Pelican Press

Worried About Hela’s Sniper-Shot or Iron Fist’s Backline Abuse? Marvel Rivals Dev Reveals Only Condition for “Necessary balances” to Buffed Heroes Worried About Hela’s Sniper-Shot or Iron Fist’s Backline Abuse? Marvel Rivals Dev Reveals Only Condition for “Necessary balances” to Buffed Heroes NetEase Games’ Marvel Rivals is one of the most popular games in the world right now, but it still has some flaws that the studio must address. Being a hero shooter, the game has some heroes that are more powerful than others, which makes the gaming experience quite unbalanced. Right now, Hela, Iron Fist, and Storm are a few heroes that have an unfair advantage over other heroes. Hela is among the few heroes in Marvel Rivals that need a nerf (Image via NetEase Games) Another problem that is ruining the game is insta-locking. Most players tend to pick Duelists, which ruins the team composition. Players have suggested that NetEase could introduce role lock and role ****** to tackle this problem, however, the studio plans to take a completely different approach. NetEase Games will introduce necessary balances only on this one condition Like many other hero shooters, Marvel Rivals also faces the problem of unbalanced gameplay. Over the past few weeks, many players have pointed out that certain heroes have an unfair advantage over other heroes in the game, but NetEase Games will not roll out changes until this one condition is met. In an interview with Metro ***, game director Guangyun Chen was asked how important game balance is to NetEase Games. He explained that the studio will study the hero pick rates and win rates in different cases to determine if the game needs balancing changes. He said, After the launch, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the game’s environment and balance. Moving forward, we will be looking at hero pick rates and win rates in different scenarios. Once we have some more detailed analysis and through thoughtful consideration, we’ll definitely make necessary balances and adjustments. The spotlight is on Hela right now as many players have pointed out that this hero desperately needs a nerf. The amount of damage she is able to inflict is outrageous, and her Astral Flock ability also allows her to retreat quickly, making it almost impossible to take her out. Apart from Hela, there is another Strategist agent who has been criticized for having an overpowered Ultimate ability. Does Marvel Rivals need a Role ******? Two new agents were added to the game as a part of the season 1.5 update (Image via NetEase Games) Since its release, many players have complained that a lack of role ****** is Marvel Rivals‘ biggest disadvantage because it ruins team composition and also doesn’t allow new players to try out agents. NetEase Games has made it clear that role lock and role ****** would never be introduced because the studio wants players to play however they want. The decision wasn’t bad because introducing a role ****** might have killed Marvel Rivals‘ popularity. So, how does NetEase plan to tackle this problem? Well, simply by adding more content. In the same interview, Chen explained, So we totally get that the community is discussing role lock and role ******. At its core, it’s really about the game balance. So, what we want to offer is more line-up or more team comp possibilities through our hero design and our team-up mechanic. So, we’ll be taking a little bit more of a Marvel-inspired approach – we believe no role ****** will lead to a richer gaming experience for everyone. Four new agents have been introduced after the game’s initial launch, plus another upcoming hero, Blade, has been teased. Marvel Rivals‘ popularity is constantly growing; in fact, it is currently competing with the game it shares most of its elements with, Overwatch 2. However, unbalanced gameplay could lead to disasters, so NetEase Games must address these issues soon. Source link #Worried #Helas #SniperShot #Iron #Fists #Backline #Abuse #Marvel #Rivals #Dev #Reveals #Condition #balances #Buffed #Heroes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

“We will not walk back” – Signal would rather leave the *** and Sweden than remove encryption protections “We will not walk back” – Signal would rather leave the *** and Sweden than remove encryption protections From the *** to Sweden, encrypted communications are increasingly under attack as authorities seek ways to better monitor people’s chats to combat crime. Signal, one of the best encrypted messaging apps, however, isn’t willing to compromise its privacy and security. “Signal’s position on this is very clear – we will not walk back, adulterate, or otherwise perturb the robust privacy and security guarantees that people depend on,” said Signal President Meredith Whittaker during a panel at RightsCon 25 conference on Tuesday, February 25. “Whether that perturbation or ********* is called client-side scanning or the stripping of the encryption protections from one or another features similar to what Apple was pushed into doing in the ***,” she added. Whittaker’s comments come days after Apple was forced to kill its iCloud’s end-to-end encryption feature in the *** following a government’s order to create an encryption ********* to allow law enforcement access to users’ data. Sweden is also considering introducing a new law requiring all encrypted communications apps to create a similar *********. ***’s attack on encryption For almost a week—since Friday, February 21, to be exact—people in the *** have been unable to use Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature on iCloud. While it’s not a default feature, Apple launched ADP in 2022 to provide an extra layer of protection on all iCloud-stored data via end-to-end encryption technology. This means not even the provider can access these files. The Big Tech giant removed the feature instead of complying with the ***’s encryption ********* order, ensuring this decision won’t affect iCloud data categories that are end-to-end encrypted by default. These include users’ health data, passwords, iCloud messages, and Apple card transactions. You can see all the others on Apple’s support page. If you’re currently using ADP protections, you’ll soon receive further guidance from Apple on what to do next as the provider cannot automatically disable the option for users. A timeframe will be provided to disable the option to keep using your iCloud account. (Image credit: Shutterstock / nikkimeel) “As we have said many times before, we have never built a ********* or master key to any of our products or services and we never will,” explained Apple in a written statement at the time. However, it isn’t yet clear the impact this move will have on users’ privacy in and out of the country. What would happen when *** users go abroad, for instance? And what about foreign users traveling in the ***? Most importantly, perhaps, will removing ADP be enough for *** authorities? These are some of the questions that still need an answer. For Signal, however, it isn’t negotiable and ensures, once again, that the company is ready to leave the *** market instead of undermining encryption. Sweden and further anti-encryption efforts The *** isn’t the only country pushing to pick the lock of encrypted communications to facilitate criminal investigations. Sweden has recently joined the list of governments considering passing legislation to make it mandatory for the likes of Signal, WhatsApp, and iMessage to create an encryption ********* into their software. If successful, the new rules could come into force as early as March 2026. Again, talking to Swedish media SVT Nyheter, Whittaker has recently reiterated the company’s stance. She said: “This means asking us to break the encryption that is the foundation of our entire business. Asking us to store data would undermine our entire architecture and we would never do that. We would rather leave the Swedish market completely. This is because, Whittaker added: “Our responsibility is to offer technology that upholds human rights in an era where those rights are being violated in more and more places.” Do you know? (Image credit: Getty Images) Encryption refers to the scrambling of data into an unreadable form to prevent third-party access. End-to-end encryption is the reiteration that messaging apps and secure email services, among other tools, use to protect data in transit by keeping private between the sender and the receiver – end to end. Outside Sweden, the EU has also been trying to pass a proposal to scan citizens’ private communications, those encrypted included, since 2022 to halt the spread of child ******* abuse material (CSAM). Deemed Chat Control by its critics, the bill keeps receiving pushback from experts and lawmakers alike, who couldn’t yet find a compromise after almost three years and two lighter versions. In January, Europol’s chief Catherine De Bolle reiterated such efforts to break encryption, arguing “anonymity is not a fundamental right” and technology giants have a “social responsibility” to give the police access to encrypted messages used by criminals. At the same time, however, recent events like the Salt Typhoon attack on all the major US telecoms have shown how encryption is crucial for the privacy and safety of everyone’s data. On that occasion, even FBI and CISA experts have been calling citizens to switch to encrypted services in the aftermath of this unprecedented cyberattack. What’s next? Signal isn’t alone among the tech community calling out on the campaign against encryption. For instance, a group of over 100 civil society organizations, tech companies, and cybersecurity experts have also been urging the *** government to rescind its order to Apple, warning how an iCloud ********* “jeopardizes the security and privacy of millions.” The path to mitigate legal actions against encryption is certainly filled with challenges for privacy and tech experts. Yet, users can be reassured Signal is committed to fighting back. “We’ll we continue to push back,” said Whittaker, pointing out how incidents like Salt Typhoon are a tangible example of what cryptographers, human rights experts, journalists and the technical community at large have been saying for decades – “you cannot build a safe *********.” She added: “Our position doesn’t change. It doesn’t change based on the year, it doesn’t change based on jurisdiction. It’s actually fairly simple.” Source link #walk #Signal #leave #Sweden #remove #encryption #protections Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Pending home sales drop to the lowest level on record in January – CNBC Pending home sales drop to the lowest level on record in January – CNBC Pending home sales drop to the lowest level on record in January CNBCThe brightest spot in the housing market is fading fast MarketWatchJanuary U.S. New Home Sales Fall | Florida RealtorsUS new home sales tumble; median house price highest since 2022 ReutersUS pending home sales tumble to record low in January Yahoo Finance Source link #Pending #home #sales #drop #lowest #level #record #January #CNBC Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lara Croft: Guardian of Light returns to iOS and Android, out now Lara Croft: Guardian of Light returns to iOS and Android, out now Lara Croft: Guardian of Light is out now on iOS and Android This revamp of the 2010 original takes Lara Croft into twin-stick shooting action Choose either Lara or immortal Mayan warrior Totec During what we might tentatively call Lara Croft’s dark ages, when the series went into hibernation for a while, one of the attempts to reinvent it came in the form of the distinct twin-stick shooter Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Now, those of you who remember this 2010 release can relive the nostalgia by taking it into the palm of your hand on Android and iOS! The plot of Lara Croft: Guardian of Light sees the titular tomb raider teaming up with immortal Mayan warrior Totec in their attempt to halt the release of an ancient evil. As you might expect that means Guardian of Light is also a co-op release, with Feral Interactive supporting both local and online multiplayer. While it may focus more on the action there’s also plenty in the way of puzzles when it comes to Guardian of Light. Whether that’s classic parkour or more cerebral trap-laden challenges, in-between bouts of blasting you’ll get the chance to stretch your brain cells. Add onto that the ability to explore everything from toxic swamps to endless tombs and volcanic caverns, and action isn’t the only point of appeal here. Crofty Ever since their porting of the excellent Alien: Isolation, I think it’s fair to say that Feral Interactive has been the gold standard for mobile adaptations of popular releases. Even their somewhat divisive remaster of Total War: Rome was pretty solid in terms of mechanics (and let’s be honest when tinkering with a classic it’s impossible to please everyone.) But, if you still need more variety in your gaming diet why not take a change of pace and drop the action in favour of more horror? Check out our review of ****** Salt Games’ hit eldritch fishing sim Dredge to see if it’s worth a few pounds (of salmon.) Source link #Lara #Croft #Guardian #Light #returns #iOS #Android Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Rough sleeping in England rises for third year in a row Rough sleeping in England rises for third year in a row Eleanor Lawrie and Michael Buchanan BBC Social Affairs BBC Alex has been sleeping rough for two years after being kicked out of home The number of people sleeping rough in England has risen by a fifth in a year, according to new snapshot estimates. There were 4,667 people sleeping on the streets, according to official statistics recorded on a single night last autumn – a near-record high and the third annual rise in a row. While London continues to have the highest number of rough sleepers, the problem is growing faster in the rest of England, the Ministry of Housing data shows. The government says it has inherited an “acute and entrenched housing crisis”. Alex has been sleeping rough in the Cambridgeshire town of Wisbech for two years. “I was kicked out by my mum. She had a three-bedroom house but my brother and sister turned 16 and the house got split and I lost out,” he says. Rough sleeping has risen by 22% in the east of England, and Alex describes homelessness in Wisbech as a “social epidemic”. ‘It was the most terrifying time of my life’ The true extent of homelessness in countryside towns like Wisbech is often under-reported, with people bedding down in fields, sheds, cemeteries, and on sports pitches. Rough sleepers here are at the mercy of the extreme hot and cold weather and vulnerable to assault, while there are often fewer services available to help them. Agriculture is one of the main industries here, but the work is often low paid and seasonal, meaning it is easy for people to miss mortgage or rental payments and become homeless. “One of the main factors is having enough income to privately rent. Landlords like to see a contract with 40 hours [a week] on it so they know they are going to get their income,” explains John Heathorn, an outreach worker at local homelessness charity the Ferry Project. His charity currently houses more than 40 vulnerable people, and has a substantial waiting list. Outreach worker John Heathorn in the cemetery where he used to sleep John himself slept in a local cemetery for more than a year after struggling to find regular employment. “It was one of the most terrifying and humiliating times of my life. I lost all [my] self-respect, self-esteem. There were times where I didn’t know if I would wake in the morning, where I didn’t know if I wanted to,” he says. “It really upsets me people are still sleeping rough today, I know what comes with