FIFA by the sea: World Cup comes to Santa Cruz County

The Pajaronian - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 13:24

If there is one place in Santa Cruz County where World Cup fever is expected to burn brightest, it may be Watsonville.

“Soccer in Watsonville is extraordinarily unique,” Watsonville Parks and Recreation Director Jason Hall said during a countywide World Cup kickoff press conference on Monday. “On any given day, all you need to do is drive through Watsonville and you’ll see people playing soccer. If you just close your eyes and listen, you’ll hear people shouting.”

Hall described soccer as the unifying force of the greater Watsonville-Pajaro region, stretching from Watsonville and Pajaro to Corralitos and beyond.

“I think that soccer is probably, if there’s going to be any sport that I would call the glue, for Watsonville, for that whole area, for that whole region,” hel said. “That whole region is really about soccer.”

Hall said the city’s recent investment in Ramsey Park — including new natural-grass fields and a World Cup-sized artificial turf field — reflects the community’s commitment to the sport. He said soccer helps teach teamwork and cooperation while providing opportunities for residents of all ages to come together.

That passion will be on full display during FIFA World Cup 2026.

Watsonville plans multiple watch parties throughout the tournament. At the Gene Hoularis and Waldo Rodriguez Youth Center, young people ages 11 to 17 will be able to watch every World Cup match. Organizers also plan to serve food tied to the countries competing in each game.

The city will also host an EA Sports FC 26 2-on-2 tournament sponsored by the San Jose Earthquakes. The 64-player, 32-team competition is open to the public, and winning players will receive a PlayStation 5.

The Watsonville events are part of a broader countywide celebration announced at a press conference attended by Santa Cruz County officials, the cities of Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Scotts Valley, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, United Way of Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz County Parks and Scotts Valley Parks & Recreation.

Even in a county better known nationally for surfing, skateboarding and redwood forests, local leaders say soccer has long been woven into the community’s identity.

“The game has become an intractable part of local culture,” Visit Santa Cruz County CEO Terence Concannon said. “It is more than a sport or an activity. It is a passion and a huge part of the culture. We see this throughout the county with all the soccer clinics and organizations that fuel that passion.”

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings said his connection to the sport began during the 1994 World Cup.

“That moment actually inspired me to become a soccer player,” he said.

Years later, while backpacking through Europe during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he experienced firsthand the public celebrations that accompany the tournament.

“In every city we went to, in every country we visited, we saw watch parties out on the streets, we saw watch parties in restaurants and bars, but most importantly, we saw so many people from so many different cultures from around the world coming together and having fun with one another and enjoying everyone’s company.”

Now, with several World Cup matches scheduled at nearby Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Cummings sees an opportunity for Santa Cruz County to welcome visitors from around the globe.

“So, this presented us with a great opportunity to be able to say, here in this soccer community, to the rest of the world, come over here, have some fun, come check out Santa Cruz.”

The county’s largest public celebration will take place at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

On June 26, the Boardwalk’s World Soccer Celebration begins with a watch party for Mexico’s match at Coasters Bar & Grill, accompanied by a mariachi band. The following evening, a free beach watch party for a United States match will be held in front of the Colonnade.

Additional events include another Coasters watch party for Spain versus Uruguay, followed by a beach screening of the soccer-themed film Kicking and Screaming.

Boardwalk Promotion and Special Events Manager Gladys Rodriguez said the celebration will also feature an exhibition by Leah Morales, the top-ranked female Footvolley player in the United States, along with a beach soccer showcase featuring members of the U.S. Beach Soccer National Team.

Elsewhere in the county, restaurants and gathering places are preparing for the tournament. Lúpulo Craft Beer House plans to show every match, Woodstock’s Pizza will open early for games and broadcast them on its giant “Mondo Matrix” screen, and Pono Hawaiian Grill is creating an island-style fan zone atmosphere with themed watch parties and specials.

