What I Wish I Knew: Your writing is not about youWhy Trump cant serve a third term and the completeness of no (Issue #301)Published inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter2 min read15 hours ago--Here on day three of What I Wish I Knew week, were focusing on writing. Writing about writing is a classic genre on Medium (there are nearly 1 million stories published with the writing tag). As Jim Woods wrote years ago on Medium in I Wish I Knew These 8 Things When I Started Writing, most advice on writing really just boils down to expressing different preferences. But then he goes and mentions one specific thing he wishes hed known that is actually more about mindset: Your writing is not about you. He frames writing as about helping your audience, which means sitting down with both a specific audience and an idea of how you can help them, before even putting words down.Looking through dozens of what I wish I knew when I started writing stories on Medium, theres useful advice for those going to journalism school (probably dont?), self-publishing novels (writing the book is just the beginning), and becoming poets (its addictive). But the most useful lessons tend to come down to mindset shifts like Jims, or super specific lessons, two of which I really wish Id known when I started out as a writer: First, this gem from an open thread from a few years back on what wisdom writers would share with their younger selves, Everyones writing gets better with editing. And writer Susan Orleans list of great writer habits that I wish Id known way back then, which includes one of the best pieces of advice on writing Ive heard: Find a trusted reader.What else were readingLaw professor and activist Lawrence Lessig walks through why arguments that President Trump could serve a third term (or Elon Musk ascend to the role of VP) dont hold water, constitutionally speaking its the last sentence of the 12th Amendment: No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.Worried about measles? As a professor of infectious diseases and epidemiologist explains, there are limited cases where you might need a booster, but almost everyone whos been vaccinated should be fine without a second shot. (The Conversation U.S.)Behind the Towering Walls of Bollywood is a fascinating first-person account from a journalist who spent a decade covering the Indian film industry, looking at Bollywoods nepotism I have always maintained that in Bollywood, talent comes second, she writes and cozy relationship with the press. (Pallabi Dey Purkayastha) Your daily dose of practical wisdom on setting boundariesRemember: No is a complete sentence. (Ryan Holiday)

What I Wish I Knew: Navigating the geography of a creative life requires a compass not a mapGood people are better than talented people + the 24-hour rule (Issue #300)Published inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min read1 day ago--Welcome to day two of Wish I Wish I Knew week, where were sharing everything wed tell our past selves if we could go back in time. Today, weve got a brief but worthwhile addition to yesterdays topic (career wisdom) from a slightly different angle: Srinivas Raos list of 40 things he wishes hed known about building a career as a creative person. Rao is the host and founder of the Unmistakable Creative podcast. Hes interviewed over 1,000 creative people actors, recording artists, novelists, cartoonists, and more about how they built weird, wonderful careers that dont follow established tracks.The lessons he shares on Medium dont just apply to a career, they apply to all creative pursuits (career or otherwise).One lesson Rao wishes hed known when he was struggling to create something that would matter to people? Great work always begins with an audience of one. Try to make something you actually love, which takes a willingness to be honest with yourself (and lived experience about how it feels when youve made something youre obsessed with vs. not).Also, and I really appreciated this one: How you measure success can radically change how you feel. If youre using an external benchmark (especially a quantified one, i.e. number of fans, likes, or shares) youll always be unsatisfied (Rao calls these resume values). If youre instead trying to live up to eulogy values (i.e., having an impact on peoples lives in ways that are deeply felt and cant be quantified), youll probably feel much more fulfilled.Thats just the beginning you can read more from Rao here. Harris Sockel What you wish youd known*Robert Roy Britt, editor of Wise & Well on Medium, lists everything he wishes hed known before taking a corporate job. For example: Good people are better than talented people.Karen McLaughlin pens a letter to her 44-year-old self, wishing that someone had given that person a wakeup call about what midlife had in store and urged her to keep up with the prehab exercises, the core work, the stability and mobility drills. (Humans tend to age most dramatically in our mid-40s and early 60s.)High-school counselor Carol Caruso advises her past self to enact the 24-hour rule when possible because most things arent as urgent as they seem.