it. I’ve had a lot of trauma in my life but nothing compares to being homeless, the not knowing, one day rolling into the next.” ‘It was freezing, I couldn’t sleep’ David was sleeping in a “freezing” shed for six months The Ferry Project has seen the demographic of its homeless clients change notably since the Brexit vote and its aftermath. While they were once 70% eastern European, they are now approximately 70% British. One of their current clients, roofer David, had been sleeping in a shed for six months after breaching the terms of his tenancy agreement. “I had a duvet and I was lying on concrete. It was freezing, I couldn’t sleep, I just had to walk around, I was getting about two hours [sleep] a night if that. I hit the drink, and it took everything away from me,” he says. According to the official snapshot data, the number of rough sleepers hailing from the *** rose by almost a quarter last year, compared with a 7% rise in people from the EU. Every English region saw an increase in rough sleeping, apart from the North West, where the numbers fell very slightly. Yorkshire and the Humber had the biggest percentage rise of 43%, while the East and West Midlands both saw a rise of more than a third. Rough sleeping has risen by 164% since the snapshot was introduced in 2010 and is 2% below its 2017 peak. ‘Devastating impact’ of the housing crisis Separate data published on Thursday showed the number of families living in temporary accommodation has reached a new high. Between July and September, 126,040 households were living in places like hotels, bed and breakfasts and flats – an increase of 15.7% on the same ******* in 2023. The total included almost 165,000 children, also a record high. “Today’s statistics lay bare the devastating impact of the acute and entrenched housing crisis we have inherited – rough sleeping soaring, a record number of children growing up in temporary accommodation, and a broken housing system,” the minister for homelessness, Rushanara Ali, said. The government said it had recently doubled its emergency homelessness funding to £60m, alongside £1bn already allocated to tackle the root causes of the issue. Source link #Rough #sleeping #England #rises #year #row Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Gene Hackman: spellbinding as tough guys and fools Gene Hackman: spellbinding as tough guys and fools Gene Hackman, a prolific Oscar-winning actor famed for playing tough guys but who also knew how to delight audiences with his comedic touch, has died at age 95. Source link #Gene #Hackman #spellbinding #tough #guys #fools Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Monster Hunter Wilds’ First Major Update Will Add A Lot In April Monster Hunter Wilds’ First Major Update Will Add A Lot In April Capcom has revealed the release window of Title Update 1 for Monster Hunter Wilds and teased some of what players can expect from it. Specifically, it looks like more content is coming to the game for players who beat the story and want more of a challenge. Title Update 1 will come out in early April, placing its launch over a month after the base game’s release. That might seem like a big gap between launch and the first update, but the official Monster Hunter X account explains that Capcom wanted to “give hunters enough time to prepare for the new content, and challenges, that await them!” Capcom had previously teased this update with a vague Spring 2025 release window during a State of Play earlier this month. Title Update 1 – Release Date! We’re pleased to confirm that TU1 for Monster Hunter Wilds will arrive in early April! This will give hunters enough time to prepare for the new content, and challenges, that await them! pic.twitter.com/xbbPY2z5B9 — Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) February 27, 2025 While Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the most approachable games in the series yet, Capcom will also add more-difficult monsters in TItle Update 1. There will be two new monsters for players to hunt, including one with strength “at a level above Tempered.” During the State of Play, it was confirmed that Mizutsune from Monster Hunter Generations and Monster Hunter Rise will be one of these monsters. Capcom also teased on X that this update will add “a new place to communicate, have meals together, and more with other hunters,” although it clarified that players will have to complete Monster Hunter Wilds’ story before they can access this. With this addition and those tough new monsters, Title Update 1 looks like it will strengthen the endgame of Monster Hunter Wilds. You can start playing the game and preparing for Title Update 1 yourself when Monster Hunter Wilds launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S tomorrow, February 28. Source link #Monster #Hunter #Wilds #Major #Update #Add #Lot #April Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

YouTube star MrBeast planning investment round that could value company at $5bn | YouTube YouTube star MrBeast planning investment round that could value company at $5bn | YouTube The world’s biggest YouTube star, MrBeast, is planning to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a move that would reportedly value his company at roughly $5bn (£3.9bn). The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is said to have spoken with several wealthy individuals and financial firms about taking part in the investment round. He is reportedly planning to use the money to create a holding company for his growing empire, which includes a video production company, his chocolates brand Feastables and snack business Lunchly. The funds could also expand his media and packaged goods businesses, according to Bloomberg, which already generated more than $400m in sales last year. Talks over the potential fundraising are still in early stages and it is not yet clear who would invest and at what price. It would not be his first fundraising round – he previously clinched investment from firms including the New York-based Alpha Wave Global. If he is successful, fresh funding would help to further expand Donaldson’s business. He is already the biggest YouTuber in the world with more than 368 million subscribers to his channel. The 26-year-old from Wichita, Kansas, is mostly known for videos consisting of stunts or challenges, or giveaways of cash or prizes. One of his most popular viral videos recreated the sets from the Netflix series Squid Game at a cost of $3.5m; he invited 456 people to compete in challenges to win $456,000 in prize money. He has since launched a reality competition show – Beast Games – through Amazon, which became the streaming platform’s most watched unscripted show last month. Like many YouTubers, Donaldson started off posting videos in his bedroom, joining the video platform in 2012. He has since launched food brands including Feastables and MrBeast burgers, which have been distributed through “ghost kitchens” used by food delivery companies in locations across the US, *** and Australia. He reportedly makes tens of millions of dollars a year, has a philanthropic organisation, and is generally seen as a positive influence on YouTube – investing much of what he makes back into his videos, as well as charitable efforts. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion However, his work has not come without criticism. He has a history of homophobic comments as a teenager, and he faced complaints about being a hard taskmaster to employees. Some have also criticised his videos as “poverty porn”, arguing people only benefited – through cash, other prizes or gifts – because they featured in his content. This was most pointed when he was aiming to fund 1,000 people to get cataract surgery to restore their sight. However, those efforts were also praised by charities. Source link #YouTube #star #MrBeast #planning #investment #company #5bn #YouTube Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Mike Johnson claims ‘paid protesters’ are disrupting GOP town halls — then backtracks when asked for proof Mike Johnson claims ‘paid protesters’ are disrupting GOP town halls — then backtracks when asked for proof House Speaker Mike Johnson baselessly claimed that the angry constituents raging at GOP lawmakers in town halls over DOGE’s drastic cuts and layoffs were “paid protesters,” only to backtrack when CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins pressed him for evidence. With “first buddy” Elon Musk overseeing the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle federal agencies and fire thousands of government workers, House Republicans have been getting an earful from hometown voters. While some constituents have complained about Musk and his “chainsaw” approach to “government efficiency” or Trump’s radical attempts to seize more power from Congress, others have expressed anxiety over potential spending cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. With the town hall confrontations going viral and creating a rash of negative headlines for the GOP, party leaders have since urged lawmakers to just skip the meetings altogether. “Obviously we’re very aware of those headlines,” a Republican National Committee official told NBC News. Meanwhile, amid the growing blowback from their constituents, the House narrowly passed a budget resolution this week along party lines that would slash $2 trillion in spending but still add to the national debt due to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. The resolution calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to come up with $880 billion in savings, which has raised alarm bells that Republicans will take a carving knife to the social safety net. House Speaker Mike Johnson was pressed by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on his claim that “paid protesters” are disrupting GOP town halls (CNN) “The House Republican budget resolution will set in motion the largest Medicaid cut in American history,” House ********* Leader Hakeem Jeffries said after this week’s vote. Appearing on CNN’s The Source on Wednesday night, Johnson was pressed about his budget’s potential cuts to Medicaid — which provides health care coverage to low-income Americans — and the backlash Republicans were receiving back home over these concerns. “As you know, in your home state of Louisiana, about 80 percent of the Medicaid spending there is covered by the federal government,” Collins noted. “And we‘ve seen the blowback that some Republicans in your caucus are getting when they go back home to their districts, worried about these cuts or worried about what DOGE is doing. Do you have concerns that that‘s anything that Democrats will be able to use to run against those Republicans?” Not only was Johnson unconcerned, but he claimed that the town hall confrontations were essentially fake. “No, no, I don’t because the videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places. These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats,” the speaker declared. “You can’t argue they were all paid protestors, though, Mr. Speaker,” the CNN anchor interjected. “Many of them were,” Johnson demurred, only to add: “I don’t know.” Collins, meanwhile, pointed out that one House Republican had acknowledged that the angry town hall attendees “were his constituents,” prompting Johnson to dismiss the claim as irrelevant. “Uh, one Republican acknowledged they were constituents. That’s fantastic,” he snarked. “Ok, but they had Democrats come and fill the seats early, all right?” Johnson continued: “This is an old playbook that they pulled out and ran, and it made it look like that what is happening in Washington is unpopular. But I’m gonna tell you, Kaitlan, the American people are behind what’s happening.” The Source host concluded by reminding her guests that just because someone is a Democrat doesn’t mean they are a “paid protester” and that Democrats are also voters who have a right to attend their representative’s town hall meeting. “Those lawmakers do also represent Democrats,” she flatly stated. “That doesn’t mean they were paid to show up if they’re upset about this.” Source link #Mike #Johnson #claims #paid #protesters #disrupting #GOP #town #halls #backtracks #asked #proof Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

EA Teases New College Football 26 Features EA Teases New College Football 26 Features EA Sports College Football 25 was a huge success for the company, and the franchise is coming back this year with potentially even more features that the studio didn’t get into 2024’s game. EA Sports executive Daryl Holt told The Athletic that the team knew it was never going to be able to get everything it wanted to in 2024’s game. “So there’s a lot of meat left on the bone,” he said. Holt declined to get into specifics regarding new features for CFB 26, but teased, “We’ve got a lot of things still to come.” He added: “We release a game, we understand what’s important to players and what they play and what they would like changed, improved or added. This is a game for fans built by college fans ourselves, and we want it to be that type of relationship to understand what’s important to them.” For CFB 25, many people mentioned how the single-player career mode, Road to Glory, felt underwhelming, so that’s one area that fans will hope to see expanded upon in 2025’s game. CFB 25 came to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but not PC. Sources told The Athletic that CFB 25 skipped PC due in part to how the game’s primary audience is in North America, whereas launching on PC is more important for global releases. Holt said EA “started” with Xbox and PlayStation, but said, “We’ll look at other opportunities, other platforms” for future releases. EA never disclosed a sales number for CFB 25, but it was the No. 2 overall best-selling game of 2024 in the US, only eclipsed by Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6. Holt said the game “outperformed all our expectations” and became “part of the cultural landscape of college football.” Another change for CFB 26 could be how much the student-athletes are paid to be part of it. The original deal for CFB 25 was a payment of $600 and a free copy of the game to more than 11,000 players, amounting to a total cost of more than $6 million for EA. Some players got more money for promoting the game. For CFB 26, a Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) company called Pathway Sports & Entertainment is attempting to sign players with $1,500 up front with the potential for a revenue-sharing deal as well based on copies sold. EA has not commented on Pathway’s proposed plans. Source link #Teases #College #Football #Features Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

