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43653496 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC-V | RISC-V | RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five") is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) that began in 2010 and is based on established reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles. Unlike most other ISA designs, RISC-V is provided under open source licenses that do not require fees to use. A number of companies are offering or have announced RISC-V hardware, open source operating systems with RISC-V support are available, and the instruction set is supported in several popular software toolchains.
As a RISC architecture, the RISC-V ISA is a load–store architecture. Its floating-point instructions use IEEE 754 floating-point. Notable features of the RISC-V ISA include bit patterns to simplify the multiplexers in a CPU, a design that is architecturally neutral, and most-significant bits of immediate values placed at a fixed location to speed sign extension.
The instruction set is designed for a wide range of uses. The base instruction set has a fixed length of 32-bit naturally aligned instructions, and the ISA supports variable length extensions where each instruction can be any number of 16-bit parcels in length. Subsets support small embedded systems, personal computers, supercomputers with vector processors, and warehouse-scale 19 inch rack-mounted parallel computers.
The instruction set specification defines 32-bit and 64-bit address space variants. The specification includes a description of a 128-bit flat address space variant, as an extrapolation of 32 and 64 bit variants, but the 128-bit ISA remains "not frozen" intentionally, because there is yet so little practical experience with such large memory systems.
The project began in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley, but now many current contributors are volunteers not affiliated with the university. Unlike other academic designs which are typically optimized only for simplicity of exposition, the designers intended that the RISC-V instruction set be usable for practical computers.
As of June 2019, version 2.2 of the user-space ISA and version 1.11 of the privileged ISA are frozen, permitting software and hardware development to proceed. The user-space ISA, now renamed the Unprivileged ISA, was updated, ratified and frozen as version 20191213. An external debug specification is available as a draft, version 0.13.2.
Rationale
CPU design requires design expertise in several specialties: electronic digital logic, compilers, and operating systems. To cover the costs of such a team, commercial vendors of computer designs, such as Arm Ltd. and MIPS Technologies, charge royalties for the use of their designs, patents and copyrights. They also often require non-disclosure agreements before releasing documents that describe their designs' detailed advantages. In many cases, they never describe the reasons for their design choices.
RISC-V was begun with a goal to make a practical ISA that was open-sourced, usable academically, and deployable in any hardware or software design without royalties. Also, justifying rationales for each design decision of the project are explained, at least in broad terms. The RISC-V authors are academics who have substantial experience in computer design, and the RISC-V ISA is a direct development from a series of academic computer-design projects, especially Berkeley RISC. RISC-V was originated in part to aid all such projects.
To build a large, continuing community of users and thereby accumulate designs and software, the RISC-V ISA designers intentionally support a wide variety of practical use cases: compact, performance, and low-power real-world implementations without over-architecting for a given microarchitecture. The requirements of a large base of contributors is part of the reason why RISC-V was engineered to address many possible uses.
The designers' primary assertion is that the instruction set is the key interface in a computer as it is situated at the interface between the hardware and the software. If a good instruction set were open and available for use by all, then it can dramatically reduce the cost of software by enabling far more reuse. It should also trigger increased competition among hardware providers, who can then devote more resources toward design and less for software support.
The designers maintain that new principles are becoming rare in instruction set design, as the most successful designs of the last forty years have grown increasingly similar. Of those that failed, most did so because their sponsoring companies were financially unsuccessful, not because the instruction sets were technically poor. Thus, a well-designed open instruction set designed using well-established principles should attract long-term support by many vendors.
RISC-V also encourages academic usage. The simplicity of the integer subset permits basic student exercises, and is a simple enough ISA to enable software to control research machines. The variable-length ISA provides room for instruction set extensions for both student exercises and research, and the separated privileged instruction set permits research in operating system support without redesigning compilers. RISC-V's open intellectual property paradigm allows derivative designs to be published, reused, and modified.
History
The term RISC dates from about 1980. Before then, there was some knowledge that simpler computers can be effective (e.g., John Cocke at IBM Research), but the design principles were not widely described. Simple, effective computers have always been of academic interest, and resulted in the RISC instruction set DLX for the first edition of Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach in 1990 of which David Patterson was a co-author, and he later participated in the RISC-V origination. DLX was intended for educational use; academics and hobbyists implemented it using field-programmable gate arrays, but it was never truly intended for commercial deployment. ARM CPUs, versions 2 and earlier, had a public-domain instruction set and are still supported by the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), a popular free-software compiler. Three open-source cores exist for this ISA, but were never manufactured. OpenRISC is an open-source ISA based on DLX, with associated RISC designs, and is fully supported with GCC and Linux implementations, although it too has few commercial implementations.
Krste Asanović at the University of California, Berkeley, had a research requirement for an open-source computer system, and in 2010, he decided to develop and publish one in a "short, three-month project over the summer" with several of his graduate students. The plan was to aid both academic and industrial users. David Patterson at Berkeley joined the collaboration as he was the originator of the Berkeley RISC, and the RISC-V is the eponymous fifth generation of his long series of cooperative RISC-based research projects. At this stage, students provided initial software, simulations, and CPU designs.
The RISC-V authors and their institution originally sourced the ISA documents and several CPU designs under BSD licenses, which allow derivative works—such as RISC-V chip designs—to be either open and free, or closed and proprietary. The ISA specification itself (i.e., the encoding of the instruction set) was published in 2011 as open source, with all rights reserved. The actual technical report (an expression of the specification) was later placed under a Creative Commons license to permit enhancement by external contributors through the RISC-V Foundation, and later RISC-V International.
A full history of RISC-V has been published on the RISC-V International website.
RISC-V Foundation and RISC-V International
Commercial users require an ISA to be stable before they can use it in a product that may last many years. To address this issue, the RISC-V Foundation was formed in 2015 to own, maintain, and publish intellectual property related to RISC-V's definition. The original authors and owners have surrendered their rights to the foundation. The foundation is led by CEO Calista Redmond, who took on the role in 2019 after leading open infrastructure projects at IBM.
In November 2019, the RISC-V Foundation announced that it would relocate to Switzerland, citing concerns over U.S. trade regulations. As of March 2020, the organization was named RISC-V International, a Swiss nonprofit business association.
, RISC-V International freely publishes the documents defining RISC-V and permits unrestricted use of the ISA for design of software and hardware. However, only members of RISC-V International can vote to approve changes, and only member organizations use the trademarked compatibility logo.
Awards
2017: The Linley Group's Analyst's Choice Award for Best Technology (for the instruction set)
Design
ISA base and extensions
RISC-V has a modular design, consisting of alternative base parts, with added optional extensions. The ISA base and its extensions are developed in a collective effort between industry, the research community and educational institutions. The base specifies instructions (and their encoding), control flow, registers (and their sizes), memory and addressing, logic (i.e., integer) manipulation, and ancillaries. The base alone can implement a simplified general-purpose computer, with full software support, including a general-purpose compiler.
The standard extensions are specified to work with all of the standard bases, and with each other without conflict.
Many RISC-V computers might implement the compressed instructions extension to reduce power consumption, code size, and memory use. There are also future plans to support hypervisors and virtualization.
Together with a supervisor instruction set extension, S, an RVGC defines all instructions needed to conveniently support a general purpose operating system.
To tame the combinations of functions that may be implemented, a nomenclature is defined to specify them in Chapter 27 of the current ratified Unprivileged ISA Specification. The instruction set base is specified first, coding for RISC-V, the register bit-width, and the variant; e.g., RV64I or RV32E. Then follows letters specifying implemented extensions, in the order of the above table. Each letter may be followed by a major optionally followed by "p" and a minor option number. It defaults to 0 if a minor version number is absent, and 1.0 if all of a version number is absent. Thus RV64IMAFD may be written as RV64I1p0M1p0A1p0F1p0D1p0 or more simply as RV64I1M1A1F1D1. Underscores may be used between extensions for readability, for example RV32I2_M2_A2.
The base, extended integer and floating point calculations, and synchronisation primitives for multi-core computing, the base and extensions MAFD, are considered to be necessary for general-purpose computation, and thus have the shorthand, G.
A small 32-bit computer for an embedded system might be RV32EC. A large 64-bit computer might be RV64GC; i.e., shorthand for RV64IMAFDZicsrZifenceiC.
With the growth in the number of extensions, the standard now provides for extensions to be named by a single "Z" followed by an alphabetical name and an optional version number. For example, Zifencei names the instruction-fetch extension. Zifencei2 and Zifencei2p0 name version 2.0 of the same. The first letter following the "Z" by convention indicates the most closely related alphabetical extension category, IMAFDQLCBJTPVN. Thus the Zam extension for misaligned atomics relates to the "A" standard extension. Unlike single character extensions, Z extensions must be separated by underscores, grouped by category and then alphabetically within each category. For example, Zicsr Zifencei Zam.
Extensions specific to supervisor privilege level are named in the same way using "S" for prefix. Extensions specific to hypervisor level are named using "H" for prefix. Machine level extensions are prefixed with the three letters "Zxm". Supervisor, hypervisor and machine level instruction set extensions are named after less privileged extensions.
RISC-V developers may create their own non-standard instruction set extensions. These follow the "Z" naming convention, but with "X" as the prefix. They should be specified after all standard extensions, and if multiple non-standard extensions are listed, they should be listed alphabetically.
Register sets
RISC-V has 32 (or 16 in the embedded variant) integer registers, and, when the floating-point extension is implemented, separate 32 floating-point registers. Except for memory access instructions, instructions address only registers.
The first integer register is a zero register, and the remainder are general-purpose registers. A store to the zero register has no effect, and a read always provides 0. Using the zero register as a placeholder makes for a simpler instruction set.
becomes .
Control and status registers exist, but user-mode programs can access only those used for performance measurement and floating-point management.
No instructions exist to save and restore multiple registers. Those were thought to be needless, too complex, and perhaps too slow.
Memory access
Like many RISC designs, RISC-V is a load–store architecture: instructions address only registers, with load and store instructions conveying to and from memory.
Most load and store instructions include a 12-bit offset and two register identifiers. One register is the base register. The other register is the source (for a store) or destination (for a load).
The offset is added to a base register to get the address. Forming the address as a base register plus offset allows single instructions to access data structures. For example, if the base register points to the top of a stack, single instructions can access a subroutine's local variables in the stack. Likewise the load and store instructions can access a record-style structure or a memory-mapped I/O device. Using the constant zero register as a base address allows single instructions to access memory near address zero.
Memory is addressed as 8-bit bytes, with instructions being in little-endian order, and with data being in the byte order defined by the execution environment interface in which code is running. Words, up to the register size, can be accessed with the load and store instructions.
RISC-V was originally specified as little-endian to resemble other familiar, successful computers, for example, x86. This also reduces a CPU's complexity and costs slightly because it reads all sizes of words in the same order. For example, the RISC-V instruction set decodes starting at the lowest-addressed byte of the instruction. Big-endian and bi-endian variants were defined for support of legacy code bases that assume big-endian alignment.
An execution environment interface may allow accessed memory addresses not to be aligned to their word width, but accesses to aligned addresses may be faster; for example, simple CPUs may implement unaligned accesses with slow software emulation driven from an alignment failure interrupt.
Like many RISC instruction sets (and some complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction sets, such as x86 and IBM System/360 and its successors through z/Architecture), RISC-V lacks address-modes that write back to the registers. For example, it does not auto-increment.
RISC-V manages memory systems that are shared between CPUs or threads by ensuring a thread of execution always sees its memory operations in the programmed order. But between threads and I/O devices, RISC-V is simplified: it doesn't guarantee the order of memory operations, except by specific instructions, such as .
A instruction guarantees that the results of predecessor operations are visible to successor operations of other threads or I/O devices. can guarantee the order of combinations of both memory and memory-mapped I/O operations. E.g. it can separate memory read and write operations, without affecting I/O operations. Or, if a system can operate I/O devices in parallel with memory, doesn't force them to wait for each other. One CPU with one thread may decode as .
Some RISC CPUs (such as MIPS, PowerPC, DLX, and Berkeley's RISC-I) place 16 bits of offset in the loads and stores. They set the upper 16 bits by a load upper word instruction. This permits upper-halfword values to be set easily, without shifting bits. However, most use of the upper half-word instruction makes 32-bit constants, like addresses. RISC-V uses a SPARC-like combination of 12-bit offsets and 20-bit set upper instructions. The smaller 12-bit offset helps compact, 32-bit load and store instructions select two of 32 registers yet still have enough bits to support RISC-V's variable-length instruction coding.
Immediates
RISC-V handles 32-bit constants and addresses with instructions that set the upper 20 bits of a 32-bit register. Load upper immediate loads 20 bits into bits 31 through 12. Then a second instruction such as can set the bottom 12 bits. Small numbers or addresses can be formed by using the zero register instead of .
This method is extended to permit position-independent code by adding an instruction, that generates 20 upper address bits by adding an offset to the program counter and storing the result into a base register. This permits a program to generate 32-bit addresses that are relative to the program counter.
The base register can often be used as-is with the 12-bit offsets of the loads and stores. If needed, can set the lower 12 bits of a register. In 64-bit and 128-bit ISAs, and sign-extend the result to get the larger address.
Some fast CPUs may interpret combinations of instructions as single fused instructions. or may be good candidates to fuse with , loads or stores.
Subroutine calls, jumps, and branches
RISC-V's subroutine call (jump and link) places its return address in a register. This is faster in many computer designs, because it saves a memory access compared to systems that push a return address directly on a stack in memory. has a 20-bit signed (two's complement) offset. The offset is multiplied by 2, then added to the PC to generate a relative address to a 32-bit instruction. If the result is not at a 32-bit address (i.e., evenly divisible by 4), the CPU may force an exception.
RISC-V CPUs jump to calculated addresses using a jump and link-register, instruction. is similar to , but gets its destination address by adding a 12-bit offset to a base register. (In contrast, adds a larger 20-bit offset to the PC.)
's bit format is like the register-relative loads and stores. Like them, can be used with the instructions that set the upper 20 bits of a base register to make 32-bit branches, either to an absolute address (using ) or a PC-relative one (using for position-independent code). (Using a constant zero base address allows single-instruction calls to a small (the offset), fixed positive or negative address.)
RISC-V recycles and to get unconditional 20-bit PC-relative jumps and unconditional register-based 12-bit jumps. Jumps just make the linkage register 0 so that no return address is saved.
RISC-V also recycles to return from a subroutine: To do this, 's base register is set to be the linkage register saved by or . 's offset is zero and the linkage register is zero, so that there is no offset, and no return address is saved.
Like many RISC designs, in a subroutine call, a RISC-V compiler must use individual instructions to save registers to the stack at the start, and then restore these from the stack on exit. RISC-V has no save multiple or restore multiple register instructions. These were thought to make the CPU too complex, and possibly slow. This can take more code space. Designers planned to reduce code size with library routines to save and restore registers.
RISC-V has no condition code register or carry bit. The designers believed that condition codes make fast CPUs more complex by forcing interactions between instructions in different stages of execution. This choice makes multiple-precision arithmetic more complex. Also, a few numerical tasks need more energy. As a result, predication (the conditional execution of instructions) is not supported. The designers claim that very fast, out-of-order CPU designs do predication anyway, by doing the comparison branch and conditional code in parallel, then discarding the unused path's effects. They also claim that even in simpler CPUs, predication is less valuable than branch prediction, which can prevent most stalls associated with conditional branches. Code without predication is larger, with more branches, but they also claim that a compressed instruction set (such as RISC-V's set C) solves that problem in most cases.
Instead, RISC-V has short branches that perform comparisons: equal, not-equal, less-than, unsigned less-than, greater-than or equal and unsigned greater-than or equal. Ten comparison-branch operations are implemented with only six instructions, by reversing the order of operands in the assembler. For example, branch if greater than can be done by less-than with a reversed order of operands.
The comparing branches have a twelve-bit signed range, and jump relative to the PC.
Unlike some RISC architectures, RISC-V does not include a branch delay slot, a position after a branch instruction that can be filled with an instruction that is executed whether or not the branch is taken. RISC-V omits a branch delay slot because it complicates multicycle CPUs, superscalar CPUs, and long pipelines. Dynamic branch predictors have succeeded well enough to reduce the need for delayed branches.
On the first encounter with a branch, RISC-V CPUs should assume that a negative relative branch (i.e. the sign bit of the offset is "1") will be taken. This assumes that a backward branch is a loop, and provides a default direction so that simple pipelined CPUs can fill their pipeline of instructions. Other than this, RISC-V does not require branch prediction, but core implementations are allowed to add it. RV32I reserves a "HINT" instruction space that presently does not contain any hints on branches; RV64I does the same.
Arithmetic and logic sets
RISC-V segregates math into a minimal set of integer instructions (set I) with add, subtract, shift, bit-wise logic and comparing-branches. These can simulate most of the other RISC-V instruction sets with software. (The atomic instructions are a notable exception.) RISC-V currently lacks the count leading zero and bit-field operations normally used to speed software floating-point in a pure-integer processor.
The integer multiplication instructions (set M) include signed and unsigned multiply and divide. Double-precision integer multiplies and divides are included, as multiplies and divides that produce the high word of the result. The ISA document recommends that implementors of CPUs and compilers fuse a standardized sequence of high and low multiply and divide instructions to one operation if possible.
The floating-point instructions (set F) include single-precision arithmetic and also comparison-branches similar to the integer arithmetic. It requires an additional set of 32 floating-point registers. These are separate from the integer registers. The double-precision floating point instructions (set D) generally assume that the floating-point registers are 64-bit (i.e., double-width), and the F subset is coordinated with the D set. A quad-precision 128-bit floating-point ISA (Q) is also defined. RISC-V computers without floating-point can use a floating-point software library.
RISC-V does not cause exceptions on arithmetic errors, including overflow, underflow, subnormal, and divide by zero. Instead, both integer and floating-point arithmetic produce reasonable default values, and floating-point instructions set status bits. Divide-by-zero can be discovered by one branch after the division. The status bits can be tested by an operating system or periodic interrupt.
Atomic memory operations
RISC-V supports computers that share memory between multiple CPUs and threads. RISC-V's standard memory consistency model is release consistency. That is, loads and stores may generally be reordered, but some loads may be designated as acquire operations which must precede later memory accesses, and some stores may be designated as release operations which must follow earlier memory accesses.
The base instruction set includes minimal support in the form of a instruction to enforce memory ordering. Although this is sufficient ( provides acquire and provides release), combined operations can be more efficient.
The atomic memory operation extension supports two types of atomic memory operations for release consistency. First, it provides general purpose load-reserved and store-conditional instructions. performs a load, and tries to reserve that address for its thread. A later store-conditional to the reserved address will be performed only if the reservation is not broken by an intervening store from another source. If the store succeeds, a zero is placed in a register. If it failed, a non-zero value indicates that software needs to retry the operation. In either case, the reservation is released.
The second group of atomic instructions perform read-modify-write sequences: a load (which is optionally a load-acquire) to a destination register, then an operation between the loaded value and a source register, then a store of the result (which may optionally be a store-release). Making the memory barriers optional permits combining the operations. The optional operations are enabled by acquire and release bits which are present in every atomic instruction. RISC-V defines nine possible operations: swap (use source register value directly); add; bitwise and, or, and exclusive-or; and signed and unsigned minimum and maximum.
A system design may optimize these combined operations more than and . For example, if the destination register for a swap is the constant zero, the load may be skipped. If the value stored is unmodified since the load, the store may be skipped.
The IBM System/370 and its successors including z/Architecture, and x86, both implement a compare-and-swap () instruction, which tests and conditionally updates a location in memory: if the location contains an expected old value, replaces it with a given new value; it then returns an indication of whether it made the change. However, a simple load-type instruction is usually performed before the to fetch the old value. The classic problem is that if a thread reads (loads) a value A, calculates a new value C, and then uses () to replace A with C, it has no way to know whether concurrent activity in another thread has replaced A with some other value B and then restored the A in between. In some algorithms (e.g., ones in which the values in memory are pointers to dynamically allocated blocks), this ABA problem can lead to incorrect results. The most common solution employs a double-wide instruction to update both the pointer and an adjacent counter; unfortunately, such an instruction requires a special instruction format to specify multiple registers, performs several reads and writes, and can have complex bus operation.
The / alternative is more efficient. It usually requires only one memory load, and minimizing slow memory operations is desirable. It's also exact: it controls all accesses to the memory cell, rather than just assuring a bit pattern. However, unlike , it can permit livelock, in which two or more threads repeatedly cause each other's instructions to fail. RISC-V guarantees forward progress (no livelock) if the code follows rules on the timing and sequence of instructions: 1) It must use only the I subset. 2) To prevent repetitive cache misses, the code (including the retry loop) must occupy no more than 16 consecutive instructions. 3) It must include no system or fence instructions, or taken backward branches between the and . 4) The backward branch to the retry loop must be to the original sequence.
The specification gives an example of how to use the read-modify-write atomic instructions to lock a data structure.
Compressed subset
The standard RISC-V ISA specifies that all instructions are 32 bits. This makes for a particularly simple implementation, but like other RISC processors with 32-bit instruction encoding, results in larger code size than in instruction sets with variable-length instructions.
To compensate, RISC-V's 32-bit instructions are actually 30 bits; of the opcode space is reserved for an optional (but recommended) variable-length compressed instruction set, RVC, that includes 16-bit instructions. Like ARM's Thumb and the MIPS16, the compressed instructions are simply aliases for a subset of the larger instructions. Unlike ARM's Thumb or the MIPS compressed set, space was reserved from the beginning so there is no separate operating mode. Standard and compressed instructions may be intermixed freely. (Extension letter is C.)
Because (like Thumb-1 and MIPS16) the compressed instructions are simply alternate encodings (aliases) for a selected subset of larger instructions, the compression can be implemented in the assembler, and it is not essential for the compiler to even know about it.
A prototype of RVC was tested in 2011. The prototype code was 20% smaller than an x86 PC and MIPS compressed code, and 2% larger than ARM Thumb-2 code. It also substantially reduced both the needed cache memory and the estimated power use of the memory system.
The researcher intended to reduce the code's binary size for small computers, especially embedded computer systems. The prototype included 33 of the most frequently used instructions, recoded as compact 16-bit formats using operation codes previously reserved for the compressed set. The compression was done in the assembler, with no changes to the compiler. Compressed instructions omitted fields that are often zero, used small immediate values or accessed subsets (16 or 8) of the registers. is very common and often compressible.
Much of the difference in size compared to ARM's Thumb set occurred because RISC-V, and the prototype, have no instructions to save and restore multiple registers. Instead, the compiler generated conventional instructions that access the stack. The prototype RVC assembler then often converted these to compressed forms that were half the size. However, this still took more code space than the ARM instructions that save and restore multiple registers. The researcher proposed to modify the compiler to call library routines to save and restore registers. These routines would tend to remain in a code cache and thus run fast, though probably not as fast as a save-multiple instruction.
Standard RVC requires occasional use of 32-bit instructions. Several nonstandard RVC proposals are complete, requiring no 32-bit instructions, and are said to have higher densities than standard RVC. Another proposal builds on these, and claims to use less coding range as well.
Embedded subset
An instruction set for the smallest embedded CPUs (set E) is reduced in other ways: Only 16 of the 32 integer registers are supported. All current extensions may be used; a floating-point extension to use the integer registers for floating-point values is being considered. The privileged instruction set supports only machine mode, user mode and memory schemes that use base-and-bound address relocation.
Discussion has occurred for a microcontroller profile for RISC-V, to ease development of deeply embedded systems. It centers on faster, simple C-language support for interrupts, simplified security modes and a simplified POSIX application binary interface.
Correspondents have also proposed smaller, non-standard, 16-bit RV16E ISAs: Several serious proposals would use the 16-bit C instructions with 8 × 16-bit registers. An April fools' joke proposed a very practical arrangement: Utilize 16 × 16-bit integer registers, with the standard EIMC ISAs (including 32-bit instructions.) The joke was to use bank switching when a 32-bit CPU would be clearly superior with the larger address space.
Privileged instruction set
RISC-V's ISA includes a separate privileged instruction set specification. , version 1.11 is ratified by RISC-V International.
Version 1.11 of the specification supports several types of computer systems:
Systems that have only machine mode, perhaps for embedded systems,
Systems with both machine mode (for the supervisor) and user-mode to implement operating systems that run the kernel in a privileged mode.
Systems with machine-mode, hypervisors, multiple supervisors, and user-modes under each supervisor.
These correspond roughly to systems with up to four rings of privilege and security, at most: machine, hypervisor, supervisor and user. Each layer also is expected to have a thin layer of standardized supporting software that communicates to a more-privileged layer, or hardware.
The overall plan for this ISA is to make the hypervisor mode orthogonal to the user and supervisor modes. The basic feature is a configuration bit that either permits supervisor-level code to access hypervisor registers, or causes an interrupt on accesses. This bit lets supervisor mode directly handle the hardware needed by a hypervisor. This simplifies a type 2 hypervisor, hosted by an operating system. This is a popular mode to run warehouse-scale computers. To support type 1, unhosted hypervisors, the bit can cause these accesses to interrupt to a hypervisor. The bit simplifies nesting of hypervisors, in which a hypervisor runs under a hypervisor. It's also said to simplify supervisor code by letting the kernel use its own hypervisor features with its own kernel code. As a result, the hypervisor form of the ISA supports five modes: machine, supervisor, user, supervisor-under-hypervisor and user-under-hypervisor.
The privileged instruction set specification explicitly defines hardware threads, or harts. Multiple hardware threads are a common practice in more-capable computers. When one thread is stalled, waiting for memory, others can often proceed. Hardware threads can help make better use of the large number of registers and execution units in fast out-of-order CPUs. Finally, hardware threads can be a simple, powerful way to handle interrupts: No saving or restoring of registers is required, simply executing a different hardware thread. However, the only hardware thread required in a RISC-V computer is thread zero.
The existing control and status register definitions support RISC-V's error and memory exceptions, and a small number of interrupts. For systems with more interrupts, the specification also defines an interrupt controller. Interrupts always start at the highest-privileged machine level, and the control registers of each level have explicit forwarding bits to route interrupts to less-privileged code. For example, the hypervisor need not include software that executes on each interrupt to forward an interrupt to an operating system. Instead, on set-up, it can set bits to forward the interrupt.
Several memory systems are supported in the specification. Physical-only is suited to the simplest embedded systems. There are also three UNIX-style virtual memory systems for memory cached in mass-storage systems. The virtual memory systems have three sizes, with addresses sized 32, 39 and 48 bits. All virtual memory systems support 4 KiB pages, multilevel page-table trees and use very similar algorithms to walk the page table trees. All are designed for either hardware or software page-table walking. To optionally reduce the cost of page table walks, super-sized pages may be leaf pages in higher levels of a system's page table tree. SV32 has a two-layer page table tree and supports 4 MiB superpages. SV39 has a three level page table, and supports 2 MiB superpages and 1 GiB gigapages. SV48 is required to support SV39. It also has a 4-level page table and supports 2 MiB superpages, 1 GiB gigapages, and 512 GiB terapages. Superpages are aligned on the page boundaries for the next-lowest size of page.
Bit manipulation
An unapproved bit-manipulation (B) ISA for RISC-V is a work in progress which is under review as of January 2021. Done well, a bit-manipulation subset can aid cryptographic, graphic, and mathematical operations. The criteria for inclusion documented in the draft were compliant with RV5 philosophies and ISA formats, substantial improvements in code density or speed (i.e., at least a 3-for-1 reduction in instructions), and substantial real-world applications, including preexisting compiler support. Version 0.93 includes instructions to count leading zeros, count bits set, perform logic operations with negate, pack two words in one register, take the min or max, sign-extend, single-bit operations, shift ones, rotates, a generalized bit-reverse, shuffle and crossbar permutations, generalized or-combines, bit-field place, extract and deposit, carry-less multiply, CRC instructions, bit-matrix operations (RV64 only), conditional mix, conditional move, funnel shifts, and unsigned address calculations.
Packed SIMD
Packed-SIMD instructions are widely used by commercial CPUs to inexpensively accelerate multimedia and other digital signal processing. For simple, cost-reduced RISC-V systems, the base ISA's specification proposed to use the floating-point registers' bits to perform parallel single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) sub-word arithmetic.
In 2017 a vendor published a more detailed proposal to the mailing list, and this can be cited as version 0.1. , the efficiency of this proposed ISA varies from 2x to 5x a base CPU for a variety of DSP codecs. The proposal lacked instruction formats and a license assignment to RISC-V International, but it was reviewed by the mailing list. Some unpopular parts of this proposal were that it added a condition code, the first in a RISC-V design, linked adjacent registers (also a first), and has a loop counter that can be difficult to implement in some microarchitectures.
A previous, well-regarded implementation for a 64-bit CPU was PA-RISC's multimedia instructions: Multimedia Acceleration eXtensions. It increased the CPU's performance on digital signal processing tasks by 48-fold or more, enabling practical real-time video codecs in 1995. Besides its native 64-bit math, the PA-RISC MAX2 CPU could do arithmetic on four 16-bit subwords at once, with several overflow methods. It also could move subwords to different positions. PA-RISC's MAX2 was intentionally simplified. It lacked support for 8-bit or 32-bit subwords. The 16-bit subword size was chosen to support most digital signal processing tasks. These instructions were inexpensive to design and build.
Vector set
The proposed vector-processing instruction set may make the packed SIMD set obsolete. The designers hope to have enough flexibility that a CPU can implement vector instructions in a standard processor's registers. This would enable minimal implementations with similar performance to a multimedia ISA, as above. However, a true vector coprocessor could execute the same code with higher performance.
, the vector-processing proposal is a conservative, flexible design of a general-purpose mixed-precision vector processor, suitable to execute compute kernels. Code would port easily to CPUs with differing vector lengths, ideally without recompiling.
In contrast, short-vector SIMD extensions are less convenient. These are used in x86, ARM and PA-RISC. In these, a change in word-width forces a change to the instruction set to expand the vector registers (in the case of x86, from 64-bit MMX registers to 128-bit Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE), to 256-bit Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), and AVX-512). The result is a growing instruction set, and a need to port working code to the new instructions.
In the RISC-V vector ISA, rather than fix the vector length in the architecture, an instruction () is available which takes a requested size and sets the vector length to the minimum of the hardware limit and the requested size. So, the RISC-V proposal is more like a Cray's long-vector design or ARM's Scalable Vector Extension. That is, each vector in up to 32 vectors is the same length.
The application specifies the total vector width it requires, and the processor determines the vector length it can provide with available on-chip resources. This takes the form of an instruction () with four immediate operands, specifying the number of vector registers of each available width needed. The total must be no more than the addressable limit of 32, but may be less if the application does not require them all. The vector length is limited by the available on-chip storage divided by the number of bytes of storage needed for each entry. (Added hardware limits may also exist, which in turn may permit SIMD-style implementations.)
Outside of vector loops, the application can zero the number of requested vector registers, saving the operating system the work of preserving them on context switches.
The vector length is not only architecturally variable, but designed to vary at run time also. To achieve this flexibility, the instruction set is likely to use variable-width data paths and variable-type operations using polymorphic overloading. The plan is that these can reduce the size and complexity of the ISA and compiler.
Recent experimental vector processors with variable-width data paths also show profitable increases in operations per: second (speed), area (lower cost), and watt (longer battery life).
Unlike a typical modern graphics processing unit, there are no plans to provide special hardware to support branch predication. Instead, lower cost compiler-based predication will be used.
External debug system
There is a preliminary specification for RISC-V's hardware-assisted debugger. The debugger will use a transport system such as Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) or Universal Serial Bus (USB) to access debug registers. A standard hardware debug interface may support either a standardized abstract interface or instruction feeding.
, the exact form of the abstract interface remains undefined, but proposals include a memory mapped system with standardized addresses for the registers of debug devices or a command register and a data register accessible to the communication system. Correspondents claim that similar systems are used by Freescale's background debug mode interface (BDM) for some CPUs, ARM, OpenRISC, and Aeroflex's LEON.
In instruction feeding, the CPU will process a debug exception to execute individual instructions written to a register. This may be supplemented with a data-passing register and a module to directly access the memory. Instruction feeding lets the debugger access the computer exactly as software would. It also minimizes changes in the CPU, and adapts to many types of CPU. This was said to be especially apt for RISC-V because it is designed explicitly for many types of computers. The data-passing register allows a debugger to write a data-movement loop to RAM, and then execute the loop to move data into or out of the computer at a speed near the maximum speed of the debug system's data channel. Correspondents say that similar systems are used by MIPS Technologies MIPS, Intel Quark, Tensilica's Xtensa, and for Freescale Power ISA CPUs' background debug mode interface (BDM).
A vendor proposed a hardware trace subsystem for standardization, donated a conforming design, and initiated a review. The proposal is for a hardware module that can trace code execution on most RV5 CPUs. To reduce the data rate, and permit simpler or less-expensive paths for the trace data, the proposal does not generate trace data that can be calculated from a binary image of the code. It sends only data that indicates "uninferrable" paths through the program, such as which conditional branches are taken. To reduce the data rates, branches that can be calculated, such as unconditional branches, are not traced. The proposed interface between the module and the control unit is a logic signal for each uninferrable type of instruction. Addresses and other data are to be provided in a specialized bus attached to appropriate data sources in a CPU. The data structure sent to an external trace unit is a series of short messages with the needed data. The details of the data channel are intentionally not described in the proposal, because several are likely to make sense.
Implementations
The RISC-V organization maintains a list of RISC-V CPU and SoC implementations.
Existing
Existing proprietary implementations include:
Allwinner Technology has implemented the XuanTie C906 CPU into their D1 Application Processor.
Andes Technology Corporation, a Founding Premier member of RISC-V International. Its RISC-V CPU families range from tiny 32-bit cores to advanced 64-bit cores with DSP, FPU, Vector, Linux, superscalar, and/or multicore capabilities.
Bouffalo Lab has a series of MCUs based on RISC-V (RV32IMACF, BL60x/BL70x series).
CloudBEAR is a processor IP company that develops its own RISC-V cores for a range of applications.
Codasip, a founding member of RISC-V International, has developed a range of low-power embedded, high-performance embedded and application processor cores.
Cortus, a founding platinum member of the RISC-V International, has a number of RISC-V implementations and a complete IDE/toolchain/debug eco-system which it offers for free as part of its SoC design business.
Espressif added a RISC-V ULP coprocessor to their ESP32-S2 microcontroller. In November 2020 Espressif announced their ESP32-C3, a single-core, 32-bit, RISC-V (RV32IMC) based MCU.
GigaDevice has a series of MCUs based on RISC-V (RV32IMAC, GD32V series), with one of them used on the Longan Nano board produced by a Chinese electronic company Sipeed.
GreenWaves Technologies announced the availability of GAP8, a 32-bit 1 controller plus 8 compute cores, 32-bit SoC (RV32IMC) and developer board in February 2018. Their GAPuino GAP8 development board started shipping in May 2018.
Instant SoC RISC-V cores from FPGA Cores. System On Chip, including RISC-V cores, defined by C++.
Micro Magic Inc. announced the world's fastest 64-bit RISC-V core achieving 5 GHz and 13,000 CoreMarks in October 2020.
SiFive, a company established specifically for developing RISC-V hardware, has processor models released in 2017. These include a quad-core, 64-bit (RV64GC) system on a chip (SoC) capable of running general-purpose operating systems such as Linux.
Syntacore, a founding member of RISC-V International and one of the first commercial RISC-V IP vendors, develops and licenses family of RISC-V IP since 2015. , product line includes eight 32- and 64-bit cores, including open-source SCR1 MCU core (RV32I/E[MC]). First commercial SoCs, based on the Syntacore IP were demonstrated in 2016.
Codasip and UltraSoC have developed fully supported intellectual property for RISC-V embedded SOCs that combine Codasip's RISC-V cores and other IP with UltraSoC's debug, optimization and analytics.
As of 2020, the Indian defence and strategic sector started using the 64-bit RISC-V based 100-350 MHz Risecreek processor developed by IIT-Madras which is fabricated by Intel with 22 nm FinFET process.
Google has developed the Titan M2 security module for the Pixel 6
In development
ASTC developed a RISC-V CPU for embedded ICs.
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in India is developing a single core 32-bit in-order, a single core 64-bit in-order and three out-of-order single, dual and quad-core RISC-V processor under VEGA Microprocessors series.
Cobham Gaisler NOEL-V 64-bit.
Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the FreeBSD Project, has ported that operating system to 64-bit RISC-V to use as a hardware-software research platform.
Esperanto Technologies announced that they are developing three RISC-V based processors: the ET-Maxion high-performance core, ET-Minion energy-efficient core, and ET-Graphics graphics processor.
ETH Zurich and the University of Bologna have cooperatively developed the open-source RISC-V PULPino processor as part of the Parallel Ultra-Low Power (PULP) project for energy-efficient IoT computing.
European Processor Initiative (EPI), RISC-V Accelerator Stream.
Reconfigurable Intelligent Systems Engineering Group (RISE) of IIT-Madras is developing six Shakti series RISC-V open-source CPU designs for six distinct uses, from a small 32-bit CPU for the Internet of Things (IoT) to large, 64-bit CPUs designed for warehouse-scale computers such as server farms based on RapidIO and Hybrid Memory Cube technologies. 32-bit Moushik successfully booted by RISE for the application of Credit cards, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), surveillance cameras, safe locks, personalized Health Management Systems.
lowRISC is a non profit project to implement a fully open-source hardware system on a chip (SoC) based on the 64-bit RISC-V ISA.
Nvidia plans to use RISC-V to replace their Falcon processor on their GeForce graphics cards.
RV64X consortium is working on a set of graphics extensions to RISC-V and has announced that they are developing an open source RISC-V core with a GPU unit.
SiFive announced their first RISC-V out-of-order high performance CPU core, the U8 Series Processor IP.
Esperanto ET-SoC-1, a 200 TOPS "kilocore" supercomputer on a chip, with 1088 small 64-bit in-order ET-Minion cores with tensor/vector units and 4 big 64-bit out-of-order ET-Maxion cores
Open source
Many open-sourced RISC-V CPU designs exist, including:
The Berkeley CPUs. These are implemented in a unique hardware design language, Chisel, and some are named for famous train engines:
64-bit Rocket. Rocket may suit compact, low-power intermediate computers such as personal devices. Named for Stephenson's Rocket.
The 64-bit Berkeley Out of Order Machine (BOOM). The Berkeley Out-of-Order Machine (BOOM) is a synthesizable and parameterizable open source RV64GC RISC-V core written in the Chisel hardware construction language. BOOM uses much of the infrastructure created for Rocket, and may be usable for personal, supercomputer, and warehouse-scale computers.
Five 32-bit Sodor CPU designs from Berkeley, designed for student projects. Sodor is the fictional island of trains in children's stories about Thomas the Tank Engine.
picorv32 by Claire Wolf, a 32-bit microcontroller unit (MCU) class RV32IMC implementation in Verilog.
scr1 from Syntacore, a 32-bit microcontroller unit (MCU) class RV32IMC implementation in Verilog.
SERV is a physically-small, validated bit-serial RV32I core in Verilog. It is integrated with both the LiteX and FuseSoC SoC construction systems. An FPGA implementation was 354 lookup tables (LUTs) and 345 flip-flops, running at 1.5 MIPS, In a 130nm-node ASIC, it was 0.04mm2 and a high-end FPGA could hold 6,000 cores.
PULPino (Riscy and Zero-Riscy) from ETH Zürich / University of Bologna. The cores in PULPino implement a simple RV32IMC ISA for microcontrollers (Zero-Riscy) or a more powerful RV32IMFC ISA with custom DSP extensions for embedded signal processing.
Western Digital, in December 2018 announced an RV32IMC core called SweRV EH1 featuring an in-order 2-way superscalar and nine-stage pipeline design. In December 2019, WD announced the SweRV EH2 an in-order core with two hardware threads and a nine-stage pipeline and the SweRV EL2 a single issue core with a 4-stage pipeline WD plans to use SweRV based processors in their flash controllers and SSDs, and released it as open-source to third parties in January 2019.
NEORV32 by Stephan Nolting, a highly-configurable 32-bit microcontroller unit (MCU) class RV32[I/E]MACUX_Zbb_Zfinx_Zicsr_Zifencei CPU with on-chip debugger support written in platform-independent VHDL. The project includes a microcontroller-like SoC that already includes common modules like UART, timers, SPI, TWI, a TRNG and embedded memories.
Alibaba Group, in July 2019 announced the 2.5 GHz 16-core 64-bit (RV64GCV) XuanTie 910 out-of-order processor. In October 2021 the XuanTie 910 was released as Open-Source.
The Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICT CAS), in June 2020 launched the XiangShan high-performance RISC-V processor project.
Software
A normal problem for a new instruction set is a lack of CPU designs and software - both issues limit its usability and reduce adoption. RISC-V has a large number of CPU designs. RISC-V software includes toolchains, operating systems, middleware and design software.
Available RISC-V software tools include a GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) toolchain (with GDB, the debugger), an LLVM toolchain, the OVPsim simulator (and library of RISC-V Fast Processor Models), the Spike simulator, and a simulator in QEMU (RV32GC/RV64GC).
Operating system support exists for the Linux kernel, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD but the supervisor-mode instructions were unstandardized before June 2019, so this support is provisional. The preliminary FreeBSD port to the RISC-V architecture was upstreamed in February 2016, and shipped in FreeBSD 11.0. Ports of the Debian and Fedora Linux distributions, and a port of Haiku, are stabilizing (both only support 64-bit RISC-V, with no plans to support 32-bit version). A port of Das U-Boot exists. UEFI Spec v2.7 has defined the RISC-V binding and a TianoCore port has been done by HPE engineers and is expected to be upstreamed. There is a preliminary port of the seL4 microkernel. Hex Five released the first Secure IoT Stack for RISC-V with FreeRTOS support. Also xv6, a modern reimplementation of Sixth Edition Unix in ANSI C used for pedagogical purposes in MIT, was ported. Pharos RTOS has been ported to 64-bit RISC-V (including time and memory protection). Also see Comparison of real-time operating systems.
A simulator exists to run a RISC-V Linux system on a web browser using JavaScript.
QEMU supports running (using binary translation) 32- and 64-bit RISC-V systems (e.g. Linux) with a number of emulated or virtualized devices (serial, parallel, USB, network, storage, real time clock, watchdog, audio), as well as running RISC-V Linux binaries (translating syscalls to the host kernel). It does support multi-core emulation (SMP).
The Creator simulator is portable and allows the user to learn various assembly languages of different processors (Creator has examples with an implementation of RISC-V and MIPS32 instructions).
The extensible educational simulator WepSIM implements a (microprogrammed) subset of RISC-V instructions (RV32IM) and allows the execution of subroutines in assembly.
A number of languages have been applied to creating RISC-V IP cores including a Scala-based hardware description language, Chisel, which can reduce the designs to Verilog for use in devices, and the CodAL processor description language which has been used in to describe RISC-V processor cores and to generate corresponding HDKs (RTL, testbench & UVM) and SDKs. The RISC-V International Compliance Task Group has a GitHub repository for RV32IMC.
Development tools
IAR Systems released the first version of IAR Embedded Workbench for RISC-V, which supports RV32 32-bit RISC-V cores and extensions in the first version. Future releases will include 64-bit support and support for the smaller RV32E base instruction set, as well as functional safety certification and security solutions.
Lauterbach added support for RISC-V to their TRACE32 JTAG debuggers. Lauterbach also announced support for SiFives RISC-V NEXUS based processor trace.
SEGGER added support for RISC-V cores to their debug probe J-Link, their integrated development environment Embedded Studio, and their RTOS embOS and embedded software.
UltraSOC proposed a standard trace system and donated an implementation.
See also
List of open-source computing hardware
References
Further reading
External links
64-bit computers
Computer-related introductions in 2010
Instruction set architectures
Microcontrollers
Open microprocessors |
41603669 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConceptDraw%20MINDMAP | ConceptDraw MINDMAP | ConceptDraw MINDMAP is proprietary mind mapping and brainstorming software developed by CS Odessa for Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS operating systems.
The mind mapping technology of visual thinking was invented by Tony Buzan in the 1960s.
Along with the traditional practice of hand-drawn mind maps there is a range of special mind mapping software, which is commonly used to create mind maps for purposes of business, project management and knowledge management.
The first version of ConceptDraw MINDMAP was released in 2001. Since 2008 it has been a part of the ConceptDraw OFFICE software package for Windows and macOS platform.
File formats
CDMZ - ConceptDraw MINDMAP document
CDMM - ConceptDraw MINDMAP v5 and earlier document
CDMTZ - ConceptDraw MINDMAP template
Cross-Platform Compatibility
ConceptDraw MINDMAP is cross-platform compatible when running on macOS and Windows operating systems: files created on a computer power by macOS can be opened and edited on a Windows computer, and vice versa. The Developer's end-user license agreement allows for cross-platform installation with a single license.
Export/Import
Using a standard file format allows interchange of files between: mind maps, project files and diagrams.
ConceptDraw MINDMAP can import OPML files, text outlines, MS Project, MS Word and MS PowerPoint files, along with some mind mapping formats, such as MindManager, XMind and FreeMind.
Export options include MS Project, MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MindManager as well, and also Adobe PDF, HTML, and a variety of graphics formats.
Through the set of plug-ins ConceptDraw MINDMAP is compatible with Twitter and Evernote services. Since the release of version 9, it is also compatible with Outlook and OneNote from Microsoft.
See also
Brainstorming
Concept map
Mind map
Radial tree
List of concept- and mind-mapping software
List of educational software
References
External links
Tony Buzan Mind Mapping Tutorial
World Mind Mapping Conference
Mind Mapping Experts List
Office suites for Windows
Office suites for macOS
Mind-mapping software |
1776058 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk%20analysis%20%28engineering%29 | Risk analysis (engineering) | Risk analysis is the science of risks and their probability and evaluation.
Probabilistic risk assessment is one analysis strategy usually employed in science and engineering. In a probabilistic risk assessment risks are identified and then assessed in terms of likelihood of occurrence of a consequence and the magnitude of a potential consequence.
Risk analysis and the risk workshop
Risk analysis should be performed as part of the risk management process for each project. The data of which would be based on risk discussion workshops to identify potential issues and risks ahead of time before these were to pose cost and/ or schedule negative impacts (see the article on cost contingency for a discussion of the estimation of cost impacts).
The risk workshops should be attended by a large group ideally between 6 and 10 individuals from the various departmental functions (e.g. project manager, construction manager, site superintendent, and representatives from operations, procurement, [project] controls, etc.) so as to cover every risk element from different perspectives.
The outcome of the risk analysis would be the creation or review of the risk register to identify and quantify risk elements to the project and their potential impact.
Given that risk management is a continuous and iterative process, the risk workshop members would regroup on at regular intervals and project milestones to review the risk register mitigation plans, make changes to it as appropriate and following those changes re-run the risk model. By constantly monitoring risks these can be successfully mitigated resulting in a cost and schedule savings with a positive impact on the project.
Risk analysis and information security
The risk evaluation of the information technology environment has been the subject of some methodologies; Information security is a science that based itself on the evaluation and management of security risk, regarding the information used by organization to pursue their business objectives.
Standardization bodies like ISO, NIST, The Open Group, Information Security Forum had published different standards in this field.
See also
Actuarial science
Benefit risk
Cost risk
Event chain methodology
ENISA
Information security
Information Security Forum
ISO
IT risk
NIST
Optimism bias
Project management
Reference class forecasting
External links
European Institute of risk management
Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems, University of Virginia |
56333950 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo%20Labo | Nintendo Labo | is a toys-to-life concept developed by Nintendo and released in April 2018. Labo consists of 2 parts, where one part is a game and one part is multiple sheets of cardboard.
The games come as kits that include cardboard cut-outs and other materials that are to be assembled in combination with the Nintendo Switch console display and Joy-Con controllers to create a "Toy-Con" that can interact with the included game software and vice versa. Nintendo designed Labo as a way to teach principles of engineering, physics, and basic programming.
Construction and gameplay
Nintendo Labo is released as individual Labo Kits, each containing a set of pre-made cardboard cut-outs and other materials, used to make one or more "Toy-Con", and a Nintendo Switch game card, which contains interactive instructions on how to assemble the Toy-Con and software that the Toy-Con can interact with. Once each Toy-Con is constructed, players insert the main Nintendo Switch display and/or one or both of the Joy-Con controllers according to the instructions. Each Toy-Con functions differently in the ways it interacts with either the Joy-Con or the main display. For example, the piano Toy-Con's keystrokes are read by the Right Joy-Con controller's infrared sensor to identify notes being played, while robotic Toy-Con move using HD Rumble from the Joy-Con controllers, which are controlled via the touchscreen. Players may freely decorate the cardboard parts using coloring pens, tape, and other materials, while more experienced users can invent new ways to play with each Toy-Con. The game software provides instructions on how the Toy-Con works with the Switch, such as describing the fundamentals of infrared sensing.
Toy-Con Garage
The Nintendo Labo software comes with a feature called "Toy-Con Garage", which allows users to create and program their own Toy-Con using simple programming commands, either starting with the available Labo kits, or with their own materials. Toy-Con Garage is based upon creating simple commands by connecting input and output nodes. When an input is performed, it will trigger the connected output event. Additional middle nodes can be added to modify the input. For example, an input node can be a specific button press or a controller movement, while the middle node can set a required number of presses in order for the output to occur. Output nodes range from vibrating the Joy-Con to lighting up the Console's display. Toy-Con Garage provides multiple options for customizing each node, such as adjusting the sensitivity and direction of the control stick as an input node. Multiple input-output commands can be used in combination to create more complex creations. In 2021, Nintendo released Game Builder Garage which is largely based on Toy-Con Garage.
Development
Labo was announced on January 17, 2018. The director is Tsubasa Sakaguchi and the producer is Kouichi Kawamoto. According to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé, "Labo is unlike anything we've done before", and was developed to extend the age-audience for the Switch. Nintendo said the product was "specifically crafted for kids and those who are kids at heart." The tagline for Labo is "Make, Play, Discover"; "Discover" refers to how the user of the Toy-Con can understand the fundamentals of physics, engineering, and programming that make the Toy-Con work through the act of making and playing with them. The product was not originally intended to be educational, though one of its goals was to "explain how the technology behind the Toy-Con creations works".
The concept of Labo came from Nintendo when they asked their employees to come up with ways that the Switch's Joy-Con could be used; out of many potential ideas, the idea of building cardboard toys around the controllers held promise. According to Shinya Takahashi, the use of cardboard as part of playthings is common among Japanese children, and as they started prototyping ideas, they found the "trial and error" process of putting together the cardboard toys was "extremely fun". As the Labo concept was developed, they found it fit well within Nintendo's overall philosophy on innovating new ways to have fun, and had potential to introduce the Switch to more than just game enthusiasts.
Nintendo Labo developers Kawamoto, Sakaguchi, and Ogasawara stated in an interview that their goal was to use the unique features of the Nintendo Switch in such a way that no other system could emulate. The Joy-Con were treated as a "bundle of sensors" that could be used in a multitude of ways by attaching them to different hardware pieces, focusing on the gyro motion-sensor, IR motion camera, and HD Rumble features. The team was tasked with exploring Joy-Con attachment and game prototypes during three weeks of brainstorming sessions, called "prototype parties." When asked about the choice of building material, the developers responded by saying that cardboard was chosen over plastic because the 3D printer they were using for prototyping was unable to keep up with their pace of testing; cardboard would also allow for the player to create, repair, and customize the project themselves. The initial construction designs were first thought as being simple to construct, but later proved to be complex and challenging when it was decided that no cutting or gluing would be required to assemble the kits. Improvements were made to the prototypes based on feedback from consumer and developer testing; this prompted the creation of the interactive instruction software, as well as favoring simplicity over appearance. During development testing—prior to the cardboard designs being finalized—photographs were taken and compiled into booklets to be used as temporary instruction manuals; these booklets ranged from 1,000 pages for simpler models to 3,000 pages for complex ones. While the cardboard Toy-Con are sturdy, Nintendo recognized that the cardboard can suffer wear and tear with time, and sells replacement sheets for individual Toy-Con through its online store. When asked about the durability of Labo during an interview with CNET, Yoshiyasu Ogasawara stated, "We tested their resilience to the same action through hundreds and thousands of repetitions, so we expect them to last a long time under normal use."
Starting in October 2018, Nintendo worked with the Institute of Play to bring Nintendo Labo into elementary schools, with an initial goal to reach 2,000 students by the end of the 2018–2019 school year. Nintendo is providing the Switch and Labo kits, while the institute is developing the lesson plans for teachers.
Labo Kits
Two Labo Kits, Variety Kit and Robot Kit, were announced for launch in North America, Australia, and Japan on April 20, 2018, and in Europe on April 27, 2018. An accessory set containing stencils, stickers, and tape are available separately. Replacement packs for individual parts and Toy-Con are available for purchase on Nintendo's online store, while free templates for the cardboard cut-outs are also available for download. While Nintendo did not confirm any additional Toy-Con kits at launch, journalists observed that other Toy-Con configurations were shown in the announce trailer, suggesting that additional kits may be announced at a later date.
Variety Kit
The Variety Kit contains kits for five individual Toy-Con:
Two remote-controlled cars, where the vibrations from the Joy-Con serve to provide momentum and steering to the car. The game software allows the player to control the car like a normal remote-controlled vehicle using the console itself as the controller. The software also allows for the car to follow targets using the IR motion camera of the right Joy-Con.
A fishing rod where the Joy-Con sit in the reel and the handle of the rod. The game receives motion input from the Joy-Con to simulate a fishing game.
A toy piano with a full octave of keys; the console sits atop this to serve as a music stand.
A motorbike with Joy-Con inserted into the handlebars on either side of the Console for steering. The Toy-Con Motorbike is also compatible as a motion controller in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and in Moto Rush GT.
A house containing a slot to insert different components that can interact with the game software on the Console's display.
The kit comes with a game cartridge that contains interactive instructions of how to assemble each Toy-Con, and at least one software package to use the Toy-Con. Some Toy-Con have multiple programs; for example, the motorbike handles allow the player to race along a track in stunt bikes, and gives the player the ability to create new track layouts, or to use any object detected through the IR sensor to create a track based on that object. Similar IR sensing abilities allows the player to create new fish to catch in the fishing rod Toy-Con, or to create new waveforms to use on the piano Toy-Con.
Robot Kit
The Robot Kit includes parts to make a mecha suit that includes a visor which holds the left Joy-Con for motion sensing and a backpack that holds the right Joy-Con to read hand and feet swings. This allows the player to rampage through a virtual world presented on the screen. The software includes multiple game-modes: Robot, VS, Challenge, Robo-Studio, and the Hangar. Robot mode gives the player the ability to control the giant robot as it attacks targets across a cityscape, to control the robot as it flies over a city, and to transform in a tank. The two-player VS mode allows players to fight with their giant robots, though both players need a separate Robot Toy-Con for this mode. In Challenge Mode, the player can complete missions to unlock special abilities that can be used in the game's other modes. The Robo-Studio mode allows the player to insert the Console into the Toy-Con and play sound effects based on the player's movement, while the Hanger allows the player to customize the color and appearance of their virtual robot.
Journalists noted similarities between this Kit and Project Giant Robot, a software title for the Wii U that had players use the motion sensing of the Wii U GamePad to control a robot and rampage through a city. Project Giant Robot was teased during E3 2014 and believed to be tied to Star Fox Zero, but was ultimately cancelled by Nintendo. Labo developers stated in an interview that the original prototype was a ground-based tank with interactive floor pedals, but risked being crushed by the user and did not utilize the potential of the Joy-Con's gyro sensor; to solve these issues, the prototype was modified to be worn as a "Carry-Con" on the user's back.
Vehicle Kit
Nintendo announced its first post-release Labo Kit in July 2018, which was released worldwide on September 14, 2018. The Vehicle Kit includes the cardboard parts to make three steering consoles, one for a car, one for a plane, and one for a submarine, each with a slot for a "key" that is built around a Toy-Con. The associated game allows players to control cars, planes, and submarines in game, switching between these modes by moving their Toy-Con key between units, and supports co-operative play with a second person using another Toy-Con. The kit also includes cutouts for a pedal Toy-Con to power each of the vehicles, two key Toy-Con, a spray can Toy-Con, and a stand for the console to sit atop the car Toy-Con. Included with the spray can Toy-Con are several "extra parts" made to aid in the Paint Studio, the mode made for it.
VR Kit
Released on April 12, 2019, the VR Kit centers around cardboard goggles that allow players to view stereoscopic 3D images using the Switch console, similar to Google Cardboard. The main kit comes with five items which attach to the VR Goggles: a blaster, a camera, a bird, an elephant and a pinwheel. A wind pedal that blew wind when stepped on was included with the full kit as well. A starter kit containing just the Goggles (and pinwheel) and blaster attachment is also available, with the other attachments to be purchased separately, suggested price $79.99*MSRP.
Interactions with other games
Following the release of Nintendo Labo, select software titles have received free updates giving them compatibility with certain Toy-Con. A free update to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in June 2018 allowed players to use the motorbike Toy-Con, from the Variety Kit, to control their racer in the game. In August 2018, Nintendo announced that the car steering wheel Toy-Con from the upcoming Vehicle Kit will also be compatible with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. After unveiling a tech demo in April 2018, in August 2018, Rayark announced that it would add a mode to its piano-based rhythm game Deemo in October 2018 to support the piano Toy-Con on selected songs, as the first third-party title to offer integration with one. In January 2019, it was announced that Fishing Star: World Tour would support the Toy-Con Fishing Rod in an issue of the Famitsu magazine. Nintendo updated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in April 2019 to support VR game modes through the VR Kit, and introduced a limited VR mode for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate the following month. The Nintendo Switch version of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker received an update on July 30, 2019, that added a VR mode allowing the user to play four levels and get a 360° view of the course selection screen while using the Toy-Con VR Goggles. Puchikon 4 SmileBASIC released on May 23, 2019, in Japan with support for the Toy-Con Piano, House, Fishing Rod, Motorbike, and Robot kits that could be used in games made in the program. On May 27, 2019, a Nintendo Switch version of Spice and Wolf VR with Toy-Con VR Goggles support was announced what would be released on September 5, 2019. Neonwall was updated with Toy-Con VR Goggles support in January 2020.
Reception
On the day after its announcement in January 2018, Nintendo's stock price jumped around 2.4%, representing about to their value. Analysis suggested that Labo was the type of unorthodox product that only Nintendo could develop and market, showing a further return to their more financially successful period about a decade prior, leading to the rising stock price.
Nintendo Labo was received with praise for its unique take on video gaming and unconventional method of play, and its ability to encourage creativity and learning, especially in children. Reviewers primarily praised the enjoyable building experience and easy to follow step-by-step instructions; the rotatable camera and fast-forward/rewind features were appreciated, as well as the sense of humor that the instructions contain. Critics were initially concerned with the sturdiness of the cardboard, but were impressed with the durability of the assembled Toy-Con, also noting that the software contains tutorials with tips on repairing broken Toy-Con. Reviewers were mixed on the enjoyment and limited replay value of the software's gameplay, with Andrew Webster from The Verge saying "the games are perhaps the least interesting part of Labo." However, critics highlighted the seemingly unlimited options provided by Toy-Con Garage, and the possibility for the community to develop and share new creations. The Verge and CNET found Labo to be a clever utilization of the Joy-Con controllers' motion sensors, HD Rumble, and IR sensing abilities.
Labo was featured in a May 2018 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where Jimmy Fallon, Ariana Grande, and The Roots used various kits and Switches in a performance to premiere Grande's single, "No Tears Left to Cry". Some user have found ways to recreate the cardboard Toy-Con functionality with more sturdy versions using Lego bricks, otherwise retaining all the functionality of the original toys.
Sales
In Japan, the Variety Kit sold 90,410 copies within the first week, placing it first on the all-format sales chart. The Robot Kit sold 28,629 copies, placing it third, and the Vehicle Kit has sold 49,389 copies as of December 2018. As of March 2019, the Variety Kit has sold 330,000 units in Japan, and 1.09 million worldwide. As of 2018, all kits consolidated have sold 1.39 million units worldwide. The 2020 CESA Games White Papers revealed that the Variety Kit has sold 1.31 million units, as of December 2019.
Awards
See also
Virtual Boy
Notes
References
External links
Educational video games
Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development games
Nintendo Switch games
Nintendo Switch-only games
Nintendo Switch accessories
Nintendo franchises
Construction toys
2010s toys
Nintendo toys
Educational toys
Products introduced in 2018
Video games about toys
Video games developed in Japan
Video games with stereoscopic 3D graphics
Virtual reality headsets
2018 video games |
8421775 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanand%20Mohan | Permanand Mohan | Permanand Mohan is a senior Computer Science lecturer at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of the West Indies, an M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of the West Indies. He is the Chief Examiner for the Caribbean Examinations Council’s CAPE Examinations in Computer Science.