*If you have a list of wisdom to share for your past self, publish on Medium and use the tag What I Wish I Knew. Well feature more of these later in the week! A dose of practical wisdomBeing good at something is not about being right the first time. Its often about being confident enough to let go of ego and be receptive to other peoples contributions. Ben Nolan, What improv comedy has taught me about content design

Text-to-SQL translation, the task of transforming natural language queries into structured SQL statements, is essential for facilitating user-friendly database interactions. However, the task involves significant complexities, notably schema linking, handling compositional SQL syntax, and resolving ambiguities in user queries. While Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown robust capabilities across various domains, the efficacy of structured reasoning techniques such as Chain-of-Thought (CoT) within text-to-SQL contexts remains limited. Prior attempts employing zero-shot CoT or Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) without structured reasoning yielded marginal improvements, indicating the necessity for more rigorous methodologies.Snowflake introduces ExCoT, a structured framework designed to optimize open-source LLMs through the combination of CoT reasoning and iterative preference optimization, specifically utilizing off-policy and on-policy DPO guided exclusively by execution accuracy feedback. ExCoT dispenses with external reward models and human annotations, relying instead on internally generated reasoning steps and execution results. The method operates in two principal phases: initially, it generates candidate CoT data validated through off-policy DPO, forming the basis for supervised fine-tuning. Subsequently, the model iteratively generates and refines CoT data via on-policy DPO, incrementally improving accuracy through feedback derived from execution correctness.ExCoT employs detailed CoT reasoning, particularly adopting a divide-and-conquer strategy wherein complex queries are decomposed into simpler sub-queries. Each sub-query is analyzed and independently resolved before being integrated into a coherent final query. This structured decomposition enables the model to manage the complexity and nested structures common in SQL operations more effectively. Execution-based verification serves as the core mechanism for correctness evaluation, where generated queries are validated by comparing their execution outputs against ground-truth results. Incorrect and correct queries are systematically paired, providing explicit signals for preference-based learning. The iterative refinement in the on-policy DPO phase progressively enhances the models reasoning accuracy.Experimental evaluation of ExCoT demonstrated significant improvements in execution accuracy. Specifically, with the LLaMA-3.1 70B model, ExCoT elevated execution accuracy on the BIRD development set from 57.37% to 68.51%, and increased Spider test set performance from 78.81% to 86.59%. Comparable performance enhancements were recorded with the Qwen-2.5-Coder 32B model. These results position ExCoT as a leading approach in single-model evaluations for these benchmarks, surpassing established methods such as XiYanSQL and proprietary models including OpenAI variants. Notably, the improvements consistently maintained high query validity rates (exceeding 98%), confirming enhancements in semantic correctness alongside syntactic precision.In conclusion, ExCoT represents a methodical advancement in structured reasoning optimization for open-source LLMs applied to text-to-SQL tasks. By integrating structured CoT reasoning with preference optimization, guided solely by execution-based feedback, ExCoT effectively addresses limitations identified in previous methods. Its iterative refinement capability ensures continuous improvement without dependence on external reward structures or manual annotations. Further research might explore extending this framework to more intricate schema environments and additional structured reasoning tasks, thus broadening the applicability and reliability of LLMs in structured query generation contexts.Check outthe Paper, GitHub Page and Details.All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,feel free to follow us onTwitterand dont forget to join our85k+ ML