2025 NBA Draft Big Board: Derik Queen, V.J. Edgecombe rise among top 100 prospects 2025 NBA Draft Big Board: Derik Queen, V.J. Edgecombe rise among top 100 prospects With March Madness quickly approaching, it’s worth updating The Athletic’s 2025 NBA Draft Big Board. And there is still a lot on the line as the season progresses toward its conclusion. Outside of Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, there are precious few prospects in this class without significant questions right now. NBA evaluators are not particularly enthused about what the back half of the lottery could bring, with that No. 6 to No. 20 range considered a massive jumble of players all in similar tiers. There are even questions about the value of Nos. 3, 4 and 5. All of this makes the draft lottery an even higher-stakes game than normal. Several teams are scratching and clawing their way into the lottery odds picture to join the Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets and Utah Jazz. New Orleans has had a season from hell in terms of injury and is sitting in the No. 3 position even with Zion Williamson playing. Toronto has dealt with its own injuries, but more than that, the Raptors just can’t figure out how to guard anyone and sit No. 5. Along with them in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn, Chicago and Philadelphia are engaged in one of the funniest situations I can remember in a while. One of the Nets, Bulls, Sixers or Raptors is going to have to make the Play-In Tournament. I’m not convinced any of those teams necessarily have much interest in doing so. The Sixers’ season is rapidly speeding toward a cliff, with Joel Embiid now exploring his options with his injured knee. They also lose their draft pick if they finish outside of the top six, sending it to Oklahoma City. That means they’re engaged in a higher-stakes game than all the others and probably should pull the ripcord on Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey sooner rather than later. The Bulls just traded Zach LaVine and received very little present value in return. The Nets traded veterans off their roster all season but might be too competently run under Jordi Fernandez’s stewardship to tank. The Raptors are probably the best of these teams if the Sixers shut down their stars, but they’re also letting Brandon Ingram take his time returning from injury and are 23 games under .500 right now. The team that earns the No. 10 seed may end up with 50 losses. Flagg’s value as a franchise cornerstone means these teams should still be doing everything they can to position themselves for the best odds. But if you’re the team that finishes at No. 6, I’m not convinced yet that this class will provide the normal, commensurate value with such a selection. I also have a healthy degree of skepticism on the depth of this class, as sources across the college basketball ecosystem continue to discuss how the environment will be more flush with cash than ever before to persuade older players to stick around on campus. In that vein, here’s where my Top 100 stands as we approach that beautiful month of March. I would expect a healthy degree of movement throughout the next three months, and I would also expect to see several of the players listed here fall off the board and return to school after receiving hefty financial commitments from their universities. As always, here’s the way the Big Board works: • It does not take team fit into account. I give a bit of a bump to players I think will be successful in multiple schemes. I also tend to give a bump to guys who seem to be winning players who can defend multiple positions, play well within a team defensive concept, knock down shots and play with great processing speed. The latter quality is the most important one for non-stars to have for NBA playoff success. • I get input and information from NBA executives, college coaches, agents, scouts and other evaluators. Sometimes, those exchanges are about a prospect’s background and off-court habits. Sometimes, they’re about his work ethic. Other times, they’re conversations about whether we think a guy can play or to whom they might compare in the NBA. These conversations happen daily, but at the end of the day, this is my ranking. While it is reflective of the general tenor of NBA teams, it’s not a consensus board. • At this stage of the process, as is true every year, I do not include freshmen who’d be ranked outside of the top 50. It’s very early for that to occur, and realistically, freshmen whom I have ranked outside of the top 50 should probably go back to school. • Ages on the board are as of draft day in 2025 (June 25); heights listed are per official team and school websites. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. AGE HT. 1 Cooper Flagg Duke W/F 18 6-8 2 Dylan Harper Rutgers G 19 6-6 3 Ace Bailey Rutgers W 18 6-10 4 V.J. Edgecombe Baylor G 19 6-3 5 Kasparas Jakucionis Illinois G 19 6-5 6 Kon Knueppel Duke W 19 6-6 7 Liam McNeeley Connecticut W 19 6-6 8 Derik Queen Maryland C 20 6-9 9 Collin Murray-Boyles South Carolina W/F 19 6-7 10 Tre Johnson Texas G 19 6-5 11 Jase Richardson Michigan State G 19 6-3 12 Khaman Maluach Duke C 19 7-2 13 Asa Newell Georgia F/C 19 6-9 14 Nolan Traore Saint-Quentin G 19 6-3 15 Ben Saraf Ratiopharm Ulm G 19 6-5 16 Thomas Sorber Georgetown C 19 6-10 17 Jeremiah Fears Oklahoma G 18 6-4 18 Hugo Gonzalez Real Madrid W 19 6-6 19 Carter Bryant Arizona W/F 19 6-8 20 Rasheer Fleming St. Joseph’s F 20 6-9 21 Egor Demin BYU G 19 6-8 22 Noah Penda Le Mans F 20 6-8 23 Joan Beringer Cedevita C 18 6-10 24 Miles Byrd San Diego State W 20 6-7 25 Danny Wolf Michigan F/C 21 7-0 26 Johni Broome Auburn C 22 6-10 27 Noa Essengue Ratiopharm Ulm F 18 6-8 28 Kam Jones Marquette G 23 6-5 29 Labaron Philon Alabama G 19 6-2 30 Alex Karaban Connecticut W/F 22 6-7 31 Alex Toohey Sydney W/F 21 6-7 32 Sergio De Larrea Valencia W 19 6-5 33 Bogoljub Markovic Mega F 19 6-10 34 Adou Thiero Arkansas W 20 6-8 35 ****** Clifford Colorado State W 22 6-5 36 JoJo Tugler Houston F/C 20 6-8 37 Tyrese Proctor Duke G 21 6-5 38 Braden Smith Purdue G 21 6-0 39 Ryan Kalkbrenner Creighton C 23 7-1 40 Max Shulga VCU W 22 6-4 41 Isaiah Evans Duke W 19 6-6 42 Ian Jackson North Carolina G 20 6-4 43 Boogie Fland Arkansas G 18 6-1 44 Cedric Coward Washington State F 22 6-7 45 Milos Uzan Houston G 22 6-4 46 Tahaad Pettiford Auburn G 19 6-1 47 Walter Clayton Jr. Florida G 22 6-2 48 K.J. Lewis Arizona G 20 6-3 49 Will Riley Illinois W 19 6-7 50 Alex Condon Florida F/C 20 6-11 51 Rocco Zikarsky Brisbane C 18 7-3 52 Jamir Watkins Florida State W 23 6-7 53 Chaz Lanier Tennessee G 23 6-4 54 Wesley Yates III USC G 20 6-4 55 Josh **** Iowa W 21 6-6 56 Tomislav Ivisic Illinois C 21 7-0 57 Hunter Sallis Wake Forest G 22 6-5 58 Ben Henshall Perth G 21 6-5 59 ***** Pate Mexico City Capitanes G 19 6-7 60 Darrion Williams Texas Tech W/F 22 6-6 61 Ryan Conwell Xavier G 21 6-4 62 Yaxel Lendeborg UAB W/F 22 6-9 63 Sion James Duke G 22 6-5 64 Maxime Raynaud Stanford C 22 7-0 65 Alijah Martin Florida G 23 6-2 66 Terrance Arceneaux Houston W 21 6-5 67 Anthony Robinson Missouri G 20 6-3 68 Johann Grunloh Rasta Vechta F/C 19 6-10 69 Michael Ruzic Joventut F 18 6-9 70 Kadary Richmond St. John’s G 23 6-5 71 J.T. Toppin Texas Tech F/C 20 6-7 72 Micah Peavy Georgetown W 23 6-7 73 Eric Dailey Jr. UCLA W/F 21 6-7 74 Chase Hunter Clemson G 24 6-4 75 Mark Sears Alabama G 23 6-0 76 Jaland Lowe Pittsburgh G 20 6-2 77 Xaivian Lee Princeton G 21 6-3 78 Dailyn Swain Xavier W 19 6-7 79 Vladislav Goldin Michigan C 24 7-1 80 Hansen Yang Qingdao C 19 7-1 81 Donovan Dent New Mexico G 21 6-2 82 John Tonje Wisconsin W/F 24 6-6 83 Andrej Stojakovic California W 20 6-6 84 Nolan Winter Wisconsin C 20 6-11 85 Brooks Barnhizer Northwestern W 23 6-6 86 Amari Williams Kentucky C 23 7-0 87 Joshua Jefferson Iowa State W/F 21 6-7 88 R.J. Luis St. Johns W 22 6-7 89 Koby Brea Kentucky W/F 22 6-6 90 Izan Almansa G League Ignite F 20 6-10 91 Thomas Haugh Florida W/F 20 6-8 92 Zvonimir Ivisic Arkansas C 21 7-2 93 Otega Oweh Kentucky W 22 6-4 94 Ryan Nembhard Gonzaga G 22 6-1 95 Eric Dixon Villanova F 24 6-7 96 Neoklis Avdalas Peristeri W/F 19 6-8 97 Desmond Claude USC G 22 6-6 98 John Poulakidas Yale W 23 6-5 99 Jaxson Robinson Kentucky W 22 6-8 100 Payton Sandfort Iowa W 21 6-7 Cooper Flagg | 6-9 freshman wing | Duke | 18 years old | No. 1 It’s hard to overemphasize how dominant Flagg has been in ACC play. The youngest draft prospect in the class, Flagg would be my current pick for national player of the year at just 18 years old. In conference play, he’s averaging 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists with a two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s shooting 53 percent from the field, 44 percent from 3 and 85 percent from the line. He’s still one of the best defensive players in the country, and his competitive fire showcases itself at every moment possible. With all due respect to Auburn and Flagg’s primary competition for national player of the year, Johni Broome, Duke is the team I would pick to win the title if I had to choose one today. GO DEEPER Cooper Flagg is on the clock We’ve never seen a player this young dominate college basketball quite like this, with this ruthless efficiency, sharp passing and dominant shot creation from all three levels as a wing. Zion Williamson was unstoppable going to the rim, and Anthony Davis was as good defensively as a prospect has ever been in college hoops. But Flagg’s ability to combine all of this into one player who can get to his spots from all three levels is unfathomable. The absurd thing is that he keeps getting better as the season goes on. I wrote at length earlier this month about Flagg. Those thoughts remain true. He’s the clear No. 1 pick in the draft, and there will be no competition. The NBA Draft Lottery on May 12 is officially the Capture the Flagg sweepstakes, and whoever gets that pick is getting a franchise-altering talent whose presence will change the trajectory of their organization. He’s elite on the court, but beyond that, his competitive character, toughness and sole desire to win basketball games will give you a culture to build your organization around for the coming decade. GO DEEPER How Cooper Flagg has cemented his status as 2025’s top draft prospect V.J. Edgecombe | 6-5 freshman guard | Baylor | 20 years old | No. 4 Edgecombe has figured things out in Big 12 play even as Baylor stumbles as one of the more disappointing teams in the country. Over his last 13 games, he’s averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists while playing tough defense and shooting 47 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3 and 87 percent from the line. As Edgecombe’s shot has started to fall at a more consistent level — he was a 40 percent shooter off the catch in high school from 3 in both of his seasons at Long Island Lutheran — the rest of his game has blossomed. He’s become more consistent attacking the rim and finding different little ways into successful paint touches and scores. That, along with the rest of the class continuing to live down to relative expectations, has vaulted him to the clear No. 4 spot. But questions persist about his game. Scouts are very interested to see how he’ll measure in Chicago at the NBA Draft Combine. Listed at 6-foot-5, most evaluators have a degree of skepticism that he hits that mark. On top of that, most of Edgecombe’s consistent sources of success this year have come off the ball as opposed to being the primary playmaker. Questions remain about his left hand off the bounce. He also hasn’t dealt particularly well with heavy ball pressure when acting as a primary option. Still, it’s hard to see Edgecombe as anything other than fairly safe in this class. He’s a terrific defender with all sorts of athleticism and quickness. He’s a serious playmaker on that end, averaging two steals per game to go with nearly one block per game on the season. He’s also extremely tough on the ball because of his athleticism and strength. It’s hard to go through his chest even though he’s not enormous. The jumper doesn’t always look consistent, but the ball goes in the hoop, and he’s an awesome free-throw shooter for being a freshman. It’s easy to envision Edgecombe getting early minutes just as a 3-and-D style guard, then allowing him to use that as a base to build the rest of the on-ball skills. Even if those need work, sources across basketball rave about his work ethic and effort levels. Maybe he ends up just being a super high-end athlete who is a 3-and-D guard. If that’s the case, he probably wouldn’t return the commensurate value with the No. 4 pick. But if that’s really the worst-case scenario (and I think it is), with his upside for more given his truly elite athleticism that will place him in the top 5 percent of all NBA players, it’s probably worth going for it within the top five. I don’t expect Edgecombe to fall outside of that range on my final board given his successful close to the season. Derik Queen | 6-10 freshman center | Maryland | 20 years old | No. 8 Maryland coach Kevin Willard recently made some statements to CBS Sports, saying that “if (Queen) was White and European, he’d be the first pick in the draft.” The last White European big man to be drafted in the top five was either Kristaps Porziņģis or Dragan Bender (depending on how you classify what the hope was positionally for Bender) a decade ago. Regardless of the perception publicly, we have evidence that European prospects are more doubted than American ones within NBA front offices. Luka Dončić won MVP of the EuroLeague, and teams still had enough purported questions to slide him down to No. 3. Alperen Şengün won MVP of the Turkish League at 18 years old and slid all the way down to No. 16 as a similar style player to Queen. Willard’s comments were silly, but Queen is moving up boards now that he’s dominating games both inside and out again after a minor lull toward the middle of conference play. DQ put him through the spin cycle. pic.twitter.com/tPOt2nHIG1 — Maryland Men’s Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) February 22, 2025 He’s one of the most productive freshmen in the country, averaging nearly 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists while shooting 54 percent from the field. Those look like traditional big numbers, but Queen is anything but that. Yes, he’s a strong post player. But what makes him particularly intriguing to NBA teams is his ball skill. Queen is a fantastic ballhandler and shot creator from the perimeter for a big man. He can really control the ball at a level that most guys over 6-10 just can’t. He loves to face up and size his man up before hitting crossovers with some suddenness and hesitation, using shot fakes or pass fakes well to get his man off-balance. Beyond that, he really seems to understand how to use his frame to maintain advantages. Few bigs are better at any level — including the NBA — at using a hostage dribble to keep his man on his back and keep a four-on-five advantage for his team. He can get all the way to the rim to finish, where he’s relatively effective there given how much he’s self-creating his own shots there. But what makes Queen particularly interesting is his passing. He has terrific vision, but moreover, he really can pass on the move in the way NBA teams love to see. He passes off a live dribble with both his left and right hand which, again, is quite rare for a player this big. That gives him the ability to have quick reactions to double teams or to see mismatch advantage situations; he processes all of this quite rapidly and can manipulate defenders with his eyesight or his passing angles. Then, he’ll hit passes from creative overhead or underarm angles to find windows. This year, he’s averaging 2.1 assists per game, but that undersells his ability. If he proves he can stay on the court defensively and play 30 minutes per game, he could easily average five assists per game in the NBA. Alas, the defense is where teams are concerned. Queen is going to be undersized for the center position, and he doesn’t have a ton of length to necessarily fall back on either. This is where Queen’s frame brings out the most concern. Maryland does a fairly excellent job of hiding him by pre-switching most ball-screen actions in the same way Purdue did when it had All-American Caleb Swanigan. Queen seems to struggle when he’s asked to go north-south closing out onto players. He’s not as big of an issue moving laterally, but it’s hard for him to close out and stop his momentum, or for him to get to the level in ball screens, stop, then recover. However, he’s also not quite as big as most effective drop-coverage ball-screen defenders in the NBA either, because he doesn’t quite take up a ton of space in those situations. I also wouldn’t call him a particularly active help defender around the basket. He has great hands but often chooses not to rotate across to contest as the last line. Teams wonder what exactly the defensive role is. Can Queen continue to do incredible work on his body and slim down even further to play the four? Or maybe he can keep improving his positioning and willingness to contest and play the five? NBA sources and sources close to Queen have told The Athletic that Queen has taken his nutrition extremely seriously at Maryland this year and has done a fantastic job of keeping his weight down. Entering Maryland, he was over 260 pounds. Now, he’s in the 240-pound range and continues to make good decisions regarding his food. Scouts bring up a lot of different names to compare Queen to, which is unsurprising given that he’s a polarizing archetype. Alperen Şengün comes up, as does Domantas Sabonis. More recently, the name I’ve heard most is Naz Reid because of his ability to handle the ball. The difference between those two is that Reid can really shoot the ball and Queen has not showcased that ability yet. That’s the next step in his development toward becoming a lethal player in the NBA. However, Reid’s ability to create is not dissimilar to Queen’s, as they’re both exceptionally comfortable handling the ball. Overall, I’m a believer that Queen — who has been elite in basically every setting he’s ever been placed within, from high school at Montverde (Fla.) Academy to camps in front of scouts to McDonald’s All-American week now to college basketball — will just figure it out. Queen has been gifted with incredible overall feel for the game, and he always rises to the occasion and plays his best when it matters most. Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears has had an up-and-down freshman season but looks like a first-rounder. (Matt Pendleton / Imagn Images) Jeremiah Fears | 6-4 freshman guard | Oklahoma | 18 years old | No. 17 It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster season for Fears. A late reclassification from the recruiting class of 2025, Fears is still 18 years old and was a monster to begin the season. In his first 13 games, he averaged 18.1 points and 4.5 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field, 31 percent from 3 and 86 percent from the line to lead Oklahoma to a stunning unbeaten record and a top-15 ranking in the country. Then in his next 12 games, Oklahoma went 3-9 as SEC play heated up, and Fears’ game dropped off a cliff. He averaged 12 points and three assists while shooting just 36 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3. The good news? His recent games have been better, as he posted a 22-point outing against a top-10 defense in Florida (although he had 14 points on 5-of-11 from the field in the first half before the game got completely out of hand) and then a 27-point, 10-assist showcase against Mississippi State. The latter was one of the best prospect games of the season. Fears showcased serious creativity off the bounce to get to pull-up jumpers from both 3 and from midrange. He dished out terrific passes, mostly down to his rollers around the rim. He lived at the foul line, taking 14 attempts. Fears looked like a contender to be a top-five pick in the nonconference season, looked like he wouldn’t be a player in this draft in his next 12 games, then turned it around again. Unsurprisingly, that — along with his defense and shooting in general — has made him fairly polarizing for NBA teams. Some think he’s still a lottery-level player. Others are not quite as enthused about taking a project point guard who will essentially be position-locked into one role. You’d have to really buy into high-end, starter-level upside to take this bet because of how difficult the learning curve is for young guards. In the last decade, the only small guard — NBA personnel who have seen him in person do not expect Fears to measure at his listed 6-4 at the combine — to have rookie success in the NBA is Trae Young. Assuming he’s in this draft, there’s a long way to go here given that Fears’ defense is a serious question, he struggles as a shooter and he hasn’t made a ton of shots at the rim this season. I think the context surrounding Fears’ play is important, though. First, reclassified point guards are basically never good. You can look through the past of Deryck Thornton, Khristian Lander, Meechie Johnson, Kira Lewis, Devin Askew, Josh Primo, A.J. Lawson and Ashton Hagans to find a seriously mixed track record but essentially zero first-year success. Second, Oklahoma is entirely reliant upon him to do anything. The Sooners have very little secondary creation. The team does have pretty real floor-spacing around him but doesn’t have a particularly good rim-runner. Where does all of that leave Fears? At the very least, NBA teams agree that if he enters the draft, he will be a first-round pick. Someone will take the plunge and try to develop him. A name that has come up often from teams is ****** Ellis, another extremely fast, young guard with a quick handle whom teams saw as a project entering the NBA. Ellis made over $100 million entering the league back in the mid-2000s, so they don’t mean that as a slight at Fears’ game. Ellis had a nine-year peak in which he averaged over 20 points and five assists while starting nearly 600 games. Fears’ development might be helped by returning to college basketball next year given the finances involved in the sport on that level now, but as long as he doesn’t tank the rest of the season, he should be well-positioned to be a top-20 pick with serious upside beyond that into the middle portion of the lottery if he performs well to close the year and in pre-draft workouts. Other prospects • One hot name among scouts right now is Arizona wing Carter Bryant, who has continued to take strides. His counting numbers of 6.3 points and 3.8 rebounds don’t jump off of the page, but he’s a 6-8 wing who has hit 36 percent of his 3s and been quite impactful on defense. When Bryant is on the court, Arizona beats its opponents by over 15 points per 100 possessions, per CBB Analytics. That’s second-best on the team behind Henri Veesaar, and it’s drastically ahead of third place. He’ll need to go into workouts and impress to be a one-and-done, but there is real buzz for Bryant as teams start looking at their boards and pinpointing potentially undervalued players. San Diego State’s Miles Byrd is an intriguing wing prospect. (Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images) • Another under-the-radar name is San Diego State wing Miles Byrd, whose defensive exploits this season have impressed a significant number of scouts who have been through Southern California. He has a well-rounded game, as he’s averaging 12.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, two steals and a block per game. Defensively, he’s as active a wing as you’ll find, using his incredible reactivity and timing to disrupt whatever offenses are trying to do. He’s also taking about six 3s per game, and while only 32 percent of those have gone in, he has hit 84 percent from the line. Teams want to see him shoot in person, so he feels more like a player who tests the NBA Draft process as opposed to outright declaring. But as teams hunt for wings who can come in and give them long, active defense, Byrd fits the bill. • Most NBA teams send American scouts over to Europe around the January-to-early-February window to cross-check what their international scouts are sending over. One name that popped up for most teams who went over this time was Joan Beringer, a 6-11 big man from France currently playing for Cedevita in the Adriatic League. Beringer just looks the part with his size. He has serious length and moves very well for a player this big on top of having vertical pop, but he’s also quite raw and will need some further time to develop. However, for someone this big, the main skillset that stood out was how well he caught the ball. He has a massive catch radius that allows him to catch everything in his area. Teams are excited to see and learn more, given that he has not been overly productive in either his time with the Under-18 French team this summer or at Cedevita. But the tools are clearly there, and Beringer has his front-office fans. • A few other freshmen have built some standing within front offices. Duke’s Isaiah Evans took a while to build steam, but he’s made a ton of shots when he’s been on the court this season. Scouts mention that they think he’d likely be better off staying in school this year while he continues to build out his frame, work on his defensive disruption and develop his ball skills. However, teams are always on the lookout for long, athletic shooters, and Evans has real upside there. He comes in at No. 41. Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford doesn’t have the same level of tools that Evans does, but it’s hard to ignore that he’s been awesome as a freshman this year in the biggest spots for the No. 1 team in the country. Every big game Auburn has played, it’s been Pettiford who has made the big shots. He had 21 points against Houston, 14 against Iowa State, 20 against Duke, 18 on Purdue, 14 against Alabama and 13 against Florida. That’s an awful lot of good work against top-10 teams. Where does that slot him in this mix? Good question, as some teams are just averse to 6-1 guards. But Pettiford has his fans given that few guards have been as consistently good against the best of the best this year. • Some older players who have higher-end defensive pedigrees worth tracking: Georgetown’s Micah Peavy might be the player to watch this year if you’re looking for a late riser in the Toumani Camara mold who ends up coming out of nowhere to get picked. NBA teams love his defensive intensity and length, and he’s picked up the offensive game recently, too. Duke guard Sion James has been about as good as it gets at the point of attack on that end this year, and could hear his name called later in the draft. Finally, no player in the country has transformed his team’s defense this year like Florida’s Alijah Martin. His addition is, by far, the biggest reason that the Gators have gone from having a defense outside of the top 90 last season to having one inside the top 10 currently. He’s elite at the point of attack and does a fantastic job guarding up the lineup even at his size. He would be my pick for SEC Defensive Player of the Year right now, and he has worked his way back onto the radar for teams because of it, along with being a career 36.5 percent 3-point shooter on over 800 career attempts. • Georgetown big man Thomas Sorber will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. I have Sorber ranked quite highly at No. 16, and evaluators on the team side are somewhere in that No. 12 to No. 25 bucket on him depending on who you ask. He averaged 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game as a freshman with overall numbers that don’t look all that different from Queen’s. Evaluators also seem to buy Sorber’s jumper a bit more than Queen’s, even if Queen’s passing ability and overall perimeter game are believed to be more translatable. But Sorber has been the subject of speculation in league circles as to whether he’ll end up in the 2025 draft. Sources close to the situation have stated throughout that he is no certainty to be in this class, and he and his family are in no rush for him to leave college. With Sorber having foot surgery, it’s also unclear how much of the pre-draft process he’ll be at full-strength for. None of this is to say Georgetown fans should unequivocally expect him back, but you can expect that this will be a logical decision, and those advising Sorber are not going to necessarily push him out the door. (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Photos of Cooper Flagg, V.J. Edgecombe and Derik Queen: Andrew Wevers , Lance King and G Fiume / Getty Images) Source link #NBA #Draft #Big #Board #Derik #Queen #V.J #Edgecombe #rise #among #top #prospects Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Pokemon Champions Is A New Stadium-Style 3D Battle Game Coming To Switch Pokemon Champions Is A New Stadium-Style 3D Battle Game Coming To Switch It might not share the Pokemon Stadium name, but Pokemon Champions looks like a new entry in the battling-focused series. The game was announced during today’s Pokemon Presents livestream for Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Game Freak has planned out Pokemon Champions, but the actual developer is The Pokemon Works. This studio formed last year and has previously assisted with Pokemon Home. One of the goals with Pokemon Champions is appealing to a wider audience. Here’s a part of the official description for the game: “This new, battle-focused game will feature familiar mechanics such as Pokémon types, Abilities, and moves, creating an environment conducive to rich and varied strategies for new and experienced trainers alike.” Pokemon Champions will feature compatibility with Pokemon Home. This means you can bring some of your favorite Pokemon from other titles–Pokemon Go as well as Scarlet and Violet were highlighted–into the experience. The Pokemon Company says it will be possible to battle other players from around the world. That includes whether people have Pokemon Champions on Nintendo Switch or mobile devices, meaning there is cross-platform functionality. There is no release date at this time. There was more at Pokemon Presents than just Pokemon Champions, by the way. Pokemon Legends Z-A got a new trailer and release window, while new Pokemon are on the way for Pokemon Unite over the next few months. Source link #Pokemon #Champions #StadiumStyle #Battle #Game #Coming #Switch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

I think Microsoft is smart to follow OpenAI in making these premium features free I think Microsoft is smart to follow OpenAI in making these premium features free Microsoft Copilot Voice mode is now free The Think Deeper feature is also now free to use Voice and Think Deeper are powered by OpenAI models Microsoft Copilot is taking a page from OpenAI’s strategy for ChatGPT and making its Voice and Think Deeper features available to all users. This is not surprising since OpenAI’s models power the Copilot features. However, making them accessible to Copilot users who aren’t paying for a subscription to the premium service could make them much more widely used. Voice mode is exactly what it sounds like: instead of typing your queries, you can now have an actual conversation with Copilot. The AI can help you practice phrases in French, help you cook something complicated without smudging your phone screen with olive oil, or respond sympathetically to a rant about traffic. Think Deeper is built to handle more complex questions than just the weather or trivia. Suppose you’re debating whether to spend a recent windfall on a bathroom remodel or a generator to help with the next windstorm. Ask Copilot to use Think Deeper and it can break down the costs, long-term value, and trade-offs. The AI could also create a scoring system to help you decide what kind of car to get based on your preferences in design, comfort, future-proofing, and other factors. This update is Microsoft’s way of making AI more accessible and, frankly, more helpful. Before now, many users might have been frustrated by the limits on these features, but were still reluctant to pay for Copilot Pro. The end result might just be them switching to another AI chatbot. Microsoft does warn, however, that during high-demand periods, things might slow down a bit. Copilot Pro For those who are already paying for Copilot Pro, nothing is being taken away either. Pro users still get first dibs on new AI features, plus priority access during peak hours, which is useful if you need Copilot’s brainpower in the middle of a busy day. They also still have exclusive extra AI integrations within Microsoft 365 apps. So, if your idea of excitement is having Copilot help you build the most efficient Excel spreadsheet of all time, Pro is still the way to go. Ultimately, Microsoft wants Copilot to be something you and everyone you know would actually want to interact with. The more natural the conversation, the more useful AI becomes. By bringing these features to everyone for free, Microsoft, as well as its partner OpenAI, is also putting pressure on its competitors. Many AI tools have been locked behind paywalls, with companies reserving the best features for those willing to subscribe. But Microsoft flipping the switch on unlimited access means other AI providers might have to follow suit. The race is no longer just about who has the smartest AI, but who is making it the most available and practical. You might also like Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Source link #Microsoft #smart #follow #OpenAI #making #premium #features #free Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