Community events are also planned throughout the tournament. Santa Cruz County Parks and Scotts Valley Parks & Recreation will host a free youth soccer clinic at Anna Jean Cummings County Park and a family-friendly “Wacky Soccer Tournament” at Skypark in Scotts Valley featuring oversized soccer balls, costumes and a raffle for World Cup tickets. 

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has transformed its iconic red ball sculpture into a giant soccer ball and plans to host public watch parties, including one for the World Cup Final.

Taken together, the events reveal a side of Santa Cruz County that often receives less attention than its beaches and surf culture: a deep-rooted soccer community that spans generations, neighborhoods and cultures from Scotts Valley to Watsonville.

As Cummings put it: “Santa Cruz, yes, we’re a surf and skate town. But we also are a soccer town.”

•••

For a list of activities, visit santacruz.org/kick-off-santa-cruz/

Trump's AI E-(I)-O could let feds pick winners and losers

The Register - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 12:59
After postponing a planned signing last month for an executive order addressing advanced cybersecurity AI models, President Trump has signed a largely similar version that’s just as questionably effective. The EO, signed in a private ceremony on Tuesday, directs various government agencies to take steps to protect their systems and data, as well as those of agencies they support, from cyber threats, while also facilitating access to advanced AI models that could help agencies bolster their cybersecurity defenses. The order also directs the Treasury Department to establish an “AI cybersecurity clearinghouse” that works with the AI industry and critical infrastructure operators to coordinate and deconflict the use of advanced AI tools for software vulnerability scanning, vulnerability discovery and validation, and remediation and patching efforts. Additional provisions are included to direct federal grant programs toward companies developing AI vulnerability detections, and to expand the US Tech Force's Information Cybersecurity Specialist hiring and placement pathways. Those elements are pretty cut-and-dried, but it’s the rest of the order that has raised eyebrows among policy experts who’ve weighed in on the order so far. Section three of the EO, Secure Frontier Model Deployment, is where the government’s AI model pre-release review scheme is outlined, and it is also where the most substantial change in the order compared to the earlier May draft appears. The version signed Tuesday directs various agencies to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish a “voluntary framework” through which the federal government would get access to “covered frontier models” for up to 30 days before their planned release to “other trusted partners” in order for the agencies to review them for potential cybersecurity risks. The May draft included a 90-day review period; the reduction to 30 days appears to be the most significant change between the two versions. Along with the review period, section three of the order also asks federal agencies to “develop and maintain a classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models,” which would also be used to determine which AI models qualify as covered frontier models for the purpose of the order. The EO also asks that the voluntary framework enable AI companies to "collaborate with the Federal Government to select trusted partners that will have early access to covered frontier models,” meaning that the Trump administration would effectively have a role in picking which companies get to participate in programs like Anthropic’s Project Glasswing for its Claude Mythos Preview. Want early access? You'd better be on our side The Register was contacted by various policy analysts about the EO, and while all agreed some sort of rule was better than nothing, a number of them shared their concerns. “The White House executive order on frontier AI models, while imperfect, is a step in the right direction to prepare the nation for the release of advanced AI systems,” Cato Institute policy analyst Juan Londoño said of the order. “The lack of clear specifications on which criteria should be used to determine what constitutes a 'covered frontier model,' and the government's involvement in decisions about which 'trusted partners' can access these advanced models, gives the executive a great deal of discretion,” Londoño added. “This could open the door to potential weaponization against companies that have any sort of conflict with the administration.” Former FTC chief technologist Neil Chilson likewise said that the order is better than the “current informal approach,” but hopes Congress will take action to establish some actual rules. Gaps in the order, Chilson said, “could be used to pick winners and losers, or to give short-term national security concerns excessive weight at the expense of longer-term national security, economic growth, innovation, and other national interests.” The Center for Democracy and Technology’s VP of policy, Samir Jain, likewise said that the EO takes necessary steps to address risks to critical infrastructure, and like others, he praised the choice to make the framework non-mandatory. That trusted partners element, however, raised his hackles, too. “The EO should not become a mechanism for the Administration to punish companies for political or other arbitrary reasons, and so we will be closely monitoring the details of its implementation as they emerge,” Jain said. The White House didn’t respond to questions for this story. ®