SubReddit. Asif RazzaqWebsite| + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Salesforce AI Introduce BingoGuard: An LLM-based Moderation System Designed to Predict both Binary Safety Labels and Severity LevelsAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Open AI Releases PaperBench: A Challenging Benchmark for Assessing AI Agents Abilities to Replicate Cutting-Edge Machine Learning ResearchAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Nomic Open Sources State-of-the-Art Multimodal Embedding ModelAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Meta AI Proposes Multi-Token Attention (MTA): A New Attention Method which Allows LLMs to Condition their Attention Weights on Multiple Query and Key Vectors

Devil May Cry does not reach the heights of the best Netflix video game shows like Castlevania or Cyberpunk Edgerunners. But if the entirety of its first season were like its second half which contains some kinetic action, an episode thats an early frontrunner for one of the best animated projects of 2025, and an absolutely bonkers finale it would. Thanks to these episodes, any skepticism toward Devil May Cry based on its lackluster opening chapters morphs, demon-like, into complete enthusiasm for its future.Taking elements not just from the Capcom video game series of the same name but also the manga and other supplementary material it inspired, the new DMC animated show developed by Castlevania's Adi Shankar and his Captain Laserhawk collaborator Alex Larsen makes enough changes to characters and lore to be a fresh experience for newcomers and veterans alike. Johnny Yong Bosch stars as Dante, a demon hunter who finds himself at the center of a country-wide hunt and a plot to destroy the veil that separates the Earth from the demon realm. Bosch gives Dante a boyish charm while still often letting slip the pain he hides beneath it. Though the humor of the first couple of episodes feels out of place Dante initially acts and talks like a Deadpool knock-off Bosch's performance grounds the character as the story gets more and more fantastical and the silly humor gives way to Dante having a full-blown identity crisis. Its great to hear the late Batman: The Animated Series star Kevin Conroy again, his unmistakable voice giving life to Devil May Cry's Vice President Baines, a religious fanatic with a savior complex working for a literal cowboy president . Baines is both a compelling onscreen presence and a terrifyingly timely character, but the clear standout of this season is the primary villain: the White Rabbit (Hoon Lee). Though the White Rabbits motivations are a bit superficial and predictable, Lee's performance sells the character's unbreakable conviction and resolve in a way no other character on Devil May Cry can match. The games share some similarities with the ideas and themes of the classic demon-fighting manga and anime Devilman, and this show is no different, with its (at times) textbook portrayals of humanity's bigotry and prejudice. But when Shankar and Larsen filter those subjects are filtered through the lens of 2000s nostalgia, what comes out the other end is a hilariously unsubtle yet bold indictment of how the United States conducted itself, at home and abroad, during the decade. This is most evident in the song that soundtracks the seasons climactic montage, a 2004 hit that puts an exclamation point on these eight episodes. Even with all the changes it makes, the show captures the essence of the games where it matters most like its use of music to accompany the action.Devil May Cry GalleryAfter their work on The Legend of Korra and X-Men 97, it shouldn't be a surprise that the artists at Studio Mir know how to bring bone-crushing action to Devil May Cry. The fights are thrilling and well-staged the only problem is the use of CG for the demons. It looks bad even if you could argue it helps in making the demons seem even more otherworldly and hurts the action.And yet, little of that matters once you get to episode 6. Studio La Cachette (who handled Genndy Tartakovsky's spectacular Primal and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal) temporarily alters Devil May Crys visual palette to tell the story of the White Rabbit in a gorgeously animated and told episode thats almost devoid of dialogue. This radical departure is a rising tide that lifts the rest of the seasons boats with its slower, more meditative script, and marks a change in tone and pace for the grand finale. Its not just the best episode of the season it could be some of the best animation youll see all year. Even if the whole season can't look like this, the hope that Devil May Cry can break its own mold (when it suits the story) is enough to stoke anticipation for a second season.

