n sub 1 Flush with success: Parametric Architecture’s rise to social media dominanceBOSTON (AP) — UConn coach Jim Mora pulled a move that would make Bill Belichick proud while preparing the Huskies to play the notoriously churlish former New England Patriot's next team in his old backyard. Mora and his players were more than 45 minutes late for what was scheduled as a 30-minute media availability a day before Saturday's Fenway Bowl against North Carolina. Mora then gave a non-apology straight out of Belichick’s playbook. “We practice at a certain time the day before a game,” Mora said. “And we stuck to the script.” A six-time Super Bowl winner in New England with Tom Brady, Belichick was fired after going 4-13 in 2023, leaving him just 14 wins short of matching Don Shula’s all-time record for NFL victories. Unable to land a pro job at the age of 72, Belichick signed on with North Carolina — his first college gig — when they fired 73-year-old Mack Brown. Belichick hasn’t taken over on the Tar Heels' sideline yet; interim coach Freddie Kitchens — another ex-Cleveland Browns coach — will lead them in the Fenway Bowl. But the future Hall of Famer's potential return to a football field in Boston has been the biggest story ahead of Saturday’s game. Belichick did not attend media day, and Fenway Bowl executive director Brett Miller tried to preempt questions about him by asking reporters “to keep questions focusing on the players and coaches out here today.” “I don’t need to beat around the bush any more than that,” he said in comments that would have been cryptic if it weren’t so obvious to everyone who he meant. “I know there’s probably a lot of questions that you guys have about next year, particularly one side. Please do your best to keep it to these guys, because they’ve earned the right to be here.” The request wasn’t completely successful, with Kitchens taking a question about Belichick specifically and saying he talks to his new boss every day. Earlier this month, Kitchens said: “He asks questions; I answer the questions.” “I’m going to try to soak in all I can from him, and be a better coach because of it,” Kitchens said after Belichick was hired. “I love Carolina, I want what’s best for Carolina, and I know that right now at this moment in time, coach Belichick is what’s best for Carolina. “At the end of the day, he’s a ballcoach,” he said, “and I enjoy working for ballcoaches.” Mora also brushed off a question about whether the next Carolina coach would have any impact on Saturday's game. “It's irrelevant to us," said Mora, who was 0-1 against Belichick in four seasons as an NFL head coach. "We can't control the emotions of our opponents. And as far as I know, coach Belichick will not be taking the football field on Saturday, so it's not relevant to this football team in our preparation. North Carolina (6-6) will be playing in a bowl for the sixth straight year – the second-longest streak in program history. The Tar Heels climbed from back-to-back nine-loss seasons in the final years of Larry Fedora to reach into The Associated Top 25 in each of the previous four seasons under Brown, who also coached them from 1988-97 in one of the most successful eras of Carolina football history. After starting out 3-0 this year, the Tar Heels lost four straight — including a 70-50 loss to Sun Belt Conference team James Madison. They won three more to gain bowl eligibility before a loss to Boston College that sealed Brown's fate, and a season-ending loss to rival NC State. UConn is playing in its second bowl game in three seasons under Jim Mora, bouncing back from last year’s 3-9 record to post its first eight-win season since Randy Edsall took the Huskies to the Fiesta Bowl in 2010. An independent, UConn won all of its games against the non-Power 4 conferences and lost to Syracuse, Wake Forest and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Maryland of the Big Ten. Miller said the bowl, which has struggled to find traction in a city more focused on the success of its professional sports teams, sold more tickets this year than in its first two. The Belichick angle is certainly part of that, but the game has also had some good success picking teams, hosting Louisville in 2022 -- the year before the Cardinals climbed into The Associated Press Top 10 – and then SMU last year, one season before the Mustangs made the College Football Playoff. “Could one of these teams be next,” Miller said. “We’ll see.” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballKitchens will lead Tar Heels in Fenway Bowl against UConn. Another ex-Browns coach is standing by

NoneCollege Football Playoff & Bowl Game TV Schedule 2024