Lucasfilm Talks Updates to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

The Nerdist - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 12:16

Disneyland Resort recently did a fairly major thematic overhaul to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, by including original trilogy characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in the land. In addition, they’ve added classic music cues from the films by composer John Williams. But the biggest new addition to Galaxy’s Edge, both in Anaheim and in Orlando, is the updated version of the attraction Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, which now includes the Mandalorian and Grogu. Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

Not only are those beloved characters joining the attraction, but riders will now have several new worlds to choose from. All are iconic and familiar worlds from the Star Wars films. Tatooine, Bespin, Coruscant, and the Death Star wreckage around Endor are now part of the story too. At a recent press event held at the Disneyland Hotel, we got to chat with Lucasfilm’s Senior Creative Executive Matt Martin, about bringing a new dimension to this Galaxy’s Edge attraction.

Nerdist: How long has this update to Smuggler’s Run been in the planning stages? And were there any initial ideas that maybe went by the wayside when you decided to finally pull the trigger and do it?

Matt Martin: I mean, we’ve been working on this for, I think, about a year and a half. Something like that. We discussed a lot of different planets. I think, at one point, I made a really long spreadsheet of kind of what planets might be good options and why. So there’s definitely a lot of discussion about the different locations that we could go to, things like that. Because there are so many planets in the Star Wars galaxy to choose from.

Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

You know, the nature of this sort of thing, you have to make choices. So, there were a lot of things that we discussed early on that eventually, we just went in a different direction. Because we had to look at what made the most sense for the story of this attraction. We had to kind of look at the type of gameplay we were going for, what would make it the most fun to do. What would make for the most fun locations, how they were diverse from each other, things like that. So some planets got left behind.

So, the original version of the ride isn’t really even that old. It’s only been around for seven years, but technology improves really fast. So, how do you feel that the improvement in technology helped you guys out this time?

Martin: Yeah, I can’t speak too directly to the technology, because it’s not really my field. But I can say that I think, just by the nature of us having the attraction for that many years, we were kind of able to see what things were maybe working better, and also what things needed improvement on the gameplay side of things, and we were able to kind of work to enhance some of that. So, like, the engineering role has been greatly expanded. You know, the piloting and gunner positions, they’ve both gone through a lot of improvements, so I don’t know what part the tech actually played into that, which is sort of the experience of watching people go through this and understanding the best way to make things better.

Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

How did you find an organic way to incorporate the Mandalorian and baby Grogu into the ride?

Martin: I mean, that was actually a really fascinating thing. Because, as you said, the Falcon is Han Solo’s ship. Mando has never really come into contact with Han Solo.

That we know of!

Yeah, that we know of (laughs). At least we haven’t seen it happen so far. But what worked out really well was we have this really convenient thing in the character of Hondo Onaka. Hondo really does, as a pirate, and as a businessman, he helps connect the dots. So, there was sort of a natural. We had to think, “Okay, well, what would happen if Mando came and brought the Falcon here?” Well, it’s only natural that Hondo would have gone and “borrowed” it.

After that, it was really about working in how Mando is doing missions for the New Republic. All of which is coming right out of the new film. Right. How do we bring that into it? So the New Republic has contracted Hondo. They need Mando to go babysit him, because no one trusts Hondo. And, of course, Hondo is the one who grabbed the Falcon! So there was a lot of thought about how to get all of that to work. But I feel like the linchpin ended up being the character of Hondo.

Do you have a new aspect of the ride that’s your personal favorite, and can you tell us what it is?