Biography
Permanand Mohan was born on March 20, 1965, in Gran Couva, Trinidad and Tobago. In 1989 he received a Commonwealth Scholarship to study at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2003 he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar to the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh as well as Visiting Professor at the Laboratory for Advanced Research in Intelligent Educational Systems (ARIES) at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
Research
His research interests lie in the field of artificial intelligence and education, and the use of learning objects in e-learning. 2006 marked his entry into the field of m-learning with a publication at The Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum
References
University of the West Indies academics
University of the West Indies alumni
Living people
University of Saskatchewan alumni
Trinidad and Tobago academics
Year of birth missing (living people) |
1045149 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20fictional%20hackers | List of fictional hackers | List of hackers
Comics and sequential art
Batman-related comics
Lonnie Machin (Moneyspider): an anarchist vigilante, featured in Anarky and various Batman-related comics, published by DC Comics
Tim Drake (Robin): the third Robin of the Batman Family, published by DC Comics
Barbara Gordon (Oracle): a major character in various Batman-related comics and Birds of Prey
Noah Kuttler (The Calculator): brilliant hacker villain in DC Comics
Wendy Harris (Proxy)
The Hacker Files
Jack Marshall (Hacker) – protagonist of The Hacker Files series
Barbara Gordon (Oracle)
Master Blaster
Cowboy
Sue Denim
Phreaky Phreddy
Spider
Ghost Rider 2099
Artificial Kidz:
Kenshiro "Zero" Cochrane (Ghost Rider)
Warewolf
Phrack
2600
Jimmy Alhazared (Doctor Neon)
System x Crash
Homestuck
Sollux Captor (twinArmageddons)
Roxy Lalonde (tipsyGnostalgic)
Literature
Anonymous by Jhala Vs Jhali
Jhala(Strength)
Jhali (Weekness)
Anonymous
The Blue Nowhere (Jeffery Deaver novel)
Wyatt Gillette (Valleyman)
Phate (Jon Patrick Holloway)
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Merlin of Amber aka Merle Corey, the protagonist of the second series
Rinaldo aka Lucas "Luke" Reynard, his best friend
Cryptonomicon
Randy Waterhouse
Discworld
The Smoking GNU (Mad Al, Sane Alex and Undecided Adrian) – (clacks hackers)
Ponder Stibbons (clacks hacker, through Hex)
Drawing Blood
Zach Bosch
Genius series (Catherine Jinks novels)
Cadel English
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Millennium series
Lisbeth Salander (Wasp) – protagonist
Other hackers appearing occasionally, known by nickname only:
Plague (Swedish)
Trinity (British)
Bob the Dog (British)
Bilbo (American in Texas)
Hex
Raven – Hex, Hex: Shadows, Hex: Ghosts
Holo.Wars: The Black Hats
Steve Cylander
F8th
Hauk
Dark0
Jurassic Park
Lex Murphy
Dennis Nedry
Kidd series (John Sandford novels)
Kidd
Bobby
Little Brother (Cory Doctorow novel)
W1n5t0n
M1K3Y
Neuromancer
Henry Dorsett Case
Oryx and Crake
Crake
The Shockwave Rider
Nick Haflinger
Snow Crash
Da5id Meier
Hiro Protagonist
In the context of the plot, Enki is considered to be "the original hacker", capable of modifying the behavior of society
Jaunita gains some of the skills attributed to Enki
Splinter Cell series
Anna Grimsdóttír (Grim)
Marcus Greenhorn
Tori Swyft thriller series (John M Green novels)
FIGJAM Thatcher in The Trusted and The Tao Deception
Red Scorpion in The Tao Deception
Film
Ace Ventura
Woodstock
Antitrust
Milo Hoffman
Assassins
Elektra
Bait
Bristol
Blackhat
Nicholas Hathaway
Sadak
The Core
Taz Finch ("Ratt")
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Lee Sampson
Cube 2: Hypercube
Alex Trusk
Die Hard
Theo
Enemy of the State
Edward Lyle (Brill)
Furious 7
Ramsey
Ghost in the Machine
Karl Hochman
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
The Laughing Man
GoldenEye
Boris Grishenko
Gone in 60 Seconds
Toby
Hackers
Kate Libby ("Acid Burn")
Ramόn Sánchez ("Phantom Phreak")
Paul Cook ("Lord Nikon")
Eugene Belford ("The Plague")
Dade Murphy ("Zero Cool" a.k.a. "Crash Override")
Joey Pardella
Emmanuel Goldstein ("Cereal Killer")
Independence Day
David Levinson (Alien OS hacker)
The Italian Job 2003
Lyle ("The Real Napster")
Johnny Mnemonic
Jones (The Dolphin)
Strike
The Lawnmower Man
Jobe Smith
Live Free or Die Hard
Matthew Farrell
Thomas Gabriel
Freddie ("Warlock")
The Losers
Jake Jensen
The Matrix
Apoc
Cypher (Mr. Reagan)
Dozer
Ghost
Morpheus
Mouse
Neo (Thomas A. Anderson)
Switch
Tank
Trinity
Mission Impossible
Luther Stickell
National Treasure
Riley Poole
The Net
Angela Bennett ("Angel")
Jack Devlin
Ocean's 13
Office Space
Michael Bolton
Samir Nagheenanajad
Peter Gibbons
Serenity
Mr. Universe
Sneakers
Martin Bishop
Erwin Emery (Whistler)
Darryl Roskow (Mother)
Superman III
Gus Gorman
Swordfish
Stanley Jobson
Axel Torvalds
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
John Connor
Trackers (Patrick Carman novel)
Shantorian
Tron
Kevin Flynn
WarGames
David Lightman
Wreck-It Ralph
King Candy (Turbo)
XXX: State of the Union
Agent Toby Lee Shavers
Ocean's 8
Nine Ball
Television
24
Chloe O'Brian
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Daisy "Skye" Johnson
Alias
Marshall Flinkman
Rachel Gibson
Arrow
Felicity Smoak
Batman Beyond
Maxine Gibson
Battle Programmer Shirase
Akira Shirase
Birds of Prey
Barbara Gordon/Oracle
Blake's 7
Kerr Avon
Bloody Monday
Takagi Fujimaru (Falcon)
Bones
Christopher Pelant
Breaking In
Bret Harrison
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Willow Rosenberg
Chuck
Chuck Bartowski
Stephen J. Bartowski
Code Lyoko
Jeremie Belpois
Aelita Schaeffer
Continuum
Alec Sadler
Covert Affairs
Auggie Anderson
Cowboy Bebop
Ed (Radical Edward) – short for Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV
Criminal Minds
Penelope Garcia
Hacker handle: The Black Queen
CSI: Cyber
Brody Nelson
Raven Ramirez
Daniel Krumitz ("Krummy")
Dark Angel
Logan Cale (Eyes Only)
Doctor Who
The Doctor
Adam Mitchell
Clara Oswald / Oswin Oswald
Mickey Smith
Bob Salmon – Doctor Who Past Doctor Adventures novel Blue Box by Kate Orman
Sarah Swan ("Fionnula") – Doctor Who Past Doctor Adventures novel Blue Box by Kate Orman
Earth: Final Conflict
Marcus "Augur" Deveraux
Eden of the East
Yutaka ("Pantsu") Itazu
Juiz
Eureka (American TV series)
Zane Donovan
The Flash (2014)
Cisco Ramon
General Hospital
Stan Johnson
Damian Spinelli
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Aoi (Laughing Man)
Johnny Chase (T-Mobile commercials)
Johnny Chase
Kim Possible
Wade
Level 9
Roland Travis
Margaret "Sosh" Perkins
Jargon
Leverage
Alec Hardison
Colin Mason ('Chaos')
Lone Wolf McQuade
Kayo Ramos
MacGyver
Kate – (Episode: "Ugly Duckling")
Max Headroom
Theora Jones
Bryce Lynch
Mr. Robot
Elliot Alderson: Sam Sepiol
Darlene Alderson: Dolores Haze
Shama Biswas: Trenton
Sunil Markesh: Mobley
Leslie Romero
Cisco
NCIS
Abby Sciuto
Timothy McGee
Nikita
Seymour Birkoff
Person of Interest
Harold Finch
Samantha Groves (Root)
The Raccoons
Bentley Raccoon
ReBoot
Mouse
Scandal
Charlie
Huck
Jake Ballard
Quinn Perkins
seaQuest DSV
Lucas Wolenczak ("Frankenstein")
Mark ("Wolfman")
Martin Clemens ("Mycroft")
Serial Experiments Lain
Lain Iwakura
Smallville
Chloe Sullivan
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Hobgoblin
Team Knight Rider
Kevin ("Trek") Sanders
Torchwood
Esther Drummond
Ianto Jones
Jack Harkness
Toshiko Sato
Undergrads
Justin Taylor ("Gimpy")
Veronica Mars
Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie
Warehouse 13
Claudia Donovan
Witch Hunter Robin
Michael Lee
The X-Files
Invisigoth ("Ester Nairn")
The Lone Gunmen (also featured in The Lone Gunmen)
John Fitzgerald Byers
Melvin Frohike
Richard Langly
Z Nation
Citizen Z
Kaya in da Skya
Video games
Apex Legends
Crypto
Assassin's Creed: Unity
Bishop
Command & Conquer: Generals
Black Lotus
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Chihiro Fujisaki
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Frank Pritchard
Hacker Evolution
Brian Spencer
The Longest Journey
Burns Flipper
Mega Man X
Middy
Metal Gear Solid
Dr. Hal Emmerich ("Otacon")
Metal Slug
Marco Rossi
Mystic Messenger
707
Vanderwood
Unknown/Saeran/Ray
Overwatch
Sombra
Persona 5
Futaba Sakura
Saints Row: The Third
Kinzie Kensington
Sly Cooper
Bentley
System Shock
The Hacker
Dexter Witer
Team Fortress 2
Spy
Vampire: The Masquerade
Mitnick – Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, based on real-life hacker Kevin Mitnick
Dev/Null – Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption
Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2
Aiden Pearce (The Vigilante/The Fox)
JB Marcowicz (Defalt)
Raymond Kenney (T-Bone)
Damien Brenks
Clara Lille (BadBoy17)
Johnacious Mailkmon
Delford Wade (Iraq)
Marcus Holloway (Retr0)
Josh Sauchak (Hawt Sauce)
Reginald (Wr3nch)
Horatio Carlin
DedSec – hacker group within the game
Hacknet
Bitwise (Bit)
Kaguya (From the DLC Labyrinths)
Coel (From the DLC Labyrinths)
D3F4ULT (From the DLC Labyrinths)
CSEC (Hacking Group inside game.)
The Kaguya Trials (DLC Hacker Group in the game)
Striker (Rival on the DLC Labyrinths)
Naix (Main Game Rival)
Many more can be added.
Role-playing games
Cyberpunk 2020
Altiera 'Alt' Cunningham
Rache Bartmoss
Spider Murphy
Shadowrun
Fastjack
Netcat
Multi-media franchises
A Certain Magical Index
Kazari Uiharu, aka The Goalkeeper
Cult of the Dead Cow
Demonseed Elite – CULT OF THE DEAD COW's ezine (and many others) / Mage: The Ascension
Ghost in the Shell
Project 2501, aka The Puppet Master
Hackers |
4657709 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club%20Kidsoft | Club Kidsoft | KidSoft Inc. was an educational software company based in Los Gatos, CA. It was started in May 1992 by Richard Devine and Charles Patterson, in conjunction with Alison Woods (partner at Woods+Woods Design), Audrey Mac Clean, and Karen Schultz.
The ClubKidsoft children's magazine and catalog concept was the brainchild from a creative collaboration between Designer/Art Director Alison Woods and copywriter Paula Polley. The first prototypes were developed by Woods+Woods Design and used for raising the first round of venture funding for the project. Alison Woods was brought on board as vice president and creative director to oversee the creative direction of the magazine and CD-ROM and Paula Polley worked remotely as the senior copywriter and editor.
The enterprise was subsequently managed by Dan’l Lewin (formerly the head of education at Apple Computer), Lucia Steinhilber.
Howard Blumenthal (formerly the creator/producer of PBS series, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego) came on board to develop a TV series for the project, which was never actualized. After the TV show concept was killed, Howard took creative control of the final issue of the magazine and CD-ROM before the entire enterprise was disbanded.
In its heyday, Club Kidsoft was a quarterly children's magazine and CD-ROM disc, focusing on educational software. It was the first computer magazine for children, and ultimately reached a circulation of over 100,000.
The combined magazine and CD-ROM had an annual subscription cost of $15.95 (USD). Soon after launch, the magazine and the catalog were separated. The reworked magazine featured articles and activities related to children's use of computers; these were supported by KidSoft-produced activities on the CD-ROM.
In an effort to increase its subscriber base, KidSoft signed deals to bundle the CD-ROM portion of its magazine with new Apple Performas and Compaq Presarios.
Magazine
In its initial form, the magazine portion was divided into two parts. The first third was filled with content aimed at kids such as puzzles, mazes, games and paper airplanes. The remaining two-thirds was normally a catalog of the games available on the CD-ROM which came with the magazine. Later, the magazine and the catalog were separated, allowing KidSoft to become an advertiser-supported children's magazine about computers, and the catalog to become a standalone mail order catalog filled with "kid-tested, parent-approved" software.
CD-ROM
The CD-ROM was an enhanced CD which was both a data and audio hybrid, that contained demo versions of software that could be unlocked directly from the disk by using a product key purchased from KidSoft. The CD-ROM also contained activities for "club members" (anyone who owned or used the CD). The remaining portion of the CD-ROM was an interactive software catalog with about forty software titles, none of which were made by Kidsoft. The catalog included a picture of the game's cover art, a brief description of the game, awards won, reviews, system requirements, and sometimes a demo of the game. Some demos were interactive while others were multimedia slideshows with screenshots from the game. Many more demos than were linked through the launcher could be played directly in the Demos directory on the CD-ROM.
Two versions of the software were available for either Apple Macintosh, or Microsoft Windows. The audio portion had music and announcements from Club Kidsoft. The software portion of the CD-ROM was devoted to kid contributed content such as paintings and written stories.
Software could be purchased by calling the company and paying with a credit card number. The service representative would then provide a unique serial number which could be typed into the launcher program. Once verified this would allow the full version of the purchased game to be installed. This action is provided through a specially coded program generated by the installer, which behaved like a disc image mounting utility - correct unlock codes allowed the utility to decrypt and mount the contents from the disc images as part of the CD-ROM's internal structure. It was a Control Panel program on Macintosh computers and a terminate-and-stay-resident driver on Windows computers.
Business
The company produced one of AOL's first retail stores, and used an early version of -e-commerce and branding of digital media.
KidSoft was acquired by Hearst Corporation, which distributed the magazine for a brief period. In time, KidSoft ceased publication of the magazine, and then, ceased its software distribution activities. During its final year, KidSoft was reworked as a low-priced retail brand for older children's software.
Defunct educational software companies
Companies established in 1992
Macintosh magazines |
51367517 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-based%20random%20number%20generator%20%28CBRNG%29 | Counter-based random number generator (CBRNG) | A counter-based random number generation (CBRNG, also known as a counter-based pseudo-random number generator, or CBPRNG) is a kind of pseudorandom number generator that uses only an integer counter as its internal state.
Background
We can think of a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) as a function that transforms a series of bits known as the state into a new state and a random number.
That is, given a PRNG function and an initial state , we can repeatedly use the PRNG to generate a sequence of states and random numbers.
In some PRNGs, such as the Mersenne Twister, the state is large, more than 2048 bytes. In other PRNGs, such as xorshift, and are one and the same (and so the state is small, just 4, 8, or 16 bytes, depending on the size of the numbers being generated). But in both cases, and indeed in most traditional PRNGs, the state evolves unpredictably, so if you want to calculate a particular given an initial state , you have to calculate , , and so on, running the PRNG times.
Such algorithms are inherently sequential and not amenable to running on parallel machines like multi-core CPUs and GPUs.
In contrast, a counter-based random number generator (CBRNG) is a PRNG where the state "evolves" in a particularly simple manner: . This way you can generate each number independently, without knowing the result of the previous call to the PRNG.
This property make it easy to run a CBRNG on a multiple CPU threads or a GPU. For example, to generate random numbers on a GPU, you might spawn threads and have the th thread calculate .
Implementations
CBRNGs based on block ciphers
Some CBRNGs are based on reduced-strength versions of block ciphers. Below we explain how this works.
When using a cryptograhpic block cipher in counter mode, you generate a series of blocks of random bits. The th block is calculated by encrypting the number using the encryption key : .
This is similar to a CBRNG, where you calculate the th random number as . Indeed, any block cipher can be used as a CBRNG; simply let !
This yields a strong, cryptographically-secure source of randomness. But cryptographically-secure pseudorandom number generators tend to be slow compared to insecure PRNGs, and in practice many uses of random numbers don't require this degree of security.
In 2011, Salmon et al. at D. E. Shaw Research introduced two CBRNGs based on reduced-strength versions of block ciphers.
Threefry uses a reduced-strength version of the Threefish block cipher. (Juvenile fish are known as "fry".)
ARS uses a reduced-strength version of the AES block cipher. ("ARS" is a pun on "AES"; "AES" stands for "advanced encryption standard", and "ARS" stands for "advanced randomization system".)
ARS is used in recent versions of Intel's Math Kernel Library and gets good performance by using instructions from the AES-NI instruction set, which specifically accelerate AES encryption.
Code implementing Threefry, ARS, and Philox (see below) is available from the authors.
CBRNGs based on multiplication
In addition to Threefry and ARS, Salmon et al. described a third counter-based PRNG, Philox. It's based on wide multiplies, e.g. multiplying two 32-bit numbers and producing a 64-bit number, or multiplying two 64-bit numbers and producing a 128-bit number.
As of 2020, Philox is popular on CPUs and GPUs. On GPUs, nVidia's cuRAND library and TensorFlow provide implementations of Philox. On CPUs, Intel's MKL provides an implementation.
References
Pseudorandom number generators |
368880 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers%20%28anthology%29 | Hackers (anthology) | Hackers is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was first published in 1996. It contains stories by science fiction and cyberpunk writers of the late 1980s and early 1990s about hackers.
Contents
"Burning Chrome"
"Spirit of the Night"
This story was written by Tom Maddox, and was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1987. This is the story of a man whose wife is kidnapped during a business dealing about bio computers. The man then finds out that his wife's electronic records have disappeared. Bound by his wife's love, he plunges back to his hacker days to track his wife's abductor, and even enlists the help of his old college hacking master. Thinking originally that it was the company involved in the business deal, he blackmails them, but then finds out that something else may be behind the ordeal.
"Blood Sisters"
This story was written by Greg Egan, and was first published in Interzone 44 in 1991. Two twin sisters in the near future find themselves in the middle of a world where a virus evolved through mutation and natural selection as part of biological warfare research has escaped. Both sisters become infected with a version of the virus, but only one of them survives. The surviving sister uses her hacking skills to find out the reason behind her sister's death, exact revenge and inform the public.
"Rock On"
This story was written by Pat Cadigan, and was first published in Light Years and Dark in 1984. This story takes place in a post-modern world where Rock and Roll is about to become extinct. Bands of the time have to use "sinners" (i.e. Synthesizer), or people who have experienced Rock and Roll in person, in order to realize their music. This is the story of one such sinner.
"The Pardoner's Tale"
This story was written by Robert Silverberg and was first published in Playboy in 1987. In the future, an alien species has colonized the Earth and used the humans' own information infrastructure to control them through their in-body implants. Hackers have become valuable because they can exploit the system. Some hackers have become known as pardoners because they can arrange for people to escape the aliens' sentences in exchange for profit. The story focuses on one of the best pardoners. He is bested in a hacking duel only to find out that his opponent is an android. The pardoner faces a mistake he made in his past and finds a way to escape by hacking the alien mainframe with the help of a woman he had swindled.
"Living Will"
This story was written by Alexander Jablokov and was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in June 1991.
A man afflicted with Alzheimer's disease programs his personality into a computer, and enlists the machine's help for his final wish.
"Dogfight"
This story was written by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson, and was first published in Omni in 1985. A lonely ex-shoplifter who suffers from a neural block preventing him from returning to his hometown of Washington, D.C., finds a female friend, whose parents have set a neural block on her to protect her virginity – a sort of a mental chastity belt. He becomes enthralled by a new video game – Fokkers & Spads – where he engages in dogfights as a World War I fighter pilot and, with help from his female friend (a gifted hacker of both hardware and software) becomes one of the best fighters. To beat the very best fighter, though, he betrays and hurts his newfound friend only to find himself alone again after his victory over the crippled war-veteran Tiny.
The story is typical of the cyberpunk genre in that its mood never rises from the melancholy and that the protagonist ends up suffering a kind of pyrrhic victory, realizing too late that succeeding in his endeavor (i.e. winning the game) has cost him too dearly. As in film noir, the theme of betrayal exists strongly in the tale, as the protagonist sacrifices everything around him to succeed.
"Our Neural Chernobyl"
This story was written by Bruce Sterling, and was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1988. In a bizarre future, free from AIDS and genetic diseases, everyone can be a human genome hacker. One such hacker/scientist, while trying to find a way for the human body to become a cocaine-producing factory, engineers a virus that enriches the dendritic connections of mammalian brains. This virus seems to produce eccentric, absent-minded geniuses, but most humans are apparently immune to this neural Chernobyl (though the reader should be aware of the possibility of an unreliable narrator). Instead, it is animals that suffer the most obvious changes as a result of this virus, leading to more intelligent dogs and cats, as well as a culturally aware raccoon society.
"(Learning About) Machine Sex"
This story was written by Candas Jane Dorsey, and was first published in Machine Sex and Other Stories in 1988. A young female hacker, coming to terms with her own sexuality, invents "wet-ware": software and hardware that can plug into the human body, and has the ability to sexually stimulate men.
"Conversations with Michael"
This story was written by Daniel Marcus, and was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1994. A couple is faced with having to deal with the loss of their child due to a partial nuclear meltdown. The mother comes to terms with the loss by having conversations with her son in a virtual reality setting, at first assisted by an analyst and then on her own. The father cannot come to terms with the loss of his son, and instead immerses himself in virtual reality almost completely, disregarding even his own health.
"Gene Wars"
This story was written by Paul J. McAuley, and was first published in Interzone 48 in 1991. The story tells of the progress that humanity makes by hacking genes. It originally starts with companies using their power and knowledge to profit by introducing stronger crops and preventing a cure for HIV, but then it progresses into a genetic war as people and countries make use of these new genes without licensing them from the companies that made them. The story's main character is Evan, who finds himself in the middle of the gene wars immediately after graduating with a degree in molecular genetics. He becomes deeply involved in his company's business, but is eventually infected with a Trojan horse that removes the loyalty genes the companies had put into him. Evan makes a cure for HIV available and eventually brings about a fundamental change in genetics that allows people to change and shape their own bodies. No one has to die anymore and some people, greens, even choose to get all their sustenance from the sun. In a telling quote from the story Evan says, "I remember when you knew what a human being was, I suppose I'm old-fashioned, but there it is."
"Spew"
This story was written by Neal Stephenson, and was first published in Wired in 1994. The story is presented in the form of a letter from the main character, Stark, to a female cyberpunk whom he meets in the course of his work. In the story, most information and media channels are hooked together in something called the Spew. This is a vision of the Internet's adaptation for handling credit card transactions, security camera feeds, and other such digital data. It is possible to profile people in a most complete way because the Spew was allowed by the government to be insecure. Stark is hired as a Profile Auditor, someone who tracks other people and their profiles in the Spew in order to track consumer trends. He does this inside the Demosphere, or in DemoTainment Space, which is a virtual reality representation of the Spew. He comes across a woman whose profile seems "too normal" and discovers that she is a cypherpunk, using the Spew to her own advantage without being tracked.
"Tangents"
This story was written by Greg Bear, and was first published in Omni in January 1986. Pal Tremont, a Korean boy who likes classical music, is adopted by an American family and comes into the life of Peter Tuthy and writer Lauren Davies. Peter is a mathematician and computer hacker (seemingly based in part on Alan Turing) who is very interested in 4-dimensional space (4-D). Lauren wants Pal to help her with her writings, but Pal is more useful to Peter as he can easily visualize 4-D space. Pal is able to see a whole new world, inhabited by 4-D beings and is even able to play 4-D music for them. The beings eventually make contact and take Pal and Peter into their own world.
References
External links
1996 short story collections
Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Ace anthologies
Ace Books books
Works about computer hacking
1990s science fiction works |
54207146 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark%20Gazit | Mark Gazit | Mark Gazit is an expert on cyber security, business executive and serial entrepreneur. Gazit is a President and CEO of ThetaRay.
Life and education
Gazit studied computer science and mathematics at Hebrew University and senior business administration at Tel Aviv University. He also attended the YPO executive management studies at Harvard Business School.
Gazit is an expert on cyber security, Artificial Intelligence, financial technology, and big data.
Business activities
From 1993 to 1995, Gazit worked as a computer consultant. In 1995, he co-founded NetMedia, which was sold to NetVision in 1996. At NetVision, Gazit served as an executive vice president of technology and infrastructure and a deputy CEO. In May 2000, he joined Deltathree Ltd. as CEO and Deltathree Inc. as corporate executive vice president. In 2003, Gazit joined SkyVision, a global provider of secure communications, as president and group CEO. Later he served as managing director of NICE Cyber and Intelligence Solutions.
In 2013 Gazit joined ThetaRay, a big data analytics and cyber security company, as CEO.
References
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Tel Aviv University alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Israeli computer scientists |
1085450 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink%20wrap%20contract | Shrink wrap contract | Shrink wrap contracts are boilerplate contracts packaged with products; usage of the product is deemed acceptance of the contract.
Web-wrap, click-wrap and browse-wrap are related terms which refer to license agreements in software which is downloaded or used over the internet.
A software license agreement is commonly called an end user license agreement (or EULA).
The term 'Shrink Wrap' describes the shrink wrap plastic wrapping which coats software boxes or the terms and conditions which comes with products on delivery.
Shrink wrap assertions are unsigned permit understandings which state that acknowledgement on the client of the terms of the assertion is demonstrated by opening the shrink wrap bundling or other bundling of the product, by utilisation of the product, or by some other determined instrument.
United States
The legal status of shrink wrap contracts in the US is somewhat unclear. In the 1980s, software license enforcement acts were enacted by Louisiana and Illinois in an attempt to address this issue, but parts of the Louisiana act were invalidated in Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd., and the Illinois act was quickly repealed. Case history also fails to clear up the confusion. One line of cases follows ProCD v. Zeidenberg which held such contracts enforceable (see, e.g., Bowers v. Baystate Technologies) and the other follows Klocek v. Gateway, Inc., which found the contracts at hand unenforceable (e.g., Specht v. Netscape Communications Corp.), but did not comment on shrink wrap contracts as a whole. These decisions are split on the question of consent, with the former holding that only objective manifestation of consent is required while the latter require at least the possibility of subjective consent. In particular, the Netscape contract was rejected because it lacked an express indication of consent (no "I agree" button) and because the contract was not presented directly to the user (users were required to click on a link to access the terms). However, the court in this case did make it clear that "Reasonably conspicuous notice of the existence of contract terms and unambiguous manifestation of assent to those terms by consumers are essential if electronic bargaining is to have integrity and credibility." Specht, 306 F.3d 17.
See also
Data General Corp. v. Digital Computer Controls, Inc.
SoftMan Products Co. v. Adobe Systems Inc.
Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc.
Contract of adhesion, another name for a "take it or leave it" contract
References
Further reading
Intellectual Property and Contract Law for the Information Age
Terms of service
Contract law
Computer law
Software licenses |
22308043 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallels%20Workstation%20Extreme | Parallels Workstation Extreme | Parallels Workstation Extreme is the first workstation virtualization product that lets users virtualize graphics-intensive software programs such as geophysical simulation, financial analysis, and digital content creation programs commonly used by engineers and digital animators in virtual machines on Windows and Linux hosts.
To let users virtualize these resource-intensive programs, Parallels partnered with Intel and Nvidia and incorporated their technologies into Parallels Workstation Extreme.
Overview
Like other virtualization software, Parallels Workstation Extreme uses a hypervisor to grant its virtual machines’ direct access to the host computer's hardware. However, instead of handling the processes within the virtual machine as other virtualization products do to render 3D graphics, Parallels Workstation Extreme uses Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O to direct the multimedia directly back to the host's graphics cards while Nvidia's SLI Multi-OS allows the host machine and the virtual machine to each have their dedicated GPU. Each graphic application running in a virtual machine requires its own dedicated Nvidia Quadro FX 3800, 4800, or 5800 graphics card, which are the only graphics cards currently supported by the product.
To provide the hardware environment to support this mix of virtualization and graphics technologies, Hewlett-Packard partnered with Parallels and Nvidia to develop the HP Z800, a high-end PC that include Nvidia's Quadro FX GPUs and Intel's VT-d and Xeon processor.
Features
Parallels Workstation Extreme includes support for up to 16 CPU cores, 64 GB of RAM for guest OSs, 16 virtual network adapters per virtual machine and virtual drive sizes up to 2 TB. Users can use multiple monitors, display a different guest operating system in each screen and also move the mouse back and forth between monitors and OSs. Parallels Workstation Extreme load balances CPU resources as users move between the different OSs on the workstation.
The product also supports CLI, PXEboot and USB 2.0 devices. Users can utilize virtual machine templates, multiple snapshot capabilities and software development kits. Also included is Parallels Compressor, designed to compress the size of a virtual hard disk, and Parallels Image Tool, designed to increase or decrease the size of a virtual hard disk.
System Requirements
Host requirements include:
64-bit Windows Vista, 64-bit Windows XP SP3 or 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 host operating system
1 or 2 Intel Xeon Processors 5500 series
8 GB RAM
10 GB disk space per virtual machine
Supported NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics cards
Supported guest operating systems include 64-bit Windows Vista, 64-bit Windows XP SP3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7 and 5.3 and Fedora 10.
See also
Platform virtualization
Graphics card
Hypervisor
Virtual machine
Virtual disk image
References
External links
Official webpage
Virtualization software
Proprietary cross-platform software |
3015646 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft%20Visual%20SourceSafe | Microsoft Visual SourceSafe | Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS) is a discontinued source control program oriented towards small software development projects. Like most source control systems, SourceSafe creates a virtual library of computer files. While most commonly used for source code, SourceSafe can handle any type of file in its database, but older versions were shown to be unstable when used to store large amounts of non-textual data, such as images and compiled executables.
History
SourceSafe was originally created by a North Carolina company called One Tree Software. One Tree SourceSafe had gone through several releases in their 1.x to 2.x cycles, supporting DOS, OS/2 (with a Presentation Manager GUI), Windows, Windows NT, Mac, and Unix. When Microsoft bought OneTree in 1994, they immediately ceased development on all versions except for Windows. Microsoft SourceSafe 3.1, Windows 16-bit-only and Macintosh, rebranded One Tree 3.0 versions, were briefly available before Microsoft released a Version 4.0. With the acquisition of One Tree Software, Microsoft discontinued its source code control product at the time, Microsoft Delta. After the acquisition, Mainsoft Corporation developed SourceSafe for UNIX in cooperation with Microsoft.
Later, Metrowerks, Inc. developed Visual SourceSafe for Macintosh in cooperation with Microsoft.
Overview
SourceSafe was initially not a client/server Source Code Management, but rather a local only SCM system. Architecturally, this serves as both a strength and weakness of design, depending on the environment it is used in. It allows a single user system to be set up with less configuration than that of some other SCM systems. In addition, the process of backing up can be as simple as copying all of the contents of a single directory tree. For multi-user environments, however, it lacks many important features found in other SCM products, including support for atomic commits of multiple files (CVS has the same problem as it is built upon the original RCS). SourceSafe inherits its shared functionality using direct remote file system access to all the files in the repository. This, together with historic bugs in the codebase, occasionally led to SourceSafe database corruption, a problem noted by Microsoft.
Starting with VSS 2005, Microsoft added a client–server mode. In this mode, clients do not need write access to a SMB share where they can potentially damage the SS database. Instead, files must be accessed through the VSS client tools - the VSS windows client, the VSS command-line tool, or some application that integrates with or emulates these client tools.
Versions
Criticism
Visual SourceSafe's stability is criticised due to the way Visual SourceSafe uses a direct, file-based access mechanism that allows any client to modify a file in the repository after locking it. If a client machine crashes in the middle of updating a file, it can corrupt that file. Many users of Visual SourceSafe mitigate this risk by making use of a utility provided by Visual SourceSafe that checks the database for corruption and, when able, corrects errors that it finds.
Microsoft in-house use
Although "eating their own dog food" is often said to be part of Microsoft's culture, VSS appears to be an exception; it is widely rumored that very few projects within Microsoft relied on Visual SourceSafe before the product was discontinued, and that the predominant tool at the time was SourceDepot. According to Matthew Doar:
The Microsoft Developer Division was using Team Foundation Server for most of its internal projects, although a VSS transcript implied that other large teams use "a mix of customized in-house tools."
Microsoft has since moved on to using Git.
Updates
An updated version called Visual SourceSafe 2005 was released in November 2005, promising improved performance and stability, better merging for Unicode and XML files, as well as the ability to check files out over HTTP. It was included with Visual Studio 2005 Team System editions, but is not included with Visual Studio Team System 2008.
At the same time, Microsoft also introduced a source control called Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC), which was part of project lifecycle management product Visual Studio Team System. This product addresses many of the shortcomings of Visual SourceSafe, making it suitable for larger teams requiring high levels of stability and control over activities.
With Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft no longer distributes Visual SourceSafe. Microsoft now offers Team Foundation Server Basic for smaller development teams. There is a hotfix so existing SourceSafe customers can use SourceSafe with Visual Studio 2010.
The final version of the product, Visual SourceSafe 2005, retired from mainstream support on 10 July 2012 with extended support ending on 11 July 2017.
Further reading
Visual SourceSafe 2005 Software Configuration Management in Practice (Packt Publishing, 2007)
Real World Software Configuration Management (Apress, 2003)
Essential SourceSafe (Hentzenwerke Publishing, 2001)
See also
Revision control
Configuration management
Software configuration management
Change management
List of software engineering topics
Comparison of revision control software
References
External links
Proprietary version control systems
SourceSafe
Discontinued version control systems |
25234473 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod | CyanogenMod | CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. It was developed as free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added original and third-party code, and based on a rolling release development model. Although only a subset of total CyanogenMod users elected to report their use of the firmware, on 23 March 2015, some reports indicated that over 50 million people ran CyanogenMod on their phones. It was also frequently used as a starting point by developers of other ROMs.
In 2013, the founder, Stefanie Kondik, obtained venture funding under the name Cyanogen Inc. to allow commercialization of the project. However, the company did not, in her view, capitalize on the project's success, and in 2016 she left or was forced out as part of a corporate restructure, which involved a change of CEO, closure of offices and projects, and cessation of services, and therefore left uncertainty over the future of the company. The code itself, being open source, was later forked, and its development continues as a community project under the LineageOS name.
CyanogenMod offered features and options not found in the official firmware distributed by mobile device vendors. Features supported by CyanogenMod included native theme support, FLAC audio codec support, a large Access Point Name list, Privacy Guard (per-application permission management application), support for tethering over common interfaces, CPU overclocking and other performance enhancements, unlockable bootloader and root access, soft buttons, status bar customisation and other "tablet tweaks", toggles in the notification pull-down (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS), and other interface enhancements. CyanogenMod did not contain spyware or bloatware, according to its developers. CyanogenMod was also said to increase performance and reliability compared with official firmware releases.
The name CyanogenMod derived from cyanogen (the name of a chemical compound adopted as a nickname by Kondik) + Mod (a term for user-developed modifications, known as modding).
History and development
Soon after the introduction of HTC Dream (named the "T-Mobile G1" in the United States) mobile phone in September 2008, a method was discovered to attain privileged control (termed "root access") within Android's Linux-based subsystem. Having root access, combined with the open-source nature of the Android operating system, allowed the phone's stock firmware to be modified and re-installed onto the phone.
In the following year, modified firmware for the Dream was developed and distributed by Android enthusiasts. One, maintained by a developer named JesusFreke, became popular among Dream owners. After Google issued its Android RC30 over-the-air update in November 2008 that fixed the bug that had previously been used for root access, he began offering modified versions that restored root access and gradually expanded them. In August 2009, JesusFreke stopped work on his firmware and suggested users to switch to a version of his ROM that had been further enhanced by developer Cyanogen (the online name used by Stefanie Kondik, a Samsung software engineer) called "CyanogenMod" (user adaptations being often known as modding).
CyanogenMod grew in popularity, and a community of developers, called the CyanogenMod Team (and informally "Team Douche") made contributions. Within a few months, the number of devices and features supported by CyanogenMod blossomed, and CyanogenMod became one of the popular Android firmware distributions.
Similar to many open-source projects, CyanogenMod was developed using a distributed revision control system with the official repositories being hosted on GitHub. Contributors submit new features or bugfix changes using Gerrit. Contributions may be tested by anyone, voted up or down by registered users, and ultimately accepted into the code by one of a handful of CyanogenMod developers.
A version of ADW.Launcher, an alternative launcher (home screen) for the Android operating system, became the default launcher on CyanogenMod 5.0.8. The launcher provides additional features not provided by the default Android launcher, including more customization abilities (including icon themes, effects, and behavior), the ability to backup and restore configuration settings, and other features. As of version 9, CyanogenMod's own launcher, Trebuchet, is included with the firmware.
Initially, CyanogenMod releases were provided on a nightly, milestone, and "stable version" schedule; as of CyanogenMod 11 M6, the "stable" label will no longer be used, having been supplanted by "milestone" M-builds that are part of the CyanogenMod's rolling release development model.
Current CyanogenMod version list:
CyanogenMod 7
CyanogenMod 7 firmware is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with additional custom code contributed by the CyanogenMod Team. The custom portions of CyanogenMod are primarily written by Cyanogen (Stefanie Kondik) but include contributions from the xda-developers community (such as an improved launcher tray, dialer, and browser) and code from established open-source projects (such as BusyBox in the shell).
CyanogenMod 7 development began when Google released Android 2.3's source code. On 15 February 2011, the first release candidates of CyanogenMod 7 were rolled out on several of the supported devices. The fourth release candidate was released on 30 March 2011 and brought increased support for the Nook Color and similar devices, as well as many bug fixes. On 11 April 2011, the public version of CyanogenMod 7.0 was released, based on Android 2.3.3. CyanogenMod 7.1 was released on 10 October 2011, based on Android 2.3.4. The latest stable version, CyanogenMod 7.2 was released on 16 June 2012, based on Android 2.3.7, bringing a predictive phone dialer, lock-screen updates, ICS animation backports and many bug fixes.
CyanogenMod 8
CyanogenMod version 8 was planned to be based on Android 3.x Honeycomb. However, as the source code for Honeycomb wasn't provided by Google until it appeared in the source tree history of its successor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the release schedule advanced from CyanogenMod 7 (Gingerbread) directly to CyanogenMod 9 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
CyanogenMod 9
CyanogenMod 9 is based on Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is the first version of CyanogenMod to use the Trebuchet launcher. Stefanie Kondik and her team have announced that they had begun work on the new release after Google released the source code of Android 4.0.1. Development on this release took longer than with previous releases due to the significance of the changes between Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" and 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich", and the team took this opportunity to clarify their vision for the ROM and rethink any modifications which were no longer necessary due to improvements within Android.
By the last days of November 2011, some alpha versions had been distributed, in particular for the Samsung mobile phones Nexus S and Galaxy S. On 9 August 2012, after various betas and release candidates, CyanogenMod released the finished version of CyanogenMod 9. Given that the next version of Android, 4.1 "Jelly Bean", had already been released by that point, development moved swiftly on to CyanogenMod 10. On 29 August 2012, CyanogenMod released a minor update, version 9.1.0, bringing bugfixes and an app called SimplyTapp for NFC payments.
On 4 April 2012, during development, CyanogenMod unveiled "Cid" (pronounced ), the new CyanogenMod mascot, which replaced the previous mascot, Andy the skateboarding "bugdroid". Designed by user Ciao, Cid (C.I.D.) is an abbreviation of "Cyanogenmod ID".
CyanogenMod 10
CyanogenMod 10.0
In early July 2012, the CyanogenMod team announced, via its Google+ account, that CyanogenMod 10 would be based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Nightly builds of CyanogenMod 10 were made available for many devices supported by CyanogenMod 9. Starting with the September 2012 M1 build, the CyanogenMod team began monthly "M-series" releases. At the beginning of each month, a soft freeze of the CyanogenMod codebase is put into effect; once the team deems a build stable enough for daily use, it is released under the milestone or "M" series.
On 13 November 2012, final stable builds were released for several devices.
CyanogenMod 10.1
CyanogenMod 10.1 is based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Nightly versions are currently being released for an array of devices, along with M Snapshots (Monthly Snapshots) which are being released for select devices.
On 24 June 2013, the CyanogenMod 10.1.0 codebase (based on Android version 4.2.2) was moved to "stable" status, with a majority of currently-supported devices receiving stable builds on the same day. CyanogenMod's developers have indicated that they will continue the Monthly Snapshot schedule to incorporate new features until the next Cyanogenmod release. Unfortunately, many devices utilizing Samsung Exynos and Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC's were not part of the initial release.
CyanogenMod 10.2
The first nightly release of CyanogenMod 10.2, which is based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, began rolling out for a selected number of devices on 14 August 2013. It brings in some new enhancements to the system, such as Bluetooth Low Energy and OpenGL ES 3.0 support, a renewed Phone app, 4K resolution support, as well as many security and stability improvements.
CyanogenMod 11
On 6 November 2013 the CyanogenMod team started pushing the code of CyanogenMod 11, based on Android 4.4 KitKat, to GitHub. The first nightly release of CyanogenMod 11.0 began rolling out for a selected number of devices on 5 December 2013. Since then, M-builds have been released every month for supported devices, offering a more stable experience than nightlies. With build M6 it was clarified that CyanogenMod would no longer be releasing final builds specially tagged "stable", but instead would utilize the rolling release model with M-builds representing a stable channel.
The global OnePlus One is shipped with a variant of CyanogenMod 11 M9 known as "CyanogenMod 11S". The latest version of CyanogenMod 11S for the One is 11.0-XNPH05Q, based on CyanogenMod 11 M11 and Android 4.4.4 "KitKat", and was released as an over-the-air (OTA) update in February 2015.
CyanogenMod 12
The first nightly release of CyanogenMod 12, based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, began rolling out for a selected number of devices on 6 January 2015. A stable snapshot was released on 25 June 2015, and a security patch snapshot was released on 1 September 2015.
Cyanogen OS 12, a variant of CyanogenMod 12 for the OnePlus One and Yu Yureka was released in April 2015. Yu Yuphoria got Cyanogen OS 12 out-of-the-box when it was launched in May 2015.
CyanogenMod 12.1
The first nightly release of CyanogenMod 12.1, based on Android 5.1, was announced on . A stable snapshot build was released on 1 September 2015, but nightly builds continue to roll out every day.
Lenovo ZUK Z1, Wileyfox Swift and Storm got Cyanogen OS 12.1 out-of-the-box when it was launched in September 2015.
YU's Yureka, Yureka Plus, and Yuphoria got a Cyanogen OS 12.1 OTA update.
CyanogenMod 13
The first nightly release of CyanogenMod 13.0, based on Android 6.0, was released on for a small number of devices, but was gradually developed for other devices. A few weeks after the first nightly release of CyanogenMod 13.0 for Android 6.0, CyanogenMod was given a minor update and was based on Android 6.0.1. First stable builds were released on 2016-03-15.
CyanogenMod 14.0
Due to the early release of Android 7.1, CyanogenMod skipped producing nightly builds for CyanogenMod 14.0. Code initially written for CyanogenMod 14 was cherry-picked into the cm-14.1 branch.
CyanogenMod 14.1
The first experimental build of Cyanogenmod 14.1 based on Android 7.1 was released for Oneplus 3 devices on 4 November 2016. On 8 November 2016, official nightlies began for angler (Huawei Nexus 6P), bullhead (LG Nexus 5X), cancro (Xiaomi Mi3w/Mi4), d855 (LG G3), falcon/peregrine/thea/titan/osprey (Moto G variants), h811/h815 (LG G4), klte/kltedv/kltespr/klteusc/kltevzw (Samsung Galaxy S5), oneplus3 (OnePlus 3), Z00L/Z00T (ZenFone 2). It is missing some of the signature features of CyanogenMod, however, and was considered a "work in progress". This version will add multi-window support.
This was the final release to use the name "CyanogenMod".
Fork to LineageOS
In December 2016 the CyanogenMod developer group forked and re-branded the CyanogenMod code into a new project named LineageOS, which is built on top of CyanogenMod versions 13 and 14.1 and uses the name LineageOS for subsequent releases. This project is supported by the community-operated LineageOS Project. LineageOS version 15.1 is the first release fully controlled by the new LineageOS team, although it will continue to include many of the common features previously provided in CyanogenMod.
Cyanogen Inc.
Cyanogen Inc. was a venture-funded company with offices in Seattle and Palo Alto, California, announced officially in September 2013, which aimed to commercialize CyanogenMod. The funding was led by Mitch Lasky of Benchmark and raised $7 million. It began when Kirt McMaster approached Stefanie Kondik on LinkedIn in 2013, to discuss possible commercialization of the project.
Commercialization controversy
Rumors of plans to commercialize CyanogenMod, as well as the subsequent announcement of Cyanogen Inc., led to a certain level of discord within the CyanogenMod community. Several CyanogenMod developers raised concerns that developers who had provided their work in the past were not being appropriately acknowledged or compensated for their free work on what was now a commercial project, further that the original ethos of the community project was being undermined and that these concerns were not being adequately addressed by Cyanogen Inc. Examples include the "Focal" camera app developer Guillaume Lesniak ("xplodwild") whose app was withdrawn from CyanogenMod allegedly following demands by the new company to adopt closed-source modifications and licensing.
In response, Stefanie Kondik affirmed commitment to the community, stating that the majority of CyanogenMod historically did not use GPL but the Apache licence (the same license used by Google for Android), and dual licensing was being proposed in order to offer "a stronger degree of protection for contributors... while still offering CM some of the freedoms that the Apache license offers":
Developer Entropy512 also observed that CyanogenMod was legally bound by its position to make some of the firmware changes, because of the Android license and marketing conditions ("CTS terms"), which specify what apps may and may not do, and these were raised in part by Android developers at Google informally speculatively as a result of perceptions of CyanogenMod's high profile in the market.
In his 2013 blog post on Cyanogen's funding, venture funder Mitch Lasky stated:
In January 2015, it was reported that Microsoft had invested in Cyanogen, and that this might be part of a strategy to create an Android version that worked well with Microsoft platforms. In April 2015, Cyanogen announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft, to integrate Microsoft apps and services into Cyanogen OS. In January 2016, Cyanogen rolled out an update that started presenting Microsoft applications when a user attempts to open certain file types on Cyanogen OS phones.
Restructure and cessation of services
Despite the popularity of CyanogenMod as a custom ROM, Cyanogen Inc. failed to persuade phone companies to use its version of Android. In July 2016 it fired around 30 of its 136 staff and management, including its product head, and closed its Seattle office (other offices were described as "gutted"), as part of a strategic change by the newly employed Chief Operating Officer Lior Tal. CEO Kirt McMaster also stepped down from his role in October 2016 with Tal becoming CEO at that point, and CyanogenMod founder Stefanie Kondik was believed to have been removed from the board and left a month later in November 2016.
Media analysis focused on dubious management decisions at Cyanogen Inc. as part of the reason for the failure. In 2014 the company abruptly notified its existing partner OnePlus – who used CyanogenMod for its phones and had just launched models in India – that it had reached an exclusive agreement covering India with another supplier, leading to an acrimonious breakup of their relationship, which was described in the media as "practically screwing over" and "betraying" OnePlus and a "surprisingly childish" move; OnePlus was banned from selling in India as a result. Subsequently, Cyanogen's CEO boasted of their intention to displace Google in controlling the Android operating system. Unable to gain sufficient uptake of its operating system, it then shifted focus and fired its core team and replaced its CEO, before shutting down its core operating system development operations.
A day after leaving, Stefanie Kondik wrote a blog post in which she stated that in hindsight, she had trusted and hired "the wrong people", who had not shared a common vision, and that she had ended up unable to prevent the failure of the company and the forming of a "new team" in its place. She drew attention to her own part in the failure, the loss of rights to the "CyanogenMod" name by the community, and to the rift in perception among Android developers ("The rest of the ROM community seems to be highly dependent on us, but simultaneously wants us dead. How on earth do you fix this?"). She asked the community to consider forking and rebranding the source code, possibly with some form of crowdfunding based on the project's underlying popularity.
On 23 December 2016, Cyanogen Inc. announced that it was shutting down the infrastructure behind CyanogenMod. This was shortly followed by news that the main CyanogenMod project would migrate, renaming itself as "LineageOS". On 24 December 2016, Head of Developer Relations and community forum administrator Abhisek Devkota, a Cyanogen "core team" member, wrote that the community had lost its "last remaining advocate" within the company and its voice in Cyanogen Inc. and its software's future. He stated that while "that this most recent action from [Cyanogen Inc.] is definitely a death blow for CyanogenMod", the community had already begun taking the steps needed to fork the project under a new name and aimed to return to its grassroots origins while retaining professional approaches adopted during the Cyanogen Inc. era. Due to the negative connotations attached to Cyanogen Inc's conduct, as well as the scope for legal dispute, the forked project decided not to use the existing brand names "Cyanogen" or "CyanogenMod", which in any case belonged to the company.
Industry reaction
Early responses of tablet and smartphone manufacturers and mobile carriers were typically unsupportive of third-party firmware development such as CyanogenMod. Manufacturers expressed concern about improper functioning of devices running unofficial software and the related support costs. Moreover, modified firmware such as CyanogenMod sometimes offer features for which carriers would otherwise charge a premium (e.g., tethering). As a result, technical obstacles including locked bootloaders and restricted access to root permissions were common in many devices.
However, as community-developed software has grown more popular and following a statement by the U.S. Library of Congress that permits "jailbreaking" mobile devices, manufacturers and carriers have softened their position regarding CyanogenMod and other unofficial firmware distributions, with some, including HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, providing support and encouraging development. As a result of this, in 2011 the need to circumvent hardware restrictions to install unofficial firmware lessened as an increasing number of devices shipped with unlocked or unlockable bootloaders, similar to the Nexus series of phones. Device manufacturers HTC and Motorola announced that they would support aftermarket software developers by making the bootloaders of all new devices unlockable, although this still violates a device's warranty. Samsung sent several Galaxy S II phones to the CyanogenMod team with the express purpose of bringing CyanogenMod to the device, and mobile carrier T-Mobile US voiced its support for the CyanogenMod project, tweeting "CM7 is great!".
Phone manufacturers have also taken to releasing "developer editions" of phones that are unlocked.
Licensing
Until version 4.1.11.1, CyanogenMod included proprietary software applications provided by Google, such as Gmail, Maps, Android Market (now known as Play Store), Talk (now Hangouts), and YouTube, as well as proprietary hardware drivers. These packages were included with the vendor distributions of Android, but not licensed for free distribution. After Google sent a cease and desist letter to CyanogenMod's chief developer, Stefanie Kondik, in late September 2009 demanding she stop distributing the aforementioned applications, development ceased for a few days. The reaction from many CyanogenMod users towards Google was hostile, with some claiming that Google's legal threats hurt their own interests, violated their informal corporate motto "Don't be evil" and was a challenge to the open-source community Google claimed to embrace.
Following a statement from Google clarifying its position and a subsequent negotiation between Google and Cyanogen, it was resolved that the CyanogenMod project would continue, in a form that did not directly bundle in the proprietary "Google Experience" components. It was determined that the proprietary Google apps may be backed-up from the Google-supplied firmware on the phone and then re-installed onto CyanogenMod releases without infringing copyright.
On 28 September 2009, Cyanogen warned that while issues no longer remain with Google, there were still potential licensing problems regarding proprietary, closed-source device drivers. On 30 September 2009, Cyanogen posted an update on the matter. Kondik wrote she was rebuilding the source tree, and that she believed the licensing issues with drivers could be worked out. She added that she was also receiving assistance from Google employees. On 16 June 2012, the CyanogenMod 7.2 release announcement stated: "CyanogenMod does still include various hardware-specific code, which is also slowly being open-sourced anyway."
Replicant is a CyanogenMod fork that removes all proprietary software and drivers and thus avoids all aforementioned legal issues. However, Replicant does not support devices that depend on proprietary drivers, which is most phones as of 2016.
Version history
Cyanogen OS
Cyanogen commercially developed operating systems that came pre-installed on some devices (OnePlus One, YU Yureka, YU Yuphoria, Andromax Q, BQ Aquaris X5, Lenovo ZUK Z1, Wileyfox Swift, Wileyfox Storm, Alcatel ONETOUCH POP Mirage) based upon the CyanogenMod source code.
Cyanogen OS is often distributed with additional bundled proprietary apps such as the Google Play ecosystem, and a suite of software unique to Cyanogen OS known as C-Apps. CyanogenMod does not include either by default, but users can obtain them separately if they wish.
Initially distinguished with the suffix -S (CyanogenMod 11S), with version 12 Cyanogen rebranded the custom offering as Cyanogen OS. Cyanogen started pushing Cyanogen OS 13 based on Android 6.0.1 to OnePlus One phones OTA on 9 April 2016 phase wise by the code name ZNH0EAS26M. CyanogenMod can be installed on Cyanogen OS devices.
Differences between CyanogenMod and Cyanogen OS
Supported devices
CyanogenMod officially supported a large number of devices, including most Nexus and Google Play Edition devices. It provided SNAPSHOT (stable) and NIGHTLY builds for more than 150 devices (on the development branch).
See also
Android rooting
Comparison of mobile operating systems
List of custom Android firmware
List of free and open-source Android applications
Open-source software
References
External links
()
Cloud clients
Custom Android firmware
Embedded Linux distributions
Free mobile software
Mobile Linux
Smartphones
Android forks
Linux distributions |
3528987 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broxbourne | Broxbourne | Broxbourne is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census. It's located to the south of Hoddesdon, and to the north of Cheshunt. The town is near the River Lea, which forms the boundary with Essex, and north of the M25 motorway. To the west of the town are Broxbourne Woods, a national nature reserve. The Prime Meridian runs just east of Broxbourne.
The town of Broxbourne is not to be confused with the Borough of Broxbourne, the town has the same name as the borough, but is much smaller.
Name
The name is believed to derive from the Old English words brocc and burna meaning Badger stream.
History
Broxbourne grew around inns on the Great Cambridge Road, now known as the A10. A number of old houses and inns dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries still line the High Street (now the A1170). The Hertfordshire Golf and Country Club is a 16th Century house with later alterations and additions.
The Manor of Broxbourne has an entry in the Domesday Book as Brochtsborne, where Broxbourne Mill is listed. The manor was held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but had passed into Norman hands following the Conquest. King John granted the manor to the Knights Hospitallers until the Dissolution, when it passed to John Cock, after whose family Cock Lane is named.
The parish church of St Augustine was entirely rebuilt in the 15th century, although a 12th-century Purbeck marble font survives. The interior has a number of monuments and brasses dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The three stage tower has a belfry with a peal of eight bells, three of which are dated 1615.
The New River which passes through the centre of the town, was constructed in the early 17th century. Broxbourne railway station was built in 1840. A terra cotta works was opened soon afterwards by James Pulham and Son, who specialised in creating artificial rock garden features; some of their work survives in the gardens at Sandringham House and Buckingham Palace.
Pulham House was demolished in 1957. All that remained was one of the six brick kilns and the horse-drawn puddling wheel that ground the terracotta, which are now Grade II listed. The local council originally conserved these in 1986, and in 2016 full conservation was undertaken as part of a joint project between B3Living, Lowewood Museum and Broxbourne Borough Council, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The area was exploited for its gravel and sand extraction in the twentieth century leaving numerous water-filled lakes. Several of the lakes form part of the Lee Valley Regional Park.
Local government
Broxbourne was a civil parish in the Ware Rural District from 1894 to 1935. In the latter year the more heavily populated eastern end of the parish was added to the Hoddesdon Urban District, while the rural western portion remained in Ware Rural District, forming part of the civil parish of Brickendon Liberty.
The former area of Hoddesdon Urban District merged with that of Cheshunt Urban District to form the Borough of Broxbourne in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972.
The local Member of Parliament is Charles Walker MP, who is from the Conservative party.
Broxbourne now forms one of thirteen wards of the borough, returning three councillors.
Sport and leisure
Broxbourne has a Non-League football club, F.C. Broxbourne Borough, who play at Goffs Lane.
2012 Summer Olympics
As part of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Spitalbrook was chosen as the venue for whitewater canoe and kayak slalom events. On 8 October 2007 the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) announced that due to contamination risks at the planned Spitalbrook site, an alternative site south was being investigated. Subsequently, on 16 April 2008 it was announced that the venue would be built at nearby Waltham Cross and situated on what was (at the time of the relevant press release) the overflow car park for the showground at the River Lee Country Park. The venue was initially known as Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre and later officially named Lee Valley White Water Centre.
Notable residents
Sir Edward Thackeray, recipient of the Victoria Cross
Broxbourne's Hedgegrove Farm was home to Dina St Johnston, who founded the UK's first independent software house.
Charles Deville Wells, known as ″the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo" (born in Broxbourne High Road in 1841). He was baptised by the Rev. Francis Thackeray, who was an uncle of the writer William Makepeace Thackeray and father of Sir Edward Thackeray (see above).
Pat Jennings, goalkeeper who played for Watford, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Northern Ireland.
Ray Clemence, goalkeeper who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and England.
Osvaldo Ardiles, Midfield who played for Tottenham Hotspur and Argentina.
Gillian Taylforth, actress
Richard Watts, nineteenth-century printer to the University of Cambridge, and of non-Roman scripts.
Elizabeth Maconchy, composer
See also
Broxbourne railway station
The Broxbourne School
References
Towns in Hertfordshire
Hoddesdon |
13565642 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivable%20Low%20Frequency%20Communications%20System | Survivable Low Frequency Communications System | The AN/FRC-117 Survivable Low Frequency Communications System (SLFCS) was a communications system designed to be able to operate, albeit at low data transfer rates, during and after a nuclear attack.
The system used both very low frequency (VLF), and low frequency (LF) radio bands.
Mission
SLFCS was used for United States nuclear forces' command and control communications for Emergency Action Message dissemination and force direction. Single channel, receive only capability was provided at ICBM launch control centers. The single channel operated between 14 kHz and 60 kHz to receive commands from remotely located Combat Operations Center – Transmit/Receive (T/R) sites; this low frequency range is only slightly affected by nuclear blasts.
SLFCS' primary advantage was that it would experience minimal radio signal degradation as a result of nuclear detonations. It would be an alternate means of communication during and after detonations, providing a survivable command and control communications network for the Strategic Air Command (SAC), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). SLFCS would also relay signals from the Navy's LF/VLF systems.
Locations
Transmitters
Silver Creek, Nebraska (1st Aerospace Communications Group)
Hawes Air Force Station, California (Det 2, 33rd Communications Squadron)
PACCS aircraft
NAOC (formerly known as NEACP)
GREEN PINE Stations
The GREEN PINE communication system took messages broadcast over SLFCS and 'upconverted' them to UHF messages for bombers headed north. There were a handful of GREEN PINE stations in the northern portions of Alaska and Canada.
Receive Only
Altus AFB, Oklahoma
Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (8th Air Force Command Post)
Beale AFB, California (9 SRW Command Post)
Blytheville AFB, Arkansas (97 BW Command Post)
Carswell AFB, Texas (7 BW Command Post)
Castle AFB, California (93 BW Command Post)
Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona - 390th SMW (18 LCCs) CLOSED
Dyess AFB, Texas (96 BW Command Post)
Eielson AFB, Alaska (6 SW Command Post)
Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota - 44th SMW (16 terminals - 15 LCCs and Wing Command Post) CLOSED
Fairchild AFB, Washington
F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming - 90th Missile Wing, 20th Air Force (21 terminals- 20 LCCs, 1 at 20th AF Missile Operations Center)
Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota - 321st SMW (16 terminals - 15 LCCs and Wing Command Post) CLOSED
Griffiss AFB, New York CLOSED
Grissom AFB, Indiana
K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan CLOSED
Little Rock AFB, Arkansas - 308th SMW (18 LCCs) CLOSED
Loring AFB, Maine (42 BW Command Post) CLOSED
Rickenbacker AFB, Ohio
Malmstrom AFB, Montana 341st SMW (20 terminals - 20 LCCs)
Mather AFB, California
McConnell AFB, Kansas 22 BW (Command Post), 381st SMW (18 LCCs) CLOSED
Minot AFB, North Dakota (5 BW/91 SMW 15 LCCs)
Pease AFB, New Hampshire (509 BW Command Post) CLOSED
Plattsburgh AFB, New York (380 BW Command Post) CLOSED
Robins AFB, Georgia (19 BW Command Post)
Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina (68 BW Command Post)
Travis AFB, California
Vandenberg AFB, California (1 STRAD Command Post)1 LCC O1A
Whiteman AFB, Missouri - 351st SMW (16 terminals - 15 LCCs and Wing Command Post) CLOSED
Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan (379 BW Command Post)
March AFB, California (15th AF COC)
History
The first program (487L) took six years from the time of the initial requirement to full operation. The second part (616A), which was basically a modification of an already operational system, took 10 years.
Chronology
1961
29 Sep – Headquarters USAF issues Specific Operating Requirement 193, for the Survivable Low Frequency Communications System; system is envisioned to link Alternate Joint Command Center with command centers of SAC, NORAD, SAC numbered air forces with LF radio networks; a total of 18 transmit/receive (T/R) sites and 375 LF-receive only (R/O) in all SAC launch facilities, mobile Minuteman trains, SAC air base control rooms, and SAC UHF positive control stations in the northern tier
1962
12 Mar – Amendment to SOR 193 changes number of transmit T/R sites to 19 (three each at AJCC, SAC, NORAD, two each at 2d Air Force, 15th Air Force and 8th Air Force, one each at Larson AFB, Southern Alaska, Sondrestrom AB, and the United Kingdom; Full Operating Capability was extended from July 1964 to May 1965.
27 Apr – A revised program directive delineated the network; T/R equipment would be installed at HQ SAC, the SAC numbered air force headquarters, and in the ABNCP, Alternate Joint Command Center (AJCC) and NORAD command center. 14 Green Pine stations, missile launch control centers, all SAC bomber wing command posts would have R/O terminals, as would the NORAD regional control centers. Initial Operating Capability (IOC) was placed at 1 Oct 1966.
1968
29 Jul 1968 – Silver Creek site accepted by SAC
19 Aug 1968 – Silver Creek site turned on for continuous operation
5 Sep 1968 – Silver Creek begins operational testing
1971
16 Jun – SLFCS IOC obtained by SAC units
1974
26 Jul – HQ USAF approves Program 616A (Improved SLFCS); system would improve SLFCS by providing anti-jam protection, improved modems, increased range and make it compatible with the Navy LF/VLF system
1978
SAC conducts Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota for Program 616A; test is successful
1986
30 Sep – deactivation of Hawes Radio Relay Site, Hinkley, California
20 Oct – destruction of Hawes Radio Relay Site by the Army Corps of Engineers
1996
Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting (REACT) upgrade to Minuteman launch control centers complete; advances allow SLFCS messages to be handled automatically by Higher Authority Communications/Rapid Message Processing Element (HAC/RMPE)
2005
11 Nov – last Minuteman Launch Control Center receives Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (MEECN) upgrade, rendering SLFCS obsolete.
2010 MMP – Minuteman Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network Program now in the upgrade portion. Work In Progress. Advanced EHF will be available once upgrade is complete.
Photo gallery
See also
Post Attack Command and Control System (PACCS)
Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN)
Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (MEECN)
Emergency Rocket Communications System (ERCS)
Hawes Radio Tower – Location of the West Coast SLFCS transmitter until the mid-1980s at Hawes field
Silver Creek Communications Annex – Location of the East Coast SLFCS transmitter until the mid-1990s
References
External links
Mojave Roads: "Hawes Journal"
Military radio systems of the United States
Nuclear warfare
United States Department of Defense
Military communications of the United States
United States nuclear command and control |
51114899 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information%20oriented%20software%20development | Information oriented software development | Information Oriented Software Development is a software development methodology focused on working with information inside a computer program as opposed to working with just data. A significant difference exists between data and information. Information Oriented Software Development relies on data structures specifically designed to hold information, and relies on frameworks that support those data structures. Information oriented software development focuses on the conceptual needs of users and customers rather than the data storage models and object models.
Information data structures
Information data structures are data structures specifically intended to support information inside a computer program. Two common ones are as follows:
Data structures to support Fuzzy logic.
Data structures to support concept combinations and concept Permutations.
See also
Knowledge representation
Domain-driven design
Information model
Data science
References
Software development
Software development process
Information |
24353392 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James%20Cook%20University%20School%20of%20Business | James Cook University School of Business | The James Cook University School of Business is a constituent of James Cook University which is responsible for Accounting, Economics, Business, Tourism, Marketing, Management, Development and Information Technology disciplines offered by James Cook University. The School of Business is located between the University's Cairn's Campus and Douglas Campus. The head of the school is Professor David Low.
Business
The James Cook University School of Business administrates a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the business. The school offers a number of majors to undergraduate students that focus on fields including tourism, management, economics, hospitality management and human resources management. The school also offers a wide range of postgraduate courses in similar disciplines. All School of Business undergraduate courses are CPA and ICAA accredited. The school of business resides in the Law, Business and Creative Arts building at the Townsville, Douglas campus and building A1 at the Cairns campus. The school also teaches through James Cook University's Brisbane and Singapore campuses.
Information on the technology
As well as of business related studies the School of Business also encompasses information technology disciplines. Based in both the Townsville and Cairns campuses the School of Business offer Australian Computer Society accredited Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in Information Technology. The Discipline of Information Technology is also a member of the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance and undergraduate students cover appropriate curriculum to complete Cisco Certified Network Associate and Microsoft Certified Professional certifications. The discipline of Information Technology is currently housed in the building 17 in Townsville, Douglas campus and building A2 at James Cook University's Cairns campus. The discipline of information technology also offers limited offerings at the Singapore and Brisbane campuses and also offers some subjects through the Beijing University of Technology.
History
The School of Information Technology (later to become the School of Maths, Physics and Information Technology) was founded in January 2000 at James Cook University to continue the disciplines in computer sciences previously taught by the University. First offered by the University in 1986 at the Townsville campus, computer science disciplines were also offered in the Cairns campus following the formation of the campus in 1996. The foundation of a formal school for these disciplines in 2000 also established a larger range of courses and subjects at both Campuses. Facilities for the school were housed in the Tropical Environmental Sciences and Geography (TESAG) building until the merger with the School Maths and Physical Sciences in 2006 when the school was entirely moved to the nearby building 17. In January 2009 the former School of Information Technology was detached from The School of Maths and Physical Sciences and merged with the School of Business as part of a large restructuring of James Cook University.
It's one of the best universities in the world.
eResearch Center
James Cook University's eResearch Center, forming part of the School of Business, provides specialist facilities for research into the "application of information management and communications technologies to carry out better and more efficient research and collaborative practices". The current Director of the facility is Associate Professor Ian Atkinson. The facility based in the Maths, Physics and Information Technology building at James Cook University's Townsville campus.
