Tag: California

Silicon Valley: the NIMBYland

It is a well-known fact that, much like the treacherous waters surrounding Alcatraz Island, the housing market in the Bay area is a cold and unforgiving place to be if one doesn’t have the means to stay afloat. The price of housing has been increasing steadily over the last few decades, following the boom of… Read more Silicon Valley: the NIMBYland

The Future of Data Storage: Cloud?

Data storage, as we know it, is primarily in the form of tapes, flash drives, hard disk drives and solid state storage. With data storage being the fastest growing semiconductor technology, the world is doubling storage capacity every 12-18 months [1]. Data storage firms are increasingly trying to push the boundaries of physical storage, with… Read more The Future of Data Storage: Cloud?

A Shift Towards Cloud Computing

Mr. Chris Cruz, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the state of California shared his views on Cloud Computing for transparency to foster sharing and pooling of computing resources in the public sector. Mr. Chris Cruz talked about how the state of California´s motivation on transparency and its engagement towards it´s citizens to unlock government data… Read more A Shift Towards Cloud Computing

Self-driving cars: What to do with collected data?

Last Friday afternoon we had Deputy Director & Deputy State CIO, Chris Cruz, come to class where he spoke about what the state of California is doing in matters regarding IT. There was no surprise that the state truly is a pioneer in those matters but being a pioneer is never easy. California is the… Read more Self-driving cars: What to do with collected data?

Comparing IT Trends in California and the Department of Defense

Chris Cruz, Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Technology (CDT) and Deputy State Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the state of California, presented a thought provoking look at the emerging information technology (IT) developments in his state. He highlighted three key trends for the state: Utilizing open source and open data environments to… Read more Comparing IT Trends in California and the Department of Defense

Road rules for robots: Driverless car legislation in California

California’s status as the country’s epicenter for technology and innovation is potentially at risk when it comes to new driverless technology. While California has approved 27 licenses for test driverless vehicles on its roads, it imposes relatively strict regulations on how they can be operated. For example, they must be occupied by a trained professional… Read more Road rules for robots: Driverless car legislation in California

Can California collect our personal data from Tech Giants?

I often hear friends complain about the unknown usage of the data that they sprinkle everywhere – while casting a like, pin, swipe, heart (…) – on the most addictive messaging, social or dating apps. A majority of my surroundings thinks that this information should only be theirs, while they spread it frivolously to the… Read more Can California collect our personal data from Tech Giants?

Leveraging local know-how through public-private partnerships

Coming from Finland, where Nokia has been at the very core of a successful national innovation policy, I was surprised by the limited collaboration between the State of California and the tech giants in the region. I used to live a mile from Nokia’s HQ. When others dreamed about becoming ballerinas, I wanted to be… Read more Leveraging local know-how through public-private partnerships

California's open data endeavor

Chris Cruz, deputy director and deputy chief information officer for the state of California, talked about the current technology-wise projects the state has, such as the consolidation of the state’s many data centers into only a few, the implementation of cloud technology, cybersecurity, and the open data and transparency initiatives. In this post, I will… Read more California's open data endeavor

New Challenges With Body Camera Footage

Chris Cruz gave a very insightful lecture into a topic many students, including myself, may be a bit underinformed about: technology use in government. Before this lecture, I assumed the technology used within the government would be extremely outdated and basic, however, Chris gave evidence that points to the opposite. For example, the centralized cloud… Read more New Challenges With Body Camera Footage