South Carolina is off to an uneven start, but that hasn't obscured the steady rise of Collin Murray-Boyles. The 6-foot-7 sophomore will be the player to watch when South Carolina (6-3) hosts South Carolina Upstate (4-8) Saturday afternoon in Columbia. Murray-Boyles leads the Gamecocks in points (16.2), rebounds (9.4), steals (1.2) and blocks (1.1) per game. As South Carolina struggled to a 75-68 victory over East Carolina on Saturday, Murray-Boyles carried the Gamecocks, making all 10 of his shots from the floor and finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. "He's been working on pivoting towards the basket and getting on balance and then making a strong move through some contact," South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said. The Gamecocks have been highly dependent on Murray-Boyles. In the two games in which he has fouled out, South Carolina lost to Xavier and Indiana. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks are unbeaten in the six games in which he has collected at least eight rebounds. "He's still growing and it's exciting to see," Paris said. "He's got phenomenal natural touch." Also emerging lately have been Norfolk State transfer Jamarii Thomas, who had season highs of 22 points and seven assists against East Carolina, and Morris Ugusuk, who has hit 10 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the last three games. South Carolina Upstate has been sparked by a pair of guards who each have won multiple Big South freshman of the week awards. Carmelo Adkins had 31 points and 12 rebounds in wins last week over Division III Brevard and at Western Carolina, while Mister Dean leads the Spartans in points (15.7), rebounds (5.6) and steals (2.0) per game. "He sparks runs because he'll make a dynamic dunk," Spartans coach Marty Richter said of Dean. "He brings energy with how he scores the basketball, in a hurry. He can score in bunches." The Spartans enter on a high as the win over Western Carolina was Richter's first over a Division I team. South Carolina Upstate is 1-8 all-time against South Carolina. This year, the Spartans are winless in four games against power conference schools. In an 85-80 loss a month ago at Wake Forest, however, they led for much of the second half. --Field Level MediaBy Mark Gurman Apple Inc. is racing to develop a more conversational version of its Siri digital assistant , aiming to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other voice services, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new Siri, details of which haven’t been reported, uses more advanced large language models, or LLMs, to allow for back-and-forth conversations, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort hasn’t been announced. The system also can handle more sophisticated requests in a quicker fashion, they said. MORE: Apple unveils iPhone 16, watch with bigger screen and sleep apnea feature Revamping the 13-year-old Siri service is part of Apple’s efforts to become a force in artificial intelligence. The company debuted its much-ballyhooed Apple Intelligence platform last month, but it still lacks many of the features offered by other tech giants. The new voice assistant, which will eventually be added to Apple Intelligence, is dubbed “LLM Siri” by those working on it. LLMs — a building block of generative AI — gorge on massive amounts of data in order to identify patterns and answer questions. Apple has been testing the upgraded software on iPhones, iPads and Macs as a separate app, but the technology will ultimately replace the Siri interface that users rely on today. The company is planning to announce the overhaul as soon as 2025 as part of the upcoming iOS 19 and macOS 16 software updates, which are internally named Luck and Cheer, the people said. Like Apple Intelligence this fall, the new features won’t immediately be included in next year’s crop of hardware devices. Instead, Apple is currently planning to release the new Siri to consumers as early as spring 2026, about a year and a half from now. Given that Apple is still several months away from announcing the plan, the timing and features could still shift. A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The revamped Siri will rely on new Apple AI models to interact more like a human and handle tasks in a way that’s closer to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. It also will make expanded use of App Intents, which allow for more precise control of third-party apps. And the software will be able to tap into features from Apple Intelligence, such as the ability to write and summarize text. Though Apple heralded “the start of a new era” for Siri when it first unveiled its AI platform in June, the company has yet to truly overhaul the software. The upgrades that accompanied Apple Intelligence were mostly cosmetic, including a new glowing interface that shows users when they’ve triggered the assistant. There’s also an option to type commands — rather than speaking them — and the ability to better understand users. Siri will get additional tweaks in the coming months as part of iOS 18, the iPhone’s current operating system. The software will be able to draw on customer data to provide context for commands and take action using the information on a user’s screen. The iOS 18 version relies on a first-generation Apple LLM to determine if requests should use the existing Siri