Technology

Do I need a permit to be a street performer? How do I find out what happened to a crime I reported? Information about the City of Oakland will be easily available online soon, thanks to this unconventional hacking event.

It may not be in Oakland, but North Oakland residents have a new library branch at their disposal. The new South Branch of the Berkeley Public Library re-opened for business last Monday.

Available space, low real estate prices, access to talent pools like U.C. Berkeley and an attractive urban vibe all draw new tech startups—outshining drawbacks like crime and a troubled school system that still challenge the city.

An estimated 6,000 cat lovers gathered in Oakland on Saturday for the Internet Cat Video Festival. Yes, you read that right—Internet Cat Video Festival.

Media Enterprise Alliance teaches students from Oakland high schools how to create and produce their own media.

Oakland-based Livescribe, Inc. has taken the ancient art of writing and turned it into a high-tech concept that helps professionals and students maximize their ability to capture information and move it from notepad to computer screen.

Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern’s plans to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles for law enforcement, for the collection of photographic evidence at crime scenes, and for aerial support of emergency response operations in the county have provoked debate and raised privacy concerns among residents. The sheriff’s plan, which is currently awaiting a decision from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Public Protection Committee, continues to be a divisive subject in Oakland and Berkeley. “Traditional forms of aerial surveillance are very expensive…

Pandora Media, Inc., the Oakland-based radio station, plans to expand its workforce. “We’re in big growth mode and we’re adding staff across all our offices,” said Vice President of Human Resources Matt Morgan.