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“ Gladiator II ” breakout star Fred Hechinger is weighing in co-star Denzel Washington ‘s cut gay kiss scene in the film . Hechinger, who plays Emperor Caracalla alongside his onscreen twin Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta, told IndieWire that the cut kiss between Denzel Washington’s character Macrinus and another man was not with either of the dual emperors. “If I had a peck with him, they would have kept it in the movie,” Hechinger told IndieWire during a recent interview. During the “Gladiator II” Los Angeles premiere, Washington clarified that the so-called controversy about the kiss is irrelevant. “It really is much ado about nothing,” Washington said. “They’re making more of it than it was. I kissed him on his hands, I gave him a peck, and I killed him.” Washington previously explained that the production was too “chicken” to include the overtly queer scene. “Nickel Boys” actor Hechinger credited his “Gladiator II” co-star Washington for always keeping each take dynamic and fresh on set. “Every single day, Denzel will surprise you. That’s part of why he’s one of our greatest actors,” Hechinger said. And when working with animals, like Hechinger’s onscreen pet-slash-sidekick Donda, Washington’s ability to improvise proved invaluable. “There’s a scene two-thirds of the way into the movie. It’s me, Denzel, and my character’s monkey, and the monkey is, as monkeys do, moving around as she wants,” Hechinger said. “She jumps from my shoulder to his and that was not something that was planned. That was completely impulsive on [monkey star] Cherry’s part. And to me, it’s like she took the entire subtext of the scene and brought it out. It’s very brilliant.” He continued, “Denzel is the kind of great actor who immediately makes something of that. He immediately takes all that in and uses it for the next part of the scene. And when I was watching that, I was like, ‘It’s just Cherry’s text work.'” Hechinger, who replaced Barry Keoghan after the actor was originally cast in the role before exiting to film Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn” in summer 2022, also confirmed that he was not bitten at all during production, despite conflicting past reports. “I arrived early in the pre-production process in part so I could train with my monkey,” Hechinger said. “There’s four monkeys and they’re all siblings. Cherry is the oldest sister. They’re in Spain. That’s where they’re raised and they live with Mikel, who’s this beautiful trainer that works with them. He helped me learn how to work with them.” The two younger brother monkeys were originally supposed to share the role of Donda. Yet Cherry, the oldest sister, was the one that was “the most comfortable and wanted to do it,” according to Hechinger. “I mean, as much as I guess a monkey can want to do a production. But she was like the most relaxed and she really does have like big sister energy.” Hechinger also began pre-production early in part to transform into the pale, sickly Emperor Caracalla. But there were no Geoffrey from “Game of Thrones” references for the look: “I’ve never seen ‘Game of Thrones,’ I have a confession,” Hechinger admitted. Instead, he found some tonal inspiration in Robert Pattinson’s performance as a French ruler in “The King.” “I thought Robert Pattinson was so brilliant in ‘The King.’ I think he’s quite comical in it,” Hechinger said. “I wouldn’t say I ever like rewatched it or something, but at one point early on, I was moved and inspired by what he had put down there.” Hechinger’s collaboration with “Gladiator II” auteur Ridley Scott is also a long time coming. “I had auditioned for Ridley earlier in my career, and I didn’t know that it reached him. I thought everyone was just being like polite and kind,” Hechinger said, while staying mum on what the project was. While the feature didn’t get made, he added, “I don’t want to blow up his life if [Scott] still wants to make it.” Hechinger said, “I guess he had seen [the audition] and was thinking of me, in a way [after Keoghan exited]. So that meant a lot.” “Gladiator II” is now in theaters. “Nickel Boys” will hit theaters in Los Angeles and New York City on Friday, December 13 with a wide release to follow on Wednesday, December 25.
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How world leaders are reacting to Jimmy Carter's deathThe Construction Industries Federation of Namibia (CIF) has urged political leaders to commit to immediate and meaningful support for local contractors.“The survival and growth o ... If you are an active subscriber and the article is not showing, please log out and back in. Free access to articles from 12:00.O.C. football coaches analyze Edison’s chances in CIF-SS final without Julius GillickAirport Retailing Market Set to Soar with 15% CAGR, Projected to Reach USD 45 Billion by 2028 11-26-2024 09:37 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: Data Bridge Market Research (DBMR) / PR Agency: Data Bridge Market Research (DBMR) The Airport Retailing Market sector is undergoing significant transformation, with substantial growth and technological advancements expected by 2031. According to a new in-depth market research report, the sector is poised for expansion, driven by various factors such as market size, share, and emerging trends. This comprehensive report provides key insights into the Airport Retailing market, exploring critical market segmentation and definitions. It highlights the essential components driving growth, offering a clear picture of the industry's trajectory. Utilizing SWOT and PESTEL analyses, the report evaluates the market's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, while also considering political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors that impact the market landscape. The study offers valuable insights into the competitive landscape, highlighting recent developments and geographical distribution across key regions. Expert competitor analysis provides a detailed understanding of market dynamics, offering strategic guidance for businesses and investors. With robust analysis and future projections, this report serves as a vital resource for stakeholders looking to capitalize on emerging opportunities and navigate challenges in the Airport Retailing market. What is the projected market size & growth rate of the Airport Retailing Market? Market Analysis and Insights : Global Airport Retailing Market Airport retailing market size is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 15.0% in the forecast period 2021 to 2028 and is likely to reach USD 45,000.0 million by 2028. Data Bridge Market Research report on airport retailing market provides analysis and insights