Emerging Tech

The police netted a federal grant through the Department of Justice to buy two Apex Virtual Reality training systems, a $69,000 piece of tech officials say promotes training efficiency and cuts overall costs.

Covered California delivers health insurance to state residents via the exchange it created in 2012. In 2020, the agency’s consumer-facing platform, CalHEERS, struggled to keep up with a historic spike in enrollments during COVID-19. This forced agency CIO Kevin Cornish to act quickly and decisively. In this Q&A, Cornish explains how the cloud has made his agency’s IT system more responsive and resilient.

New high-resolution images of a wildfire west of Loveland, Colo., that were captured by a stratospheric microballoon could help first responders validate real-time fire data. The project documented the state’s largest wildfire of 2024.

Residents of the Buckeye State gained the ability Wednesday to add their driver’s licenses to their Apple Wallets — and more than 75,000 had done so by late Friday, the state said.

The company behind the cryptocurrency mine, Blockfusion Ventures, is exploring powering the endeavor by a nuclear microreactor. A “technical assessment” of “advanced power supply systems” for its data center is on the way.

The Midwest state is the fifth in the nation to enable residents to take their licenses digital. But officials said Wednesday that does not replace a physical ID — which is still needed for driving and interacting with law enforcement.

The site, long home to steel manufacturing, is expected to land billions in investment from California-based tech company PsiQuantum, which is working to build the first commercially viable quantum computer.

SpaceX is apparently seeking permission from federal regulators to land its Super Heavy booster at its Boca Chica Beach launch tower rather than have it splash into the Gulf of Mexico during Starship's next flight.

The idea was to triple-check this year’s presidential election results by uploading images of every ballot cast, scanning them with text-recognition software and creating an independent vote count.

Ada County, Idaho, has launched a tool that lets the public view ballot images and cast vote records, using it for new local elections for the first time in May. Now, other counties might also adopt it.

As military training gets high-tech, U.S. soldiers have been testing a new kind of mock firearm made by a New Orleans company — one that doesn't fire real bullets but feels realistic in a virtual reality scenario.

After two fires at battery energy storage facilities in less than a year, staff for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will create standards for future projects in unincorporated areas. The issue could go to a vote as soon as August.

Plus, Waymo reports 50,000 weekly driverless taxi rides in three major cities, research finds investments in renewable energy are paying off and parrots, it turns out, like to FaceTime their friends.

The Elk Grove Police Department plans to add three aerial drones to assist in the line of duty, a trend that many law enforcement agencies have recently adopted to contribute to service.

The New Orleans-based nonprofit MakeGood is now creating customized assistive technology that is intended to help people with disabilities solve the problems they encounter in daily life.

Experts say crypto ATMs have become a vehicle for international criminal enterprises, and that millions of dollars’ worth of fraud is carried out using the machines in the U.S. alone.

Researchers at the University of Missouri say the automation and speed of large language models could be useful in cyber defense, but they can’t yet replace human cybersecurity experts.

In an email Wednesday, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said it will revise the Florida Smart ID application, and asked users to delete it. The app has since been deactivated.