Actress Camilla Carr, known for her roles in 70s exploitation horror films like 'Keep My Grave Open' and her memorable, controversial appearance on 'Designing Women,' has passed away at 83.

Ex-NFL star Robert Griffin III urges Bad Bunny to "unite people with music" at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, hoping to bring fans together despite his past political stances.

Brad Arnold, the iconic lead singer of 3 Doors Down, has passed away at 47 after a battle with cancer. The voice behind hits like "Kryptonite" leaves a powerful musical legacy.

Competition is driving down prices, albeit slowly, with the median lifetime cover put at £247 for dogs and £180 for cats a yearVet fees continue to rise and many other costs are on the increase, but pet insurance has on average become slightly cheaper as providers compete for custom, new research claims.The pricing data coincides with a study which found that one-third of UK pet owners don’t have insurance, with cost cited as one of the biggest factors. Continue reading...

Tests on both versions of Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata were unable to detect brushstrokes of 15th-century masterAn analysis of two paintings in museums in the US and Italy by the 15th-century Flemish artist Jan van Eyck has raised a profound question: what if neither were by Van Eyck?Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, the name given to near-identical unsigned paintings hanging in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Royal Museums of Turin, represent two of the small number of surviving works by one of western art’s greatest masters, revered for his naturalistic portraits and religious subjects. Continue reading...

In the third quarter of Saturday's Panthers-Bucs game, Carolina receiver Tetairoa McMillan caught a 32-yard pass on third and two, giving his team a first down on the Tampa 36.It didn't count.McMillan was called for offensive pass interference. Not for anything he did while the pass was incoming. For what he did to get off the line of scrimmage.McMillan fought through a jam with a shove. And that, according to referee Brad Allen, was enough to draw a flag.Said referee Brad Allen to pool reporter Greg Auman after the game: “The covering official saw that the receiver created separation more than one yard downfield, which by rule is illegal and is offensive pass interference.”Is it though? We checked the rule book. The ball was not in the air. Before the ball is in the air, an offensive player can't block more than a yard downfield. Does anyone really think McMillan was making a block?He was trying to fight off a jam. Really, what's a receiver supposed to do when he's legally chucked within the five-yard window? Take it? The defender pushes the player. The player can't push back?Maybe there's some esoteric explanation in the "Approved Rulings" or other such interpretive documentation. Or maybe it's one of those situations where the rules say one thing but the officials apply it differently. Still, as it relates to the pass interference rule as spelled out in the official 2025 rulebook (Rule 8, Section 5, Article 4), the only prohibited act by the offense before the ball is in the air is "blocking" more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. Which is a rule that we usually once see applied when the offense is running a pick play.So that's the bottom line. The official who flipped 42 yards of field position (erasing the 32-yard catch and adding a 10-yard penalty for the Panthers) determined that McMillan wasn't fending off an effort to disrupt his route but "blocking."If that's truly the rule, we've got a feeling it rarely gets applied the way it was applied to McMillan.Either way, we can't wait to see what Walt Anderson has to say about this, in his usual two-minute cameo during a 240-minute pregame show.

Apple is planning to bring new AI features to CarPlay, reports Bloomberg. Apple will allow third-party chatbot apps to integrate with ‌CarPlay‌, so AI services like Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT will be accessible in the car for the first time. ‌CarPlay‌ already supports third-party apps, but the types of apps that are supported are limited. Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI aren't currently able to create ‌CarPlay‌ apps, so users are limited to using Siri voice controls in the vehicle. With the change, ‌CarPlay‌ users will be able to access apps like ChatGPT to ask questions hands-free, though the apps won't be able to control vehicle or iPhone functions. Third-party AI voice apps will not be accessible via a wake word and won't replace ‌Siri‌, so users will need to open an app to get access to a chatbot. App developers will be able to design in-car experiences that will launch a voice-based chat mode when the app is opened, which will streamline the process. Apple is planning to support third-party AI apps "within the coming months," which could align with when the company's smarter version of ‌Siri‌ is set to launch. With iOS 26.4, Apple is debuting a more personalized version of ‌Siri‌ that uses large language models. ‌Siri‌ will be able to answer complex questions, complete multi-step tasks, maintain continuity, and do more in and between apps. The personal assistant is also set to gain a World Knowledge Answers feature, allowing it to search the web and summarize information from websites. Later in iOS 27, ‌Siri‌ will get full chatbot capabilities, allowing it to better compete with Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT.Related Roundup: CarPlayRelated Forum: HomePod, HomeKit, CarPlay, Home & Auto TechnologyThis article, "Apple to Allow ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in CarPlay" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums

A new conspiracy theory that Jeffrey Epstein may have been secret gay has now spread.

The crowded NY-12 primary is already full of competing visions for the party's future

Bill Clinton says closed-door depositions would be akin to ‘kangaroo court’ as Hillary Clinton says they have already told House committee what they knowFormer US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are calling for their congressional testimony on ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to be held publicly, to prevent Republicans from politicising the issue.Both Clintons had been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, which is investigating the deceased financier’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled. Continue reading...