regarding the various factors expected to be prevalent throughout the forecasted period while providing their impacts on the market's growth. Airport retailing is basically the retail services provided to travellers inside the airport. These retail services at airports are located in central areas with high passenger flow to attract more customers. It also offers a wide variety of products such as perfumes, cosmetics, fashion, accessories, food and beverages among others. The retailing services depend on the type of travellers such as business travellers, vacationers or domestic and international passengers. The increasing budget of the aviation industries and increasing the disposable income of the air travellers are expected to accelerate the overall demand for airport retailing market over the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Moreover, some of the retailers and operators are adopting online services for such as omni-channel strategies for and time-conscious millennial travellers to expand their e-commerce presence and benefit from growing demand for online duty free purchases which are projected to proliferate demand for the market. However, stringent legal and political regulations are projected to hamper the growth of the market. The development of new and existing airports is anticipated to further generate new opportunities for the airport retailing market in the forecast period. The travel restrictions by certain countries is projected to be challenging for the growth of the market. This airport retailing market report provides details of new recent developments, trade regulations, import export analysis, production analysis, value chain optimization, market share, impact of domestic and localized market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, strategic market growth analysis, market size, category market growths, application niches and dominance, product approvals, product launches, geographic expansions, technological innovations in the market. To gain more info on airport retailing market contact Data Bridge Market Research for an Analyst Brief, our team will help you take an informed market decision to achieve market growth. Browse Detailed TOC, Tables and Figures with Charts which is spread across 350 Pages that provides exclusive data, information, vital statistics, trends, and competitive landscape details in this niche sector. This research report is the result of an extensive primary and secondary research effort into the Airport Retailing market. It provides a thorough overview of the market's current and future objectives, along with a competitive analysis of the industry, broken down by application, type and regional trends. It also provides a dashboard overview of the past and present performance of leading companies. A variety of methodologies and analyses are used in the research to ensure accurate and comprehensive information about the Airport Retailing Market. Get a Sample PDF of Report - https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-airport-retailing-market Which are the driving factors of the Airport Retailing market? The driving factors of the Airport Retailing market include technological advancements that enhance product efficiency and user experience, increasing consumer demand driven by changing lifestyle preferences, and favorable government regulations and policies that support market growth. Additionally, rising investment in research and development and the expanding application scope of Airport Retailing across various industries further propel market expansion. Airport Retailing Market - Competitive and Segmentation Analysis: Global Airport Retailing Market, By Type (Liquor and Tobacco, Perfumes and Cosmetics, Fashion and Accessories, Food and Beverages, Pharmacy Products, Electronic Products, Arts, Fashion, Others), Airport Size (Large Airport, Medium Airport, Small Airport), Ownership (Corporate Chains, Independent Owners, Franchises), Applications (Airside, Landside, Other), Distribution Channel (Direct Retailer, Convenience Store, Specialty Retailer, Departmental store), Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Germany, France, Italy, U.K., Belgium, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Netherlands, Switzerland, Rest of Europe, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific, U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2031. How do you determine the list of the key players included in the report? With the aim of clearly revealing the competitive situation of the industry, we concretely analyze not only the leading enterprises that have a voice on a global scale, but also the regional small and medium-sized companies that play key roles and have plenty of potential growth. Which are the top companies operating in the Airport Retailing market? The major players covered in the airport retailing report are InMotion Hosting, Delaware North Companies. Inc., XpresSpa Group, Areas, Paradies Lagardère Travel Retail, HMSHost, Hudson, SSP Group plc, Sodexo, Concessions International, Dubai Duty Free, Dufry, DFS Group Ltd, KING POWER International, THE SHILLA DUTY FREE, China Duty Free Group Co., Ltd, Gebr. Heinemann SE & Co. KG, Japan Airport Terminal Co. Ltd., Flemingo among other domestic and global players. Short Description About Airport Retailing Market: The Global Airport Retailing market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2024 and 2031. In 2023, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon. North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which can not be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Airport Retailing. The market in North America is expected to grow considerably during the forecast period. The high adoption of advanced technology and the presence of large players in this region are likely to create ample growth opportunities for the market. Europe also play important roles in global market, with a magnificent growth in CAGR During the Forecast period 2024-2031. Airport Retailing Market size is projected to reach Multimillion USD by 2031, In comparison to 2024, at unexpected CAGR during 2024-2031. Despite the presence of intense competition, due to the global recovery trend is clear, investors are still optimistic about this area, and it will still be more new investments entering the field in the future. This report focuses on the Airport Retailing in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application. Get a Sample Copy of the Airport Retailing Report 2024 What are your main data sources? Both Primary and Secondary data sources are being used while compiling the report. Primary sources include extensive interviews of key opinion leaders and industry experts (such as experienced front-line staff, directors, CEOs, and marketing executives), downstream distributors, as well as end-users. Secondary sources include the research of the annual and financial reports of the top companies, public files, new journals, etc. We also cooperate with some third-party databases. Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historical data and forecast (2024-2031) of the following regions are covered in Chapters What are the key regions in the global Airport Retailing market? North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) This Airport Retailing Market Research/Analysis Report Contains Answers to your following Questions What are the global trends in the Airport Retailing market? Would the market witness an increase or decline in the demand in the coming years? What is the estimated demand for different types of products in Airport Retailing? What are the upcoming industry applications and trends for Airport Retailing market? What Are Projections of Global Airport Retailing Industry Considering Capacity, Production and Production Value? What Will Be the Estimation of Cost and Profit? What Will Be Market Share, Supply and Consumption? What about Import and Export? Where will the strategic developments take the industry in the mid to long-term? What are the factors contributing to the final price of Airport Retailing? What are the raw materials used for Airport Retailing manufacturing? How big is the opportunity for the Airport Retailing market? How will the increasing adoption of Airport Retailing for mining impact the growth rate of the overall market? How much is the global Airport Retailing market worth? What was the value of the market In 2020? Who are the major players operating in the Airport Retailing market? Which companies are the front runners? Which are the recent industry trends that can be implemented to generate additional revenue streams? What Should Be Entry Strategies, Countermeasures to Economic Impact, and Marketing Channels for Airport Retailing Industry? Customization of the Report Can I modify the scope of the report and customize it to suit my requirements? Yes. Customized requirements of multi-dimensional, deep-level and high-quality can help our customers precisely grasp market opportunities, effortlessly confront market challenges, properly formulate market strategies and act promptly, thus to win them sufficient time and space for market competition. Detailed TOC of Global Airport Retailing Market Insights and Forecast to 2031 Introduction Market Segmentation Executive Summary Premium Insights Market Overview Airport Retailing Market By Type Airport Retailing Market By Function Airport Retailing Market By Material Airport Retailing Market By End User Airport Retailing Market By Region Airport Retailing Market: Company Landscape SWOT Analysis Company Profiles Continued... https://futureresearchinsight1500.blogspot.com/2024/11/brake-shims-market-size-2024-current.html https://futureresearchinsight1500.blogspot.com/2024/11/food-mycotoxin-testing-market.html https://futureresearchinsight1500.blogspot.com/2024/11/pemigatinib-market-share-2024.html Data Bridge Market Research: Today's trends are a great way to predict future events! Data Bridge Market Research is a market research and consulting company that stands out for its innovative and distinctive approach, as well as its unmatched resilience and integrated methods. We are dedicated to identifying the best market opportunities, and providing insightful information that will help your business thrive in the marketplace. Data Bridge offers tailored solutions to complex business challenges. This facilitates a smooth decision-making process. Data Bridge was founded in Pune in 2015. It is the product of deep wisdom and experience. Contact Us: Data Bridge Market Research US: +1 614 591 3140 UK: +44 845 154 9652 APAC: +653 1251 975 Email:- corporatesales@databridgemarketresearch.com This release was published on openPR.
Debt-free holidayMatsuya Co Ltd, through its consolidated subsidiary company, Matsuya Ginza.com, on Wednesday announced its new online shopping hub . This hub brings the elegance and innovation of Matsuya Ginza into the digital realm. Its unparalleled aesthetics and cutting-edge technological features further enhance the customer experience, ushering in a new era for luxury shopping in Japan. Matsuya has been shaping Japan’s luxury retail landscape for more than 150 years, first serving as a kimono retailer before opening as a luxury department store, offering fashion, cosmetics, food and homewares. The new platform makes Matsuya Ginza the first Japanese department store to offer global customers a “click and collect” service, including tax refund.The product lineup includes MIU MIU, Prada, Roger Vivier, Aesop and Tom Ford Beauty and others. Matsuya said the launch marks a deep digital transformation for the store, providing a seamless shopping experience that optimizes customer convenience and personalization. Customers can utilize the hub’s “click and collect” function to browse Matsuya Ginza’s extensive product lineup from the comfort of their homes and collect them at the store’s 4th-floor pick-up counter. Japan residents can opt to have their products delivered to their homes at an extra cost. International customers can make their shopping experience far more efficient, by receiving tax refunds on their purchases at the same pick-up counter. This multi-purpose platform also allows customers to reserve products. Matsuya Ginza is revered for its comprehensive curation of “glocal” products, offering high-end international products and traditional, regional items that support Japan’s artisans, designers and architects. The new platform will ensure international shoppers and busy locals alike can avoid the disappointment of finding that these unique items are out of stock by reserving them in advance. Takehiko Furuya, Representative Director of Matsuya Co Ltd and Chairman of Matsuya Ginza.com, expressed his enthusiasm for the launch of the new matsuyaginza.com hub: "We’re excited about this move to enhance Matsuya Ginza’s shopping experience through matsuyaginza.com and maintain our position as the premier luxury shopping experience in Ginza. This launch will be especially valuable to overseas visitors to Japan who can reserve items they want to buy before they even arrive in Japan. They’ll benefit from being assured the products they want will be waiting for them in store and that the pickup will be quick and easy, ensuring they don’t spend their precious time in Japan queuing.” This customer-centric digital platform further elevates the services offered by Matsuya Ginza. New products, brand insights, concierge shopping appointments and in-store pickup are all designed to provide 360-degree support by seamlessly integrating communication, information sharing, and sales into a single, user-friendly platform. To celebrate the launch of this new platform, Matsuya Ginza will host an interactive launch event daily until Dec 3, inviting customers to experience a fusion of in-store tradition and digital innovation. There will be activity areas inside and outside the store featuring original games for customers, which they can join by scanning QR codes placed at each activity area or by visiting matsuyaginza.com and registering as a new member. Activities and events include: Interactive Window Experience Visitors can personalize their shopping journey by creating custom characters for a virtual store adventure or projecting their wishes. Beauty Cart Experience Visitors will receive a package of cosmetics samples, an original crane candy, a cookie, and a 1,000-yen coupon. Source: Matsuya Ginza