References
Business schools in Australia
James Cook University
2000 establishments in Australia |
8640719 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-barrier%20transistor | Surface-barrier transistor | The surface-barrier transistor is a type of transistor developed by Philco in 1953 as an improvement to the alloy-junction transistor and the earlier point-contact transistor. Like the modern Schottky transistor, it offered much higher speed than earlier transistors and used metal–semiconductor junctions (instead of semiconductor–semiconductor junctions), but unlike the schottky transistor, both junctions were metal–semiconductor junctions.
Production process
Philco used a patented process of applying two tiny electrochemical jet streams of liquid indium sulfate (electrolyte solution) on opposite sides of a thin strip of N-type germanium base material. This process would etch away and form circular well depressions on each side of the N-type germanium base material, until the germanium base material was ultra thin and having a thickness of approximately a few ten-thousandths of an inch. After the etching process was finished, the polarity applied to the electrolyte was reversed, resulting in metallic indium being electroplated into these etched circular well depressions, forming the transistor's emitter and collector electrodes. The Philco surface-barrier transistor was the world's first high-frequency junction transistor, which was capable of obtaining frequencies up to 60 MHz. It was developed and produced at the Lansdale Tube Company-division of Philco Corporation. Philco Corporation had produced a late 1950s production film about its surface-barrier transistor manufacturing processes and product developments that was titled, "Philco Transistors - The Tiny Giants Of The Future".
Transistor radios
The world's first all-transistor car radio, was developed and produced by Chrysler and Philco in 1955. Chrysler offered this all-transistor car radio, the Mopar model 914HR, as an "option" in the fall of 1955, for its new line of 1956 Chrysler and Imperial cars. Philco was the manufacturer of these all-transistor car radios for the Chrysler Corporation and had also used its surface-barrier transistors in the radio's circuitry design.
Commercial manufacturing license agreements
Starting in 1955, Philco had decided to sell commercial manufacturing license agreements with other large electronic semiconductor companies, which allowed them the right to produce and sell its high-frequency surface-barrier transistors. Sprague Electric Company was one of the first companies to purchase a license agreement from Philco in late 1955 and started to manufacture the surface-barrier transistors under its Sprague name, in early 1956. Another company to purchase a license agreement from Philco in early 1957, was Semiconductors Limited, a division of the British-based Plessey Company. In 1959, General Transistor Corporation had also purchased a license agreement from Philco, to manufacture its complete line of high-speed transistors.
Military satellites
In 1956, Philco had developed an "improved" higher-speed version of its original surface-barrier transistor, which was used in military applications and was called the surface-barrier diffused-base transistor (SBDT). Philco had used surface diffusion of a gaseous form of phosphorus atom particles, to penetrate the surface of the intrinsic semiconductor base material. The Philco SBDT transistor was capable of operating in the UHF range. Philco's SBDT improved surface-barrier transistor, was used in the early prototype design of the 10-milliwatt Minitrack satellite transistorized (radio beacon) transmitter, for the United States Navy Vanguard I satellite project program.
On January 31, 1958, the United States first artificial Earth satellite was launched by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Cape Canaveral in Florida, which was called Explorer 1, and was developed by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Explorer 1 satellite's payload, consisted of a low-power Microlock transistorized (radio beacon) 108.00 MHz transmitter, which was used for tracking and telemetry, and had consisted of a Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistor in its original circuitry designs.
Transistorized computers
The Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistor was also the first transistor that was suitable for high-speed computers. Philco developed and produced a miniature transistorized computer called the "Transac" (models C-1000 and C-1100), for the Navy's jet fighter planes in 1955. "Transac" stood for "Transistor Automatic Computer." They used Philco's high-frequency surface-barrier transistors.
In 1955, MIT's Lincoln Laboratory researchers started to design and build the first transistorized general purpose programmable 18-bit computer, called the "TX-0." It was an experimental computer, used to test transistor logic circuitry and large capacity magnetic-core memory, and was completed and operational in April 1956. The TX-0 computer's circuitry consisted of 3600 transistors and used the Philco high-frequency L-5122 surface-barrier transistor in its design. MIT's Lincoln Laboratory commenced the design and construction of a large-scale transistorized programmable 36-bit general purpose computer in 1957, which was called the "TX-2." It was operational in 1958, and utilized 22,000 transistors that included Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistors.
In June 1955, Philco was awarded a contract with the National Security Agency to build a transistorized scientific computer, which was named the "SOLO" and used high-frequency surface-barrier transistors. The SOLO transistorized computer was the world's first completely transistorized computer, and was later commercially marketed by Philco as the Transac S-1000 scientific computer model. Also, later in 1955, Philco contracted with the United States Navy David Taylor Basin Research Unit to build a larger-scale fully transistorized computer using its high-frequency surface-barrier transistor technology, named the CPXQ model. It was later commercially marketed by Philco as the Transac S-2000 electronic data processing computer model.
During 1955-56, Ferranti-Canada was in charge of miniaturizing the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR (Digital Automatic Tracking and Resolving) seaborne tactical data defense computer. Ferranti-Canada had used Philco's SB-100 surface barrier transistors in its experimental transistorized prototype circuitry designs.
In late 1956, Ferranti-Canada had built the world's first experimental transistorized computer mail-sorting system (Route Reference Computer). It was delivered to the Canadian Postal System in January 1957 and was capable of sorting 36,000 letters an hour. This experimental computerized mail-sorter had used the Philco surface-barrier (SB-100) transistors in its circuitry design.
Philco's Transac models S-1000 scientific computer and S-2000 electronic data processing computer were the world's first commercially produced large-scale all-transistor computers, which were introduced in 1957 and used these high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its circuitry designs.
In June 1957, the Burroughs Corporation transistorized ground guidance computer (AN/GSQ-33) was built and installed at Cape Canaveral missile test range, for the United States Air Force's Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile defense system (ICBM). This transistorized ground guidance Atlas computer system was designed by Burroughs engineer Issac Auerbach and used Philco's high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its circuitry design.
In 1956-57, Remington Rand St. Paul Univac-division of Sperry Rand Corporation, had designed and built a transistorized "test" computer for the United States Air Force, which was called "TRANSTEC". It was designed by Univac's St. Paul engineer Seymour Cray, and use Philco's high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its computer's circuitry design. This was Univac's first computer designed with transistors and was used to test transistor logic circuits and also its speed and reliability, compared to magnetic amplifier (MAGSTEC) and vacuum tube circuit computers. After Univac had demonstrated the TRANSTEC computer to the United States Air Force, it was awarded a contract to build a transistorized ground guidance (Athena) ICBM defense computer.
In 1957, Remington Rand St. Paul Univac-division of Sperry Rand Corporation, had built a transistorized ground guidance Athena computer, for the United States Air Force's Titan 1 intercontinental ballistic missile defense system (ICBM). It was designed by Univac's St. Paul engineer Seymour Cray, and used Philco's high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its computer's circuitry design.
In March 1958, Remington Rand St. Paul Univac-division of Sperry Rand Corporation had built and delivered a transistorized 30-bit AN/USQ-17 computer, for the United States Navy Tactical Data System (NTDS). It was designed by Univac's St. Paul engineer Seymour Cray starting on January 1957, and used Philco's high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its computer's circuitry design.
Philco's high-frequency surface-barrier transistors were also used in the circuitry design of the first transistorized supercomputer. The supercomputer was called the UNIVAC LARC (Livermore Advanced Research Computer), and was built by Remington Rand Philadelphia Univac-division of Sperry Rand Corporation. It was then delivered to the Atomic Energy Commission-University of California's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in May 1960. A second Univac LARC transistorized supercomputer, using Philco's surface-barrier transistor technology, was contracted and delivered in October 1960 to the United States Navy-David Taylor Basin Research Unit.
References
External links
Transistors, A. A. Vxrela, United States Patent number: 2843809
Transistor Process and Apparatus, Jjotlovarir V.Gappert, United States Patent number: 2876184
Transistor Museum: Historic Transistor Photo Gallery: Philco A01
Transistor Museum: Historic Transistor Photo Gallery: Surface Barrier Transistor
Transistor types
1953 introductions
Bipolar transistors |
25519718 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocuWare | DocuWare | DocuWare is a provider of document management software providing repository and workflow automation functions, also referred to as enterprise content management (ECM) or more recently content services. The company is headquartered in Germany and the United States.
DocuWare is also the name of the flagship product offered by the company. Besides being offered as cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS), it is also available with feature parity for installation on-premises. The software is available in 16 languages. DocuWare is distributed via a global network of 500 authorized DocuWare partners (ADP) as well as directly to key accounts. As of January 2017, DocuWare is used by 16,000 customers in 70 countries.
Company History
On October 27, 1988, DOCUNET GmbH was founded in Germering, Germany (near Munich) by President Jürgen Biffar. Since 1990, Mr Biffar has been managing the company with his colleague, Thomas Schneck, currently President of Sales. DOCUNET AG was renamed to DocuWare AG in August 2000.
Since 1999, DocuWare has outsourced parts of its development to Sofia, Bulgaria. As of 2016, Nemetschek OOD had 42 employees working on the DocuWare product. DocuWare GmbH holds a 20 percent stake in Nemetschek OOD.
Subsidiaries
• DocuWare Corporation (New Windsor), founded January 1, 2001
• DocuWare Ltd (Nottinghamshire), founded April 1, 2005
• DocuWare SARL (Paris), founded September 1, 2008
• DocuWare S.L. (Barcelona), founded July 1, 2009
In April 2012, an investment agreement was signed between the company and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital LP, a Morgan Stanley Investment Management private equity fund. Its aim was promoting and accelerating the global growth of DocuWare. The legal form, AG (Public Holding Company) changed to GmbH (limited liability corporation).
The company acquired U.S.-based Westbrook Technologies Inc., developer of Fortis ECM software in August 2013. In 2014, Westbrook Technologies Inc. was merged into DocuWare Corporation.
At the beginning of 2016 DocuWare appointed Dr Michael Berger as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Dr Berger joined the company in 2008 as Vice President Research & Development.
On January 1, 2019 Jürgen Biffar and Thomas Schneck have stepped back from their operational roles after 30 years, and Dr. Michael Berger and Max Ertl started their new roles as Co-Presidents.
On August 6, 2019 DocuWare was acquired by Ricoh. DocuWare continues to operate as a standalone subsidiary of Ricoh.
Product History
1988 – Development of a DACS-Board (DACS = Document Archiving and Communication System)
1990 – DACS Office, first software solution running on Windows 3.0 to store, search, display and print documents (Windows 3.0: Released May 22, 1990)
1993 – DocuWare 3.0, customizable file cabinets, structure not pre-set; Sending of documents out of DocuWare
1998 – DocuWare 4.0, first 32-Bit Version
2006 – DocuWare 5.0, new development based on .NET technology
2008 – DocuWare Web Client, web-based document management
2009 – DocuWare SaaS, first SaaS via private cloud
2012 – DocuWare Online, first SaaS via public cloud
2014 – DocuWare Online was renamed to DocuWare Cloud and ported to Microsoft Azure Platform
Certifications
ISO 9001
ISO 27001
SOC 2
IDW ERS FAIT 3
HIPAA-compliant
Awards
Keypoint Intelligence - Buyers Lab (BLI) - 2018 Outstanding Content & Workflow Management Platform
Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI) - 2014 5-Star Rated for Product and Program Version 6 Online
Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI) - 2013 5-Star Rated for Product and Program Version 6 and wins Summer Pick Award Outstanding Document Management Solution
See also
Document Management
Enterprise Content Management
Records Management
References
External links
Document management systems
Software companies of Germany
Cloud computing |
50304989 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics%20in%20epic%20poetry | Athletics in epic poetry | In epic poetry, athletics are used as a literary tools to accentuate the themes of the epic, to advance the plot of the epic, and to provide a general historical context to the epic. Epic poetry emphasizes the cultural values and traditions of the time in long narratives about heroes and gods. The word "athletic" is derived from the Greek word athlos, which means a contest for a prize. Athletics appear in some of the most famous examples of Greek and Roman epic poetry including Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid.
Greek epic poetry
Iliad
Achilles and Hector
In Iliad 22, Achilles is seeking to avenge the death of Patroclus by killing Hector, Patroclus' killer. After being distracted by Apollo, Achilles: spoke, and stalked away against the city, with high thoughts in mind, and in tearing speed, like a racehorse with his chariot who runs lightly as he pulls the chariot over the flat land. Such was the action of Achilleus in feet and quick knees (Iliad 22.21-24, Richmond Lattimore, Translator).Priam, the King of Troy, was the first to spot the rapidly approaching Achilles. Calling out to Hector, Priam warned Hector about the approaching Achilles and pleaded with Hector to return into the city. Despite Priam's pleading, Hector stayed outside the walls of Troy ready to fight to the death against Achilles. However, moments before Achilles reached Hector, Hector was overtaken with fear and decided to flee. Hector and Achilles:ran beside these, one escaping, the other after him. It was a great man who fled, but far better he who pursued him rapidly, since here was no festal beast, no ox-hide they strove for, for these are prizes that are given men for their running. No, they ran for the life of Hektor, breaker of horses. As when about the turnposts racing single-foot horses run at full speed, when a great prize is laid up for their winning, a tripod or a woman, in games for a man’s funeral, so these two swept whirling about the city of Priam in the speed of their feet, while all the gods were looking upon them (Iliad 22.157-66, Richmond Lattimore, Translator).
The funeral games for Patroclus
Synopsis
In Iliad 23, Achilles organizes a series of athletic competitions to honor Patroclus, the fallen Achaean hero. The games also served as a break-point in the Trojan war following the crucial return of Achilles to the battlefield and the death of Hector. Following the burial of Patroclus, Achilles declares to the assembled Achaean Army that funeral games will be held in honor of Patroclus. Achilles then set fourth a number of his cherished possessions to serve as prizes for the ensuing athletic competitions .
In the first event, Diomedes won a very competitive chariot race with Athena's help. Following the chariot race, Epeios and Euryalos fought in a boxing match. Epeios ended the fight with one punch. Next, Odysseus and Telamonian Aias competed in a wrestling competition. Fearing injury, Achilles ended the wrestling competition in a tie. In the forth event, an Athena aided Odysseus won a foot race over Aias and Antilochos. After the footrace, Telamonian Aias and Diomedes faced off in duel with spears. Once again fearing injury, Achilles ended the fight early and gave Diomedes first because Diomedes would have ultimately won. In the sixth event, Polypoites won a discus throwing competition by launching a discus well beyond the marks set by the other participants. An archery competition between Teukros and Meriones ensued after the discus throwing competition. Meriones won the archery competition after praying for Apollo's help. For the final competition, Agamemnon and Meriones stepped forth to compete in a spear-throwing competition; however, Achilles declared Agamemnon the victor before the competition could take place.
Odyssey
The Phaeacian Games
In Odyssey 8, Odysseus lands on the island of the Phaeacians. During Odysseus' time there, the Phaeacians stage a series of athletic contests for Odysseus so that he could spread stories about the Phaeacians' athletic prowess. First, the Phaeacians competed in a foot race. Following the foot race, the Phaeacians battled each other in a fierce wrestling competition. After wrestling, the Phaeacians held jumping and boxing contests. The fifth and final event was the discus throw. After the discus competition, Odysseus is invited to show his athletic skills, but he declines the offer. After declining the offer, one Phaeacian, Euryalos, joked that Odysseus did not have the skills to compete in an athletic competition. This infuriated Odysseus. The angered Odysseus then grabbed a discus much larger and heavier than the ones used by the Phaeacians, and he swung back and released the discus. The discus landed well clear of the Phaeacians' earlier marks. Odysseus then challenged the Phaeacians to other athletic competitions, which they declined.
Odysseus and the Suitors
After evading the suitors' advances for many years in hopes that Odysseus might return, Penelope finally relented to the suitors' advances for her hand in marriage and set forth a challenge to determine which suitor she would marry. To obtain her hand in marriage, the suitor must string the bow of Odysseus and shoot an iron arrow clean through twelve axes. Telemachos, son of Odysseus and Penelope, stepped forth to attempt the athletic feat first in hopes of protecting his family's house. Telemachos tried three times to string the bow of Odysseus but failed each time. Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, stopped Telemachos from trying a fourth time. After Telemachos, suitor after suitor attempted the challenge, but all their attempts ended in failure. Odysseus, still disguised as an unknown beggar, then asked for a chance to shoot the bow. The suitors mockingly refused the disguised Odysseus' request, but Telemachos stepped in to give the beggar, Odysseus, a chance. Odysseus stepped up to line and took his time examining his bow. He then proceeded to string the bow with much ease, to the dismay of the suitors. Odysseus then released the string and let the arrow fly. It soared clean through all twelve axes. Odysseus then revealed himself, to much the shock of the suitors.
Argonautica
The Berbrykians
In Argonautica 2, the Argonauts landed on a stretch of land inhabited by a pretentious group of people called the Berbrykians. Ignoring the traditional welcoming practices, Amykos, the king of the Berbrykians, stepped forward immediately to inform the Argonauts of the Berbrykians' ordinance that no foreigners may leave until one member of the group competes in boxing match against him. Irritated, Polydeukes accepted Amykos' challenge quickly. The Argonauts and the Berbrykians gathered around as the two fighters prepared to fight. After strapping on the knuckle wraps, the fight began with great intensity. Amykos came out throwing punches left and right, but Polydeukes dodged Amykos' early onslaught with much ease. The two fighters traded punches back and forth until Polydeukes delivered a counter punch that sent Amykos to ground.
Other examples
Aethiopis and Little Iliad
The Aethiopis and the Little Iliad are lost epics of ancient Greek literature that follows the events of Iliad. In the few surviving fragments of the epic, the poem describes Agamemnon arriving to the battlefield in Troy to fight against the Achaeans. Agamemnon, wearing armor of Hephaestus, killed Antilochus, son of Nestor, which caused Achilles to become enraged. In his rage, Achilles kills Agamemnon and proceeds into the gates of Troy to inflict more casualties on Trojan army. As he entered the gates of Troy, Achilles was fatally struck with an arrow shot by Paris, assisted by Apollo. Odysseus and Ajax retrieved the body of Achilles. The Achaeans then hold burial rights for both Antilochus and Achilles. The burial of Achilles is attended by the goddess mother of Achilles, Thetis, along with her sisters and the muses. Following the funerals, the Achaeans honored Achilles' death with ceremonial games. In the games, Ajax and Odysseus competed for the title of greatest hero and for the grand prize of Achilles of precious armor.
The Little Iliad follows the events of the Aethiopis. The epic starts in middle of the funeral games for Achilles with Odysseus and Ajax competing for the armor of Achilles and the title of the greatest hero. After competing back and forth for some time, Odysseus, with the help of Athena, claimed victory over Ajax. Following his defeat, Ajax became mad and committed suicide.
The Battle of Frogs and Mice
As The Battle of Frogs and Mice begins, Puff-jaw, a frog, inquisitively asks the identity of the stranger, a mouse, near the edge of the water. The mouse replies that he is Crumb-snatcher, and he proceeds to boast about the abilities of mice. Becoming annoyed with Crumb-snatcher's boasting, Puff-jaw invites the mouse to climb onto his back so that the mouse could experience deeper water. The mouse agrees, and the two swim out into the water. However, as they get into deeper water, a snake appears. In fear, Puff-jaw dives below the water leaving Crumb-snatcher to die. In his final words, Crumber-snatcher calls out to Puff-jaw yelling, "On land you would not have been the better man, boxing, or wrestling, or running; but now you have tricked me and cast me in the water."
Homeric Hymns- III. To Apollo
Many are your temples and wooded groves, and all peaks and towering bluffs of lofty mountains and rivers flowing to the sea are dear to you, Phoebus, yet in Delos do you most delight your heart; for there the long robed Ionians gather in your honour with their children and shy wives: mindful, they delight you with boxing and dancing and song, so often as they hold their gathering. (Lines 140-164)
Hesiod's The Shield of Heracles
Preparing for battle, Heracles donned his armor and pick up his glorious shield. The shield was a gift from Anthea before he set off to complete his labours. Crafted and forged by the god Hephaestus with ivory and gold, the Shield of Heracles stood undefeated in battle. The shield bore images of men boxing and wrestling as hunters chased hares accompanied by their loyal dogs. Horsemen were set waiting to contend for prizes. Stuck in an unending race, charioteers urged their horses onto the finish, but the prize of gold forever lay out of reach.
Hesiod's Theogony
According to Hesiod's Theogony, the goddess Hecate:"greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents."
Hesiod's Work and Days
Hesiod wrote:"Then I crossed over to Chalcis, to the games of wise Amphidamas where the sons of the great-hearted hero proclaimed and appointed prizes. And there I boast that I gained the victory with a song and carried off an handled tripod which I dedicated to the Muses of Helicon, in the place where they first set me in the way of clear song." (Work and Days Lines 646-663)
Roman epic poetry
Aeneid
The funeral games for Anchises
In Aeneid 5, Aeneas organizes funeral games to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Anchises, the father of Aeneas. Aeneas invited the best of the Trojans and the Sicilians to complete for prizes and wreaths. A trumpet blew to signal the start of the games. For the first event, fans lined the beach to watch four crews of men race ships in the open water. After praying to the gods of the sea, Cloanthus raced to the finish taking first place. Next, Aeneas and the large number of spectators gathered to watch a group of Sicilians and Trojans compete in a footrace that was eventually won by Euryalus. Following the footrace, Dares and Entellus faced off in a heated boxing match. The match ended with Aeneas stepping to stop the fight and declaring Entellus the winner. After boxing, the Sicilian King, Acestes, fired a magnificent arrow from his bow to win the archery competition. In the final event, male youths competed in an equestrian military exercise.
Metamorphoses
Apollo and the Python
In Ovid's Metamorphoses 1, Apollo slays Python, the enormous serpent-like creature, with his bow and arrow. To honor Apollo's great accomplishment, the Pythian games were created to celebrate the death of Python. At the Pythian games, the youth competed in boxing, footraces, and chariot races. The winners of these events received oaken garland as their prize because laurel did not exist yet.
The Pythian Games were ceremonial games held every four years at a site near Delphi to honor Apollo's slaying of the serpent. The games were part of the Panhellenic Games and were held from about 586 B.C. to 394 A.D. The Pythian Games occurred at the third year of each Olympiad and was of second importance to the Olympics. The Pythian Games differed from the Olympic Games in that it also held musical competitions as part of the festival. The athletic competition consisted on four types of athletics: footraces, pentathlon, combat sports, and equestrian events. Starting in 582 B.C. The victors of these competitions received laurels wreaths as prizes for victory.
Acheloüs and Hercules
In Ovid's Metamorphoses 9, Acheloüs, a river god, tells Theseus the story of how he lost his horns. There was a very beautiful woman named Deianira, who had many suitors. The many suitors of Deianira gathered in the palace of Deianira's father in hopes of marrying her. However, once the other suitors realized that Acheloüs, a god, and Heracules, the son of Jupiter, wanted to marry Deianira, the other suitors withdrew from the competition. This left only Acheloüs and Hercules as the only two suitors. Each spoke to Deianira's father proclaiming they should be the one to have her hand in marriage. After Acheloüs concluded his speech, Hercules charged at Acheloüs and the two began to wrestle. At the first, the two grappled pretty evenly; however, after many attempts, Hercules finally started to get the better of Acheloüs. Hercules was locked onto Acheloüs' back and put Acheloüs into a strangle hold. Feeling impending defeat in this human form, Acheloüs transformed into a snake. Laughing, Hercules easily began to choke out the snake-formed Acheloüs. Hercules had defeated a much more fierce snake while just a baby, so Acheloüs was no match to Hercules in snake-form. Finally, Acheloüs decided to transform into a bull. Hercules grabbed the bull by the neck and shoved Acheloüs' head deep into the dirt. Then, Hercules grabbed Acheloüs' horn tore it from his head. Hercules then took Deianira as his wife.
Atalanta and Hippomenes
In Ovid's Metamorphoses 10, Venus tells Adonis the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes. Known for her beauty and running ability, Atalanta consulted a god to ask about marriage. The god responded by telling Atalanta that a husband is not for you, and the god also prophesied that Atalanta would not take this warring to heart. Worried by the god's message, Atalanta set forth a challenge for all her suitors. To win her hand in marriage, the suitor must beat her in a footrace. However, if the suitor lost, then he would be killed. Hippomenes watched from the stands as suitors met their grim fate, and he wondered why on a man would take such a risk just for a woman. However, Hippomenes caught a glimpse of Atalanta naked and was overcome by her beauty. Then, Hippomenes decided to challenge Atalanta to a footrace in hopes that he would be able to marry her. Before the race began, Hippomenes prayed to Venus for help. Venus gave Hippomenes three golden apples, and she told him to use apples to distract Atalanta during the race. The race began with the two running side by side, but as race wore on, Atalanta started to pull ahead of the tired of Hippomenes. Then, Hippomenes launched the first golden apple given to him by Venus. Atalanta became distracted and retrieved the golden apple allowing Hippomenes to take the lead. However, Atalanta quickly recovered and took the lead again. Hippomenes threw the second apple. Atalanta, once again, retrieved the golden apple and easily retook the lead. Finally, Hippomenes threw the final apple with all his strength. As Atalanta retrieved the third golden apple, Hippomenes crossed the finish line to win Atalanta's hand in marriage.
Peleus and Thetis
In Metamorphoses 11, Jupiter learns of the prophecy about a son born from Thetis, a sea god. The prophecy declared that the son of Thetis would achieve greater things than his father and would be considered greater than his father, which deeply frighten Jupiter. After the hearing the prophecy, Jupiter decided it would be best to have Peleus, Jupiter's mortal grandson, to take Thetis as a wife. Thus Peleus set out to find Thetis as Jupiter had suggested. Once Peleus found Thetis, Peleus made his advances towards her, but Thetis rejected Peleus. The rejected Peleus then lunged at Thetis and grabbed her around the neck. The two wrestled back and forth until Thetis changed into a bird. However, Peleus would not let go, so Thetis transformed into a tree. This transformation still did not work, so Thetis transformed into a tiger causing the scared Peleus to let go. After Thetis escaped, the dejected Peleus decided to consult the other sea gods for help. The sea gods told Peleus that he must bind Thetis up with chains while she slept and to hold her close until she changed back into her human form. Once Thetis fell asleep, Peleus approached and bound Thetis. Thetis attempted to free herself from Peleus grips by changing into many different forms, but nothing worked. Thetis finally relented and the baby Achilles was conceived.
Themes
Kleos and Timê
Kleos (glory) and Timê (renown) are recurrent themes throughout ancient epic. As the heroes progress through the epics, heroes work to achieve honor and glory through their actions, but also through their material possessions. Athletic competitions served as a way to gain glory for the characters in epic. In a historical context, athletes in the ancient Olympics were rewarded with highly valued prizes for their accomplishments. Their legacies still live on today through statues and monuments constructed in their honor hundreds of years ago. The funeral games in the Iliad and the Aeneid serve as two examples where athletes win material prizes, but also gain the glory and honor associated with the retelling of the story.
Historical context
Sports competitions are believed to have taken place over 3,000 years ago at Olympia in Greece; hence, the name the "Olympics". The first written account of the Games dates back to 776 BC. The exact origin and reasons behind the multi-day event is believed to be a result of ensuring peace between the city-states in the Hellenic world. These original games at Olympia gave rise to the Panhellenic Games. The Panhellenic games consisted of four individual "Olympic-Style" competitions held throughout the ancient Greek world. The served as a way to bring ancient Greece together.
Athletes trained to compete in the games starting at very young age. Located in every Greek city, gymnasiums and palaestras provided young Greek males with both a place to learn and to train. However, only the best the athletes were selected to compete in the Olympic games. Once selected, an athlete had to take an oath to compete in an honorable way and to abide by the rules. The athletes competed in a variety of different athletic events such as chariot racing, boxing, and wrestling. An athlete could expect a life of luxury should he win an event. In 600 B.C., an Athenian athlete would receive a large cash prize for victory. In later times victors would receive meals for the rest of their lives. In addition, great athletes could expect to be immortalized for all time in much the same way as the heroes in ancient epic. Statues and tombs celebrating the athletes in ancient Greece can still be seen today.
Further reading
References
Epic poetry |
63499689 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC%2027018 | ISO/IEC 27018 | ISO/IEC 27018 is a security standard part of the ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards. It was the first international standard about the privacy in cloud computing services which was promoted by the industry. It was created in 2014 as an addendum to ISO/IEC 27001, the first international code of practice for cloud privacy. It helps cloud service providers who process personally identifiable information (PII) to assess risk and implement controls for protecting PII. It was published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) under the joint ISO and IEC subcommittee, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27.
Standard Versions
That standard has two versions:
ISO/IEC 27018:2014
ISO/IEC 27018:2019
Structure of the standard
The official title of the standard is "Information technology — Security techniques — Code of practice for protection of personally identifiable information (PII) in public clouds acting as PII processors".
ISO/IEC 27018:2019 has eighteen sections, plus a long annex, which cover:
1. Scope
2. Normative References
3. Terms and definitions
4. Overview
5. Information security policies
6. Organization of information security
7. Human resource security
8. Asset management
9. Access control
10. Cryptography
11. Physical and environmental security
12. Operations security
13. Communications security
14. System acquisition, development and maintenance
15. Supplier relationships
16. Information security incident management
17. Information security aspects of business continuity management
18. Compliance
Objectives
The objective of this document, when used in conjunction with the information security objectives and controls in ISO/IEC 27002, is to create a common set of security categories and controls that can be implemented by a public cloud computing service provider acting as a PII processor. It has the following objectives:
Help the public cloud service provider to comply with applicable obligations when acting as a PII processor, whether such obligations fall on the PII processor directly or through contract.
Enable the public cloud PII processor to be transparent in relevant matters so that cloud service customers can select well-governed cloud-based PII processing services.
Assist the cloud service customer and the public cloud PII processor in entering into a contractual agreement.
Provide cloud service customers with a mechanism for exercising audit and compliance rights and responsibilities in cases where individual cloud service customer audits of data hosted in a multiparty, virtualized server (cloud) environment can be impractical technically and can increase risks to those physical and logical network security controls in place.
Advantages
Using this standard has the following advantages:
It provides a higher security to customer data and information.
It makes the platform more reliable to the customer, achieving a higher level than the competition.
Faster enablement of global operations.
Streamlined contracts.
It provides legal protections for cloud providers and users.
References
External links
ISO Website
Computer security standards
Information assurance standards
27018 |
43168970 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziften | Ziften | Ziften was a cybersecurity software company based in Austin, Texas, United States. The organization's endpoint protection platform is designed to provide advanced anti-virus, endpoint detection and response, and endpoint visibility and hardening for enterprise laptops, desktops, servers and cloud.
As of 2020, Ziften is out of business.
History
Ziften was founded in 2009 by Mark Obrecht who previously founded WholeSecurity, a behavior-based security and anti-phishing company that sold to Symantec in 2005.
In May 2012, Ziften raised $5.5 million in capital in a Series B round from Fayez Sarofim & Co. In July 2015, Ziften raised $24 million in capital from New York-based Spring Mountain Capital LP and Fayez Sarofim & Co. In April 2017, Ziften raised an additional $14.7M from Trousdale Ventures. The organization's total funding to date is $50M.
Mike Hamilton, previously Ziften's chief product officer, was appointed CEO in June 2018.
Product and Services
In September 2017, Ziften announced a series of managed security services, called Managed Assess Service, Managed Hunt Service, and Managed Respond Service, all designed to help organizations augment their security teams by getting additional help in monitoring EDR, analytics, and security forensics.
In November 2017, Microsoft announced new partnerships for its Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) service, including an integration with Ziften's Zenith security platform for macOS and Linux operating system support. The integration provides security events from onboarded macOS and Linux devices and surfaces them all within the Windows Defender ATP console. Ziften was later included as a member in the initial formation of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association.
In August 2018, Ziften enhanced its Zenith endpoint protection platform with advanced anti-virus capabilities. The new capabilities help to block file-based, file-less, and in-memory attacks. Zenith uses artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud to help protect enterprises.
References
External links
Ziften's Website
Companies based in Austin, Texas
Computer security software companies
Antivirus software
Computer security companies
Software companies established in 2009
Security companies of the United States
2009 establishments in Texas
2020 disestablishments in Texas
Software companies disestablished in 2020
Defunct software companies of the United States
Defunct companies based in Texas |
31055925 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo%203DS%20system%20software | Nintendo 3DS system software | The Nintendo 3DS system software is the updatable operating system used by the Nintendo 3DS.
Technology
OS
The Nintendo 3DS firmware can run in four different modes. NATIVE_FIRM is the native running kernel for Nintendo 3DS software (including the Home Menu). SAFE_MODE_FIRM is used for safe mode applications, such as the System Settings and System Updater. TWL_FIRM is the Nintendo DSi's native firmware and it is used for Nintendo DS/DSi backward compatibility. Finally, AGB_FIRM is the Game Boy Advance's native firmware and it is used to run Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. The NATIVE_FIRM is different for the New Nintendo 3DS.
The Nintendo Switch system software is believed to have evolved from the Nintendo 3DS system software.
User interface
HOME Menu
The HOME Menu is a graphical shell similar to the Nintendo DSi Menu and Wii U Menu for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 2DS systems. It is used to launch software stored on Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS Game Cards, applications installed on an SD card and DSiWare titles installed in the system's internal memory. Application icons are set in a grid navigable with the touchscreen or D-pad, and may be re-arranged via drag-and-drop. The number of icons per column can also be changed, from 1 icon up to 6. The menu can display up to 300 application tiles for applications on the SD card, and up to 40 for DSiWare titles. On the upper screen, a special 3D animated logo is displayed for each individual app, as well as system information such as wireless signal strength, date and time, and battery life, while on the bottom screen, application icons are displayed. It is also possible to change the screen's brightness while in the menu. Using the HOME button, users can suspend the current software that is running and bring up the HOME Menu, allowing the user to launch certain multitasking applications, such as the Internet Browser and Miiverse.
On April 25, 2012, a system update brought the introduction of a folder system. Up to 60 folders can be created. Applications can be dragged on top of a folder in order to move it, and from then on, more apps can be added to the folder using the same procedure, up to 60 apps per folder. A title for the folder is automatically created in order of creation (from "1" to "60"), but the name can also be edited by the user. Only the first character of the title will be displayed on the folder's icon. When apps inside folders receive StreetPass or SpotPass notifications, a notification icon will appear on top of the folder
On June 20, 2013, a system update brought the introduction of the Save Data Backup feature. This feature allows the user to back up save data from downloadable Nintendo 3DS software and most Virtual Console games. Creating a backup of save data allows users to delete software from the SD card without losing save data. The backup created will then be automatically restored when the user re-downloads software from the Nintendo eShop. A total of 30 save data backups can be stored at a time. It is not possible to back up save data from retail versions of Nintendo 3DS software, DSiWare, and Game Boy Advance software.
On October 6, 2014, the 9.0 system update brought a revamp of the entire HOME Menu with the exception of the multitasking applications, while also adding support for themes, allowing users to further customize their HOME Menu with a theme that adds new backgrounds and changes the folder icons, background music, and sound effects to match the theme.
An application called Nintendo Badge Arcade released in December 2014 in Japan, and November 2015 in America and Europe, allows yet further customizing of the HOME Menu, by using badges that are won in a pay-to-play crane game; these badges can then be accessed/used via an additional menu within the HOME Menu that is installed upon loading the game and then placed and removed like normal software icons/folders. Some badges act as shortcuts to access specific pre-installed applications, such as StreetPass Mii Plaza.
Nintendo 3DS Camera
"Nintendo 3DS Camera" is a built-in photo and video recorder with an integrated media gallery and photo editing functionality. The app uses the system's two front-facing cameras to take 3-D photos, and the user-facing camera to take regular 2-D photos. All photographs are taken at a resolution of 640 × 480 px (VGA), or 0.3 megapixels. In addition to manual recording controls, timers can be set to take a photo three or ten seconds after pressing the "Take" button, or by means of voice commands such as saying "OK!" when wishing to take a photo. SD Cards can hold up to about 3,000 photos. Because photo data size can vary, the number may be reduced by two, or it may not decrease at all.
There are various options and filters available when taking photos or recording video. In addition to the "Normal" mode, there is a "Low-Light" option, which is useful when taking photos and recording video in dark lighting conditions. Other options include manual controls such as the color type (normal, black and white, sepia, negative or solarize), sharpness, contrast and brightness. Real-time photo filters are also available including "Sparkle", which adds moving stars to the photo, "Dream", which adds a dream-like bright light to the photo, "Pinhole", which lightens the center of the screen and darkens the edges and "Mystery", which adds a random finish to the photo. There is also a special mode called "Merge", which takes a photo of the user facing the inner camera and merges the photo from someone facing the outer cameras.
On December 7, 2011, a system update added the ability to record 3-D video along three special recording options. "Interval Shot" allows sequences of images to be recorded in short-timed intervals to create time-lapse photography; "Frame Pick" edits still images together to create stop motion animation; and "Montage" lets the user pause and resume recording seamlessly. Videos can be recorded for up to 10 minutes. If the SD Card doesn't have enough space, available shooting time will be reduced. However, all recording modes only allow a single video to be up to ten minutes long.
Despite being more advanced than its predecessor, the software has fewer features than its predecessor, Nintendo DSi Camera.
Even if there's enough free space on the SD Card, it can hold a maximum combined total of 3,000 photos and videos.
Nintendo 3DS Sound
"Nintendo 3DS Sound" is a built-in music player and sound recorder. Supported audio codecs include MP3 audio (with .mp3 filename extensions) and AAC audio (with .mp4, .m4a, and .3gp filename extensions). Audio files can be played from an SD card, with visualizations displayed on the upper screen. Music can be played while the console is in Sleep Mode, using the system's headphone jack. When using headphones with an included mic and button, the button can toggle play/pause and skip to the next and previous track. A set of sound manipulation options are available, as well as several audio filters. Ten-second voice recordings also can be recorded, edited with audio filters, and manipulated through modulation and playback speed. Users may save and modify up to 18 of these in the console's memory and up to 180 on an SD card. These can then be used throughout other applications such as Swapnote.
There's a StreetPass function built-into the app. When the user StreetPass's someone who also has StreetPass enabled, both users exchange song data such as the song's name, artist, album, release year, and how many times it's been played. There is also a compatibility chart between the users involved. Depending on the number of matching songs from both users a score will be displayed, ranging from 0% to 100%, with the latter being the most compatible.
Despite being more advanced than its predecessor, the software features fewer filters and themes than its predecessor, Nintendo DSi Sound.
There is a security bug in Nintendo 3DS Sound that allows a buffer overflow and eventually, arbitrary code execution. This was patched out by Nintendo in System Firmware 11.3.
Pre-installed applications
Health & Safety Information
Nintendo 3DS/DS Game Card launcher
Nintendo 3DS Camera
Nintendo 3DS Sound
Mii Maker
StreetPass Mii Plaza
Nintendo eShop
AR Games
Face Raiders
Activity Log
Nintendo Zone (discontinued in all regions)
Download Play
System Settings
Downloadable applications
YouTube (United States, Canada, Europe & Japan only; discontinued in August 2019)
Netflix (United States and Canada only; discontinued June 2021)
Hulu Plus (United States and Japan only; discontinued February 2019)
Swapdoodle
Swapnote (SpotPass discontinued)
Nintendo Badge Arcade (discontinued)
Nintendo Video (discontinued)
Eurosport (Europe and Australia only; discontinued in December 2012)
Flipnote Studio 3D (only released on eShop in Japan - offered as a My Nintendo reward worldwide)
Save Data Transfer Tool
Multitasking applications
The Nintendo 3DS is capable of suspending an application and running one of six multitasking applications. Once a game or application is running, the user can press the Home button to suspend it and open the Home Menu. It is then possible to open another specially designed multitasking application built into the system without closing the currently suspended software. Attempting to open a game or application while another is already running will result in a prompt. These multitasking applications include:
Game Notes, which allows users to write and save notes, with screenshots from both screens of the current suspended software present to aid the user.
Friend List, a list of registered friends, with information such as their current status as well as current/favorite application; up to 100 friends can be registered by exchanging friend codes. The top LED light will flash orange if a registered friend comes online while the 3DS is active (not in sleep mode).
Notifications, whilst receiving notifications the top LED light will flash either blue or green, depending if it is a SpotPass or StreetPass notification, respectively.
Internet Browser
Miiverse, a social networking service dedicated to games and other applications; comments and software screenshots could be posted on dedicated software communities. It was discontinued.
Camera, a lightweight version of Nintendo 3DS Camera with most features omitted, accessed by holding the L and R buttons; unlike Nintendo 3DS Camera, QR codes can be read by the camera.
Home Menu Settings, a section that allows users to change their theme, add/remove badges, change the screen brightness and toggle Power Saving Mode at any time.
Miiverse and the Internet Browser are disabled while certain software (such as Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS) are suspended, due to that software's high usage of the 3DS's resources. However, this is not the case with the New Nintendo 3DS, which has upgraded hardware to allow this.
Network features
Nintendo Network
Nintendo Network is Nintendo's unified network infrastructure similar to Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live, and succeeds the previous Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. The Nintendo 3DS was the first system to support the new network infrastructure. Nintendo outlined that, while Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection had been created as a way for developers to experiment with their own network infrastructures and concepts, the Nintendo Network was created to be a fully unified network service. The new network infrastructure provides the means for a unified online multiplayer experience and other online interactions such as leaderboards and communication, as well as software downloads and streaming media services.
The Nintendo 3DS uses a Friend Code system much like the original Wii to connect to the network, with the exception that only one code is necessary for each console. This makes it much easier and more flexible for players to interact with each other over the Internet. Regardless of this, , some Nintendo Network services require a Nintendo Network ID account in order to be accessed, such as Nintendo eShop and Miiverse. This account can be shared with a Wii U and a Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Network administration team has moderators on staff to remove inappropriate content from its services, such as Miiverse.
SpotPass and StreetPass
StreetPass is a close proximity data exchange functionality which allows game content to be exchanged between Nintendo 3DS systems. Using the console's background connectivity in sleep mode, a Nintendo 3DS can automatically discover other Nintendo 3DS systems within range, establish a connection, and exchange content for mutually played games, all transparently and without requiring any user input. For example, in Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, if the user passes by someone with the same software, they will initiate a battle to collect trophies from each other. Each application's StreetPass content is stored in one of twelve "data slots" in the console. Using this data slot, Nintendo 3DS users can readily share and exchange content for multiple games at the same time whenever they are connected, regardless of what game card is currently in the console.
SpotPass is an "always on" background network connectivity system which can automatically seek and connect to wireless network nodes such as Wi-Fi hotspots, sending and downloading information in the background while in sleep mode or playing a game. SpotPass also makes uses of certified hotspots with partners such as AT&T in North America and The Cloud in the United Kingdom. Users are able to connect to these hotspots automatically and free of charge. Content that can be downloaded via SpotPass include full game and application downloads, firmware updates, patches, and specific in-game content. It can be customized to fit the user's preferences, including opting it out altogether for selected software. An application similar to an e-book reader is being considered to use this functionality to "automatically acquire magazine and newspaper articles".
On August 5, 2013, a system update introduced a new feature called StreetPass Relay. This feature allows users to exchange StreetPass data when passing by a certified Nintendo Zone hotspot with the last Nintendo 3DS user to pass by that same hotspot, if he or she too had StreetPass enabled. In the United States, there are over 29,000 Street Pass Relay Points, while Europe would see approximately 30,000. A day later, the feature also became available in Japan. StreetPass Relay points were later updated in North America and Europe to allow up to six users to be stored for exchange instead of one.
StreetPass Mii Plaza
StreetPass Mii Plaza is a StreetPass application which comes pre-installed on every Nintendo 3DS system. In it, players meet other players' Miis over StreetPass and online through Nintendo Network, and interact with them. In this application, the player's Mii can be customized with hats earned from mini games, along with a short customizable message and other information. When new Mii characters are encountered by the system, they will appear at the plaza gate. The player can then use them to play various mini games before encountering more Mii characters. Meeting the same Mii characters multiple times adds extra functionality, such as personalized messages and the ability to rate them. The application comes with three minigames, while further minigames can be purchased optionally.
Nintendo Zone Viewer
Nintendo Zone Viewer was a built-in application that detects and makes use of certified SpotPass hotspots. When a hotspot was detected, a notification would appear in the system's Home Menu. In this application, users could see game trailers, game screenshots, download game demos and view information about current and upcoming Nintendo 3DS titles. After the player leaves the hotspot the app remains on their Nintendo 3DS system, although no content can be accessed. Nintendo Zone Viewer was discontinued in North America in 2014.
Software updates
History
The first version of the 3DS system software was version 1.0.0-0, released on February 26, 2011, as included with launch consoles. In version 2.0.0-2, released on June 6, 2011, internet features such as the Internet Browser, Nintendo eShop and System Transfer (from a Nintendo DSi system) were released. Version 3.0, released December 7, 2011, added 3D video recording in Nintendo 3DS camera and system transfers between 3DS systems.
Version 4.0.0-7, released on April 24, 2012, added folders to the HOME menu and the ability for game developers to deliver patches (updates). Version 5.0.0-11, released on March 25, 2013, adds the ability to download titles while the system is sleeping. Version 6.0.0-12, released on June 17, 2013, added the ability to back up save data. Version 7.0.0-13, released on December 9, 2013, added support for Nintendo Network and Miiverse.
Version 8.0.0-18, released on July 7, 2014, was a minor update. Version 8.1.0-0 was pre-installed on Japanese launch New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL systems. Version 9.0.0-20, released on October 6, 2014, added themes. Version 9.0.0-20 was pre-installed on launch PAL region New 3DS systems and PAL/North American New 3DS XL systems. 9.8 was pre-installed on launch North American New 3DS systems. Version 10.0.0-27 was released on September 8, 2015. Version 11.0.0-33 was released on May 9, 2016, as a security update.
As of July 27, 2021, the latest system version is 11.15.0-47.
Nomenclature
The nomenclature of a firmware version, as it is shown on the 3DS System Settings, is divided into three parts: the first three numbers, separated by periods, represent the firmware version without eShop features (which is the one stored on retail cartridges); the number after the dash represents improvements related to the eShop and can only be obtained via online update; and finally, the letter at the end represents the region of the console. The possible letters are for China (C), Europe and Australia (E), Japan (J), South Korea (K), Taiwan (T), and the Americas (U) which are the six regions with exclusive firmware releases for each.
See also
Other gaming platforms from Nintendo:
Nintendo DSi system software
Wii system software
Wii U system software
Nintendo Switch system software
Other gaming platforms from this generation:
PlayStation 4 system software
PlayStation Vita system software
Xbox One system software
Other gaming platforms from the seventh generation:
PlayStation 3 system software
PlayStation Portable system software
Xbox 360 system software
References
Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo Network
Game console operating systems
Proprietary operating systems |
19923738 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%203/08 | G 3/08 | Under case number G 3/08, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO issued on May 12, 2010 an opinion in response to questions referred to it by the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Alison Brimelow, on October 22, 2008. The questions subject of the referral related to the patentability of programs for computers under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and were, according to the President of the EPO, of fundamental importance as they related to the definition of "the limits of patentability in the field of computing." In a 55-page long opinion, the Enlarged Board of Appeal considered the referral to be inadmissible because no divergent decisions had been identified in the referral.
The referral had been quoted as relating to the "deeply contentious question about how to assess the patentability of software-related inventions". Alison Brimelow had been reported to have been considering referring the issue to the Enlarged Board of Appeal for almost two years.
Some amicus curiae briefs had anticipated that the referral would be considered inadmissible under the legal provisions of the EPC, and in particular .
Background
In addition to the Boards of Appeal before which decisions of the first instances of the EPO can be contested, the EPO includes an Enlarged Board of Appeal. This board does not constitute an additional level of jurisdiction in the classical sense. This instance takes decisions only when the case law of the Boards of Appeal becomes inconsistent or when an important point of law arises. Its purpose is "to ensure uniform application of the law" and to clarify or interpret important points of law in relation to the European Patent Convention. Only the Boards of Appeal themselves and the President of the EPO can refer a question to the Enlarged Board of Appeal. In the first case, the Enlarged Board issues a decision, while in the latter case it issues an opinion. G 3/08 is a referral of the President of the EPO under .
Under , the patentability of programs for computers is excluded. However, provides that this exclusion only applies to the extent to which a European patent application or European patent relates to such programs for computers "as such". The interpretation of the exclusion, including the words "as such", have caused applicants, attorneys, examiners, and judges a great deal of difficulty since the EPC came into force in 1978. An interpretation, which is followed by the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, is that an invention is patentable if it provides a new and non-obvious technical solution to a technical problem.
Referrals to the Enlarged Board of Appeal are said to be rare, happening only with the most complex questions. The patentability of software has provoked fierce debate in Europe over the recent years, especially in relation to the proposed European Union (EU) directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions. The directive was rejected in 2005 by the European Parliament, a decision that was welcomed by those on both sides of the debate, by those supporting the patentability of software in Europe as well as those opposing it.
Questions
Four questions have been referred by the President of the EPO to the Enlarged Board of Appeal. The four questions have been chosen to look at four different aspects of patentability in the field of computer programs.
Question 1: Claim category
A divergence between decisions T 1173/97, making no distinction between categories of claims, especially between computer-implemented claims and computer program claims, and T 424/03, making a distinction between these two categories, is cited as justifying this question.
Question 2: Claim as a whole
A divergence between decisions T 1173/97 and T 258/03 is cited as justifying this question. Under T 1173/97, computer programs are methods, and in order to have a technical character computer programs must demonstrate a further technical effect (which goes beyond the "normal" physical interactions between program (software) and computer (hardware)). Under T 258/03, a method acquires a technical character simply by involving technical means.
Question 3: Individual features of a claim
A divergence between, on the one hand, decisions T 163/85 and T 190/94, according to which a technical effect on a physical entity in the real world is required (to escape the exclusion under Article 52(2)(c) and (3)), and, on the other hand, T 125/01 and T 424/03, according to which the technical effects can be essentially confined to the respective computer programs, is cited as justifying this question.
Question 4: The activity of programming
A divergence between decisions considering that a programmer's activity, i.e. writing computer programs, falls within the exclusions of Article 52(2)(c) (T 833/91, T 204/93, and T 769/92) and decisions having taken the opposite view (T 1177/97 and T 172/03) is cited as justifying the question.
Statements by third parties (Amicus curiae briefs)
On November 11, 2008, the Enlarged Board of Appeal decided to announce in the Official Journal of the EPO "further provisions concerning statements by third parties on the points of law concerning the patentability of programs for computers referred to it by the President of the European Patent Office". The expected announcement was made in the Official Journal of January 2009. Namely, any written statements, i.e. amicus curiae briefs, had to be filed by the end of April 2009.
Around a hundred amicus curiae briefs have been submitted, including briefs by Accenture, the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI), Apple Inc., BT, BUSINESSEUROPE, Canonical Group Ltd, the Computer & Communication Industry Association (CCIA), Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), DIGITALEUROPE, Ericsson, the European Patent Institute (epi), the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI), France Télécom, IBM, the Irish Free Software Organisation (IFSO), ITechLaw, the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), Prof. Donald Knuth, Licensing Executives Society International (LESI), Microsoft Corporation and General Electric Company, Philips, the Pirate Party, Pitney Bowes, the Polish Patent Office, Red Hat, SAP, Siemens, Prof. Joseph Straus, the UNION of European Practitioners in Industrial Property, and the United Kingdom.
Reception to the referral and further developments
According to the New York Times, the referral had been welcomed "by lawyers and software engineers alike".
After the referral, the England and Wales Court of Appeal did not give the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) leave to appeal to the House of Lords regarding the Symbian's Patent Application case, "because in its view it would be premature for the House of Lords to decide what computer programs are patentable before the issue has been considered by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the [EPO]."
Interlocutory decision of 16 October 2009
In an interlocutory decision of 16 October 2009, the Enlarged Board of Appeal dealt with an objection of partiality raised in an amicus brief. The objection of partiality was against a particular member of the Board, Dai Rees, and against the Board as a whole. The Enlarged Board of Appeal concluded that there was "no reason to exclude Mr Rees from its composition in case G 3/08 or to replace further members." The original composition of the Board therefore remained unchanged.
Opinion
The reasons for the opinion first address the admissibility of the referral. After considering that the President of the EPO had not forfeited her right to a referral because the preceding President, Alain Pompidou, had declined in 2007 to refer questions to the Enlarged Board Appeal (when suggested to do so by British judge Lord Justice Jacob), the Board considered the referred questions to be undoubtedly of fundamental importance under . The Board goes on by writing that the president's right of referral to the Enlarged Board does not extend to means of replacing Board of Appeal rulings with the decision of a putatively higher instance, as / does not constitute a further instance ranking above the Boards of Appeal within the EPC judicial system. According to the Board, "[the EPO's Boards of Appeal] are ... assigned interpretative supremacy with regard to the EPC in terms of its scope of application". The notion of "legal development" and its normal character are also addressed, in the context of the reference to "different decisions" in , a requirement considered crucial for the referral to be admissible. The Board then concludes its "fundamental considerations on the interpretation of Article 112(1)(b) EPC" (before considering the questions of the referral themselves) as follows:
"the President [of the European Patent Office] has no right of referral under Article 112(1)(b) EPC simply in order to intervene, on whatever grounds, in mere legal development if on an interpretation of the notion of "different decisions" in the sense of conflicting decisions there is no need for correction to establish legal certainty."
Reactions
Justine Pila argued that the basis for this decision is an interpretation of Article 112(1)(b) that is inconsistent with the principles of Articles 31 and 33 of the Vienna Convention, and that it offends the constitutional principles from which it was expressly derived. Namely she criticizes that the Boards’ approach
suffers from the same faulty logic for which the EBA criticized the President’s referral,
lacks doctrinal and theoretical coherence, and
is incapable of producing legal certainty, either within the EPC or national (European) patent systems.
She concluded by criticizing the opinion, stating notably that "the EBA [had] rendered a decision that is higher on democratic language than democratic content" and that "the only hope is for the European or national Legislatures to recognize that “judiciary-driven legal development” within the EPO has indeed met its limits".
See also
List of decisions and opinions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO
List of decisions of the EPO Boards of Appeal relating to Article 52(2) and (3) EPC
G 1/19, pending referral dealing with the patentability of computer-implemented simulations
References and notes
Further reading
Swen Kiesewetter-Köbinger, "Anmerkungen zu neuesten Softwarepatententscheidungen EPA G_3/08 und BGH, Beschl. v. 22. April 2010 – Dynamische Dokumentengenerierung", GB - Der Grüne Bote, July 2010, pp. 201–206.
Reinier B. Bakels, 'Software Patentability: What Are the Right Questions?', 31 EIPR 2009, p. 514-522.
External links
Complete file, including the referral from the President of the EPO and the opinion of the Enlarged Board of Appeal
Referral as published in the Official Journal of the EPO: Referral by the President of the European Patent Office to the Enlarged Board of Appeal dated 23 October 2008 regarding divergent decisions of two boards of appeal, OJ EPO 3/2009, pp. 142–166
G3/08: amicus curiae briefs
Opinion of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (G 3/08), EPO website
Enlarged Board's area of the EPO website (to use the Enlarged Board of Appeal's own words, in G 3/08, Summary of the proceedings, II. 1)
Software patent case law
G 2008 3
2008 in case law
2008 in Europe |
30256855 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast%20Lines | Coast Lines | Coast Lines Limited provided shipping services in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Channel Islands from 1917 to 1971.
History
Powell, Bacon and Hough Lines Ltd was formed in 1913 in Liverpool. The name of Coast Lines Limited was adopted in 1917, when the company was purchased by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company at a cost of £800,000. (equivalent to £ in ),
In 1931, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was dissolved after the Royal Mail Case and the chairman Lord Kylsant was imprisoned in 1931 for misrepresenting the state of the company to shareholders.
Coast Lines achieved independence under the chairmanship of Sir Alfred Read (1871-1955), who had previously been a director.
From 1917 to 1951, Coast Lines acquired a controlling interest in a large number of coastal shipping companies, eventually numbering about twenty, of which the most important were:
British and Irish Steam Packet Company (1917)
City of Cork Steam Packet Company (1918)
Laird Lines (1919)
Belfast Steamship Company (1919)
Tedcastle McCormick and Company (1919)
City of Dublin Steam Packet Company (1919)
Ayr Steam Shipping Company (1919)
G & J Burns Ltd (1920)
Burns Steamship Company (1920)
Ardrossan Harbour Company (1920)
Little Western Steamship Company (1920)
London Welsh Steamship Company (1924)
British Motor Ship Company (1925)
John Westcott Ltd (1925)
Dundalk and Newry Steam Packet Company (1926)
Michael Murphy Limited (1926)
David MacBrayne Ltd (jointly with the London, Midland and Scottish Railway) (1928)
Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company (1943)
North of Scotland, Orkney & Shetland Steam Navigation Company (1961)
By 1951, the company operated a fleet of 109 ships, which carried over four million tons of cargo, over half a million head of livestock, and more than a million passengers.
The British and Irish Steam Packet Company and the City of Cork Steam Packet Company were sold off in 1965 to the Irish Government.
The remains of the company was acquired by P&O Ferries in 1971
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies based in Liverpool
Shipping companies of England
British companies established in 1917
Transport companies established in 1917
Transport companies disestablished in 1971
1917 establishments in England
1971 disestablishments in England
David MacBrayne |
43795889 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiffy%20SureMerge | Guiffy SureMerge | Guiffy SureMerge is a data comparison utility. In addition to comparing files, the program is capable of doing side-by-side comparison of directories and archives.
The program is also capable of performing automatic 3-way file merges. It is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Unix operating systems.
Reception
In December 2002 Guiffy SureMerge was awarded five out of five Cows by Tucows on all 3 platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux). Scott Swedorski, editor-in-chief and founder of Tucows, said, "To our knowledge, Guiffy is the first multi-platform application to receive 5 Cows for all versions."
In June 2006 Guiffy Suremerge received the Jolt Productivity Award. Rick Wayne, a Jolt Award judge, said, "Guiffy Software's SureMerge uses an advanced set of three-way merge algorithms to detect potentially dangerous conflicts other tools might miss."
In a November 2008 review, Guiffy SureMerge was awarded five out of five stars by CNET. The reviewers found Guiffy SureMerge to be a "tool with serious muscle and a much easier, more intuitive interface than you'll find on any freeware package".
Features
Automatic 3-way file merge
Highlight the differences within the line
Compare views saved as reports (in HTML)
Support for ASCII, MBCS, Unicode character encoding and editing
Syntax highlighting
Ignore of case, white space, comments, regular expressions
Folder compare of file trees with explorer expand/collapse interface
Folder compares of archive files (.zip, .tar, .jar and several variants)
64 bit supports file diff/merge > 2GB
Image diff tool
Binary diff tool
Command line interfaces
Java API
Eclipse and NetBeans plugins
Shell (desktop) integration on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
SCM integrations including: Perforce, Git, and Subversion
See also
Diff
Comparison of file comparison tools
Merge (revision control)
References
External links
Guiffy Software Inc. website
File comparison tools |
973888 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security%20Assertion%20Markup%20Language | Security Assertion Markup Language | Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML, pronounced SAM-el, ) is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between parties, in particular, between an identity provider and a service provider. SAML is an XML-based markup language for security assertions (statements that service providers use to make access-control decisions). SAML is also:
A set of XML-based protocol messages
A set of protocol message bindings
A set of profiles (utilizing all of the above)
An important use case that SAML addresses is web-browser single sign-on (SSO). Single sign-on is relatively easy to accomplish within a security domain (using cookies, for example) but extending SSO across security domains is more difficult and resulted in the proliferation of non-interoperable proprietary technologies. The SAML Web Browser SSO profile was specified and standardized to promote interoperability.
Overview
The SAML specification defines three roles: the principal (typically a human user), the identity provider (IdP) and the service provider (SP). In the primary use case addressed by SAML, the principal requests a service from the service provider. The service provider requests and obtains an authentication assertion from the identity provider. On the basis of this assertion, the service provider can make an access control decision, that is, it can decide whether to perform the service for the connected principal.
At the heart of the SAML assertion is a subject (a principal within the context of a particular security domain) about which something is being asserted. The subject is usually (but not necessarily) a human. As in the SAML 2.0 Technical Overview, the terms subject and principal are used interchangeably in this document.
Before delivering the subject-based assertion from IdP to the SP, the IdP may request some information from the principal—such as a user name and password—in order to authenticate the principal. SAML specifies the content of the assertion that is passed from the IdP to the SP. In SAML, one identity provider may provide SAML assertions to many service providers. Similarly, one SP may rely on and trust assertions from many independent IdPs.
SAML does not specify the method of authentication at the identity provider. The IdP may use a username and password, or some other form of authentication, including multi-factor authentication. A directory service such as RADIUS, LDAP or Active Directory that allows users to log in with a user name and password is a typical source of authentication tokens at an identity provider. The popular Internet social networking services also provide identity services that in theory could be used to support SAML exchanges.
History
The OASIS Security Services Technical Committee (SSTC), which met for the first time in January 2001, was chartered "to define an XML framework for exchanging authentication and authorization information." To this end, the following intellectual property was contributed to the SSTC during the first two months of that year:
Security Services Markup Language (S2ML) from Netegrity
AuthXML from Securant
XML Trust Assertion Service Specification (X-TASS) from VeriSign
Information Technology Markup Language (ITML) from Jamcracker
Building on these initial contributions, in November 2002 OASIS announced the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 1.0 specification as an OASIS Standard.
Meanwhile, the Liberty Alliance, a large consortium of companies, non-profit and government organizations, proposed an extension to the SAML standard called the Liberty Identity Federation Framework (ID-FF). Like its SAML predecessor, Liberty ID-FF proposed a standardized, cross-domain, web-based, single sign-on framework. In addition, Liberty described a circle of trust where each participating domain is trusted to accurately document the processes used to identify a user, the type of authentication system used, and any policies associated with the resulting authentication credentials. Other members of the circle of trust could then examine these policies to determine whether to trust such information.
While Liberty was developing ID-FF, the SSTC began work on a minor upgrade to the SAML standard. The resulting SAML 1.1 specification was ratified by the SSTC in September 2003. Then, in November of that same year, Liberty contributed ID-FF 1.2 to OASIS, thereby sowing the seeds for the next major version of SAML. In March 2005, SAML 2.0 was announced as an OASIS Standard. SAML 2.0 represents the convergence of Liberty ID-FF and proprietary extensions contributed by the Shibboleth project, as well as early versions of SAML itself. Most SAML implementations support v2.0 while many still support v1.1 for backward compatibility. By January 2008, deployments of SAML 2.0 became common in government, higher education, and commercial enterprises worldwide.
Versions
SAML has undergone one minor and one major revision since 1.0.
SAML 1.0 was adopted as an OASIS Standard in November 2002
SAML 1.1 was ratified as an OASIS Standard in September 2003
SAML 2.0 became an OASIS Standard in March 2005
The Liberty Alliance contributed its Identity Federation Framework (ID-FF) to the OASIS SSTC in September 2003:
ID-FF 1.1 was released in April 2003
ID-FF 1.2 was finalized in November 2003
Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of SAML are similar even though small differences exist., however, the differences between SAML 2.0 and SAML 1.1 are substantial. Although the two standards address the same use case, SAML 2.0 is incompatible with its predecessor.
Although ID-FF 1.2 was contributed to OASIS as the basis of SAML 2.0, there are some important differences between SAML 2.0 and ID-FF 1.2. In particular, the two specifications, despite their common roots, are incompatible.
Design
SAML is built upon a number of existing standards:
Extensible Markup Language (XML): Most SAML exchanges are expressed in a standardized dialect of XML, which is the root for the name SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language).
XML Schema (XSD): SAML assertions and protocols are specified (in part) using XML Schema.
XML Signature: Both SAML 1.1 and SAML 2.0 use digital signatures (based on the XML Signature standard) for authentication and message integrity.
XML Encryption: Using XML Encryption, SAML 2.0 provides elements for encrypted name identifiers, encrypted attributes, and encrypted assertions (SAML 1.1 does not have encryption capabilities). XML Encryption is reported to have severe security concerns.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): SAML relies heavily on HTTP as its communications protocol.
