Running a small business back office in 2026
The owner of a family heating and cooling company with 14 technicians and four people answering phones spent a Sunday afternoon listening to 20 random...
AI
Vista Irrigation District adopts AI policy
VISTA — The rapid growth of artificial intelligence, or AI, is one of today’s hottest topics. From professors trying to weed out AI-written assignments to...
Opinion: AI crosses the line in school board race
My roots in the San Dieguito Union High School District run deep. I’m a San Dieguito High School graduate (Class of ’77), former Adult Ed...
Escondido extends data center moratorium
ESCONDIDO — The city has extended its temporary ban on artificial intelligence data centers for another 10 months. The Escondido City Council unanimously approved a...
Building a customer support voice bot? Test it against real benchmarks first
A voice bot can handle 100 test calls without an obvious failure and still fall apart during its first busy Monday. Customers interrupt. They mumble...
What makes a testing tool ‘AI-powered?’ (And how to spot the real thing)
Many software testing platforms describe themselves as AI-powered, but the term can mean different things depending on the product. Some tools genuinely use artificial intelligence...
AI works best when it assists, rather than replaces
In 1974 I witnessed a 3-year-old girl receiving a calculator as a gift. I suggested it was a disservice, as the girl couldn’t already do...
State senator says new data center laws will protect consumers
REGION — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws Monday that feature “some of the strongest rate payer protections and environmental protections from data center costs...
Creating dreamlike scenes from creative prompts
Dreams don’t follow rules. Physics behaves strangely. Time jumps around. Emotions manifest visually. People transform into other people. Spaces shift without explanation. Yet somehow it...
Escondido temporarily bans new AI data centers
ESCONDIDO — The city has temporarily banned new artificial intelligence data centers while staff studies their potential effects and develops recommendations for regulating such facilities....
Seedance 2.0 and Seedance 2.5 explained: Everything you need to know
With AI, producing video content is becoming much simpler, with the potential to create video content from just a few simple words. But two of...
Encinitas fintech group Hamachi partners with Modelist
ENCINITAS — Hamachi, an Encinitas-based financial technology company focused on regulatory-compliant artificial intelligence for wealth managers, announced a partnership with Modelist to provide AI-powered portfolio analysis...
The great AI FAQ
“I’m thinking of having ChatGPT write my book.” It’s a comment I hear every few weeks, and if you’re seriously considering the option, I wish...
How local businesses can beat Google and AI algorithms
For years, businesses focused on “beating” Google through search engine optimization. Now, with AI-driven results reshaping how customers discover brands, the game has changed again....
AI search is changing how customers find your business
For more than two decades, businesses focused on one primary digital goal: ranking on the first page of Google. Traditional search engine optimization (SEO) was...