Oklahoma residents on Sunday mourned the death of former Democratic U.S. Sen. Fred Harris , a trailblazer in progressive politics in the state who ran an unsuccessful presidential bid in 1976. Harris died on Saturday at 94. Democratic Party members across Oklahoma remembered Harris for his commitment to economic and social justice during the 1960s — a period of historical turbulence. Harris chaired the Democratic National Committee from 1969 to 1970 and helped unify the party after its tumultuous national convention in 1968 when protesters and police clashed in Chicago. “Fred Harris showed us what is possible when we lead with both heart and principle. He worked to ensure everyone had a voice and a seat at the table,” said Alicia Andrews, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. Harris appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago earlier this year as a guest speaker for the Oklahoma delegation, where he reflected on progress and unity. “Standing alongside him in Chicago this summer was a reminder of how his legacy continues to inspire,” Andrews said. Kalyn Free, a member of the Choctaw nation of Oklahoma and the DNC, said that there is no one else in public service whom she admired more than the former senator. RELATED COVERAGE Fred Harris, former US senator from Oklahoma and presidential hopeful, dies at 94 “He was a friend, a mentor, a hero and my True North. Oklahoma and America have lost a powerful advocate and voice,” Free said in a statement. “His work for Indian Country will always be remembered.” “Senator Harris truly was an Oklahoma treasure and was ahead of his time in so many ways,” said Jeff Berrong, whose grandfather served in the state Senate with Harris. “He never forgot where he came from and he always remained focused on building a society that would provide equality of opportunity for all.” Harris served eight years in the state Senate before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served another eight years before his 1976 presidential campaign. State party leaders commemorated his work on the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, or the Kerner Commission, to investigate the 1960s riots. Harris was the last surviving member of the commission. Shortly after his presidential campaign, Harris left politics and moved to New Mexico and became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. —- Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Nvidia is growing faster than you think. This table proves it
There are engines with reputations for being able to rack up over 500,000 miles with steady maintenance. Among those, Mercedes-Benz and its diesel engines are legendary. Here, we look at one of them in particular — the OM617A, which is the turbocharged version of the five-cylinder Mercedes-Benz OM617 engine . Mercedes-Benz drivers in the 2000s were reporting cars with up to 600,000 miles on them, with many stating that they could go even further by keeping up with routine maintenance. Fitting the turbocharged OM617 engine into a W116 platform for select markets outside of Europe created the world's first turbo diesel sedan. There were three slightly different versions of the turbocharged OM617 engine produced, though a mid-life upgrade of the first version made the most difference in terms of performance. Mercedes-Benz had three different platforms that utilized this engine base: Namely the 1978-1980 W116, 1981-1985 W126 S-Class sedans, as well as some of the 1978-1986 W123-platform cars. The first version of the turbo-charged OM617 engine was the OM617.950, built for the W116 platform, which made the resulting 300SD the world's first passenger car with a turbo-diesel engine. While the turbo-diesel helped improve the brand's overall fuel economy rating for its vehicle fleet, the W116 was also the first Mercedes-Benz to be officially called an S-Class — this was a flagship Mercedes-Benz model , and not an economy car by any means. Mercedes says that 28,634 300SD models were produced out of the 473,035 total W116 platform automobiles. Mercedes-Benz's OM617 engine in the first 300SD models produced 111 horsepower — up from 80 horsepower for the naturally aspirated version in the 300D. In late 1979, this was bumped up to 121 horsepower, versus 88 horsepower for the non-turbo variant. That extra power was sorely needed, especially for cars with automatic transmissions. The same data show that early 300Ds ran 0-62mph in 20.8 seconds. Even after the 1979 upgrade, the 300D took 19.2 seconds. The 300SD turbodiesel? At first, 17.0 seconds — and after late 1979, 16.2 seconds. The W126 platform was rolled out starting in 1979, but a version with the OM617 turbodiesel became available in the 1981 model year. Like its previous iteration, the 300SD Turbo sedan was built for the U.S. and Canadian markets, and up through 1985, there were 78,725 of them were built. The turbocharged W126 came out at a perfect moment for Mercedes-Benz. American manufacturers had begun attempts at improving gas mileage; at first by dropping both engine and body sizes. Cadillac, for example, dropped engines over 400 cubic inches after 1979, and introduced smaller cars such as the Cadillac Cimarron. However, in the early 1980s, Cadillac also experimented with a technology they called V8-6-4 , which shut off some pistons at certain speeds. This failed to produce a long-lived engine for Cadillac because while the tech was novel, the onboard computer in Cadillac vehicles couldn't keep up and caused some severe mechanical issues. By contrast, with Mercedes-Benz taking an under-stressed engine and adding a turbo, its sedans were able to maintain reliability while improving performance and fuel economy. Mercedes-Benz claims that, at first, the OM617.951 produced the same output as its