Latest news with #JessicaSmith
CTV News
2 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Torontonians deal with heat warning and humid conditions
Torontonians deal with heat warning and humid conditions A multi-day heat event brings sweltering weather to Toronto on Monday with temperatures feeling like 41. CTV's Jessica Smith reports.
Techday NZ
18-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Ataccama ONE v16.2 uses AI to simplify data lineage for business
Ataccama has announced the release of Ataccama ONE v16.2, which brings new AI-driven features to data lineage with the aim of supporting business users in understanding, auditing, and trusting their data. The company stated that the new version addresses long-standing challenges in enterprise data governance, particularly the trust gap between business teams and IT departments. By providing compact, plain-language lineage views and secure on-premises metadata extraction, Ataccama targets the need for transparency in complex data environments. Expanded pushdown profiling capabilities are also included to provide more comprehensive data quality insights. One key issue identified by Ataccama is the limited ability for business users to visualise data origins and transformations without specialist support. The reliance on IT to explain data logic is seen as a barrier to efficient decision-making and increases risk. Recent research from Forrester highlights that only 20% of business decision-makers are currently self-sufficient with analytics tools, suggesting widespread challenges with data access and understanding across industries. The new features aim to close this trust gap by converting complex data workflows into accessible, plain-language descriptions. Business users will be able to track a data point's origin and understand profiling or quality checks independently of technical teams. In real-world settings such as financial services, a data steward can see how a risk score is calculated or how a transaction passes through quality controls, facilitating shorter audits and faster decision-making. "We're seeing enterprise data projects increasingly kick off in the business, not just in IT, and that changes everything," said Jessica Smith, VP of Data Quality at Ataccama. "The teams driving these initiatives need to understand where the data comes from, how it's changed, and whether it can be trusted. That's why we've focused on making complex data processes, like profiling, quality checks, and lineage, clear and usable to everyone. Because if data is going to scale across the business, it has to work for the people who are using it." The company describes several core updates in the v16.2 release. The AI-powered data lineage feature automatically generates readable descriptions showing how data is transformed both upstream and downstream, including filters, joins, and calculations. This makes it possible for business users to see the logic behind datasets without needing to interpret SQL queries. The compact lineage diagrams provide simplified, high-level views of data flows, with the option to explore detailed steps as needed. This feature is designed to help teams identify issues, respond to audit requests, and align stakeholders on data processing practices across the organisation. Edge processing for secure lineage is another new capability, enabling companies to extract metadata from on-premises or restricted environments without transferring sensitive data to the cloud. Ataccama states that this functionality helps organisations to maintain compliance, reduce risk, and maintain full visibility into their data pipelines, regardless of their infrastructure. The update also expands pushdown support and performance for data profiling and quality workloads. Users can now run these tasks in pushdown mode for platforms such as BigQuery and Azure Synapse, minimising data movement and enhancing performance for larger workloads. In addition, volume support for Databricks Unity Catalogue has been introduced to further optimise execution on modern cloud platforms. According to Ataccama, the new version of its data trust platform is intended to strengthen daily data governance while underpinning more scalable and compliant AI and analytics initiatives. The company positions its integrated approach as key to enabling businesses to unlock the value of their data for operational, analytical, and AI-driven purposes.
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
I flew to Italy for a first date with a girl I met on TikTok - my mother thought I was being catfished but it was the best decision of my life
A young woman who flew to Italy for a first date with a girl she met on TikTok has revealed they're now planning a future together. When Jessica Smith, 29, posted about the Italian version of Big Brother, the long-running UK series, on her TikTok account, she had no idea it would lead to her meeting her now-girlfriend, India, 24. They struck up a conversation about the show online and spent a week FaceTiming before Jessica decided to fly to Milan to meet India - despite her mother being 'worried sick' she was being targeted by catfishers. However, the coffee shop manager said she and India 'clicked straight away' when they met on May 15 and proceeded to spend the next four days together - visiting sushi restaurants, vintage markets, museums, and cocktail bars. They even went to a rave and took a two-hour road trip to a stunning lake for a picnic. By the end of the trip, they knew it was something special and decided to keep dating long-distance. Two months later, India - who is from Verbania but lives in Milan, flew to Manchester - where Jessica asked her to be her girlfriend. 'I think there's always a risk in flying elsewhere to meet someone, but there's a risk of meeting a stranger anywhere,' Jessica reflected on her decision to fly to Italy for a date. 'I would say don't do it unless you've FaceTimed, et cetera. Obviously, we've all seen the show Catfish,' she continued. 'The trip did lead to something more, and I am so grateful. She is now my girlfriend.' Explaining how their paths crossed, Jessica said: 'We met on TikTok – welcome to 2025, I guess! 'I was posting on there about Italian Big Brother – a random hyperfixation I had – and my videos came up on her For You page. 'She followed me, I followed her back, and we started talking almost immediately.' While the trip to Italy initially came up as a joke, Jessica decided to take the plunge and book her tickets one month after they first spoke. 'Some of my friends thought I was mad to go for that long when we were meeting for the first time,' she recalled how those close to her reacted. Jessica's mother, she added, was terrified when she found out her daughter was staying at a stranger's house abroad. 'My mum was obviously worried sick and wasn't impressed when she found out I was going. 'She asked me for the address where I was staying,' Jessica continued.'I had to FaceTime her when I arrived to show her it wasn't a 60-year-old man.' She added that her friends were all 'happy for me' and had even spoken to India over FaceTime before the trip, 'but some did think the length of time was crazy'. Their fears turned out to be unfounded because not only was India who she claimed to be, their first date felt easy and natural because 'we FaceTimed so much beforehand'. Jessica knew the trip was 'so worth it' after their first night together, as she said: 'That spark was there the moment we met in person. It was just incredible.' Now they're travelling back and forth between the UK and Italy, making scrapbooks of their memories and planning more adventures together. Jessica said: 'My favourite memory was definitely the day we spent at the lake. 'We took a picnic, wine and her dog, made canvases for each of us and played a card game to get to know each other more. 'I definitely felt so much more connected after that. 'I think the experience has definitely changed the way I feel about taking risks. 'I'm usually a bit of a risk-taker anyway, but I'd never travelled to another country for a date, so that was a little wild for me – but I am so, so glad I did it. 'The goodbyes are heartbreaking, but we know we'll have another trip soon.' Jessica is now studying for a teaching abroad course so she can work anywhere and be with India even more. She said: 'We went to Pride together and had some very wholesome days. 'We'll see each other again in just under three weeks. 'Future plans aren't set yet, but I'm going to start my TEFL course in the next few months so I can teach English abroad. 'She's just finished university, so once she knows what she wants to do, we'll figure it out from there – but I'm so excited for what the future holds.'
USA Today
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Video captures hundreds of jet skis zipping down the river in New York City
Hundreds of jet ski riders took over the East River in New York City last week, providing New Yorkers with a stunning visual. The jet skis were part of the annual NYC Jetski Invasion that has been running since 2017. According to the event's website, the invasion brings in about 600 to 800 riders per year. The video, taken by Jessica Smith in Brooklyn, shows hundreds of jet ski riders parading down the East River and under one of New York's many bridges. "New York City has many historic Landmarks, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center, and The Intrepid Museum, just to name a few. So, what better way to enjoy the best city in the world than from your own personal watercraft!" the site said. Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
Khaleej Times
03-07-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Khaleej Times' ‘We the Women' conference returns to Dubai for third edition
The secret is out: there has never been a better time to be a woman of ambition. Especially in the UAE, which believes in helping women realise their dreams. With a number of aspirants flocking to the country for the chance to make their business ideas come to fruition and homegrown and innovative plans in the works, this is the perfect moment for the Khaleej Times' event We The Women, which will return for its third edition to Dubai's Address Skyview on October 29, 2025. The one-day conference — which brings together women from the entrepreneurial field to talk about their experiences, their challenges and tips to overcome obstacles — will be helmed by Emmy-nominated journalist Barkha Dutt in association with KT Events. The series celebrates the achievements of women from across the board — from policymakers and politicians to influencers and business leaders — who offer real-time practical advice, anecdotes, and solutions to challenges that women in the workplace face on a daily basis. In the past, We The Women 's stage in the UAE has hosted luminaries such as first Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja, paralympian Jessica Smith, podcaster Tracy Harmoush, influencer Noor Stars, Emirati athlete Hana Nabulsi, founder of Cinema Akil Butheina Kazim, Dubai Economy and Tourism's Suhaila Ghubash, among others. At the helm of the event is the renowned Indian journalist Barkha Dutt, who has been at the forefront of the dialogue on women's empowerment in India. She is an Emmy-nominated journalist and Washington Post columnist, and the curator of the We The Women conference, having established it as a leading women-centric conference in India. Reflecting on the meet in UAE, Dutt said, 'This conference brings together women from all spheres of life and stages of growth — offering opportunities for them to connect, network, and gain solutions to problems they didn't even know existed sometimes. We aim to educate, empower, and bring to the surface issues that impact real women in the real world on an everyday basis. Together, we can find a solution, a way forward.' 'Being at the top often comes at the price of loneliness,' Dutt has said before, adding that in her experience, 'at every stage, you have to fight at least four or five times harder, and when you get success, there will be people who will try to punish you for your ambition, professionalism and competence. Sometimes, you get noticed easily because you are a woman doing a job that's associated with a man. But sometimes because they notice you more, they also judge you more. But here, with this conference, we work towards making our own tribe, our little support system that can help us weather any storm.'