SOAP: SAML specifies the use of SOAP, specifically SOAP 1.1 .
SAML defines XML-based assertions and protocols, bindings, and profiles. The term SAML Core refers to the general syntax and semantics of SAML assertions as well as the protocol used to request and transmit those assertions from one system entity to another. SAML protocol refers to what is transmitted, not how (the latter is determined by the choice of binding). So SAML Core defines "bare" SAML assertions along with SAML request and response elements.
A SAML binding determines how SAML requests and responses map onto standard messaging or communications protocols. An important (synchronous) binding is the SAML SOAP binding.
A SAML profile is a concrete manifestation of a defined use case using a particular combination of assertions, protocols and bindings.
Assertions
A SAML assertion contains a packet of security information:
<saml:Assertion ...>
..
</saml:Assertion>
Loosely speaking, a relying party interprets an assertion as follows:
Assertion A was issued at time t by issuer R regarding subject S provided conditions C are valid.
SAML assertions are usually transferred from identity providers to service providers. Assertions contain statements that service providers use to make access-control decisions. Three types of statements are provided by SAML:
Authentication statements
Attribute statements
Authorization decision statements
Authentication statements assert to the service provider that the principal did indeed authenticate with the identity provider at a particular time using a particular method of authentication. Other information about the authenticated principal (called the authentication context) may be disclosed in an authentication statement.
An attribute statement asserts that a principal is associated with certain attributes. An attribute is simply a name–value pair. Relying parties use attributes to make access-control decisions.
An authorization decision statement asserts that a principal is permitted to perform action A on resource R given evidence E. The expressiveness of authorization decision statements in SAML is intentionally limited. More-advanced use cases are encouraged to use XACML instead.
Protocols
A SAML protocol describes how certain SAML elements (including assertions) are packaged within SAML request and response elements, and gives the processing rules that SAML entities must follow when producing or consuming these elements. For the most part, a SAML protocol is a simple request-response protocol.
The most important type of SAML protocol request is called a query. A service provider makes a query directly to an identity provider over a secure back channel. Thus query messages are typically bound to SOAP.
Corresponding to the three types of statements, there are three types of SAML queries:
Authentication query
Attribute query
Authorization decision query
The result of an attribute query is a SAML response containing an assertion, which itself contains an attribute statement. See the SAML 2.0 topic for an example of attribute query/response.
Beyond queries, SAML 1.1 specifies no other protocols.
SAML 2.0 expands the notion of protocol considerably. The following protocols are described in detail in SAML 2.0 Core:
Assertion Query and Request Protocol
Authentication Request Protocol
Artifact Resolution Protocol
Name Identifier Management Protocol
Single Logout Protocol
Name Identifier Mapping Protocol
Most of these protocols are new in SAML 2.0.
Bindings
A SAML binding is a mapping of a SAML protocol message onto standard messaging formats and/or communications protocols. For example, the SAML SOAP binding specifies how a SAML message is encapsulated in a SOAP envelope, which itself is bound to an HTTP message.
SAML 1.1 specifies just one binding, the SAML SOAP Binding. In addition to SOAP, implicit in SAML 1.1 Web Browser SSO are the precursors of the HTTP POST Binding, the HTTP Redirect Binding, and the HTTP Artifact Binding. These are not defined explicitly, however, and are only used in conjunction with SAML 1.1 Web Browser SSO. The notion of binding is not fully developed until SAML 2.0.
SAML 2.0 completely separates the binding concept from the underlying profile. In fact, there is a brand new binding specification in SAML 2.0 that defines the following standalone bindings:
SAML SOAP Binding (based on SOAP 1.1)
Reverse SOAP (PAOS) Binding
HTTP Redirect (GET) Binding
HTTP POST Binding
HTTP Artifact Binding
SAML URI Binding
This reorganization provides tremendous flexibility: taking just Web Browser SSO alone as an example, a service provider can choose from four bindings (HTTP Redirect, HTTP POST and two flavors of HTTP Artifact), while the identity provider has three binding options (HTTP POST plus two forms of HTTP Artifact), for a total of twelve possible deployments of the SAML 2.0 Web Browser SSO Profile.
Profiles
A SAML profile describes in detail how SAML assertions, protocols, and bindings combine to support a defined use case. The most important SAML profile is the Web Browser SSO Profile.
SAML 1.1 specifies two forms of Web Browser SSO, the Browser/Artifact Profile and the Browser/POST Profile. The latter passes assertions by value whereas Browser/Artifact passes assertions by reference. As a consequence, Browser/Artifact requires a back-channel SAML exchange over SOAP. In SAML 1.1, all flows begin with a request at the identity provider for simplicity. Proprietary extensions to the basic IdP-initiated flow have been proposed (by Shibboleth, for example).
The Web Browser SSO Profile was completely refactored for SAML 2.0. Conceptually, SAML 1.1 Browser/Artifact and Browser/POST are special cases of SAML 2.0 Web Browser SSO. The latter is considerably more flexible than its SAML 1.1 counterpart due to the new "plug-and-play" binding design of SAML 2.0. Unlike previous versions, SAML 2.0 browser flows begin with a request at the service provider. This provides greater flexibility, but SP-initiated flows naturally give rise to the so-called Identity Provider Discovery problem, the focus of much research today. In addition to Web Browser SSO, SAML 2.0 introduces numerous new profiles:
SSO Profiles
Web Browser SSO Profile
Enhanced Client or Proxy (ECP) Profile
Identity Provider Discovery Profile
Single Logout Profile
Name Identifier Management Profile
Artifact Resolution Profile
Assertion Query/Request Profile
Name Identifier Mapping Profile
SAML Attribute Profiles
Aside from the SAML Web Browser SSO Profile, some important third-party profiles of SAML include:
OASIS Web Services Security (WSS) Technical Committee
Liberty Alliance
OASIS eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) Technical Committee
Security
The SAML specifications recommend, and in some cases mandate, a variety of security mechanisms:
TLS 1.0+ for transport-level security
XML Signature and XML Encryption for message-level security
Requirements are often phrased in terms of (mutual) authentication, integrity, and confidentiality, leaving the choice of security mechanism to implementers and deployers.
Use
The primary SAML use case is called Web Browser Single Sign-On (SSO). A user utilizes a user agent (usually a web browser) to request a web resource protected by a SAML service provider. The service provider, wishing to know the identity of the requesting user, issues an authentication request to a SAML identity provider through the user agent. The resulting protocol flow is depicted in the following diagram.
1. Request the target resource at the SP (SAML 2.0 only) The principal (via an HTTP user agent) requests a target resource at the service provider: <nowiki>https://sp.example.com/myresource</nowiki> The service provider performs a security check on behalf of the target resource. If a valid security context at the service provider already exists, skip steps 2–7.
2. Redirect to the SSO Service at the IdP (SAML 2.0 only)The service provider determines the user's preferred identity provider (by unspecified means) and redirects the user agent to the SSO Service at the identity provider: <nowiki>https://idp.example.org/SAML2/SSO/Redirect?SAMLRequest=request</nowiki> The value of the SAMLRequest parameter (denoted by the placeholder request above) is the Base64 encoding of a deflated <samlp:AuthnRequest> element.
3. Request the SSO Service at the IdP (SAML 2.0 only) The user agent issues a GET request to the SSO service at the URL from step 2. The SSO service processes the AuthnRequest (sent via the SAMLRequest URL query parameter) and performs a security check. If the user does not have a valid security context, the identity provider identifies the user (details omitted).
4. Respond with an XHTML form The SSO service validates the request and responds with a document containing an XHTML form: <form method="post" action="https://sp.example.com/SAML2/SSO/POST" ...>
<input type="hidden" name="SAMLResponse" value="response" />
...
<input type="submit" value="Submit" />
</form> The value of the SAMLResponse element (denoted by the placeholder response above) is the base64 encoding of a <samlp:Response> element.
5. Request the Assertion Consumer Service at the SP The user agent issues a POST request to the assertion consumer service at the service provider. The value of the SAMLResponse parameter is taken from the XHTML form at step 4.
6. Redirect to the target resource The assertion consumer service processes the response, creates a security context at the service provider and redirects the user agent to the target resource.
7. Request the target resource at the SP again The user agent requests the target resource at the service provider (again): <nowiki>https://sp.example.com/myresource</nowiki>
8. Respond with requested resource Since a security context exists, the service provider returns the resource to the user agent.
In SAML 1.1, the flow begins with a request to the identity provider's inter-site transfer service at step 3.
In the example flow above, all depicted exchanges are front-channel exchanges, that is, an HTTP user agent (browser) communicates with a SAML entity at each step. In particular, there are no back-channel exchanges or direct communications between the service provider and the identity provider. Front-channel exchanges lead to simple protocol flows where all messages are passed by value using a simple HTTP binding (GET or POST). Indeed, the flow outlined in the previous section is sometimes called the Lightweight Web Browser SSO Profile.
Alternatively, for increased security or privacy, messages may be passed by reference. For example, an identity provider may supply a reference to a SAML assertion (called an artifact) instead of transmitting the assertion directly through the user agent. Subsequently, the service provider requests the actual assertion via a back channel. Such a back-channel exchange is specified as a SOAP message exchange (SAML over SOAP over HTTP). In general, any SAML exchange over a secure back channel is conducted as a SOAP message exchange.
On the back channel, SAML specifies the use of SOAP 1.1. The use of SOAP as a binding mechanism is optional, however. Any given SAML deployment will choose whatever bindings are appropriate.
See also
SAML metadata
SAML-based products and services
Identity management
Identity management systems
Federated identity
Information card
WS-Federation
OAuth
OpenID Connect
References
External links
OASIS Security Services Technical Committee
Cover Pages: Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
How to Study and Learn SAML
Demystifying SAML
First public SAML 2.0 identity provider
XML-based standards
Computer access control
Identity management
Federated identity
Identity management systems
Metadata standards |
5895437 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixxx | Mixxx | Mixxx is free and open-source software for DJing. It is cross-platform and supports most common music file formats. Mixxx can be controlled with MIDI and HID controllers and timecode vinyl records in addition to computer keyboards and mice.
Overview
Mixxx is a DJ Automation and digital DJ performance application and includes many features common to digital DJ solutions as well as some unique ones: It natively supports advanced MIDI and HID DJ controllers, is licensed under the GPL-2.0-or-later and runs on all major desktop operating systems. The project was started in early 2001 for a doctoral thesis as one of the first digital DJing systems. Over 1,000,000 downloads of the program occur annually and as of Mixxx 1.10.0, 100 developers and artists have helped create Mixxx. Recent versions support harmonic mixing and beatmatching, both manually and automatically.
Format support
Mixxx can read most popular audio formats, including MP3, Vorbis, Opus, AIFF and FLAC. v1.8 introduces a plug-in system to be able to read other formats, including patent-encumbered ones whose decoders cannot legally be distributed in binary form with Mixxx, such as Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). Any such plug-ins are automatically loaded at run-time if present. Mixxx can also play module files when compiled with the modplug=1 build flag, and can use LV2 plugins for effects.
Hardware
Any sound card that is supported by the operating system is usable in Mixxx. Mixxx supports various software APIs for using sound cards on different operating systems, namely ASIO, WASAPI, and DirectSound on Windows; OSS, ALSA, and JACK on Linux; and CoreAudio on Mac OS X, all via PortAudio.
For external hardware control, Mixxx can support any MIDI or HID controller as long as there is a mapping to tell Mixxx how to interpret the controller's signals. Mixxx includes mappings for many DJ controllers and users can create their own mappings as well. It is the only DJ software capable of using a fully featured programming language, JavaScript, for creating mappings with advanced controller interaction and feedback.
Turntables and CDJ media players can control Mixxx with the timecode control sub-system which is built on xwax. Like xwax, Mixxx supports timecode vinyl made by several manufacturers.
Reception
One of the free and open-source applications available in the Mac App Store, in less than 48 hours from debut in February 2011, Mixxx became the #1 Top Free App in the USA, Germany, and Italy.
Mixxx has been accepted as a mentoring organization in Google Summer of Code 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020.
See also
List of free software for audio
References
External links
Audio mixing software
DJ software
Free music software
Free audio editors
Electronic music software
Audio software that uses Qt
Linux media players
Cross-platform free software
Audio software with JACK support |
57794068 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline%20VPN | Outline VPN | Outline VPN is a free and open-source tool that deploys Shadowsocks servers on multiple cloud service providers. The software suite also includes client software for multiple platforms. Outline was developed by Jigsaw, a technology incubator created by Google.[3]
The Outline Server supports self-hosting, as well as cloud service providers including DigitalOcean, Rackspace, Google Cloud Platform, and Amazon EC2. Installation involves running a command on its command line interface, or in the case of installing on DigitalOcean or Google Cloud, its graphical user interface.
Components
Outline has three main components:
The Outline Server acts as a proxy and relays connections between the client and the sites they want to access. It is based on Shadowsocks, and offers a REST API for management of the server by the Outline Manager application.
The Outline Manager is a graphical application used to deploy and manage access to Outline Servers. It supports Windows, macOS and Linux.
The Outline Client connects to the internet via the Outline Server. It supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, Android, and iOS.
Security and privacy
Outline uses the Shadowsocks protocol for communication between the client and server. Traffic is encrypted with the IETF ChaCha20 stream cipher (256-bit key) and authenticated with the IETF Poly1305 authenticator.
Outline is free and open-source, licensed under the Apache License 2.0, and was audited by Radically Open Security and claims not to log users’ web traffic. The Outline Server supports unattended upgrades.
Outline is not a true VPN solution but rather a Shadowsocks-based proxy. The two technologies are similar in the way they can be used to redirect network traffic and make it appear as originating from another device (the server), and hide the traffic’s final destination from observers and filters until it reaches the proxy server. However, a VPN has additional capabilities, such as encapsulating traffic within a virtual tunnel, and allowing connected devices to “see” each other (as if they were connected to a LAN).
Outline is not an anonymity tool, and it doesn't provide the same degree of anonymity protections as Tor, which routes traffic through three hops rather than just one and also protects against attacks like browser fingerprinting.
Critical reception
In March 2018, Max Eddy of PCMag stated that a preview version of Outline VPN was "startlingly easy to use" and "removes privacy concerns associated with VPN companies". However, Eddy criticized the software for not encrypting all traffic on Windows, and warned users that "individual use may lack some anonymity compared [to] large VPN companies".
Since version 1.2, the Outline Windows client came out of 'Beta', effectively beginning to encrypt all traffic from the device, on par with the Outline clients for macOS, Chrome OS, Android, and iOS.
See also
Comparison of virtual private network services
Internet privacy
References
External links
Virtual private networks
Free security software
Free server software
2018 software
Free proxy servers
Alphabet Inc. |
51690740 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascale%20Fung | Pascale Fung | Pascale Fung (馮雁) (born in Shanghai, China) is a professor in the Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology(HKUST). She is the director of the newly established, multidisciplinary Centre for AI Research (CAiRE) at HKUST. She is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for her “contributions to human-machine interactions”, an elected Fellow of the International Speech Communication Association for “fundamental contributions to the interdisciplinary area of spoken language human-machine interactions” and an elected Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) for her “significant contributions toward statistical NLP, comparable corpora, and building intelligent systems that can understand and empathize with humans”.
She is a member of the Global Future Council on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, a think tank of the World Economic Forum, and blogs for the Forum's online publication Agenda. She is a member of the Partnership on AI. She has been invited as an AI expert to different government initiatives in China, Japan, the UAE, India, the European Union and the United Nations.
Fung's publication topics include spoken language systems, natural language processing, and empathetic human-robot interaction. She co-founded the Human Language Technology Center (HLTC) and is an affiliated faculty with the Robotics Institute and the Big Data Institute, both at HKUST. Additionally, she is the founding chair of the Women Faculty Association at HKUST. She is actively involved in encouraging young women into careers in engineering and science.
Early life and education
Fung was born to professional artist parents in Shanghai, China, who gave her an early education in the arts. Her mother was a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, and her father of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now known as the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts). An ethnic Han Chinese, she also has Indonesian and mixed ancestry through her maternal and paternal grandmothers. Her early immersion in the arts has a great impact on her interest in applying technology to art. At age 11, she emigrated to Hong Kong with her mother and sister while her father was permitted to join them later on. She has been a science fiction fan since she read her first book about robots at age seven. This, and her fondness of mathematics, motivated her to study computer engineering later on. She graduated from Belilios Public School, the oldest girls’ school in Hong Kong, where she founded the Electronics Club and the Astronomy Club. She did not find the environment encouraging to her ambition of becoming an engineer. This experience led her to actively engage in encouraging young women into STEM fields. She received her B.S. in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts in 1988, her M.Sc. in computer science from Columbia University in 1993, and received her Ph.D. in computer science from Columbia University in 1997. She worked at AT&T Bell Labs from 1993 to 1997, as associate scientist at BBN Systems & Technologies in 1992, LIMSI, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France in 1991, and studied at the Department of Information Science, Kyoto University, Japan from 1989 to 1991, and at Ecole Centrale Paris, France in 1988–1989. Through these experiences, she has become a fluent speaker of seven European and Asian languages. She has two daughters, Belén W. Fung (born in 2005) and Coline F. Woo (born in 2008).
Career and research interests
Fung's work has always been focused on building intelligent systems that can understand and empathize with humans. During her career she authored and co-authored more than 190 publications with over 5000 citations on Google Scholar, along with many journal listings and book chapters. Fung is often found in the media, among others as a writer for Scientific American, the World Economic Forum, and the London School of Economics, and the Design Society. She was a pioneer in using statistical models for natural language understanding. Her PhD thesis proposed unsupervised methods for aligning texts and mining dictionary translations in different languages by distributional properties. She is an expert in spoken language understanding and computer emotional intelligence, and is a strong proponent of technology transfer. Fung has applied many of her research group's results in the fields of, among others, robotics, IoT, and financial analytics. Her efforts led to the launch of the world's first Chinese natural language search engine in 2001, the first Chinese virtual assistant for smartphones in 2010, and the first emotional intelligent speaker in 2017.
Honors
Elected Fellow, Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), for “significant contributions toward statistical NLP, comparable corpora, and building intelligent systems that can understand and empathize with humans”
Nominee, the VentureBeat AI Innovation Awards at Transform 2020, for "AI for Good"
Awardee, 2017 Outstanding Women Professionals & Entrepreneurs Award, Hong Kong Women Professionals & Entrepreneurs Association
Elected Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for “contributions to human-machine interactions”
Elected Fellow, International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), for “fundamental contributions to the interdisciplinary area of spoken language human-machine interactions"
Member, Global Future Council on AI and Robotics, World Economic Forum (2016–)
One of the Top 50 Women of Hope, selected by List Magazine in 2014
Selected as “My Favorite Teacher” by top engineering students in 2007 and in 2009
Affiliations
Fung is affiliated with the following institutions and organizations:
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
World Economic Forum
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Association for Computational Linguistics
International Speech Communication Association
Association for Computing Machinery
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
See also
Kathleen McKeown
Roberto Pieraccini
Julia Hirschberg
Tony F. Chan
Shrikanth Narayanan
References
Chinese computer scientists
Chinese women computer scientists
Columbia University alumni
Computer scientists
Fellow Members of the IEEE
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology faculty
Human–computer interaction researchers
Living people
Machine learning researchers
Natural language processing researchers
Scientists at Bell Labs
Women computer scientists
Worcester Polytechnic Institute alumni
Year of birth missing (living people) |
41299881 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft%20Digital%20Crimes%20Unit | Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit | The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) is a Microsoft sponsored team of international legal and internet security experts employing the latest tools and technologies to stop or interfere with cyber crime and cyber threats. The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit was assembled in 2008. In 2013, a Cybercrime center for the DCU was opened in Redmond, Washington. There are about 100 members of the DCU stationed just in Redmond, Washington at the original Cybercrime Center. Members of the DCU include lawyers, data scientists, investigators, forensic analysts, and engineers. The DCU has international offices located in major cities such as: Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Delhi, Dublin, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Washington, D.C. The DCU's main focuses are child protection, copyright infringement and malware crimes. The DCU must work closely with law enforcement to ensure the perpetrators are punished to the full extent of the law. The DCU has taken down many major botnets such as the Citadel, Rustock, and Zeus. Around the world malware has cost users about $113 billion and the DCU's jobs is to shut them down in accordance with the law.
Areas of emphasis
There are three areas on which the DCU concentrates:
Child protection, combating child sexual abuse facilitated through information technology
Copyright infringement and other intellectual property infringements
Malware crimes, particularly botnets, internet bots used for malicious purposes
Trespass to Chattel
Trespass to Chattel is a legal term for how the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit takes down its cyber criminals. Chattel is old English for cattle, which was considered to be valuable property to the owner. Essentially meaning that any property that is not land is referred to as chattel or "cattle". When spam or malware infects a user's computer or network that is considered to be "trespass to chattel" because they are trespassing on the user's property. The cybercrime is that the criminal has trespassed on the user's computer or network because they are responsible for the spam or malware they intended to harm the user with. The DCU's legal team has to pursue the cyber criminal in court using these old legal doctrines and laws to charge them with the crime of trespassing.
The Botnet
A botnet is a network of compromised computer (Zombies) that are controlled without the user's knowledge. These are usually used to do repetitive tasks such as spam but can also be used for distributing malware and Distributed Denial of Service(DDOS) attacks. These botnets are controlled by a single criminal or a network of criminals. The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit is constantly hunting down Botnet networks that are used for these tasks. The DCU has dealt with botnets for spamming, key-logging and data ransom. The DCU has also taken down botnets such as Citadel, Rustock, and Zeus. It is an everyday fight for the DCU to continue to locate new threats from botnets and take them down.
Takedown of the Rustock Botnet
On March 18, 2011, the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit took down the Rustock Botnet. The Rustock botnet was responsible for over half of the spam worldwide sent to users and had controlled over 1 million computers. This spam had viruses attached to the emails and some were phishing emails. Microsoft with the help of the U.S. Marshals got warrants to seize the identified local command-and-control servers and do analysis on them. The DCU and U.S. marshals raided the servers located in Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Scranton, and Seattle. After the DCU had seized the servers and terminated them the entire world had a large decrease in spam. Since then there has been no spam from the Rustock Botnet.
Takedown of the Zeus Botnet
On March 25, 2012, the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit took down the Zeus Botnet. This investigation was also known as Operation b71. The Zeus botnet is responsible for stealing more than $100 Million from over 13 million infected computers. The botnet was installed on the user's computer from pirated versions of Windows or hidden through a download online. The Zeus botnet works by waiting for the user of the computer to open a web browser and attempt to do some banking or online shopping then show a similar looking webpage with a field to enter the login information. The login information is then sent to a Zeus server and the criminal can access the user's accounts. The DCU, accompanied by U.S. Marshals, shut down the botnet by raiding two command-and-control server facilities located Scranton, Pennsylvania and Lombard, Illinois. From there the DCU made a case to prosecute 39 unnamed cyber criminals who were responsible for this botnet by accessing the servers and retrieving the stolen data. After this botnet was shut down the starter code has since been sold on the black market to make other variations of this botnet such as Citadel and many more. Therefore, the Zeus botnet code itself is still active and has evolved.
Takedown of the Citadel Botnet
On June 6, 2013, the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit took down the Citadel botnet's 1000 servers. The Citadel botnet had infected an estimated 5 million computers using a key-logging program to steal the information. Citadel is responsible for stealing at least $500 million from online personal bank accounts in over 80 countries. They stole from banks such as American Express, Bank of America, PayPal, HSBC, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo. The Citadel code emerged from the cybercrime kit known as Zeus which is sold as a starter code on the black market for thousands. The creators of Citadel are unknown but the DCU has prepared a large amount of charges to prosecute them. The DCU has since then helped users update their systems to get rid of the malware that may still be on their computers but is inactive.
Actions against the ZeroAccess botnet
On December 5, 2013, the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, the FBI, Europol, and other industry partners attempted to disrupt the ZeroAccess botnet. Although the efforts took down 18 hosts that were part of the ZeroAccess command and control network, because of the peer-to-peer nature of the botnet, ZeroAccess remains active.
See also
Attack (computing)
Child protective services
Computer worm
Distributed Denial of Service
References
External links
Exploitation Crimes
IP Crimes
Malicious Software Crimes
Computer security organizations
Microsoft divisions |
43310210 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM%20Education%20Act%20of%202014 | STEM Education Act of 2014 | The STEM Education Act of 2014 () is a bill that would add computer science to the definition of STEM fields used by the United States federal government in determining grants and education funding. It would open up some training programs to teachers pursuing their master's degrees, not just teachers who had already earned one.
It was introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.
Background
"STEM" is an acronym referring to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the US when addressing education policy and curriculum choices in schools from k-12 through college to improve competitiveness in technology development. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns and immigration policy. In the United States, the acronym began to be used in education and immigration debates in initiatives to begin to address the perceived lack of qualified candidates for high-tech jobs. It also addresses concern that the subjects are often taught in isolation, instead of as an integrated curriculum. Maintaining a citizenry that is well versed in the STEM fields is a key portion of the public education agenda of the United States.
Provisions of the bill
There are three major components of the bill.
First, the bill would expand the definition of "STEM education" to include education in the field of computer science. This definition is used by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Department of Energy in their programs. This would "ensure federal grants and programs related to STEM education include computer science education."
Second, the bill would confirm the importance of STEM education outside of school.
A final provision of the bill would make "classroom teachers with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields who are pursuing master’s degrees eligible for NSF-administered Master Teaching Fellowships in exchange for a four-year commitment to teach in high-need school districts."
Procedural history
The STEM Education Act of 2014 was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on July 8, 2014 by Rep. Lamar Smith (R, TX-21). It was referred to the United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. On July 14, 2014, the House voted to pass the bill in a voice vote.
Debate and discussion
The IEEE-USA supported the bill, with President Gary Blank saying that "IEEE-USA strongly supports federal, state and local efforts to improve K-12 science, technology, engineering and math education, particularly programs that increase student interest and engagement in engineering and computer science."
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), who co-sponsored the bill, said that "STEM education is critical to preparing our students for high-demand careers in engineering, manufacturing, and information technology." According to Esty, she frequently hears from "manufactures and small business owners that it's increasingly difficult to find workers with the right skill sets to fill the jobs in demand."
Rep. Smith, who introduced the bill, said that "we have to capture and hold the desire of our nation's youth to study science and engineering so they will want to pursue these careers. A healthy and viable STEM workforce, literate in all STEM subjects including computer science, is critical to American industries. We must work to ensure that students continue to go into these fields so that their ideas can lead to a more innovative and prosperous America."
See also
List of bills in the 113th United States Congress
STEM fields
References
External links
Library of Congress - Thomas H.R. 5031
beta.congress.gov H.R. 5031
GovTrack.us H.R. 5031
OpenCongress.org H.R. 5031
WashingtonWatch.com H.R. 5031
Proposed legislation of the 113th United States Congress
Education policy in the United States
Science education in the United States |
24021520 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahalom%20%28protocol%29 | Yahalom (protocol) | Yahalom is an authentication and secure key-sharing protocol designed for use on an insecure network such as the Internet. Yahalom uses a trusted arbitrator to distribute a shared key between two people. This protocol can be considered as an improved version of Wide Mouth Frog protocol (with additional protection against man-in-the-middle attack), but less secure than the Needham–Schroeder protocol.
Protocol description
If Alice (A) initiates the communication to Bob (B) with S is a server trusted by both parties, the protocol can be specified as follows using security protocol notation:
A and B are identities of Alice and Bob respectively
is a symmetric key known only to A and S
is a symmetric key known only to B and S
and are nonces generated by A and B respectively
is a symmetric, generated key, which will be the session key of the session between A and B
Alice sends a message to Bob requesting communication.
Bob sends a message to the Server encrypted under .
The Server sends to Alice a message containing the generated session key and a message to be forwarded to Bob.
Alice forwards the message to Bob and verifies has not changed. Bob will verify has not changed when he receives the message.
BAN-Yahalom
Burrows, Abadi and Needham proposed a variant of this protocol in their 1989 paper as follows:
In 1994, Paul Syverson demonstrated two attacks on this protocol.
See also
Kerberos protocol
Otway–Rees protocol
Neuman–Stubblebine protocol
References
M. Burrows, M. Abadi, R. Needham A Logic of Authentication, Research Report 39, Digital Equipment Corp. Systems Research Center, Feb. 1989
M. Burrows, M. Abadi, R. Needham A Logic of Authentication. ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, v. 8, n. 1, Feb. 1990, pp. 18—36
Cryptographic protocols
Computer access control protocols |
351190 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product%20activation | Product activation | Product activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary software programs. Product activation prevents unlimited free use of copied or replicated software. Unactivated software refuses to fully function until it determines whether it is authorized to fully function. Activation allows the software to stop blocking its use. An activation can last "forever", or it can have a time limit, requiring a renewal or re-activation for continued use.
Implementations
In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented () by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific to the product's license (a product key) to generate a unique installation ID. This installation ID is sent to the manufacturer to verify the authenticity of the product key and to ensure that the product key is not being used for multiple installations.
Alternatively, the software vendor sends the user a unique product serial number. When the user installs the application it requests that the user enter their product serial number, and checks it with the vendor's systems over the Internet. The application obtains the license limits that apply to that user's license, such as a time limit or enabling of product features, from the vendor's system and optionally also locks the license to the user's system. Once activated the license continues working on the user's machine with no further communication required with the vendor's systems. Some activation systems also support activation on user systems without Internet connections; a common approach is to exchange encrypted files at an Internet terminal.
An early example of product activation was in the MS-DOS program D'Bridge Email System written by Chris Irwin, a commercial network system for BBS users and Fidonet. The program generated a unique serial number which then called the author's BBS via a dialup modem connection. Upon connection, the serial number was validated. A unique "key" was returned which allowed the program to continue for a trial period. If two D'Bridge systems communicated using the same key, the software deliberately crashed. The software has long since had the entire activation system removed and is now freeware by Nick J. Andre, Ltd.
Microsoft
Microsoft Product Activation was introduced in the Brazilian version of Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition and Microsoft Word 97 sold in the Hungarian market. It broadened that successful pilot with the release of Microsoft Publisher 98 in the Brazilian market. Microsoft then rolled out product activation in its flagship Microsoft Office 2000 product. All retail copies sold in Australia, Brazil, China, France, and New Zealand, and some sold in Canada and the United States, required the user to activate the product via the Internet. However, all copies of Office 2000 do not require activation after April 15, 2003. After its success, the product activation system was extended worldwide and incorporated into Windows XP and Office XP and all subsequent versions of Windows and Office. Despite independently developing its own technology, in April 2009 a jury found Microsoft to have willfully infringed Uniloc's patent. However, in September 2009, US District Judge William Smith "vacated" the jury's verdict and ruled in favour of Microsoft. This ruling was subsequently overturned in 2011.
Blocking
Software that has been installed but not activated does not perform its full functions, and/or imposes limits on file size or session time. Some software allows full functionality for a limited "trial" time before requiring activation. Unactivated software typically reminds the user to activate, at program startup or at intervals, and when the imposed size or time limits are reached. (Some unactivated software has taken disruptive actions such as crashing or vandalism, but this is rare.)
Some 'unactivated' products act as a time-limited trial until a product key—a number encoded as a sequence of alphanumeric characters—is purchased and used to activate the software. Some products allow licenses to be transferred from one machine to another using online tools, without having to call technical support to deactivate the copy on the old machine before reactivating it on the new machine.
Software verifies activation every time it starts up, and sometimes while it is running. Some software even "phones home", checking a central database (across the Internet or other means) to check whether the specific activation has been revoked. Some software might stop working or reduce functionality if it cannot connect to the central database.
Criticisms
It can enforce software license agreement restrictions that may be legally invalid. For example, a company may refuse to reactivate software on an upgraded or new PC, even if the user may have a legal right to use the product under such circumstances.
If the company ceases to support a specific product (or declares bankruptcy), its purchased product may become unusable or incapable of being (re)installed unless an activation-free copy or final patch that removes or bypasses activation is released.
Product activation where there is no straightforward way to transfer the license to another person to activate on their computer has been widely criticised as making second-hand sales of products, particularly games, very difficult. Some suspect companies such as EA to be using product activation to reduce second-hand sales of their games in order to increase sales of new copies.
As the transfer of an activation request usually happens encrypted or at least obfuscated, the user cannot see or check if additional data from his/her machine gets transferred, creating privacy concerns.
Malfunction of the activating mechanism can delay users from getting started using newly-licensed software.
Malfunction of the verification mechanism can cause vital software to suddenly stop working until re-activated or patched. This can happen in response to detected changes of installed hardware, or other software, of the operating system.
See also
Digital rights management
Dongle
Technical support
References
External links
Inside Windows Product Activation
Windows Product Key
Software licenses |
2963921 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean%20E.%20Sammet | Jean E. Sammet | Jean E. Sammet (March 23, 1928 – May 20, 2017) was an American computer scientist who developed the FORMAC programming language in 1962. She was also one of the developers of the influential COBOL programming language.
She received her B.A. in Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College in 1948 and her M.A. in Mathematics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1949. She received an honorary D.Sc. from Mount Holyoke College in 1978.
Sammet was employed by Sperry Gyroscope from 1955 to 1958 where she supervised the first scientific programming group. From 1958 to 1961, she worked for Sylvania as a staff consultant for programming research and a member of the original COBOL group. She joined IBM in 1961 where she developed FORMAC, the first widely used computer language for symbolic manipulation of mathematical formulas. At IBM she researched the use of restricted English as a programming language and the use of natural language for mathematical programs. She was Programming Technology Planning Manager for the Federal Systems Division from 1968 to 1974, and was appointed Software Technology Manager in 1979.
Sammet founded the ACM Special Interest Committee on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation (SICSAM) in 1965 and was chair of the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN). She was the first female president of the ACM, from 1974 to 1976.
Early life
Jean E. Sammet was born on March 23, 1928 in New York City. Jean and her sister Helen were born to Harry and Ruth Sammet who were both lawyers. Jean and Helen attended public elementary schools in Manhattan. Sammet had a strong interest in mathematics but was unable to attend the Bronx High School of Science because it did not accept girls. Instead, Sammet attended Julia Richman High School.
Sammet chose to enroll at Mount Holyoke College based on the strength of its mathematics program. Sammet majored in mathematics and took education courses, which allowed her to be certified to teach high school mathematics in New York. She minored in political science. After graduating from Mount Holyoke, Sammet pursued graduate studies at the University of Illinois, where she received her MA in 1949. While taking courses toward a Ph.D., she was a teaching assistant in the Mathematics department at the University of Illinois from 1948 to 1951. When Sammet first encountered a computer, in 1949 at the University of Illinois, she was not impressed, considering it an obscene piece of hardware.
In 1951 Sammet began looking for a position in education. Sammet was forced to search for positions in New Jersey because New York City was not hiring new teachers. The authorities in New Jersey determined that Sammet was missing two courses from her studies: a course in education and one in the history of New Jersey. Sammet fought this determination, stating that her knowledge of New Jersey history did not strengthen her ability to teach mathematics in high school. This forced Sammet to seek other types of employment.
Work
In 1951, Sammet took a position at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as a trainee actuary. She agreed to participate in an in-house training program to learn about punched card accounting machines. Sammet took to the electronic accounting machines, but was unable to work with the machines after her training was complete. She left her position at the insurance office and enrolled at Columbia University to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics. Sammet worked as a teaching assistant at Barnard College during the 1952-1953 school year before she decided that the academic life was not for her.
From 1953 to 1958, Sammet was a mathematician for Sperry Gyroscope in New York. She spent time working on mathematical analysis problems for clients and ran an analog computer. Sammet worked on the Department of the Navy’s submarine program during her time there. In early January 1955, Sammet began her life as a programmer. Sperry Gyroscope was working on a digital computer, the Sperry Electronic Digital Automatic Computer (SPEEDAC) and asked Sammet to be their programmer. Her first task was to write the basic loader for the SPEEDAC, which was a 20-line program that took three days to toggle into the computer by hand in binary.
Sammet became the group leader of what was called an “open shop” as Sperry began hiring more programmers. The “open shop” consisted of programmers acting as consultants to the engineers and involved scientists who assisted them in writing and testing their routines. The group produced other system software and focused on scientific and engineering computations. In 1955 Sperry Gyroscope and Remington Rand merged and became Sperry Rand. This merger allowed Sammet access to the UNIVAC I computer and Grace Hopper.
In fall of 1956, Sammet taught one of the earliest graduate-level courses in computer programming in the Applied Mathematics department of Adelphi College (now University) on Long Island. Despite the fact that Adelphi did not have a computer and few textbooks on programming existed at the time, Sammet was able to instruct two courses for two years.
Sammet decided to leave Sperry to work for a company with computers as its focal point. The classified job advertisements at the time were separated by gender and Sammet was unable to find a position for a woman in any field she was interested in so she decided to scan the men’s list and found an engineer position at Sylvania Electric Products in Needham, Massachusetts. Sammet was instead hired to oversee software development for the MOBIDIC project by Carl Hammer, the person responsible for Sylvania’s software development.
In 1959, Sammet and five other programmers established much of the design of the influential COBOL programming language, in a proposal written in a span of two weeks that was eventually accepted by Sylvania's U.S. government clients.
Sammet published Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals in 1969. The book gives an overview of 120 programming languages being used in the United States as of the late 1960s.
Ties to ACM
Around 1965 or 1966, Sammet noticed a need for the exchange of intellectual information with others working with languages and software while she worked on FORMAC. She was a member of ACM for a number of years but was not active until she became interested in starting a special interest group that would allow her to speak with other professionals in the field. After a couple of failed attempts at contacting the person in charge of Special Interest Groups and Special Interest Committees at ACM, Sammet contacted George Forsythe, president of ACM from 1964 to 1966, who named her Chairperson of the Special Interest Committee on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation.
In order to gain interest in SICSAM, Sammet wrote letters to people she identified through publications and what was happening in the field at that time. She identified people at Bell Labs, Carnegie Mellon, and IBM who were in different divisions and groups. Sammet faced resistance from the interest group on numerical analysis in ACM. Roughly five years after SICSAM formed, there was a conference about mathematical software called SIGNUM. Sammet states that she fought her way to give a paper at SIGNUM because the group was not interested in non-numerical analysis of that kind of an activity. With assistance from those interested in SICSAM, Sammet organized a conference held in March 1966, which was the Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation (SYMSAM).
In June 1966, Tony Oettinger was elected president of ACM and Sammet was elected the Northeast Regional Representative (1966-1968). She was also a member of the ACM Council and ACM lecturer (1967, 1968, and 1972). Bernie Galler was elected president of ACM in 1968 and in August 1968, Sammet became chairperson of the ACM Committee on SIGs and SICs.
In 1971 she was elected chair of SIGPLAN. She served one year of a two-year term before resigning because she was elected vice president of ACM in 1972. As chairperson of SIGPLAN, she organized conferences between SIGPLAN and various Special Interest Groups. Sammet has stated that these conferences were organized based on the recognition of how fundamental programming languages were to different aspects within computing.
Sammet served as vice president of ACM from June 1972 to June 1974. Working with the president of ACM at the time, Tony Ralston, Sammet made the finances of ACM a priority. At the time of her vice presidency, ACM was almost bankrupt. Sammet convinced Ralston to hold a member-office forum prior to their annual conference. Sammet encouraged this based on her recognition that ACM had no realistic way of communicating with the membership.
Death
Sammet died on May 20, 2017 in Silver Spring, Maryland after a brief illness.
Selected works
Detailed Description of COBOL, 1960
Awards
1975: inducted as an Honorary Member of UPE (the International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Sciences) on October 8, 1975.
1989: Lovelace Award Recipient, Association for Women in Computing.
1994: Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
1997: SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award (J.A.N. Lee and Jean E. Sammet)
2001: Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for her contributions to the field of programming languages and its history."
2009: Computer Pioneer Award Recipient (IEEE Computer Society)
2013: NCWIT Pioneer Award
See also
COMIT
Grace Hopper
List of computer scientists
Women in computing
References
External links
Biography of Jean Sammet — History of Programming Languages website, Murdoch University. History of Programming Languages records at Charles Babbage Institute.
Sammet's participation in UNIVAC conference, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. 171-page transcript of oral history with computer pioneers, including Jean Sammet, involved with the Univac computer, held on 17–18 May 1990. The meeting involved 25 engineers, programmers, marketing representatives, and salesmen who were involved with the UNIVAC, as well as representatives from users such as General Electric, Arthur Andersen, and the U.S. Census.
Jean Sammet biography from the Computer History Museum
In Memoriam: Jean E. Sammet 1928-2017
American computer scientists
Programming language designers
American women computer scientists
1928 births
2017 deaths
American women mathematicians
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Presidents of the Association for Computing Machinery
COBOL
IBM employees
Mount Holyoke College alumni
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni
Columbia University alumni
Scientists from New York City
20th-century American mathematicians
20th-century American scientists
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century women mathematicians
Mathematicians from New York (state)
21st-century American women |
713072 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion%20Entertainment | Hyperion Entertainment | Hyperion Entertainment CVBA (formerly Hyperion Entertainment VOF) is a Belgian software company which in its early years focused in porting Windows games to Amiga OS, Linux, and Mac OS. In 2001, they accepted a contract by Amiga Incorporated to develop AmigaOS 4 and mainly discontinued their porting business to pursue this development. AmigaOS 4 runs on the AmigaOne systems, Commodore Amiga systems with a Phase5 PowerUP accelerator board, Pegasos II systems and Sam440/Sam460 systems.
History
Hyperion Entertainment was founded in April 1999 with Ben Hermans and Evert Carton in charge. In their own words, "After Belgian lawyer Benjamin Hermans wondered why no one had ever tried to license PC games to do Amiga ports." Hyperion does not maintain programmer staff but sub-contracts software programmers for projects as necessary. Hans-Joerg Frieden, who had previously worked on ports of the games Descent and Abuse as well as the Warp3D library, was contracted to be Hyperion's main developer. For the next few years, Hyperion would port several game titles to the Amiga and later Linux and the Macintosh, starting with Amiga port of Heretic II in 2000.
Game development
The port of Heretic II was generally well received by the Amiga press, but had weak sales. Following this, Hyperion set out to target a broader range of platforms: Amiga, Linux, and Mac OS. Later in 2000, Hyperion completed the Linux version of SiN. The Amiga port has been postponed due to hardware requirements and ultimately not released. They also approached Monolith Productions to port their Lithtech engine, culminating in their port of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division for Amiga, Linux, and Mac OS in 2001. The game had not sold as well as had been hoped, most notably on Linux, despite becoming a best seller on Tux Games. Hyperion stated that Linux users were likely to dual boot with Windows to play easily available games rather than purchase more expensive specialised versions years after release. In early 2002 Hyperion introduced the Amiga port of Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War. An improved version for AmigaOS 4 followed in 2010. After id Software released source code, Hyperion marketed later in 2002 a commercial Amiga port of Quake II. A Linux port of Gorky 17 was developed by Hyperion and published by Linux Game Publishing in 2006, while a version for AmigaOS 4 was released nearly a decade later in 2015.
During work on the Heretic II port, Hyperion Entertainment developers created an OpenGL subset called MiniGL which sits on top of Warp3D to ease porting of 3D games. The MiniGL library was released for free use to other software developers.
AmigaOS 4
In 2001 Hyperion announced that, after licensing the rights from Amiga, Inc, it would be working on the long-awaited successor to AmigaOS 3.9, and to this end concentrated most of its effort on the development of AmigaOS 4. Hyperion claimed and still claim that it is based upon AmigaOS 3.1 source code, and to a lesser extent certain AmigaOS 3.9 sources. A quick port of 68k AmigaOS to PowerPC was originally planned, with new features added as development continued. Ben Hermans, writing on Amiga forum Ann.lu, claimed that these sources, along with the source of the PPC kernel WarpOS would be sufficient to provide a version to users within a year, making his now-infamous "change some flags and recompile" comment.
AmigaOS 4.0 was first released to end-users and second level betatesters in April 2004, with AmigaOS 4.1 following in September 2008. It is currently still in development.
In 2004, Hyperion attempted to obtain a licence for an AmigaOS 4 native port of the file manager Directory Opus, which had originally and been developed on the Amiga, but for which development had since moved to the Microsoft Windows platform. However talks between Hyperion and GP Software broke down.
The first managing partner of Hyperion, Benjamin Hermans, in the period between announcement and release of AmigaOS 4, ignited a great deal of community controversy by repeatedly claiming that MorphOS, an AmigaOS-like competitor (which had been released in complete form in 2003), was illegal, and had on several occasions threatened to take legal action against it either on the grounds that it was parasitic competition to AmigaOS 4, or even that it was actually based on stolen AmigaOS source code. No evidence to support either claim ever became public, neither did any legal action against MorphOS take place, although neither prevented such views being repeated commonly in public Amiga forums and mailing lists and even accepted as fact by some. This situation was inflamed by ex-Commodore engineer Dave Haynie, who backed up Herman's claims: "If you have seen the Amiga source code, you cannot produce a legally separate work-alike", though again without any direct evidence.
The dispute did not enter the courts, but in the forums the argument was bitter. Hermans claimed that Bill Buck, who lead the Genesi company funding MorphOS, was a "con-artist".
Evert Carton took over the managing partner position after Hermans stepped down in 2003, due to lack of time for daily administrative work. Timothy de Groote became another partner in 2003.
Dispute and settlement with Amiga, Inc.
In 2007, Hyperion was sued by Amiga Incorporated for trademark infringement in the Washington Western District Court in Seattle, Washington. Amiga, Inc. sued Hyperion for breach of contract, trademark violation and copyright infringement concerning the development and marketing of AmigaOS 4.0, stating that Hyperion had continued to develop and market AmigaOS 4 without paying agreed royalties and had continued to do so even after being warned to cease and desist.
Hyperion launched a counter action, claiming fraud in the Amiga, Inc. handling of Amiga intellectual properties and debts, including the use of debt-holding shell companies, by shifting responsibility between these shell companies. They also claimed that Amiga, Inc. had failed to uphold their part of the contract and had been untruthful in correspondence; and that they had failed to deliver the AmigaOS 3.1 source that AmigaOS 4 was developed from, forcing Hyperion to find it elsewhere. In spite of that ongoing legal dispute, in autumn 2007, Hyperion released a standalone version of AmigaOS 4 for classic Amiga, an action Amiga, Inc. claimed as illegal.
On 29 May 2007, the new managing partner stated under oath - without further evidence - that the open-source AmigaOS reimplementation AROS was "probably illegal", as documented on page 27 of court documents related to the Amiga-Hyperion court case.
On 30 September 2009, Hyperion and Amiga, Inc reached a settlement. Hyperion was granted an exclusive license to develop and market AmigaOS 4 and subsequent versions with the name AmigaOS. However, the "Amiga" trademark remained with Amiga, Inc. and was then also licensed to other parties, including Commodore USA and iContain. This meant that "Amiga" branded hardware could and would be sold without AmigaOS 4.
In 2009, Hyperion changed its legal status from a business partnership (VOF) to a company with limited liability (CVBA).
On 24 April 2011, Evert Carton announced he was stepping down as the managing partner of Hyperion. In charge of the company were then Ben Hermans and Timothy de Groote.
Insolvency Declaration of 2015
On 27 January 2015, Hyperion Entertainment was declared insolvent. Ben Hermans has claimed that this was an administrative mistake by a third party and that the company would appeal the insolvency decision. The declaration was overturned on 2 April 2015 and the company posted a clarification on its website.
Recent events
AmigaOS 4 developer and Aminet administrator Costel Mincea joined Hyperion in mid 2015 as a third director. Hyperion reported in January 2017 that Hermans has resigned as a director, in charge of the company remained Timothy De Groote and Costel Mincea. In October 2017 Hyperion was removed from Belgium's official company register due to not filling annual reports for the last three years. Hyperion remedied this by supplying required reports to the National Bank of Belgium. In July 2020 Amiga-news.de reported Costel Mincea resigned from his post at Hyperion and remaining director Timothy de Groote was in a legal dispute with former Hyperion's managing partner Ben Hermans. In February 2021 Timothy de Groote was no longer director of Hyperion and Ben Hermans assumed full control of the company.
Games
Hyperion's game ports include these: Heretic II, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Gorky 17, Quake II, SiN and Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War. Hyperion also announced that it acquired the license to port Worms Armageddon and Soldier of Fortune, but these were not released.
References
External links
Hyperion Entertainment website
Company Blog
Amiga companies
AmigaOS 4
Companies based in Brussels
Linux game porters
Privately held companies of Belgium
Video game companies of Belgium
Video game development companies
Video game companies established in 1999
Belgian companies established in 1999 |
214948 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86%20assembly%20language | X86 assembly language | x86 assembly language is a family of backward-compatible assembly languages, which provide some level of compatibility all the way back to the Intel 8008 introduced in April 1972. x86 assembly languages are used to produce object code for the x86 class of processors. Like all assembly languages, it uses short mnemonics to represent the fundamental instructions that the CPU in a computer can understand and follow. Compilers sometimes produce assembly code as an intermediate step when translating a high level program into machine code. Regarded as a programming language, assembly coding is machine-specific and low level. Assembly languages are more typically used for detailed and time critical applications such as small real-time embedded systems or operating system kernels and device drivers.
Mnemonics and opcodes
Each x86 assembly instruction is represented by a mnemonic which, often combined with one or more operands, translates to one or more bytes called an opcode; the NOP instruction translates to 0x90, for instance and the HLT instruction translates to 0xF4. There are potential opcodes with no documented mnemonic which different processors may interpret differently, making a program using them behave inconsistently or even generate an exception on some processors. These opcodes often turn up in code writing competitions as a way to make the code smaller, faster, more elegant or just show off the author's prowess.
Syntax
x86 assembly language has two main syntax branches: Intel syntax and AT&T syntax. Intel syntax is dominant in the DOS and Windows world, and AT&T syntax is dominant in the Unix world, since Unix was created at AT&T Bell Labs.
Here is a summary of the main differences between Intel syntax and AT&T syntax:
Many x86 assemblers use Intel syntax, including NASM, FASM, MASM, TASM, and YASM. GAS, which originally used AT&T syntax, has supported both syntaxes since version 2.10 via the .intel_syntax directive. A quirk in the AT&T syntax for x86 is that x87 operands are reversed, an inherited bug from the original AT&T assembler.
The AT&T syntax is nearly universal to all other architectures with the same order; it was originally a syntax for PDP-11 assembly. The Intel syntax is specific to the x86 architecture, and is the one used in the x86 platform's documentation.
Registers
x86 processors have a collection of registers available to be used as stores for binary data. Collectively the data and address registers are called the general registers. Each register has a special purpose in addition to what they can all do:
AX multiply/divide, string load & store
BX index register for MOVE
CX count for string operations & shifts
DX port address for IN and OUT
SP points to top of the stack
BP points to base of the stack frame
SI points to a source in stream operations
DI points to a destination in stream operations
Along with the general registers there are additionally the:
IP instruction pointer
FLAGS
segment registers (CS, DS, ES, FS, GS, SS) which determine where a 64k segment starts (no FS & GS in 80286 & earlier)
extra extension registers (MMX, 3DNow!, SSE, etc.) (Pentium & later only).
The IP register points to the memory offset of the next instruction in the code segment (it points to the first byte of the instruction). The IP register cannot be accessed by the programmer directly.
The x86 registers can be used by using the MOV instructions. For example, in Intel syntax:
mov ax, 1234h ; copies the value 1234hex (4660d) into register AX
mov bx, ax ; copies the value of the AX register into the BX register
Segmented addressing
The x86 architecture in real and virtual 8086 mode uses a process known as segmentation to address memory, not the flat memory model used in many other environments. Segmentation involves composing a memory address from two parts, a segment and an offset; the segment points to the beginning of a 64 KB (64×210) group of addresses and the offset determines how far from this beginning address the desired address is. In segmented addressing, two registers are required for a complete memory address. One to hold the segment, the other to hold the offset. In order to translate back into a flat address, the segment value is shifted four bits left (equivalent to multiplication by 24 or 16) then added to the offset to form the full address, which allows breaking the 64k barrier through clever choice of addresses, though it makes programming considerably more complex.
In real mode/protected only, for example, if DS contains the hexadecimal number 0xDEAD and DX contains the number 0xCAFE they would together point to the memory address 0xDEAD * 0x10 + 0xCAFE = 0xEB5CE. Therefore, the CPU can address up to 1,048,576 bytes (1 MB) in real mode. By combining segment and offset values we find a 20-bit address.
The original IBM PC restricted programs to 640 KB but an expanded memory specification was used to implement a bank switching scheme that fell out of use when later operating systems, such as Windows, used the larger address ranges of newer processors and implemented their own virtual memory schemes.
Protected mode, starting with the Intel 80286, was utilized by OS/2. Several shortcomings, such as the inability to access the BIOS and the inability to switch back to real mode without resetting the processor, prevented widespread usage. The 80286 was also still limited to addressing memory in 16-bit segments, meaning only 216 bytes (64 kilobytes) could be accessed at a time.
To access the extended functionality of the 80286, the operating system would set the processor into protected mode, enabling 24-bit addressing and thus 224 bytes of memory (16 megabytes).
In protected mode, the segment selector can be broken down into three parts: a 13-bit index, a Table Indicator bit that determines whether the entry is in the GDT or LDT and a 2-bit Requested Privilege Level; see x86 memory segmentation.
When referring to an address with a segment and an offset the notation of segment:offset is used, so in the above example the flat address 0xEB5CE can be written as 0xDEAD:0xCAFE or as a segment and offset register pair; DS:DX.
There are some special combinations of segment registers and general registers that point to important addresses:
CS:IP (CS is Code Segment, IP is Instruction Pointer) points to the address where the processor will fetch the next byte of code.
SS:SP (SS is Stack Segment, SP is Stack Pointer) points to the address of the top of the stack, i.e. the most recently pushed byte.
DS:SI (DS is Data Segment, SI is Source Index) is often used to point to string data that is about to be copied to ES:DI.
ES:DI (ES is Extra Segment, DI is Destination Index) is typically used to point to the destination for a string copy, as mentioned above.
The Intel 80386 featured three operating modes: real mode, protected mode and virtual mode. The protected mode which debuted in the 80286 was extended to allow the 80386 to address up to 4 GB of memory, the all new virtual 8086 mode (VM86) made it possible to run one or more real mode programs in a protected environment which largely emulated real mode, though some programs were not compatible (typically as a result of memory addressing tricks or using unspecified op-codes).
The 32-bit flat memory model of the 80386's extended protected mode may be the most important feature change for the x86 processor family until AMD released x86-64 in 2003, as it helped drive large scale adoption of Windows 3.1 (which relied on protected mode) since Windows could now run many applications at once, including DOS applications, by using virtual memory and simple multitasking.
Execution modes
The x86 processors support five modes of operation for x86 code, Real Mode, Protected Mode, Long Mode, Virtual 86 Mode, and System Management Mode, in which some instructions are available and others are not. A 16-bit subset of instructions are available on the 16-bit x86 processors, which are the 8086, 8088, 80186, 80188, and 80286. These instructions are available in real mode on all x86 processors, and in 16-bit protected mode (80286 onwards), additional instructions relating to protected mode are available. On the 80386 and later, 32-bit instructions (including later extensions) are also available in all modes, including real mode; on these CPUs, V86 mode and 32-bit protected mode are added, with additional instructions provided in these modes to manage their features. SMM, with some of its own special instructions, is available on some Intel i386SL, i486 and later CPUs. Finally, in long mode (AMD Opteron onwards), 64-bit instructions, and more registers, are also available. The instruction set is similar in each mode but memory addressing and word size vary, requiring different programming strategies.
The modes in which x86 code can be executed in are:
Real mode (16-bit)
20-bit segmented memory address space (meaning that only 1 MB of memory can be addressed—actually, slightly more), direct software access to peripheral hardware, and no concept of memory protection or multitasking at the hardware level. Computers that use BIOS start up in this mode.
Protected mode (16-bit and 32-bit)
Expands addressable physical memory to 16 MB and addressable virtual memory to 1 GB. Provides privilege levels and protected memory, which prevents programs from corrupting one another. 16-bit protected mode (used during the end of the DOS era) used a complex, multi-segmented memory model. 32-bit protected mode uses a simple, flat memory model.
Long mode (64-bit)
Mostly an extension of the 32-bit (protected mode) instruction set, but unlike the 16–to–32-bit transition, many instructions were dropped in the 64-bit mode. Pioneered by AMD.
Virtual 8086 mode (16-bit)
A special hybrid operating mode that allows real mode programs and operating systems to run while under the control of a protected mode supervisor operating system
System Management Mode (16-bit)
Handles system-wide functions like power management, system hardware control, and proprietary OEM designed code. It is intended for use only by system firmware,. All normal execution, including the operating system, is suspended. An alternate software system (which usually resides in the computer's firmware, or a hardware-assisted debugger) is then executed with high privileges.
Switching modes
The processor runs in real mode immediately after power on, so an operating system kernel, or other program, must explicitly switch to another mode if it wishes to run in anything but real mode. Switching modes is accomplished by modifying certain bits of the processor's control registers after some preparation, and some additional setup may be required after the switch.
Examples
With a computer running legacy BIOS, the BIOS and the boot loader is running in Real mode, then the 64-bit operating system kernel checks and switches the CPU into Long mode and then starts new kernel-mode threads running 64-bit code.
With a computer running UEFI, the UEFI firmware (except CSM and legacy Option ROM), the UEFI boot loader and the UEFI operating system kernel is all running in Long mode.
Instruction types
In general, the features of the modern x86 instruction set are:
A compact encoding
Variable length and alignment independent (encoded as little endian, as is all data in the x86 architecture)
Mainly one-address and two-address instructions, that is to say, the first operand is also the destination.
Memory operands as both source and destination are supported (frequently used to read/write stack elements addressed using small immediate offsets).
Both general and implicit register usage; although all seven (counting ebp) general registers in 32-bit mode, and all fifteen (counting rbp) general registers in 64-bit mode, can be freely used as accumulators or for addressing, most of them are also implicitly used by certain (more or less) special instructions; affected registers must therefore be temporarily preserved (normally stacked), if active during such instruction sequences.
Produces conditional flags implicitly through most integer ALU instructions.
Supports various addressing modes including immediate, offset, and scaled index but not PC-relative, except jumps (introduced as an improvement in the x86-64 architecture).
Includes floating point to a stack of registers.
Contains special support for atomic read-modify-write instructions (xchg, cmpxchg/cmpxchg8b, xadd, and integer instructions which combine with the lock prefix)
SIMD instructions (instructions which perform parallel simultaneous single instructions on many operands encoded in adjacent cells of wider registers).
Stack instructions
The x86 architecture has hardware support for an execution stack mechanism. Instructions such as push, pop, call and ret are used with the properly set up stack to pass parameters, to allocate space for local data, and to save and restore call-return points. The ret size instruction is very useful for implementing space efficient (and fast) calling conventions where the callee is responsible for reclaiming stack space occupied by parameters.
When setting up a stack frame to hold local data of a recursive procedure there are several choices; the high level enter instruction (introduced with the 80186) takes a procedure-nesting-depth argument as well as a local size argument, and may be faster than more explicit manipulation of the registers (such as push bp ; mov bp, sp ; sub sp, size). Whether it is faster or slower depends on the particular x86-processor implementation as well as the calling convention used by the compiler, programmer or particular program code; most x86 code is intended to run on x86-processors from several manufacturers and on different technological generations of processors, which implies highly varying microarchitectures and microcode solutions as well as varying gate- and transistor-level design choices.
The full range of addressing modes (including immediate and base+offset) even for instructions such as push and pop, makes direct usage of the stack for integer, floating point and address data simple, as well as keeping the ABI specifications and mechanisms relatively simple compared to some RISC architectures (require more explicit call stack details).
Integer ALU instructions
x86 assembly has the standard mathematical operations, add, sub, mul, with idiv; the logical operators and, or, xor, neg; bitshift arithmetic and logical, sal/sar, shl/shr; rotate with and without carry, rcl/rcr, rol/ror, a complement of BCD arithmetic instructions, aaa, aad, daa and others.
Floating-point instructions
x86 assembly language includes instructions for a stack-based floating-point unit (FPU). The FPU was an optional separate coprocessor for the 8086 through the 80386, it was an on-chip option for the 80486 series, and it is a standard feature in every Intel x86 CPU since the 80486, starting with the Pentium. The FPU instructions include addition, subtraction, negation, multiplication, division, remainder, square roots, integer truncation, fraction truncation, and scale by power of two. The operations also include conversion instructions, which can load or store a value from memory in any of the following formats: binary-coded decimal, 32-bit integer, 64-bit integer, 32-bit floating-point, 64-bit floating-point or 80-bit floating-point (upon loading, the value is converted to the currently used floating-point mode). x86 also includes a number of transcendental functions, including sine, cosine, tangent, arctangent, exponentiation with the base 2 and logarithms to bases 2, 10, or e.
The stack register to stack register format of the instructions is usually fop st, st(n) or fop st(n), st, where st is equivalent to st(0), and st(n) is one of the 8 stack registers (st(0), st(1), ..., st(7)). Like the integers, the first operand is both the first source operand and the destination operand. fsubr and fdivr should be singled out as first swapping the source operands before performing the subtraction or division. The addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, store and comparison instructions include instruction modes that pop the top of the stack after their operation is complete. So, for example, faddp st(1), st performs the calculation st(1) = st(1) + st(0), then removes st(0) from the top of stack, thus making what was the result in st(1) the top of the stack in st(0).
SIMD instructions
Modern x86 CPUs contain SIMD instructions, which largely perform the same operation in parallel on many values encoded in a wide SIMD register. Various instruction technologies support different operations on different register sets, but taken as complete whole (from MMX to SSE4.2) they include general computations on integer or floating point arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, shift, minimization, maximization, comparison, division or square root). So for example, paddw mm0, mm1 performs 4 parallel 16-bit (indicated by the w) integer adds (indicated by the padd) of mm0 values to mm1 and stores the result in mm0. Streaming SIMD Extensions or SSE also includes a floating point mode in which only the very first value of the registers is actually modified (expanded in SSE2). Some other unusual instructions have been added including a sum of absolute differences (used for motion estimation in video compression, such as is done in MPEG) and a 16-bit multiply accumulation instruction (useful for software-based alpha-blending and digital filtering). SSE (since SSE3) and 3DNow! extensions include addition and subtraction instructions for treating paired floating point values like complex numbers.
These instruction sets also include numerous fixed sub-word instructions for shuffling, inserting and extracting the values around within the registers. In addition there are instructions for moving data between the integer registers and XMM (used in SSE)/FPU (used in MMX) registers.
Memory instructions
The x86 processor also includes complex addressing modes for addressing memory with an immediate offset, a register, a register with an offset, a scaled register with or without an offset, and a register with an optional offset and another scaled register. So for example, one can encode mov eax, [Table + ebx + esi*4] as a single instruction which loads 32 bits of data from the address computed as (Table + ebx + esi * 4) offset from the ds selector, and stores it to the eax register. In general x86 processors can load and use memory matched to the size of any register it is operating on. (The SIMD instructions also include half-load instructions.)
The x86 instruction set includes string load, store, move, scan and compare instructions (lods, stos, movs, scas and cmps) which perform each operation to a specified size (b for 8-bit byte, w for 16-bit word, d for 32-bit double word) then increments/decrements (depending on DF, direction flag) the implicit address register (si for lods, di for stos and scas, and both for movs and cmps). For the load, store and scan operations, the implicit target/source/comparison register is in the al, ax or eax register (depending on size). The implicit segment registers used are ds for si and es for di. The cx or ecx register is used as a decrementing counter, and the operation stops when the counter reaches zero or (for scans and comparisons) when inequality is detected.
The stack is implemented with an implicitly decrementing (push) and incrementing (pop) stack pointer. In 16-bit mode, this implicit stack pointer is addressed as SS:[SP], in 32-bit mode it is SS:[ESP], and in 64-bit mode it is [RSP]. The stack pointer actually points to the last value that was stored, under the assumption that its size will match the operating mode of the processor (i.e., 16, 32, or 64 bits) to match the default width of the push/pop/call/ret instructions. Also included are the instructions enter and leave which reserve and remove data from the top of the stack while setting up a stack frame pointer in bp/ebp/rbp. However, direct setting, or addition and subtraction to the sp/esp/rsp register is also supported, so the enter/leave instructions are generally unnecessary.