1 in 5 Americans are ‘doom spending’ — here’s how that can backfire 1 in 5 Americans are ‘doom spending’ — here’s how that can backfire A customer shops at a Costco store in San Francisco. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images With sweeping U.S. tariffs going into effect, more Americans are concerned about the cost of goods and the possibility that prices will rise further in the months ahead. Those fears are causing some consumers to spend even more than they would otherwise. To that point , 19% of adults indicate they are “doom spending,” or making impulsive purchases driven by fear and anxiety about the future, according to a recent report by CreditCards.com More from Personal Finance: How IRS layoffs could impact your tax filing, refund As tariffs ramp up, here’s an investment option DOGE’s FDIC firings put banking system at risk President Donald Trump said earlier Thursday that his proposed 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico will start March 4. “It’s too soon to say precisely how the new tariffs imposed by President Trump are affecting consumer spending,” says John Egan, a personal finance expert contributor at CreditCards.com. “However, they very well could cause some consumers to rethink their buying habits, especially when it comes to major purchases.” Fear of tariffs is driving more buying To that end, 28% of Americans have already made a large purchase, such as a home appliance or home improvement supplies. Another 22% have also started stockpiling certain items, including non-perishable food, toilet paper and over-the-counter medications, according to CreditCards.com. But these habits are also pushing 34% of credit card borrowers to take on more debt this year, the report also found. CreditCards.com polled 2,000 adults in February. The downside of doom spending “One of the drawbacks of doom spending is that it could prompt you to overspend and strain your budget,” Egan said. “In addition, doom spending might lead you to pile up credit card debt, which could put you in a financial hole due to interest charges and fees.” As credit card debt tops $1.21 trillion, it’s more important to focus on paying down card debt rather than spending even more, experts say. “Anyone who tells you they know what the next few months hold for the economy is just speculating,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree and the author of “Ask Questions, Save Money, Make More.” “It’s easy to feel powerless with so much uncertainty out there, but there are plenty of things you can do to take more control of your financial situation,” Schulz said. “Two of the best things you can do are knocking down your high-interest debt and building your emergency fund, to the degree that you can,” he said. “Both are easier said than done, for sure, but both will put you in a better position to handle whatever situations come your way.” Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Source link #Americans #doom #spending #heres #backfire Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly canes two gay men Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly canes two gay men Two young Indonesian men convicted of having a same-sex relationship have been publicly caned in Aceh province, prompting calls by Amnesty International for the government to put an end to the practice. While homosexuality is frowned upon in *******-majority Indonesia and members of the LGBTQ community face legal challenges, Aceh is the only province that has criminalised it under Islamic Sharia law and imposes public caning. The two university students, aged 18 and 24, were flogged at a regional government hall by hooded Islamic religious police officers. The caning on Thursday was witnessed by dozens of people including their family members. One received 77 lashes while the other received 82 for providing a place for their ******* activities. They were sent home afterwards. “They were caned after it was proven that they had a same-sex ******* relationship,” Roslina A Djalil, the head of Sharia law enforcement in Aceh, told reporters, adding that the men had been turned over to the police by locals. Reuters was not able to immediately contact the men or their lawyers for comment. Montse Ferrer, a deputy regional director at Amnesty International, said in a statement that the flogging was “a horrifying act of discrimination. Intimate ******* relations between consenting adults should never be criminalised.” She urged the government to take immediate action to revoke bylaws related to flogging. Two other men were caned on Thursday in Aceh for online gambling. In some cases, the law provides for up to 200 lashes for offences such as sex outside marriage, the consumption and ***** of alcohol as well as gambling. Fifteen people have been sentenced to flogging in Aceh for various violations so far this year, according to Amnesty, while 135 people received similar punishment last year. (Riska Munawarah in Banda Aceh and Ananda Teresia in Jakarta; Editing by Edwina Gibbs) Source link #Indonesias #Aceh #province #publicly #canes #gay #men Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A simple act of kindness from his favorite athlete changed his life forever A simple act of kindness from his favorite athlete changed his life forever Jim Marquardt was 16 and seeking some privacy. He had an important letter to write and his short attention span couldn’t compete with the TV in the living room, so he retreated upstairs to his sister’s bedroom. He shut the door and started scribbling. It was a Saturday night, and while his brain was telling his right hand what to write on the white legal pad, his ears were listening to the St. Louis Blues hockey game. He loved the team and specifically its goaltender, Mike Liut. He tuned into KMOX radio to hear Hall of Fame broadcaster Dan Kelly belt out, “What a spectacular save by Liut!” On this particular night, the volume was low because Marquardt had to be dialed in. In a page or two, the high school sophomore wanted to capture what to say to his sports hero. He poured his heart into his words, and as a poor student hoping for the letter to be perfect, he later took it to his English teacher for help. The teacher wondered why a student with flunking grades was suddenly motivated but made the corrections nonetheless. It was handwritten, so every mistake meant a rewrite. The final product was five pages and took a month to finish. “I remember everything I wrote in that letter,” says Marquardt, now 59. Mike, my name is Jim Marquardt. I play hockey, and I’m trying to learn the best I can. I watch you play, but there’s so much that I don’t know. I need some help. Marquardt quizzed Liut on how he defended a two-on-one rush, how he dealt with pressure, how he forgot a bad goal. But this communication was more than an aspiring goalie asking technical questions of a professional. The teen didn’t have a hockey team. He was academically ineligible to play in his first three years of high school. And he had a troubled home life. Marquardt’s family — father Gene, mother Evelyn, brothers Bill and Mark, and sister Jackie — were his world, but there was alcoholism, fighting and depression. His siblings sheltered him from a lot of the heartbreak. When something was happening he shouldn’t see, they’d say, “Jim, why don’t you go outside?” But they couldn’t protect him from everything. Dad was a cab driver who spent a lot of late nights in a pool hall, and there were mornings when Marquardt knew he wasn’t getting a ride to school and made the two-mile walk. “My parents wanted the best for all of us, but their lifestyles were rough,” he says. “I loved them dearly, but there were things — looking back, it was a brutal environment. Hockey was my ‘In case of emergency, break glass!’” And Liut was the mentor that Marquardt desperately needed. The fascination started with the mask — all white, contoured to account for facial features, with cut-out holes for the eyes and ventilation. To Marquardt, Liut was the Iron Man superhero in the Marvel Comic collection. When Marquardt played hockey every Saturday morning in the basement of his childhood friend Bob’s apartment, both wanted to be the goalie because that’s who wore Liut’s jersey. “I’m Mike! I’m Mike!” When Marquardt wasn’t playing, he was filling up a scrapbook with newspaper clippings about Liut. He recorded games on TV, and when Liut made a glove save, he’d hit rewind and rewatch it in slow-motion. “How’d he do that?” Mike Liut’s signature mask was an inspiration to Jim Marquardt. (Photo courtesy of the Blues) Marquardt watched all of Liut’s postgame interviews, even changing the channel to hear the same comments over and over again. Once, the goalie was a guest DJ on a local radio station and Marquardt called in to ask a question. Mike, this is Jim from St. Louis. How do you keep so cool? “My life was a mess and Mike was the calm,” he says. “He was everything as a human being that I wanted to be. I thought, ‘How do I get there?’” He hoped Liut would respond to the letter, but Marquardt first had to get it to him. He bought a single ticket to a Blues game, and his dad dropped him off in his cab. His seat was in the rafters, but he walked down to the bench. He had put the letter in an envelope with “Mike Liut” written on both sides, so if it flipped over in the air, his name would still be facing up. He reached over the glass and released it from his fingertips. Marquardt took off running because he was worried about getting reprimanded by an usher. Several rows up, he turned and watched then-Blues coach Jacques Demers scoop up the letter and slip it into the pocket of his brown suit. “Half of me was optimistic, thinking, ‘Jacques might give it to Mike,’” he says. “The other half of me was thinking, ‘He’s never going to get it.’” Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and Marquardt figured any more pointers from Liut would have to come from TV. Then one day, as he arrived home from school, Jackie came sprinting out of the house. She had a big white envelope with “St. Louis Blues” written on it. “Jim, look!” she shrieked. Marquardt sat stunned. It took him a moment to open the letter. When he did, what he pulled out was an autographed picture: “Best wishes, Mike Liut.” Then a two-page handwritten letter on white paper: “Hey Jim, here’s answers to your questions. I hope this helps you!” Liut offered tips about playing the position and personal words of advice: “The only person you have to satisfy is yourself.” The letter Mike Liut wrote to Jim Marquardt. (David Foley / Special to The Athletic) At that point in his life Marquardt says he was a lost soul. He wasn’t going to jail, but he wasn’t going anywhere. “What Mike did for me, writing back, it was like putting jumper cables on a dead battery,” he says. “I was the dead battery. Mike was the charge.” His sister, who is one year older and was headed off to college soon, saw potential. “Jim has always had a tender heart,” Jackie says. “He just didn’t have confidence in himself. Mike came along when it was the right time for Jim to have a mentor.” Marquardt returned to school and told teachers that he had a purpose: He just wanted to play hockey before he left that building. With only one more opportunity to make that happen as a senior, Marquardt’s grades suddenly soared, and when Mr. Gilbert, his history teacher, flipped an “F” to a “D,” he was finally eligible. There were still two issues: He didn’t have equipment, and he couldn’t skate. Marquardt’s dad had an idea for the goalie gear, calling the Blues to see if they had some for *****. The team invited them to The Arena and into the locker room, where Marquardt was mesmerized when he spotted Liut’s jersey hanging in his stall. There were two options for the goalie pads: an old, beat-up set belonging to Liut, or a brand-new set that Michel “Bunny” Larocque had left in St. Louis. Surprisingly, Marquardt didn’t choose Liut’s set. “Larocque’s pads were just gorgeous,” he says. Jim Marquardt’s goalie pads. (David Foley / Special to The Athletic) Marquardt was now a high school backup goalie wearing NHL pads, but while he looked the part, he was hanging onto the boards in practice and teammates were mocking him. Marquardt was also, however, hanging onto Liut’s words. “I must’ve looked at that letter 100 times before playing in the games,” he says. Marquardt logged all of his games in a journal. “You need to work on your concentration!” one entry said. He also kept notes about how Liut performed: “Man, Mike did great!” Marquardt progressed to the point where he took over the starting goalie job, and on the verge of a shutout one night, the crowd started chanting: “Li-ut! Li-ut!” But just like that, Marquardt’s competitive hockey career was over, almost as soon as it started. In his only year of eligibility, he was the rookie of the year. In the grainy team picture, he’s holding a goalie stick with “Liut” written in ****** marker. In the four decades since, Marquardt married his wife, Chris, and the couple had two children, daughter Kenna and son Brett. He worked in the food industry for about 25 years and then in HVAC and plumbing for 10. Going back to his late 20s, he also kept part-time jobs at a number of local churches, often working with youths. It was a way of paying it forward. “Maybe I can help these guys get through it,” he says. For nine years, that part-time job was at The Crossing church. He found it more fulfilling than his day job. He was also jealous that his wife, a teacher for 29 years, got “to change lives every day.” So last year, he took a full-time position at the church. At The Crossing, campus pastor Angela Beise now sees Marquardt changing lives. “He wants young people to discover what he discovered and avoid the heartache he’s experienced,” Beise says. “He found hope and a way to keep going.” They learned about Marquardt’s compassion at the church, and they also learned about his tattoo. Biese jokes that when she first saw it, she thought it was from the movie “Silence of the Lambs.” Marquardt had been thinking about getting a hockey tattoo for a while, and his wife told him, “When I think about you, I picture Liut’s mask.” He finally got it done at age 54. Jim Marquardt displays his Mike Liut tattoo. (David Foley / Special to The Athletic) It was the tattoo that led to Marquardt meeting Liut. He and Kenna attend one game per season, and last year’s happened to be the weekend Liut was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (Jan. 20, 2024). After a 3-0 win over the Washington Capitals, dad and daughter were leaving when Kenna ran into some friends. While she was talking to them, Marquardt spotted hockey reporter Andy Strickland and showed him his tattoo. Within seconds, Strickland was ushering them to a suite. “My dad was like, ‘We’re