Latest news with #Lafferty
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Interior design guru Róisín Lafferty: ‘Grandad's depression meant he hid. That was hard to watch and pushed me to do things that made me uncomfortable'
Pinpointing the essence of her award-winning designs, Dubliner Róisín Lafferty reflects on growing up in a single-parent household and seeing her beloved grandfather's struggles, making her mark in London and now nesting in a Wicklow cottage Today at 00:30 When the door opens to interior architect and designer Róisín Lafferty's Fitzwilliam Square townhouse studio, I don't mean to, but I gasp. It's the huge metal feature hanging from the ceiling. Almost whale-like in its dimensions, coils twisted about each other, it's so unexpected and dramatic in this traditional Georgian space. Standing below it is Lafferty herself, smiling in a manner that suggests she is used to her work receiving this kind of reaction. It's busy today in her Dublin premises. Alongside their existing studio, they have just launched Róisín Lafferty Gallery, an appointment-only design gallery that will stock both Lafferty's first interiors collection, some vintage pieces, and the work of other artisans and designers she and her team have long collaborated with, whose work is currently unavailable in Ireland. 'I wanted to create a space that captured the essence of who we are,' she explains.
Chicago Tribune
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
What we learned at Chicago Blackhawks development camp, including Vaclav Nestrasil thinking ‘bigger'
Just to clear things up, Chicago Blackhawks first-round pick Vaclav Nestrasil pronounces his name, 'VAS-slav NEH-stra-shill.' 'Yeah, it's a hard name,' the Praha, Czechia, native admitted. A hard name looking for a harder game. Nestrasil, 18, grew up idolizing Patrick Kane, but that's where the similarities end between the Hawks legend and the 6-foot-6, 185-pound forward prospect. 'I'm a two-way player,' Nestrasil told the Tribune on the first day of development camp Monday at Fifth Third Arena. 'Obviously big size, I think I can provide almost anywhere on the ice. I can provide in tough situations, I can score a goal, I can make a great pass. 'I don't think there's anything I'm lacking.' Except for weight, he later acknowledged. 'I feel like getting bigger is the biggest part of my game that I need to work on,' added Nestrasil, who will play at the University of Massachusetts next season. 'Just get bigger, get more comfortable in my body and hopefully everything will come with that.' The Hawks are on the same page. Between the end of the 2023-24 season for the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the United States Hockey League's Fall Classic, Nestrasil 'put 15 pounds on and he just took off,' Hawks director of amateur scouting Mike Doneghey said. 'He's a cerebral player. He does have to get stronger, but that'll come with maturity.' Here are five more things we've learned at development camp this week. Photos: Inside Chicago Blackhawks development campThe Hawks brought back Lafferty in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. The 6-2 forward became a key chess piece in the rebuild when the Hawks traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in February 2023. The Hawks sent Lafferty, defenseman Jake McCabe and conditional fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025 to Toronto and received a 2025 conditional first-round pick and a 2026 second-rounder. They used that 2025 pick, which ended up being No. 25, to select Nestrasil on Friday. The forward prospect, who earned National Collegiate Hockey Conference rookie of the year honors last season, explained his decision to transfer from North Dakota to Boston University. 'Well, the coach got fired, pretty simple,' Boisvert said Tuesday, referring to Brad Berry's firing at North Dakota in March. 'He recruited me when I was 14, and that's tough to see a coach leave. That was when I made a decision.' He said he 'definitely (felt) a lot of emotions. Definitely not expected (I would be) transferring.' But he said talks with his camp led him to that decision. 'I'm really excited to go to Boston,' said Boisvert, the No. 18 pick in the 2024 draft. 