Lucasfilm/Disney Parks

Yeah, I mean, I think Coruscant in general is probably my favorite. This detail is pretty nerdy, but hey, you’re Nerdist! So yeah, in Corusant, you’re actually shooting an ion cannon, because you’re in the city. But tthere are people there. Otherwise, you’ll do real destruction [with a regular cannon.] So you’re shooting an ion canon. It’s really fun to shoot at some of the signs and things, and just watch the kind of electric sparks, having things turn off. So, you’re not really destroying the planet. But you’re definitely impacting it, and when you’re surrounded by it, you really get to see the effects of that. And it’s extremely cool.

The newly updated version of Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is now open for business at Galaxy’s Edge in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

The post Lucasfilm Talks Updates to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run appeared first on Nerdist.

Categories: Nerd News

Uber caps employee AI spending after blowing through budget in four months

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 12:11
Uber's cutback has occurred after the company had reportedly encouraged staff to use AI as much as possible.
Categories: Nerd News

New Microsoft tool lets devs spin up AI behavior tests using text descriptions

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 12:02
Microsoft on Tuesday took the wraps off Adaptive Spec-driven Scoring for Evaluation and Regression Testing, an open-source framework for spinning up AI evaluations.
Categories: Nerd News

Kash Patel’s girlfriend gets in on bogus defamation claims

Daily Kos - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 12:00

It seems like FBI Director Kash Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, who cosplays as a country singer, has been simply dying to follow in her beau’s footsteps. So she’s brought her very own, completely meritless defamation lawsuit against the press. What fun! Wilkins is suing MSNOW and reporters Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian for reporting in December 2025 about Patel giving Wilkins her very…

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Categories: Political News

Tom Holland Asked Sony to Delay SPIDER-MAN So He Could Star in THE ODYSSEY

The Nerdist - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:51

If you’ve ever had the predicament about whether to get a free meal from your favorite restaurant on your birthday or go see your favorite band with all your friends, you might know a thing or two about luxury problems. (Note: It took me close to 15 minutes to come up with that incredibly lame parallel.) If you happen to be one of the most famous, popular, and in-demand movie stars in the world, your luxury problems might look a bit different. How can you star in a new movie by one of the best filmmakers alive if you also have to be the lead in your own superhero franchise? Tom Holland had an answer: do both.Universal Pictures

In a recent interview with GQ Magazine (via Variety), Holland said he had to have the “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman when faced with a massive first world problem. Christopher Nolan wanted him to be in The Odyssey, but that filming schedule would have conflicted with the shoot for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. What an “Ack ack” Cathy scenario. Naturally, Holland didn’t want to turn down the role of Telemachus, but he’s already Peter Parker! Miraculously (or maybe not), Rothman agreed to delay the fourth Spider-Man movie.

“I think one of the reasons why Sony were happy to move is because Chris has that reputation of, ‘This movie isn’t going to go five months over, and we aren’t actually going to lose Tom for two years,’” Holland said, nodding to how The Odyssey started on schedule and finished nine days early. “Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation.” 

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As Holland explains, however, the delay actually helped. At the time, the movie didn’t even have a director following series director Jon Watts’ decision to step down. “The Odyssey almost saved Spider-Man because we wouldn’t have had Destin [Daniel Cretton],” Holland said. “He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now. And I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any Spider-Man movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”

So, let that be a lesson. You too can have two incredible options happen if you have the clout of a bankable movie star and the heft of the best working director behind you. So to speak.

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17. Spider-Man: Brand New Day bows July 31.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

The post Tom Holland Asked Sony to Delay SPIDER-MAN So He Could Star in THE ODYSSEY appeared first on Nerdist.