infrastructure or be routed to a second LLM that can handle more complex queries and tap into third-party apps. The next-generation LLM planned for iOS 19 will be a new, end-to-end system that provides more advanced, ChatGPT-like capabilities. While the company works on that new technology, it will add ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence next month. Later, Apple plans to offer additional chatbot options, such as Gemini. The idea behind the new Siri is to bring these kinds of capabilities in-house, while emphasizing user privacy. But the company could still continue to offer access to third-party AI systems that provide specialized abilities or information. In recent weeks, Apple has posted job listings that hint at its plan for a more conversational Siri. “You will join a team that is redefining computing, creating groundbreaking conversational assistant technologies for both large-scale systems and new client devices, and with the people who built the intelligent assistants,” one listing reads. Others ask for candidates with knowledge in conversational AI interfaces and underlying technologies. Apple has been looking to give Siri more conversational abilities for several years but struggled to find the right technology. Over a year ago, Apple moved the team responsible for the way Siri interacts with users from the company’s AI division to its group responsible for software interfaces. The team is now led by Alan Dye, the company’s vice president of human interface design. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Peter Frank paddled from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in June to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland this month in his 1982 Sawyer Loon decked canoe, but he’s still got a long way to go. The 23-year-old is about a quarter of the way on his planned journey of roughly 6,000 miles to complete the Great Loop route. This continuous watercourse includes part of the Atlantic and Gulf intracoastal waterways, the Great Lakes, part of the Canadian Heritage Canals and inland U.S. rivers. For Frank, the voyage is largely a way to express his gratitude for still being alive and having the ability to take on the physical challenge, almost a decade after a car accident left him with 14 broken bones and nearly paralyzed. He was hiding in a pile of leaves to surprise a friend when a carful of teens drove through the pile without knowing he was there. “It’s my form of showing the appreciation for being alive and being able to walk and do the things that I can do,” he said during a break in Annapolis, Maryland, earlier this month, a day before setting out again. He also enjoys writing about his experiences on and meeting people along the way. “I’m grateful to be out here and to share this story,” Frank says. “In some regard, I feel that I have a responsibility to document the things that I experience for people who don’t get to experience them or that dream of experiencing them. That is why it’s important to me.” Clad in a rabbit-fur hat and clothes he made himself to resemble a pirate, he generally paddles between six and 10 hours a day in his 1982 decked vessel, its shell hollowed to stow supplies. Many nights, he sleeps in a tent by the water. However, he often gets invitations from readers of his blog to stay in their homes. To keep warm, he’s picked up a 1970s vintage heavy down coat, an ultra-light Patagonia jacket he found in a thrift store, 1950s German military cold-weather mittens, a set of warm thermals and several wool socks. Recently, when he felt underdressed, he designed and sewed his own pants that he quilted over cotton flannel for extra layering. He carries 10 portable power banks, plus cords and outlet plugs. He says his electronics bag alone, holding only batteries and cords, weighs almost 25 pounds. “I find that 10 is a good amount and will keep me charged on GPS, radio, cameras and phone battery through any predicament,” he says. “I also carry a solar panel as a backup and can charge almost anything I need.” He doesn’t carry much for self-defense: only a small filet knife for fish and a pocket knife for cutting rope. Frank says he’s confident in his ability to protect himself, such as being mindful in bear country, tying up food or simply avoiding populated areas. The Eagle Scout, who still visits with a local scout troop in his hometown, prepared a hearty portion of his food for the long adventure. He dehydrated game meat and ground beef in an oven and vacuum-sealed it for the trek. Frank earns some income by writing about his experience. His blog also helps him pay grocery bills via his “Rotisserie Chicken Fund,” where people can click to send him money. “Every now and then, somebody will send me $20 online, which helps out a lot for like food and stuff, but in the meantime, I also write for magazines, and the magazines will publish my work,” he says. Frank made long-distance trips by bicycle, unicycle and canoes before. For example, he’s already explored Florida by canoe, which