predecessor. That was then raised after the October 1982 revision to make 125 horsepower. Europeans who wanted the three-liter turbocharged diesel could not get one on the W126 platform. Instead, they came in the form of the W123 series station wagon, the 300TD Turbodiesel — or "kombi," as they are known in Central Europe. In 1981, it briefly came with the OM617.951 engine. However, in 1982, the OM617.951 was reworked slightly to better fit the W123 platform. This engine — called the OM617.952 — made it into the 300TD Turbo models that were sold in Europe. Overall, 28,219 300TD Turbodiesels were made. The W123 also came in a coupe version for the North American market. This was the 300CD Turbodiesel, and 8,007 of them made it across the Atlantic. While it shared the same overall drivetrain as the other two vehicles, the coupe was up to 200 lbs lighter than the sedan, which affected acceleration significantly. According to Mercedes-Benz, the 300CD Turbo reached 62 mph in 14 seconds, versus 15.2 seconds for the full-sized four-door version. In the mid-1980s, Mercedes-Benz updated its various platforms, providing a visual a refresh to several vehicles in its lineup. The engines, however, underwent an even greater overhaul. The success of the turbodiesel led to further developments, and the successor to the OM617:952 was called the OM602. The new engine was introduced in 1985, and it went into the new E-Class cars in 2.5 liter normally aspirated variants (from 1985) and turbocharged versions (from 1988). In case the OM617A bug has bit and you're looking to snag your own classic S-Class, remember that the youngest cars with these engines are almost 40 years old now. Their positive reputation has never really declined, either. In 2018, Hemmings put it bluntly, writing that "both the coupes and the wagons are bona fide cult cars. Fewer than 200,000 wagons were built worldwide, and coupes are even rarer — not quite 100,000 were built over the decade." That said, the Mercedes-Benz 300SD is a different story. Even in 2024, a sedan with over 200,000 miles can still be picked up for under $10,000.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Building the current crop of artificial intelligence chatbots has relied on specialized computer chips pioneered by Nvidia, which dominates the market and made itself the poster child of the AI boom. But the same qualities that make those graphics processor chips, or GPUs, so effective at creating powerful AI systems from scratch make them less efficient at putting AI products to work. That’s opened up the AI chip industry to rivals who think they can compete with Nvidia in selling so-called AI inference chips that are more attuned to the day-to-day running of AI tools and designed to reduce some of the huge computing costs of generative AI. “These companies are seeing opportunity for that kind of specialized hardware,” said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “The broader the adoption of these models, the more compute will be needed for inference and the more demand there will be for inference chips.” It takes a lot of computing power to make an AI chatbot. It starts with a process called training or pretraining — the “P” in ChatGPT — that involves AI systems “learning” from the patterns of huge troves of data. GPUs are good at doing that work because they can run many calculations at a time on a network of devices in communication with each other. However, once trained, a generative AI tool still needs chips to do the work — such as when you ask a chatbot to compose a document or generate an image. That’s where inferencing comes in. A trained AI model must take in new information and make inferences from what it already knows to produce a response. GPUs can do that work, too. But it can be a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. “With training, you’re doing a lot heavier, a lot more work. With inferencing, that’s a lighter weight,” said Forrester analyst Alvin Nguyen. That’s led startups like Cerebras, Groq and d-Matrix as well as Nvidia’s traditional chipmaking rivals — such as AMD and Intel — to pitch more inference-friendly chips as Nvidia focuses on meeting the huge demand from bigger tech companies for its higher-end hardware. D-Matrix was founded in 2019 — a bit late to the AI chip game, as CEO Sid Sheth explained during a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, the same Silicon Valley city that’s also home to AMD, Intel and Nvidia. “There were already 100-plus companies. So when we went out there, the first reaction we got was ‘you’re too late,’” he said. The pandemic’s arrival six months later didn’t help as the tech industry pivoted to focus on software to serve remote work. Now, however, Sheth sees a big market in AI inferencing, comparing that later stage of machine learning to how human beings apply the knowledge they acquired in school. “We spent the first 20 years of our lives going to school, educating ourselves. That’s training, right?” he said. “And then the next 40 years of your life, you kind of go out there and apply that knowledge — and then you get rewarded for being efficient.” The product, called Corsair, consists of two chips with four chiplets each, made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — the same manufacturer of most of Nvidia’s chips — and packaged together in a way that helps to keep them cool. The chips are designed in Santa Clara, assembled in Taiwan and then tested back in California. Testing is a long process and can take six months — if anything is off, it can be sent back to Taiwan. D-Matrix workers were doing final testing on the chips during a recent visit to a laboratory with blue metal desks covered with cables, motherboards and computers, with a cold server room next door. While tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have been gobbling up the supply of costly GPUs in a race to outdo each other in AI development, makers of AI inference chips are aiming for a broader clientele. Forrester’s Nguyen said that could include Fortune 500 companies that want to make use of new generative AI technology without having to build their own AI infrastructure. Sheth said he expects a strong interest in AI video generation. “The dream of AI for a lot of these enterprise companies is you can use your own enterprise data,” Nguyen said. “Buying (AI inference chips) should be cheaper than buying the ultimate GPUs from Nvidia and others. But I think there’s going to be a learning curve in terms of integrating it.” Feldgoise said that, unlike training-focused chips, AI inference work prioritizes how fast a person will get a chatbot’s response. He said another whole set of companies is developing AI hardware for inference that can run not just in big data centers but locally on desktop computers, laptops and phones. Better-designed chips could bring down the huge costs of running AI to businesses. That could also affect the environmental and energy costs for everyone else. Sheth says the big concern right now is, “are we going to burn the planet down in our quest for what people call AGI — human-like intelligence?” It’s still fuzzy when AI might get to the point of artificial general intelligence — predictions range from a few years to decades. But, Sheth notes, only a handful of tech giants are on that quest. “But then what about the rest?” he said. “They cannot be put on the same path.