While Universal Pictures (along with Focus Features) showcased several of their upcoming films at CinemaCon on Wednesday, it was more noteworthy which titles on their slate they opted not to promote to theater executives and the press. In the past, Universal would unveil first look footage of movies in production or break news about their biggest franchises. This year, the studio merely name-checked some of their most eagerly anticipated 2026 titles: Christopher Nolans The Odyssey, Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, Shrek 5, Steven Spielbergs untitled sci-fi film, or Jordan Peeles next directorial effort. Notably, Fast and Furious 11 wasnt even mentioned.Instead, Universals presentation mostly consisted of playing new trailers for their 2025 films, kicking things off with Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and director Gareth Edwards debuting the next trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth. Johansson joked that she pitched herself to executive producer Steven Spielberg and said Id play any role, even if I was eaten in the first five minutes. While Johansson clearly doesnt die in the opening moments of Jurassic World Rebirth, one of the highlights of the new trailer was a high seas chase sequence where the heroes are in a boat pursuing a Mosasaurus and Johansson ends up hanging on for dear life.PlayNew trailers were also shown for The Bad Guys 2, Nobody 2, Him (produced by Jordan Peele), and Gabbys Dollhouse: The Movie. Ditto Blumhouse titles M3GAN 2.0, SOULM8TE, Black Phone 2, and Five Nights at Freddys 2. Focus Features showed trailers for three upcoming prestige films: The Phoenician Scheme, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, and Bugonia.Gerard Butler, Nico Parker and director Dean DeBlois made an appearance to promote the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, which screened in its entirety earlier in the day at the convention. The biggest news from this section was that there will be a live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2 and that it will be released in theaters on June 11, 2027.Universal closed their CinemaCon 2025 presentation with Wicked: For Good, where stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and director Jon M. Chu and producer Marc Platt took the stage to reveal the new trailer for the sequel, which hits theaters on November 21st.The trailer leans into the tragic falling out between Elphaba and Glinda. Youre the only friend Ive ever had, Elphaba tells Glinda. And Ive had so many friends, Glinda replies. But youre the only one that mattered.The footage also revealed performances of the musicals songs For Good and No Good Deed, and provided more glimpses of the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) including his meeting with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.For more CinemaCon coverage, find out what we learned about Superman, Mortal Kombat II, Resident Evil, Spider-Man: Brave New Day, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, John Wick 5, Now You See Me: Now You Dont, and The Beatles.

This article previews Doctor Who season 2 but is spoiler-free.Last season on Doctor Who, the Doctor and Ruby traveled to Regency England, 1963 London, and a space station run by babies, as well as facing the god of music, a mysterious haunting, white supremacist airheads, and the return of Classic Era enemy Sutekh. As the season two trailer teases, this time Ncuti Gatwas Doctor will be traveling with new companion Belinda (Varada Sethu) whos stranded far from Earth and desperately wants to get home. The first episode of the season The Robot Revolution wastes no time in giving viewers a taste of the worlds beyond Earth. Belinda is a nurse who has seen every possible injury and illness, and who teams up with the Doctor to make her escape from the Robots grasp. She wants to go home and the Doctor has promised her to help her get there. Well bring you our chat with Gatwa and Sethu soon, as they talk Den of Geek through the new TARDIS dynamic and their upcoming adventures.While fans await the start of season two on April 12, the future of Doctor Who is in flux. Neither the BBC or Disney+ have confirmed at this time the status of season three. Theres still five-part Sea Devil and UNIT spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea to come, but after that fittingly for this show is a big question mark.Nonetheless, we find showrunner Russell T. Davies over Zoom in enthusiastic form, and describing the new season as a enormous adventure with the maddest monsters. Hes excited for fans to see the Doctor and Belinda encounter an otherworldly version of the Eurovision Song Contest, an animated movie character coming to life, and wars in other galaxies. Read on for the inside story on why Belinda isnt an outer space thrill seeker, why Davies loves watching Doctor Who weekly, and all about the four other writers whove contributed episodes this time around.DEN OF GEEK: Which scene or episode was the most challenging scene for you to write this season?Russell T Davies: The second episode where the Mr. Ring-a-Ding cartoon character comes to life in 1952 was a great and bold