This code in the beginning of a function:
push ebp ; save calling function's stack frame (ebp)
mov ebp, esp ; make a new stack frame on top of our caller's stack
sub esp, 4 ; allocate 4 bytes of stack space for this function's local variables
...is functionally equivalent to just:
enter 4, 0
Other instructions for manipulating the stack include pushf/popf for storing and retrieving the (E)FLAGS register. The pusha/popa instructions will store and retrieve the entire integer register state to and from the stack.
Values for a SIMD load or store are assumed to be packed in adjacent positions for the SIMD register and will align them in sequential little-endian order. Some SSE load and store instructions require 16-byte alignment to function properly. The SIMD instruction sets also include "prefetch" instructions which perform the load but do not target any register, used for cache loading. The SSE instruction sets also include non-temporal store instructions which will perform stores straight to memory without performing a cache allocate if the destination is not already cached (otherwise it will behave like a regular store.)
Most generic integer and floating point (but no SIMD) instructions can use one parameter as a complex address as the second source parameter. Integer instructions can also accept one memory parameter as a destination operand.
Program flow
The x86 assembly has an unconditional jump operation, jmp, which can take an immediate address, a register or an indirect address as a parameter (note that most RISC processors only support a link register or short immediate displacement for jumping).
Also supported are several conditional jumps, including jz (jump on zero), jnz (jump on non-zero), jg (jump on greater than, signed), jl (jump on less than, signed), ja (jump on above/greater than, unsigned), jb (jump on below/less than, unsigned). These conditional operations are based on the state of specific bits in the (E)FLAGS register. Many arithmetic and logic operations set, clear or complement these flags depending on their result. The comparison cmp (compare) and test instructions set the flags as if they had performed a subtraction or a bitwise AND operation, respectively, without altering the values of the operands. There are also instructions such as clc (clear carry flag) and cmc (complement carry flag) which work on the flags directly. Floating point comparisons are performed via fcom or ficom instructions which eventually have to be converted to integer flags.
Each jump operation has three different forms, depending on the size of the operand. A short jump uses an 8-bit signed operand, which is a relative offset from the current instruction. A near jump is similar to a short jump but uses a 16-bit signed operand (in real or protected mode) or a 32-bit signed operand (in 32-bit protected mode only). A far jump is one that uses the full segment base:offset value as an absolute address. There are also indirect and indexed forms of each of these.
In addition to the simple jump operations, there are the call (call a subroutine) and ret (return from subroutine) instructions. Before transferring control to the subroutine, call pushes the segment offset address of the instruction following the call onto the stack; ret pops this value off the stack, and jumps to it, effectively returning the flow of control to that part of the program. In the case of a far call, the segment base is pushed following the offset; far ret pops the offset and then the segment base to return.
There are also two similar instructions, int (interrupt), which saves the current (E)FLAGS register value on the stack, then performs a far call, except that instead of an address, it uses an interrupt vector, an index into a table of interrupt handler addresses. Typically, the interrupt handler saves all other CPU registers it uses, unless they are used to return the result of an operation to the calling program (in software called interrupts). The matching return from interrupt instruction is iret, which restores the flags after returning. Soft Interrupts of the type described above are used by some operating systems for system calls, and can also be used in debugging hard interrupt handlers. Hard interrupts are triggered by external hardware events, and must preserve all register values as the state of the currently executing program is unknown. In Protected Mode, interrupts may be set up by the OS to trigger a task switch, which will automatically save all registers of the active task.
Examples
"Hello world!" program for DOS in MASM style assembly
Using interrupt 21h for output – other samples use libc's printf to print to stdout.
.model small
.stack 100h
.data
msg db 'Hello world!$'
.code
start:
mov ah, 09h ; Display the message
lea dx, msg
int 21h
mov ax, 4C00h ; Terminate the executable
int 21h
end start
"Hello world!" program for Windows in MASM style assembly
; requires /coff switch on 6.15 and earlier versions
.386
.model small,c
.stack 1000h
.data
msg db "Hello world!",0
.code
includelib libcmt.lib
includelib libvcruntime.lib
includelib libucrt.lib
includelib legacy_stdio_definitions.lib
extrn printf:near
extrn exit:near
public main
main proc
push offset msg
call printf
push 0
call exit
main endp
end
"Hello world!" program for Windows in NASM style assembly
; Image base = 0x00400000
%define RVA(x) (x-0x00400000)
section .text
push dword hello
call dword [printf]
push byte +0
call dword [exit]
ret
section .data
hello db "Hello world!"
section .idata
dd RVA(msvcrt_LookupTable)
dd -1
dd 0
dd RVA(msvcrt_string)
dd RVA(msvcrt_imports)
times 5 dd 0 ; ends the descriptor table
msvcrt_string dd "msvcrt.dll", 0
msvcrt_LookupTable:
dd RVA(msvcrt_printf)
dd RVA(msvcrt_exit)
dd 0
msvcrt_imports:
printf dd RVA(msvcrt_printf)
exit dd RVA(msvcrt_exit)
dd 0
msvcrt_printf:
dw 1
dw "printf", 0
msvcrt_exit:
dw 2
dw "exit", 0
dd 0
"Hello world!" program for Linux in NASM style assembly
;
; This program runs in 32-bit protected mode.
; build: nasm -f elf -F stabs name.asm
; link: ld -o name name.o
;
; In 64-bit long mode you can use 64-bit registers (e.g. rax instead of eax, rbx instead of ebx, etc.)
; Also change "-f elf " for "-f elf64" in build command.
;
section .data ; section for initialized data
str: db 'Hello world!', 0Ah ; message string with new-line char at the end (10 decimal)
str_len: equ $ - str ; calcs length of string (bytes) by subtracting the str's start address
; from this address ($ symbol)
section .text ; this is the code section
global _start ; _start is the entry point and needs global scope to be 'seen' by the
; linker --equivalent to main() in C/C++
_start: ; definition of _start procedure begins here
mov eax, 4 ; specify the sys_write function code (from OS vector table)
mov ebx, 1 ; specify file descriptor stdout --in gnu/linux, everything's treated as a file,
; even hardware devices
mov ecx, str ; move start _address_ of string message to ecx register
mov edx, str_len ; move length of message (in bytes)
int 80h ; interrupt kernel to perform the system call we just set up -
; in gnu/linux services are requested through the kernel
mov eax, 1 ; specify sys_exit function code (from OS vector table)
mov ebx, 0 ; specify return code for OS (zero tells OS everything went fine)
int 80h ; interrupt kernel to perform system call (to exit)
"Hello world!" program for Linux in NASM style assembly using the C standard library
;
; This program runs in 32-bit protected mode.
; gcc links the standard-C library by default
; build: nasm -f elf -F stabs name.asm
; link: gcc -o name name.o
;
; In 64-bit long mode you can use 64-bit registers (e.g. rax instead of eax, rbx instead of ebx, etc..)
; Also change "-f elf " for "-f elf64" in build command.
;
global main ;main must be defined as it being compiled against the C-Standard Library
extern printf ;declares use of external symbol as printf is declared in a different object-module.
;Linker resolves this symbol later.
segment .data ;section for initialized data
string db 'Hello world!', 0Ah, 0h ;message string with new-line char (10 decimal) and the NULL terminator
;string now refers to the starting address at which 'Hello, World' is stored.
segment .text
main:
push string ;push the address of first character of string onto stack. This will be argument to printf
call printf ;calls printf
add esp, 4 ;advances stack-pointer by 4 flushing out the pushed string argument
ret ;return
"Hello world!" program for 64-bit mode Linux in NASM style assembly
; build: nasm -f elf64 -F dwarf hello.asm
; link: ld -o hello hello.o
DEFAULT REL ; use RIP-relative addressing modes by default, so [foo] = [rel foo]
SECTION .rodata ; read-only data can go in the .rodata section on GNU/Linux, like .rdata on Windows
Hello: db "Hello world!",10 ; 10 = `\n`.
len_Hello: equ $-Hello ; get NASM to calculate the length as an assemble-time constant
;; write() takes a length so a 0-terminated C-style string isn't needed. It would be for puts
SECTION .text
global _start
_start:
mov eax, 1 ; __NR_write syscall number from Linux asm/unistd_64.h (x86_64)
mov edi, 1 ; int fd = STDOUT_FILENO
lea rsi, [rel Hello] ; x86-64 uses RIP-relative LEA to put static addresses into regs
mov rdx, len_Hello ; size_t count = len_Hello
syscall ; write(1, Hello, len_Hello); call into the kernel to actually do the system call
;; return value in RAX. RCX and R11 are also overwritten by syscall
mov eax, 60 ; __NR_exit call number (x86_64)
xor edi, edi ; status = 0 (exit normally)
syscall ; _exit(0)
Running it under strace verifies that no extra system calls are made in the process. The printf version would make many more system calls to initialize libc and do dynamic linking. But this is a static executable because we linked using ld without -pie or any shared libraries; the only instructions that run in user-space are the ones you provide.
$ strace ./hello > /dev/null # without a redirect, your program's stdout is mixed strace's logging on stderr. Which is normally fine
execve("./hello", ["./hello"], 0x7ffc8b0b3570 /* 51 vars */) = 0
write(1, "Hello world!\n", 13) = 13
exit(0) = ?
+++ exited with 0 +++
Using the flags register
Flags are heavily used for comparisons in the x86 architecture. When a comparison is made between two data, the CPU sets the relevant flag or flags. Following this, conditional jump instructions can be used to check the flags and branch to code that should run, e.g.:
cmp eax, ebx
jne do_something
; ...
do_something:
; do something here
Flags are also used in the x86 architecture to turn on and off certain features or execution modes. For example, to disable all maskable interrupts, you can use the instruction:
cli
The flags register can also be directly accessed. The low 8 bits of the flag register can be loaded into ah using the lahf instruction. The entire flags register can also be moved on and off the stack using the instructions pushf, popf, int (including into) and iret.
Using the instruction pointer register
The instruction pointer is called ip in 16-bit mode, eip in 32-bit mode, and rip in 64-bit mode. The instruction pointer register points to the memory address which the processor will next attempt to execute; it cannot be directly accessed in 16-bit or 32-bit mode, but a sequence like the following can be written to put the address of next_line into eax:
call next_line
next_line:
pop eax
This sequence of instructions generates position-independent code because call takes an instruction-pointer-relative immediate operand describing the offset in bytes of the target instruction from the next instruction (in this case 0).
Writing to the instruction pointer is simple — a jmp instruction sets the instruction pointer to the target address, so, for example, a sequence like the following will put the contents of eax into eip:
jmp eax
In 64-bit mode, instructions can reference data relative to the instruction pointer, so there is less need to copy the value of the instruction pointer to another register.
See also
Assembly language
X86 instruction listings
X86 architecture
CPU design
List of assemblers
Self-modifying code
DOS
References
Further reading
Manuals
Intel 64 and IA-32 Software Developer Manuals
AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual (Volume 1-5)
Books
Assembly languages
X86 architecture |
48244233 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xue%20Xiangdong | Xue Xiangdong | Xue Xiangdong (, born 1958/1959) is a Chinese billionaire businessman, chairman of DHC Software, a Chinese industrial application software company.
He graduated from Hunan University in 1978.
He left a state-owned company in 1992 to work as the China representative of a Canadian software company, and borrowed money to start his own software firm in 1993. In 2001, he co-founded what was to become DHC Software.
As of January 2020, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$2.4 billion.
He is married and lives in Beijing.
References
1958 births
Living people
Hunan University alumni
Chinese billionaires
Chinese technology company founders
20th-century Chinese businesspeople
21st-century Chinese businesspeople
Businesspeople in software |
3862671 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron%20%28computer%20hacker%29 | Electron (computer hacker) | Electron was the computer handle of Richard Jones, a member of an underground hacker community called The Realm. Jones, born in June 1969, was one of three members of the group arrested in simultaneous raids by the Australian Federal Police in Melbourne, Australia, on 2 April 1990. All three — Nahshon Even-Chaim (also known as Phoenix), Electron and Nom (real name David John Woodcock) — were convicted of a range of computer crimes involving the intrusion into US defense and government computer systems and the theft of an online computer security newsletter in the late 1980s and early 1990.
Significance of case
The case was the first prosecution of hackers under Australian federal computer crime legislation that had come into law in June 1989. It was also the first time in the world police had gained a conviction using evidence obtained by the remote tapping of a computer. For six weeks before the raid, members of the AFP computer crime section had been capturing the online activity of the ringleader, Phoenix, in suburban Melbourne, from the police Telephone Intercept Branch in Canberra, 650 km away. His conversations with Electron and Nom, which were intercepted continuously for eight weeks before the raid, formed the basis of the evidence against both of Phoenix's co-offenders, as they freely discussed the targets of their hacking and bragged of their exploits.
Electron pleaded guilty to 14 offences and in June 1993 was given a suspended six-month jail sentence and 300 hours community service.
Media
A 1997 book by Suelette Dreyfus, Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier, described the hackers' exploits; in 2005 former AFP computer crime investigator Bill Apro co-wrote a book, Hackers: The Hunt for Australia’s Most Infamous Computer Cracker in which he told of the police investigation he led that resulted in their arrest. All three offenders are named in the book. Electron's story was also told in a dramatised documentary, In the Realm of the Hackers, aired on Australia’s ABC Television in 2003.
See also
List of convicted computer criminals
References
Books
(Free electronic edition )
Newspapers
Hack to the Future, The Sunday Age, 25 May 2003.
How I Nailed the Master Hacker, Sunday Herald Sun, 31 July 2005.
Magazines
Hackers 'plan revenge' for police clampdown on computer crime: Extract of New Scientist article on arrest of hackers, 21 April 1990:
Film
In the Realm of the Hackers, written and directed by Kevin Anderson, (Film Australia, 2002, 55 minutes).
E-zines:
Reprint of article Hacker Revelled In Spotlight, Court Told (The Age, 23 August 1993) in Phrack.
Reference in The Risks Digest to article in The New York Times, 4 April 1990, on arrest of hackers.
References
External links
Crimes Legislation Amendment Act 1989 dealing with offences relating to computers
1969 births
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Australian computer criminals |
45239537 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cas%20Cremers | Cas Cremers | Casimier Joseph Franciscus "Cas" Cremers (born 1974) is a computer scientist and a faculty member at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Saarbruecken, Germany.
Career
Cremers received his PhD from Eindhoven University of Technology in 2006, under the supervision of Sjouke Mauw and Erik de Vink. Between 2006 and 2013, he worked at the Information Security Group at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, until joining the University of Oxford in 2013. He was made full professor of Information Security in 2015.
His research focuses on information security, in particular the formal analysis of security protocols. This work ranges from developing mathematical foundations for protocol analysis to the development of analysis tools, notably the Scyther and Tamarin tools. Recently his research expanded into directions such as protocol standardisation, including the improvement of the ISO/IEC 9798 standard, and applied cryptography, leading to the development of new security requirements and protocols. His joint work with Marko Horvat, Sam Scott, and Thyla van der Merwe led to a not insignificant change to the TLS 1.3 specification.
In 2018 Cremers moved from Oxford University to the Cispa Helmholtz Center for Information Security at Saarbrücken.
Cremers previously worked in MSX computer game development, initially working for the Sigma Group before founding his own group Parallax; he is credited for work on nine different games, and many other demos, in a combination of roles including programmer, designer, composer, and writer. He was interviewed by blog "Distrito Entebras" on the history of his career working in MSX games development.
Publications
Cremers' publications cover security, cryptography, ISO standards, automated verification of security protocols, and formal methods.
His thesis was entitled "Scyther - Semantics and Verification of Security Protocols", and was supervised by Sjouke Mauw and Erik de Vink. Also published with Sjouke Mauw is their book Operational Semantics and Verification of Security Protocols.
References
External links
Cas Cremers' personal web-page
Cas Cremers' publications
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Video of Blade Lords (MSX)
1974 births
Living people
Dutch computer scientists
Members of the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford
Fellows of Kellogg College, Oxford
Formal methods people
Eindhoven University of Technology alumni
People from Geleen
Dutch computer programmers
Computer security academics |
301736 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar | ICalendar | The Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar) is a media type which allows users to store and exchange calendaring and scheduling information such as events, to-dos, journal entries, and free/busy information. Files formatted according to the specification usually have an extension of .ics. With supporting software, such as an email reader or calendar application, recipients of an iCalendar data file can respond to the sender easily or counter-propose another meeting date/time. The file format is specified in a proposed Internet standard (RFC 5545) for calendar data exchange.
iCalendar is used and supported by many products, including Google Calendar, Apple Calendar (formerly iCal), HCL Domino (formerly IBM Notes and Lotus Notes), Yahoo! Calendar, Evolution (software), eM Client, Lightning extension for Mozilla Thunderbird and SeaMonkey, and partially by Microsoft Outlook and Novell GroupWise.
iCalendar is designed to be independent of the transport protocol. For example, certain events can be sent by traditional email or whole calendar files can be shared and edited by using a WebDav server, or SyncML. Simple web servers (using just the HTTP protocol) are often used to distribute iCalendar data about an event and to publish busy times of an individual. Publishers can embed iCalendar data in web pages using hCalendar, a 1:1 microformat representation of iCalendar in semantic (X)HTML.
History and design
iCalendar was first created in 1998 by the Calendaring and Scheduling Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force, chaired by Anik Ganguly of Open Text Corporation, and was authored by Frank Dawson of Lotus Development Corporation and Derik Stenerson of Microsoft Corporation. iCalendar is heavily based on the earlier vCalendar by the Internet Mail Consortium (IMC). iCalendar data files are plain text files with the extension .ics or .ifb (for files containing availability information only). RFC 5545 replaced RFC 2445 in September 2009 and now defines the standard.
iCalendar data have the MIME content type text/calendar.
The filename extension of ics is to be used for files containing calendaring and scheduling information, ifb for files with free or busy time information consistent with this MIME content type. The equivalent file type codes in Apple Macintosh operating system environments are iCal and iFBf.
By default, iCalendar uses the UTF-8 character set; a different character set can be specified using the "charset" MIME parameter (if the transport method used supports MIME, such as Email or HTTP).
Each line is terminated by CR+LF (in hexadecimal: 0D0A). Lines should be limited to 75 octets (not characters) long. Where a data item is too long to fit on a single line it can be continued on following lines by starting the continuation lines with a space character (in hex: 20) or a tab character (in hex: 09).
Actual line feeds in data items are encoded as a backslash followed by the letter n or N (the bytes 5C 6E or 5C 4E in UTF-8).
Limitations and future
The iCalendar format is designed to transmit calendar-based data, such as events, and intentionally does not describe what to do with that data. Thus, other programming may be needed to negotiate what to do with this data.
iCalendar is meant to "provide the definition of a common format for openly exchanging calendaring and scheduling information across the Internet". While the features most often used by users are widely supported by iCalendar, some more advanced capabilities have problems. For example, most vendors do not support Journals (VJOURNAL). VTODOs have had conversion problems as well.
iCalendar's calendar is also not compatible with some non-Gregorian calendars such as the lunar calendars used in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The memo "Calendar Access Protocol" (RFC 4324) was an initial attempt at a universal system to create real-time calendars, but was eventually abandoned. In its stead, iCalendar saw some adoption for such purposes with ad hoc extensions such as GroupDAV and CalDAV emerging as informal standards and seeing some adoption in both client and server software packages.
A first effort to simplify iCalendar standards by the IETF "Calendaring and Scheduling Working Group" (ietf-calsify WG) ended in January 2011 without seeing adoption. The work was then picked up by the "Calendaring Extensions Working Group" (ietf-calext WG).
Technical specifications
Core object
The top-level element in iCalendar is the Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object, a collection of calendar and scheduling information. Typically, this information will consist of a single iCalendar object. However, multiple iCalendar objects can be grouped together.
The first line must be BEGIN:VCALENDAR, and the last line must be END:VCALENDAR; the contents between these lines is called the "icalbody".
The body must include the "PRODID" and "VERSION" calendar properties. In addition, it must include at least one calendar component.
VERSION is 2.0 for the current iCalendar format. VERSION:1.0 was used to specify that data is in the old vCalendar format.
The body of the iCalendar object (the icalbody) contains single-line Calendar Properties that apply to the entire calendar, as well as one or more blocks of multiple lines that each define a Calendar Component such as an event, journal entry, alarm, or one of the other types described below.
Here is a simple example of an iCalendar object with a single calendar containing a single Calendar Component, a "Bastille Day Party" event starting at 5pm on July 14, 1997, and ending at 4am the following morning.
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:[email protected]
DTSTAMP:19970714T170000Z
ORGANIZER;CN=John Doe:MAILTO:[email protected]
DTSTART:19970714T170000Z
DTEND:19970715T040000Z
SUMMARY:Bastille Day Party
GEO:48.85299;2.36885
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
Date and time format
The most common representation of date and time is a tz timestamp such as 20010911T124640Z with the format <year (4 digits)><month (2)><day (2)>T<hour (2)><minute (2)><second (2)>Z for a total fixed length of 16 characters. Z indicates the use of UTC (referring to its "Zulu" time zone). When used in DTSTART and DTEND properties, start times are inclusive while end times are not. This allows an event's end time to be the same as a consecutive event's start without those events overlapping and potentially creating (false) scheduling conflicts.
Events (VEVENT)
VEVENT describes an event, which has a scheduled amount of time on a calendar. Normally, when a user accepts the calendar event, this will cause that time to be considered busy. A VEVENT may include a VALARM which allows an alarm. Such events have a DTSTART which sets a starting time, and a DTEND which sets an ending time. If the calendar event is recurring, DTSTART sets up the start of the first event.
A VALARM code (reminder 1 day before):
BEGIN:VALARM
TRIGGER:-PT1440M
ACTION:DISPLAY
DESCRIPTION:Reminder
END:VALARM
VEVENT also is used for calendar events without a specific time, such as anniversaries and daily reminders.
If the user needs to send in a cancellation for an event, the UID should be the same as the original event, and the component properties should be set to cancel.
METHOD:CANCEL
STATUS:CANCELLED
For sending an UPDATE for an event the UID should match the original UID. The other component property to be set is:
SEQUENCE:<Num of Update>
I.e., for the first update:
SEQUENCE:1
In Microsoft Outlook, the SUMMARY corresponds to the "Subject" entry in the "Appointment" form, and DESCRIPTION to the descriptive text below it. In addition, Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003 demand a UID and a DTSTAMP.
To-do (VTODO)
VTODO explains a to-do item, i.e., an action-item or assignment.
Not all calendar applications recognize VTODO items. In particular, Outlook does not export Tasks as VTODO items, and ignores VTODO items in imported calendars.
The following is an example of a to-do due on April 15, 1998. An audio alarm has been specified to remind the calendar user at noon, the day before the to-do is expected to be completed and repeat hourly, four additional times. The SEQUENCE element shows this to-do has been modified twice since it was initially created.
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//ABC Corporation//NONSGML My Product//EN
BEGIN:VTODO
DTSTAMP:19980130T134500Z
SEQUENCE:2
UID:[email protected]
DUE:19980415T235959
STATUS:NEEDS-ACTION
SUMMARY:Submit Income Taxes
BEGIN:VALARM
ACTION:AUDIO
TRIGGER:19980414T120000
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=audio/basic:http://example.com/pub/audio-
files/ssbanner.aud
REPEAT:4
DURATION:PT1H
END:VALARM
END:VTODO
END:VCALENDAR
Journal entry (VJOURNAL)
VJOURNAL is a journal entry. They attach descriptive text to a particular calendar date, may be used to record a daily record of activities or accomplishments, or describe progress with a related to-do entry. A "VJOURNAL" calendar component does not take up time on a calendar, so it has no effect on free or busy time (just like TRANSPARENT entries). In practice, few programs support VJOURNAL entries, although examples exist: Plum Canary's Chirp software uses VTODO and VJOURNAL together. Also KOrganizer from the KDE desktop and Evolution from the GNOME desktop support VJOURNAL.
The following is an example of a journal entry:
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//ABC Corporation//NONSGML My Product//EN
BEGIN:VJOURNAL
DTSTAMP:19970324T120000Z
UID:[email protected]
ORGANIZER:MAILTO:[email protected]
STATUS:DRAFT
CLASS:PUBLIC
CATEGORIES:Project Report, XYZ, Weekly Meeting
DESCRIPTION:Project xyz Review Meeting Minutes\n
Agenda\n1. Review of project version 1.0 requirements.\n2.
Definition
of project processes.\n3. Review of project schedule.\n
Participants: John Smith\, Jane Doe\, Jim Dandy\n-It was
decided that the requirements need to be signed off by
product marketing.\n-Project processes were accepted.\n
-Project schedule needs to account for scheduled holidays
and employee vacation time. Check with HR for specific
dates.\n-New schedule will be distributed by Friday.\n-
Next weeks meeting is cancelled. No meeting until 3/23.
END:VJOURNAL
END:VCALENDAR
(Note: This example is taken from RFC 2445 with the correction of changing the word 'CATEGORY' to 'CATEGORIES', which is a mistake in the original RFC)
Free/busy time (VFREEBUSY)
VFREEBUSY is a request for free/busy time, is a response to a request, or is a published set of busy time.
The following is an example of published busy time information:
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//RDU Software//NONSGML HandCal//EN
BEGIN:VFREEBUSY
DTSTAMP:20151013T080000Z
UID:[email protected]
ORGANIZER:MAILTO:[email protected]
DTSTART:19980313T141711Z
DTEND:19980410T141711Z
FREEBUSY:19980314T233000Z/19980315T003000Z
FREEBUSY:19980316T153000Z/19980316T163000Z
FREEBUSY:19980318T030000Z/19980318T040000Z
URL:http://www.example.com/calendar/busytime/jsmith.ifb
END:VFREEBUSY
END:VCALENDAR
Other component types
Other component types include VAVAILABILITY, VTIMEZONE (time zones) and VALARM (alarms). Some components can include other components (VALARM is often included in other components).
Distributing updates
The UID field distributes updates when a scheduled event changes. When the event is first generated a globally unique identifier is created. If a later event is distributed with the same UID, it replaces the original one.
Calendar extensions
vCalendar and iCalendar support private software extensions, with a "X-" prefix, a number of which are in common usage.
Some of these include:
X-RECURRENCE-ID - vCalendar 1.0 extension which mimics the iCalendar 2.0 RECURRENCE-ID (Nokia S60 3rd Edition)
X-EPOCAGENDAENTRYTYPE - defines the client calendar type
X-FUNAMBOL-AALARMOPTIONS
X-FUNAMBOL-ALLDAY - All Day event flag
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT - Microsoft Outlook all day event flag
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS - Microsoft Outlook status information
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-INTENDEDSTATUS
X-WR-CALNAME - The display name of the calendar
X-WR-CALDESC - A description of the calendar
X-WR-RELCALID - A globally unique identifier for the calendar
X-WR-TIMEZONE
X-PUBLISHED-TTL - Recommended update interval for subscription to the calendar
X-ALT-DESC - Used to include HTML markup in an event's description. Standard DESCRIPTION tag should contain non-HTML version.
vCalendar 1.0
iCalendar's design was based on the previous file format vCalendar created by the Internet Mail Consortium (IMC).
Here is an example of information in vCalendar format:
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
CATEGORIES:MEETING
STATUS:TENTATIVE
DTSTART:19960401T033000Z
DTEND:19960401T043000Z
SUMMARY:Your Proposal Review
DESCRIPTION:Steve and John to review newest proposal material
CLASS:PRIVATE
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
It has the .vcs file extension.
After iCalendar was released, the Internet Mail Consortium stated that it "hopes that all vCalendar developers take advantage of these new open standards and make their software compatible with both vCalendar 1.0 and iCalendar."
Representations
xCal
xCal is an XML representation of iCalendar data, as defined in .
jCal
jCal is a JSON representation of iCalendar data, as defined in .
hCalendar
hCalendar is an (x)HTML representation of a subset of iCalendar data using microformats.
hEvent
hEvent is an HTML representation of a subset of iCalendar data using Microformats addressing some accessibility concerns with the hCalendar format.
See also
List of applications with iCalendar support
CalDAV
GroupDAV
hCalendar
Scheduling OSID provides a software interface abstraction for using calendaring protocols
vCard
xCal
Webcal - an unofficial Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme
Zip file
Notes
References
External links
Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification (iCalendar) (replaces )
iCalendar Transport-Independent Interoperability Protocol (iTIP) (replaces )
iCalendar Message-Based Interoperability Protocol (iMIP) (replaces )
xCal: The XML format for iCalendar (iCalendar XML Representation)
update of the data formats for including certain characters, forbidden by the existing specification, in parameter values
jCal: The JSON Format for iCalendar
New Properties for iCalendar (additional properties to the iCalendar specification)
- This describes the relationship of vCard, vCalendar, and iCalendar, and includes IMC's request for implementors to support both vCalendar and iCalendar.
- A list of resources for iCalendar and related standards.
Computer file formats
Calendaring standards
Internet Standards |
63579004 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirHarp | AirHarp | AirHarp is a musical instrument that uses motion detection and software (of the same name) to create pitches. AirHarp was designed by Adam Somers in a weekend hacking session using the Leap Motion dev board. The original video showcases how the instrument works, and premiered in December 2012. Shortly after, in 2013, Somers developed a tech company named “HANDWAVY”.
AirHarp uses the Leap Motion USB motion sensor device to detect the finger movements of the player. It then transmits that information to the computer software that Somers has developed, and the software interprets it as a pitch. The software then plays whatever pitch was struck with an artificial harp sound. The software also responds to finger placement on the electronic string, giving the player control over articulation and expression. It works much like a synthesizer, because the software interprets signals sent by an accessory source.
AirHarp isn't currently linked to any specific genres of music.
References
External links
handwavy.com
Electronic musical instruments |
32472154 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep%20learning | Deep learning | Deep learning (also known as deep structured learning) is part of a broader family of machine learning methods based on artificial neural networks with representation learning. Learning can be supervised, semi-supervised or unsupervised.
Deep-learning architectures such as deep neural networks, deep belief networks, deep reinforcement learning, recurrent neural networks and convolutional neural networks have been applied to fields including computer vision, speech recognition, natural language processing, machine translation, bioinformatics, drug design, medical image analysis, climate science, material inspection and board game programs, where they have produced results comparable to and in some cases surpassing human expert performance.
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were inspired by information processing and distributed communication nodes in biological systems. ANNs have various differences from biological brains. Specifically, artificial neural networks tend to be static and symbolic, while the biological brain of most living organisms is dynamic (plastic) and analogue.
The adjective "deep" in deep learning refers to the use of multiple layers in the network. Early work showed that a linear perceptron cannot be a universal classifier, but that a network with a nonpolynomial activation function with one hidden layer of unbounded width can. Deep learning is a modern variation which is concerned with an unbounded number of layers of bounded size, which permits practical application and optimized implementation, while retaining theoretical universality under mild conditions. In deep learning the layers are also permitted to be heterogeneous and to deviate widely from biologically informed connectionist models, for the sake of efficiency, trainability and understandability, whence the "structured" part.
Definition
Deep learning is a class of machine learning algorithms that uses multiple layers to progressively extract higher-level features from the raw input. For example, in image processing, lower layers may identify edges, while higher layers may identify the concepts relevant to a human such as digits or letters or faces.
Overview
Most modern deep learning models are based on artificial neural networks, specifically convolutional neural networks (CNN)s, although they can also include propositional formulas or latent variables organized layer-wise in deep generative models such as the nodes in deep belief networks and deep Boltzmann machines.
In deep learning, each level learns to transform its input data into a slightly more abstract and composite representation. In an image recognition application, the raw input may be a matrix of pixels; the first representational layer may abstract the pixels and encode edges; the second layer may compose and encode arrangements of edges; the third layer may encode a nose and eyes; and the fourth layer may recognize that the image contains a face. Importantly, a deep learning process can learn which features to optimally place in which level on its own. This does not eliminate the need for hand-tuning; for example, varying numbers of layers and layer sizes can provide different degrees of abstraction.
The word "deep" in "deep learning" refers to the number of layers through which the data is transformed. More precisely, deep learning systems have a substantial credit assignment path (CAP) depth. The CAP is the chain of transformations from input to output. CAPs describe potentially causal connections between input and output. For a feedforward neural network, the depth of the CAPs is that of the network and is the number of hidden layers plus one (as the output layer is also parameterized). For recurrent neural networks, in which a signal may propagate through a layer more than once, the CAP depth is potentially unlimited. No universally agreed-upon threshold of depth divides shallow learning from deep learning, but most researchers agree that deep learning involves CAP depth higher than 2. CAP of depth 2 has been shown to be a universal approximator in the sense that it can emulate any function. Beyond that, more layers do not add to the function approximator ability of the network. Deep models (CAP > 2) are able to extract better features than shallow models and hence, extra layers help in learning the features effectively.
Deep learning architectures can be constructed with a greedy layer-by-layer method. Deep learning helps to disentangle these abstractions and pick out which features improve performance.
For supervised learning tasks, deep learning methods eliminate feature engineering, by translating the data into compact intermediate representations akin to principal components, and derive layered structures that remove redundancy in representation.
Deep learning algorithms can be applied to unsupervised learning tasks. This is an important benefit because unlabeled data are more abundant than the labeled data. Examples of deep structures that can be trained in an unsupervised manner are neural history compressors and deep belief networks.
Interpretations
Deep neural networks are generally interpreted in terms of the universal approximation theorem or probabilistic inference.
The classic universal approximation theorem concerns the capacity of feedforward neural networks with a single hidden layer of finite size to approximate continuous functions. In 1989, the first proof was published by George Cybenko for sigmoid activation functions and was generalised to feed-forward multi-layer architectures in 1991 by Kurt Hornik. Recent work also showed that universal approximation also holds for non-bounded activation functions such as the rectified linear unit.
The universal approximation theorem for deep neural networks concerns the capacity of networks with bounded width but the depth is allowed to grow. Lu et al. proved that if the width of a deep neural network with ReLU activation is strictly larger than the input dimension, then the network can approximate any Lebesgue integrable function; If the width is smaller or equal to the input dimension, then a deep neural network is not a universal approximator.
The probabilistic interpretation derives from the field of machine learning. It features inference, as well as the optimization concepts of training and testing, related to fitting and generalization, respectively. More specifically, the probabilistic interpretation considers the activation nonlinearity as a cumulative distribution function. The probabilistic interpretation led to the introduction of dropout as regularizer in neural networks. The probabilistic interpretation was introduced by researchers including Hopfield, Widrow and Narendra and popularized in surveys such as the one by Bishop.
History
Some sources point out that Frank Rosenblatt developed and explored all of the basic ingredients of the deep learning systems of today. He described it in his book "Principles of Neurodynamics: Perceptrons and the Theory of Brain Mechanisms", published by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Inc., Cornell University in 1962.
The first general, working learning algorithm for supervised, deep, feedforward, multilayer perceptrons was published by Alexey Ivakhnenko and Lapa in 1967. A 1971 paper described a deep network with eight layers trained by the group method of data handling. Other deep learning working architectures, specifically those built for computer vision, began with the Neocognitron introduced by Kunihiko Fukushima in 1980.
The term Deep Learning was introduced to the machine learning community by Rina Dechter in 1986, and to artificial neural networks by Igor Aizenberg and colleagues in 2000, in the context of Boolean threshold neurons.
In 1989, Yann LeCun et al. applied the standard backpropagation algorithm, which had been around as the reverse mode of automatic differentiation since 1970, to a deep neural network with the purpose of recognizing handwritten ZIP codes on mail. While the algorithm worked, training required 3 days.
In 1994, André de Carvalho, together with Mike Fairhurst and David Bisset, published experimental results of a multi-layer boolean neural network, also known as a weightless neural network, composed of a 3-layers self-organising feature extraction neural network module (SOFT) followed by a multi-layer classification neural network module (GSN), which were independently trained. Each layer in the feature extraction module extracted features with growing complexity regarding the previous layer.
In 1995, Brendan Frey demonstrated that it was possible to train (over two days) a network containing six fully connected layers and several hundred hidden units using the wake-sleep algorithm, co-developed with Peter Dayan and Hinton. Many factors contribute to the slow speed, including the vanishing gradient problem analyzed in 1991 by Sepp Hochreiter.
Since 1997, Sven Behnke extended the feed-forward hierarchical convolutional approach in the Neural Abstraction Pyramid by lateral and backward connections in order to flexibly incorporate context into decisions and iteratively resolve local ambiguities.
Simpler models that use task-specific handcrafted features such as Gabor filters and support vector machines (SVMs) were a popular choice in the 1990s and 2000s, because of artificial neural network's (ANN) computational cost and a lack of understanding of how the brain wires its biological networks.
Both shallow and deep learning (e.g., recurrent nets) of ANNs have been explored for many years. These methods never outperformed non-uniform internal-handcrafting Gaussian mixture model/Hidden Markov model (GMM-HMM) technology based on generative models of speech trained discriminatively. Key difficulties have been analyzed, including gradient diminishing and weak temporal correlation structure in neural predictive models. Additional difficulties were the lack of training data and limited computing power.
Most speech recognition researchers moved away from neural nets to pursue generative modeling. An exception was at SRI International in the late 1990s. Funded by the US government's NSA and DARPA, SRI studied deep neural networks in speech and speaker recognition. The speaker recognition team led by Larry Heck reported significant success with deep neural networks in speech processing in the 1998 National Institute of Standards and Technology Speaker Recognition evaluation. The SRI deep neural network was then deployed in the Nuance Verifier, representing the first major industrial application of deep learning.
The principle of elevating "raw" features over hand-crafted optimization was first explored successfully in the architecture of deep autoencoder on the "raw" spectrogram or linear filter-bank features in the late 1990s, showing its superiority over the Mel-Cepstral features that contain stages of fixed transformation from spectrograms. The raw features of speech, waveforms, later produced excellent larger-scale results.
Many aspects of speech recognition were taken over by a deep learning method called long short-term memory (LSTM), a recurrent neural network published by Hochreiter and Schmidhuber in 1997. LSTM RNNs avoid the vanishing gradient problem and can learn "Very Deep Learning" tasks that require memories of events that happened thousands of discrete time steps before, which is important for speech. In 2003, LSTM started to become competitive with traditional speech recognizers on certain tasks. Later it was combined with connectionist temporal classification (CTC) in stacks of LSTM RNNs. In 2015, Google's speech recognition reportedly experienced a dramatic performance jump of 49% through CTC-trained LSTM, which they made available through Google Voice Search.
In 2006, publications by Geoff Hinton, Ruslan Salakhutdinov, Osindero and Teh
showed how a many-layered feedforward neural network could be effectively pre-trained one layer at a time, treating each layer in turn as an unsupervised restricted Boltzmann machine, then fine-tuning it using supervised backpropagation. The papers referred to learning for deep belief nets.
Deep learning is part of state-of-the-art systems in various disciplines, particularly computer vision and automatic speech recognition (ASR). Results on commonly used evaluation sets such as TIMIT (ASR) and MNIST (image classification), as well as a range of large-vocabulary speech recognition tasks have steadily improved. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were superseded for ASR by CTC for LSTM. but are more successful in computer vision.
The impact of deep learning in industry began in the early 2000s, when CNNs already processed an estimated 10% to 20% of all the checks written in the US, according to Yann LeCun. Industrial applications of deep learning to large-scale speech recognition started around 2010.
The 2009 NIPS Workshop on Deep Learning for Speech Recognition was motivated by the limitations of deep generative models of speech, and the possibility that given more capable hardware and large-scale data sets that deep neural nets (DNN) might become practical. It was believed that pre-training DNNs using generative models of deep belief nets (DBN) would overcome the main difficulties of neural nets. However, it was discovered that replacing pre-training with large amounts of training data for straightforward backpropagation when using DNNs with large, context-dependent output layers produced error rates dramatically lower than then-state-of-the-art Gaussian mixture model (GMM)/Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and also than more-advanced generative model-based systems. The nature of the recognition errors produced by the two types of systems was characteristically different, offering technical insights into how to integrate deep learning into the existing highly efficient, run-time speech decoding system deployed by all major speech recognition systems. Analysis around 2009–2010, contrasting the GMM (and other generative speech models) vs. DNN models, stimulated early industrial investment in deep learning for speech recognition, eventually leading to pervasive and dominant use in that industry. That analysis was done with comparable performance (less than 1.5% in error rate) between discriminative DNNs and generative models.
In 2010, researchers extended deep learning from TIMIT to large vocabulary speech recognition, by adopting large output layers of the DNN based on context-dependent HMM states constructed by decision trees.
Advances in hardware have driven renewed interest in deep learning. In 2009, Nvidia was involved in what was called the “big bang” of deep learning, “as deep-learning neural networks were trained with Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs).” That year, Andrew Ng determined that GPUs could increase the speed of deep-learning systems by about 100 times. In particular, GPUs are well-suited for the matrix/vector computations involved in machine learning. GPUs speed up training algorithms by orders of magnitude, reducing running times from weeks to days. Further, specialized hardware and algorithm optimizations can be used for efficient processing of deep learning models.
Deep learning revolution
In 2012, a team led by George E. Dahl won the "Merck Molecular Activity Challenge" using multi-task deep neural networks to predict the biomolecular target of one drug. In 2014, Hochreiter's group used deep learning to detect off-target and toxic effects of environmental chemicals in nutrients, household products and drugs and won the "Tox21 Data Challenge" of NIH, FDA and NCATS.
Significant additional impacts in image or object recognition were felt from 2011 to 2012. Although CNNs trained by backpropagation had been around for decades, and GPU implementations of NNs for years, including CNNs, fast implementations of CNNs on GPUs were needed to progress on computer vision. In 2011, this approach achieved for the first time superhuman performance in a visual pattern recognition contest. Also in 2011, it won the ICDAR Chinese handwriting contest, and in May 2012, it won the ISBI image segmentation contest. Until 2011, CNNs did not play a major role at computer vision conferences, but in June 2012, a paper by Ciresan et al. at the leading conference CVPR showed how max-pooling CNNs on GPU can dramatically improve many vision benchmark records. In October 2012, a similar system by Krizhevsky et al. won the large-scale ImageNet competition by a significant margin over shallow machine learning methods. In November 2012, Ciresan et al.'s system also won the ICPR contest on analysis of large medical images for cancer detection, and in the following year also the MICCAI Grand Challenge on the same topic. In 2013 and 2014, the error rate on the ImageNet task using deep learning was further reduced, following a similar trend in large-scale speech recognition.
Image classification was then extended to the more challenging task of generating descriptions (captions) for images, often as a combination of CNNs and LSTMs.
Some researchers state that the October 2012 ImageNet victory anchored the start of a "deep learning revolution" that has transformed the AI industry.
In March 2019, Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun were awarded the Turing Award for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing.
Primary Component Analysis selects the best features that contribute more to diabetic retinopathy classification and deep neural network performs better than random forest and support vector machine algorithms.
Neural networks
Artificial neural networks
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) or connectionist systems are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. Such systems learn (progressively improve their ability) to do tasks by considering examples, generally without task-specific programming. For example, in image recognition, they might learn to identify images that contain cats by analyzing example images that have been manually labeled as "cat" or "no cat" and using the analytic results to identify cats in other images. They have found most use in applications difficult to express with a traditional computer algorithm using rule-based programming.
An ANN is based on a collection of connected units called artificial neurons, (analogous to biological neurons in a biological brain). Each connection (synapse) between neurons can transmit a signal to another neuron. The receiving (postsynaptic) neuron can process the signal(s) and then signal downstream neurons connected to it. Neurons may have state, generally represented by real numbers, typically between 0 and 1. Neurons and synapses may also have a weight that varies as learning proceeds, which can increase or decrease the strength of the signal that it sends downstream.
Typically, neurons are organized in layers. Different layers may perform different kinds of transformations on their inputs. Signals travel from the first (input), to the last (output) layer, possibly after traversing the layers multiple times.
The original goal of the neural network approach was to solve problems in the same way that a human brain would. Over time, attention focused on matching specific mental abilities, leading to deviations from biology such as backpropagation, or passing information in the reverse direction and adjusting the network to reflect that information.
Neural networks have been used on a variety of tasks, including computer vision, speech recognition, machine translation, social network filtering, playing board and video games and medical diagnosis.
As of 2017, neural networks typically have a few thousand to a few million units and millions of connections. Despite this number being several order of magnitude less than the number of neurons on a human brain, these networks can perform many tasks at a level beyond that of humans (e.g., recognizing faces, playing "Go" ).
Deep neural networks
A deep neural network (DNN) is an artificial neural network (ANN) with multiple layers between the input and output layers. There are different types of neural networks but they always consist of the same components: neurons, synapses, weights, biases, and functions. These components functioning similar to the human brains and can be trained like any other ML algorithm.
For example, a DNN that is trained to recognize dog breeds will go over the given image and calculate the probability that the dog in the image is a certain breed. The user can review the results and select which probabilities the network should display (above a certain threshold, etc.) and return the proposed label. Each mathematical manipulation as such is considered a layer, and complex DNN have many layers, hence the name "deep" networks.
DNNs can model complex non-linear relationships. DNN architectures generate compositional models where the object is expressed as a layered composition of primitives. The extra layers enable composition of features from lower layers, potentially modeling complex data with fewer units than a similarly performing shallow network. For instance, it was proved that sparse multivariate polynomials are exponentially easier to approximate with DNNs than with shallow networks.
Deep architectures include many variants of a few basic approaches. Each architecture has found success in specific domains. It is not always possible to compare the performance of multiple architectures, unless they have been evaluated on the same data sets.
DNNs are typically feedforward networks in which data flows from the input layer to the output layer without looping back. At first, the DNN creates a map of virtual neurons and assigns random numerical values, or "weights", to connections between them. The weights and inputs are multiplied and return an output between 0 and 1. If the network did not accurately recognize a particular pattern, an algorithm would adjust the weights. That way the algorithm can make certain parameters more influential, until it determines the correct mathematical manipulation to fully process the data.
Recurrent neural networks (RNNs), in which data can flow in any direction, are used for applications such as language modeling. Long short-term memory is particularly effective for this use.
Convolutional deep neural networks (CNNs) are used in computer vision. CNNs also have been applied to acoustic modeling for automatic speech recognition (ASR).
Challenges
As with ANNs, many issues can arise with naively trained DNNs. Two common issues are overfitting and computation time.
DNNs are prone to overfitting because of the added layers of abstraction, which allow them to model rare dependencies in the training data. Regularization methods such as Ivakhnenko's unit pruning or weight decay (-regularization) or sparsity (-regularization) can be applied during training to combat overfitting. Alternatively dropout regularization randomly omits units from the hidden layers during training. This helps to exclude rare dependencies. Finally, data can be augmented via methods such as cropping and rotating such that smaller training sets can be increased in size to reduce the chances of overfitting.
DNNs must consider many training parameters, such as the size (number of layers and number of units per layer), the learning rate, and initial weights. Sweeping through the parameter space for optimal parameters may not be feasible due to the cost in time and computational resources. Various tricks, such as batching (computing the gradient on several training examples at once rather than individual examples) speed up computation. Large processing capabilities of many-core architectures (such as GPUs or the Intel Xeon Phi) have produced significant speedups in training, because of the suitability of such processing architectures for the matrix and vector computations.
Alternatively, engineers may look for other types of neural networks with more straightforward and convergent training algorithms. CMAC (cerebellar model articulation controller) is one such kind of neural network. It doesn't require learning rates or randomized initial weights for CMAC. The training process can be guaranteed to converge in one step with a new batch of data, and the computational complexity of the training algorithm is linear with respect to the number of neurons involved.
Hardware
Since the 2010s, advances in both machine learning algorithms and computer hardware have led to more efficient methods for training deep neural networks that contain many layers of non-linear hidden units and a very large output layer. By 2019, graphic processing units (GPUs), often with AI-specific enhancements, had displaced CPUs as the dominant method of training large-scale commercial cloud AI. OpenAI estimated the hardware computation used in the largest deep learning projects from AlexNet (2012) to AlphaZero (2017), and found a 300,000-fold increase in the amount of computation required, with a doubling-time trendline of 3.4 months.
Applications
Automatic speech recognition
Large-scale automatic speech recognition is the first and most convincing successful case of deep learning. LSTM RNNs can learn "Very Deep Learning" tasks that involve multi-second intervals containing speech events separated by thousands of discrete time steps, where one time step corresponds to about 10 ms. LSTM with forget gates is competitive with traditional speech recognizers on certain tasks.
The initial success in speech recognition was based on small-scale recognition tasks based on TIMIT. The data set contains 630 speakers from eight major dialects of American English, where each speaker reads 10 sentences. Its small size lets many configurations be tried. More importantly, the TIMIT task concerns phone-sequence recognition, which, unlike word-sequence recognition, allows weak phone bigram language models. This lets the strength of the acoustic modeling aspects of speech recognition be more easily analyzed. The error rates listed below, including these early results and measured as percent phone error rates (PER), have been summarized since 1991.
The debut of DNNs for speaker recognition in the late 1990s and speech recognition around 2009-2011 and of LSTM around 2003–2007, accelerated progress in eight major areas:
Scale-up/out and accelerated DNN training and decoding
Sequence discriminative training
Feature processing by deep models with solid understanding of the underlying mechanisms
Adaptation of DNNs and related deep models
Multi-task and transfer learning by DNNs and related deep models
CNNs and how to design them to best exploit domain knowledge of speech
RNN and its rich LSTM variants
Other types of deep models including tensor-based models and integrated deep generative/discriminative models.
All major commercial speech recognition systems (e.g., Microsoft Cortana, Xbox, Skype Translator, Amazon Alexa, Google Now, Apple Siri, Baidu and iFlyTek voice search, and a range of Nuance speech products, etc.) are based on deep learning.
Image recognition
A common evaluation set for image classification is the MNIST database data set. MNIST is composed of handwritten digits and includes 60,000 training examples and 10,000 test examples. As with TIMIT, its small size lets users test multiple configurations. A comprehensive list of results on this set is available.
Deep learning-based image recognition has become "superhuman", producing more accurate results than human contestants. This first occurred in 2011 in recognition of traffic signs, and in 2014, with recognition of human faces.Surpassing Human Level Face Recognition
Deep learning-trained vehicles now interpret 360° camera views. Another example is Facial Dysmorphology Novel Analysis (FDNA) used to analyze cases of human malformation connected to a large database of genetic syndromes.
Visual art processing
Closely related to the progress that has been made in image recognition is the increasing application of deep learning techniques to various visual art tasks. DNNs have proven themselves capable, for example, of a) identifying the style period of a given painting, b) Neural Style Transfer capturing the style of a given artwork and applying it in a visually pleasing manner to an arbitrary photograph or video, and c) generating striking imagery based on random visual input fields.
Natural language processing
Neural networks have been used for implementing language models since the early 2000s. LSTM helped to improve machine translation and language modeling.
Other key techniques in this field are negative sampling and word embedding. Word embedding, such as word2vec, can be thought of as a representational layer in a deep learning architecture that transforms an atomic word into a positional representation of the word relative to other words in the dataset; the position is represented as a point in a vector space. Using word embedding as an RNN input layer allows the network to parse sentences and phrases using an effective compositional vector grammar. A compositional vector grammar can be thought of as probabilistic context free grammar (PCFG) implemented by an RNN. Recursive auto-encoders built atop word embeddings can assess sentence similarity and detect paraphrasing. Deep neural architectures provide the best results for constituency parsing, sentiment analysis, information retrieval, spoken language understanding, machine translation, contextual entity linking, writing style recognition, Text classification and others.
Recent developments generalize word embedding to sentence embedding.
Google Translate (GT) uses a large end-to-end long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Google Neural Machine Translation (GNMT) uses an example-based machine translation method in which the system "learns from millions of examples." It translates "whole sentences at a time, rather than pieces. Google Translate supports over one hundred languages. The network encodes the "semantics of the sentence rather than simply memorizing phrase-to-phrase translations". GT uses English as an intermediate between most language pairs.
Drug discovery and toxicology
A large percentage of candidate drugs fail to win regulatory approval. These failures are caused by insufficient efficacy (on-target effect), undesired interactions (off-target effects), or unanticipated toxic effects. Research has explored use of deep learning to predict the biomolecular targets, off-targets, and toxic effects of environmental chemicals in nutrients, household products and drugs.
AtomNet is a deep learning system for structure-based rational drug design. AtomNet was used to predict novel candidate biomolecules for disease targets such as the Ebola virus and multiple sclerosis.
In 2017 graph neural networks were used for the first time to predict various properties of molecules in a large toxicology data set. In 2019, generative neural networks were used to produce molecules that were validated experimentally all the way into mice.
Customer relationship management
Deep reinforcement learning has been used to approximate the value of possible direct marketing actions, defined in terms of RFM variables. The estimated value function was shown to have a natural interpretation as customer lifetime value.
Recommendation systems
Recommendation systems have used deep learning to extract meaningful features for a latent factor model for content-based music and journal recommendations. Multi-view deep learning has been applied for learning user preferences from multiple domains. The model uses a hybrid collaborative and content-based approach and enhances recommendations in multiple tasks.
Bioinformatics
An autoencoder ANN was used in bioinformatics, to predict gene ontology annotations and gene-function relationships.
In medical informatics, deep learning was used to predict sleep quality based on data from wearables and predictions of health complications from electronic health record data.
Medical image analysis
Deep learning has been shown to produce competitive results in medical application such as cancer cell classification, lesion detection, organ segmentation and image enhancement.
Mobile advertising
Finding the appropriate mobile audience for mobile advertising is always challenging, since many data points must be considered and analyzed before a target segment can be created and used in ad serving by any ad server. Deep learning has been used to interpret large, many-dimensioned advertising datasets. Many data points are collected during the request/serve/click internet advertising cycle. This information can form the basis of machine learning to improve ad selection.
Image restoration
Deep learning has been successfully applied to inverse problems such as denoising, super-resolution, inpainting, and film colorization. These applications include learning methods such as "Shrinkage Fields for Effective Image Restoration" which trains on an image dataset, and Deep Image Prior, which trains on the image that needs restoration.
Financial fraud detection
Deep learning is being successfully applied to financial fraud detection, tax evasion detection, and anti-money laundering.
Military
The United States Department of Defense applied deep learning to train robots in new tasks through observation.
Partial differential equations
Physics informed neural networks have been used to solve partial differential equations in both forward and inverse problems in a data driven manner. One example is the reconstructing fluid flow governed by the Navier-Stokes equations. Using physics informed neural networks does not require the often expensive mesh generation that conventional CFD methods relies on.
Relation to human cognitive and brain development
Deep learning is closely related to a class of theories of brain development (specifically, neocortical development) proposed by cognitive neuroscientists in the early 1990s. These developmental theories were instantiated in computational models, making them predecessors of deep learning systems. These developmental models share the property that various proposed learning dynamics in the brain (e.g., a wave of nerve growth factor) support the self-organization somewhat analogous to the neural networks utilized in deep learning models. Like the neocortex, neural networks employ a hierarchy of layered filters in which each layer considers information from a prior layer (or the operating environment), and then passes its output (and possibly the original input), to other layers. This process yields a self-organizing stack of transducers, well-tuned to their operating environment. A 1995 description stated, "...the infant's brain seems to organize itself under the influence of waves of so-called trophic-factors ... different regions of the brain become connected sequentially, with one layer of tissue maturing before another and so on until the whole brain is mature."
A variety of approaches have been used to investigate the plausibility of deep learning models from a neurobiological perspective. On the one hand, several variants of the backpropagation algorithm have been proposed in order to increase its processing realism. Other researchers have argued that unsupervised forms of deep learning, such as those based on hierarchical generative models and deep belief networks, may be closer to biological reality. In this respect, generative neural network models have been related to neurobiological evidence about sampling-based processing in the cerebral cortex.
Although a systematic comparison between the human brain organization and the neuronal encoding in deep networks has not yet been established, several analogies have been reported. For example, the computations performed by deep learning units could be similar to those of actual neurons and neural populations. Similarly, the representations developed by deep learning models are similar to those measured in the primate visual system both at the single-unit and at the population levels.
Commercial activity
Facebook's AI lab performs tasks such as automatically tagging uploaded pictures with the names of the people in them.
Google's DeepMind Technologies developed a system capable of learning how to play Atari video games using only pixels as data input. In 2015 they demonstrated their AlphaGo system, which learned the game of Go well enough to beat a professional Go player. Google Translate uses a neural network to translate between more than 100 languages.
In 2015, Blippar demonstrated a mobile augmented reality application that uses deep learning to recognize objects in real time.
In 2017, Covariant.ai was launched, which focuses on integrating deep learning into factories.
As of 2008, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) developed a machine learning framework called Training an Agent Manually via Evaluative Reinforcement, or TAMER, which proposed new methods for robots or computer programs to learn how to perform tasks by interacting with a human instructor. First developed as TAMER, a new algorithm called Deep TAMER was later introduced in 2018 during a collaboration between U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and UT researchers. Deep TAMER used deep learning to provide a robot the ability to learn new tasks through observation. Using Deep TAMER, a robot learned a task with a human trainer, watching video streams or observing a human perform a task in-person. The robot later practiced the task with the help of some coaching from the trainer, who provided feedback such as “good job” and “bad job.”
Criticism and comment
Deep learning has attracted both criticism and comment, in some cases from outside the field of computer science.
Theory
A main criticism concerns the lack of theory surrounding some methods. Learning in the most common deep architectures is implemented using well-understood gradient descent. However, the theory surrounding other algorithms, such as contrastive divergence is less clear. (e.g., Does it converge? If so, how fast? What is it approximating?) Deep learning methods are often looked at as a black box, with most confirmations done empirically, rather than theoretically.
Others point out that deep learning should be looked at as a step towards realizing strong AI, not as an all-encompassing solution. Despite the power of deep learning methods, they still lack much of the functionality needed for realizing this goal entirely. Research psychologist Gary Marcus noted:"Realistically, deep learning is only part of the larger challenge of building intelligent machines. Such techniques lack ways of representing causal relationships (...) have no obvious ways of performing logical inferences, and they are also still a long way from integrating abstract knowledge, such as information about what objects are, what they are for, and how they are typically used. The most powerful A.I. systems, like Watson (...) use techniques like deep learning as just one element in a very complicated ensemble of techniques, ranging from the statistical technique of Bayesian inference to deductive reasoning."
In further reference to the idea that artistic sensitivity might be inherent in relatively low levels of the cognitive hierarchy, a published series of graphic representations of the internal states of deep (20-30 layers) neural networks attempting to discern within essentially random data the images on which they were trained demonstrate a visual appeal: the original research notice received well over 1,000 comments, and was the subject of what was for a time the most frequently accessed article on The Guardian's website.
Errors
Some deep learning architectures display problematic behaviors, such as confidently classifying unrecognizable images as belonging to a familiar category of ordinary images (2014) and misclassifying minuscule perturbations of correctly classified images (2013). Goertzel hypothesized that these behaviors are due to limitations in their internal representations and that these limitations would inhibit integration into heterogeneous multi-component artificial general intelligence (AGI) architectures. These issues may possibly be addressed by deep learning architectures that internally form states homologous to image-grammar decompositions of observed entities and events. Learning a grammar (visual or linguistic) from training data would be equivalent to restricting the system to commonsense reasoning that operates on concepts in terms of grammatical production rules and is a basic goal of both human language acquisition and artificial intelligence (AI).
Cyber threat
As deep learning moves from the lab into the world, research and experience show that artificial neural networks are vulnerable to hacks and deception. By identifying patterns that these systems use to function, attackers can modify inputs to ANNs in such a way that the ANN finds a match that human observers would not recognize. For example, an attacker can make subtle changes to an image such that the ANN finds a match even though the image looks to a human nothing like the search target. Such manipulation is termed an “adversarial attack.”
In 2016 researchers used one ANN to doctor images in trial and error fashion, identify another's focal points and thereby generate images that deceived it. The modified images looked no different to human eyes. Another group showed that printouts of doctored images then photographed successfully tricked an image classification system. One defense is reverse image search, in which a possible fake image is submitted to a site such as TinEye that can then find other instances of it. A refinement is to search using only parts of the image, to identify images from which that piece may have been taken.
Another group showed that certain psychedelic spectacles could fool a facial recognition system into thinking ordinary people were celebrities, potentially allowing one person to impersonate another. In 2017 researchers added stickers to stop signs and caused an ANN to misclassify them.
ANNs can however be further trained to detect attempts at deception, potentially leading attackers and defenders into an arms race similar to the kind that already defines the malware defense industry. ANNs have been trained to defeat ANN-based anti-malware software by repeatedly attacking a defense with malware that was continually altered by a genetic algorithm until it tricked the anti-malware while retaining its ability to damage the target.
In 2016, another group demonstrated that certain sounds could make the Google Now voice command system open a particular web address, and hypothesized that this could "serve as a stepping stone for further attacks (e.g., opening a web page hosting drive-by malware)."
In “data poisoning,” false data is continually smuggled into a machine learning system's training set to prevent it from achieving mastery.
Reliance on human microwork
Most Deep Learning systems rely on training and verification data that is generated and/or annotated by humans. It has been argued in media philosophy that not only low-paid clickwork (e.g. on Amazon Mechanical Turk) is regularly deployed for this purpose, but also implicit forms of human microwork that are often not recognized as such. The philosopher Rainer Mühlhoff distinguishes five types of "machinic capture" of human microwork to generate training data: (1) gamification (the embedding of annotation or computation tasks in the flow of a game), (2) "trapping and tracking" (e.g. CAPTCHAs for image recognition or click-tracking on Google search results pages), (3) exploitation of social motivations (e.g. tagging faces on Facebook to obtain labeled facial images), (4) information mining (e.g. by leveraging quantified-self devices such as activity trackers) and (5) clickwork.
Mühlhoff argues that in most commercial end-user applications of Deep Learning such as Facebook's face recognition system, the need for training data does not stop once an ANN is trained. Rather, there is a continued demand for human-generated verification data to constantly calibrate and update the ANN. For this purpose Facebook introduced the feature that once a user is automatically recognized in an image, they receive a notification. They can choose whether of not they like to be publicly labeled on the image, or tell Facebook that it is not them in the picture. This user interface is a mechanism to generate "a constant stream of verification data" to further train the network in real-time. As Mühlhoff argues, involvement of human users to generate training and verification data is so typical for most commercial end-user applications of Deep Learning that such systems may be referred to as "human-aided artificial intelligence".
See also
Applications of artificial intelligence
Comparison of deep learning software
Compressed sensing
Differentiable programming
Echo state network
List of artificial intelligence projects
Liquid state machine
List of datasets for machine learning research
Reservoir computing
Sparse coding
References
Further reading
Artificial neural networks
Artificial intelligence
Emerging technologies |
10555749 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%20Thacker%20%28basketball%29 | Tom Thacker (basketball) | Thomas Porter Thacker (born November 2, 1939) is an American retired basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cincinnati Royals and the Boston Celtics from 1963 to 1968, and from 1968 to 1971, for the American Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers. He is the only player to have played on an NCAA championship team, an ABA championship team, and an NBA championship team.
Early life
Thacker was born in and grew up in Covington, Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, the son of William and Velma Arvin Thacker. He attended Our Savior's High School until integration closed it in 1956. He then attended the all-black William Grant High School, where he played basketball. He averaged 31.7 points per game as a junior and led the team to a 26–5 record. As a senior, he averaged 33.8 points as the team went 31–7. He scored 36 points in his final high school game as the team lost the Kentucky state championship game, 85–84.
In 1959 he needed a few credits to earn his degree, so he attended Holmes High School during the summer and graduated.
College career
Thacker attended the University of Cincinnati and played three varsity seasons for the Bearcats under coach Ed Jucker. As a sophomore in 1960–61, he averaged 12.3 points per game and was named All-Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) as the Bearcats won the league title. The Bearcats finished the season with a record of 27–3 and, on March 25, 1961, Cincinnati, led by the balanced attack of Thacker, Bob Wiesenhahn, Tony Yates, Paul Hogue and Carl Bouldin, won the NCAA Championship with a 70–65 overtime win over the Ohio State Buckeyes.
