Cal Fire is the first fire agency to use artificial intelligence to look for signs of wildfires and directly alert dispatch centers.
Tech
Posted inAptos
Aptos, Microsoft’s new default font, chosen for the community’s ‘widely ranging landscape and climate’
Aptos is a sans serif font, which is designed to be easily readable and features letters that are simpler, with fewer flourishes. Microsoft said Steve Matteson designed the typeface “with a slight humanist touch.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
AI is our friend, even in Santa Cruz County. Why are we so afraid of it?
Local tech guru and Santa Cruz Works co-founder Doug Erickson ponders the fear surrounding artificial intelligence and the push to regulate it. It’s not a demon monster, he says, but something we all already use in Santa Cruz County. And he applauds our leaders for being open to it. He suggests we approach it with cautious optimism. “AI has the potential to carry us into an epoch of remarkable transformation — one where human effort is minimized, decisions are optimized and public services reach heights of quality previously unimagined,” he writes.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
In the Age of Doomscrolling, how do we find hope in the always-on drumbeat of bad news?
The central experience of our era is a constant, surround-sound, 24/7, weaponized and ruthlessly engineered sense of doom, Wallace Baine writes. And while every era has its crises, our internet addiction and algorithms aimed at keeping us doomscrolling puts an extraordinary, crushing psychic weight on all of us.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Joby Aviation opens new Santa Cruz office, where another revolutionary company once did business
Monday was another landmark moment in the unfolding story of Joby Aviation, as the company welcomed more than 100 local guests, dignitaries, media members and investors to the opening of its new offices at Sylvania Avenue and Encinal Street. The event featured a few speeches, a ribbon cutting, and then a tour of the former Plantronics office now officially the home of Joby which, one staffer estimated, employs about 300 in Santa Cruz.
Posted inUncategorized
How I Got My Job: UCSC creative writing lecturer Steve Coulter charted unconventional path to academia
Steve Coulter, UC Santa Cruz creative writing continuing lecturer, spoke with Lookout about what it’s like being a lecturer, busking in Europe and what the future holds for writing with the advent of ChatGPT.
Posted inUncategorized
How I Got My Job: Alexandra Navarro sees role as disruptor, model for Latinas in tech
Alexandra Navarro, chief of staff for Scotts Valley-based Paystand, spoke with Lookout about being a Latina in the tech industry, advice to women and people of color seeking jobs in the industry, and what to expect when getting into this career field.
Posted inUncategorized
How I Got My Job: Tech entrepreneur Chris Miller on what it takes to build an IT business
Cloud Brigade CEO Chris Miller spoke with Lookout about being involved in the early stages of tech, running a small technology business and how students can break into this industry.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
Welcome to ‘Earth Island’: How two Santa Cruz artists aim to fight climate change with a video game
Can a video game save the planet? Eric Thiermann and Ethan Summers might not claim that lofty ambition, but the Santa Cruz entrepreneurs are hoping to harness the popularity of video games to find solutions to climate change. Their vision is Earth Island, a simulation game in which players can learn about real-world efforts to mitigate climate change and apply those tools to a wide variety of environments and ecosystems.
Posted inCity Life
Into ‘The Candy House’: Jennifer Egan on her timely new novel, ChatGPT and the demise of fiction
Jennifer Egan comes to UC Santa Cruz’s Cowell Ranch Hay Barn on Wednesday riding the wave of “The Candy House,” which revisits the same universe her acclaimed “A Visit From the Goon Squad” inhabited, but this time with Big Tech in the bull’s-eye.