took him about 11 months, ending in May 2023. “I really, really do enjoy them,” Frank says of the adventures. “I enjoy being alive most of all, and so I guess for me these expeditions are not only my college and my education, but it’s also my form of worship in a way, my giving thanks to the world for being alive and being able to walk.” The Great Loop is his most challenging trip yet. While the journey is a bucket-list route for avid boaters, it’s rarely done with reliance on muscling a canoe. Frank also travels clockwise, which he says is the harder route because he’s paddling against the current on inland rivers for more than 25% of the trip. Frank launched his trip on June 27 in Escanaba, Michigan, where he’s from. He paddled into Canada and crossed Lake Ontario, where he camped on islands. On his way south, he went through New York City, floating by the Statue of Liberty. While he’s given some long study to the Great Loop route, not everything has been perfectly mapped out for the canoeist. He says he’s had to do some wayfinding on his own. While leaving New York, he took the Delaware and Raritan Canal, using portages he says he found that weren’t mentioned in route plans. Frank says he hopes to write an informational guide to fill in some gaps about details of the route. He’s also thinking about writing an autobiography. “I’d like to put something together that’s purely educational that would be a guide, and then I’d like to put something together that’s kind of like the story of a young man finding himself in a world that he doesn’t fully understand yet,” Frank says. He was living with his parents before he started traveling when he left home to unicycle across the U.S. for charity when he was 19. “I’ll sometimes go back and visit for a couple of months between expeditions, but for the last three years I’ve just been traveling full time,” he says. Everything he owns is in his canoe. He says he doesn’t need much money to keep on flowing. “Is this comfortable or practical? Absolutely not,” he said, “but through the struggles of following my dreams with little to nothing, I’ve developed the capacity to enjoy less, and as a result, I live well with little.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Even in outwardly inclusive workplaces, LGBTQ+ employees face ‘invisible’ challengesRalph Lauren Corporation Declares Quarterly Dividend

By Mark Gurman Apple Inc. is racing to develop a more conversational version of its Siri digital assistant , aiming to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other voice services, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new Siri, details of which haven’t been reported, uses more advanced large language models, or LLMs, to allow for back-and-forth conversations, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the effort hasn’t been announced. The system also can handle more sophisticated requests in a quicker fashion, they said. MORE: Apple unveils iPhone 16, watch with bigger screen and sleep apnea feature Revamping the 13-year-old Siri service is part of Apple’s efforts to become a force in artificial intelligence. The company debuted its much-ballyhooed Apple Intelligence platform last month, but it still lacks many of the features offered by other tech giants. The new voice assistant, which will eventually be added to Apple Intelligence, is dubbed “LLM Siri” by those working on it. LLMs — a building block of generative AI — gorge on massive amounts of data in order to identify patterns and answer questions. Apple has been testing the upgraded software on iPhones, iPads and Macs as a separate app, but the technology will ultimately replace the Siri interface that users rely on today. The company is planning to announce the overhaul as soon as 2025 as part of the upcoming iOS 19 and macOS 16 software updates, which are internally named Luck and Cheer, the people said. Like Apple Intelligence this fall, the new features won’t immediately be included in next year’s crop of hardware devices. Instead, Apple is currently planning to release the new Siri to consumers as early as spring 2026, about a year and a half from now. Given that Apple is still several months away from announcing the plan, the timing and features could still shift. A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The revamped Siri will rely on new Apple AI models to interact more like a human and handle tasks in a way that’s closer to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. It also will make expanded use of App Intents, which allow for more precise control of third-party apps. And the software will be able to tap into features from Apple Intelligence, such as the ability to write and summarize text. Though Apple heralded “the start of a new era” for Siri when it first unveiled its AI platform in June, the company has yet to truly overhaul the software. The upgrades that accompanied Apple Intelligence were mostly cosmetic, including a new glowing interface that shows users when they’ve triggered the assistant. There’s