In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of ‌Siri‌ won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation version of ‌Siri‌ will use advanced large language models, similar to those used by ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Apple isn't implementing full chatbot interactions, but any upgrade is both better than what's available now and long overdue. Right now, ‌Siri‌ uses machine learning, but it doesn't have the reasoning capabilities that LLM models impart. ‌Siri‌ relies on multiple task-specific models to complete a request, going from one step to another. ‌Siri‌ has to determine the intent of a request, pull out relevant information (a time, an event, a name, etc), and then use APIs or apps to complete the request. It's not an all-in-one system. In iOS 26.4, ‌Siri‌ will have an LLM core that everything else is built around. Instead of just translating voice to text and looking for keywords to execute on, ‌Siri‌ will actually understand the specifics of what a user is asking, and use reasoning to get it done. LLM Improvements ‌Siri‌ today is usually fine for simple tasks like setting a timer or alarm, sending a text message, toggling a smart home device on or off, answering a simple question, or controlling a device function, but it doesn't understand anything more complicated, it can't complete multi-step tasks, it can't interpret wording that's not in the structure it wants, it has no personal context, and it doesn't support follow-up questions. An LLM should solve most of those problems because ‌Siri‌ will have something akin to a brain. LLMs can understand the nuance of a request, suss out what it is someone actually wants, and take the steps to deliver that information or complete the requested action. We already know some of what LLM ‌Siri‌ will be able to do because Apple described the Apple Intelligence features it wants to implement when iOS 18 debuted. Promised Siri Apple Intelligence Features Apple described three specific ways that ‌Siri‌ will improve, including personal context, the ability to see what's on the screen to know what the user is talking about, and the capability to do more in and between apps. ‌Siri‌ will understand pronouns, references to content on the screen and in apps, and it will have a short-term memory for follow-up requests. Personal Context With personal context, ‌Siri‌ will be able to keep track of emails, messages, files, photos, and more, learning more about you to help you complete tasks and keep track of what you've been sent. Show me the files Eric sent me last week. Find the email where Eric mentioned ice skating. Find the books that Eric recommended to me. Where's the recipe that Eric sent me? What's my passport number? Onscreen Awareness Onscreen awareness will let ‌Siri‌ see what's on your screen and complete actions involving whatever you're looking at. If someone texts you an address, for example, you can tell ‌Siri‌ to add it to their contact card. Or if you're looking at a photo and want to send it to someone, you can ask ‌Siri‌ to do it for you. Deeper App Integration Deeper app integration means that ‌Siri‌ will be able to do more in and across apps, performing actions and completing tasks that are just not possible with the personal assistant right now. We don't have a full picture of what ‌Siri‌ will be capable of, but Apple has provided a few examples of what to expect. Moving files from one app to another. Editing a photo and then sending it to someone. Get directions home and share the ETA with Eric. Send the email I drafted to Eric. Bigger Than Promised Update In an all-hands meeting in August 2025, Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi explained the ‌Siri‌ debacle to employees. Apple had attempted to merge two separate systems, which didn't work out. There was one system for handling current commands and another based on large language models, and the hybrid approach was not working due to the confines of the current ‌Siri‌ architecture. The only way forward was to upgrade to the second-generation architecture built around a large language model. In the August meeting, Federighi said Apple had successfully revamped ‌Siri‌, and that Apple would be able to introduce a bigger upgrade than it promised in iOS 18. "The work we've done on this end-to-end revamp of ‌Siri‌ has given us the results we needed," Federighi told employees. "This has put us in a position to not just deliver what we announced, but to deliver a much bigger upgrade than that we envisioned." Adopting Google Gemini Part of Apple's problem was that it was relying on AI models that it built in-house, and that were not able to match the capabilities of competitors. Apple started considering using a third-party model for ‌Siri‌ and other future AI features shortly after delaying ‌Siri‌, and in January, Apple announced a multi-year partnership with Google. For the foreseeable future, Apple's AI features, including the more personalized version of ‌Siri‌, will use a custom model Apple built in collaboration with Google's Gemini team. Apple plans to continue work on its own in-house models, but for now, it will rely on Gemini for many public-facing features. ‌Siri‌ in iOS 26.4 will be more similar to Google Gemini than ‌Siri‌ today, though without full chatbot capabilities. Apple plans to continue to run some features on-device and use Private Cloud Compute to maintain privacy. Apple will keep personal data on-device, anonymize requests, and continue to allow AI features to be disabled. What's Not Coming in iOS 26.4 ‌Siri‌ is not going to work as a chatbot, so the updated version will not feature long-term memory or back-and-forth conversations, plus Apple plans to use the same voice-based interface with limited typing functionality. Apple's Embarrassing Siri Delay In what became an infamous move, Apple went all-in showing off a smarter, Apple Intelligence-powered version of ‌Siri‌ when it introduced iOS 18 at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple said these features would come in an update to iOS 18, but right around when launch was expected, Apple admitted that ‌Siri‌ wasn't ready and would be delayed until spring 2026. Apple executives went on a press tour to explain the ‌Siri‌ shortcomings after WWDC 2025, promising bigger and better things for iOS 26, and explaining what went wrong. The ‌Apple Intelligence‌ ‌Siri‌ features we saw at WWDC 2024 were actually implemented and weren't faked, but ‌Siri‌ wasn't working as well as expected behind the scenes and Apple was dealing with quality issues. Since Apple advertised the new ‌Siri‌ features with the iPhone 16, some people who bought the iPhone because of the new functionality were upset about the delay and sued. Apple was able to quietly settle the case in December 2025, so most of the ‌Siri‌ snafu has been resolved. Internal Restructuring The misstep with ‌Siri‌'s debut and the failure of the hybrid architecture led Apple to restructure its entire AI team. Apple AI chief John Giannandrea was removed from the ‌Siri‌ leadership team, with Vision Pro chief Mike Rockwell taking over instead. Apple CEO Tim Cook was no longer confident in Giannandrea's ability to oversee product development, and Giannandrea is set to retire in spring 2026. Rockwell reports to Federighi, and Federighi told employees that the new leadership has "supercharged" ‌Siri‌ development. Federighi has apparently played an instrumental role in changing Apple's approach to AI, and he is making the decisions that will allow the company to catch up to rivals. Apple has struggled with retaining AI employees amid the ‌Siri‌ issue and recruitment strategies from companies like Meta. Meta poached several key AI engineers from Apple, offering pay packages as high as $200 million. At Apple's August all-hands meeting, Cook and Federighi aimed to reassure employees that AI is critically important to the company. "There is no project people are taking more seriously," Federighi said of ‌Siri‌. Cook said that Apple will "make the investment" to be a leader in AI. iOS 26.4 Siri Launch Date Apple has promised that the new version of ‌Siri‌ is coming in spring 2026, which is when we're expecting iOS 26.4. Testing on iOS 26.4 should begin in late February or early March, with a launch to follow around the April timeframe. LLM Siri Compatibility The new version of ‌Siri‌ will presumably run on all devices that support ‌Apple Intelligence‌, though Apple hasn't explicitly provided details. Some new ‌Siri‌ capabilities may come to older devices as well. iOS 27 Chatbot Upgrade Apple plans to upgrade ‌Siri‌ even further in the iOS 27 update, turning Siri into a chatbot. ‌Siri‌ will work like Claude or ChatGPT, able to understand and engage in back and forth conversation. Details about the ‌Siri‌ interface and how a chatbot version of ‌Siri‌ will work are still in short supply, but iOS 26.4 will be a stop on the path to a version of ‌Siri‌ able to actually function like products from Anthropic and OpenAI.This article, "Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums

Healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson has officially entered Georgia's 2026 governor's race, pledging $50M+ of his own money and instantly shaking up the GOP primary.

Councilmember Nithya Raman's surprise entry into the LA mayoral race against former ally Karen Bass dramatically reshapes the election. This unexpected challenge turns the contest into a fierce referendum on the city's future.

‘I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother [Nicole Smith] and I are devastated,’ the rapper said in a statement shared with The Independent

Falcons LB James Pearce Jr. arrested after police chase & domestic dispute with WNBA star Rickea Jackson. He now faces serious charges.

A huge number of property owners rent out homes and evade local fees and taxes. Sacramento has a plan for transparency to hold them accountable.

Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. are sacking QBs at a historic rate.

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) and Cadence Bank (NYSE:CADE) shares are going in opposite directions on Monday after the companies inked an acquisition deal for $7.4 billion. Details As per the deal, Huntington has agreed to an all-stock transaction where each share of Cadence common stock will be exchanged for $2.475 shares of Huntington common shares. Using Huntington’s Oct. 24, closing price of $16.07, the deal is valued at $39.77 per Cadence share. Also Read: These Analysts Boost Their Forecasts On Huntington Bancshares Following Strong Q3 Earnings Subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of ...Full story available on Benzinga.com

Irish politicians condemn use of Shannon airport by private jet en route to Israel, owned by Trump donor Gil DezerRevealed: Private jet owned by Trump friend used by ICE to deport Palestinians to West BankPoliticians in Ireland have said the use of an airport in County Clare by planes deporting Palestinians from the US to Israel is “reprehensible”.A private jet owned by the Donald Trump donor Gil Dezer was chartered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for two separate flights that took detainees to Israel, a Guardian investigation revealed this week. Continue reading...

England’s laissez-faire approach to the Ashes series has found a rare ally, with a Test great backing the call to not pick first-choice players for a tour match. 

The MLB speedster, known for his elite baserunning and unique postseason role, has passed away at just 34. He leaves a legacy of championship runs with multiple teams.

The Philadelphia 76ers are facing a major rebounding crisis, consistently getting outworked on the glass. Coach Nick Nurse is pushing for urgent fixes, emphasizing effort and scheme, as playoff implications loom.

Get ready for Super Bowl 60! Kickoff is Sunday at 3:30 p.m. PT from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. Catch all the action live on NBC, Peacock, and other streaming services.