idea. But the challenge is always doing an idea justice. We dont have an unlimited budget, how do you make that work? What do you do with a cartoon character once hes come to life? What does he want? How does the Doctor handle that? Its like every good idea is an awful lot of work. You only need to look at when Steven Moffat invented the Weeping Angels in Blink, which is a world-class idea. As he says himself, he could have made a feature film out of that. By now, wed all be going to the cinema to see Weeping Angels 10 because it would just keep happening. Why didnt we do that? It would just keep being brilliant. What I love about Blink is that every other part of the script is magnificent as well. Because having had a great idea, he then has to make the great idea work, so as to never let down the great idea. Every piece of dialogue with Carey Mulligan on that is the finest stuff weve ever watched because its all aware that its got a great idea behind it.Thats why all writing is hard work, and Doctor Who in particular. Most scripts might be talking about divorce, or a drug problem, or a chase or something, but, actually, in Doctor Who, youre doing it with a big concept, like a cartoons come to life, or were visiting the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest, or Boom Beasts have taken over London. Its huge in its scale. Thats the tricky thing, keeping your standards up, and never letting the show down. Thats why I love working on it.Season one had two episodes by guest writers (Steven Moffats Boom, and Kate Herron & Briony Redmans Rogue) and now season two will have four. Can you tell us more about working with the new screenwriters?Its so very exciting. Theyve actually been with us almost since the beginning, because it takes two years to get scripts to screen sometimes. We are constantly on the lookout for new talent. Juno Dawson is someone Ive known for years in gay land, but her novels are also on the Sunday Times best-selling list. I knew she was a Doctor Who fan as well. She had done a Doctor Who podcast drama called Redacted for the BBC that only aired in Britain, but was very successful. I knew shed be interested in joining this season.Inua Ellams is a magnificent playwright whod never had a piece of television on before so we made that happen. Hes been watching Doctor Who since he was 11 years old, so that was gorgeous. Hes a man, you learn as much off him as he might learn off us.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Pete McTighe is an old hand at Doctor Who and an old friend. Ive known him for at least 10 years and he lives in Wales literally on our studio doorstep. Hes just so busy so hasnt always had the time to work with Doctor Who. Hes actually off to Australia now because hes running his own show over there.Sharma Angel-Wallfall was a great delight because Sharma was a brand new writer to me. Its our job, as a team, to investigate new writers, and ask agents, and read new scripts, and to find talents like that. It turned out wed met when she was 12 years old. I gave a talk at her local theater, The Contact Theatre. I went to give a talk and a workshop for kids with the wonderful poet, Lemn Sissay. It turns out she was one of those kids. How amazing. Isnt that a weird coincidence? I know its just meant to be sometimes. But thats irrelevant, her scripts are what got her the role. And she was just a joy to work with.What new perspectives on the Doctor, his companion Belinda and others did these writers contribute?They all did, simply by being not me, which I recommend for an awful lot of people. In fact, I think most people are not me! Strangely, I want to correct this in the world. They bring their backgrounds, their histories. Inua Ellams just to pick an example, set his episode in Lagos. Hes created a whole history of friendships for the Doctor around a whole new mythology. Theres that lack of fear. Theres not a second of worrying, of him thinking, Have they done this before? Did they do this in 1985? Although hes always watched the show, he was completely free of its shackles. What you get is a completely new take on things you thought you understood in Doctor Who. The episode has the TARDIS doing things its never done before. And thats just exciting, and its bracing. Its exciting, and I hope to God, Im not the kind of producer that sits there going, You cant do that. Im not. Thats why Im good at my job, frankly. I lean in, and go, Oh, great. Weve never done that before. Lets push the story this way.Its the same with every writer who comes in. Its like there are moments in their episodes where you say, Why dont you try pushing the Doctor so hes angrier than hes ever been before. Or, Lets put Belinda in a situation where Theres some stunning stuff coming with Belinda, where you think, What if shes really terrifying? What if shes really dark, and strange, and weird, and mysterious? The story just gets better and better and better and richer and richer. And they write it in their own way. They write it in ways that I wouldnt write it. Thats automatic, and thats what Im here to do, is to release them, and to give them this canvas, which is a worldwide canvas.Its a glorious thing