'It's closer to home (Trois-Rivières, Quebec), about a six-hour drive, so the family's able to come more. It's a great program, great coach, Jay Pandolfo.' Who did the Chicago Blackhawks select in the 2025 NHL draft? Meet the 8-player this summer the Hawks extended qualifying offers to defensemen Wyatt Kaiser and Louis Crevier and goalie Arvid Söderblom but didn't qualify unrestricted free agents Kurashev, Jalen Luypen, Aku Raty and Antti Saarela. Kurashev was Connor Bedard's running mate during the latter's rookie season in 2023-24, but Kurashev had a career-worst 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 51 games last season, and it was abundantly clear he fell out of favor in Chicago. 'Phil Kurashev had a bit of a tough year and just probably a lack of defined role with us moving forward,' general manager Kyle Davidson said, 'as well as a little bit of a question on where that potential arc could've come out. It was probably better for all that he finds a new path.' Kaiser looks like he's on the cusp of establishing himself, even in a crowded defensive group. 'Wyatt and Louis, they're still young players, early in their career,' Davidson said. 'We see promise and a very viable path to meaningful NHL roles this year, so we wanted to keep them around.' As for Söderblom, Davidson said he had 'a nice bounce back' from a tough 2023-24 season. In a peculiarity you won't find in many NHL locker rooms, Hawks forward prospects Mason West and Spellacy have football backgrounds. Spellacy was a sought-after recruit who played safety and wide receiver for St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. West, the No. 29 pick Friday, will play quarterback for Edina (Minn.) High School this fall. When asked about a bond, Spellacy said he recruited West for the prospects volleyball tournament Thursday. 'I drafted for my Team Green this week, so we got that little connection going already,' Spellacy said. 'So we're looking to win it.' The Hawks haven't had the prospects take the ice for the third straight development camp, so the staff crafts some unusual team-building activities for them — from boxing lessons to improv comedy. Spellacy perked up when he announced, 'We've got a beach volleyball tournament going Thursday, so we're excited for that one.' Marek Vanacker said Tuesday was 'kind of weird.' 'We had walkie-talkies and we were in separate rooms and we had to communicate how to build Legos to the exact (specifications),' Vanacker said. 'So it was a little difficult. We don't usually do that type of stuff. 'Just trying to trust your teammates is a big part of that, but it was fun in the process. We liked it.'
Chicago Tribune
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Sam Lafferty returns to the Chicago Blackhawks — for a 3rd time — as free agency opens
The Chicago Blackhawks acquired Sam Lafferty from the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, trading a 2026 sixth-round draft pick for the former Hawk. He has a season left on his two-year contract with a $2 million cap hit. Lafferty, 30, is a depth forward who became something of a discovery when the Hawks acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins in January 2022 for Alex Nylander. The next season, Lafferty put up 10 goals and 11 assists in 51 games for the Hawks, and served as a penalty killer, drawing interest in the trade market. The 6-foot-2 forward became a key chess piece in the Hawks' rebuild when they traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in February 2023. As part of the deal that sent Lafferty, defenseman Jake McCabe and conditional fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025 to Toronto, the Hawks acquired a 2025 conditional first-round pick that they used on Vaclav Nestrasil in Friday's first round. The Leafs traded Lafferty to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-rounder in October 2023. Then the Canucks traded him — along with forward Ilya Mikheyev and a 2027 second-rounder — to Hawks for a 2027 fourth-rounder in June 2024, but Lafferty signed with the Sabres when he became an unrestricted free agent. Last season, Lafferty produced four goals and three assists in 60 games with the Sabres.
