california

Despite the fact that the state is constantly teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, California remains at the top of the venture capital heap churning out the most deals with the most dollar volume in the second quarter of 2010.

A new report from private company research firm CB Insights reveals that California companies took more than 50 percent of total venture dollars in the second quarter with financings breaking the $3 billion funding mark and more than half of those funds going toward health care and Internet companies. In addition to California, two other states--Massachusetts and New York--accounted for … Read more

Here's the thing: Google keeps insisting that the data it snared from open WiFi hotspots isn't a big deal, it's useless, it was an accident, and so on. But now, some French investigators discovered that the "useless data" contains obvious passwords and recognizable snippets of email. Which isn't as "useless" as Google suggested, you know? Also, Apple iOS 4 is here; the Nook is, hopefully, resetting e-book reader prices to somewhere they should be; and you decide: Toshiba folding tablet, awesome or DOA? Or both?

Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, two ex-Silicon Valley executives who pledged to use their business acumen to address economic problems, handily won their respective Republican nominations for governor and U.S. Senate in California's primary election on Tuesday.

Their primary victories are likely to lead to a bruising and expensive general election campaign against their Democratic rivals: onetime Gov. Jerry Brown, who is seeking to reclaim his old job, and incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has been in the U.S. Congress for nearly 28 years.

"Californians have had enough of a government that is out of control, … Read more

Officials at the University of California at Davis are deleting plans to consider using Google as a hosted e-mail provider for faculty.

Information Week reported Wednesday that a Gmail pilot project was shelved due to concerns about security and information privacy, based in part on the missteps surrounding the launch of Google Buzz. The school's technology leaders were also concerned that the University of California system's policy on e-mail might forbid the use of third-party e-mail providers in general.

The decision comes a few weeks after Yale University killed a project to move to Google Apps for Education … Read more

This week on preGAME we bring you the video game version of the world's greatest soccer tournament, the World Cup. On today's show, Mark and Jeff will play a half of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

But first, we'll try and unravel the mystery behind a recent Capcom trademark request for the name "Mega Man Universe." While dozens of ideas race through our heads, we can only assume that this next-gen iteration of Mega Man might bring us the first-ever massive multiplayer online game in the franchise.

If you've ever wondered what a … Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether minors have the right to buy violent video games in a case that tests whether computer software is guaranteed the same free speech protections as books, newspapers, and magazines.

On Monday, the justices agreed to review a California law that a federal appeals court struck down last year on the grounds that even children and teenagers enjoy free speech rights that are protected by the First Amendment. The case will be heard late this year or in early 2011.

California is one of a string of states that have enacted similar laws … Read more

Microsoft's year-old Elevate America program, which offers free technology training and certification, is coming to California.

The program was announced by Microsoft a year ago as the country was gripped by recession, with Washington state as the first government partner. Since then, other states have slowly been coming on board.

Seven states have already distributed training vouchers, while five are still in the process of issuing the vouchers, according to a map on Microsoft's Web site. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to detail California's participation in a Webcast due to begin at 10:15 a.m. PST. … Read more

You know when something doesn't seem quite right to you? Like hot pants on a bloodhound? Or the chemical makeup of most human beings who live in Marin County, California?

Something didn't seem quite right to me the other day when I watched the campaign ad that purports to tell you why former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will remove some of the tarnish from the Golden State. (You know, the one that forgets to mention she's a Republican.)

It's not that this ad showed Whitman crunking in a nightclub. Or that it showed her showering admiration … Read more

Ford Motor Co. today announced that it's expanding the range of its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) research program Progress Energy expands its role by adding a Ford Escape PHEV to its Florida operations.

Ford and Progress Energy will work together advance the commercialization of electric vehicles under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy. Progress Energy is already road-testing Ford Escape PHEV in Raleigh, N.C. The new agreement will expand these efforts into Florida.

In Florida, Progress Energy will road-test a 2010 Escape PHEV equipped with one of the industry's first vehicle-to-electric "… Read more