breeze wafting along the river. “It’s like a playground back there, you feel like you could just ride all day,” exclaimed Jeide, part of the sales team at Arc Boats, a 3-year-old startup embarking on a voyage to electr...[Read More]

Need to find your lost bag? Trying to locate your neighborhood mail thief? Apple’s AirTag can help you with both. Released in 2021, the $29 Apple AirTag was created to help users easily locate items through a Bluetooth signal. Some people are even using it to find their stolen property. In a recent case, a woman in Santa Barbara County who was fed up with her mail being stolen from her post office box decided to bait the thieves and mailed herself a package containing an AirTag. Keep Reading This Article at the Officer.com

The big picture: A team from the University of California, Davis, has announced a breakthrough brain-computer-interface (BCI) capable of translating brain signals into readable text with an extremely high level of accuracy. The recently published findings detail the breakthrough technology, which can predict the user’s desired words with a less than 3 percent error rate. Researchers reviewing the findings claim the communication tech’s error rate is on par with that of a non-disabled speaker reading a paragraph out loud. Keep Reading This Article at the TechSpot

Though lawmakers and advocates proposed dozens of bills to regulate artificial intelligence in California this year, none have attracted more disdain from big tech companies, startup founders, and investors than the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. In letters to lawmakers, Meta said the legislation, Senate Bill 1047, will “deter AI innovation in California at a time where we should be promoting it,” while Google claimed the bill will make “California one of the world’s least favorable jurisdictions for AI development and deployment.” A letter signed by more than 130 startup founders and incubator Y Combinator goes even further, claiming that “vague language” could “kill California tech.” Keep Reading This Article at the CalMatters

A team from the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute (QI) and Jacobs School of Engineering, and Texas A&M University has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based software platform that could one day give internet users a more efficient and enjoyable experience over the cellular network. The open-source software platform, called “EdgeRIC,” uses AI to “take the temperature” of the cellular wireless environment that connects us to the internet, then redirects resources according to users’ needs in real-time. While the technology is still in development, it could someday be integrated into existing hardware distributed by major telecommunications companies to reach the public. Keep Reading This Article at the UC San Diego Today

California’s “Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act” (a.k.a. SB-1047) has led to a flurry of headlines and debate concerning the overall “safety” of large artificial intelligence models. But critics are concerned that the bill’s overblown focus on existential threats by future AI models could severely limit research and development for more prosaic, non-threatening AI uses today. SB-1047, introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener, passed the California Senate in May with a 32-1 vote and seems well positioned for a final vote in the State Assembly in August. The text of the bill requires companies behind sufficiently large AI models (currently set at $100 million in training costs and the rough computing power implied b...[Read More]