Categories: Nerd News

Cisco sings Mythos' praises - but doesn't say how many bugs the model uncovered

The Register - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:35
Bug hunting has become a whole lot more exciting in recent months with both Anthropic and OpenAI touting their latest models (that also happen to be super-scary exploit machines). On Tuesday, as Anthropic announced a fourfold expansion to its Mythos preview program, Cisco jumped into the fray, praising the transformative power of AI - but without disclosing how many bugs the latest frontier models found. Cisco SVP Anthony Grieco in a Tuesday blog said that the advanced AI systems, including Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5-Cyber, scanned 1.8 billion lines of code in eight weeks looking for vulnerabilities in Cisco products - a task that otherwise would have taken the networking giant’s advanced security team eight years to accomplish. However, Grieco, who heads Cisco’s security and trust organization, didn’t say how many flaws Mythos and other frontier models uncovered, or if they have all been fixed. The company also did not respond to The Register’s questions about this. Grieco did say that “speed is only half the story,” calling the “real breakthrough” the “scale, quality, and impact” of the models’ findings. The 1.8 billion lines of code, written in more than 25 different languages, spanned Cisco’s portfolio, we’re told. Netzilla paired the models with a “human-guided harness,” and achieved a false positive rate of under 3 percent, Grieco wrote. “Rather than focusing on a specific scope for a security evaluation, we can assess entire code bases of a product. It’s like switching from a flashlight to a flood light to illuminate a dark room,” he said. “Because each finding is validated through a hybrid of AI and human expertise, our engineering teams are receiving actionable intelligence rather than a wall of warnings.” Meanwhile, Anthropic on Tuesday said it expanded Project Glasswing to about 150 additional organizations, bringing the total partner count to about 200. Project Glasswing is the AI giant’s controlled partner program for giving selected orgs access to Claude Mythos Preview. When it announced the new model and partner program in early April, Anthropic limited the preview to about 50 entities, claiming Mythos is so good at finding and exploiting security holes that all hell would break loose and the zombie apocalypse would hit should the model fall into the wrong hands. Since April, these select government agencies and corporate partners - including Cisco - have been using Mythos to find and fix bugs in their own products. Palo Alto Networks, one of the original Project Glasswing partners, said in May that after spending a month using frontier AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos, to scan more than 130 products across its three platforms, it uncovered 26 CVEs representing 75 underlying security issues. For comparison, the cybersecurity giant said it typically discloses fewer than five CVEs per month. At the time, a company exec forecast “a narrow three-to-five-month window for organizations to outpace the adversary before AI-driven exploits start to become the new norm.” The newly expanded Project Glasswing spans more than 15 countries, and, while an Anthropic spokesperson declined to name them or the new partner companies, it’s a safe bet that these are likely Western and/or “friendly” nations. So not China and Russia. Rubrik, a data security and management vendor, said that it was among the new Glasswing partners. The expanded list also reportedly includes the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), along with Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and SK Telecom, among other Korean companies. “The group covers several industries that weren’t well-represented in our initial cohort, such as power, water, healthcare, communications, and hardware,” according to a Tuesday Anthropic blog. “And many of the new partners are vendors - companies or nonprofits that maintain codebases that are relied upon by lots of other organizations around the world, including governments.” Each new partner must meet Anthropic’s security requirements before they gain access to Mythos, the company added. ®

A startup, Everand, is now bundling ebooks, audiobooks, and book clubs in challenge to Amazon

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:31
A new reading subscription from Everand offers access to both ebooks and audiobooks, and Fable's book club community.
Categories: Nerd News

Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of June 2

Lookout Santa Cruz - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:19

Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area.

Here is what’s new in local business recently.

