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Summary of California DMV Hackathon The California DMV hackathon, held on October 1, 2024, in Mountain View, did not award traditional prizes. Instead, teams were recognized for their outstanding contributions in specific categories. Here are the recognized teams and their categories: Most Compelling and Most Socially Impactful: Team Entidad Most Promising: Team Cisco VC Verifiers Best Privacy and Security Design: Team Block Most Scalable: Team US Bank Best User Experience: Team UltraPass Best Presentation: Team MATTR (MATTR, Samsung, Treez, Nuvei) Best Independent Submission: Team UFI Each team was recognized for their innovative use cases involving the California mobile driver's license (mDL) technology. The recognition served as acknowledgment of their contributions to expanding mDL applications across various industries. The event was part of a larger initiative by the California DMV to promote the adoption of secure, privacy-preserving digital identity solutions. It brought
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Japan’s Largest Helo Carrier DDH-184 JS Kaga Headed to San Diego for F-35B Testing

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This Halloween, a Japanese flat-top bearing an illustrious name of one sunk at the battle of Midway may be sighted off Point Loma flying stealth jets onto North Island Naval Air Station. But this is not a ghost ship, and there is no need for San Diego's own  USS Midway to get underway. Japan's largest warship, the Izumo-class carrier JS Kaga (DDH-184), will conduct F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter developmental tests off San Diego, California from October 5 to November 18, 2023. This is part of Japan's effort to convert its two Izumo-class ships (Izumo and Kaga) from helicopter carriers to F-35B-capable aircraft carriers. Kaga has already undergone the first stage of conversion, including modifying its flight deck from a trapezoid to a rectangular shape, similar to US amphibious assault ships. The trials will help determine the optimal interior configuration for F-35B operations on these ships. Japan has ordered 42 F-35Bs, with 6 expected to be delivered by th
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Who Should Install Home BESS tied to Solar EV System in California

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AC Coupled BESS, obviously C-10 could handle, both batteries and solar have their own inverter/controllers, hence solar energy lost going into through two inverter stages to battery. Usually prefered for add-on BESS when there are pre-existing panels and inverter to provide power during blackouts. DC Coupled BESS, maybe C-46 could handle better due to large DC voltages, batteries and solar go through single smart inverter/controller, hence tightly integrated and maximum efficiency with solar energy (DC) going directly to battery. Tradeoff is greater efficiency versus complexity of SmarEdge controller and power optimizers. Usually preferred for total system install for NEM 3.0. This doesn't seem to be discussed in the UC Berkley study or by the CLRB, which mainly concentrates on complexity and initial installation cost.  Summary - Who Should Install Home BESS tied to Solar EV System in California Here is a summary of who should install home battery energy storage systems (BESS) tie
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This Years Wildfires Intensify Insurance Crisis for California Homeowners

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Overall Summary Here's a summary of the key points from several articles regarding California's homeowners insurance crisis and recent wildfires: 1. Recent wildfires:    - Three wildfires have burned over 100,000 acres in Southern California, forcing evacuations and prompting emergency declarations.    - The Line Fire (37,000+ acres), Bridge Fire (50,000+ acres), and Airport Fire (23,000+ acres) are currently active. 2. Insurance crisis:    - Major insurance companies like State Farm and Allstate have stopped writing new policies in California.    - State Farm announced it would not renew 72,000 existing policies.    - This has led to reduced availability and affordability of homeowners insurance, especially in high-risk areas. 3. Causes of the crisis:    - Increasing climate-related risks, particularly wildfires    - Rising costs of construction and repairs    - Regulatory constraints on raising insurance rates    - Information asymmetries between insurers in assessing ris
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