to write on Doctor Who. What I like about it is that everyone loves the opportunity because they know that Disney will sell it to 205 countries. They also know, in fairness, itll be made well and that were a very nice team. Were a script-based production team. Im a writer, obviously. Im a part of it. Julie Gardner, whos our producer, was a script editor. Jane Tranter started out as a script editor. Philip Collinson was a script editor. We have very good script editors ourselves. Were not coming at it from the money mans point of view. That counts in the end, but we all have script experience. We all know when a writers being treated well, or when a writers being treated badly. So I genuinely think they have a great time with us because were writers.How does the Fifteenth Doctors character evolve this season?Its a matter of simply trusting Ncuti Gatwa. Partly its us writers taking the story to new areas, and then asking him what areas do you want to take it to? Its very interesting, Id started work with Inua Ellams on his episode, when Ncuti asked to see me in the office one day. He said, I just want to come and see you because I just want to suggest, Ive come across this writer called Inua Ellams. I think hed write Doctor Who really well. So we were like, Oh my God, this is strange but its just meant to be because we all had the same idea.Id like to think Ncutis always happy to come in for a day at work because hes always got something new to do. I think you should never relax with your lead actor. You should always make your lead actor happy to come into work that day. The goal is to push the plot further, go into the Doctors history more, make something new happen on the spot. He fell in love last year. Now, how does he feel when Ruby falls in love with someone? Whats going to make his anger come out more? What are his friendships? Who does he know across time and space? Which people havent we met before? You keep changing it, keep making the story rich, new and exciting.Youve written several previous companions. How did you distinguish Belindas journey from others?Belindas got a very strong story across the entire arc, which is to get her home. The posters have the Doctor and Belinda standing on an alien planet looking up at the sky and it says, Get her home. That was my suggestion for the tagline for the whole thing. The poster says thats what its all about. I love that. For the first time, weve got a companion who doesnt want to be traveling about in time and space because she knows youre going to get a laser gun pointing at your head. Shes a nurse who works in A&E [the ER]. She knows how things work. She knows that people die. Also, in a story that unfolds over the season, youll get to see she has reasons to want to be home, which you will not be able to guess at. Theres a continued story there. Varada Sethu is one of my favourite actors Ive ever been lucky enough to work with. As you know, she appeared last year in Boom. I literally sat here at this desk thinking, Damn, Ill never get to work with that woman again. And then, ding, this little bell went off in my head, literally a light bulb over my head, and I went, Oh my God, just make her the companion then I can work with her forever. Brilliant. Welcome to the world of Doctor Who.Which episode are you hoping the fans get the most, Oh my God, reaction from?I think therell be big reactions around Episode Six, The Interstellar Song Contest which has got some great surprises in store. I think people will think its a big laugh with a lot of camp and fun. Theres a lot going on in that. If you dont want spoilers, Id stay off the internet before you see that episode to have the full viewing experience.Which episode are you the most nervous about?Oh, thats every single episode. I sit and watch them every single week. In Britain, we get old-fashioned transmission, where it goes, Oh, BBC One on a Saturday night. I would cancel any holiday to be there for that night. I know we live in a streaming world, but I was brought up with Doctor Who on terrestrial transmission, and thats how it is still in my house. Every week at five to seven, Ill be sitting there going, I hope this works. I believe in watching them on transmission because I think you see them differently. I have seen all of those episodes about 60 times by the time they get on air. And, yet, it feels like the first time when it first premieres .I love it, and I wouldnt swap that experience for the world.What do you want viewers to take away from this season as opposed to the previous one?I think, well, not as opposed to the first season, theres joy in both seasons together. Doctor Who is the most exhilarating show in the world. Come and join in, is what I always want to say to people. Come and have fun. Come and enjoy it. Its a rollercoaster. You get the best jokes, and you get the biggest scares, and you get the maddest monsters. Doctor Who is a big, full-hearted show. Its full-blooded, its an enormous adventure. Just relax and come and enjoy it and I promise youll have a great time, absolutely.Doctor Who season two starts on Saturday April 12 at 8am on BBC iPlayer in the UK and at midnight on Disney+ around the world.