New businesses
  • BRONZE BEAR ARTS was registered at 3564 Felton Empire Rd., Santa Cruz, by Carl Achilles Deaton as an individual business on May 18.
  • CHEF EVAN PRESENTS was registered at 1221 Old San Jose Rd., Unit B, Soquel, by Evan Edward Marcus-Rotman as an individual business on May 18.
  • DANK DERMAL DEFENSE was registered at 690 37th Ave., Apt. A, Santa Cruz, by Daniel N. Kingsbook as an individual business on May 19.
  • TOMATO TOMATO was registered at 117 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, by Tomato Tomato Santa Cruz, LLC, as a limited liability company on May 19.
  • MIEL PILATES was registered at 4150 Capitola Rd., Suite I, Capitola, by Pilates Social LLC as a limited liability company on May 19.
  • KINDPEOPLES was registered at 3600 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, by Ceneris LLC as a limited liability company on May 19.
  • LOCAL MARKETING TIGER was registered at 320 Fall Creek Dr., Felton, by Liya Wendel as an individual business on May 19.
  • ALOHA MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL, ALOHA MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL SANTA CRUZ CA, ALOHA MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL SANTA CRUZ was registered at 690 Calabasas Rd., Watsonville, by Victor Ohana Productions, LLC as a limited liability company on May 19.
  • DAKOTA NDT was registered at 1500 Green Hills Rd., #107, Scotts Valley, by Dakota Ultrasonics Corporation as a corporation on May 19.
  • CRUZ DRY GOODS, SANTA CRUZ DRY GOODS was registered at 2917 Center St., Soquel, by Tej Simran Blanchette as an individual business on May 20.
  • FIX AUTO WATSONVILLE was registered at 44 E. Front St., Watsonville, by Ur 1 Stop Auto Body Inc as a corporation on May 20.
  • LAW OFFICE OF BENJAMIN, LEIBROCK was registered at 2115 7th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Benjamin Pc as a corporation on May 20.
  • TAQUERIA DON TACO was registered at 257 Center Ave., Unit C, Aptos, by Bella Flor De Maria Gonzalez Sanchez as an individual business on May 20.
  • SC LABS was registered at 100 Pioneer St., Suite B, Santa Cruz, by PSCA Testing LLC as a limited liability company on May 20.
  • SERENADE CHILDBIRTH SERVICES was registered at 3140 B Trout Gulch Rd., Aptos, by Sommer A. Halligan as an individual business on May 20.
  • GLENWOOD CHILDREN’S CENTER was registered at 125 Bethany Dr., Scotts Valley, by Santa Cruz Reggio Preschools LLC as a limited liability company on May 20.
  • PORTER STREET was registered at 2959 Park Ave., Suite E, Soquel, by Rachael Anne Shelton as an individual business on May 21.
  • MATTISON LN. ROAD ASSOCIATION was registered at 2110 Mattison Lane, Santa Cruz, by Earl Leslie Magnone as an individual business on May 21.
  • SAWYERS FORESTRY CO. was registered at 220 Mar Vista Dr., #54, Aptos, by Tyler James Street as an individual business on May 21.
  • WESTSHORE SOLUTIONS was registered at 101 McMillan Court, Santa Cruz, by Christine L. Mantua as an individual business on May 21.
  • INK REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT was registered at 1759 Pine Flat Rd., Santa Cruz, by Sidney R. Harger as an individual business on May 22.
  • SANTA CRUZ ECLIPSE was registered at 145 Seaborg Pl., Santa Cruz, by Eclipse Soccer Academy as a corporation on May 22.
  • YIELD TOOLS INC. was registered at 4575 Emerald St., Apt. A, Capitola, by Ytools Inc. as a corporation on May 22.
  • NS CONSTRUCTION was registered at 72 Jeanette Way, Watsonville, by Josue Silva as an individual business on May 22.
  • EL DORADO CREATIVE was registered at 1401 El Dorado Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jonas Davidson as an individual business on May 26.
  • ELEPHANT SEAL SPORTS was registered at 1150 El Solyo Heights Dr., Felton, by Applied Emergence LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
  • HUTCH’S HOME IMPROVEMENTS was registered at 1198 Pine Flat Rd., Santa Cruz, by Joshua Matthew Hutchison as an individual business on May 26.
  • SWIFT FITNESS was registered at 2351 Mission St., Santa Cruz, by SCG Fitness LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
  • BLUSH BEAUTY CO. was registered at 46 Brennan St., Watsonville, by Julie Ponce as an individual business on May 27.
  • CARNE LLC, POINT BUTCHER SHOP LLC was registered at 21511 E. Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, by Carne LLC as a limited liability company on May 27.
  • SCRATCH STUDIO was registered at 303 Potrero St., #02b, Santa Cruz, by Sara Josephine Czarnecki on May 27.
  • 3 DOT was registered at 105 Winterwind Way, Watsonville, by Brynn Taylor Mitchell as an individual business on May 28.
  • HOT ELEVATION STUDIOS was registered at 1440 41st Ave., Suite E, Capitola, by Stillhaven LLC as a limited liability company on May 28.
  • SOQUEL CREEK REDWOOD was registered at 200 7th Ave., Suite 190, Santa Cruz, by Aden Dahar Cury as a general partnership on May 28.
  • CESAR AUTO REPAIR was registered at 40 Linden Rd., Watsonville, by Julio Cesar Flores Sandoval as an individual business on May 28.
  • RESILIENCE was registered at 67 Charles Dr., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Lindsay as an individual business on May 28.
  • ReturnToMe LLC was registered at 9 Ortalon Ave., Santa Cruz, by Returntome LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
  • BIG BITE SC was registered at 119 Laguna St., Santa Cruz, by Grace Wong St. Clair as an individual business on May 29.
  • PACIFIC PERFORMANCE PEPTIDES was registered at 5000 Scotts Valley Dr., #2, Scotts Valley, by Pacific Performance Holdings LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
  • TALLIE’S TAILORING, TRUE CRUZ was registered at 875 Monterey Ave., Capitola, by Tallie Adair Crawford as an individual business on May 29.
  • SONS’ PIZZA CO. was registered at 1255 38th Ave., Spc. 58, Santa Cruz, by Jason Anstey as an individual business on May 29.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

MORE LOCAL COVERAGE

The post Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of June 2 appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Martin Scorsese becomes the latest — and most unlikely — Hollywood voice for AI

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:16
The caveat is that one of the world's most famous living directors is using the tech solely for storyboarding.
Categories: Nerd News

ALT

Effin Birds - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:05
ALT
Categories: Humor

Microsoft launches Scout, an OpenClaw-inspired personal assistant

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:02
Launched at Build, Microsoft Scout is a new AI assistant meant to bring the power and flexibility of OpenClaw into the Microsoft 365 system.
Categories: Nerd News

Ex-Anduril engineer raises $42M to build the Amazon of composite parts

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:00
Layup Parts co-founder Zack Eakin has drawn on a motorsports background, and his experience working for Palmer Luckey and Elon Musk, to tackle making faster, cheaper, and better composites.
Categories: Nerd News

Google rolls out fake call detection to protect against AI deepfake impersonation scams

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:00
As people increasingly refuse to answer calls from unknown numbers, scammers are shifting their tactics by spoofing trusted phone numbers and using AI deepfake technology to sound like authority figures, family members, or employers.
Categories: Nerd News

Microsoft offers devs a better way to control AI agent behavior

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 11:00
The specification lets developer, compliance and security teams define their own policies for agents to follow in portable policy files.
Categories: Nerd News

Amazon faces class action lawsuit over Ring facial-recognition feature

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 10:47
The class action lawsuit, filed in Seattle by Virginia resident Charles Sigwalt, claims that Ring's Familiar Faces feature stores images of passersby without consent.
Categories: Nerd News

Focused Energy raises whopping $240M Series A for laser-powered fusion tech

TechCrunch - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 10:01
Another fusion startup has raised another a massive round to make this type of power a reality.
Categories: Nerd News

Trump endorses New Jersey House candidate who has missed 100 votes

Daily Kos - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 10:00

On Monday night, President Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Tom Kean for reelection, saying the New Jersey Republican who is running unopposed in the Garden State’s Tuesday primary is “working tirelessly” for his constituents. “A Tremendous Advocate of our America First Agenda, Tom is working tirelessly to Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Grow our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations…

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Categories: Political News

While we destroy everything else

Daily Kos - Tue, 06/02/2026 - 09:59

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Americans don’t want a data center in their backyard…

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