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Barrington Hargress, Nate Pickens rally UC Riverside to 81-79 OT victory over St. Thomas=MinnesotaMIAMI -- Traffic citations issued to Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill after a September altercation with police have been dismissed after the charging officers didn't attend a court hearing. Hill's tickets for careless driving and failing to wear a seat belt were dismissed after the Miami-Dade Police officers failed to show up for a Monday hearing. The tickets were issued after Hill was stopped outside Hard Rock Stadium for allegedly speeding before the Dolphins' season opener on Sept. 8. The stop escalated and an officer pulled Hill from the car, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him. Hill said in a Tuesday post on the social platform X , “Where all the internet cops now”. The Miami-Dade Police said the officers' failure to appear was “an oversight” and “the matter will be handled administratively.” Still, the department defended issuing Hill the tickets. “A citation dismissed due to this reason does not indicate that the citation held no merit,” the agency said in a statement. Police body camera video from the September stop showed Hill appeared to speed past two motorcycle officers who were monitoring traffic on a road outside the stadium. They pulled over his McLaren sports car and one tapped on his window. Hill, 30, handed the officer his driver's license, but told the officer repeatedly, “Don’t knock on my window like that." He then put his window back up. Their verbal exchange escalated and the officers soon pulled him from the car, forcing Hill face-first to the ground. The officers cursed at Hill but he did not resist their physical force or strike at them in the video. He did tell one officer, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Hill was eventually stood up, but then an officer dragged him into a sitting position on the curb after he said a knee injury made that difficult. After about 30 minutes, Hill was issued citations and allowed to enter the stadium. One officer was placed on administrative duty and an internal affairs investigation was launched. No results have been released.
Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics , In the spring, James Blair, political director for the Trump campaign, called a meeting in West Palm Beach. The occasion: Marc Elias had changed the world. It was Elias who had petitioned the Federal Election Commission at the beginning of the year to allow a George Soros-funded political action committee to coordinate with campaigns. And the Democratic super lawyer had won. A nine-page advisory opinion followed in March. For the first time, the FEC ruled that federal candidates could coordinate with outside organizations. And now politics would change forever. Blair sensed opportunity. All he had to do, the reason he gathered the most loyal MAGA captains of the biggest grassroots armies around a conference table inside Trump campaign headquarters last April, was convince them to accept a little heresy. The political director had to teach them to love the mail-in ballot. Trump had taught his base to hate mail balloting, a practice he blamed for his loss in 2020. Now Blair was urging the former president’s most faithful followers to embrace what was previously verboten. According to sources inside the room that day, the conversion did not go smoothly. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, balked. A confidant of the Trump family, Kirk and his lieutenant Tyler Bowyer were allegedly “horrified” by the idea of pushing absentee ballots for fear of alienating MAGA diehards . Ned Ryun, CEO of American Majority Action, insisted absentee ballots were half the battle, arguing that Republican hopes would languish in long lines on Election Day without them. One source described the mood that day as “snippy.” Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet dismissed that characterization and told RealClearPolitics the organization was making plans as early as 2022 to “hammer home” the early vote. “ There were skeptics ,” Blair said in retrospect. Without singling anyone out, he told RCP that “less sophisticated” operatives on the right still subscribed to “this theory that ‘well, if the votes come in early, then [Democrats] know how many they need to cheat.’” His counter-argument as he showed the grassroots the math: “No, once a vote is banked, that’s good.” This was easier said than done, as Trump had hardwired a deep distrust into the minds of millions of Republicans by arguing that anything other than same-day voting was synonymous with fraud. “We have to get rid of mail-in ballots,” Trump said during his January victory speech after winning the Iowa caucuses. As he began his easy march through the GOP primary field, Trump added, “Once you have mail-in ballots, you have crooked elections.” Data alone would not be enough to convince the base to abandon that belief. Only Trump could change their minds. “He had to create the permission structure for his voters,” Blair explained, “which is that voting early, whether by mail or in person, can be a pathway to victory, not to defeat.” Clearing a primary field of Republican challengers too afraid to attack him was one thing. Unseating an incumbent president would be another. Enter Susie Wiles. She came from Florida, just like Blair, where Republicans had built majorities for decades despite being outnumbered by Democrats on registered voter rolls. As campaign co-chair, she had just helped Trump brush aside the primary challenge of Florida’s own governor. Then Wiles looked to the general election, directing Blair to draft a memo outlining a new Trump way to win. In short, they planned to export the Florida model. They laid out the data, pointed to successful case studies, and ran sophisticated election simulations. But the final argument that changed Trump’s mind? “Look, sir,” the former president was told, according to sources familiar with the discussions, “people are really excited to vote for you, and they want