As a junior in 1961–62, Thacker averaged 11.0 points per game and was again All-MVC. The Bearcats again captured the MVC and posted a 29–2 record. With Ron Bonham and George Wilson replacing the departed Wiesenhahn and Bouldin, the Bearcats again captured the NCAA title on March 24, 1962, again over Ohio State, 71–59.
As a senior in 1962–63, he averaged 15.8 points per game, led the team in assists with 4.0 per game, and was named the team MVP. He was also named All-MVC for the third consecutive season. In addition, he was a consensus first-team All-American along with teammate Bonham. The Bearcats, with the same starting lineup as the year before except for Larry Shingleton replacing the departed Hogue, won the league crown yet again and, for the third straight season, advanced to the NCAA championship game. However, on March 23, 1963, the Bearcats lost to Loyola University Chicago.
Professional career
Thacker was chosen in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1963 NBA draft as a territorial pick by the Cincinnati Royals. During his three seasons with the Royals, he played about nine minutes per game as a backup guard, averaging 2.8, 2.5, and 3.7 points per game, respectively during the 1963–64 through 1965–66 seasons. On May 1, 1966 he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA expansion draft, but he decided to retire and did not play that season.
On August 4, 1967, he returned to the NBA and was signed as a free agent by the Boston Celtics. It turned out to be a fortuitous trade for Thacker. Averaging about 12 minutes per game and 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, he earned a championship ring as the Celtics won the NBA title in a six-game finals series over the Los Angeles Lakers. He also posted a career single-game high of 17 points twice, on February 11, 1968 against the Lakers and again on March 7 against the Bulls.
After Thacker's fourth NBA season, on May 6, 1968, he was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA expansion draft. However, he opted to play in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Indiana Pacers. In 1968–69, playing just 18 games, he averaged 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, all career personal bests. In 1969–70, he played 70 games, averaging 2.7 points per game and helped the Pacers capture the ABA championship in six games over the Los Angeles Stars. In his third and final ABA season of 1970–71, he played eight games and his seven-year professional career ended.
Coaching career
He became the first African-American coach at the University of Cincinnati, leading the women's basketball program from 1974 to 1978. Thacker was the second coach for the Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball team and would go on to have an 55–43 record over four seasons, leading three winning campaigns during his coaching time.
Personal life
Thacker earned both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the University of Cincinnati. He is also a member of the Beta Eta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Thacker owns his own small business, Tom Thacker Enterprises, in Cincinnati.
He has served as deputy director of the Cincinnati Urban League, and he also served as a teacher with Cincinnati Public Schools. In 1986, he was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame and, in 1989, into the Northern Kentucky Black Hall of Fame.
He was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame at the 11th Annual Ceremony on May 21, 2016 in Columbus.
References
External links
1939 births
Living people
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Kentucky
Basketball players at the 1961 NCAA University Division Final Four
Basketball players at the 1962 NCAA University Division Final Four
Basketball players at the 1963 NCAA University Division Final Four
Basketball players from Kentucky
Boston Celtics players
Chicago Bulls expansion draft picks
Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball players
Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball coaches
Cincinnati Royals draft picks
Cincinnati Royals players
Continental Basketball Association coaches
Indiana Pacers players
Milwaukee Bucks expansion draft picks
Point guards
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from Covington, Kentucky |
31969639 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinancialForce.com | FinancialForce.com | FinancialForce is a cloud-based applications company headquartered in San Francisco, California, that provides a cloud ERP solution for Force.com, a cloud computing platform from salesforce.com. FinancialForce supplies Accounting, Billing, Professional Services Automation (PSA), Revenue recognition, Human Capital Management (HCM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) applications.
History
FinancialForce was founded by Jeremy Roche and Debbie Ashton in 2009 with an investment from UNIT4, and salesforce.com. The resulting cloud accounting system was a single-ledger design that enables real-time financial management and is built on salesforce.com's technology platform, Force.com.
The company started by specializing in accounting and billing solutions that are built on the Force.com platform, therefore making them closely coupled with Salesforce CRM applications. In December 2010, FinancialForce purchased Appirio's Professional Services Enterprise (PSE) product, which later was renamed FinancialForce Professional Services Automation.
In November 2013, during FinancialForce's annual customer day, the company announced the acquisitions of Supply Chain Management vendor Less Software and Human Capital Management vendor Vana Workforce and their intention to round out the back office applications portfolio.
In February 2014, the company unveils FinancialForce ERP. Built on the Salesforce Platform, FinancialForce ERP connects customers, employees, partners and products into a single system.
In April 2014, FinancialForce received $50 million in funding from Advent International.
In March 2015, the company receives $110 million in funding from Technology Crossover Ventures and Salesforce Ventures.
In January 2017, FinancialForce appointed former Salesforce and Heroku executive Tod Nielsen as CEO and President.
Locations
FinancialForce's offices are located in:
San Francisco, California (headquarters)
Harrogate, England (EMEA headquarters)
Sydney, Australia (ANZ headquarters)
London, England
Granada, Spain
New York, NY
Chicago, IL
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Mobile support
FinancialForce supports mobile usage through FinancialForce Mobile, along with the Force.com mobile application platform, supporting iPhone and iPad as well as BlackBerry and Android. In November 2013, the company introduced FinancialForce 360° Back Office mobile app on the Salesforce1 App Exchange.
Events
Community Live
Community Live is an annual conference for customers and media on business strategy and product announcements.
Awards and recognition
THINKstrategies, Inc., the leading strategic consulting company focused on the business implications of the on-demand services market, awarded FinancialForce.com the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Award.
FinancialForce was named in the 2011 Red Herring (magazine) Top 100 North America, a group of 100 companies judged by the publication to be the most innovative across North America. The company has since been listed in the 2011 Red Herring Global Top 100 which identifies the 100 most innovative companies worldwide.
FinancialForce's accounting product (FinancialForce Accounting) was named Software Product of the Year at the 2013 Business Finance Awards. The Business Finance Awards 2013 are designed to recognise excellence in business finance.
AlwaysOn Networks named FinancialForce.com a 2013 OnDemand 100 winner. FinancialForce.com was selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.
FinancialForce and CEO Jeremy Roche were chosen by Forbes as the Best Cloud Computing Companies And CEOs To Work For In 2014.
FinancialForce was named in the eighth annual Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award for the Best Places to Work in 2016 in the U.S. SMB category
In January 2020, FinancialForce was named to DiversityJobs Award as Top Software & Technology Employers 2020.
References
External links
Accounting software
Companies based in San Francisco
American companies established in 2009
Software companies established in 2009
Cloud computing providers
CRM software companies
ERP software companies
Financial software companies
Project management software
2009 establishments in California
Privately held companies based in California
Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Software companies of the United States |
18561355 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun%20Open%20Storage | Sun Open Storage | Sun Open Storage was an open source computer data storage platform developed by Sun Microsystems. Sun Open Storage was advertised as avoiding vendor lock-in.
Background
Prior to Open Storage, most storage products were based on customized operating systems running on specialist hardware. In many cases, the specialist hardware was based on old generation hardware, because the customized operating systems were behind in support for current processors and system architectures. During the 2000s, the phenomenal growth in processor performance and processor multithreading left these (often single threaded) storage products with a significant internal processing gap versus current industry standard computers.
Open Storage is the concept of building storage products on current industry standard hardware using standard operating systems which have a large enough user and support base to be tracking current hardware (processors, threading, memory, controllers, flash, etc.), avoiding the costs of specialist hardware and custom operating systems, and the performance penalty of not being able to use current generation technologies.
Sun's Open Storage products were a combination of their server technologies and software, starting with Solaris 10 6/06 ("Update 2") in June 2006, which included ZFS and the set of protocols to build NAS, SAN, and local storage servers. Core features provided by Solaris included the operating environment, the ZFS file-system, the Network File System (NFS) and SMB protocol interfaces, Solaris Fault Management Architecture, and other core features. Sun produced the 7000 series Storage Appliance range, based on the Open Storage platform with closed source parts added to create a complete integrated storage appliance. Other companies such as Greenplum, Nexenta, Delphix, etc. also used the Sun Open Storage platform to produce storage products/appliances with various specialities.
Statements by Sun around their Open Storage products indicated that products based on common hardware and open source Solaris, would remove vendor lock-in for customers.
In 2008 Sun estimated that open storage products and related services would gain 12 percent of the storage market by 2011. Storage solutions from other vendors are closed systems, in which all the components must come from the vendor.
The move to create storage products based on software personalities, running on standard hardware are also part of a broader move within the system and storage industries. Companies including Dell, EMC, HP, IBM, NetApp and numerous smaller vendors all have been moving towards storage products based upon standard server hardware and customized software.
Following the acquisition of Sun by Oracle in 2010, Oracle stopped using the Open Storage branding and stopped selling the Open Storage hardware products (Storage Servers and JBODs) related to it. Oracle continued manufacturing some of these products only for sale as part of the 7000 series, rebranding them "Unified Storage" instead of "OpenStorage". However, by this time, many other vendors were selling Open Storage hardware.
Open Storage branding continued to be used by some of the other companies with Storage products based on Open Storage (ZFS and open sourced Solaris such as illumos), together with an annual Open Storage Summit, although Oracle has not participated.
Technologies
At the storage protocol layer, OpenSolaris supported SCSI, iSCSI, iSNS, Fibre Channel, FCoE, InfiniBand, RDMA, Object storage device, and SAS.
Software
OpenSolaris, or Illumos, or FreeBSD, or Linux using ZFS on Linux
ZFS, NFS, and SMB
NexentaStor, FreeNAS, SmartOS, OmniOS
Hardware platforms
Sun Fire X4500
Sun Storage J4500 Array
Sun Storage 7000 Unified Storage
References
External links
Sun Open Storage
OpenSolaris Storage Projects
The Open Storage Revolution (presentation by Jeff Bonwick)
Computer storage devices |
34988091 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ileana%20Streinu | Ileana Streinu | Ileana Streinu is a Romanian-American computer scientist and mathematician, the Charles N. Clark Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Smith College in Massachusetts. She is known for her research in computational geometry, and in particular for her work on kinematics and structural rigidity.
Biography
Streinu did her undergraduate studies at the University of Bucharest in Romania. She earned two doctorates in 1994, one in mathematics and computer science from the University of Bucharest under the supervision of Solomon Marcus and one in computer science from Rutgers University under the supervision of William L. Steiger. She joined the Smith computer science department in 1994, was given a joint appointment in mathematics in 2005, and became the Charles N. Clark Professor in 2009. She also holds an adjunct professorship in the computer science department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
At Smith, Streinu is director of the Biomathematical Sciences Concentration and has been the co-PI on a million-dollar grant shared between four schools to support this activity.
Awards and honors
In 2006, Streinu won the Grigore Moisil Award of the Romanian Academy for her work with Ciprian Borcea using complex algebraic geometry to show that every minimally rigid graph with fixed edge lengths has at most 4n different embeddings into the Euclidean plane, where n denotes the number of distinct vertices of the graph.
In 2010, Streinu won the David P. Robbins Prize of the American Mathematical Society for her combinatorial solution to the carpenter's rule problem. In this problem, one is given an arbitrary simple polygon with flexible vertices and rigid edges, and must show that it can be manipulated into a convex shape without ever introducing any self-crossings. Streinu's solution augments the input to form a pointed pseudotriangulation, removes one convex hull edge from this graph, and shows that this edge removal provides a single degree of freedom allowing the polygon to be made more convex one step at a time.
In 2012 she became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Selected publications
.
.
References
External links
Web site at Smith College
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American computer scientists
Romanian emigrants to the United States
20th-century American mathematicians
21st-century American mathematicians
Romanian computer scientists
Romanian women computer scientists
20th-century Romanian mathematicians
American women computer scientists
American women mathematicians
University of Bucharest alumni
Rutgers University alumni
Smith College faculty
Researchers in geometric algorithms
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
20th-century women mathematicians
21st-century women mathematicians
21st-century Romanian mathematicians
20th-century American women
21st-century American women |
68358969 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elad%20Hazan | Elad Hazan | Elad Hazan is an Israeli-American computer scientist, academic, author and researcher. He is a Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, and the co-founder and director of Google AI Princeton.
Hazan co-invented adaptive gradient methods and the AdaGrad algorithm. He has published over 150 articles and has several patents awarded. He has worked machine learning and mathematical optimization, and more recently on control theory and reinforcement learning. He has authored a book, entitled Introduction to Online Convex Optimization. Hazan is the co-founder of In8 Inc., which was acquired by Google in 2018.
Education
Hazan studied at Tel Aviv University and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Computer Science in 2001 and 2002, respectively. He then moved to the United States, earning his Doctoral Degree in Computer Science from Princeton University in 2006 under Sanjeev Arora.
Career
Upon receiving his doctoral degree, Hazan held an appointment as a Research Staff Member in the Theory Group at IBM Almaden Research Center in 2006. Following this appointment, he joined Technion - Israel Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in 2010 and was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2013. In 2015, he joined Princeton University as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and later became Professor of Computer Science in 2016. Since 2018, he has been serving as a Director of Google AI Princeton.
Research
Hazan's research primarily focuses on machine learning, mathematical optimization, control theory and reinforcement learning. He is the co-inventor of five US patents.
Machine learning and mathematical optimization
Hazan co-introduced adaptive subgradient methods to dynamically incorporate knowledge of the geometry of the data observed in earlier iterations, and to perform more informative gradient-based learning. The AdaGrad algorithm changed optimization for deep learning and serves as the basis for today's fastest algorithms. In his study, he also made substantial contributions to the theory of online convex optimization, including the Online Newton Step and Online Frank Wolfe algorithm, projection free methods, and adaptive-regret algorithms.
In the area of mathematical optimization, Hazan proposed the first sublinear-time algorithms for linear classification as well as semi-definite programming. He also gave the first linearly converging Frank-Wolfe-type algorithm.
More recently, Hazan and his group proposed a new paradigm for differentiable reinforcement learning called non-stochastic control, which applies online convex optimization to control.
Awards and honors
2002–2006 - Gordon Wu fellowship, Princeton University
2008 - Machine Learning Journal Award best student paper, COLT
2009, 2012 - IBM Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award
2011–2015 - European Research Council Marie Curie Fellow
2011, 2015 - Google Research Award
2012 - ICML Best Student Paper Runner Up
2013 - European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Recipient
2017 - Bell Labs Prize
2018 - Amazon Research Award
Bibliography
Books
Introduction to Online Convex Optimization (2016) ISBN 9781521003442
Selected articles
Hazan, E., Agarwal, A., & Kale, S. (2007). Logarithmic regret algorithms for online convex optimization. Machine Learning, 69(2-3), 169–192.
Duchi, J., Hazan, E., & Singer, Y. (2011). Adaptive subgradient methods for online learning and stochastic optimization. Journal of machine learning research, 12(7).
Arora, S., Hazan, E., & Kale, S. (2012). The multiplicative weights update method: a meta-algorithm and applications. Theory of Computing, 8(1), 121–164.
Hazan, E. (2019). Introduction to online convex optimization. arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.05207.
Clarkson, K. L., Hazan, E., & Woodruff, D. P. (2012). Sublinear optimization for machine learning. Journal of the ACM (JACM), 59(5), 1-49.
Garber, D., & Hazan, E. (2013). A linearly convergent conditional gradient algorithm with applications to online and stochastic optimization. arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.4666.
Agarwal, N., Bullins, B., Hazan, E., Kakade, S., & Singh, K. (2019, May). Online control with adversarial disturbances. In International Conference on Machine Learning (pp. 111–119). PMLR.
References
Living people
American people of Israeli descent
American computer scientists
Princeton University faculty
Tel Aviv University alumni
Princeton University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people) |
34842364 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auslogics%20BoostSpeed | Auslogics BoostSpeed | Auslogics BoostSpeed is a software application presented as a bundle of software utilities intended to speed up, optimize and clean the user's computer, fix registry errors, improve Internet performance, remove unneeded files and entries, and defragment the disks and the registry. The program can also adjust Windows settings to match a specific computer configuration with the intent to improve Internet speed and reduce computer startup and shutdown time. The program is intended for use on computers that run the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Publisher
The program is published by Auslogics, an Australian-based company that specializes in maintenance software for computers that run the Microsoft Windows operating system. Started in 2008, the company products include Auslogics BoostSpeed and Auslogics Disk Defrag. In 2009 the company partnered with Sony Vaio to develop part of the Sony Vaio Care software installed on the Vaio laptops and desktop PC's. As of 2011, Auslogics has the Premier Elite Partner status in the Intel Software Partner Program.
History
Auslogics BoostSpeed 3 was the first official release of the program, as prior versions were deemed by their developers as requiring more work to be done. It started out with limited computer optimization options and expanded to include 18 utilities combined into one computer maintenance suite in version 5.2.0.0. The publisher also made the program available in different languages, with more languages being added from version to version.
ZOTAC, a Macau-based hardware manufacturer, included Auslogics BoostSpeed in its ZOTAC Boost XL software bundle, which is supplied with ZOTAC's mini-computers.
Independent tests
Auslogics BoostSpeed software received the Editor's Pick award from several software distributing and reviewing websites, including
DownloadPipe, Brothersoft, Software.Informer, Free Downloads Center. It has been reviewed by computer experts from a number of industry magazines and websites, such as the online CNet, PC World, SoftwareCrew, as well as printed editions – Windows Vista: the Official Magazine, Computer Buyer, PC Advisor, Computer Shopper, Micro Mart. Most give it their highest mark pointing out the program's advantages, including the large number of computer system optimization tools included in one suite, its small size, its high speed and ease of use for inexperienced customers.
Among the disadvantages mentioned in online reviews are the limited functionality of the application's trial version and, again, the large number of tools, which requires a user to spend some time familiarizing with the application.
The Ultimate Guide to Windows Vista book published in 2008 recommends using Auslogics BoostSpeed to optimize Windows-based systems saying that "Tests showed an impressive performance improvement on a 4-year old laptop and its optimization techniques should work for a much newer computer, too."
In the independent tests performed by Asiasoft Online, an Asian publisher of Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Auslogics BoostSpeed improved the gaming experience on test systems by speeding up game launching, eliminating lags and increasing frame rate.
Antivirus Detections
Auslogics BoostSpeed now gets flagged by major antivirus software, it not because of the features of the program, however because of the model not giving user choice to try the program.
Present Day Alternatives
Present day alternatives of Auslogics BoostSpeed includes,
SafeSoft PC Cleaner
ccleaner
Restoro
Alternatives now not only gives users choice however also help them have more features than BoostSpeed.
References
Computer system optimization software |
774861 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyglass%2C%20Inc. | Spyglass, Inc. | Spyglass, Inc. (former NASDAQ ticker symbol SPYG), was an Internet software company based in Champaign, Illinois.
The company, founded in 1990, was an offshoot of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and created to commercialize and support technologies from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). For several years, it focused on data visualization tools, such as graphing packages and 3D rendering engines. It became most known for its version of the Mosaic web browser.
Mosaic
In May 1994, Spyglass licensed NCSA's Mosaic browser for several million dollars, with the intent to develop their own Web browser. However, NCSA's development effort had resulted in different features, user interfaces, and codebases for each of its major platforms: UNIX, Microsoft Windows, and classic Mac OS. Spyglass therefore created its own Mosaic codebase in which most source code and all features were shared between platforms.
Spyglass offered a 30-day trial version for download, but did not actually sell the product to end-users. Instead, it licensed the code to re-sellers that delivered either an unmodified Spyglass Mosaic (e.g., O'Reilly and Associates) or a browser based on the Spyglass codebase (as did CompuServe, IBM and Ipswitch). Among the browsers produced under license using Spyglass Mosaic's codebase was also Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
In addition to the major desktop platforms, Spyglass ported Mosaic to other systems including Nintendo 64 for the SharkWire Online system.
Browser wars
Netscape Communications Corporation, co-founded by Marc Andreessen, released its flagship Netscape Navigator browser in October 1994, and the company soon became the web browser industry leader. Microsoft recognized the potential of the web, and wanting to get into the browser game as soon as possible, decided to license an existing browser rather than build one from scratch.
After Microsoft lost out to AOL for BookLink's browser in November 1994, their talks with Spyglass progressed. In 1995, Microsoft licensed Mosaic from Spyglass as the basis of Internet Explorer 1.0, which was released as an add-on to Windows 95 in the Microsoft Plus! software package. The deal stipulated that Spyglass would receive a base quarterly fee for the Mosaic license plus a royalty from Microsoft's Internet Explorer revenue.
Microsoft subsequently bundled Internet Explorer with Windows, and thus (making no direct revenues on IE) paid only the minimum quarterly fee. In 1997, Spyglass threatened Microsoft with a contractual audit, in response to which Microsoft settled for .
All versions of the Internet Explorer created before Internet Explorer 7 (released October 18, 2006) acknowledged Spyglass as the licensor for the IE browser code. The About window on these versions contained the text "Distributed under a licensing agreement with Spyglass, Inc."
Web server technology
Spyglass created and marketed a commercially supported web server for Unix and Windows NT, variously called Spyglass Server and Server SDK. The product was announced in March 1995 and became available in July 1995. Like the Netscape server that was already on the market, the Spyglass Server included an application programming interface that allowed server-side applications to run in the server's process. The two server platforms differed in their approach to security, with Spyglass using the Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (SHTTP), while Netscape used its own Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Spyglass did not offer their server as a retail product, instead licensing it in volume to original equipment manufacturers, as it did with its browser. The largest licensee was Oracle Corporation.
End of Spyglass
On March 26, 2000, OpenTV bought out Spyglass in a stock swap worth $2.5 billion. The acquisition was completed July 24, 2000. In the deal, they received both Device Mosaic, an embedded web browser, and Prism, a content delivery and transformation system.
References
External links
1994 software
Software companies established in 1990
Software companies disestablished in 2000
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Defunct companies based in Illinois
Defunct software companies of the United States
Internet Explorer
2000 mergers and acquisitions |
55568781 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeq%20Corporation | Seeq Corporation | Seeq Corporation is a software company, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States, that provides software with advanced analytics capabilities to the industrial process manufacturing sector including pharmaceutical, oil and gas, mining and minerals, pulp and paper, energy and utilities, IIoT, and chemical industries among others. Seeq's browser-based software is designed specifically for use with time series data which is most often aggregated in data historians such as OSIsoft's PI system, Inductive Automation's Ignition system and other similar data historians such as Emerson's Ovation and DeltaV, GE Proficy, Honeywell's Uniformance PHD, Wonderware, and AspenTech IP.21, as well as many others.
Seeq's multiple applications allow organizations to analyze their data to improve business outcomes. Workbench, one of Seeq's applications, includes data visualization, data modeling, and interactive tools for diagnostic, monitoring, predictive and descriptive analytics It also includes Google-like search, knowledge-capture and collaboration tools. Seeq Organizer is used to create documents that assemble analyses and visualizations into reports, presentations, and meeting agendas. Organizer documents are dynamic because they tie directly to the underlying data, and are “time relative” so they can be defined by any batch, shift, day, etc. Seeq Runtime performs continuous data cleansing, boundary management, and streaming calculations on historian data. The runtime, which is accessed through either Seeq Workbench or the Seeq REST API, runs autonomously and may be integrated with existing alarm systems or dashboard solutions.
Seeq can be set up and running on a dedicated server, server cluster, or virtual machine in as little time as an hour. On-premise installations on the same network as a plant or enterprise historian, or on the cloud (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, etc.), or on a mixed environment of on-premise and cloud resources are supported. Seeq is extensible through data export, data integration, and a REST API for creating custom templates and modules. Data export options include Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, and any OData client (Tableau, Microsoft PowerBI, etc.). Data integration with OSIsoft Vision is supported, and the REST API has SDKs for programming in C#, Python, MatLab, and Java. Seeq does not copy or duplicate data from the source of record. Instead, data is accessed via a connector retrieving data on the fly based on user actions. All Seeq documents such as workbooks, worksheets, topics, and search definitions are stored by Seeq for easy user access and sharing.
References
External links
Company Website
Windpower Engineering and Development October 20, 2017 Article
Data visualization software
Business software
Data analysis software
Companies based in Seattle
Data companies |
51229208 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink%20%28platform%29 | Wink (platform) | Wink is an American brand of software and hardware products that connects with and controls smart home devices from a consolidated user interface. Wink, Labs Inc., which develops and markets Wink, was founded in 2014 as a spin-off from invention incubator Quirky. After Quirky went through bankruptcy proceedings, it sold Wink to Flex in 2015. As of 2016, the Wink software is connected to 1.3 million devices. In July 2017, Flex sold Wink to i.am+ for $59M.
Corporate history
Wink, Labs Inc. was founded at Quirky, an incubator program for inventions that relies on crowd-sourced product ideas. Wink, Labs was originally created as part of a collaboration with General Electric to control co-branded smart home products like air-conditioners. It was founded by current CTO Nathan Smith and received about $20 million in funding. The company spent twelve months working with fifteen electronics manufacturing companies to offer about 60 Wink-compatible products by July 2014. Wink was spun-off from Quirky in June 2014.
According to Quirky, Wink products were in 300,000 homes by 2015. In April 2015 Wink experienced a security problem that made many of its smart home hubs go offline or break, forcing the company to issue a recall. The recall caused a several-month inventory backlog and subsequent shortage of the Wink hub. Due to financial difficulties, due in part to the recall, Quirky began looking for buyers to sell Wink to in 2015. That November, after Quirky went through bankruptcy proceedings, it sold Wink for $15 million to Flextronics (now called Flex), to whom Quirky owed $18.7 million. Flex was Wink's primary supplier of firmware and hardware. As of 2016, 1.3 million devices were connected to Wink.
On 27 July 2017, in its First Quarter Report, Flex announced that it had sold its interest in Wink for $59 million, representing a $38.7 million gain on the balance sheet. Although the Report described the purchaser as "an unrelated third-party venture backed company", stories circulated in the technology press identifying the purchaser as i.am+, the technology firm founded by the performer Will.i.am.
On May 6, 2020, Wink announced that they would be updating their platform from being free from monthly fees to charging a monthly service fee in order to continue using the Wink app, hub and devices. Users were notified that they had until May 13, 2020, after which Wink devices would be inaccessible from the app, and all voice control, API and automations would be disabled. The deadline for subscriptions was delayed, eventually taking effect in July 2020.
On January 25, 2021, Wink suffered a wide spread outage. Remote control and cloud automation features were broken. Some users reported a complete and total outage including local control of their smarthubs, contrary to the company's public statements. The outage persisted for nine days. Wink resumed operation on February 3, 2021, posting on their blog that customers would receive a 25% discount on January and February's monthly dues. No cause for the incident was provided.
Products
Wink connects with third-party smart home devices associated with the Internet of Things, such as thermostats, door locks, ceiling fans, and Wi-Fi-enabled lights, to provide a single user interface on a mobile app or via a wall-mounted screen, called Relay. This allows the user to remotely control those devices. The mobile app is free, while consumers pay for a Wink Hub, or Wink Relay, which connects with smart devices in the home. The hubs integrate with competing software standards used by different manufacturers. Wink integrates with software from automated home device brands, such as Canary, which markets an app-controlled home system. In February 2016, new features were introduced to allow Wink to operate on the local network, in case a user's internet connection is down. In June 2016, compatibility with Uber, Fitbit, and IFTTT, was added to the Relay product. A second generation version of the Wink Hub was released in November 2016. Compatibility with Uber has long been abandoned as of January 2021; as has the Wink Relay and sales of its standalone Wink Hub.
The second generation Wink Hub supports most smart home devices with Zigbee, ZWave, Lutron Clear Connect, and Kidde protocols. Wink 2 also added Bluetooth Low Energy, 5 GHz Wi-Fi radio, an Ethernet port, and 512MB of memory.
In October 2017, the Wink Lookout home security system was announced, consisting of open/close sensors, motion sensors, a siren, and the Wink hub. The Wink Lookout, released on October 31, 2017, was the last major product released by the company as of January 2021.
Reception
In a 2014 competitive review comparing Wink to SmartThings, CNET said Wink was cheaper and supported more wireless standards, but had fewer and less reliable sensors to support automation. The article recommended SmartThings for tech-savvy users and Wink for general consumers. In an August 2014 review, CNET gave Wink a 7.7 score out of 10. It complimented the product for being close to the "ideal" whole-home security and automation service, but lamented that it wasn't "a perfect replacement for some of the more sophisticated standalone smart home device apps." A January 2015 review of Wink by Tom's Guide rated the product a 7/10, "very good". The reviewer criticized the application for not giving as much control over individual smart home electronics as their own apps, but praised Wink for providing "an easy way for people to dip their toes into smart home systems."
A review in PCMAG of the Wink Hub 2 said it was easy to use and compatible with many devices, but had no battery backup or USB ports. Under "Bottom Line" the review said, "Works with virtually every wireless protocol out there and supports dual-band Wi-Fi. Installation and device pairing is quick and easy." It gave the Hub 2 4.5 out of 5 stars and named it its new Editors' Choice for home automation hubs. In contrast, CNET gave the device three stars. The reviewer said the device is easy to set up and compatible with many devices, but gave the reviewer error messages. The reviewer was never able to successfully set it up the way she wanted. Tom's Guide gave the Wink Hub 2 7 out of 10. It also said the device was easy to use and compatible with many devices, but missing some advanced features. Tom's Guide said it was good for "basic" smart homes.
References
External links
Mobile software
Mobile applications
Android (operating system) software
IOS software
WatchOS software
Wear OS software
Smart home hubs |
43151168 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang%20Jialong | Zhang Jialong | Zhang Jialong () born on May 22, 1988, in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, is a Chinese journalist, blogger and a former editor of Tencent Finance.
He graduated from Inner Mongolia University in 2010 where he majored in history, stumbled on his first job and became a journalist.
He reported for the financial news magazine Caijing about the forceful demolition of artist Ai Weiwei's workshop in Shanghai. He also covered Zhao Lianhai, a father whose son was a victim of melamine-tainted milk formula, and other rights defenders.
In April, 2011, he was interrogated by Beijing police for 24 hours, and his home ransacked, for tweeting "today on taxi the driver said that two third of taxi drivers in Beijing will stage a strike during the May First holidays." He was subsequently given a 10-day administrative detention for "posting false information on an overseas website Twitter that was retweeted 37 times and caused disruption of social order."
The incident was listed as a "significant, particularly sensitive case" by the criminal detection squad of the public transportation unit of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, and he was called by the Beijing police a "dangerous element" who "incited a strike online" and "attempted to provoke disruptions and harm the capital city's public transportation order."
On February 15, 2014, Zhang was invited to be one of four Chinese bloggers to meet with United States Secretary of State John Kerry during his China trip.
At the 40-minute meeting on Feb. 15, Zhang asked Mr. Kerry "Will you get together with the Chinese who aspire for freedom" and help "tear down this Great Firewall that blocks the Internet". Zhang also asked Mr. Kerry to look into reports that American companies had helped the Chinese government establish controls over what websites Chinese citizens could access.
Zhang said the situation for political and human rights activists has not improved. He was worried about "prisoners of conscience," specifically Xu Zhiyong, a human-rights activist who was sentenced last month to four years in prison, and Liu Xiaobo, a writer and activist who was imprisoned after being charged with "inciting subversion of state power." While in prison, Mr. Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
Zhang wanted to know if Mr. Kerry would visit Liu Xia, wife of Liu Xiaobo, who had been under house arrest since his Nobel Prize win and who, he had heard, was suffering from illnesses. The secretary of state said that the issue of Chinese political prisoners was brought up every time he met with the Chinese officials. Mr. Kerry did not directly respond to that appeal but noted he was only here for a day and a half.
On February 16, the Chinese propaganda authorities ordered all web portals to delete reports about "the U.S. Secretary of State meeting with four Chinese social media big Vs to talk about 'Internet freedom'".
Meanwhile, his name became a sensitive word on Tencent Weibo. Though he could still log in his Weibo account and post, but a search for his name would yield "search result cannot be displayed according to relevant laws, regulations and policies."
On February 19, upon invitation by the Foreign Policy website, Zhang wrote an article spelling out everything he would like to say to Mr. Kerry. He said, "Since 1949, Chinese dictators have robbed their people of their freedom, forcing the country's citizens to live in fear. China's people are still unable to freely access the World Wide Web. For many years, Chinese who aspire to freedom have spilled their blood and sweat fighting for it. Chinese people will continue to try to push down every wall erected by their dictatorial government, but if the United States could help in the effort to tear down China's notorious Great Firewall, it would help China realize internet freedom sooner." He also called on the U.S. to implement visa sanctions on those who contributed to creating the GFW, such as Fang Binxing, the father of Great Firewall.
On May 20, he was notified by the department head at Tencent that he was being suspended, citing radical expressions he made in his meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the propaganda directives he publicized online. He was told that he would receive a final decision after Tencent coordinated with the propaganda authorities. On May 23, Tencent's HR department notified him of the termination of his labor contract for "leaking business secrets and other confidential and sensitive information."
On May 30, The U.S. has expressed deep concern about the reported firing of a Chinese blogger who had met with Secretary of State John Kerry and urged the U.S. to challenge China's Internet restrictions. The State Department said it would be very troubling if a private employee was fired for publicly expressing his views. The U.S. also voiced concern over China's "continuing crackdown" on free speech.
References
External links
Zhang Jialong's blog / twitter
Circumstances of My Dismissal from Tencent By Zhang Jialong
Articles wrote by Zhangjialong on Foreign Policy Website
Chinese bloggers
1988 births
Living people
People's Republic of China journalists
Writers from Guizhou
Chinese human rights activists
Chinese dissidents
Chinese anti-communists
Free speech activists
Internet activists |
27343216 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambashi | Cambashi | Cambashi is an Anglo-American industry analyst firm, focused on the market for Information Technology in the manufacturing, distribution, energy, utilities and construction industries. The company serves both suppliers and users of Information technology. It provides advisory services to most of the top ten suppliers in its field, especially in the fields of Product Lifecycle Management and Industrial Automation applications such as Manufacturing Operations Management.
Cambashi is known for its market data, which quantifies and maps out the global market for Information Technology in a range of vertical industries and their sub-sectors. In addition, it provides qualitative analysis, such as white papers and research studies, for long-time clients Infor, SAP, and Siemens. In addition to its market data, the company also provides consulting services and an online industry training curriculum aimed at professionals working in vertical industries.
Cambashi's international market forecasts are widely quoted in the trade press.
History
The company was founded in 1984 by Mike Evans. It focused on advisory services for users adopting CAD/CAM and related Computer-aided technologies and their suppliers. In 1988, it co-founded CATN, the Computer Aided Technologies Network, a European Consortium providing advisory services on these technologies.
In 1990, Cambashi began to supply quantitative information on technical applications markets to support clients' market planning. For this, Cambashi published the first annual Marketing Managers Handbook. In 1991, when the IMS project for international cooperation on research and development activities in the domain of intelligent manufacturing systems was being established, Cambashi assisted European Community officials. In 1993, CATN conducted a large-scale CIME Vertical Markets study for the European Commission investigating user demand for software solutions.
In 1995, in Cambridge UK, Cambashi organized the first annual networking seminar on sales and marketing issues affecting the Information Technology Industry. In 1997, Cambashi developed a comparative analysis of Enterprise resource planning solutions and authored the first edition of Ovum Evaluates "ERP for Manufacturers."
Cambashi is active in trade and industry associations. In 1996, in association with the Computing Suppliers Association, it published a study on the Document Management market. Cambashi has partnered with the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International on several research studies in the manufacturing industry. In 2006, the first MESA Metrics that Matter report was conducted by Industry Directions on behalf of MESA International.
Since 1998, Cambashi has developed a training curriculum that covers the business use of ICT in vertical industry sectors for suppliers' customer facing staff. In 2005, the first release of e-learning courseware was published on line.
In 2003, Cambashi published the first Market Observatory providing global quantitative research on the Technical Applications software markets. In 2007, Cambashi delivered an invited submission to the UK Governments Science and Innovation Policy "Sainsbury Review."
In 2008, Boston, MA USA based Industry Directions, a research firm specialising in shop floor and supply chain solutions, merged its operations with Cambashi to form Cambashi Inc.
2010 heralded the first publication of the Cambashi Systems Engineering and Embedded Software Product Observatory, with research findings originally published in COFES Israel. Cambashi's research observations on the technical applications market in Israel were also published in IDGConnect.
In 2012, Reuters covered Cambashi's report on quality and innovation in medical device manufacturing and in 2013, the company presented at COFES Russia, with Managing Director Peter Thorne discussing the impact of ALM and PLM on Russian engineering.
Cambashi research recognition by the press
Cambashi is frequently quoted in major publications and the international trade press:
The Financial Times quotes Mike Evans, Research Director in Reshoring: A change of location brings risks of its own
The Financial Times quotes Allan Behrens, Director on Sustainable Design Implementation: The Long and the short of measuring carbon footprint
BBC News 24 interviews Mike Evans, Research Director, Cambashi on Microsoft's innovation record
Design Engineer quotes Aslihan Yener, Cambashi Consultant in Technical software recovery predicted in Cambashi report
FDAnews quotes Julie Fraser, President, Cambashi Inc. about challenges for CAPA systems
L'Usine Nouvelle quotes Mike Evans, Cambashi's Research Director, in an article "Autodesk dans la roue de Dassault Systemès" of 26 June 2008
Managing Automation quotes Julie Fraser, President, Cambashi Inc., on Manufacturing Execution Systems
Manufacturing Business Technology quotes Julie Fraser, President, Cambashi Inc., on New Approaches to Supply Chain Challenges
Mediaquell covers Cambashi's participation in the Hannover Fair, Germany
Vektorrum (formerly Engineering Automation Report) quotes Bob Brown, Principal Consultant, Cambashi about embedded software
Competitors
Forrester Research
Gartner
International Data Corporation
References
External links
Cambashi
DFL Consulting
Four Winds Research
Companies based in Boston
Market research companies
Product lifecycle management
ERP software
Companies based in Cambridge |
31265421 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital%20privacy | Digital privacy | Digital privacy is often used in contexts that promote advocacy on behalf of individual and consumer privacy rights in e-services and is typically used in opposition to the business practices of many e-marketers, businesses, and companies to collect and use such information and data. Digital privacy can be defined under three sub-related categories: information privacy, communication privacy, and individual privacy.
Digital privacy has increasingly become a topic of interest as information and data shared over the social web have continued to become more and more commodified; social-media users are now considered unpaid 'digital labors', as one pays for 'free' e-services through the loss of their privacy. For example, between 2005 and 2011, the change in levels of disclosure for different profile items on Facebook show that, over the years, people want to keep more information private. However, observing the seven-year span, Facebook gained a profit of $100 billion through the collection and sharing of their users' data to third-party advertisers.
The more a user shares over social networks, the more privacy is lost. All of the information and data one shares is connected to clusters of similar information. As the user continues to share their productive expression, it gets matched with the respective cluster and their speech and expression are no longer only in the possession of them or of their social circle. This can be seen as a consequence of bridging social capital. As people create new and diverse ties on social networks, data becomes linked. This decrease of privacy continues until bundling appears (when the ties become strong and the network more homogenous).
Some laws allow filing a case against breach of digital privacy. In 2007, for instance, a class-action lawsuit was lodged on behalf of all Facebook users that led Facebook to close its advertising system "Beacon." In a similar case in 2010, the users sued Facebook once again for sharing personal user information to advertisers through their gaming application. Laws are based on consumers' consent and assume that the consumers are already empowered to know their own best interest. Therefore, for the past few years, people have been focusing on self-management of digital privacy through rational and educated decision-making.
Types of privacy
Information privacy
In the context of digital privacy, information privacy is the idea that individuals should have the freedom to determine how their digital information is collected and used. This is particularly relevant for personally identifiable information.
The concept of information privacy has evolved in parallel to the evolution of the field of Information Technology (IT). The rise of networking and computing led to the dramatic change in the ways of information exchange. The baseline for this concept was put forward in the late 1940s, and the third era of privacy development began in the 1990s.
The European Union has various privacy laws that dictate how information may be collected and used by companies. Some of those laws are written to give agency to the preferences of individuals/consumers in how their data is used. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an example of this. In other places, like in the United States, privacy law is argued by some to be less developed in this regard. By example, some legislation, or lack thereof, allow companies to self-regulate their collection and dissemination practices of consumer information.
Communication privacy
In the context of digital privacy, communication privacy is the notion that individuals should have the freedom, or right, to communicate information digitally with the expectation that their communications are secure—meaning that messages and communications will only be accessible to the sender's original intended recipient.
However, communications can be intercepted or delivered to other recipients without the sender's knowledge, in a multitude of ways. Communications can be intercepted directly through various hacking methods, such as the man-in-the-middle attack (MITM). Communications can also be delivered to recipients unbeknown to the sender due to false assumptions made regarding the platform or medium that was used to send information. For example, the failure to read a company's privacy policy regarding communications on their platform could lead one to assume that their communication is protected when it is in fact not. Additionally, companies frequently have been known to lack transparency in how they use information, which can be both intentional and unintentional. Discussion of communication privacy necessarily requires consideration of technological methods of protecting information/communication in digital mediums, the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of such methods/systems, and the development/advancement of new and current technologies.
Individual privacy
In the context of digital privacy, individual privacy is the notion that individuals have a right to exist freely on the internet, in that they can choose what type of information they are exposed to, and more importantly, that unwanted information should not interrupt them. An example of a digital breach of individual privacy would be an internet user receiving unwanted ads and emails/spam, or a computer virus that forces the user to take actions, which otherwise they would not. In such cases, the individual does not exist digitally without interruption from unwanted information; thus their individual privacy has been infringed upon.
Individual privacy
Some internet users proactively work to ensure information can not be collected, this is the practice of attempting to remain anonymous. There are many ways for a user to stay anonymous on the internet, including onion routing, anonymous VPN services, probabilistic anonymity, and deterministic anonymity. Some companies are trying to create an all-in-one solution, In an interview with Tom Okman, Co-founder of NordVPN he mentioned they’re currently exploring a technology that will block trackers, cookies, detect malware before it lands on the user’s device and more.
Information anonymity
For a user to keep their information anonymous when accessing the web, onion routing can be used to ensure the protection of their personally identifiable information.
Onion routing was originally developed by the U.S. Naval Research Lab and was intended to anonymize web traffic. The system created a path to any TCP/IP server by creating a pathway of onion routers. Once a pathway has been established, all information that is sent through it is anonymously delivered. When the user has finished utilizing the pathway it was essentially deleted which freed the resources to be used for a new pathway within onion routing. The Onion Routing Project developed into what is today known as Tor, a completely open-sourced and free software. Unlike its predecessor, Tor is able to protect both the anonymity of individuals as well as web providers. This allows people to set up anonymous web servers that in effect provide a censorship-resistant publishing service.
Communication anonymity
While the previously mentioned information anonymity system can also potentially protect the contents of communications between two people, there are other systems that directly function to guarantee that communication remains between its intended recipients.
One of these systems, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), has existed in various forms for many years. It functions to protect email messages by encrypting and decrypting them. It originally existed as a command-line-only program, but it has evolved in recent years to have its own full interface, and a multitude of email providers now offer built-in PGP support. Users can also install PGP-compatible software and manually configure it to encrypt emails on nearly any platform.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are measures to secure payments online. While these systems are not immune from breaches or failure, many users benefit greatly from their use as every major browser program has built-in support for it.
Additional services
There are additional methods that work to provide anonymity and, by extension, protect the user's data.
As IP addresses can frequently be traced back to a specific physical location, and likewise can identify someone as well, changing one's IP address can help users remain anonymous by providing access to a multitude of servers in various geographic locations around the world, allowing them to appear as if they are physically located in a selected area, even when they are not. This is an example of a method/service that works to allow for information and communication anonymity. IP-address changers are one such service, which an internet user typically pays a fee to use.
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a technology that provides users secured connection over a non-secure public network such as the Internet through several tunneling protocols, handling, and encapsulating traffic at different levels to ensure communication security. VPN is also effective in securing data and privacy over the cloud and data-center environments because it is capable of protecting IPs from exposure to different kinds of attacks. This technology can be categorized into SSL VPN and IPSec VPN, which are methods of data communication from a user device to a VPN gateway using a secure tunnel. There is also the case of the VHSP mechanism, which protects the exposure of an IP address by assigning a temporal IP for the VPN gateway and its services.
The use of network address translation (NAT) allows users to hide connections passing through a gateway behind the gateway through the use of a sensible hiding IP address that is routable to the issuing gateway.
The (no) harm principle
Following the (no) harm principle of John Stuart Mill, private references must be respected: one can do whatever they want as long as others do not suffer from the consequences of it. In one's private space, alone, a person is free to do whatever they desire.
With the advent of photojournalism, the invasion of celebrities' private lives arose along with the notion of right-to-privacy—or what Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis branded in 1890 as "the right to be left alone." Today's "privacy incidents" do not exclusively concern celebrities and politicians, as most people are connected and share data: people are not online to be left alone.
The economic value of data
According to Alessandro Acquisti, Curtis Taylor and Liad Wagman in The Economics of Privacy (2015), individual data can be seen as having two types of value: a commercial value and a private value. The fact that data is collected can have both positive and negative effects, and can cause a violation of privacy and a monetary cost. As per Acquisti, Taylor, and Wagman, there are further and further concerns about the progress of collecting data as data analysis becomes increasingly more efficient.
Regulations such as the EU Data Protection Directive, the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and many more are being put in place; however, the IT industry is always evolving and requires the users to be empowered and focus on self-management of the online privacy. As such, it is very important for the lawmakers to continue focusing on the right balance between the use of the internet and the economics of privacy.
Privacy and information breaches
Methods can be purposely crafted to obtain one's personal information illegally. These directed attacks are commonly referred to as hacking, though that term refers to the general practice and does not address specific hacking methods and implementation. Various hacking methods as it pertains to the invasion of one's digital privacy are outlined below. As it pertains to intent, within hacking, there are two categories of invasion:
Directed attacks against someone individually, and
Directed attacks against groups.
With the latter category, however, a hacker could effectively obtain a specified/particular individual's information through first targeting a larger group. An example of this possibility could be as follows: if a hacker, named individual-A, wishes to obtain a particular person's information, individual-B, they could first target a platform or group that has individual-B's information already, such as a credit agency, or they could likewise target a group that individual-B has previously relinquished/provided their data to, like a social media network or a cloud based data service. Through targeting one of those groups, individual-A could effectively obtain individual-B's information by first hacking all data the group has, including the data of other individuals. Once obtained, the hacker could simply identify individual-B's information within the data and disregard the rest.
Phishing
Phishing is a common method of obtaining someone's private information. This generally consists of an individual (often referred in this context as a hacker), developing a website that looks similar to other major websites that a target person commonly uses. The phishing website may look identical to the legitimate site, but its URL could have a variation in spelling or a different domain such as .org instead of .com. The target person can be directed to the site through a link in a "fake" email that is designed to look like it came from the website they commonly use. The user then clicks on the URL, proceeds to sign in, or provide other personal information, and as opposed to the information being submitted to the website that the user thought they were on, it is actually sent directly to the hacker. Phishing attacks commonly obtain bank and financial data as well as social networking website information.
There tools can help users protect their information from phishing attacks and these include the Web browser extensions, which are capable of flagging suspicious websites and links.
Development and controversy
Digital privacy is a trending social concern. For example, over the past decade, the usage of the phrase digital privacy has increased by more than fivefold in published books. A TED talk by Eric Berlow and Sean Gourley following the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures cast a shadow over the privacy of cloud storage and social media. While digital privacy is concerned with the privacy of digital information in general, in many contexts it specifically refers to information concerning personal identity shared over public networks.
As the secrecy of the American Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act becomes widely disclosed, digital privacy is increasingly recognized as an issue in the context of mass surveillance. Prior to the Edward Snowden disclosures concerning the extent of the NSA PRISM program were revealed in 2013, the public debate on digital privacy mainly centered on privacy concerns with social-networking services, as viewed from within these services. Even after 2013, scandals related to social-media privacy issues have continued to attract public attention. The most notable of these is the coverage of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal in 2018, which led to a 66% decrease in public trust of Facebook.
The use of cryptographic software to evade prosecution and harassment while sending and receiving information over computer networks is associated with crypto-anarchism, a movement intending to protect individuals from mass surveillance by the government.
See also
Internet privacy
Tor (network)
References
External links
Privacy |
46858707 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDI%20%28software%29 | EDI (software) | EDI is a free software integrated development environment available under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. It is written in C and runs on any Linux, BSD, and Unix system with limited support for macOS and Windows.
Development
EDI development was started in 2013 by ajwillia.ms, it is now being developed by a small group of members of the Enlightenment (software) development team as well as other individuals.
Features
EDI includes editor themes, translucency, multiple panels, split editor, file management, autosuggest, syntax highlighting, integrated source code management, tabbed browsing, build management, desktop notification, integrated debugging and profiling, search and replace (file and project-wide), downloading existing remote projects as well as helping developers keep track of their work with an itemised TODO checklist amongst others.
Using a pluggable infrastructure it supports projects based on C, Go, Rust or Python and their relevant built tools (autotools, meson, etc...). The build tools allow you to compile (if appropriate) the software currently being edited, run tests and launch the application binary to test your changes. It supports UTF-8 encoded files as well as plain Ascii.
Reception
Although EDI is in early development stages the reception has been positive.
Versions of the software have already been packaged in Arch Linux, Bodhi Linux (where it has been voted 3.8 stars), Gentoo, Sparky Linux, and a community remaster of PCLinuxOS
See also
Enlightenment (software)
Enlightenment Foundation Libraries
References
External links
Free integrated development environments
Linux integrated development environments
Software using the GPL license |
64428343 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly%20Zenz | Kimberly Zenz | Kimberly Zenz is a cybersecurity research with an emphasis on the RuNet. Her work experience includes RuNet researcher at Verisign iDefense and Head of Threat Intelligence at the Deutsche Cyber-Sicherheitsorganisation (German Cyber Security Organization). In 2019, a Moscow court reportedly accused her of passing along information of interest to the Russian government to U.S. intelligence officials. Zenz refuted these accusations and repeatedly requested to testify. The court ignored her request and did not permit her to testify.
Education
Zenz went to Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia), College of William & Mary, and Georgetown's School of Foreign Service.
Career in the RuNet
Zenz previously worked as senior analyst for Verisign's iDefense threat intelligence based in Reston, Virginia, with an emphasis on Russian-speaking cybercriminals. She also worked as Head of Threat Intelligence at the Deutsche Cyber-Sicherheitsorganisation (German Cyber Security Organization) in Berlin, where she created the international research program. She was also a nonresident senior fellow with the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security in Washington DC.
Her work has been featured in multiple books and media publications, including Spam Nation by Brian Krebs, Fatal System Error by Joseph Menn. She is the co-author of Cyberfraud: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures" and the Oxford University Publication titled "Cyber Security in the Russian Federation."
U.S. intelligence allegations
In 2010, ChronoPay CEO Pavel Vrublevsky alleged that Zenz had been passing along information about his company to U.S. intelligence officials. Mr. Vrublevsky is a convicted cybercriminal who served time in Russian prison. The men accused in the treason case all participated in his investigation and conviction.
In 2019, a Moscow court reportedly accused Zenz of passing information about Mr. Vrublevksy's criminal operations to U.S. intelligence officials. They accused renowned Russian cybercriminal investigator Ruslan Stoyanov of giving her the materials.
Zenz has denied these claims. She was in Moscow the week before the accused men were arrested, but was never questioned. She also requested to testify for the defense, but all of her requests were ignored by the Russian court. In 2019, Zenz spoke at BlackHat USA about the case, her experiences being accused, and the infighting among Russian security services that she believes played a role in the Russian treason case.
In their book, "The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia’s Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries," Russian investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan report that the case was also motivated by a desire by Russian security services to stop international cooperation between Russian investigators and researchers and those in the West.
References
1977 births
Living people |
45375253 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhantomJS | PhantomJS | PhantomJS is a discontinued headless browser used for automating web page interaction. PhantomJS provides a JavaScript API enabling automated navigation, screenshots, user behavior and assertions making it a common tool used to run browser-based unit tests in a headless system like a continuous integration environment. PhantomJS is based on WebKit making it a similar browsing environment to Safari and Google Chrome (before Chrome's fork of WebKit evolved into Blink). It is open-source software released under the BSD License.
History
PhantomJS was released January 23, 2011 by Ariya Hidayat after several years in development.
The first commit to the public project was in 2011.
The logo commonly used to pictorially refer to PhantomJS is a fluorescent blue ghost atop a black background. This refers to the lack of graphical user interface, or main body of the browser, making PhantomJS users seem like ghosts.
In March 2018, the development of PhantomJS was suspended due to lack of active contributions.
Usage
The PhantomJS JavaScript API can be used to open web pages, take screenshots, execute user actions, and run injected JavaScript in the page context. For example, the following code will open Wikipedia and, upon loading, will save a screenshot to a file and exit.
console.log('Loading a web page');
var page = require('webpage').create();
var url = 'http://en.wikipedia.org/';
page.open(url, function (status) {
console.log('Page loaded');
page.render('wikipedia.org.png');
phantom.exit();
});
Ecosystem
PhantomJS became valuable enough that similar projects adopted the API as a standard way of interacting with headless browsers. SlimerJS provided a PhantomJS-like API, but on top of Mozilla's Gecko browser engine rather than WebKit. Similarly, trifleJS targeted the MSHTML engine of Internet Explorer.
Shortly after the release of PhantomJS, Nicolas Perriault wrote CasperJS, a suite of libraries on top of PhantomJS that extend its capabilities as a client for automated web page testing, allowing users to create BDD tests leveraging PhantomJS. The final release of CasperJS was in 2017.
Yahoo! developed a version of YSlow that leverages PhantomJS to gather performance metrics for websites.
Users
Several notable companies have used PhantomJS.
Twitter used QUnit and PhantomJS for unit testing as of 2015.
LinkedIn used PhantomJS based tools for performance testing as of 2011.
Netflix used Sketchy, a headless browser built with PhantomJS, to understand what it's doing without having to visit the site as of 2014.
Time Warner Cable used PhantomJS with CoffeeScript, Jasmine, and JUnit XML for Jenkins continuous integration as of 2012.
See also
Headless browser
References
External links
GitHub
C++ software
Web browsers
Cross-platform web browsers
Discontinued software
Software based on WebKit
Software using the BSD license
2011 software |
15881 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java%20%28programming%20language%29 | Java (programming language) | Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need to recompile. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of the underlying computer architecture. The syntax of Java is similar to C and C++, but has fewer low-level facilities than either of them. The Java runtime provides dynamic capabilities (such as reflection and runtime code modification) that are typically not available in traditional compiled languages. , Java was one of the most popular programming languages in use according to GitHub, particularly for client–server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers.
Java was originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in May 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The original and reference implementation Java compilers, virtual machines, and class libraries were originally released by Sun under proprietary licenses. As of May 2007, in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, Sun had relicensed most of its Java technologies under the GPL-2.0-only license. Oracle offers its own HotSpot Java Virtual Machine, however the official reference implementation is the OpenJDK JVM which is free open-source software and used by most developers and is the default JVM for almost all Linux distributions.
, Java 17 is the latest version. Java 8, 11 and 17 are the current long-term support (LTS) versions. Oracle released the last zero-cost public update for the legacy version Java 8 LTS in January 2019 for commercial use, although it will otherwise still support Java 8 with public updates for personal use indefinitely. Other vendors have begun to offer zero-cost builds of OpenJDK 8 and 11 that are still receiving security and other upgrades.
Oracle (and others) highly recommend uninstalling outdated and unsupported versions of Java, due to unresolved security issues in older versions. Oracle advises its users to immediately transition to a supported version, such as one of the LTS versions (8, 11, 17).
History
James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, and Patrick Naughton initiated the Java language project in June 1991. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but it was too advanced for the digital cable television industry at the time. The language was initially called Oak after an oak tree that stood outside Gosling's office. Later the project went by the name Green and was finally renamed Java, from Java coffee, a type of coffee from Indonesia. Gosling designed Java with a C/C++-style syntax that system and application programmers would find familiar.
Sun Microsystems released the first public implementation as Java 1.0 in 1996. It promised write once, run anywhere (WORA) functionality, providing no-cost run-times on popular platforms. Fairly secure and featuring configurable security, it allowed network- and file-access restrictions. Major web browsers soon incorporated the ability to run Java applets within web pages, and Java quickly became popular. The Java 1.0 compiler was re-written in Java by Arthur van Hoff to comply strictly with the Java 1.0 language specification. With the advent of Java 2 (released initially as J2SE 1.2 in December 1998 1999), new versions had multiple configurations built for different types of platforms. J2EE included technologies and APIs for enterprise applications typically run in server environments, while J2ME featured APIs optimized for mobile applications. The desktop version was renamed J2SE. In 2006, for marketing purposes, Sun renamed new J2 versions as Java EE, Java ME, and Java SE, respectively.
In 1997, Sun Microsystems approached the ISO/IEC JTC 1 standards body and later the Ecma International to formalize Java, but it soon withdrew from the process. Java remains a de facto standard, controlled through the Java Community Process. At one time, Sun made most of its Java implementations available without charge, despite their proprietary software status. Sun generated revenue from Java through the selling of licenses for specialized products such as the Java Enterprise System.
On November 13, 2006, Sun released much of its Java virtual machine (JVM) as free and open-source software (FOSS), under the terms of the GPL-2.0-only license. On May 8, 2007, Sun finished the process, making all of its JVM's core code available under free software/open-source distribution terms, aside from a small portion of code to which Sun did not hold the copyright.
Sun's vice-president Rich Green said that Sun's ideal role with regard to Java was as an evangelist. Following Oracle Corporation's acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2009–10, Oracle has described itself as the steward of Java technology with a relentless commitment to fostering a community of participation and transparency. This did not prevent Oracle from filing a lawsuit against Google shortly after that for using Java inside the Android SDK (see the Android section).
On April 2, 2010, James Gosling resigned from Oracle.
In January 2016, Oracle announced that Java run-time environments based on JDK 9 will discontinue the browser plugin.
Java software runs on everything from laptops to data centers, game consoles to scientific supercomputers.
Principles
There were five primary goals in the creation of the Java language:
It must be simple, object-oriented, and familiar.
It must be robust and secure.
It must be architecture-neutral and portable.
It must execute with high performance.
It must be interpreted, threaded, and dynamic.
Versions
, Java 8, 11 and 17 are supported as Long-Term Support (LTS) versions. Major release versions of Java, along with their release dates:
Editions
Sun has defined and supports four editions of Java targeting different application environments and segmented many of its APIs so that they belong to one of the platforms. The platforms are:
Java Card for smart-cards.
Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) – targeting environments with limited resources.
Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) – targeting workstation environments.
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) – targeting large distributed enterprise or Internet environments.
The classes in the Java APIs are organized into separate groups called packages. Each package contains a set of related interfaces, classes, subpackages and exceptions.
Sun also provided an edition called Personal Java that has been superseded by later, standards-based Java ME configuration-profile pairings.
Execution system
Java JVM and bytecode
One design goal of Java is portability, which means that programs written for the Java platform must run similarly on any combination of hardware and operating system with adequate run time support. This is achieved by compiling the Java language code to an intermediate representation called Java bytecode, instead of directly to architecture-specific machine code. Java bytecode instructions are analogous to machine code, but they are intended to be executed by a virtual machine (VM) written specifically for the host hardware. End-users commonly use a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on their device for standalone Java applications or a web browser for Java applets.
Standard libraries provide a generic way to access host-specific features such as graphics, threading, and networking.
The use of universal bytecode makes porting simple. However, the overhead of interpreting bytecode into machine instructions made interpreted programs almost always run more slowly than native executables. Just-in-time (JIT) compilers that compile byte-codes to machine code during runtime were introduced from an early stage. Java's Hotspot compiler is actually two compilers in one; and with GraalVM (included in e.g. Java 11, but removed as of Java 16) allowing tiered compilation. Java itself is platform-independent and is adapted to the particular platform it is to run on by a Java virtual machine (JVM) for it, which translates the Java bytecode into the platform's machine language.
Performance
Programs written in Java have a reputation for being slower and requiring more memory than those written in C++ . However, Java programs' execution speed improved significantly with the introduction of just-in-time compilation in 1997/1998 for Java 1.1, the addition of language features supporting better code analysis (such as inner classes, the StringBuilder class, optional assertions, etc.), and optimizations in the Java virtual machine, such as HotSpot becoming Sun's default JVM in 2000. With Java 1.5, the performance was improved with the addition of the java.util.concurrent package, including lock-free implementations of the ConcurrentMaps and other multi-core collections, and it was improved further with Java 1.6.
Non-JVM
Some platforms offer direct hardware support for Java; there are micro controllers that can run Java bytecode in hardware instead of a software Java virtual machine, and some ARM-based processors could have hardware support for executing Java bytecode through their Jazelle option, though support has mostly been dropped in current implementations of ARM.
Automatic memory management
Java uses an automatic garbage collector to manage memory in the object lifecycle. The programmer determines when objects are created, and the Java runtime is responsible for recovering the memory once objects are no longer in use. Once no references to an object remain, the unreachable memory becomes eligible to be freed automatically by the garbage collector. Something similar to a memory leak may still occur if a programmer's code holds a reference to an object that is no longer needed, typically when objects that are no longer needed are stored in containers that are still in use. If methods for a non-existent object are called, a null pointer exception is thrown.
One of the ideas behind Java's automatic memory management model is that programmers can be spared the burden of having to perform manual memory management. In some languages, memory for the creation of objects is implicitly allocated on the stack or explicitly allocated and deallocated from the heap. In the latter case, the responsibility of managing memory resides with the programmer. If the program does not deallocate an object, a memory leak occurs. If the program attempts to access or deallocate memory that has already been deallocated, the result is undefined and difficult to predict, and the program is likely to become unstable or crash. This can be partially remedied by the use of smart pointers, but these add overhead and complexity. Note that garbage collection does not prevent logical memory leaks, i.e. those where the memory is still referenced but never used.
Garbage collection may happen at any time. Ideally, it will occur when a program is idle. It is guaranteed to be triggered if there is insufficient free memory on the heap to allocate a new object; this can cause a program to stall momentarily. Explicit memory management is not possible in Java.
Java does not support C/C++ style pointer arithmetic, where object addresses can be arithmetically manipulated (e.g. by adding or subtracting an offset). This allows the garbage collector to relocate referenced objects and ensures type safety and security.
As in C++ and some other object-oriented languages, variables of Java's primitive data types are either stored directly in fields (for objects) or on the stack (for methods) rather than on the heap, as is commonly true for non-primitive data types (but see escape analysis). This was a conscious decision by Java's designers for performance reasons.
Java contains multiple types of garbage collectors. Since Java 9, HotSpot uses the Garbage First Garbage Collector (G1GC) as the default. However, there are also several other garbage collectors that can be used to manage the heap. For most applications in Java, G1GC is sufficient. Previously, the Parallel Garbage Collector was used in Java 8.
Having solved the memory management problem does not relieve the programmer of the burden of handling properly other kinds of resources, like network or database connections, file handles, etc., especially in the presence of exceptions.
Syntax
The syntax of Java is largely influenced by C++ and C. Unlike C++, which combines the syntax for structured, generic, and object-oriented programming, Java was built almost exclusively as an object-oriented language. All code is written inside classes, and every data item is an object, with the exception of the primitive data types, (i.e. integers, floating-point numbers, boolean values, and characters), which are not objects for performance reasons. Java reuses some popular aspects of C++ (such as the method).
Unlike C++, Java does not support operator overloading or multiple inheritance for classes, though multiple inheritance is supported for interfaces.
Java uses comments similar to those of C++. There are three different styles of comments: a single line style marked with two slashes (//), a multiple line style opened with /* and closed with */, and the Javadoc commenting style opened with /** and closed with */. The Javadoc style of commenting allows the user to run the Javadoc executable to create documentation for the program and can be read by some integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Eclipse to allow developers to access documentation within the IDE.
Hello world example
The traditional Hello world program can be written in Java as:
public class HelloWorldApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Prints the string to the console.
}
}
All source files must be named after the public class they contain, appending the suffix .java, for example, HelloWorldApp.java. It must first be compiled into bytecode, using a Java compiler, producing a file with the .class suffix (HelloWorldApp.class, in this case). Only then can it be executed or launched. The Java source file may only contain one public class, but it can contain multiple classes with a non-public access modifier and any number of public inner classes. When the source file contains multiple classes, it is necessary to make one class (introduced by the class keyword) public (preceded by the public keyword) and name the source file with that public class name.
A class that is not declared public may be stored in any .java file. The compiler will generate a class file for each class defined in the source file. The name of the class file is the name of the class, with .class appended. For class file generation, anonymous classes are treated as if their name were the concatenation of the name of their enclosing class, a $, and an integer.
The keyword public denotes that a method can be called from code in other classes, or that a class may be used by classes outside the class hierarchy. The class hierarchy is related to the name of the directory in which the .java file is located. This is called an access level modifier. Other access level modifiers include the keywords private (a method that can only be accessed in the same class) and protected (which allows code from the same package to access). If a piece of code attempts to access private methods or protected methods, the JVM will throw a SecurityException
The keyword static in front of a method indicates a static method, which is associated only with the class and not with any specific instance of that class. Only static methods can be invoked without a reference to an object. Static methods cannot access any class members that are not also static. Methods that are not designated static are instance methods and require a specific instance of a class to operate.
The keyword void indicates that the main method does not return any value to the caller. If a Java program is to exit with an error code, it must call System.exit() explicitly.
The method name main is not a keyword in the Java language. It is simply the name of the method the Java launcher calls to pass control to the program. Java classes that run in managed environments such as applets and Enterprise JavaBeans do not use or need a main() method. A Java program may contain multiple classes that have main methods, which means that the VM needs to be explicitly told which class to launch from.
The main method must accept an array of objects. By convention, it is referenced as args although any other legal identifier name can be used. Since Java 5, the main method can also use variable arguments, in the form of public static void main(String... args), allowing the main method to be invoked with an arbitrary number of String arguments. The effect of this alternate declaration is semantically identical (to the args parameter which is still an array of String objects), but it allows an alternative syntax for creating and passing the array.
The Java launcher launches Java by loading a given class (specified on the command line or as an attribute in a JAR) and starting its public static void main(String[]) method. Stand-alone programs must declare this method explicitly. The String[] args parameter is an array of String objects containing any arguments passed to the class. The parameters to main are often passed by means of a command line.
Printing is part of a Java standard library: The class defines a public static field called . The out object is an instance of the class and provides many methods for printing data to standard out, including which also appends a new line to the passed string.
The string "Hello World!" is automatically converted to a String object by the compiler.
Example with methods
// This is an example of a single line comment using two slashes
/*
* This is an example of a multiple line comment using the slash and asterisk.
* This type of comment can be used to hold a lot of information or deactivate
* code, but it is very important to remember to close the comment.
*/
package fibsandlies;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.HashMap;
/**
* This is an example of a Javadoc comment; Javadoc can compile documentation
* from this text. Javadoc comments must immediately precede the class, method,
* or field being documented.
* @author Wikipedia Volunteers
*/
public class FibCalculator extends Fibonacci implements Calculator {
private static Map<Integer, Integer> memoized = new HashMap<>();
/*
* The main method written as follows is used by the JVM as a starting point
* for the program.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
memoized.put(1, 1);
memoized.put(2, 1);
System.out.println(fibonacci(12)); // Get the 12th Fibonacci number and print to console
}
/**
* An example of a method written in Java, wrapped in a class.
* Given a non-negative number FIBINDEX, returns
* the Nth Fibonacci number, where N equals FIBINDEX.
*
* @param fibIndex The index of the Fibonacci number
* @return the Fibonacci number
*/
public static int fibonacci(int fibIndex) {
if (memoized.containsKey(fibIndex)) {
return memoized.get(fibIndex);
}
int answer = fibonacci(fibIndex - 1) + fibonacci(fibIndex - 2);
memoized.put(fibIndex, answer);
return answer;
}
}
Special classes
Applet
Java applets were programs that were embedded in other applications, typically in a Web page displayed in a web browser. The Java applet API is now deprecated since Java 9 in 2017.
Servlet
Java servlet technology provides Web developers with a simple, consistent mechanism for extending the functionality of a Web server and for accessing existing business systems. Servlets are server-side Java EE components that generate responses to requests from clients. Most of the time, this means generating HTML pages in response to HTTP requests, although there are a number of other standard servlet classes available, for example for WebSocket communication.
The Java servlet API has to some extent been superseded (but still used under the hood) by two standard Java technologies for web services:
the Java API for RESTful Web Services (JAX-RS 2.0) useful for AJAX, JSON and REST services, and
the Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS) useful for SOAP Web Services.
Typical implementations of these APIs on Application Servers or Servlet Containers use a standard servlet for handling all interactions with the HTTP requests and responses that delegate to the web service methods for the actual business logic.
JavaServer Pages
JavaServer Pages (JSP) are server-side Java EE components that generate responses, typically HTML pages, to HTTP requests from clients. JSPs embed Java code in an HTML page by using the special delimiters <% and %>. A JSP is compiled to a Java servlet, a Java application in its own right, the first time it is accessed. After that, the generated servlet creates the response.
Swing application
Swing is a graphical user interface library for the Java SE platform. It is possible to specify a different look and feel through the pluggable look and feel system of Swing. Clones of Windows, GTK+, and Motif are supplied by Sun. Apple also provides an Aqua look and feel for macOS. Where prior implementations of these looks and feels may have been considered lacking, Swing in Java SE 6 addresses this problem by using more native GUI widget drawing routines of the underlying platforms.
JavaFX application
JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering desktop applications, as well as rich web applications that can run across a wide variety of devices. JavaFX is intended to replace Swing as the standard GUI library for Java SE, but since JDK 11 JavaFX has not been in the core JDK and instead in a separate module. JavaFX has support for desktop computers and web browsers on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS. JavaFX does not have support for native OS look and feels.
Generics
In 2004, generics were added to the Java language, as part of J2SE 5.0. Prior to the introduction of generics, each variable declaration had to be of a specific type. For container classes, for example, this is a problem because there is no easy way to create a container that accepts only specific types of objects. Either the container operates on all subtypes of a class or interface, usually Object, or a different container class has to be created for each contained class. Generics allow compile-time type checking without having to create many container classes, each containing almost identical code. In addition to enabling more efficient code, certain runtime exceptions are prevented from occurring, by issuing compile-time errors. If Java prevented all runtime type errors (ClassCastExceptions) from occurring, it would be type safe.
In 2016, the type system of Java was proven unsound.
Criticism
Criticisms directed at Java include the implementation of generics, speed, the handling of unsigned numbers, the implementation of floating-point arithmetic, and a history of security vulnerabilities in the primary Java VM implementation HotSpot.
Class libraries
The Java Class Library is the standard library, developed to support application development in Java. It is controlled by Oracle in cooperation with others through the Java Community Process program. Companies or individuals participating in this process can influence the design and development of the APIs. This process has been a subject of controversy during the 2010s. The class library contains features such as:
The core libraries, which include:
IO/NIO
Networking (NOTE: new HTTP Client since Java 11)
Reflection
Concurrency
Generics
Scripting/Compiler
Functional programming (Lambda, Streaming)
Collection libraries that implement data structures such as lists, dictionaries, trees, sets, queues and double-ended queue, or stacks
XML Processing (Parsing, Transforming, Validating) libraries
Security
Internationalization and localization libraries
The integration libraries, which allow the application writer to communicate with external systems. These libraries include:
The Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) API for database access
Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) for lookup and discovery
RMI and CORBA for distributed application development
JMX for managing and monitoring applications
User interface libraries, which include:
The (heavyweight, or native) Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), which provides GUI components, the means for laying out those components and the means for handling events from those components
The (lightweight) Swing libraries, which are built on AWT but provide (non-native) implementations of the AWT widgetry
APIs for audio capture, processing, and playback
JavaFX
A platform dependent implementation of the Java virtual machine that is the means by which the bytecodes of the Java libraries and third party applications are executed
Plugins, which enable applets to be run in web browsers
Java Web Start, which allows Java applications to be efficiently distributed to end users across the Internet
Licensing and documentation
Documentation
Javadoc is a comprehensive documentation system, created by Sun Microsystems. It provides developers with an organized system for documenting their code. Javadoc comments have an extra asterisk at the beginning, i.e. the delimiters are /** and */, whereas the normal multi-line comments in Java are set off with the delimiters /* and */, and single-line comments start off the line with //.
Implementations
Oracle Corporation is the current owner of the official implementation of the Java SE platform, following their acquisition of Sun Microsystems on January 27, 2010. This implementation is based on the original implementation of Java by Sun. The Oracle implementation is available for Microsoft Windows (still works for XP, while only later versions are currently officially supported), macOS, Linux, and Solaris. Because Java lacks any formal standardization recognized by Ecma International, ISO/IEC, ANSI, or other third-party standards organizations, the Oracle implementation is the de facto standard.
The Oracle implementation is packaged into two different distributions: The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which contains the parts of the Java SE platform required to run Java programs and is intended for end users, and the Java Development Kit (JDK), which is intended for software developers and includes development tools such as the Java compiler, Javadoc, Jar, and a debugger. Oracle has also released GraalVM, a high performance Java dynamic compiler and interpreter.
OpenJDK is another notable Java SE implementation that is licensed under the GNU GPL. The implementation started when Sun began releasing the Java source code under the GPL. As of Java SE 7, OpenJDK is the official Java reference implementation.
The goal of Java is to make all implementations of Java compatible. Historically, Sun's trademark license for usage of the Java brand insists that all implementations be compatible. This resulted in a legal dispute with Microsoft after Sun claimed that the Microsoft implementation did not support RMI or JNI and had added platform-specific features of their own. Sun sued in 1997, and, in 2001, won a settlement of US$20 million, as well as a court order enforcing the terms of the license from Sun. As a result, Microsoft no longer ships Java with Windows.
Platform-independent Java is essential to Java EE, and an even more rigorous validation is required to certify an implementation. This environment enables portable server-side applications.
Use outside the Java platform
The Java programming language requires the presence of a software platform in order for compiled programs to be executed.
Oracle supplies the Java platform for use with Java. The Android SDK is an alternative software platform, used primarily for developing Android applications with its own GUI system.
Android
The Java language is a key pillar in Android, an open source mobile operating system. Although Android, built on the Linux kernel, is written largely in C, the Android SDK uses the Java language as the basis for Android applications but does not use any of its standard GUI, SE, ME or other established Java standards. The bytecode language supported by the Android SDK is incompatible with Java bytecode and runs on its own virtual machine, optimized for low-memory devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Depending on the Android version, the bytecode is either interpreted by the Dalvik virtual machine or compiled into native code by the Android Runtime.
Android does not provide the full Java SE standard library, although the Android SDK does include an independent implementation of a large subset of it. It supports Java 6 and some Java 7 features, offering an implementation compatible with the standard library (Apache Harmony).
Controversy
The use of Java-related technology in Android led to a legal dispute between Oracle and Google. On May 7, 2012, a San Francisco jury found that if APIs could be copyrighted, then Google had infringed Oracle's copyrights by the use of Java in Android devices. District Judge William Alsup ruled on May 31, 2012, that APIs cannot be copyrighted, but this was reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in May 2014. On May 26, 2016, the district court decided in favor of Google, ruling the copyright infringement of the Java API in Android constitutes fair use. In March 2018, this ruling was overturned by the Appeals Court, which sent down the case of determining the damages to federal court in San Francisco.
Google filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States in January 2019 to challenge the two rulings that were made by the Appeals Court in Oracle's favor. On April 5, 2021 the Court ruled 6-2 in Google's favor, that its use of Java APIs should be considered fair use. However, the court refused to rule on the copyrightability of APIs, choosing instead to determine their ruling by considering Java's API copyrightable "purely for argument’s sake."
See also
C#
C++
Dalvik, used in old Android versions, replaced by non-JIT Android Runtime
Deterministic Parallel Java
List of Java virtual machines
List of Java APIs
List of JVM languages
Comparison of Java with other languages
Comparison of C# and Java
Comparison of Java and C++
References
Works cited
External links
Articles with example Java code
C programming language family
Class-based programming languages
Computer-related introductions in 1995
Concurrent programming languages
Programming language
Programming language
JVM programming languages
Multi-paradigm programming languages
Object-oriented programming languages
Programming languages created in 1995
Programming languages
Statically typed programming languages
Sun Microsystems |
21223357 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight%20%28company%29 | Twilight (company) | Twilight was a UK video game development group, active from 1989 until around 1995, originally developing game conversions for Hi-Tec Software, Ocean Software and Thalamus Ltd on the 8-bit platforms: the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.
Later they developed games for Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, NES, SNES, and PC.
The group members were Andrew Swann, Peter Tattersall, Jason McGann, Stuart Cook, Mark Mason, Finlay Munro, Dave Box, Wayne Billingham, Mark Barker, Noel Hines, James Smart and Rob Holman.
Peter Tattersall and Jason McGann left to form Hookstone in 1994.
List of games developed
Delta Charge (1989, Thalamus Ltd)
Ruff & Reddy in the Space Adventure (1990, Hi-Tec Software)
Atom Ant (1990, Hi-Tec Software)
Plotting (1990, Ocean Software)
Yogi Bear & Friends: The Greed Monster (1990, Hi-Tec Software)
Rod Land (1991, Sales Curve Interactive)
Quick Draw McGraw (1991, Hi-Tec Software)
Darkman (1991, Ocean Software)
WWF WrestleMania (1991, Ocean Software)
Mega Twins (1992)
Bonanza Brothers (1992)
Video Kid (1992, Gremlin Graphics)
Cool World (1993 Ocean Software)
Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1993)
Frog Dude (cancelled)
Alfred Chicken (1993)
References
Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom
Video game development companies |
4029710 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun386i | Sun386i | The Sun386i (codenamed Roadrunner) is a discontinued hybrid UNIX workstation/PC compatible computer system produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1988. It is based on the Intel 80386 microprocessor but shares many features with the contemporary Sun-3 series systems.
Hardware
Unlike the Sun-3 models, the Sun386i has a PC-like motherboard and "mini-tower"-style chassis. Two variants were produced, the Sun386i/150 and the Sun386i/250 with a 20 or 25 MHz CPU respectively. The motherboard includes the CPU, 80387 FPU, 82380 timer/DMA/interrupt controller and a custom Ethernet IC called BABE ("Bus Adapter Between Ethernet"). Floppy disk, SCSI, RS-232 and Centronics parallel interfaces are also provided, as are four ISA slots (one 8-bit, three 16-bit) and four proprietary 32-bit "local" bus slots. The latter are used for RAM and frame buffer cards.
Two type of RAM card are available, a 4 or 8 MB card, and the "XP Cache" card, incorporating up to 8 MB with an 82385 cache controller and 32 KB of cache SRAM. Up to two memory cards can be installed, to give a maximum RAM capacity of 16 MB.
Mass storage options are either 91 or 327 MB internal SCSI hard disks and a 1.4 MB 3.5 in floppy drive. A storage expansion box that holds two more disks can be mounted to the top of the chassis.
Frame buffer options include the 1024×768 or 1152×900-pixel monochrome BW2 card, the 8-bit color CG3 with similar resolutions, or the accelerated 8-bit color CG5, otherwise known as the Roadracer or GXi framebuffer. This uses the TI TMS34010 graphics processor and had a resolution of 1152x900. In addition, a "SunVGA" accelerator card can be installed in the ISA expansion slot that allows a DOS session to display a full VGA window on the desktop.
The 386i introduced the Sun Type 4 keyboard, a hybrid of the earlier Type 3 and PC/AT layouts. This was later used for the SPARCstation line of workstations.
Software
The Sun386i's firmware is similar to the Sun-3's "PROM Monitor". A 386 port of SunOS is the native operating system of the 386i. SunOS releases 4.0, 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 support the architecture. A beta version of SunOS 4.0.3 for the 386i also exists but was not generally available, except possibly to the U.S. government. Included with SunOS are the SunView GUI and VP/ix MS-DOS emulator. This runs as a SunOS process and thus allows multiple MS-DOS session to be run simultaneously, a major selling point of the Sun386i. Unix long file names are accessed using a mapping to DOS 8.3 filenames, the file names being modified to include a tilde and to be unique as far as possible. This system is similar to, but predates, that used for long file names in Microsoft's VFAT. Special drive letters are used including H: for the user's home directory and D: for the current working directory when the DOS shell is started. The C: drive corresponds to a file in the Unix file system which appears to DOS as a 20 MB hard disk. This is used especially for the installation of copy-protected software; files in this virtual drive are inaccessible to Unix programs.
The Sun386i version of SunOS includes many features not found in the versions then shipped with Sun-3 workstations (and later with then-new SPARC workstations), in addition to VP/ix. These additions focus on ease of use for end users who are likely not to be UNIX experts, and includes enhanced desktop tools (which, for the first time at Sun, used color by default) and an "out of box experience" that was painless and administrator-free, targeted to bring a system onto the network ("box to mail") in fifteen minutes. It uses the pioneering Dynamic RARP network protocol. At the time, and for a few years afterwards until DHCP later became standard, no other vendors' workstations (or PCs) were as easy to install on TCP/IP networks.
Sun486i
An upgraded model, the Sun486i (codename Apache) was designed, incorporating a 25 MHz 80486 CPU and improved SCSI interface. A small pre-production batch was built but the product was canceled in 1990, before its official launch.
Easter egg
The inside surface of the right side cover has the Roadrunner logo and the developer's signatures molded in.
Reception
BYTE in 1989 listed the Sun386i as among the "Excellence" winners of the BYTE Awards, praising its ability to run multiple MS-DOS applications under SunOS.
References
See also
Wabi (software)
SunPCi
Sun-2
Sun-3
Sun-4
SPARCstation
External links
Sun Microsystems
The Sun Hardware Reference, Part 1
Sun Field Engineer Handbook, 20th edition
PC Week review of the Sun386i
Some informative postings to the Sun386i mailing list
Sun 386i/250 pictures and description
Ralph Neill's 1996 FAQ
Sun workstations |
4461797 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBML | SBML | The Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) is a representation format, based on XML, for communicating and storing computational models of biological processes. It is a free and open standard with widespread software support and a community of users and developers. SBML can represent many different classes of biological phenomena, including metabolic networks, cell signaling pathways, regulatory networks, infectious diseases, and many others. It has been proposed as a standard for representing computational models in systems biology today.
History
Late in the year 1999 through early 2000, with funding from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Hiroaki Kitano and John C. Doyle assembled a small team of researchers to work on developing better software infrastructure for computational modeling in systems biology. Hamid Bolouri was the leader of the development team, which consisted of Andrew Finney, Herbert Sauro, and Michael Hucka. Bolouri identified the need for a framework to enable interoperability and sharing between the different simulation software systems for biology in existence during the late 1990s, and he organized an informal workshop in December 1999 at the California Institute of Technology to discuss the matter. In attendance at that workshop were the groups responsible for the development of DBSolve, E-Cell, Gepasi, Jarnac, StochSim, and The Virtual Cell. Separately, earlier in 1999, some members of these groups also had discussed the creation of a portable file format for metabolic network models in the BioThermoKinetics (BTK) group. The same groups who attended the first Caltech workshop met again on April 28–29, 2000, at the first of a newly created meeting series called Workshop on Software Platforms for Systems Biology. It became clear during the second workshop that a common model representation format was needed to enable the exchange of models between software tools as part of any functioning interoperability framework, and the workshop attendees decided the format should be encoded in XML.
The Caltech ERATO team developed a proposal for this XML-based format and circulated the draft definition to the attendees of the 2nd Workshop on Software Platforms for Systems Biology in August 2000. This draft underwent extensive discussion over mailing lists and during the 2nd Workshop on Software Platforms for Systems Biology, held in Tokyo, Japan, in November 2000 as a satellite workshop of the ICSB 2000 conference. After further revisions, discussions and software implementations, the Caltech team issued a specification for SBML Level 1, Version 1 in March 2001.
SBML Level 2 was conceived at the 5th Workshop on Software Platforms for Systems Biology, held in July 2002, at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. By this time, far more people were involved than the original group of SBML collaborators and the continued evolution of SBML became a larger community effort, with many new tools having been enhanced to support SBML. The workshop participants in 2002 collectively decided to revise the form of SBML in Level 2. The first draft of the Level 2 Version 1 specification was released in August 2002, and the final set of features was finalized in May 2003 at the 7th Workshop on Software Platforms for Systems Biology in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The next iteration of SBML took two years in part because software developers requested time to absorb and understand the larger and more complex SBML Level 2. The inevitable discovery of limitations and errors led to the development of SBML Level 2 Version 2, issued in September 2006. By this time, the team of SBML Editors (who reconcile proposals for changes and write a coherent final specification document) had changed and now consisted of Andrew Finney, Michael Hucka and Nicolas Le Novère.
SBML Level 2 Version 3 was published in 2007 after countless contributions by and discussions with the SBML community. 2007 also saw the election of two more SBML Editors as part of the introduction of the modern SBML Editor organization in the context of the SBML development process.
SBML Level 2 Version 4 was published in 2008 after certain changes in Level 2 were requested by popular demand. (For example, an electronic vote by the SBML community in late 2007 indicated a majority preferred not to require strict unit consistency before an SBML model is considered valid.) Version 4 was finalized after the SBML Forum meeting held in Gothenburg, Sweden, as a satellite workshop of ICSB 2008 in the fall of 2008.
SBML Level 3 Version 1 Core was published in final form in 2010, after prolonged discussion and revision by the SBML Editors and the SBML community. It contains numerous significant changes in syntax and constructs from Level 2 Version 4, but also represents a new modular base for continued expansion of SBML's features and capabilities going into the future.
SBML Level 2 Version 5 was published in 2015. This revision included a number of textual (but not structural) changes in response to user feedback, thereby addressing the list of errata collected over many years for the SBML Level 2 Version 4 specification. In addition, Version 5 introduced a facility to use nested annotations within SBML's annotation format (an annotation format that is based on a subset of RDF).
The language
SBML is sometimes incorrectly assumed to be limited in scope only to biochemical network models because the original publications and early software focused on this domain. In reality, although the central features of SBML are indeed oriented towards representing chemical reaction-like processes that act on entities, this same formalism serves analogously for many other types of processes; moreover, SBML has language features supporting the direct expression of mathematical formulas and discontinuous events separate from reaction processes, allowing SBML to represent much more than solely biochemical reactions. Evidence for SBML's ability to be used for more than merely descriptions of biochemistry can be seen in the variety of models available from BioModels Database.
Purposes
SBML has three main purposes:
enable the use of multiple software tools without having to rewrite models to conform to every tool's idiosyncratic file format;
enable models to be shared and published in a form that other researchers can use even when working with different software environments;
ensure the survival of models beyond the lifetime of the software used to create them.
SBML is not an attempt to define a universal language for quantitative models. SBML's purpose is to serve as a lingua franca—an exchange format used by different present-day software tools to communicate the essential aspects of a computational model.
Main capabilities
SBML can encode models consisting of entities (called species in SBML) acted upon by processes (called reactions). An important principle is that models are decomposed into explicitly-labeled constituent elements, the set of which resembles a verbose rendition of chemical reaction equations (if the model uses reactions) together with optional explicit equations (again, if the model uses these); the SBML representation deliberately does not cast the model directly into a set of differential equations or other specific interpretation of the model. This explicit, modeling-framework-agnostic decomposition makes it easier for a software tool to interpret the model and translate the SBML form into whatever internal form the tool actually uses.
A software package can read an SBML model description and translate it into its own internal format for model analysis. For example, a package might provide the ability to simulate the model by constructing differential equations and then perform numerical time integration on the equations to explore the model's dynamic behavior. Or, alternatively, a package might construct a discrete stochastic representation of the model and use a Monte Carlo simulation method such as the Gillespie algorithm.
SBML allows models of arbitrary complexity to be represented. Each type of component in a model is described using a specific type of data structure that organizes the relevant information. The data structures determine how the resulting model is encoded in XML.
In addition to the elements above, another important feature of SBML is that every entity can have machine-readable annotations attached to it. These annotations can be used to express relationships between the entities in a given model and entities in external resources such as databases. A good example of the value of this is in BioModels Database, where every model is annotated and linked to relevant data resources such as publications, databases of compounds and pathways, controlled vocabularies, and more. With annotations, a model becomes more than simply a rendition of a mathematical construct—it becomes a semantically-enriched framework for communicating knowledge.
Levels and versions
SBML is defined in Levels: upward-compatible specifications that add features and expressive power. Software tools that do not need or cannot support the complexity of higher Levels can go on using lower Levels; tools that can read higher Levels are assured of also being able to interpret models defined in the lower Levels. Thus new Levels do not supersede previous ones. However, each Level can have multiple Versions within it, and new Versions of a Level do supersede old Versions of that same Level.
There are currently three Levels of SBML defined. The current Versions within those Levels are the following:
Level 3 Version 1 Core, for which the final Release 1 specification was issued 6 October 2010
Level 2 Version 5 Release 1
Level 1 Version 2
Open-source software infrastructure such as libSBML and JSBML allows developers to support all Levels of SBML their software with a minimum amount of effort.
The SBML Team maintains a public issue tracker where readers may report errors or other issues in the SBML specification documents. Reported issues are eventually put on the list of official errata associated with each specification release. The lists of errata are documented on the Specifications page of SBML.org.
Level 3 packages
Development of SBML Level 3 has been proceeding in a modular fashion. The Core specification is a complete format that can be used alone. Additional Level 3 packages can be layered on to this core to provide additional, optional features.
Hierarchical Model Composition
The Hierarchical Model Composition package, known as "comp", was released in November 2012. This package provides
the ability to include models as submodels inside another model. The goal is to support the ability
of modelers and software tools to do such things as (1) decompose larger models into smaller ones,
as a way to manage complexity; (2) incorporate multiple instances of a given model within one or more
enclosing models, to avoid literal duplication of repeated elements; and (3) create libraries of reusable,
tested models, much as is done in software development and other engineering fields. The specification was the culmination
of years of discussion by a wide number of people.
Flux Balance Constraints
The Flux Balance Constraints package (nicknamed "fbc") was first released
in February, 2013. Import revisions were introduced as part of
Version 2, released in September, 2015. The
"fbc" package provides support for constraint-based modeling,<ref
name="FBA"/> frequently used to analyze and study biological networks on
both a small and large scale. This SBML package makes use of
standard components from the SBML Level 3 core specification, including
species and reactions, and extends them with additional attributes and
structures to allow modelers to define such things as flux bounds and
optimization functions.
Qualitative Models
The Qualitative Models or "qual" package for SBML Level 3 was
released in May 2013. This package supports the representation of models where an
in-depth knowledge of the biochemical reactions and their kinetics is missing
and a qualitative approach must be used. Examples of phenomena that have
been modeled in this way include gene regulatory networks
and signaling pathways, basing the model structure on
the definition of regulatory or influence graphs. The definition and use of
some components of this class of models differ from the way that species and
reactions are defined and used in core SBML models. For example,
qualitative models typically associate discrete levels of activities with
entity pools; consequently, the processes involving them cannot be described
as reactions per se, but rather as transitions between states. These systems
can be viewed as reactive systems whose dynamics are represented by means of
state transition graphs (or other Kripke structures ) in
which the nodes are the reachable states and the edges are the state
transitions.
Layout
The SBML layout package originated as a set of annotation conventions
usable in SBML Level 2. It was introduced at the SBML Forum in
St. Louis in 2004. Ralph Gauges wrote the
specification and provided an implementation that
was widely used. This original definition was reformulated as an SBML
Level 3 package, and a specification was formally released in August,
2013.
The SBML Level 3 Layout package provides a specification for how to
represent a reaction network in a graphical form. It is thus better tailored
to the task than the use of an arbitrary drawing or graph. The SBML
Level 3 package only deals with the information necessary to define the
position and other aspects of a graph's layout; the additional details
necessary to complete the graph—namely, how the visual aspects are meant
to be rendered— are the purvey of the separate SBML Level 3
package called Rendering (nicknamed "render"). As of November 2015, a draft
specification for the "render" package is available, but it has not yet been
officially finalized.
Packages under development
Development of SBML Level 3 packages is being undertaken such that specifications are reviewed and implementations
attempted during the development process. Once a specification is stable and there are two implementations that support it,
the package is considered accepted. The packages detailed above have all reached the acceptance stage.
The table below gives a brief summary of packages that are currently in the development phase.
Structure
A model definition in SBML Levels 2 and 3 consists of lists of one or more of the following components:
Function definition: A named mathematical function that may be used throughout the rest of a model.
Unit definition: A named definition of a new unit of measure, or a redefinition of an existing SBML default unit. Named units can be used in the expression of quantities in a model.
Compartment Type (only in SBML Level 2): A type of location where reacting entities such as chemical substances may be located.
Species type (only in SBML Level 2): A type of entity that can participate in reactions. Examples of species types include ions such as Ca2+, molecules such as glucose or ATP, binding sites on a protein, and more.
Compartment: A well-stirred container of a particular type and finite-size where species may be located. A model may contain multiple compartments of the same compartment type. Every species in a model must be located in a compartment.
Species: A pool of entities of the same species type located in a specific compartment.
Parameter: A quantity with a symbolic name. In SBML, the term parameter is used in a generic sense to refer to named quantities regardless of whether they are constants or variables in a model.
Initial Assignment: A mathematical expression used to determine the initial conditions of a model. This type of structure can only be used to define how the value of a variable can be calculated from other values and variables at the start of simulated time.
Rule: A mathematical expression used in combination with the differential equations constructed based on the set of reactions in a model. It can be used to define how a variable's value can be calculated from other variables or used to define the rate of change of a variable. The set of rules in a model can be used with the reaction rate equations to determine the behavior of the model with respect to time. The set of rules constrains the model for the entire duration of simulated time.
Constraint: A mathematical expression that defines a constraint on the values of model variables. The constraint applies at all instants of simulated time. The set of constraints in the model should not be used to determine the behavior of the model with respect to time.
Reaction: A statement describing some transformation, transport or binding process that can change the amount of one or more species. For example, a reaction may describe how certain entities (reactants) are transformed into certain other entities (products). Reactions have associated kinetic rate expressions describing how quickly they take place.
Event: A statement describing an instantaneous, discontinuous change in a set of variables of any type (species concentration, compartment size or parameter value) when a triggering condition is satisfied.
Community
As of February 2020, nearly 300 software systems advertise support for SBML. A current list is available in the form of the SBML Software Guide, hosted at SBML.org.
SBML has been and continues to be developed by the community of people making software platforms for systems biology, through active email discussion lists and biannual workshops. The meetings are often held in conjunction with other biology conferences, especially the International Conference on Systems Biology (ICSB). The community effort is coordinated by an elected editorial board made up of five members. Each editor is elected for a 3-year non-renewable term.
Tools such as an online model validator as well as open-source libraries for incorporating SBML into software programmed in the C, C++, Java, Python, Mathematica, MATLAB and other languages are developed partly by the SBML Team and partly by the broader SBML community.
SBML is an official IETF MIME type, specified by RFC 3823.
See also
BioModels Database
BioPAX
CellML
MIASE
MIRIAM
Systems Biology Ontology
Systems Biology Graphical Notation
References
External links
SBML home page
SBML-related presentations and posters from Nature Precedings
COmputational Modeling in BIology NEtwork
XML markup languages
Industry-specific XML-based standards
Systems biology |
11012481 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen%20J.%20Mellor | Stephen J. Mellor | Stephen J. Mellor (born 1952) is a British computer scientist, developer of the Shlaer–Mellor method and Executable UML, and signatory to the Agile Manifesto.
Biography
Mellor received a BA in computer science from the University of Essex in 1974, and started working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland as a programmer in BCPL. In 1977 he became software engineer at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and in 1982 consultant at Yourdon, Inc.
At Yourdon in cooperation with Paul Ward they developed the Ward–Mellor method, and published the book-series Structured Development for Real Time Systems in 1985. Together with Sally Shlaer he founded Project Technology in 1985. That company was acquired by Mentor Graphics in 2004. Mellor stayed as chief scientist of the Embedded Systems Division at Mentor Graphics for another two years, and is self-employed since 2006.
Since 1998 Mellor has contributed to the Object Management Group, chairing the consortium that added executable actions to the UML, and the specification of model-driven architecture (MDA). He is also chairing the advisory board of the IEEE Software magazine. Since 2013, Mellor has served as CTO for the Industrial Internet Consortium.
Publications
1985. Structured Development for Real-Time Systems: Essential Modeling Techniques. With Paul T. Ward. Prentice Hall.
1986. Structured Development for Real-Time Systems: Implementation Modeling Techniques (Structured Development for Real-Time Systems Vol. 1). With Paul T. Ward. Prentice Hall.
1988. Object Oriented Systems Analysis: Modeling the World in Data. With Sally Shlaer. Prentice Hall.
1992. Object Life Cycles: Modeling the World In States. With Sally Shlaer. Prentice Hall.
2002. Executable UML: A Foundation for Model Driven Architecture. With Marc J. Balcer. Addison-Wesley.
2004. MDA Distilled. With Kendall Scott, Axel Uhl, Dirk Weise. Addison-Wesley.
Articles, a selection:
1989. "An object-oriented approach to domain analysis" with S. Shlaer. In: ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes. Vol 14–5, July 1989. pp. 66–77
1997. "Why explore object methods, patterns, and architectures?" with Ralph Johnson. In: IEEE Software. Vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 27–29.
1999. "Softwareplatform-independent, precise action specifications for UML". With S. Tockey, R. Arthaud, P. LeBlanc - The Unified Modeling ..., 1999
2002. "Make models be assets". In: Commun. ACM Vol 45–11. pp. 76–78
2003. "A framework for aspect-oriented modeling". Paper from 4th (AOSD) Modeling With (UML) Workshop, October 2003
2004. "Agile MDA" White paper 2004
References
External links
Stephen J. Mellor homepage
1952 births
Living people
British computer scientists
Alumni of the University of Essex
People associated with CERN
Agile software development |
30214079 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interact%20Home%20Computer | Interact Home Computer | The Interact Home Computer is a rare, very early (1978) American home computer made by Interact Electronics Inc of Ann Arbor, Michigan. It sold under the name "Interact Model One Home Computer". The original Interact Model One computer was designed by Rick Barnich and Tim Anderson at 204 E. Washington in Ann Arbor, then moving to the Georgetown Mall on Packard St. in Ann Arbor. Interact Electronics Inc was a privately held company that was funded by Hongiman, Miller, Swartz and Cohn (a lawyer firm out of Detroit). The President/Founder of Interact Electronics Inc was Ken Lochner, who was one of the original developers of the BASIC language based out of Dartmouth college. Ken had started Interact Electronics Inc after founding the successful computer time-sharing company Cyphernetics in Ann Arbor, which was purchased by ADP in 1975. Only a few thousand Interacts were sold before the company went bankrupt. Most were sold by the liquidator Protecto Enterprizes of Barrington, Illinois, through mail order sales. The Interact Model One Home Computer debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in June, 1978, at a price of $499. The majority of sales were thru mail order houses. It was also sold at Highland Appliance in the Detroit area, Newman Computer Exchange in Ann Arbor, and Montgomery Wards in the Houston, TX, area. Probably the most successful application available for the Interact was a program called "Message Center". With it, a store could program a scrolling message which appeared on a TV screen (such as advertisements, or a welcome message to guests). Although it was mostly a game machine (with games such as Showdown, BlackJack and Chess), users could also create their own programs using the BASIC computer language. Customers began hooking up the Interact to control everything from lights in their house, doors, windows, smoke detectors, to a Chevrolet Corvette.
Later on the design was sold to a French company, and re-branded as the "Victor Lambda" for the French market.
Technical specifications
CPU: Intel i8080, 2.0 MHz
Memory: 8K RAM, expandable to 16K RAM; 2K ROM
Keyboard: 53-key chiclet
Display: 17 x 12 text; eight colors, 112 x 78 graphics, four colors
Sound: One voice, four octaves
Ports: Television, two joysticks
Built-in cassette recorder (1200 Bps)
PSU: External AC transformer
1980 price US$300 ()
References
External links
old-computers.com page for Interact
interactfamilycomputer.com
Home computers |
59783914 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark%20Smartt | Mark Smartt | Mark Smartt is an American baseball coach. He played at DeKalb Central Junior College and Troy State, where he earned All-Conference honors and helped the team to two NCAA Division II College World Series championships. He served as a graduate assistant for the Troy State Trojans before becoming an assistant at the University of West Alabama. He was promoted to the head coach of West Alabama in 1994. He served as an assistant coach at Troy State for thirteen years before ascending to the top job. On June 28, 2021, Smartt and Troy mutually agreed to part ways.
Head coaching record
References
External links
Mark Smartt, Head Baseball Coach - Troy University
Living people
Junior college baseball players in the United States
Troy Trojans baseball players
Troy Trojans baseball coaches
West Alabama Tigers baseball coaches
Year of birth missing (living people) |
37856743 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberweapon | Cyberweapon | Cyberweapon is commonly defined as a malware agent employed for military, paramilitary, or intelligence objectives as part of a cyberattack. This includes computer viruses, trojans, spyware, and worms that can introduce corrupted code into existing software, causing a computer to perform actions or processes unintended by its operator.
Characteristics
Cyberweapon is usually sponsored or employed by a state or non-state actor, meets an objective that would otherwise require espionage or the use of force, and is employed against specific targets. A cyberweapon performs an action that would normally require a soldier or spy, and which would be considered either illegal or an act of war if performed directly by a human agent of the sponsor during peacetime. Legal issues include violating the privacy of the target and the sovereignty of its host nation. Example of such actions are surveillance, data theft and electronic or physical destruction. While a cyberweapon almost certainly results in either direct or indirect financial damages to the target group, direct financial gains for the sponsor are not a primary objective of this class of agent.
Unlike malware used by script kiddies to organize botnets, where the ownership, physical location, and normal role of the machines attacked is largely irrelevant, cyberweapons show high selectivity in either or both of their employment and their operation. Before the attack, cyberweapons usually identify the target using different methods. Likewise, malware employed by fraudsters for the theft of personal or financial information demonstrates lower selectivity and wider distribution.
While the term cyber weapon is frequently used by the press, some articles avoid it, instead using terms such as "internet weapon", "hack", or "virus". Mainstream researchers debate the requirements of the term while still referring to the employment of the agent as a "weapon", and the software development community in particular uses the term more rarely.
Examples
The following malware agents generally meet the criteria above, have been formally referred to in this manner by industry security experts, or have been described this way in government or military statements:
Duqu
Flame (malware)
Great Cannon
Mirai (malware)
Stuxnet
Wiper (malware)
Control
In 2017 data breaches showed that supposedly secure hacking tools used by government agencies can be obtained − and sometimes exposed − by third parties. Furthermore, it was reported that after losing control of such tools the government appears to leave "exploits open to be re-used by scammers, criminals, or anyone else − for any purpose".
Claudio Guarnieri, a technologist from Amnesty International states: "what we learn from the disclosures and leaks of the last months is that unknown vulnerabilities are maintained secret even after they've been clearly lost, and that is plain irresponsible and unacceptable".
Also in that year WikiLeaks released the Vault 7 documents series that contain details of CIA exploits and tools with Julian Assange stating that they are working to "disarm" them before publication. Disarmament of cyber weapons may come in the form of contacting respective software vendors with information of vulnerabilities in their products as well as potential help with or autonomous development (for open source software) of patches.
See also
Cyber-arms industry
Cyberattack
Cyberwarfare
Exploit (computer security)
List of cyber warfare forces
Proactive cyber defence
Zero-day (computing)
References
External links
Prashant Mali, Jan 2018 Defining Cyber Weapon in Context of Technology and Law
Stefano Mele, Jun 2013, Cyber-Weapons: Legal and Strategic Aspects (version 2.0)
Stefano Mele, 30 September 2010, Cyberwarfare and its damaging effects on citizens
Michael Riley and Ashlee Vance, 20 July 2011, Cyber Weapons: The New Arms Race
Types of malware
Cyberwarfare
Weapons |
20266 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe%20computer | Mainframe computer | A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and large-scale transaction processing. A mainframe computer is large but not as large as a supercomputer and has more processing power than some other classes of computers, such as minicomputers, servers, workstations, and personal computers. Most large-scale computer-system architectures were established in the 1960s, but they continue to evolve. Mainframe computers are often used as servers.
The term mainframe was derived from the large cabinet, called a main frame, that housed the central processing unit and main memory of early computers. Later, the term mainframe was used to distinguish high-end commercial computers from less powerful machines.
Design
Modern mainframe design is characterized less by raw computational speed and more by:
Redundant internal engineering resulting in high reliability and security
Extensive input-output ("I/O") facilities with the ability to offload to separate engines
Strict backward compatibility with older software
High hardware and computational utilization rates through virtualization to support massive throughput.
Hot-swapping of hardware, such as processors and memory.
Their high stability and reliability enable these machines to run uninterrupted for very long periods of time, with mean time between failures (MTBF) measured in decades.
Mainframes have high availability, one of the primary reasons for their longevity, since they are typically used in applications where downtime would be costly or catastrophic. The term reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) is a defining characteristic of mainframe computers. Proper planning and implementation are required to realize these features. In addition, mainframes are more secure than other computer types: the NIST vulnerabilities database, US-CERT, rates traditional mainframes such as IBM Z (previously called z Systems, System z and zSeries), Unisys Dorado and Unisys Libra as among the most secure with vulnerabilities in the low single digits as compared with thousands for Windows, UNIX, and Linux. Software upgrades usually require setting up the operating system or portions thereof, and are non-disruptive only when using virtualizing facilities such as IBM z/OS and Parallel Sysplex, or Unisys XPCL, which support workload sharing so that one system can take over another's application while it is being refreshed.
In the late 1950s, mainframes had only a rudimentary interactive interface (the console) and used sets of punched cards, paper tape, or magnetic tape to transfer data and programs. They operated in batch mode to support back office functions such as payroll and customer billing, most of which were based on repeated tape-based sorting and merging operations followed by line printing to preprinted continuous stationery. When interactive user terminals were introduced, they were used almost exclusively for applications (e.g. airline booking) rather than program development. Typewriter and Teletype devices were common control consoles for system operators through the early 1970s, although ultimately supplanted by keyboard/display devices.
By the early 1970s, many mainframes acquired interactive user terminals operating as timesharing computers, supporting hundreds of users simultaneously along with batch processing. Users gained access through keyboard/typewriter terminals and specialized text terminal CRT displays with integral keyboards, or later from personal computers equipped with terminal emulation software. By the 1980s, many mainframes supported graphic display terminals, and terminal emulation, but not graphical user interfaces. This form of end-user computing became obsolete in the 1990s due to the advent of personal computers provided with GUIs. After 2000, modern mainframes partially or entirely phased out classic "green screen" and color display terminal access for end-users in favour of Web-style user interfaces.
The infrastructure requirements were drastically reduced during the mid-1990s, when CMOS mainframe designs replaced the older bipolar technology. IBM claimed that its newer mainframes reduced data center energy costs for power and cooling, and reduced physical space requirements compared to server farms.
Characteristics
Modern mainframes can run multiple different instances of operating systems at the same time. This technique of virtual machines allows applications to run as if they were on physically distinct computers. In this role, a single mainframe can replace higher-functioning hardware services available to conventional servers. While mainframes pioneered this capability, virtualization is now available on most families of computer systems, though not always to the same degree or level of sophistication.
Mainframes can add or hot swap system capacity without disrupting system function, with specificity and granularity to a level of sophistication not usually available with most server solutions. Modern mainframes, notably the IBM zSeries, System z9 and System z10 servers, offer two levels of virtualization: logical partitions (LPARs, via the PR/SM facility) and virtual machines (via the z/VM operating system). Many mainframe customers run two machines: one in their primary data center and one in their backup data center—fully active, partially active, or on standby—in case there is a catastrophe affecting the first building. Test, development, training, and production workload for applications and databases can run on a single machine, except for extremely large demands where the capacity of one machine might be limiting. Such a two-mainframe installation can support continuous business service, avoiding both planned and unplanned outages. In practice, many customers use multiple mainframes linked either by Parallel Sysplex and shared DASD (in IBM's case), or with shared, geographically dispersed storage provided by EMC or Hitachi.
Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume input and output (I/O) and emphasize throughput computing. Since the late 1950s, mainframe designs have included subsidiary hardware (called channels or peripheral processors) which manage the I/O devices, leaving the CPU free to deal only with high-speed memory. It is common in mainframe shops to deal with massive databases and files. Gigabyte to terabyte-size record files are not unusual. Compared to a typical PC, mainframes commonly have hundreds to thousands of times as much data storage online, and can access it reasonably quickly. Other server families also offload I/O processing and emphasize throughput computing.
Mainframe return on investment (ROI), like any other computing platform, is dependent on its ability to scale, support mixed workloads, reduce labor costs, deliver uninterrupted service for critical business applications, and several other risk-adjusted cost factors.
Mainframes also have execution integrity characteristics for fault tolerant computing. For example, z900, z990, System z9, and System z10 servers effectively execute result-oriented instructions twice, compare results, arbitrate between any differences (through instruction retry and failure isolation), then shift workloads "in flight" to functioning processors, including spares, without any impact to operating systems, applications, or users. This hardware-level feature, also found in HP's NonStop systems, is known as lock-stepping, because both processors take their "steps" (i.e. instructions) together. Not all applications absolutely need the assured integrity that these systems provide, but many do, such as financial transaction processing.
Current market
IBM, with z Systems, continues to be a major manufacturer in the mainframe market. In 2000, Hitachi co-developed the zSeries z900 with IBM to share expenses, and the latest Hitachi AP10000 models are made by IBM. Unisys manufactures ClearPath Libra mainframes, based on earlier Burroughs MCP products and ClearPath Dorado mainframes based on Sperry Univac OS 1100 product lines. Hewlett-Packard sells its unique NonStop systems, which it acquired with Tandem Computers and which some analysts classify as mainframes. Groupe Bull's GCOS, Stratus OpenVOS, Fujitsu (formerly Siemens) BS2000, and Fujitsu-ICL VME mainframes are still available in Europe, and Fujitsu (formerly Amdahl) GS21 mainframes globally. NEC with ACOS and Hitachi with AP10000-VOS3 still maintain mainframe businesses in the Japanese market.
The amount of vendor investment in mainframe development varies with market share. Fujitsu and Hitachi both continue to use custom S/390-compatible processors, as well as other CPUs (including POWER and Xeon) for lower-end systems. Bull uses a mixture of Itanium and Xeon processors. NEC uses Xeon processors for its low-end ACOS-2 line, but develops the custom NOAH-6 processor for its high-end ACOS-4 series. IBM also develops custom processors in-house, such as the zEC12. Unisys produces code compatible mainframe systems that range from laptops to cabinet-sized mainframes that use homegrown CPUs as well as Xeon processors. Furthermore, there exists a market for software applications to manage the performance of mainframe implementations. In addition to IBM, significant market competitors include BMC, Maintec Technologies, Compuware, and CA Technologies. Starting in the 2010s, cloud computing is now a less expensive, more scalable alternative commonly called Big Data.
History
Several manufacturers and their successors produced mainframe computers from the 1950s until the early 21st Century, with gradually decreasing numbers and a gradual transition to simulation on Intel chips rather than proprietary hardware. The US group of manufacturers was first known as "IBM and the Seven Dwarfs": usually Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data, Honeywell, General Electric and RCA, although some lists varied. Later, with the departure of General Electric and RCA, it was referred to as IBM and the BUNCH. IBM's dominance grew out of their 700/7000 series and, later, the development of the 360 series mainframes. The latter architecture has continued to evolve into their current zSeries mainframes which, along with the then Burroughs and Sperry (now Unisys) MCP-based and OS1100 mainframes, are among the few mainframe architectures still extant that can trace their roots to this early period. While IBM's zSeries can still run 24-bit System/360 code, the 64-bit zSeries and System z9 CMOS servers have nothing physically in common with the older systems. Notable manufacturers outside the US were Siemens and Telefunken in Germany, ICL in the United Kingdom, Olivetti in Italy, and Fujitsu, Hitachi, Oki, and NEC in Japan. The Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries manufactured close copies of IBM mainframes during the Cold War; the BESM series and Strela are examples of an independently designed Soviet computer.
Shrinking demand and tough competition started a shakeout in the market in the early 1970s—RCA sold out to UNIVAC and GE sold its business to Honeywell; between 1986 and 1990 Honeywell was bought out by Bull; UNIVAC became a division of Sperry, which later merged with Burroughs to form Unisys Corporation in 1986.
In 1984 estimated sales of desktop computers ($11.6 billion) exceeded mainframe computers ($11.4 billion) for the first time. IBM received the vast majority of mainframe revenue. During the 1980s, minicomputer-based systems grew more sophisticated and were able to displace the lower end of the mainframes. These computers, sometimes called departmental computers, were typified by the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX series.
In 1991, AT&T Corporation briefly owned NCR. During the same period, companies found that servers based on microcomputer designs could be deployed at a fraction of the acquisition price and offer local users much greater control over their own systems given the IT policies and practices at that time. Terminals used for interacting with mainframe systems were gradually replaced by personal computers. Consequently, demand plummeted and new mainframe installations were restricted mainly to financial services and government. In the early 1990s, there was a rough consensus among industry analysts that the mainframe was a dying market as mainframe platforms were increasingly replaced by personal computer networks. InfoWorld's Stewart Alsop infamously predicted that the last mainframe would be unplugged in 1996; in 1993, he cited Cheryl Currid, a computer industry analyst as saying that the last mainframe "will stop working on December 31, 1999", a reference to the anticipated Year 2000 problem (Y2K).
That trend started to turn around in the late 1990s as corporations found new uses for their existing mainframes and as the price of data networking collapsed in most parts of the world, encouraging trends toward more centralized computing. The growth of e-business also dramatically increased the number of back-end transactions processed by mainframe software as well as the size and throughput of databases. Batch processing, such as billing, became even more important (and larger) with the growth of e-business, and mainframes are particularly adept at large-scale batch computing. Another factor currently increasing mainframe use is the development of the Linux operating system, which arrived on IBM mainframe systems in 1999 and is typically run in scores or up to c. 8,000 virtual machines on a single mainframe. Linux allows users to take advantage of open source software combined with mainframe hardware RAS. Rapid expansion and development in emerging markets, particularly People's Republic of China, is also spurring major mainframe investments to solve exceptionally difficult computing problems, e.g. providing unified, extremely high volume online transaction processing databases for 1 billion consumers across multiple industries (banking, insurance, credit reporting, government services, etc.) In late 2000, IBM introduced 64-bit z/Architecture, acquired numerous software companies such as Cognos and introduced those software products to the mainframe. IBM's quarterly and annual reports in the 2000s usually reported increasing mainframe revenues and capacity shipments. However, IBM's mainframe hardware business has not been immune to the recent overall downturn in the server hardware market or to model cycle effects. For example, in the 4th quarter of 2009, IBM's System z hardware revenues decreased by 27% year over year. But MIPS (millions of instructions per second) shipments increased 4% per year over the past two years. Alsop had himself photographed in 2000, symbolically eating his own words ("death of the mainframe").
In 2012, NASA powered down its last mainframe, an IBM System z9. However, IBM's successor to the z9, the z10, led a New York Times reporter to state four years earlier that "mainframe technology—hardware, software and services—remains a large and lucrative business for I.B.M., and mainframes are still the back-office engines behind the world's financial markets and much of global commerce". , while mainframe technology represented less than 3% of IBM's revenues, it "continue[d] to play an outsized role in Big Blue's results".
In 2015, IBM launched the IBM z13, in June 2017 the IBM z14 and in September 2019 IBM launched the latest version of the product, the IBM z15.
Differences from supercomputers
A supercomputer is a computer at the leading edge of data processing capability, with respect to calculation speed. Supercomputers are used for scientific and engineering problems (high-performance computing) which crunch numbers and data, while mainframes focus on transaction processing. The differences are:
Mainframes are built to be reliable for transaction processing (measured by TPC-metrics; not used or helpful for most supercomputing applications) as it is commonly understood in the business world: the commercial exchange of goods, services, or money. A typical transaction, as defined by the Transaction Processing Performance Council, updates a database system for inventory control (goods), airline reservations (services), or banking (money) by adding a record. A transaction may refer to a set of operations including disk read/writes, operating system calls, or some form of data transfer from one subsystem to another which is not measured by the processing speed of the CPU. Transaction processing is not exclusive to mainframes but is also used by microprocessor-based servers and online networks.
Supercomputer performance is measured in floating point operations per second (FLOPS) or in traversed edges per second or TEPS, metrics that are not very meaningful for mainframe applications, while mainframes are sometimes measured in millions of instructions per second (MIPS), although the definition depends on the instruction mix measured. Examples of integer operations measured by MIPS include adding numbers together, checking values or moving data around in memory (while moving information to and from storage, so-called I/O is most helpful for mainframes; and within memory, only helping indirectly). Floating point operations are mostly addition, subtraction, and multiplication (of binary floating point in supercomputers; measured by FLOPS) with enough digits of precision to model continuous phenomena such as weather prediction and nuclear simulations (only recently standardized decimal floating point, not used in supercomputers, are appropriate for monetary values such as those useful for mainframe applications). In terms of computational speed, supercomputers are more powerful.
Mainframes and supercomputers cannot always be clearly distinguished; up until the early 1990s, many supercomputers were based on a mainframe architecture with supercomputing extensions. An example of such a system is the HITAC S-3800, which was instruction-set compatible with IBM System/370 mainframes, and could run the Hitachi VOS3 operating system (a fork of IBM MVS). The S-3800 therefore can be seen as being both simultaneously a supercomputer and also an IBM-compatible mainframe.
In 2007, an amalgamation of the different technologies and architectures for supercomputers and mainframes has led to a so-called gameframe.
See also
Channel I/O
Cloud computing
Computer types
Failover
Gameframe
List of transistorized computers
Commodity computing
Notes
References
External links
IBM Systems Mainframe Magazine
IBM z Systems mainframes
IBM Mainframe Computer Support Forum since 2003
Univac 9400, a mainframe from the 1960s, still in use in a German computer museum
Lectures in the History of Computing: Mainframes (archived copy from the Internet Archive) |
8429148 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th%20Air%20Division | 4th Air Division | The 4th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Fifteenth Air Force, stationed at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. It was inactivated on 23 August 1988.
As the 4th Bombardment Wing, the unit was one of the primary B-17 Flying Fortress heavy strategic bombardment wings of VIII Bomber Command (later Eighth Air Force in World War II.
During the Cold War, the 4th Air Division' was an intermediate command echelon of Strategic Air Command, controlling strategic bombardment and intercontinental strategic missile wings until inactivated in 1988.
History
The 4th Bombardment Wing moved to England in June 1943 and as a part of Eighth Air Force began bombing operations against German occupied Europe. Targets included shipyards, synthetic rubber plants, chemical plants, marshalling yards, and oil facilities. In July the wing grew to seven combat groups, which resulted in a reorganization of its groups on 13 September 1943 into the 3d Bombardment Division as a new higher echelon over the 4th and two wings which had groups assigned for the first time: the 13th and 45th Combat Bomb Wings. The 4th CBW administratively controlled only two groups until December 1943, when the newly arrived 447th BG was assigned to it.
In 1944, some subordinate units attacked coastline defenses and marshalling yards in preparation for the Allied invasion of France. Some units supported ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 – January 1945) and the assault across the Rhine (March 1945 – April 1945).
In the postwar years, the command was part of Air Defense Command assigned as a reserve wing assigned to First Air Force from 1946 to 1949.
Rectivated in 1951 as an intermediate command echelon of Strategic Air Command, the 4th Air Division was part of Second Air Force, controlling B-29, Boeing B-50 Superfortress and B-47 wings. In 1962, units controlled by the 4th Air Division supported 2d Air Force's post attack command and control system, and became responsible for the Advanced Airborne Command Post. It participated in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and trained in electronic countermeasures and conducted combat operations in Southeast Asia in the late 1960s.
Reassigned to SAC's Fifteenth Air Force in 1970, the 4th assured that assigned units were capable of conducting strategic aerospace warfare using intercontinental ballistic missiles, long-range bombardment, and air refueling resources, according to the Emergency War Order. In addition, the division assumed airborne command and control responsibilities that consisted of supporting auxiliary airborne command post aircraft.
Inactivated in 1988 as a result of budget reductions and a consolidation of SAC's command and control echelons.
Lineage
Established as the 4th Bombardment Wing on 19 October 1940
Activated on 18 December 1940
Inactivated on 1 October 1941
Activated on 7 June 1942
Redesignated 4th Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 30 August 1943
Redesignated 4th Combat Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 24 August 1944
Disestablished on 18 June 1945
Reestablished and redesignated 4th Bombardment Wing, Light on 31 December 1946
Activated in the Reserve on 20 December 1946
Redesignated 4th Air Division, Bombardment on 16 April 1948
Inactivated on 27 June 1949
Redesignated 4th Air Division on 1 February 1951
Organized on 10 February 1951
Discontinued on 16 June 1952
Activated on 16 June 1952
Redesignated 4th Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 September 1964
Redesignated 4th Strategic Missile Division on 30 June 1971
Redesignated 4th Air Division on 1 March 1973
Inactivated on 23 August 1988
Assignments
General Headquarters Air Force, 18 December 1940 – 1 October 1941
Apparently further assigned to Northeast Air District (later, First Air Force) c. 16 January 1941
VIII Bomber Command, 7 June 1942
3d Bombardment Division, 13 September 1943 – 18 June 1945
First Air Force, 20 December 1946 – 27 June 1949
Second Air Force, 16 June 1952
Fifteenth Air Force, 31 March 1970 – 23 August 1988
Components
Wings
2d Bombardment Wing: 1 April 1963 – 1 September 1964
28th Bombardment Wing: 15 January 1973 – 1 May 1982
44th Strategic Missile Wing: 30 June 1971 – 1 May 1982; 23 January 1987 – 15 July 1988
55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing: 1 October 1976 – 1 April 1980
90th Strategic Missile Wing: 30 June 1971 – 23 August 1988
91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (later 91st Strategic Missile Wing): 10 February – 11 September 1951; 30 June 1971 – 30 November 1972
92d Strategic Aerospace Wing: 31 March 1970 – 30 June 1971
97th Bombardment Wing: 1 July 1959 – 1 July 1963
301st Bombardment Wing (later 301st Air Refueling Wing): 10 February 1951 – 15 April 1958 (detached 3 December 1951 – c. 4 March 1953; c. 10 February-c. 17 April 1954); 5 January – 23 August 1988
319th Bombardment Wing: 1 September 1964 – 30 June 1971; 15 January 1973 – 22 January 1975; 1 May 1982 – 23 January 1987
321st Strategic Missile Wing: 1 November 1964 – 22 January 1975; 1 May 1982 – 23 January 1987
340th Bombardment Wing: 1 September 1963 – 1 September 1964 (detached c. 1–31 August 1964). 321 Strategic Missile: 1 November 1964 – 22 January 1975; 1 May 1982 – 23 January 1987
341st Strategic Missile Wing: 30 June 1971 – 15 January 1973; 23 January 1987 – 23 August 1988
351st Strategic Missile Wing: 30 June 1971 – 1 July 1973
376th Bombardment Wing: 1 June 1951 – 3 December 1957 (detached 1 June – 10 October 1951)
401st Provisional Combat Bommbardment Wing: 6 June – 14 September 1943
410th Bombardment Wing: 1 September 1964 – 31 March 1970
454th Bombardment Wing: 1 February – 1 July 1963
494th Bombardment Wing: 1 July 1963 – 1 July 1964
4130th Strategic Wing: 1 July-l September 1963
4228th Strategic Wing: 1 July 1958 – 1 February 1963
4238th Strategic Wing: 1 March 1958 – 1 April 1963
Groups
34th Bombardment Group: 18 August-c. 1 October 1941
43d Bombardment Group: August-5 September 1941
94th Bombardment Group: 13 June 1943 – 6 January 1945
95th Bombardment Group: July-13 September 1943
96th Bombardment Group: c. May-c. September 1943
100th Bombardment Group: 6 June 1943 – 1 January 1944
319th Bombardment Group: 17 October 1947 – 27 June 1949
320th Bombardment Group: 17 October 1947 – 27 June 1949
385th Bombardment Group: c. June 1943-c. August 1945
388th Bombardment Group: c. July 1943-c. August 1945
390th Bombardment Group: c. July-13 September 1943
447th Bombardment Group: c. November 1943-c. June 1945
486th Bombardment Group: c. January-c. June 1945
487th Bombardment Group: c. January-c. August 1945
Squadron
376th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 June 1951 – 20 May 1952; 1 December 1957 – 15 April 1958
Stations
Mitchel Field, New York, 18 December 1940
Westover Field, Massachusetts, 20 March – 1 October 1941; 7 June 1942
Bolling Field, District of Columbia, c. 28 July c. 28 August 1942
RAF High Wycombe (Camp Lynn) (AAF-101), England, 12 September 1942
Marks Hall (AAF-160), England, 18 January 1943
Camp Blainey, England, June 1943
RAF Bury St Edmunds (AAF-468), England, 13 September 1943 – 18 June 1945
Mitchel Field, New York, 20 December 1946 – 27 June 1949
Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, 10 February 1951 16 June 1952; 16 June 1952 – 1 September 1964
Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, 1 September 1964
Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, 30 June 1971 – 23 August 1988
Aircraft and missiles
A-29 Hudson 1941
B-17 Flying Fortress 1941
B-18 Bolo 1941
LB-30 1941
B-17 Flying Fortress 1943–1945
B/RB-45 Tornado 1951
RB-50 Superfortress 1951
B-29 Superfortress 1951 – 1952, 1952–1954
KB-29 Superfortress 1951 – 1952, 1952–1953
B-47 Stratojet 1953 – 1958
KC-97 Stratofreighter 1953 – 1958
B/E/EB-47 Stratojet 1954 – 1957
RB-47 Stratojet 1958
B-52 Stratofortress 1959 – 1988
KC-135 Stratotanker 1959 – 1988
LGM-30A Minuteman I 1963 – 1974
LGM-30F Minuteman II 1965 – 1988
LGM 30G Minuteman III 1971 – 1972 1973 – 1988
C-135 Stratolifter 1977 – 1980
E-4 Nightwatch 1977 – 1980
EC-135 Looking Glass 1977 – 1982
RC-135 Rivet Joint 1977 – 1980
LGM-118A Peacekeeper 1986 – 1988
See also
List of United States Air Force air divisions
References
Notes
Bibliography
004
Division 0004
1940 establishments in New York (state)
1988 disestablishments in Wyoming |
692735 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt%20key | Alt key | The Alt key (pronounced or ) on a computer keyboard is used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. Thus, the Alt key is a modifier key, used in a similar fashion to the Shift key. For example, simply pressing A will type the letter 'a', but holding down the Alt key while pressing A will cause the computer to perform an function, which varies from program to program. The international standard ISO/IEC 9995-2 calls it Alternate key. The key is located on either side of the space bar, but in non-US PC keyboard layouts, rather than a second Alt key, there is an 'Alt Gr' key to the right of the space bar. Both placements are in accordance with ISO/IEC 9995-2.
The standardized keyboard symbol for the Alt key, (which may be used when the usual Latin lettering “Alt” is not preferred for labeling the key) is given in ISO/IEC 9995-7 as symbol 25, and in ISO 7000 “Graphical symbols for use on equipment” as symbol ISO-7000-2105. This symbol is encoded in Unicode as U+2387 (⎇). Macintosh keyboards equate the Alt key with the key, which has its own symbol, similar to that of the ISO standard.
The Alt key should not be confused with the Altmode key (sometimes also labelled Alt) on some Teletype and ASCII terminals, which is a synonym for the ASCII escape character.
Evolution
The Alt key has come to replace the Meta key of the old MIT keyboards. In their original function, both Alt and Meta would set the high bit of the signal generated by the key to 1 (for example, A generates 01000001 while generates 11000001). However, in modern software, due to the requirement of the high bit for internationalization, Alt no longer works in such a way.