Looking for more hospital intrigue after Maxs The Pitt? Netflix medical drama Pulse follows the doctors and nurses of Miamis Maguire Medical Center as they deal with an impending hurricane and the explosive relational drama that push the limits of what this staff can handle. But no matter what may hit the hospital from within and without, this staff does the best it can for its patients. The cast of Pulse is stacked with many familiar faces across TV and film. Here are the characters you need to know and the actors who play them.Willa Fitzgerald is Danielle Danny SimmsDanielle Danny Simms is a third-year emergency medicine resident at Miamis Maguire Medical Center. She unexpectedly finds herself promoted to chief resident amidst the fallout of a romantic relationship with one of her coworkers, Xander Phillips. Danny cares deeply about her patients, family, and friends, but also struggles to hold back her brash and self-sabotaging nature, which could put her career in jeopardy. Danny is played by Willa Fitzgerald, who you may recognize from Reacher, The Fall of the House of Usher, Scream: The TV Series, and Dare Me.Colin Woodell is Xander PhillipsXander Phillips held the role of chief resident and Maguire Medical Center up until his explosive fallout with Danny. The twos secret romance is not-so-secret now, and they both must figure out how to move on from this. Xander is confident and charismatic and has the respect of many of the higher ups at Maguire, in part due to his talents, but also because he hails from a highly-regarded and powerful family. Xander is played by Colin Woodell, who has previously starred in The Flight Attendant, The Continental, Fly Me to the Moon, and The Originals.Jack Bannon is Tom ColeJack Bannon plays Tom Cole, a second-year surgical resident. Tom is very aware of how witty and charming he is, and does his best to use that to his advantage. He may have come to Maguire for their renowned trauma program, but that doesnt mean he isnt going to enjoy the fun and luxurious lifestyle that Miami offers. Before Pulse, Bannon starred in Pennyworth, The Imitation Game, Endeavour, and Medici.Jessie T. Usher is Sam ElijahSam Elijah is a third-year emergency medicine resident at Maguire. He and Danny may be friends, but shes also his competition for chief resident. Sam is thoughtful and altruistic, but has a competitive edge despite his calm demeanor. Sam is played by Jessie T. Usher, who youll most likely recognize as A-Train in Prime Videos The Boys. Usher has also appeared in the movies Smile and Dangerous Lies.Justina Machado is Natalie CruzNatalie Cruz is the Chair of Surgery and Emergency Medicine at Maguire Hospital. She oversees both departments in an administrative role while also lending her skills on the floor when needed. She is brilliant and savvy and always tries to do whats best for the hospital and its doctors and patients. Dr. Cruz is played by Justina Machado, who has previously starred in Six Feet Under, One Day at a Time, and The Horror of Dolores Roach.Daniela Nieves is Camila PerezDaniela Nieves plays Camila Perez, a third-year med student starting her rotation at Maguire. Despite the long hours and seemingly never-ending workload, Camila does her best to stay optimistic. Nieves has previously appeared in Vampire Academy, Sex Appeal, Every Witch Way, and WITS Academy.Jessy Yates is Harper SimmsJessy Yates plays Harper Simms, a second-year emergency medicine resident and Dannys younger sibling. Harper has been a wheelchair user ever since an accident in their childhood an accident that Danny refuses to forgive their father for. The two siblings dont always see eye-to-eye when it comes to their jobs or their family, but they do their best to support each other no matter what. Before Pulse, Yates appeared in the TV series Me and Speechless.Jessica Rothe is Cass HimmelsteinJessica Rothe plays Cass Himmelstein, a charismatic and charming senior ER nurse. Cass and Tom have an on-again/off-again relationship (and arent always the most subtle about it), but that doesnt stop Cass from speaking her mind and going after what she wants. Youll most likely recognize Rothe from her role in Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U, but she has also appeared in La La Land, Valley Girl (2020), and Virgin River.Sophie Chan is a surgical intern who works under Tom. She is smart and incredibly capable, even if Tom is often unwilling to see it. She may be a little jaded and burnt-out, but that doesnt stop her from being the best surgeon she can be. Sophie is played by Chelsea Muirhead, who you might recognize from the shows Warrior and Slo Pitch.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Santiago Segura is Gabriel MorenoSantiago Segura plays ER nurse Gabriel Moreno. Gabriel is a highly competent and skilled team player at Maguire, but isnt always easy to impress. You might recognize Segura from Scream: The TV Series and Walker: Independence.Nstor Carbonell is Dr. Ruben SorianoDr. Ruben Soriano is a senior surgeon at Maguire who often puts his job above all else. Dr. Soriano is highly respected, especially by Tom who hopes to learn from the esteemed doctor. Dr. Soriano is played by Nstor Carbonell who has appeared in many projects, though you may recognize him the most from Lost, Bates Motel, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Shgun, and Ringer.Arturo Del Puerto is Luis DominguezArturo Del Puerto plays Luis Dominguez, Maguires beloved ER Charge Nurse. Luis is often unphased by the chaos that comes through his ER, staying steadfast without sacrificing his signature wit. Arturo Del Puerto has previously appeared in shows such as For All Mankind, Big Sky, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Westworld.Ash Santos is Nia WashingtonNia Washington is a confident and scrappy Miami-Dade County EMT who often brings patients through Maguires ER. She and Tom have a bit of a flirty rapport, which may soon blur the lines of their professional relationship. Nia is played by Ash Santos, who you might recognize from Mayor of Kingstown, Night Teeth, and American Horror Story.