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Snowcap Compute raises $23 million for superconducting AI chips
Snowcap Compute , a startup working on building artificial intel ligence computing chips using superconducting technology, on Monday raised $23 million and said that the former CEO of Intel will join its board. Snowcap aims to build computers that could one day beat today's best artificial intelligence systems, while using a fraction of the electricity. To do that, Snowcap plans to use a new kind of chip made with superconductors , which are materials that allow current to flow without electrical resistance. Scientists understand superconductors well and have theorized about making computer chips with them since at least the 1990s, but have faced a major challenge: To work, the chips need to be kept very cold in cryogenic coolers which themselves consume a lot of electricity. For decades that made superconductor chips a nonstarter, until AI chatbots ignited huge demand for computing power at the same time that conventional chips are hitting the limits of how much performance they can wring from every watt of power and are taxing electricity grids. Nvidia 's forthcoming "Rubin Ultra" AI data center server due in 2027, for example, is expected to consume about 600 kilowatts of power. That means operating that single server at full capacity for one hour would consume about two thirds the average power that a US house uses in a month. In that kind of changed world, dedicating a portion of a data center's power needs to cryogenic coolers makes sense if the performance gains are good enough, said Michael Lafferty, Snowcap's CEO, who formerly oversaw work on futuristic chips at Cadence Design Systems. Snowcap believes that even after accounting for energy used in cooling, its chips will be about 25 times better than today's best chips in terms of performance per watt. "Power (efficiency) is nice, but performance sells," Lafferty said. "So we're pushing the performance level way up and pulling the power down at the same time." Snowcap's founding team includes two scientists - Anna Herr and Quentin Herr - who have done extensive work on superconducting chips at chip industry research firm Imed and defense firm Northrop Grumman, as well as former chip executives from Nvidia and Alphabet's Google. While the chips can be made in a standard factory, they will require an exotic metal called niobium titanium nitride that Lafferty said depends on Brazil and Canada for key ingredients. Snowcap plans its first basic chip by the end of 2026, but full systems will not come until later. Despite the long development timeline, Pat Gelsinger , Intel's former CEO who led the investment for venture firm Playground Global and is joining Snowcap's board, said the computing industry needs a sharp break from its current trajectory of consuming ever more electricity. "A lot of data centers today are just being limited by power availability," Gelsinger said. Also joining the funding round were Cambium Capital and Vsquared Ventures.
The Star
23-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Snowcap Compute raises $23 million for superconducting AI chips
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Snowcap Compute, a startup working on building artificial intelligence computing chips using superconducting technology, on Monday raised $23 million and said that the former CEO of Intel will join its board. Snowcap aims to build computers that could one day beat today's best artificial intelligence systems, while using a fraction of the electricity. To do that, Snowcap plans to usea new kind of chip made with superconductors, which are materials that allow current to flow without electrical resistance. Scientists understand superconductors well and have theorized about making computer chips with them since at least the 1990s, but have faced a major challenge: To work, the chips need to be kept very cold in cryogenic coolers which themselves consume a lot of electricity. For decades that made superconductor chips a nonstarter, until AI chatbots ignited huge demand for computing power at the same time that conventional chips are hitting the limits of how much performance they can wring from every watt of power and are taxing electricitygrids. Nvidia's forthcoming "Rubin Ultra" AI data center server due in 2027, for example, is expected to consume about 600 kilowatts of power. That means operating that single server at full capacity for one hour would consume about two thirds the average power that a U.S. house uses in a month. In that kind of changed world, dedicating a portion of a data center's power needs to cryogenic coolers makes sense if the performancegains are good enough, said Michael Lafferty, Snowcap's CEO, who formerly oversaw work on futuristic chips at Cadence Design Systems. Snowcap believes that even after accounting for energy used in cooling, its chips will be about 25 times better than today's best chips in terms of performance per watt. "Power (efficiency) is nice, but performance sells," Lafferty said. "So we're pushing the performance level way up and pulling the power down at the same time." Snowcap's founding team includes two scientists - Anna Herr and Quentin Herr - who have done extensive work on superconducting chips at chip industry research firm Imed and defense firm Northrop Grumman, as well as former chip executives from Nvidia and Alphabet's Google. While the chips can be made in a standard factory, theywill require an exotic metal called niobium titanium nitride that Lafferty said depends on Brazil and Canada for key ingredients. Snowcap plans its first basic chip by the end of 2026, but full systems will not come until later. Despite the long development timeline, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's former CEO who led the investment for venture firm Playground Global and is joining Snowcap's board, said the computing industry needs a sharp break from its current trajectory of consuming ever more electricity. "A lot of data centers today are just being limited by power availability," Gelsinger said. Also joining the funding round were Cambium Capital and Vsquared Ventures. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