going to meet Liut!’” Kenna says. The conversation lasted less than 10 minutes, which wasn’t nearly enough time. So one year later, on Jan. 25, The Athletic brought them back together. At the beginning of their two-hour visit, Liut embraced Marquardt and recalled their brief meeting a year earlier. “I thought it was going to be a little meet-and-greet, like, ‘Hey, you were my favorite player,’” Liut said. “But you started telling me the story, and it was like a freaking avalanche.” “Yeah, I was like, ‘How do I say thank you’ in a few minutes?” Marquardt said. “Had I known I was going to have this opportunity …” Mike Liut listens to Jim Marquardt’s story. (David Foley / Special to The Athletic) Marquardt told Liut he was a hero to a young, impressionable kid who felt a strong desire to communicate that in his letter so long ago. Getting a reply from his favorite player was “life-changing.” “I thought, ‘Now I have a direction in life,’” Marquardt said. Liut called that the profound part of being a professional athlete. “But what we can’t fully understand is that some of the people we meet are struggling,” Liut said. “We don’t have the capacity as 20-something-year-olds to understand what exactly we’re wading into. So I’m responding to you, but I’m not responding with the idea that I’m helping address that. I wouldn’t know how to start that letter because I’m not qualified. What hit me was, ‘How many kids did I not have this effect on because I didn’t follow through?’” “The flip side of the coin,” Marquardt said. “Yeah, the flip side,” Liut replied, starting to tear up. Marquardt grabbed Liut’s hand to soothe him. “You’re not going to reach everybody, but it’s knowing how far the impact can go,” Liut said. “I’ve always struggled with, ‘Have I put enough back?’” “You’ve put more than enough back,” Marquardt said. “You’ve touched lives like mine.” And then Marquardt pulled out the letter that Liut sent him more than four decades ago. Mike Liut reads the letter he wrote to Jim Marquardt. (David Foley / Special to The Athletic) The author, now 69, recognized the handwriting and began reading the words he wrote when he was just 27. Jim, thank you for the encouragement. We all have ups and downs in life, it’s just how you handle yourself and know things always get better. The only person that you have to satisfy is yourself. Success will surface sooner or later. “See, this was easy stuff for me,” Liut said. “But again, I’m not really picking up on how much you’re hurting.” “How desperate I was,” Marquardt said. “I had no confidence back then. The only person in my sphere of life was me. It was population one, and it was like, ‘He took time for me?’ So yeah, that was one of the best saves you ever made.” Marquardt told Liut about his dad getting the goalie equipment from the Blues. “You made the wrong choice, right?” Liut said. “I did,” Marquardt confirmed. “I wanted yours because it was you, but the others, I’m talking brand-spanking-new leather. My father, wow, he wrote a check for $250. He saw something with this sport and realized it was more than a want. He said, ‘My son needs this.’” Liut nearly came out of his chair at that. “Think about that!” he said. “Your dad, this was not easy for him to do, and he finds a way to get it done.” As the conversation continued, Marquardt updated Liut on his life, including his new job. “I’m going to work with as many people as humanly possible, so I can pass that baton on like you passed it on to me,” Marquardt said. Liut acknowledged his role, but insisted that Marquardt was responsible for the outcome. “Clearly I lived up to what you had in your mind, but all of this is just a simple act of kindness,” Liut said. “I’m happy, pleased and thrilled that I had that impact on you. But I just did it because you asked me about playing goalie. I had people who did so much for my career that this was just perfunctory. You took it exactly for what it is — somebody out there cared enough about me to respond. “It does provide some context in my life, and I feel really good about it. But you did this. You did the work and made yourself a better person. It’s in all of us to be good people. It’s just in the decisions that we make.” Before the two went their separate ways, they walked into a nearby locker room where Marquardt had laid out his Liut collection, featuring several scrapbooks, pictures, a stick, a jersey and those gorgeous Michel “Bunny” Larocque pads. Jim Marquardt and Mike Liut. (David Foley / Special to The Athletic) “What I brought here is my time capsule,” Marquardt said. And the items were Liut’s to keep. “I want to give you these things,” Marquardt said. “This is my childhood. This is part of my heart and soul I want to give you because I just want to say, ‘Mike, it was you.’ I want to say thank you for the letter that you took time to write. I love you for what you’ve done for my life.” (Top illustration: Demetrious Robinson / The Athletic, with photos from David Foley / Special to The Athletic, and courtesy of Jim Marquardt) Source link #simple #act #kindness #favorite #athlete #changed #life Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

A great new price for PlayStation VR2 A great new price for PlayStation VR2 PlayStation Blog: “For those of you who have been waiting for the opportunity to jump into PlayStation VR2 and experience what this generation’s innovative virtual reality system has to offer, we are happy to share some great news! Starting in March, we’re reducing the recommended retail price (RRP) of PS VR2.” Source link #great #price #PlayStation #VR2 Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

All your burning Alexa+ questions answered – by one of the people who built it All your burning Alexa+ questions answered – by one of the people who built it Alexa just went from being a somewhat ordinary, if trusted, digital assistant to a powerful enigma. Alexa+ replaces the plodding of the original with conversational intelligence, proactivity, and true AI. It’s a lot to take in and raises a lot of questions. I managed to get some answers from Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s VP of Alexa and Echo and of the people who helped build Alexa Plus, to get some answers. Even though I caught up with Rausch at the end of a long day, he seemed energized and clearly quite proud of Amazon’s creation. I started by asking him about something bugging me since the launch: How much of Alexa+ is Claude? Anthropic, Claude’s developer, was touted as a partner in the development of Alexa Plus and listed during the presentation alongside Amazon Nova, Amazon’s own large language model. Rausch, though, quickly disabused me of that notion. “You saw Amazon Nova models up there and they are definitely where we start at Amazon,” Rausch began, “we always start with our own technology.” Raushe explained that there is “unbelievable price performance in those models, unbelievable latency, unbelievable accuracy.” Bedrock principles It goes further than that, though. Rausch explained that Amazon’s Bedrock is a sort of cloud-based foundation for all its generative AI work. Anthropic is a “really important partner,” said Rausch, but the system Amazon’s built is “model agnostic.” Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. “Bedrock’s goal is to serve highly capable, state-of-the-art models,” he said. That means the system will pick and choose the best models for the job. It makes sense this also may have been Rausch’s way of not identifying which models, including Claude, are used when. “With Alexa,” he added, “we have access to the full suite.” (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) It goes further than that, though. Large language models are not the end or destination. Rausch told me the Alexa+ experience extends and builds upon them. He discussed the “information experts” idea introduced during the launch event. The models use these experts to gather relevant and factual information. Rausch used the example of his constant queries about baseball, specifically the Yankees, but added that the system is smart enough to know that, in his house, only he likes to talk endlessly about baseball while his daughter has no interest. “I would say the models are helping orchestrate the overall experience and are the foundation and are helping us build the rest,” Rausch told me. That art Amazon Alexa+’s generative image work. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) During the kids’ section of the unveiling, or the part that described the new “Explore and Stories with Alexa,” I noticed what looked like generative AI art. Rausch confirmed that Alexa+ generates that art on the fly based on kids’ ideas. During development, Rausch put the tools in front of some relatives’ kids to gauge their reactions: “It is super-fun. A kid is describing the story, Alexa is helping them explore, ‘Hey, what would you like to write a story about?'” For instance, the kid describes a bearded dragon playing a saxophone. “Alexa’s off drawing some creative artwork, asking about the path of the story, ‘Where does the bearded dragon live?’ or ‘What city is the bearded dragon visiting?’ Of course, kids are unlimited in their imagination. They’re riffing. They’re saying, sometimes, things adults can’t come out with.” It does sound like fun. I noticed that the images I saw looked like generative AI, and Rausch told me that was exactly what they were. He would not, however, reveal which generative image model Alexa+ is using. All Rausch would only say that “it’s from the models on Bedrock.” Security As with any generative AI, the key to Alexa+’s utility is data or rather your data. Generative tasks will be handled in the cloud, but Raush told me that all of it will be encrypted “in transit.” “It is incredibly secure and meets our standard practices of trust generally, which include deep security and privacy,” he added. “We always start with our own technology.” Daniel Rausch, Amazon VP Alexa & Echo Naturally, this led me to ask about the kids’ technology and what safeguards Amazon has built around the generative image creation. Rausch described it as “incredibly safe,” and said there are many safeguards in place to ensure “children are always kept safe.” I know many companies say their generative image platforms are safe, but Amazon has a track record in developing kid-friendly platforms and systems. The “Explore and Stores with Alexa” is an extension of all that work. Not always a screen This Amazon Echo will likely support Alexa Plus but will the experience suffer without a screen? (Image credit: Shutterstock) It was hard to ignore the pervasive use of the Echo Show 21 smart display throughout the Alexa+ demo. I’ve naturally been wondering about all the Echo Smart speakers out there, at least the ones new enough to support Alexa Plus. What will the experience be like with them? During the demos, Amazon actually cranked up the length of responses for the Echo 21 screens to show off what Alexa knows. But no one wants to stand around staring at a speaker waiting for these responses. Rausch told me that they designed Alexa Plus to deliver more concise responses on the speakers. All of this is customizable. “The idea is we picked the right kinds of responses and the right interactions for the device and the modality that you’re in,” he added. Is Amazon ready Daniel Rausch, Amazon VP Alexa & Echo at the Alexa+ launch. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) When Amazon delivers Alexa+ in March, that could mean millions of Echo owners suddenly having generative AI conversations with the newest chatbot on the block. It’s potentially a big computational lift. Is Amazon ready? “Yes,” Rausch smiled, “It is very nice to have AWS at Amazon.” Amazon’s massive cloud computing platform supports countless websites and services and will now supply the bandwidth for Alexa+. Still, it won’t be everything, everywhere, all at once. Amazon is planning on rolling out Alexa+ in waves. And now I feel like I’ll understand Alexa+ a little better when those waves first hit the digital shore. You might also like Source link #burning #Alexa #questions #answered #people #built Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Scientists’ stunning observation of hybrid ‘grolar’ bear sparks concern: ‘Ill-suited to adapt’ Scientists’ stunning observation of hybrid ‘grolar’ bear sparks concern: ‘Ill-suited to adapt’ As Arctic ice melts and temperatures rise, an unexpected hybrid bear is beginning to shape the shifting landscape: the “grolar” bear. Grolar bears, the offspring of polar and grizzly bears, are rare but striking consequences of climate change. While their emergence raises intriguing questions about wildlife adaptation, as GreaterGood recently covered, it also signals deeper disruptions to ecosystems that could have lasting effects on wildlife and human communities alike. What’s happening? Polar and grizzly bears once occupied distinct habitats, with polar bears living in the Arctic and grizzly bears in tundras and forests farther south. But as the Arctic warms, polar bears are being pushed inland, where their territory now overlaps with that of grizzlies. This shift has led to the rise of grolar bears, first spotted in 2006 in the western Arctic. Though the hybridization is still rare, experts expect it to increase as climate change accelerates. It’s a stark reminder of how climate change is reshaping entire ecosystems and threatening the delicate balance on which both wildlife and human livelihoods depend. Why is this concerning? Due to a suboptimal combination of traits from their predecessors, grolar bears are poorly suited to both marine and land environments. This makes survival in either habitat far more difficult, drastically reducing their chances of survival. Evan Richardson, who specializes in polar bear research, told Polar Bears International that grolar bears are “ill-suited to adapt” to the habitat of either grizzly or polar bears. Watch now: How bad is a gas stove for your home’s indoor air quality? Experts warn that as climate change continues, the overlap between grizzly and polar bear habitats will expand, likely leading to more hybridization. But while grolar bears may eventually survive in transitional zones, they cannot fill the ecological roles that polar and grizzly bears play in their respective environments. Furthermore, polar bears face the threat of starvation without sea ice, as seals, which are their primary prey, are inaccessible on land. This has profound consequences not just for polar bears but for the entire food chain in the Arctic. What’s being done about it? Conservationists emphasize that protecting polar bear habitats and curbing climate change are urgent priorities to maintain the biodiversity of the Arctic. The Arctic Council is advocating for enhanced conservation measures, while worldwide climate initiatives are working to curb ice melt. There are also steps we can take as individuals to help safeguard the delicate balance of this essential and unique ecosystem. If you want to support Arctic conservation, you can look for organizations that focus on preservation in this area. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Source link #Scientists #stunning #observation #hybrid #grolar #bear #sparks #concern #Illsuited #adapt Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How ‘spiritual soundness’ led Joe Moglia from Wall Street CEO to college football head coach How ‘spiritual soundness’ led Joe Moglia from Wall Street CEO to college football head coach Sticking his head underneath his desk for a moment, Joe Moglia popped back up holding a heavy binder. “See this file?” he said. “I have three of these.” Thousands of versions of Moglia lie between the lines of those pages: A 19-year-old college sophomore supporting his wife and newborn daughter by driving a cab and post office truck in New York City while also working at his father’s fruit store in the Bronx. The successful CEO of TD Ameritrade. An award-winning head football coach at Coastal Carolina. The connective tissue weaving all of those wildly different selves together is his “private notes,” a series of journal entries of over 50 years’ worth of attempts to peel back the layers of his subconscious. The notes represent a process Moglia believes anyone can use to learn more about themselves and make big decisions. The process is straightforward. First, Moglia sits down in front of his notepad and prompts himself: What’s my favorite music? Do I like Bruce Springsteen? Why do I like him? What are my skill sets? What am I good at? And what am I bad at? What does my career look like right now? And what do I want it to look like? The point of asking increasingly specific questions is to have them add up over time to answer a ******* and broader question: Who am I? Most importantly, Moglia refuses to tell anyone what he wrote, especially if he uncovers a realization about himself. The goal is to pinpoint exactly who he is and how he feels without the judgment or influence of others. That way, when big decisions are required, he knows himself well enough to understand what choices will serve him best. “Any time I do anything major in my life,” he said, “I’ve gone through that.” How did he know he was ready to leave New York and try coaching? What made him realize it was time to leave coaching and go to Wall Street? Why did he feel comfortable leaving TD Ameritrade to give college football a final shot? “I went right to the legal pad,” he said. In 1971 Moglia was majoring in economics at Fordham and coaching football on the side. As graduation neared, so did his first big career decision. “If I can get a head high-school coaching job, I’ll pursue a career in coaching,” he told his wife. “If not, we’ll try and go to Wall Street.” He applied to 100 schools and received a call back from Archmere Academy, a Catholic high school in Claymont, Del. He knew he loved coaching, and he knew the plan was to take the job if offered, but there was still a lot to consider. He kept asking himself: What’s driving me? “I just started writing s— down,” Moglia said. He wrote down every thought and feeling he had about his life, prompting himself with questions about his interests, ambitions and personal life. “Just keep writing,” he told himself. “Don’t stop. Just keep writing.” The first part of his process was born, and Moglia took the job at Archmere Academy. Later that year, Moglia was on the New Jersey Turnpike, en route to meet his new team. He felt excited and wanted to make a good first impression, so he decided to introduce his new journaling exercise to his players. He called it “spiritual soundness.” He told his players about the first part of his self-discovery process — about why it’s important they “stand on their own two feet” and “take responsibility for themselves.” He explained how that becomes easier if you take the time to prompt yourself with questions and write enough to learn exactly who you are and what you believe in. But he also stressed an important point: They needed to make sure they didn’t share their notes or realizations with anyone. “The whole idea here is this is your examination of conscience with yourself, with God, with whomever, but it is not somebody else’s,” he said. “We tend to become a composite of the people around us. The first time you go to anybody else, the closest person in your life, subconsciously what you’re doing is you’re looking for them to affirm what your thought is. That’s the whole point. We’re not looking for that. We’re looking for you to figure out who you are.” Joe Moglia left his role as CEO of TD Ameritrade and joined the Nebraska football program as a volunteer. (Photo by Bill Frakes / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) It wasn’t long before Moglia climbed his way to collegiate coaching, helping guide the Lafayette College football team before becoming the defensive coordinator at Dartmouth in 1981. It was there, in his first season, that he received divorce papers and moved into the storage room above the football offices. A couple of years later, he says, he received a dream offer to coach at the University of Miami, home of the reigning national champions. Once again, Moglia returned to his spiritual soundness journal: Professionally and personally, what are the pros and cons? Professionally, he was sold. It was, he said, “the most perfect job I could possibly have.” If he accepted it, he believed he would succeed and could one day fulfill one of his dreams: to become the head coach at a major school. Personally, however, he was unconvinced. He remembered the first step of the spiritual soundness process he established with himself: Take responsibility for yourself. He thought about who he was as a father, who he wanted to be as a father and how the job would impact that part of his life. “How can I do this and not live up to my responsibilities as a father?” he said. “I’ve got four kids. I’m OK making decisions. I’m not OK feeling guilty.” He called turning down the job the “toughest career decision I have made in my life.” But that was the whole point of his journal process. “You get to a point where you go, You know what? This is me,” he said. “This is the truth, this is who I am. These are the good points and the bad points, but this is who I am. Once you understand that, now your ability to make the right decision under pressure, the probability goes up significantly. And the more times you can make the right decision under stress, critically, then you increase the probability you’re going to feel good about who you are. You’re going to feel fulfilled.” Soon after, he took to his journal again with a new realization. He still had a lingering interest in Wall Street. It kickstarted what is now the second step in his process: Have courage and know you’ll need to live with the consequences of your actions. So he began to network. In the 1980s, without contacts of his own, he approached alumni groups at Fordham and the two schools where he had coached, Lafayette and Dartmouth, and asked for names and numbers. Slowly, he built a list of people who worked on Wall Street and began to cold call. “I had a one-minute pitch that said something along the lines of, ‘I recognize I don’t have an MBA from Harvard, however, I do have this,’” he said. “‘I’ve got a PhD in life stuff. And I do think I have the skill sets that you’re looking for.’” He spent about three months chasing leads. Eventually, he ended up in Merrill ******’s MBA institutional training program. He said he was the only one in the program without an MBA. He spent the following 17 years at the company. In 2008, Moglia stepped down as the CEO of TD Ameritrade after seven years. “I was never more in demand in my life,” he said. But he realized he still had a lingering interest in coaching college football again. He knew what he wanted to do was unusual. And he knew he was fortunate financially; he didn’t have to worry about money. He also wondered: Am I going to get a job? That thought was followed by another: I would be good at this. Maybe someone, my background, it’s so unique, somebody might give me an opportunity. Through his spiritual soundness process, he uncovered exactly why he wanted to go back to football. It wasn’t that he was such a big fan; he said he’d rather watch TV shows than a game. But he enjoyed football strategy and believed in his ability to impact players. “The real game of football is like master’s chess, but with 22 people moving at once. I’m very good at that,” he said. “The ability to put together an entire program. I’m very good at that.” He thought: Maybe I do have a chance to go back and see what I could do. His journal process made it clear: He should go for it. Moglia began in 2009 as the executive advisor to Bo Pelini, then the head coach at Nebraska. A year later, he was named the head coach of the Virginia Destroyers, a new team in the upstart United Football League. He then became president and head coach of the UFL’s Omaha Nighthawks. Finally, in 2011, he got his chance: Coastal Carolina, then a Football Championship Subdivision program, made him the school’s second head coach in history. Moglia won 72 percent of his games, including back-to-back 12-win seasons and four consecutive appearances in the FCS playoffs. In 2014, Coastal Carolina started the season 11-0 and was ranked No. 1 for the first time in program history. He brought his “spiritual soundness” with him and to his players. Following the 2018 season, Moglia announced that he would step down as Coastal Carolina’s coach, but he remained active in the field of leadership. He served as the chairman of athletics and executive director at Coastal until the summer of 2024 and is still the executive advisor to Coastal Carolina’s president. He has delivered 10 commencement speeches, including at Coastal and Fordham, his alma mater. And at the University of Miami’s business school, he spoke about how to become an effective leader. As always, all roads lead back to “spiritual soundness” and the process he developed more than 50 years ago. To this day, he still leans on that process, even going on personal retreats to complete the exercise throughout the year. Most recently, he sat down over the holidays and reviewed all three of the binders containing his overflowing notes from over the years, a never-ending journey to learn more about himself and his life. “Everybody says they know who they are, but they don’t,” he said. “I would say, ‘Please, you gotta go through this exercise.’ I think every one of us wants to be happy in life. It’s very difficult to feel happy if you don’t feel good about who you are.” (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Jason Smith / Sports Illustrated / Getty Images) Source link #spiritual #soundness #led #Joe #Moglia #Wall #Street #CEO #college #football #coach Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Pokémon Legends Z-A Gets Release Window & Extended New Trailer Pokémon Legends Z-A Gets Release Window & Extended New Trailer · · February 27, 2025 The February 2025 Pokémon Presents showcase unveiled both a Pokémon Legends Z-A gameplay trailer and its Late 2025 release window. It’s not the instant shadow drop we’d all love, but Pokémon Legends Z-A will be here before you know it. The Pokémon community has been waiting with baited breath for fresh news on Pokémon Legends Z-A. Our prayers were answered during the February 27 Pokémon Presents stream. A ton of cool Pokémon news was shown off to the world, but its finale topped the lot. We learned a lot about Pokémon Legends Z-A and what to expect from the Arceus sequel. Pokémon Legends Z-A Release Window Announced Real-time battling is cool. Credit to The Pokémon Company Pokémon Legends Z-A features a vibrant open world, a classic Pokémon starter choice, a fuller world than Arceus, and real-time Pokémon catching and Trainer battling. It looks to innovate greatly over its predecessor—which is already considered one of the greatest Pokémon titles of our generation. You can check out the full extended trailer here which is sure to whet your whistle and warm up those Poké Ball throwing hands. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Pokémon #Legends #Release #Window #Extended #Trailer Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How a theory about maleness could explain the state of the world How a theory about maleness could explain the state of the world Feedback is New Scientist’s popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing *****@*****.tld More male than male In common, we suspect, with most readers, Feedback is casting around for explanations of how the world got into its current position. So we were intrigued by journalist Michael Hobbes’s post on the social media site Bluesky, highlighting a 2013 paper in the American Journal of Sociology called “Overdoing Gender: A test of the masculine overcompensation thesis”. The hypothesis is that, when men’s maleness is threatened, they overcompensate with “extreme demonstrations of masculinity”. For example, when men were told they were feminine, they responded by expressing more support for “dominance hierarchies”, and said they wanted more personal power. They also became more supportive of war and homophobia. But the bit that got Hobbes’s attention, because it’s so utterly ridiculous, is that they expressed interest in buying a sports utility vehicle (SUV). Reading all this, Feedback was to be found staring into space while the faces of prominent people flashed past. We remembered when singer James Blunt was interviewed on Jessie Ware’s podcast Table Manners. He admitted that during college days he went on a meat-only diet to prove his manliness and annoy vegan friends– only to be diagnosed with scurvy. We remembered the many instances of right-wing US men confessing on social media that they did not believe in the existence of the female orgasm because they had never seen a woman experience one. We remembered Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg trash-talking each other over a proposed cage fight for a year. And we thought those sociologists might have a point. Ready and not ready While we are all still trying to adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence, the next technology revolution is on its way: quantum computers. Regular readers will know this already, thanks to issue 3530. But what about all the poor souls that didn’t pick that up? Fortunately, computing giant and Netscape-killer Microsoft has the solution: a Quantum Ready programme, to help business leaders prepare their companies for the coming era. What is on offer? Why, teaching that will help leaders create “a clear and comprehensive quantum-ready strategy for durable, competitive differentiation”. Quantum computing, we are promised, “will soon solve meaningful problems and unlock business value in various areas”. Steady with the hype, Microsoft. As a result of all this coming quantum computing power, leaders must “understand the organizational change required to lead in the quantum era through a structured approach to business transformation aligned with your organization objectives”. They should “assess quantum’s impact” on their companies, and “execute a quantum application roadmap”. In other words: do some research, make a plan and carry it out. Truly, you can’t put a monetary value on advice that combines quality and originality to that extent. Of course, the problem is that we don’t know if/when quantum computers will become useful, or exactly what they will be useful for. So a company might spend a lot of time preparing for the quantum future, only to find that a startlingly different quantum future actually occurs. In a very real sense, even if a company is quantum-ready, it isn’t quantum-ready. If only there was a thought experiment that could illustrate such a situation. How to leave the planet Given the aforementioned state of things, Feedback occasionally wonders if we might depart planet Earth for pastures new. Admittedly, space travel is fraught with perils like meteorite strikes, intense radiation and the sheer mind-boggling scale of interstellar distances that make your death inevitable long before your craft reaches another star system. But on the other hand, maybe the grass is greener. In idle moments, we fantasise that the approaching asteroid 2024 YR4 is a disguised flying saucer, and we might be able to cadge a lift to Alpha Centauri. So you can imagine our surprise when we learned, via sustainability consultant Niki Rust on LinkedIn, of an unusual job posting on Indeed.com. A company called ****** Book Resourcing Ltd was seeking a “Pioneer Colonist – Mars Settlement Program”. Responsibilities include: “establish and maintain life-support systems”, “generate power and manage resources for long-term survival” and (just a little bit of understatement here) “work as a team under extreme conditions”. The rather long “essential requirements” list includes “peak physical and mental endurance” and a “background in engineering, medicine, botany, geology, or survival skills”. Confusingly, the list demands both “adaptability and resilience in complete isolation” and “strong teamwork and leadership skills”. Finally, you must have “no dependency on Earth’s luxuries–only grit and determination”. “Prior experience in extreme environments” is optional. Don’t all rush: the listing has expired, and we are not at all sure it was genuine. Besides, given the frankly strenuous requirements, Feedback was stunned to see the proposed salary was just £60,000-£100,000 per year. However, the company deserves credit for listing the job as “permanent” – it most certainly would be. Bonus points for the location, which was described simply as “remote”. Got a story for Feedback? You can send stories to Feedback by email at *****@*****.tld. Please include your home address. This week’s and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website. Source link #theory #maleness #explain #state #world Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