Apr 03, 2025Ravie LakshmananThreat Intelligence / Mobile SecurityCounterfeit versions of popular smartphone models that are sold at reduced prices have been found to be preloaded with a modified version of an Android malware called Triada."More than 2,600 users in different countries have encountered the new version of Triada, the majority in Russia," Kaspersky said in a report. The infections were recorded between March 13 and 27, 2025. Triada is the name given to a modular Android malware family that was first discovered by the Russian cybersecurity company in March 2016. A remote access trojan (RAT), it's equipped to steal a wide range of sensitive information, as well as enlist infected devices into a botnet for other malicious activities.While the malware was previously observed being distributed via intermediate apps published on the Google Play Store (and elsewhere) that gained root access to the compromised phones, subsequent campaigns have leveraged WhatsApp mods like FMWhatsApp and YoWhatsApp as a propagation vector.Over the years, altered versions of Triada have also found their way into off-brand Android tablets, TV boxes, and digital projectors as part of a widespread fraud scheme called BADBOX that has leveraged hardware supply chain compromises and third-party marketplaces for initial access.This behavior was first observed in 2017, when the malware evolved to a pre-installed Android framework backdoor, allowing the threat actors to remotely control the devices, inject more malware, and exploit them for various illicit activities."Triada infects device system images through a third-party during the production process," Google noted in June 2019. "Sometimes OEMs want to include features that aren't part of the Android Open Source Project, such as face unlock. The OEM might partner with a third-party that can develop the desired feature and send the whole system image to that vendor for development."The tech giant, at that time, also pointed fingers at a vendor that went by the name Yehuo or Blazefire as the party likely responsible for infecting the returned system image with Triada.The latest samples of the malware analyzed by Kaspersky show that they are located in the system framework, thus allowing it to be copied to every process on the smartphone and giving the attackers unfettered access and control to perform various activities -Steal user accounts associated with instant messengers and social networks, such as Telegram and TikTokStealthily send WhatsApp and Telegram messages to other contacts on behalf of the victim and delete them in order to remove tracesAct as a clipper by hijacking clipboard content with cryptocurrency wallet addresses to replace them with a wallet under their controlMonitor web browser activity and replace linksReplace phone numbers during callsIntercept SMS messages and subscribe victims to premium SMS Download other programsBlock network connections to interfere with the normal functioning of anti-fraud systemsIt's worth noting that Triada is not the only malware that has been preloaded on Android devices during the manufacturing stages. In May 2018, Avast revealed that several hundred Android models, including those from like ZTE and Archos, were shipped pre-installed with another adware called Cosiloon."The Triada Trojan has been known for a long time, and it still remains one of the most complex and dangerous threats to Android," Kaspersky researcher Dmitry Kalinin said. "Probably, at one of the stages, the supply chain is compromised, so stores may not even suspect that they are selling smartphones with Triada.""At the same time, the authors of the new version of Triada are actively monetizing their efforts. Judging by the analysis of transactions, they were able to transfer about $270,000 in various cryptocurrencies to their crypto wallets [between June 13, 2024, to March 27, 2025]."The emergence of an updated version of Triada follows the discovery of two different Android banking trojans called Crocodilus and TsarBot, the latter of which targets over 750 banking, financial, and cryptocurrency applications.Both the malware families are distributed via dropper apps that impersonate legitimate Google services. They also abuse Android's accessibility services to remotely control the infected devices, and conduct overlay attacks to siphon banking credentials and credit card details.The disclosure also comes as ANY.RUN detailed a new Android malware strain dubbed Salvador Stealer that masquerades as a banking application catering to Indian users (package name: "com.indusvalley.appinstall") and is capable of harvesting sensitive user information.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE