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ExpertCrowd and HUD Collaborate to Advance AI Training and Evaluation, Release SWE Benchmark

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ExpertCrowd, Toptal‘s platform for training and improving AI models and systems, today announced a collaboration with HUD, a Y Combinator-backed startup that provides tools for building AI training data through its DataVendor™ marketplace. Together, the teams released ExpertCrowd-SWE, a software engineering benchmark that evaluates the performance of frontier-grade LLMs and coding agents.

As AI systems take on increasingly complex work, measuring their capabilities requires tasks that reflect professional practice and grading criteria that capture what successful execution actually means. This collaboration brings together ExpertCrowd’s expert-led task development and HUD’s infrastructure for running complex RL environments.

ExpertCrowd and HUD co-developed ExpertCrowd-SWE, bringing together engineers from Toptal’s global network of highly skilled domain experts with HUD’s experience collaborating with frontier research teams. After Toptal’s experts authored tasks and grading rubrics, HUD’s infrastructure hosted task-run environments and verified the benchmarks against internal quality assurance pipelines. HUD and Toptal’s AI research teams, composed of more than a dozen PhDs and researchers with educational or professional experience at Harvard, EPFL, the University of Liège, DeepMind, Qwen, and ByteDance, reviewed and assessed the methodology and results to build one of the most robust software engineering benchmarks in the industry.

“ExpertCrowd puts practitioners at the center of defining the work AI systems should perform and judging how well they perform it. By combining that specialized expertise with HUD’s testing infrastructure, we’re advancing what AI systems can achieve and setting a higher standard for real-world performance,” said Taso Du Val, founder and CEO of Toptal.

ExpertCrowd-SWE is the first release of an ongoing Toptal-HUD collaboration, with additional initiatives in development and further announcements coming soon. Building on this foundation, ExpertCrowd and HUD will bring more specialized human expertise into the tasks, environments, and evaluations that support the next generation of AI.

“We built HUD’s infrastructure to give research teams the tools to create realistic RL training environments, run evaluations across AI models, and inspect model performance. ExpertCrowd put that infrastructure to work, bringing the professional expertise to translate complex, real-world workflows into rigorous tasks, reference outputs, and evaluation frameworks that test the limits of today’s leading AI models,” said Jay Ram, founder and CEO of HUD.

About ExpertCrowd

ExpertCrowd is Toptal’s platform for training and improving AI models and systems through RLHF, RL data generation, data labeling, and model evaluation. It is powered by Toptal’s global talent network, with more than 30,000 specialized domain experts across 140+ countries, including more than 2,000 AI and big data specialists, 12,000 professionals with advanced degrees, and 1,000 PhD-level AI specialists, available on demand. For more information, please visit ExpertCrowd.com.

About HUD

HUD is a platform for building reinforcement learning environments, used by startups, Fortune 500 companies, and frontier labs. It provides infrastructure for training models, evaluating AI agents, and creating the post-training data that aligns AI to organizations’ work. HUD’s mission is to build reliable, fair, and open infrastructure for AI data with the goal of making data valuable for the people who create it and trustworthy for the labs that train on it. DataVendor™ is HUD’s marketplace, which allows AI labs to license training and evaluation data directly from the companies that created it. For more information, please visit HUD.ai.

Contact

Luiz Baia
SVP of Marketing Strategy
luiz.baia@toptal.com

SOURCE Toptal

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SPOC ENERGY EXPANDS ALABAMA WORKFORCE TO SUPPORT CONTINUED GROWTH

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Birmingham-Based Manufacturer Plans Significant Hiring as Demand Drives Production and Capacity Expansion

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SPOC Energy, a Birmingham-based manufacturer of advanced power conversion systems and motor-control automation, is expanding its Alabama workforce and increasing manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand across its markets.

With a manufacturing backlog extending into 2028 and beyond, SPOC Energy is investing in its people and production capabilities to support continued growth. The company currently employs approximately 275 people and is actively hiring for positions across manufacturing, engineering and other skilled technical and operational roles.

The hiring initiative comes as SPOC Energy continues to grow beyond its roots in oil and gas into markets where reliable, always-on power is increasingly critical, including utilities, data centers, marine systems and industrial power applications. That diversification is creating new opportunities across the company as SPOC expands the workforce and production capabilities needed to serve these growing markets.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity ahead for SPOC, and we’re excited about what that means for Birmingham and the people who call Alabama home,” said Robert L. Mason, CEO of SPOC Energy. “We’re creating jobs, increasing our manufacturing capacity and building the team we’ll need to support demand for years to come. Our people have always been the foundation of our success, and as we continue to grow, we’re committed to creating opportunities for them to build meaningful, long-term careers right here in Alabama.”

As SPOC continues to grow, its Lift Up culture remains central to how the company operates. Built on the belief that success comes from investing in people, Lift Up shapes how SPOC supports its employees, works with customers and builds relationships with vendors. This approach extends beyond the workplace, helping the company strengthen partnerships and create lasting value for the industries and communities it serves.

The company’s commitment to its people is also reflected in CEO Robert L. Mason’s book, Tuesday in Trussville, which explore the leadership lessons and experiences that have shaped his approach to building a successful business.

SPOC offers employees opportunities for professional development and career advancement, along with benefits that include health, dental and vision insurance; paid time off and holidays; a 401(k) plan; education assistance; life insurance; and short- and long-term disability coverage.

Individuals interested in current job opportunities or learning more about working at SPOC Energy can visit SPOCenergy.com/careers.

About SPOC Energy
SPOC Energy designs and manufactures advanced power conversion systems and motor-control automation. Engineered for mission-critical performance in the world’s most technically demanding and harsh environments, including data centers, oil and gas, marine and mobile power applications, SPOC’s technologies improve efficiency and strengthen reliability. Guided by its Lift Up culture, SPOC has more than 85,000 systems installed across five continents and more than 40 countries, helping industries operate more efficiently and reliably. www.spocenergy.com 

Media Contact
Brailyn Barineau
205.910.6393
brailyn@bbarineau.com

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SOURCE SPOC Energy

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Partner Joins Yardi Independent Consultant Network, Expanding Access to Specialized Data Services

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TORRANCE, Calif., Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. (Partner), a leading provider of real estate due diligence, facility assessment, engineering, and property data services, today announced it has joined the Yardi Independent Consultant Network (ICN), a global network of approved consultants that helps clients maximize the value of Yardi software solutions.

Through participation in the ICN, Partner will bring a unique capability to Yardi clients: professional property data collection and validation services designed to support Yardi implementations and ongoing facility management programs. Specifically, Partner offers on-site collection of data related to building systems, components, or equipment. This may include identifying the data set required to support desired outcomes. Partner dispatches trained technicians equipped with cutting-edge field technology to capture the predefined data set and deliver complete, consistent, and accurate data across all subject assets and properties. With a specialized focus on engineering, energy, compliance, and asset intelligence, Partner helps organizations identify, collect, structure, and validate information that supports Yardi’s Energy IQ, Forecast Manager, Facility Manager, and capital planning workflows.

Quality data is the foundation of effective capital planning, maintenance management, compliance tracking, reporting, and portfolio decision-making. Partner has a track record of enabling commercial real estate owners, investors, operators, healthcare systems, educational institutions, and other property stakeholders to build that foundation by collecting and organizing asset inventories, facility condition data, lifecycle information, replacement-cost data, compliance-related information, sustainability data, and other critical property datasets for import into Yardi systems.

“As organizations continue to invest in technology to manage their real estate portfolios, the quality of the underlying data has become more important than ever,” said Corinne Stewart, Director of Asset Management at Partner. “Joining the Yardi Independent Consultant Network strengthens our ability to help clients achieve successful outcomes by ensuring their Yardi environments are built on accurate, complete, and actionable property data.”

Partner’s multidisciplinary team combines expertise in building systems, engineering, facility condition assessments, asset management, energy/sustainability, and data science to deliver information that is complete, consistent, and ready for integration. This approach helps organizations improve capital planning, reduce data gaps, support risk management initiatives, optimize building performance, and make more informed portfolio decisions.

The Yardi Independent Consultant Network includes experienced consultants licensed to access and use certain Yardi software to provide implementation, training, and consulting services for Yardi solutions. By joining the network, Partner expands the resources available to Yardi users while complementing the expertise offered by other ICN members.

For more information about Partner’s services that support Yardi users, click here.

About Partner Engineering and Science, Inc.

Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. is an international consulting firm providing environmental, engineering, energy, sustainability, valuation, and asset management solutions to the commercial real estate industry. Partner helps clients manage risk, optimize assets, and make informed decisions throughout the property lifecycle.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/partner-joins-yardi-independent-consultant-network-expanding-access-to-specialized-data-services-302939191.html

SOURCE Partner Engineering and Science, Inc.

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InventHelp Inventor Develops Emergency Strobe Light Device (SBT-2348)

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PITTSBURGH, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — “I wanted to create a light that is easy to activate in the event of an emergency to help first responders find you,” said an inventor, from San Marcos, Calif., “so I invented the LIFE STROBE. My design would be easily visible from the street to prevent delays when locating an address.”

The invention provides an effective strobe light device that can be activated in the event of an emergency. In doing so, it allows first responders to easily identify the location of the emergency. As a result, it saves time. It also eliminates confusion when locating an address in dark or low light conditions. The invention features an innovative design that is easy to use so it is ideal for households.

The original design was submitted to the San Diego sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 25-SBT-2348, InventHelp, 100 Beecham Drive, Suite 110, Pittsburgh, PA 15205-9801, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp’s Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inventhelp-inventor-develops-emergency-strobe-light-device-sbt-2348-302936102.html

SOURCE InventHelp

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