also an option to type commands — rather than speaking them — and the ability to better understand users. Siri will get additional tweaks in the coming months as part of iOS 18, the iPhone’s current operating system. The software will be able to draw on customer data to provide context for commands and take action using the information on a user’s screen. The iOS 18 version relies on a first-generation Apple LLM to determine if requests should use the existing Siri infrastructure or be routed to a second LLM that can handle more complex queries and tap into third-party apps. The next-generation LLM planned for iOS 19 will be a new, end-to-end system that provides more advanced, ChatGPT-like capabilities. While the company works on that new technology, it will add ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence next month. Later, Apple plans to offer additional chatbot options, such as Gemini. The idea behind the new Siri is to bring these kinds of capabilities in-house, while emphasizing user privacy. But the company could still continue to offer access to third-party AI systems that provide specialized abilities or information. In recent weeks, Apple has posted job listings that hint at its plan for a more conversational Siri. “You will join a team that is redefining computing, creating groundbreaking conversational assistant technologies for both large-scale systems and new client devices, and with the people who built the intelligent assistants,” one listing reads. Others ask for candidates with knowledge in conversational AI interfaces and underlying technologies. Apple has been looking to give Siri more conversational abilities for several years but struggled to find the right technology. Over a year ago, Apple moved the team responsible for the way Siri interacts with users from the company’s AI division to its group responsible for software interfaces. The team is now led by Alan Dye, the company’s vice president of human interface design. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Ansys Inc. stock underperforms Tuesday when compared to competitorsNEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ: LNW) resulting from allegations that Light & Wonder may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public. SO WHAT: If you purchased Light & Wonder securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=29678 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On September 24, 2024, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published an article entitled “Slot manufacturer scores major win against Las Vegas-based rival.” It stated that “Aristocrat Technologies Inc.’s request for a preliminary injunction in its trade-secret and copyright infringement lawsuit against Light & Wonder” had been granted, and that the “order prohibits [Light & Wonder] from the ‘continued or planned sale, leasing, or other commercialization of Dragon Train,’ which Aristocrat claims uses intellectual property developed for its Dragon Link and Lightning Link games.” On this news, the price of Light & Wonder common stock fell 19.49% on September 24, 2024. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs’ Bar. Many of the firm’s attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ . Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. ------------------------------- Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com

Grand View (Iowa) 263, Life (Ga.) 249, Southeastern (Fla.) 210, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 200, Cumberlands (Ky.) 176. Others: 12, Providence, 121; T15, Montana State-Northern 77. Trevor Marsman, Cornerstone (Mich.). 22, Kobi Johnson, UP. Thaddeus Long, Life (Ga.). 22, Kina'u McBrayer, UP. Hartwell Taylor, Saint Mary (Kan.). 18, Tristan Bremer, UP. Nathan Lendt, Doane (Neb.) Aden Graves, Providence. 17, Hunter Hobbs, UP. Jonathan Kervin, Indiana Tech. 12, Travis Waldner, MSUN; 13, Bridger Hall, UP. Alex Reynolds, Grand View (Iowa). 13, Devin Crawford, MSUN. : Jesse Perez, Life (Ga.). 5, Rylin Burns, MSUN; 6, Sawyer Hobbs, UP; 24, Liam Swanson, UP. Garavous Kouekabakilaho, Grand View (Iowa). 11, Caleb Werner, UP; 15, Austin Vanek, MSUN. Kenneth Copley, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.). 13, Shane Mattson, MSUN; 15, Ethan DeRoche, UP. Grand View Iowa) 212, Life (Ga.) 212, Providence 161, Cumberlands (Ky.) 157, Indiana Tech 132. Erin Hikiji, Providence. 14, Isabella Bocanegra, UP. Anaya Falcon, Life (Ga.). 2, Paige Morales, UP. Camille Fournier, Texas Wesleyan. 14, Isabelle Asuncion, UP. Cristelle Rodriguez, Doane (Neb.). T8, Alicia Frank, UP. Carolina Moreno, Southern Oregon. 6, Alyssa Randles, UP. Zaynah McBryde, Life (Ga.). 2, Waipuilani Estrella-Beauchamp, UP; 11, Paige Respicio, UP. Jamilah McBryde, Life (Ga.). 5, Esther Han, UP; 7, Kailey Rees, UP. Latifah McBryde, Life (Ga.). 11, KaceyLee Pua, UP. Abby McIntyre, Grand View (Iowa) Kelani Corbett, Missouri Valley Get local news delivered to your inbox!Mexican teacher uses AI to inspire her students to achieve their dreams