CVE volumes head towards 50,000 in 2025, analysts claim CVE volumes head towards 50,000 in 2025, analysts claim A heady mixture of converging trends is likely to cause the volume of disclosed common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) to hit at least 45,000 – and possibly even as high as 50,000 – during 2025, setting a new world record. This is according to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (First), a security non-profit organisation based in North Carolina in the US, which said this figure was about 11% higher than in 2024, and almost six times higher in 2023. It said this underscores the growing complexity of the security landscape, and means organisations must start to think more about their risk prioritisation and mitigation strategies. “The number of reported vulnerabilities isn’t just growing, it’s accelerating,” said Eireann Leverett, First liaison and lead member of its Vulnerability Forecasting Team. “Security teams can no longer afford to be reactive; they must anticipate and prioritise threats before they escalate.” First’s analysts attributed this surge to a number of factors – shifting technological mores, disclosure policy changes and worldwide geopolitical chaos among them. “A combination of new players in the CVE ecosystem, evolving disclosure practices, new disclosure legislation in Europe, and a rapidly expanding attack surface is fuelling this surge,” said Leverett. Most importantly, on the tech side, the rapid adoption of open source software (OSS) and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to aid in vulnerability discovery was surfacing more flaws, and making it easier to spot them. Added to this, new contributors to the CVE ecosystem, such as Linux and Patchstack, are also having an effect on discovery volumes, and updates to how vulnerabilities are assigned and reported – coupled with some funding challenges – are altering disclosure patterns. And a growing amount of state-sponsored cyber activity by government-run actors – often but not necessarily always ********, Iranian or Russian ones – is leading to more weaknesses being uncovered and exploited. In terms of the types of CVEs being seen, First noted that memory safety vulnerability volumes are currently declining, while conversely, cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities seem to be on the up. Looking ahead, Leverett said he anticipated further growth in 2026, with an estimated minimum volume of just under 51,300 CVEs expected to surface. Vulnerability management a big challenge for cyber pros He said this emphasised the long-term challenges around vulnerability management best practice, and advised defenders to try to think about such things more strategically, rather than merely reacting to disclosures. What this means in practice is that security pros should prioritise vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk of exploitation – using threat intel and predictive insights – rather than trying to patch everything everywhere all at once. At the same time, teams and resources can and should be scaled appropriately to optimise roll-out, and attack surface management. Planning here is key, said Leverett, and leaders should try to find ways of predicting patch “effort” in advance, including needed downtime. It may also be a good idea to prepare for changing disclosure trends, trying to anticipate surges in reports – this can be easily done around Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday, although it may prove more challenging in general – and allocating resources based on this. It is far more important, said Leverett, to understand how a sequence of vulnerabilities might hit the organisation – and impact the security team’s work, rather than constantly being on the lookout for the next ****** swan vulnerability, like Citrix Bleed or Log4Shell. “Understanding the numbers is one thing, acting on them is what truly matters,” he said. “Organisations that use this data to guide their security planning can reduce exposure, mitigate risk and stay ahead of attackers.” Source link #CVE #volumes #analysts #claim Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Will Alibaba’s $53B AI Bet Be the Key to Tech Supremacy? Will Alibaba’s $53B AI Bet Be the Key to Tech Supremacy? Shares of Alibaba (NYSE:) are on a tear to start off 2025. The consumer discretionary and tech stock is up by 52% this year as of the Feb. 25 close. The company’s cloud computing business impressed investors in its latest earnings release on Feb. 20. Shares rose 8% in response. A few days later, Alibaba said it plans to spend more than $52 billion on cloud computing and AI infrastructure in the next three years. So, what should we make of these recent developments around Alibaba? Will its strength continue and allow the stock to be a big long-term winner? I’ll look to answer these questions by diving into the firm’s recent earnings and analyzing its strategic positioning. Breaking Down Alibaba’s Impressive Earnings Results In Alibaba’s latest results, its revenues were essentially in line with what analysts expected. However, the big beat came on adjusted earnings per share. Its $2.95 figure surpassed forecasts by over 10%. Growth in the company’s cloud intelligence and international digital commerce segments was impressive. The former grew by 13%, and the latter by 32%. Impressively, Cloud Intelligence revenue growth has been accelerating every quarter for some time now. In Q4 2023, this part of the business grew by less than 3%. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eddie Wu mentioned that AI-related products have been key to this. Revenue from these products grew by over 100% for the sixth consecutive quarter. Its ******** e-commerce segment, known as Taobao and Tmall, saw sales rise moderately by 5%. Understanding BABA’s Cloud and AI Position Alibaba’s $53 billion investment plan for cloud and AI infrastructure over three years equates to around $18 billion a year. That’s significantly less than the approximately $40 billion Microsoft (NASDAQ:) NASDAQ: MSFT is looking to invest over just the next two quarters. However, it is still very large when considering that Alibaba’s cloud business is much smaller. The company’s cloud revenue reached $14 billion in the last year. Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud revenue of nearly $26 billion just last quarter completely dwarfs this amount. However, compared to the size of its cloud computing business, Alibaba’s planned spending is significantly larger. To be clear, Alibaba isn’t competing directly with companies like Microsoft. It is competing with other ******** companies in cloud computing. Still, comparing this planned spending highlights that the race to “win AI” isn’t just happening among U.S. companies. Many see advancing AI as an existential national security issue, and China can’t simply sit still. Winners will emerge in that country just as they will in the United States. As of Q3 2024, Alibaba held the largest market share of cloud infrastructure revenue in China at 36%. That is almost double that of the next closest player. Right now, Alibaba appears to be the leading horse and is making a huge commitment going forward. Government-Related Considerations and Final Thoughts on BABA For several years now, investing in the ******** stock market has been difficult. Over the past five years, the iShares ETF NASDAQ: MCHI has provided a total return of -4%. In the same *******, the S&P 500 Index has had a return of nearly 99%. Government interference in the economy has caused major turmoil. Many investors avoid the country’s stocks completely. However, this also suggests that these stocks may have significant potential to appreciate. In my view, the ******** government must unleash its private tech companies to compete with the U.S. in AI. There is evidence that tensions between government officials and tech leaders in the country are easing. ******** President Xi Jinping had a rare meeting recently with key ******** tech leaders, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma. The meeting was pro-business, indicating the government is moving toward working more with its tech companies than against them. Overall, someone is going to have to help China advance its cloud and AI technology. There doesn’t appear to be anyone more equipped to do that at this point than Alibaba. Given trends in the business and ******** government signaling, I’m bullish on shares of Alibaba. Some Wall Street analysts see the near-term rally as far from over as well. The average implied upside of seven price targets tracked by MarketBeat post earnings is 24% as of the Feb. 25 close. Original Post Source link #Alibabas #53B #Bet #Key #Tech #Supremacy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

What to Know About the Turkey-P.K.K. Conflict What to Know About the Turkey-P.K.K. Conflict For more than four decades, Turkey has been fighting an armed insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., a militant group that says it seeks greater rights for the country’s Kurdish *********. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, in both P.K.K. attacks on military and civilian targets, and Turkish military operations against the militants and the communities that harbor them. Turkey, the United States and other countries consider the group a terrorist organization. Now, the group’s founder, Abdullah Ocalan, has called on Kurdish fighters to lay down their arms — although it remains unclear how effective his plea will be and what, if anything, the Turkish government is offering the group in exchange for ending the fighting. Here is what to know about the P.K.K. and its conflict with Turkey. Who are the P.K.K.? The group launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish state in the early 1980s, originally seeking independence for the Kurds, who are believed to make up about 15 percent or more of Turkey’s population. Starting from the mountains in eastern and southern Turkey, P.K.K. fighters attacked Turkish military bases and police stations, prompting harsh government responses. Later, the conflict spread to other parts of the country, with devastating P.K.K. bombings in Turkish cities that killed many civilians. In 1999, Turkey captured Mr. Ocalan convicted him of leading an armed terrorist organization. He received a death sentence that was later commuted to life in prison. He remains revered by the group’s members. Since his incarceration, Mr. Ocalan has shifted its ideology away from secession and toward Kurdish rights inside Turkey. Mr. Ocalan in 1993.Credit…Joseph Barrak/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Over the last decade, the Turkish military has routed P.K.K. forces from major Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey, while using drones to kill its leaders and fighters, hindering its ability to organize and carry out attacks. The conflict has been on a low boil for years, although occasional P.K.K. attacks have revived fears of a wider conflict. Last year, a small squad of its militants stormed into the headquarters of a state-run aerospace company armed with rifles and explosives and killed five employees before the security forces regained control. Who are the Kurds? The Kurds are an ethnic group of roughly 40 million people — there are widely varying estimates — concentrated in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. They speak multiple dialects of Kurdish, a language not directly related to Turkish or Arabic. Most are Sunni Muslims. The Kurds were promised a nation of their own by world powers after World War I, but that was never granted. There were Kurdish rebellions in various countries over the following generations, and Kurds have faced state suppression of their language and culture. In Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, whose leaders have roots in the P.K.K. and follow Mr. Ocalan’s ideology, controls the northeastern part of the country. They have been backed for years by the United States and played a crucial role in defeating the Islamic State, but the fall of the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad in December has left their future status unclear. They are clashing with Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, and remain outside of the control of the new Syrian government in Damascus. Since the 1991 Gulf War, the largely Kurdish northern region of Iraq has been semiautonomous. The P.K.K. leadership is now based in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq. In recent years, Turkey has attacked the group and affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria while lobbying the Iraqi government to expel it. How did previous peace efforts fare? Multiple efforts to freeze or end the Turkey-P.K.K. conflict have been made, starting with a cease-fire in 1993. But all of them collapsed, often leading to greater bloodshed. Violence flared on and off until a new round of peace talks began in 2011. At that time, Turkish intelligence officers met with Mr. Ocalan in prison to map out a plan for his fighters to disarm, and Kurdish politicians ferried messages between him and his associates in northern Iraq. But the process collapsed in mid-2015, with each side blaming the other for the failure. One of the conflict’s most deadly phases followed, with pitched battles in cities in Turkey’s southeast that killed more than 7,000 people, according to the International Crisis Group. Will this time be different? Although Turkey still considers the P.K.K. a separatist terrorist group that does not represent the Kurdish people, it has acknowledged some historic violations of Kurdish rights and widened the margins for Kurdish language and culture. It has licensed Kurdish-language television and radio broadcasts and allowed Kurdish language as an elective course in some schools. At the same time, however, the government has removed more than 150 elected Kurdish mayors from their posts since 2015, according to the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, which represents the pro-Kurdish movement politically and has seats in Parliament. Most of the removed mayors were accused, and some convicted, of crimes related to the P.K.K. Human Rights Watch has called the removal of Kurdish mayors politically motivated and a violation of voters’ rights. Source link #TurkeyP.K.K #Conflict Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]