to vote for you as soon as they have the chance to vote.” On the evening of April 19, in characteristic all caps, Trump did something very uncharacteristic: He reversed himself and blessed the mail ballot. Wrote the former president on his social media website Truth Social: ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE! Once the green light was given, the Trump machine kicked into another gear. They would still drive turnout on Election Day, but they would work just as hard to bank votes in advance. This has an obvious tactical advantage. Every supporter who cast their ballot early represented one less voter the campaign had to spend time and resources on getting to the polls on November 5. All campaigns do this. But the FEC decision that allowed federal candidates to coordinate with outside groups, the one ushered in by liberal lawyer Marc Elias, turbocharged everything. Tim Saler, chief data consultant for the Trump campaign, took full advantage. Saler was the analytical brain behind the GOP’s ground game juggernaut. Despite all the massive reporting from the Associated Press to the New York Times suggesting the opposite, he insisted in an interview with RCP that Trump actually had one. “It was not outsourced at all,” Saler said of the get-out-the-vote apparatus. “It was coordinated.” Flashback to Florida. Many of the groups inside Trump headquarters, almost a dozen in total, were already planning their own canvassing programs. Some had more experience than others. Turn Out for America, a political action committee bankrolled by conservative billionaire Dick Uihlein, was on board from the beginning and widely considered among Trump operatives as “the gold standard.” American Majority Action, Ryun’s group, had just run two pilot programs the year before, one in Louisiana and another in Virginia. Ryun was convinced Republicans could win by banking votes. “We had faith in what they did,” said a source with direct knowledge of the Trump operation. The newest addition: Turning Point Action. Kirk and Bowers leveraged their influence with millions of conservative students to create a turnout machine. “Turning Point will just need to keep evolving,” a Trump operative said of the newest edition while stressing that their efforts were welcome and helpful. America PAC, the Elon Musk upstart that would eclipse all the rest in spending, would come later. Saler loves them all and says each did good work. Ahead of Election Day, the first order of business was making sure the assorted groups “did no harm.” Under the new FEC paradigm, and for the first time, the campaign could communicate priorities, coordinate strategy, and share best tactics. Hence the second priority discussed at the West Palm Beach meeting: A data-sharing agreement. “ There was a real misnomer, or just a false attack, that we didn’t have a field program ,” Saler said of the idea “that our field program had been farmed out.” The campaign already had in-house volunteers, a program called Trump Force 47, that fanned out to all 50 states and knocked on millions of doors on its own. What the new coordination rules provided for was the creation of the outside armies fanning out to each of the seven battleground states in search of the all-important low-propensity voter. “The president’s coalition is more rural, lower propensity, and more down scale,” Saler explained. “ Think a 35-year-old man who turns a wrench in small-town, central Wisconsin, who never engages face-to-face with anybody in politics .” To turn out a coalition like no other, Saler had to assemble an apparatus like no other. The campaign would be at the center. They shared targeting priorities with the outside groups, who then sent their people into the field to find and identify Trump voters, building a real-time data loop. They didn’t just go where other GOP presidential campaigns had been in years past. Because of the new canvassing rules, Trump HQ could send outside groups, not just to big population centers, but door to door even in the most rural areas . On front porches, outside grocery stores, and everywhere in between, canvassers sought out the MAGA faithful, registered them to vote, and pushed them to do it early. “The president is a unique character in American history; He is the champion of the forgotten man and woman,” Saler said before adding that the campaign was just as unique. “ We also didn’t forget them .” In the moment, though, skepticism abounded. Some Republicans, many of them on the outside looking in, questioned the wisdom of relying so heavily on mercenary doorknockers ahead of what was sure to be a make-or-break election. Even Ben Shapiro was worried. In an October interview, Shapiro warned the former president that he was hearing mixed reviews about the ground game. Was his campaign up to the job? Trump avoided the question. In the final stretch, no one had a definitive answer. A team of rivals, meanwhile, was working on his behalf in pursuit of low-propensity voters. A staple on the college circuit, Kirk focused on the youth vote while directing his organization’s political arm, Turning Point Action, to decamp from campus and field an army of more than a thousand paid doorknockers across each of the swing states in pursuit of low-propensity voters overall. A spokesman denied that there was any hesitation about registering voters for absentee ballots. Instead, the organization modeled its early-vote strategy off of the Democratic playbook while making accommodations for lingering concerns over mail-in ballots. The emphasis was on early voting, but if a voter preferred to cast their ballot in person on Election Day, the organization was ready to drive them to the polls. Explained Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet, “We only care about getting ballots in the box.” At times, the organization took “low propensity” to the extreme. Scott Presler, a conservative activist who partnered with Turning Point in Pennsylvania, courted a normally apolitical and untapped constituency: the Amish. That community’s aversion to politics wasn’t the chief obstacle. It was the calendar. “Get this,” he told RCP, “Amish get married on Tuesdays in November.” Otherwise, they generally match the voter profile of a normal social conservative, he reported. Armed with that information, Presler parachuted into rural farming communities west of Philadelphia and north of Pittsburgh with absentee and mail-in ballot applications. While Turning Point and their partners earned praise for that kind of innovation, elsewhere, some questioned the efficiency of their organization. One Turning Point intern attracted online criticism when he bragged in a social media post that he knocked on just 500 doors over the course of nine weeks, a seemingly low number. Another paid Turning Point Action employee, currently under contract in Wisconsin through November, told RCP that management had set a daily goal of just 10 voter contacts. “ We set out on a mission to chase low-prop and first-time voters across the country, ” Kirk wrote in a social media post the week after the election. Across four states (Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin), according to their internal numbers, Turning Point Action had helped no less than 300,000 low-propensity voters cast their votes. “Mission accomplished,” he wrote. American Majority Action took a more traditional approach with Ryun at the helm. The hard-nosed operative, who helped former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker become just the second state executive to survive a recall 13 years prior, had raised and deployed as many grassroots armies in the time since. The difference this time? Ever since the “Red Wave” fizzled in the 2022 midterms, Ryun had been on a one-man crusade to force Republicans to embrace absentee and early voting in earnest. After running two successful pilot programs in state races, he was convinced the GOP could take the approach national. Trump supporters would learn to love the mail-in ballot, he was convinced, once they won with it. Toward that end, American Majority picked four targets: Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. They hired 1,600 staff, drilling into each canvasser two numbers: Seven and nine. Between seven and nine is how many times a single low-propensity voter, on average, must be contacted before they will return a mail-in ballot. A blunt Ryun calls it “targeted harassment.” According to an after-action report, the group made more than 11 million phone calls in support of Trump and sent just shy of four million texts to voters in each of their four target states. They knocked on nearly 2 million doors. On the eve of the election, Ryun wrote in an op-ed for “American Greatness” that Republicans had experienced their fair share of growing pains. It would take time for the GOP to catch up to Democrats on the early voting front, but overall, the conservative movement earned a passing grade: “A solid B to B+ level with lots of room for growth.” America PAC was the last big group to arrive. Elon Musk endorsed Trump after the first assassination attempt, and while Republicans welcomed the many millions of dollars from the world’s richest man, the political novice attracted his fair share of scrutiny. His group planned to compete in all seven battleground states. They initially hired just a handful of vendors to execute a one-size-fits-all, top-down strategy. By the end of the summer, though, Musk fired his initial team and hired Genera Peck and Phil Cox, veterans of the defunct DeSantis campaign, to put together a national plan with individual directors in each of the battleground states. They took a tailored approach, and by the end, Musk lent his celebrity to the Pennsylvania campaign, a state he often told voters was the key to the whole election. His group spent north of $200 million, a deep war chest that lent itself to sending canvassers nearly everywhere. The scope of all of this was relatively new territory. Few national, grassroots organizations previously had the resources and expertise to chase votes across multiple states concurrently. Each additional battleground added another level of complexity and difficulty. But it wasn’t all top-down. A patchwork of groups supplemented the work in the individual swing states. Motivated by the frustration that the right had “yielded voter registration to the left,” former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler launched “ Greater Georgia ” in the Peach State. The group identified tens of thousands of conservative Georgians and helped get them registered to vote. Another state-specific get-out-the-vote engine to the north: PA Chase. Founded by Cliff Maloney, that organization canvassed throughout Pennsylvania in search of low-propensity voters in need of a mail-in ballot. “We’re finally catching up to the Democrats,” Maloney said of his efforts before Election Day. “This is straight out of their playbook, right? In this way, the Trump campaign and its allies chased the low-propensity voter. And it worked. He not only swept each swing state on his way to becoming just the second president in history to win non-consecutive terms, but Trump also won the popular vote, something Republicans haven’t achieved since 2004. Said Saler of the electorate that returned the former and future president to the Oval Office, “He created them.” Many were first-time voters. Some voted only for him. Now every Republican operative involved in planning for the midterms and the next general election is focused on one question: How to keep these voters in the GOP fold? It will likely include a heavy emphasis on the early vote. Trump World, even in victory, sees the mail-in ballot as a pragmatic necessity, not an ideal way to vote . “Look, they’re not perfect, and if we could just do away with them, we probably would, but that’s not the world we live in,” Blair said. “They exist. So, it is what it is.” For his part, Ryun has become their biggest apostle of early voting and the mail-in ballot. After Republicans won big, he isn’t in a hurry to see the GOP set them aside. “I’m telling you, this works, and this should be our game planning forward,” he said, before adding that a more pressing question for the right was discerning which groups did real work and which did little more than gobble up donor dollars. “There are some vaporware organizations, like Turning Point, that I’m afraid were not as effective as they could have been because they were on a journey of self-discovery in politics,” Ryun said. “My concern for the future is, how do we make sure that some of these voters who turned out for Trump-only become consistent Republican voters.” A Turning Point spokesman dismissed that criticism. Said Kolvet, “We’re not in the business of getting down in the mud.” The results, he said, speak for themselves. “The campaign, which knows the data and accomplishments well, knows how successful our program was,” the spokesman concluded. Republicans will have their work cut out for them in the midterms. They have historically underperformed whenever Trump is not on the ballot. The coordination between federal candidates and outside groups – that the FEC allowed at the insistence of Democrats like Elias – will not change. It was central to a Trump victory. “Thank you, Marc,” quipped Saler, the Trump data consultant who helped engineer the former, and future, president’s comeback. “We appreciate you.”
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