Since the 1990s Alt has been printed on the Option key () on most Mac keyboards. As of 2017, the newest Apple keyboards do not contain the Alt label. Alt is used in non-Mac software, such as non-macOS Unix and Windows programs, but in macOS it is always referred as the Option key. The Option key's behaviour in macOS differs slightly from that of the Windows Alt key (it is used as a modifier rather than to access pull-down menus, for example).
Alt key combinations
The key is well known as part of the key combinations:
may restart the computer (its original function); in some operating systems it brings up a task manager - see Control-Alt-Delete.
(often referred to as .) brings up the Force Quit window in Apple's macOS, see Option key.
usually causes the X display server to shut down or to restart, see Control-Alt-Backspace.
closes the current window (or shuts down the computer if the desktop is in the foreground) on most windowing systems.
switches between language layouts.
switches between the currently opened windows on most windowing systems, often referred to as alt-tabbing.
allows for a new line when Enter performs another command. (This is also done by in other programs.) For example, in a word processor, this creates a line break rather than a paragraph break.
Holding Alt while dragging the mouse over a hyperlink selects it as if it were solid text. On Linux, this is done using Super+Alt. The "Super" key is the same as the Windows key.
When only holding Alt while dragging with the mouse on Linux (X Window System), the window is moved.
Alt key for special characters
Windows
In Microsoft Windows, holding down the Alt key while typing in numbers (often referred to as Alt codes) on the numeric keypad allows the user to type special characters not normally available on the keyboard. For example, holding down Alt while typing 0225 () on the numeric keypad will result in á, the character at 225 in the codepage. These extended keyboard characters are useful for persons using foreign languages, mathematics, currency symbols, business use, etc. Some computers work the same if the Num Lock key is on.
macOS
On a Macintosh, the Alt key is called the Option key. It is not used to enter numeric character codes. Instead, keyboard letters and numbers are used. The diagram below shows the special characters a US Mac keyboard will produce when the Option key is pressed.
The highlighted orange keys show the accents available from the combination of the key and the keyboard characters (on the top letters row) and (on the bottom letters row). The accent then can be applied to associated letters both lower and uppercase. The additional characters a Mac will produce are a combination of both the key and the key pressed down together. With this combination pressed the keyboard will now produce a different set or an uppercase version of the previous set in some cases.
Alt key pressed alone
When a user presses the key by itself on Microsoft Windows, that moves keyboard focus to the menu bar of the application having keyboard focus, and the key is not delivered to the application. In that state, another press of the key will be delivered to the application.
On other platforms, for example Ubuntu, the key pressed by itself may invoke another application and not be delivered to the application having keyboard focus. In Ubuntu 16.04, pressing the key opens the HUD, which is an input field that lets the user perform menu commands such as opening a file, or creating a new file.
See also
Table of keyboard shortcuts
Control-Alt-Delete
Modifier key
Alt code
Option key
References
Computer keys |
1936806 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless%20Transport%20Layer%20Security | Wireless Transport Layer Security | Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) is a security protocol, part of the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) stack. It sits between the WTP and WDP layers in the WAP communications stack.
Overview
WTLS is derived from TLS. WTLS uses similar semantics adapted for a low bandwidth mobile device. The main changes are:
Compressed data structures — Where possible packet sizes are reduced by using bit-fields, discarding redundancy and truncating some cryptographic elements.
New certificate format — WTLS defines a compressed certificate format. This broadly follows the X.509 v3 certificate structure, but uses smaller data structures.
Packet based design — TLS is designed for use over a data stream. WTLS adapts that design to be more appropriate on a packet based network. A significant amount of the design is based on a requirement that it be possible to use a packet network such as SMS as a data transport.
WTLS has been superseded in the WAP Wireless Application Protocol 2.0 standard by the End-to-end Transport Layer Security Specification.
Security
WTLS uses cryptographic algorithms and in common with TLS allows negotiation of cryptographic suites between client and server.
Algorithms
An incomplete list:
Key Exchange and Signature
RSA
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC)
Symmetric Encryption
DES
Triple DES
RC5
Message Digest
MD5
SHA1
Security criticisms
Encryption/Decryption at the gateway — in the WAP architecture the content is typically stored on the server as uncompressed WML (an XML DTD). That content is retrieved by the gateway using HTTP and compressed into WBXML, in order to perform that compression the gateway must be able to handle the WML in cleartext, so even if there is encryption between the client and the gateway (using WTLS) and between the gateway and the originating server (using HTTPS) the gateway acts as a man-in-the-middle. This gateway architecture serves a number of purposes: transcoding between HTML and WML; content providers need not implement WBXML compression; removes reliance on DNS; enables a walled garden
Digest truncation — HMAC message digests are truncated to reduce transmission overhead, this reduces the theoretical effectiveness of the HMAC potentially reducing the data integrity protection.
Inadequate review — WTLS is significantly different from TLS, it is not clear that the changes made to WTLS have not in some way weakened the security. The use of a new certificate format is an example of this. The format defined in the WTLS specification may not be appropriate for all the uses to which a certificate may be used.
Client Implementation – As there are no official specifications which WTLS implementations must adhere to, many may use insecure cryptographic algorithms or key generation processes. In some client software, WTLS may even be disabled.
Interoperability
As mentioned above the client and server negotiate the cryptographic suite. This happens when the session is started, briefly the client sends a list of supported algorithms and the server chooses a suite, or refuses the connection. The standard does not mandate support of any algorithm. An endpoint (either client or server) that needs to be interoperable with any other endpoint may need to implement every algorithm (including some covered by intellectual property rights).
See also
WAP Forum
Cryptographic protocols
Internet Standards
Transport layer protocols |
58959724 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20the%20Queensland%20Police | History of the Queensland Police | The history of the Queensland Police Service in Queensland, Australia, commenced in 1864, five years after the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. This timeline highlights significant developments in Queensland policing.
1860s
The uniform worn by Queensland police officers after separation in 1859 was a dark blue jacket and top with a forage cap, supplied by the New South Wales police.
1864
The Queensland Police Force was established by the Queensland Government on 1 January 1864 with strength of 287 officers serving a population of 61,467. David Thompson Seymour appointed as Acting Commissioner and later as Commissioner.
Transport in the settled areas was mainly by foot and in the unsettled areas by horse.
The hulk Margaret Eliza was purchased for £3000. It was refitted and renamed the Proserpine. She was used as a floating water police office, prison, and later as a reformatory school.
Correspondence with the Police Commissioner or between stations was by handwritten letter, moved by horse or Cobb and Co stagecoach, or by telegram.
Finding that no written instructions had ever been issued for the guidance of the police, Commissioner Seymour issues "Rules for the General Government and Discipline of members of the Police Force of Queensland" based upon the Victorian police model.
On 1 December, the Detective Office was created with Sub-Inspector George Elliott in charge.
At December 1864, in the first year of operation of the Queensland Police Force, there were 27 ordinary police stations with 151 foot and mounted officers, and 16 native police camps of 136 European officers and indigenous troopers. Twenty of the 'ordinary police force' stations averaged four officers each, the bigger stations like Brisbane, Ipswich, Rockhampton and Maryborough had larger staff numbers. Native police camps averaged between 7 and 17 men, large camps like Rockhampton could have up to 27 men of both officers and troopers.
1865
Police Commissioner David Seymour described the lack of accommodation for police: "Many men are compelled to live in lodgings, and in the country districts constables live in public-houses some distance from the lock-up at times making them unavailable for sudden emergencies".
Police Commissioner Seymour focussed on the crime of bushranging and took active measures to hasten the capture of these criminals through the purchase of fresh police horses and the construction of securely fenced paddocks at every police station.
Water police were stationed on board the hulk Proserpine at the mouth of the Brisbane River.
Revolvers were supplied to every police station and 50 breech-loading carbines were delivered to the Department.
1866
The Bread or Blood riot started, threatening the sacking of Government House in Brisbane. Hundreds of government officials were sworn in as special constables to assist police.
The first uniform consisted of a Garibaldi jacket of dark blue, serge wool cloth, red facings, and shoulder knot; trousers of the same material, with red cord, and a high cap with French peak.
1867
On 6 November 1867 Constable Patrick William Cahill and Constable John Francis Power were poisoned and shot in the head at the MacKenzie River Crossing while escorting a consignment of bank notes and bullion from Rockhampton to Clermont. The first major test for the Detective Office was to solve their murders.
Police Commissioner Seymour stated that "men at all stations are, when practicable, to be drilled once a week".
1869
The publication of "Rules for the General Government and Discipline of members of the Police Force of Queensland" was approved, printed and distributed.
Each constable required one pair of handcuffs as part of his equipment allotment.
1870s
Navy blue helmets were introduced and proved to be a very hot choice of headwear; they were phased out in favour of white helmets in 1896.
1870
A police barracks was established in George Street, Brisbane, on the site of the old convict hospital.
Changes to rank insignia were implemented which among other things meant that an acting sergeant would be called a senior constable.
1872
A general order was issued that the Chinese had as much right on the gold fields as Europeans, so long as they had a miners' permit. If a collision resulted in a riot which the police could not quell, they were to note the ring-leaders and apprehend them.
1873
Sub-Inspector Robert Johnstone, officer in charge of native police, accompanied explorer George Dalrymple on the north-east coast expedition to explore the coastal lands as far as Cooktown.
1875
The bulk of the Queensland Police force moved from the Brisbane CBD to Victoria Barracks and occupies the army buildings on site.
Three movable houses and twelve large frame-tents were built in Brisbane and shipped to the Palmer River gold-field. They were quickly erected by two constables and could house six officers.
1876
The Police Manual instructed constables on beat duty to "possess such knowledge of the inhabitants of each house as to enable them to recognise their persons; and thus prevent mistakes, and be enabled to render assistance, when called upon, to the inhabitants".
"Instructions for the Guidance of the Police" were published and a system of competitive examination for promotion was introduced, intended to increase police efficiency.
1877
Laura Police Station opened in 1877 with Sub-Inspector 1/c Hervey Fitzgerald in charge. As at 2019, it was still a single officer station today and was staffed by a senior constable.
1879
Roma Street Police Barracks were built and provided accommodation for about forty-five men, room for an Officer-in-Charge and two cells.
A contingent of trackers was sent to Victoria to assist in the hunt for the Kelly Gang.
1880s
1880
At Birdsville, locally-available cane grass was used on police station walls for its insulation properties and longevity.
Native Police camp accommodation was constructed using a variety of materials, such as saplings, logs, bark, canvas and shingles.
1881
On 24 January Sub-Inspector George Dyas was found buried after being killed by being speared in the back by Aboriginals while he camped near the 40 Mile Waterhole near Normanton.
On 24 September Sub-Inspector Henry Kaye died from being speared through the chest by Aboriginals at Woolgar gold fields ( north of Richmond).
1882
Sub-Inspector 1/c Alexander Douglas was sent to Herberton and with four troopers, two old gold diggers and five Chinese men; he blazed a trail from Herberton to Mourilyan. The party travelled without rations and in continuous rain for twenty days, living mainly on roots.
Martini-Henry rifles were purchased to replace the Snider previously used.
1883
The Petrie Terrace Gaol area was taken over by the Queensland Police and became known as the Petrie Terrace Police Depot where prospective police officers were trained.
On 24 January Cadet Sub-Inspector Mark Beresford died after being speared in the thigh and hit on the head by Aboriginals in the Selwyn Ranges to the south of Cloncurry.
On 26 January Constable William Dwyer was struck on the head by a tomahawk and killed by Wild Toby an Aboriginal bushranger, near Juandah Station via Taroom.
1884
Cap badges consisting of a separate district letter and number were issued and remained in use until 1906.
As policing reached across the State more and more stations were opened usually in small towns of less than 300 people or in places that were growing due to the building of train lines or the discovery of gold. By December 1884, twenty years after the inauguration of the Police Force, there were 155 stations with 657 police officers and 182 indigenous troopers and trackers. There was also a growth in the number of single officer stations. In 1884, 36 stations were operated by single police officers, of these 6 were assisted in their duties by an indigenous tracker.
Running a police station with one officer was a daunting task. Often there was no station building and one had to be rented or moves made to purchase something suitable. Married officers were generally not sent to single officer stations as there was generally no accommodation for them in town. However, wives who did join their husbands, found themselves looking after the station and taking inquiries, while her husband was away. Her tasks could also involve feeding and cleaning up after prisoners in the lock-up.
1886
The first six camels arrived in Birdsville from India in poor condition and by July only four had survived. Despite these early setbacks camels proved useful, travelling hundreds of kilometres on duties such as collecting statistical returns.
1887
The first honour given to any Queensland police officer was a Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal awarded to Constable James O"Brien for saving the life of a nine-year-old boy at Ipswich.
During the Burketown cyclone on 5 March, Sergeant John Ferguson's wife kept a lamp burning in the window of the courthouse and her beacon drew many people to the refuge during the storm.
1889
A Royal Commission of Enquiry into the Police Force proposed sweeping changes including that the control of the section of Water Police known as River Police was given back to the Police Commissioner.
The cost of buying ordinary clothing for plain clothes work was an extra burden that detectives had to meet out of their ordinary pay.
There were eleven detectives on the pay-roll across the State. Seven in Brisbane, two in Townsville, and one each in Normanton and Rockhampton.
On 27 October Senior Constable Alfred Wavell was shot and killed at Corinda (southwest of Burketown) by a man who had escaped from the Normanton lock-up.
1890s
1891
Senior Sergeant Martin Breene and Constable Joseph Waters displayed energy and perseverance during the shearer's strikes by following and preventing "fire gangs" from doing damage at Lammermoor pastoral station.
Eromanga Police Station was first opened on 26 September 1891 in a two roomed cottage rented at a cost of five shillings per week, with Senior Constable Manuell in charge. At this time the township consisted of one large store owned by Mr W Paterson, two first class pubs built of brick, and a couple of "humpys". The resident population was about 20 and there was always a number of men from the opal mines and stations "knocking down their cheques" (spending their money) at Eromanga's pubs. Senior Constable Manuell remained in charge of Eromanga until he was instructed to close this station on 31 December 1891, and to proceed to Thargomindah. The station reopened in 1893. In 1894, the first police residence was built so the police officer have his wife live with him. As at 2019, it was still a single officer station and was staffed by a senior constable.
1893
During the shearer's strike, police were given sole power to "preserve order and secure liberty to all alike".
Acting Sergeant John Raphael Thompson was paid £10 extra to attend to photographic work which included mug shots and crime scene photography.
On 4 February Constable James Sangster, 25, drowned attempting a rescue of two members of the Jackson family during the 1893 flood of the Bremer River at North Ipswich. He is commemorated by the James Sangster Memorial at North Ipswich, which was initiated by the Jackson family and funded by public subscription. The monument has a broken obelisk which symbolises a life cut short.
MacKinlay (now McKinlay) Police Station was opened in 1893.
1894
On 10 May Constable Benjamin Ebbitt died at South Brisbane having never recovered from an assault during an arrest on 9 November 1890 at Croydon.
On 6 September Constable Edward Lanigan was killed by being shot in the chest while trying to prevent another policeman from being shot during an arrest at Montalbion (a mining town near Irvinebank).
1895
On 30 June, Commissioner Seymour retired after 31 years in the job and was replaced by William Edward Parry-Okeden on 1 July. Full control of the water police finally came under the jurisdiction of Police Commissioner.
On 2 July Senior Constable William Conroy died after being stabbed several times trying to prevent a man from stabbing the man's wife on Thursday Island.
The Roma Street police station telephone exchange was connected to fourteen sites including the Woolloongabba and South Brisbane police stations, the Commissioner's house at Red Hill, the Detective Office, the Police Depot and the Central Fire Brigade Station.
1896
The bicycle, as a means of transport was introduced and a slow distribution occurred across the State. At about £13 a bicycle was more expensive than a horse.
Detectives received no special training. Generally, "the smartest and most intelligent" people from among the plain clothes officers in the general police were selected and expected to learn from experience.
The Pearl ferry capsized near the Victoria Bridge on the flooded Brisbane River on Valentine's Day. After the rescue of sixty survivors, police made every effort to recover and identify the bodies of the twenty-nine victims.
A loose tunic was adopted in place of the existing jumper for police uniform. Mounted officers performing mounted duty, wore Bedford cord breeches and black napoleon boots.
1897
The collection housed in the police museum running since 1893, was used to educate recruits about criminal methods.
1899
On the trail of an escapee, Constable James Kenny and four indigenous troopers survived Cyclone Mahina at Bathurst Bay, by staying together after their camp was blown away.
The recruit probation period was increased so that no man was sworn until three months' drill and instruction was completed at the Police Depot.
Englesburg police station was opened on 25 April 1899. The town's name was changed to Kalbar in September 1916 due to anti-German sentiment in World War I.
1900s
1900
At the turn of the century the Queensland Police Department had 845 police officers and 135 native trackers at 256 stations.
1901
First-Class Constable George Pugh displayed discretion and bravery in the single-handed arrest of three men for the unlawful killing of cattle at the Jundah Opal Fields, and for taking them on foot, the to Jundah police station.
The Criminal Investigation Branch moved into the old St John's Cathedral synod building on the corner of Elizabeth and George Streets.
1902
The Imperial Service Order and Medal was established by King Edward for the administration and clerical staff of the Civil Service throughout the British Empire for long and meritorious service.
On 30 March, Constable George Doyle was shot and killed while attempting to capture the Kenniff brothers in Upper Warrego, who had a long history of stealing cattle and horses.
1903
In May the Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society was awarded to First-class Michael Becher, Inspector Percy Galbraith, Constables Charles Pinwill and William Ryan who risked their own lives to save the lives of others between 12 November 1889 and 15 January 1903.
On 29 March Acting Sergeant David Johnston was killed by being hit on the head with an axe by a prisoner in the watchhouse at Mackay.
1904
The Fingerprint Bureau was established. During the first year of operation 578 fingerprints were taken and 226 came from other states.
On 16 September 1904, Constable First Class Charles O'Kearney was knocked down and killed by a horse being deliberately ridden towards him in retaliation for an arrest in Laidley.
1905
William Geoffrey Cahill became the third Police Commissioner on 1 April 1905.
On 23 December Constable Albert Price was stabbed and killed while making an arrest at Mackay.
1906
On 27 September 1906: Sergeant Thomas Heaney died at South Brisbane from head fractures sustained when he was hit multiple times over the head with a metal bar during an arrest on 7 June 1905 at Woolloongabba, Brisbane.
On 4 October Police Commissioner Cahill announced the establishment of a Medal for Merit departmental award for police officers who displayed pre-eminent bravery on duty. The first two medals were awarded to Acting Sergeant John Hennessy and Constable Richard Runge on 12 October.
Queensland police enforced the Infant Life Protection Act 1905 by checking the registration of births and the deaths of illegitimate children.
1907
The Patrol was the first motorised vessel used by the Brisbane Water Police. She was capable of .
Constable Charles Watson and a tracker followed suspected murderer J. W. Patterson for . They captured the fugitive but had very little food or water for the last of the chase.
A new Figure-of-8 style handcuff was introduced.
In 1907, Police Commissioner William Cahill and the Deputy Queensland Government Architect, designed the Queensland Police Station badge based on the police cap badge of the time. Prior to this time, there was no standard way to indicate a police station.
1909
A very fine reserve called Rewan was proclaimed as a stud farm for breeding police horses. The Woodford mares and foals as well as two purchased stallions, "Libertine" and "Mack" populated the reserve.
Very few police stations have a typewriter and some officers use their own to complete reports and correspondence.
The King's Police Medal was instituted by King Edward VII on 7 July to be awarded to those officers of properly recognised police forces and fire brigades under the jurisdiction of the sovereign, who showed distinguished service and conspicuous devotion to duty, or who carried out heroic acts of courage. First awarded to Constable John Bourke on 29 August 1911.
The good will of the community was necessary if an officer was to be able to carry out his duties effectively while in town and to then to be confident that nothing untoward would happen while he was away checking the rest of his beat by horse. Communities were often loath to let an officer go when he was transferred away and often took up petitions and wrote letters to the Police Commissioner begging for the officer to remain in town. Long standing officers were often presented with gifts and highly decorated letters of thanks from their community. When Sergeant Lawrence Clare was transferred in March 1909, the citizens of the Esk District expressed their thanks:To
Sergeant L. J. Clare
Together with a Purse of Forty Sovereigns
From his many friends in the Esk Police District
Dear Sir
We, the residents of Esk and District, desire to approach you with the purest sentiments of congratulation at the close of your most efficient service of Ten Years as Constable and Sergeant in charge of our large District. Those who have been associated with you will long cherish your courtesy and untiring zeal in carrying out at all times your official duties with credit to yourself and the Department in which you are engaged. In presenting you with the accompanying gift we are deeply sensible that it is in no sense an adequate measure of your excellent qualities and labours; nor do we wish you to regard it in the light of a recompense but ask you to accept it as a mark of our regard. In conclusion, we sincerely wish that both yourself and your family will in future have every happiness and prosperity.
Signed for on behalf of the Subscribers.
Alex Smith, Chairman Esk Shire Council
1910s
1910
Inspector White reported that nearly every station within a five-mile radius of the centre of Brisbane was connected by telephone.
Chief Inspector Urquhart favourably mentioned Constable Peter Hagarty of Finch Hatton: "he is an exceptional good man in a rough place among a very rough class of people. He made seventy-one arrests single handed this year and is most highly spoken of by the respectable portion of the community".
1911
In 1911, 300 cast iron station badges, each weighing and costing , were manufactured for the Police Department by Harvey & Son, Globe Iron Works, Brisbane and distributed as identification badges to every police station in Queensland.
First reference to the idea of women police was made by the National Council of Women of Queensland.
1912
The 1912 Brisbane general strike started as a tramway strike but gains momentum with 20,000 or more people withholding their labour and brings industry to a standstill. Mass rallies see police numbers bolstered by the swearing in of 3,000 special constables.
1914
Police stations serve a variety of local community needs and police officers were expected to act in extraneous roles as representatives for the government. World War I begins.
1915
Police Commissioner Cahill rejects the idea of employing women following an inquiry by the Acting Home Secretary.
1916
The strength of the Force on 30 June, was 1037 general police, 30 Criminal Investigation Branch officers, 11 water police officers, 99 indigenous police, 27 recruits and 89 on leave with the Commonwealth Military Forces on active service in World War I.
At 13 July, four-year old Nicholas Frousheger wandered away from his home about south of Charleville. The media reports that "the police, and a large party of civilians are trying hard to overtake him, but it is difficult owing to the stony ridges and the light imprint left by the little one".
1917
Frederic Charles Urquhart becomes the fourth Police Commissioner on 1 January 1917.
1918
World War I ends.
1919
On 24 March, 8,000 soldiers and conservatives march on the Russian émigré headquarters at South Brisbane which leads to violent clashes between protestors and police. This uprising was known as the Red Flag Riots or Red Monday.
1920s
1920
Bicycles, not cars, were the usual means of transportation used by police for the prevention and detection of crime. Police Commissioner Ryan establishes bicycle patrols so that plain clothes officers could keep the suburbs of Brisbane under surveillance at night time.
1921
An explosion at Mount Mulligan Colliery entombs over seventy miners. Residents, men from a neighbouring mine assist Constable James O'Dwyer in efforts to recover deceased miners.
Patrick Short became the fifth Police Commissioner on 16 January 1921.
1922
Millaa Millaa police station opened in 1922. The first officer to be stationed at Millaa Millaa was Constable Daniel Dwyer. As at 2019, it was still a single officer station and was staffed by a senior constable.
1924
The first thorough revision of "Rules for the general government and discipline of the members of the Police Force of Queensland" was completed.
1925
779 horses were in service, three camels were obtained for Noccundra police station and three new Harley-Davidson motorcycles with side cars were purchased.
William Harold Ryan becomes the sixth Police Commissioner on 15 January 1925.
1926
The first two motorised vehicles were Black Marias or prison vans, one of which utilised the body from a horse-drawn prison van on the back of a Bean truck chassis.
1927
The Criminal Investigation Branch building in Queen's Park was blown up by a criminal intent on destroying the evidence against him.
Retired Sergeant 2/c William Lynam had the gruesome job of burying seventeen Ingham flood victims, men, women, and children of three Italian families "on the nearest patch of dry land I could find".
Dustcoats and overalls were worn by members of the Criminal Investigation Branch when riding on motorcycles to prevent dust and oil from staining clothing.
1928
There was only one detective available to handle criminal investigations between Townsville and Cloncurry.
1929
Inspector Loch describec Cecil Plains as "a large pastoral and farming district with large areas of thickly timbered and pear infested ground that gives stock thieves excellent opportunity to carry out their work".
1930s
1930
On 6 August 1930 Constable Ernest James Dawson was on traffic duty on the Yungaburra Road near Lake Barrine when he lost control of his motorcycle. Despite emergency surgery which appeared initially successful, complications arose and he died in Brisbane General Hospital on 18 January 1931. There was a huge funeral procession in his honour on 19 January 1931.
1931
The first two women police, Miss Zara Dare and Miss Eileen O'Donnell were appointed on 16 March, after Queensland Cabinet supported a submission by Irene Longman, Queensland's first female Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. They were attached to Roma Street police station in the centre of Brisbane but were not sworn-in and had no powers of arrest. They did not have a uniform but were given a badge. Their duties were to protect the interests of women and children.
1932
On 5 January, four-year-old Betty Doherty was taken by crocodile as she plays near the Seymour River, about east of Halifax. Acting Sergeant Frank Conaty and Constables George Schnitzerling, Jens Fredericksen and Arnold Still made an extensive search but fail to find any trace of the child.
1934
Cecil James Carroll becomes the seventh Police Commissioner on 8 May 1934.
A special squad of traffic police was organised for the control of the Brisbane traffic district.
The Battley Single Finger Print System was adopted, to reduce the period of search for a print found at the crime scene among the 470,000 impressions held.
Carroll introduces the police cadet system to admit applicants of 18 years with a junior pass or a senior level school certificate.
Carroll initiated the establishment of the Queensland Police Welfare Club which was located within Roma Street police station and served alcohol as well as offering recreational amenities such as a library, billiard tables and darts boards. Six weeks after its establishment the Club held its first ball at the Brisbane City Hall on 1 August 1934. Over 2,000 people attended and was believed to be the largest function of its kind ever held in Brisbane. The balls were an annual event and were held at Brisbane City Hall until the 1960s when they relocated to Cloudland Ballroom; the balls ceased in the 1970s.
1935
The Modus Operandi Section was established by Police Commissioner Carroll as a central repository for criminal records regarding their habits or manner of working. A Criminal Photographic Supplement was reproduced in the Queensland Police Gazette to allow quick access to the information collected by the Modus Operandi Section.
The Queensland Police Department was given control of the Firearms Act and creates the Firearms Section under Clerk Thomas Baty, to undertake the major task of licensing firearms.
Commissioner Carroll gains approval for an experimental wireless station with the call sign 'VKR'. Three patrol cars were equipped with the new one-way, wireless communication system.
Weekly lectures were delivered by experienced officers at the Roma Street police barracks and copies of lectures were distributed to every police officer.
1936
Newly-sworn Constable Thomas Baty assumes charge of the Firearm Section.
The new brick two-storey, Fortitude Valley police station was built and officially opened on 6 July. It was described as the "finest, most up-to-date and most comfortable police station in Queensland". It is now heritage-listed.
1937
The Queensland Police becomes mechanised and a departmental garage was built to service the departments growing number of motorcycles and motor vehicles. Trained mechanics worked in the garage.
The Firearms Section was enlarged to include forensic ballistics and a laboratory was installed, with microscopical and photomicrographical apparatus to examine bullets.
A librarian was appointed to look after the Central Police Library's collection of 5,000 law, crime and fiction books.
1938
The Criminal Investigation Branch consisted of 48 detectives, 65 plain clothes police spread over all districts, along with 14 cadets.
The Firearm Section was expanded to encompass the scientific investigation of firearms under the area of Forensic Ballistics.
On 28 November Constable George Robert Young of the water police was one of four men on a RAAF amphibious aircraft which crashed killing all on board. They were searching for the body of missing woman Marjorie Norval in the estuaries of Moreton Bay when the aircraft hit high tension wires.
1939
During World War II (1939 to 1945) the Police Commissioner worked in cooperation with the Australian Defence Department to provide protection of civilian lives, public buildings and communications lines.
1939
The King's Commendation for Brave Conduct was instituted by King George VI to acknowledge brave acts by civilians and members of the military in non-warlike circumstances during a time of war or in peacetime where the action would not otherwise be recognised by an existing award.
Legislation provides police with selection of and control over civilian air-raid wardens. Police officers were involved in enrolling and training wardens to receive and pass on news of raids from Defence Information Centres.
A seven-month-long "School of Instruction in Criminal Investigation Work" course was established.
New barracks at Petrie Terrace were built to replace the old structure used since 1883 at a cost of £40,000. It provided a training centre for recruits and a home for 104 single men performing duty in central Brisbane.
1940s
1940
The system of interchange of detectives and the sharing of knowledge with New South Wales and Victoria police continues, with one Queensland detective working in Sydney and the other in Melbourne.
The King's Police Medal becomes the King's Police and Fire Services Medal and was awarded for acts of exceptional courage and skill or who exhibit conspicuous devotion to duty. First awarded to Constable Athol Haines on 28 July 1943.
The George Medal was established by order of King George VI on 4 September, was given for acts of great bravery. First awarded to Constable 1/c Osmond Cislowski on 11 May 1956.
The number of women in the Women Police Section increases to nine in response to the extra demands on policing during World War II.
1941
A permanent two-way radio station, allowing two-way radio wireless communication with patrol cars, was established to replace the temporary one-way system in use since 1935.
The Women Police Section was formed with Elizabeth Boyle as supervisor and attached to the Criminal Investigation Branch Headquarters in George Street, Brisbane.
The Central Fingerprint Bureau in Sydney was created for use by all policing jurisdictions.
The Forensic Ballistics Section was renamed as the Scientific Section and now encompasses forensic chemistry, scientific photography and the examination of documents and handwriting. The Scientific Section was examining documents and handwriting with ultra-violet rays and microscopy.
The Force was staffed by 1610 police officers and 34 native trackers at 341 stations.
1942
Inspector Noel Carseldine remarked: "The fact of the war having continued throughout the year has meant the performance of arduous duties by the police in this district. Several hundred aliens have been interned in the sugar areas of Ayr, Brandon, Giru, Halifax, Home Hill and Ingham".
1945
246 bicycles were in use across the State.
The Fingerprint Bureau, the Modus Operandi Record System, the Photographic and Scientific Sections were classified under the title: Technical Aids in the Investigation of Crime.
1946
Detective Constable Les Bardwell took over the Scientific Section and remains as the Officer in Charge until his retirement in 1976.
The "White Ghost", a white Chevrolet Special Deluxe utility, equipped with a loud hailer, was introduced to Brisbane and Toowoomba streets as part of a road safety campaign.
New uniform consisted of an open-neck tunic, airman's blue shirt, with detachable collar, black tie, and a new type white helmet.
1947
The Photographic Unit gains staff who have experience with drawing plans of crime scenes and road collisions.
Probationaries undergo six months of training at the Police Depot.
1948
The Queensland Police-Citizens Youth Welfare Association was registered under the jurisdiction of the Police Department on 20 May.
1949
There were 100 cars in use across the state representing brands such as Ford, Buick, Chevrolet, International, G.M.C, Mercury, Hudson, De Soto, Dodge and Plymouth.
Fingerprint Expert Cecil Smith and two Queensland detectives make history when they take hand and palm prints from almost the entire population of Ocean Island (now Banaba Island) to catch a double murderer.
John Smith becomes the eight Police Commissioner on 24 July 1949.
1950s
1950
Radio transmissions were made from Mount Coot-tha and the switch from amplitude modulated (AM) mobile equipment to frequency modulated (FM) equipment was made.
Road safety lectures were introduced into schools and kindergartens. Puppets were used to illustrate scenarios for younger children and older children were taught to cross the street and to ride a bicycle safely.
After an inquisitive cow fell into a ditch at the rear of the Queensland Woollen Mill in Ipswich, police were called to perform a rescue operation. Using a small crane, the heavy beast was successfully winched from the ditch and suffered only shock.
There were fourteen police districts and 338 stations throughout Queensland at 30 June. Somerset police station was re-established and a new station was opened at Kenilworth.
The Police Force was staffed by 2030 male police officers, 10 women police and 30 trackers. The State population had reached one million.
1951
The Central Communications Room opens at the CIB building in Brisbane and becomes the nerve centre of police communications through the state.
1954
Police radio stations were operating in Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville.
The British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service originally established in 1922, was first awarded to Constable Noel Haupt on 17 October.
The King's Police and Fire Services Medal was split into two awards, the Queen's Fire Service Medal and the Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry which was first awarded posthumously to Constable 1/c Roy Doyle on 1 April 1956.
The King's Commendation for Brave Conduct became the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. It was first awarded to Constable Clifford Lebsanft on 11 May 1956.
1955
Women were permitted to join the Queensland Police Union.
The Brisbane Traffic Branch was established as an entity separate from the Brisbane Police District.
Patrick Glynn becomes the ninth Police Commissioner on 6 January 1955.
1956
The Union's application for equal pay fails in the Industrial Court.
The State was affected by cyclonic disturbances and flood conditions resulting in widespread interruption to communications and damage to property.
On 1 April Constable First Class Roy Doyle died in hospital at Mackay from head injuries sustained when he hit a submerged block of concrete while attempting a rescue in the flooded Pioneer River at Mackay on 29 March.
On 1 May the awarding of the Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, originally proclaimed by King George VI in 1951, was extended to include the states of Australia by Queen Elizabeth II. The medal was awarded after twenty-two years of approved police service and 378 police officers qualify.
1957
208 centres were sharing 384 vehicles and 126 horses – 73 cars, 113 utilities, 37 land rovers, 6 vans, 155 motorbikes and 179 bicycles.
Thomas William Harold becomes the tenth Police Commissioner on 1 April 1957.
Two Traffic Branch officers attend the "Traffic Engineering Course" offered by the New South Wales University of Technology.
Police Commissioner Harold puts into operation four radio-equipped prowl cars to cruise the city and suburbs through the night.
1958
The British Empire Medal for Gallantry was established on 14 January. First awarded to Constable James Boyle on 7 August 1959.
Francis Erich (Frank) Bischof becomes the eleventh Police Commissioner on 30 January 1958. With a view to raising the morale and status of newly sworn-in personnel, Bischof decides to inaugurate passing out parades for probationaries. The first parade was held on 29 May with twenty-four men being sworn.
The Queensland Police Pipe Band makes its first public appearance on 29 August at a passing-out parade at the Petrie Terrace Police Depot.
1959
The Stock Investigation Squad was formed, with a detective sergeant and three plain clothes members.
Following complaints that police stations were not readily identifiable, the Queensland Department of Works was asked to supply conspicuous illuminated signs showing POLICE in black letters on a white background. On 5 May 1959, a sample illuminated sign was erected at Holland Park Police Station and with that success, an order was placed with Albert Smith and Son to manufacture these signs. Over the next decade the illuminated signs were progressively installed at stations and the old style cast iron badges were returned to the Police Depot. Sometime in the late 1960s the illuminated word POLICE, was produced in white letters on a black background, and in the mid 1980s a blue light was added to the top for more effect.
Sub-Inspector Cecil Smith was appointed as the first Queensland Police Public Relations Officer on 6 July. He was expected to make regular telecasts on topical police matters by way of the new technology of television.
1960s
1960
Detective Senior Sergeant Les Bardwell, Constable Barry Short and Cadet Neil Raward were the only three scientific officers servicing the State.
A new range of drab olive uniform and a new cap badge were introduced.
1961
A new insignia was introduced which was an adaptation of the police badge. It bears the Latin motto Constantia ac Comitate (English translation: Firmness with Courtesy).
1962
The old Queensland Egg Board building, on the corner of Makerston Street and North Quay was purchased and converted into the State police headquarters.
.38 Smith and Wesson revolvers were purchased to enable the standardisation of firearms.
On 19 February Constable Gregory Olive was shot in the chest at close range and killed when he knocked on a front door to make inquiries at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane.
On 16 August Constable Douglas Wrembeck stopped to question a motorist in South Brisbane and was killed when he was struck by a car driven by a hit-and-run driver.
1963
The Juvenile Aid Bureau (JAB) was established to guide potential youthful law breakers on the right path and prevent them from incurring a court conviction. JABs were renamed in the 2000s as child protection and investigation units (CPIUs).
On 14 February Senior Constable Cecil Bagley was electrocuted when he tried to rescue a neighbour being electrocuted in his car at Mount Gravatt, south Brisbane. Although at home, his death was deemed to have occurred while on duty because, as a police officer, he was always expected to respond in an emergency situation.
1964
On 30 June the police strength equals 2760 police officers (1 police officer to 571 people).
On 26 October Senior Constable Desmond Trannore was shot and killed attending a domestic disturbance near Gordonvale, North Queensland.
1965
On 31 March, eight serving plain-clothes women police were sworn in and given equal powers and rank as male officers. In June the first uniformed women were sworn in following regular probationary training.
Twenty-one new Ford Cortina sedan motor cars were purchased for traffic work.
179 cars, eight vans, eighteen motor cycles, one bus and one utility truck were fitted with two-way wireless. Twenty-three cars and three utility trucks were fitted with two-way wireless.
The first set of specially chosen police was trained for a "Rescue 8" Squad to handle major incidents and disaster emergencies.
The first-ever issue of attire for policewomen was a female version of the drab olive uniform.
1966
Sergeant 2/c Colin Ward and Constable Colin Tapsall installed the first police-owned UHF radio linking system from Saddle Mountain near Kuranda, to the Cairns Airport.
1968
All new CIB detective appointees were required to attend a course of training that includes lectures by senior experienced detectives, films and practical application.
The Company Squad was reorganised as the Fraud Squad.
On 27 March Constable Douglas Gordon was shot and killed attending a domestic disturbance at Inala, in south Brisbane.
On 26 June the Crime Prevention Bureau commences operation, for the purpose of providing two police officers in a full-time capacity to impart security and personal safety advice to community members.
The Emergency Squad was established principally to deal with the apprehension of armed offenders.
A World War II sea mine washes up onto the beach at Surfers Paradise, shocking those enjoying the sun, sand and surf. The device was successfully deactivated and removed by the Royal Australian Navy with the help of Gold Coast police.
1969
Printing of Volume 1 of the new "Queensland Policeman's Manual" was completed and preparation of Volume 2 was well advanced.
Probationaries receive training in the use of Breath Testing Devices (Alcotest) and Breath Analysing Instruments (Breathalyser).
Norwin William Bauer becomes the twelfth Police Commissioner on 14 February.
On 9 April Senior Constable Colin Brown was shot and killed while investigating the behaviour of a farm employee on a property near Dayboro, north of Brisbane.
1970s
1970
The number of policewomen equals twenty-seven. Postings extend outside central Brisbane and to provincial centres. The Queensland Police Union achieves equal pay for women with the support of Police Commissioner Ray Whitrod.
The position of Assistant Commissioner (Crime) was established.
The Queensland Police College at Chelmer commences operation on 27 January as an "in-service training centre".
All newly-sworn constables were sent, over a period of twelve months, to different metropolitan police stations for on-the-job training.
Raymond Wells Whitrod becomes the thirteenth Police Commissioner on 1 September 1970.
1971
Police and protestors clash over the South African Springbok football team's tour of Queensland.
The minimum height for women joining was set at and the bar on married women joining up was removed.
Consideration was given to the use of computers for police purposes.
The Public Order Squad was formed with approximately 100 members, who provide staff for duty in connection with street demonstrations and similar disturbances.
A new cadet training scheme was introduced. The three-year structure, combines senior examination subjects and special police courses.
The Police Driver Training Wing was established and courses commenced on 1 March.
Stage 1 of the Queensland Police Academy at Oxley opens in January and the first 150 cadets were admitted.
Uniform colour changes from drab olive back to blue. Policewomen wear a black skirt, white shirt with black tie and bowler style cap.
1972
The Queensland Police Academy officially opens at Oxley on 24 March.
In August 1972, the Queensland Police Force formed a corps of permanent police prosecutors. This came about because of the need to improve the conviction rate in a magistrate's court.
1973
A crime intelligence course for detectives commences at the Queensland Police College.
1974
A Scenes of Crime Training Unit was opened at the Queensland Police Academy and a Scenes of Crime Unit becomes operational.
First female detective was appointed.
On 15 April 1974, the first official Prosecutor's course commenced at the Police College at Chelmer.
On 25 November 1974 Constable Patricia Anne Garnaut was the first woman to join the Queensland Water Police. Earlier in January that year during the 1974 Brisbane floods she had been stationed at Torwood Police Station and had worked with the water police rescuing people from their flooded homes.
Two days after Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin in the Northern Territory on 24–26 December, twelve Queensland police officers arrive to lend a hand.
1975
The Police Air Wing was established with the purchase of two Cessna 180E aircraft. Four police officers and qualified pilots were attached to the Wing.
The Rape Squad, comprising seven female constables, commences working from within the Information Bureau.
The quota system for the recruitment of women was removed and integration was adopted in deployment. Police Commissioner Whitrod's open door policy results in an influx of women.
Final year cadets and probationaries receive twenty-three training periods in crowd control, prisoner control and crisis-situation handling.
The Star of Courage, the second highest Australian bravery decoration, was established in the Australian honours system in February. It is awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril. Only four have been awarded to Queensland police officers, the first to Constable Rodney Edward on 16 March 1988.
A new system of identification numbers and rank boards with metal chevrons were introduced for all ranks.
On 2 November Senior Constable Lyle Hoey died after being deliberately run down by a car near Mount Molloy in North Queensland.
1976
The number of Queensland policewomen equals 308.
All police centres across the State have access to a motor vehicle.
The Electronic Data Processing Unit was reorganised into the Planning and Research Branch and begins developing computer programs to make information available on criminal statistics, stolen vehicles, staff deployment, and vehicles of interest.
Forbes House in Makerston Street was purchased and converted into Police Headquarters and officially opens 7 March.
Terence Murray 'Terry' Lewis becomes the fourteenth Police Commissioner on 29 November 1976.
1977
Three new police vessels were commissioned: D.G. Gordon, G.J. Olive and Lyle M. Hoey; named after three police officers who were killed in the line of duty.
The first step was taken in the automation of the colour printing process for the Photographic Section.
Experienced journalist Ian Hatcher was appointed as the first Police Press Officer on 29 August. His responsibilities were to liaise with media and to publicise the work and improve the public image of the Force throughout the State.
In January, police pilot Sergeant 2/c Ron Rooke successfully carries out flood relief operations in the Camooweal, Burketown, Hamilton, Boulia and Doomadgee areas by dropping several hundred kilograms of food to stranded motorists.
1978
The recruitment of female cadets was stopped but the quota for the recruitment of female adult probationers was revived.
A computer systems training officer was appointed to train police officers in the correct use and operation of computer equipment for practical police work.
1979
To give the public and the police an appreciation of the history of the Police Force, the Police Museum was fully open to the public on 17 May.
On 12 March the Bomb Squad was reorganised as a two-person Arson-Bomb Squad and its activities were expanded.
An armed man hijacked a commercial aircraft between Coolangatta and Brisbane and holds air crew and passengers hostage at Eagle Farm Airport. Emergency Squad personnel were deployed while a police negotiator secures the release of the hostages.
Epaulette boards give way to shoulder patches and stripes of rank on the sleeves of new uniform. The Latin motto adopted on the shoulder patches was Constantia ac Comitate.
1980s
1980
A new computerised message-switching system was introduced, with terminals installed in the metropolitan area and some district headquarters.
Traffic branch motorcyclists were issued with blue leather caps which were worn instead of helmets while off their bikes and directing traffic.
1981
The Rescue Squad was created within the Task Force in Brisbane. Members were trained in all types of rescue situations so that they could assist in bringing aid to people beset by accidents or disasters.
1982
A new American-style highway patrol was formed to operate on country highways in an effort to cut down the road toll. The patrol fleet was equipped with 53 V8 Ford Falcons with long range radios, as well as 84 Yamaha four cylinder 1100cc road motorcycles.
1983
The first Blood Splash Pattern Evaluation Course was held.
The Explosive Ordinance Reconnaissance Team was established which took the responsibility for bomb response from the Arson and Bomb Squad.
The Latin motto on shoulder patches was replaced by its English translation of Firmness with Courtesy.
1984
The Police Department's own computer system comes online and ends the shared arrangements with other government departments.
The Safety House Program commences and provides a safe place for children in the event they feel threatened.
Rain and mud hamper police attempts to remove protestors trying to prevent the construction of the Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield Road.
On 29 February Constable Michael Low was shot and killed attending a domestic dispute at North Rockhampton, Central Queensland. Constable Derek Pickless would be awarded the George Medal.
On 22 June Queensland motorcycle police establish the Guinness Book of Records world record for the number of riders on a motorcycle, when 35 police officers balance on a motorbike at Surfers Paradise Raceway.
1985
The Queensland police computer links to the Main Roads Department and the New South Wales police computer to increase access to information such as national stolen vehicles files.
Adopt-a-Cop Programme was introduced at Northgate State School, with Constable Michael Volk from Nundah Police Station eager to attend the school during lunch times to provide advice on road safety, bike safety and stranger danger.
Long batons were purchased for use by members of Brisbane Mobile Patrols and the Brisbane Traffic Branch.
1986
Queensland Police were officially linked to a central Finger-print Bureau in Sydney, which gives computer access to millions of prints throughout Australia and overseas.
The Department operates 1,092 vehicles.
There were 309 computer terminals in 121 locations. Training in computers was offered to cadets and probationaries at the Police Academy.
1987
Under Police Commissioner Lewis the advancement of women was curtailed in most areas. The number of female sworn officers drops from over 8 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Transport, Radio and Electronics Sections, Brisbane Mobile Patrols, and Traffic Accident Investigation Squad (TAIS) relocate to Alderley from the Petrie Terrace Police Depot.
On 15 July, the Driver Training Wing is moved from Queensland Police Academy at Oxley, to the Mount Cotton driver training complex (until late 2010).
On 27 July the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct ('Fitzgerald Inquiry') opens. It was a much needed, but painful organisational reform for the Queensland Police. Over the two years of the inquiry there were 238 hearings and 339 witnesses were called to give evidence.
On 29 July Senior Constable Peter Grahame John Kidd was shot and killed in a raid at Virginia, in north Brisbane. The raid was to recapture an extremely dangerous escapee from Long Bay Jail who had subsequently committed several armed robberies. Kidd was the first member of the Tactical Response Team to enter the house. Having been shot through a closed door, Kidd continued to push through the door and returned fire. He then collapsed and died in hospital. Hundreds of police marched in Kidd's funeral procession held on 31 July. He was posthumously awarded the Queensland Police Valour Medal and the Star of Courage.
On 21 September Ronald James Redmond becomes the Acting Police Commissioner.
1988
The Neighbourhood Watch Unit commences operation on 22 February after a successful pilot program conducted on the Gold Coast. The program aims to reduce preventable offences, improve personal and household security, reduce fear of crime, and provide support for victims of crime.
1989
Crime Stoppers was established. Its role is to gather information from the community that will lead to offenders being caught and prosecuted.
The first official video recording of a crime scene was conducted by the Photographic Section.
On 29 June Constable Brett Handran was shot and killed attending a domestic dispute in Wynnum, in east Brisbane.
Noel Newnham becomes sixteenth Police Commissioner on 1 November 1989.
1990s
1990
Fitzgerald Inquiry recommendations augment the change from the Queensland Police Force to Queensland Police Service. A new badge was designed and the motto "With Honour We Serve" was approved.
The first five female inspectors were appointed.
In May the Task Force was created in response to Fitzgerald Report recommendations. Its role was to support all regional commands through intelligence and coordination of crime operations.
COMFIT, the electronic composition of faces from witness descriptions was developed by the Photographic Section.
The first custom-built state police headquarters was constructed on the block bounded by Makerston, Roma and Garrick Streets.
The Fingerprint Bureau, Photographic and Scientific Sections move to the 4th floor of the new headquarters building under the umbrella of the Forensic Services Branch.
In September the new Police Communications Centre (PCC) benefits from a two-million-dollar ESCORT computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system that feeds instant information to mobile vehicles and foot patrols. The system was introduced which promises to improve the information available to, and increase the efficiency of, despatching police vehicles to incidents.
The Queensland Police Service Valour Award was introduced to recognise police officers who perform acts of exceptional bravery in hazardous circumstances. First awarded in 1990 to Constables Kyle Bates, Edward Bennet, Neil Paulsen and Senior Constable Brendan Carew for a sea rescue.
The Commissioner's Lantern Award was initiated to recognise and promote community-based policing. The inaugural 1991 winner was the Youth Assistance Panel project based in Townsville, joint initiative targeting petty juvenile offenders to provide a last chance before invoking the court system.
1991
The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act reinforces merit-based criteria in employment and the number of female recruits stabilises around thirty-three per cent.
The Bureau of Criminal Intelligence develops and puts into operation the Queensland Intelligence Database with the ability to link nine different data categories.
The Police Overseas Service Medal was established on 25 April to acknowledge the overseas peace-keeping role of police officers. The medal was awarded with a clasp which details the area of service.
1992
The first female chief superintendent and superintendent were appointed.
Equal opportunity legislation in Public Employment Act gives legislative support to initiatives to improve the position of women. These include flexible work options, anti-harassment strategies and mentor support.
The Scientific Section relocates to the Roma Street Police Headquarters with more than 30 staff, many of whom specialise in a very select field of forensic identification.
Electronic Recording Section becomes part of Forensic Services Branch.
The first Police Beat Shopfront was trialled at Rockhampton's Kmart Plaza and becomes a permanent establishment in August. This initiative was designed to provide an effective policing presence in shopping centres and to improve communication with the community.
The Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) was established to respond to emergency situations and to provide operational police with specialist support. It was previously known as the Emergency Squad, and the Tactical Response Group.
An Executive Development Program commences to provide skills in strategic planning, policy development, resource management, and command and control to officers moving to commissioned rank.
James Patrick O'Sullivan becomes the seventeenth Police Commissioner on 1 November 1992.
1993
The offender identification computer system called Com-Fit was developed.
The Task Force becomes the State Crime Operations Command with a primary function to generate intelligence about organised and major crime; and to support regional police during major criminal investigations.
1994
The Public Safety Response Team was established as a full-time unit with a staff of forty-five.
On 24 October twelve passengers die on a Wide Bay Tours bus, when the bus crashes on the Gateway Motorway, Boondall, Brisbane. Police, ambulance, fire and emergency service workers, work together to assist the injured after the incident.
The Police Recruit Operational and Vocational Education (PROVE) program was introduced to allow recruit curricula to be run on a wholly in-Service basis.
Between 1994 and 1996 the Academy was renamed as the Queensland Police and Emergency Services Academy in acknowledgement of the continuing training initiative between the Queensland Police and Queensland Emergency Services.
In May, a new $3.3 million police complex, consisting of police station and watchhouse, was officially opened on Mornington Island. It was one of only four cyclone resistant buildings on the island and could be used as a cyclone shelter if required.
1995
In response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the concept of police liaison officers (PLOs) was initiated on Thursday Island and later trialled in Townsville.
1996
On 21 May Constable Shayne Gill was struck and killed by a motor vehicle while on radar duty on the Bruce Highway near Glasshouse Mountains. A police vessel was subsequently named after Gill.
A second Academy campus, the North Queensland Campus of the Queensland Police Academy was established at Rowes Bay, Townsville to encourage recruitment in central and northern Queensland. The $3.5M facility opened for recruit training on 14 October, and 'Because of the number of staff, the 40 recruits will get plenty of attention, especially in the areas of law, police skills, communication, behavioural studies, sociology, autonomous learning and decision making'. The second campus in part was intended to assist recruiting numbers in north Queensland.
1997
The Violent Crime Analysis Unit was established to analyse victimology, modus operandi, offender information, forensic data and behavioural patterns.
The Volunteers in Policing (VIP) trial program was initiated in September. VIP duties at police stations include victim support, witness support, customer service, school support and community liaison.
1998
Bicycles patrols were re-introduced to Brisbane after a successful trial.
The Interactive Crime Scene Recording System was developed by the Photographic Section.
The laser speed gun was introduced; it uses LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging).
A range of new equipment was introduced which includes extendable batons, hinged handcuffs and Glock firearms.
1999
Women make up 17.36 per cent of officer personnel. The number of female police officers increases steadily by approximately one per cent per year.
The Queensland Police Service Medal was introduced on 1 January, to recognise the diligent and ethical service by members of the Queensland Police Service.
The Queensland Government transfers the community police function from community councils at Woorabinda, Yarrabah and on Badu Island, to the Queensland Police as a 12-month pilot. These officers were known as Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Police (QATSIP).
2000s
2000
Kathleen Rynders was the first policewoman to achieve the rank of assistant commissioner and in 2008 becomes the first woman to rise to the rank of deputy commissioner.
All manual fingerprints filing systems were replaced by the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System allowing all states to share fingerprint information.
The DNA Implementation Unit was established to facilitate the introduction of new legislation allowing the QPS to use DNA as a forensic investigative tool.
The Crime Prevention Personal Safety Team develops a larger than life wooden figure named "Duncan" to assist in teaching children to pay attention to their gut feelings when they feel in danger.
On 21 July 2000 Senior Constable Norman Watt, 33, was shot and killed during an armed stand-off near Rockhampton in Central Queensland.
Robert 'Bob' Atkinson becomes the eighteenth Police Commissioner on 1 November 2000.
2002
In March 2002 coordination and security for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was managed by the Queensland Police Service. More than 4,000 police and staff members take part in the security operation, the largest security operation ever staged by the Queensland Police.
A dedicated cold case team was established within the Homicide Investigation Group.
2003
Constable Mokhtiar Singh creates history as the first identifying-Sikh to be inducted as a Queensland police officer. His uniform includes an adaptation of the traditional Indian turban in recognition of his cultural heritage and religious beliefs.
Thirteen Queensland Disaster Victim Identification Squad officers were deployed to Bali, as part of an Australian contingent, to assist the Indonesian Government following the terrorist attack.
The Queensland Police Service Academy delivers a Justice Entry Program targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
On 22 August 2003 Senior Sergeant Perry Irwin, 42, was shot while investigating reports of gunfire in bushland at Caboolture, north of Brisbane.
2004
Queensland police begins the sharing and searching of DNA samples from people and crime scenes at a national level on the newly operating National Criminal Investigative DNA Database (NCIDD).
2005
In February the Service opens a Police Dog Development Complex, hoping that their own dog breeding facility will overcome a general lack of trainable dogs.
Bright red, two-door Holden Monaro highway patrol cars were introduced.
As at 30 June there were 9310 police officers and 3153 staff members.
The "Forensic Register" was fully deployed for remote data entry to provide a "paperless" case file solution at a scene of crime. All forensic film based cameras were replaced with digital SLR cameras to record crime scenes.
Three new Queensland police awards were established: the Commissioner's Commendation for Bravery, Commissioner's Certificate for Notable Action and Commissioner's Award for Meritorious or Special Service.
The Commissioner's Commendation for Bravery was first awarded to Senior Sergeant Mathew Rosevear, Sergeants Robert Duncan and Richard Downie; Constables Glen Lamont, Kim Adamson and John Lima.
The eligibility criteria for the Police Overseas Service Medal originally established in 1999, were amended to enable recognition of humanitarian service provided in response to national disasters overseas. First awarded to senior sergeants Kenneth Rach and Scott McLaren for their disaster victim identification work after the Thailand tsunami in 2014.
Queensland police, Cardwell Lions Club and Cardwell Coast Guard go into partnership to provide free EPIRBs to departing bush walkers on the Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island and Herbert River Gorge walk. The project aims to help rescuers find lost or injured hikers more quickly.
On 18 July 2007, Constable Brett Irwin, 33, was shot and killed while executing an arrest warrant for breach of bail at Keperra, in northwest Brisbane.
2006
QPRIME (Queensland Police Records Information Management Exchange) a major new policing information system was launched. The system is used to record and manage all reportable police incidents. It allows easier access to information, less time is spent searching for information in different systems and reduces manual and paper-based processes.
The Live-scan fingerprint scanning system was successfully rolled out across the State. These units were connected to the Crimtrac National Automated Fingerprint Identification System in Canberra.
2007
The Photographic Section goes digital and acquires a digital mini-lab which means that photos taken at any Queensland crime scene were processed and printed almost immediately.
2008
Operation Achilles concludes after more than two years of investigation resulting in the simultaneous execution of warrants across the world and the arrests of child sex offenders in Australia, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The publication of district-based Neighbourhood Watch Crime Bulletins was launched in Cairns in October. Crime bulletins provided information to the community to assist in clearing offences, and to provide details about crime prevention initiatives.
2009
The eligibility criterion of the Queensland Police Service Medal was changed and was made available to living former members who served prior to the introduction of the medal in 1999.
Newly designed patches and epaulettes were introduced. Epaulettes for the ranks of senior sergeant and below, now incorporate the words "Queensland Police".
2010s
2010
Policelink was established to provide an alternative point of contact for reporting non-urgent offences or incidents and for general police inquiries. A new national non-urgent police number was introduced.
The National Police Service Medal was established on 9 November and recognises the special status that police officers have because of their role protecting the community and represents a police officer's past and future commitment to give ethical and diligent service. A minimum of 15 years service is required to qualify for the medal.
Communications Room Operator Andrew Heinrich took a call at the Ipswich Police Communications Centre around 9pm on 25 September and remains calm and in control as he gives the mother CPR instructions to resuscitate her unconscious baby girl.
The Fortitude Valley police station redevelopment project comprises two stages, the construction of a two-level "operational" building and the refurbished of the existing 1936 building.
Driver training moves from the Mount Cotton driver training complex (which commenced use in 1983) to a new purpose-built track at the Wacol campus of the Queensland Police Service Academy. The new area included of road circuits; a technically challenging urban simulation environment including traffic lights, roundabouts and building facades; a dedicated off-road skills circuit for both four-wheel-drive and trail-bike training; and two sealed surface, large vehicle manoeuvring areas, including controlled irrigation.
2011
Eight years after thirteen year old Daniel Morcombe was abducted from a Sunshine Coast road, an extensive police investigation locates and charges his killer with murder.
The use of automatic number plate recognition technology was launched statewide. The initial launch consisted of one unit being located at the State Traffic Support Branch for use in statewide traffic operations involving both specialist and local police.
The floods of 2011 initiate the first use of Facebook and Twitter by the QPS Media and Public Affairs Branch to forge a direct link with the community by using social media to issue accurate information and dispel rumours.
Unprecedented floods affects much of Queensland and police were involved in all manner of support, including victim identification, missing persons coordination, anti-looting patrol and countless rescues in all manner of vehicles and vessels.
On 29 May 2011 Detective Senior Constable Damien Leeding (CIB) was shot when he confronted an armed offender at the Pacific Pines Tavern on the Gold Coast. Leeding died in hospital on 1 June three days after being shot.
2012
The introduction and implementation of the ANPR project delivers significant improvement and efficiencies in frontline traffic operations.
The new "Police Recruit Pathway" selects applicants based on physical health and fitness, personal integrity, cognitive ability and literacy, psychological suitability, life and work experience and practical policing skills.
Ian Duncan Hunter Stewart becomes the nineteenth Police Commissioner on 1 November 2012.
2013
A new recruit program commences in January that increasingly expects recruits to perform realistic policing roles.
On 3 March an armed gunman brings business in the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane to a halt. The situation was brought under control by the swift action of operational police and the Special Emergency Response Team.
The Fatal 5 campaign on Holden HSV motor cars, was launched which adds "inattention" to "speed", "seat belts", "drink driving" and "driving tired" as the main causes of traffic incidents. The campaign was designed to catch the attention of road users and prompt them to be more careful on the roads.
Under the Queensland Police Renewal Program the newly named State Crime Command includes the Child Safety and Sexual Crime Group, Drug and Serious Crime Group, Fraud and Cyber Crime Group and the Homicide Group.
The strength of the Queensland Police Service at 30 June was 11,055 police officers, 371 police recruits and 3705 staff members.
On 1 July, a new structure was approved and which means the reduction of regions from eight to five and districts from thirty to fifteen.
Women make up more than twenty-five per cent of police officer personnel and serve in many varied roles across the State.
The most northerly police station was on Thursday Island, the most southerly police station was at Hungerford, the most westerly station was at Camooweal and the most easterly police station was at Coolangatta.
On 1 July the Forensic Services Group forms as a result of the QPS review. It consisted of more than 550 staff and encompasses all district scenes of crime units, the Fingerprint Bureau, the Forensic Intelligence Unit, and the DNA management, Photographic and Electronic Recording and Scientific sections. The FSG processes in excess 150,000 requests for service and positively identifies or links several thousand suspects to their crime each year.
The mobile data pilot for smartphones and tablets, dubbed QLiTEs, was rolled in October as part of the move to provide the technology required by police to keep the community safe.
At the Queensland Police Excellence Awards, Southern Region wins the Gold Lantern Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented and Partnership for their "Stay on Track Outback" initiative which aims to enhance road safety on the rural and remote highways of outback Queensland.
New uniform material was approved which is lighter in weight and more breathable. The cloth is treated with a flash dry and incorporates a percentage of stretch for comfort and ease.
Following the Police and Community Safety Review (PaCSR) report delivered September 2013, commissioned by the Newman Ministry of the Queensland Government, the Public Safety Business Agency (PSBA) was created on 1 November 2013 to bring together the corporate and business support resources of Queensland Police Service and the Department of Corrective Services, to service the whole portfolio. This involved human relations, information technology, finance and other administrative areas being subsumed by the new agency.
There were more than 450 police establishments spread across the State.
2014
The department celebrated their 150th anniversary. A unit citation was awarded to all employees.
2016
Following a review, the Public Safety Business Agency (PSBA) was restructured in July 2016, which also resulted in some restructure of the Queensland Police Service.
2017
On 29 May 2017, Senior Constable Brett Forte was shot and killed at Adare, north of Gatton, after attempting to apprehend a suspected offender. The gunman was shot and killed the next day by police while trying to escape after a siege in a farmhouse at Ringwood, north-west of Gatton. On 8 June 2018, the police helicopter POLAIR 2 was named Brett A. Forte in his honour. POLAIR 2 had provided air support during the siege.
2019
Katarina Carroll becomes the twentieth Police Commissioner in July 2019.
2020s
2020
In February 2020 a new organisational restructure (since the November 2013 and July 2016 restructures) was announced as the 'Service Alignment Program', including designating a deputy commissioner for north Queensland, and the dividing of the Northern Region into two. The program was 'to better align resources based on capability and service delivery', and to continue 'to move towards a policing model that is focussed on prevention, disruption, investigation and response'.
From March 2020, employees of the organisation were heavily involved in supporting Queensland Health in a response to containing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic within Queensland, on the state borders, airports, and checking persons self-quarantining.
The $52.8 million Bob Atkinson Operational Capabilities Centre (BAOCC) at the developing Wacol campus of the Queensland Police Service Academy opened on 28 September 2020. The facility included two indoor firearms ranges as well as a Hogan's Alley of a train station platform, houses, pub, post office, fast food outlet, shopping mall, a multi-storey office and retail building, service station, police station, bus stop, mobile caravan village, and open parkland.
2021
Following the death of a couple at Alexandra Hills Brisbane on 26 January 2021 involving a 17-year-old male alleged to be on drugs and on bail, youth using a stolen vehicle trying to ram police vehicle in Townsville on 30 January 2021, and the death of a motorcycle rider by persons pursuing a stolen vehicle on 5 February 2021, the Commissioner in days after announced the creation of a new 'Youth Crime Taskforce' headed by an assistant commissioner.
References
Attribution
This article contains material from:
Policing Queensland Timeline 1864 - 2014, State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service) 2018, released under CC-BY-4.0 licence, accessed on 4 November 2018.
FROM the VAULT – Single officer stations, State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service) 2019, released under CC-BY-4.0 licence, accessed on 5 June 2019.
FROM the VAULT – Police Station Identification – A Sign of the Times, State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service) 2019, released under CC-BY-4.0 licence, accessed on 25 July 2019.
Sunday Lecture Series – Sunday 25 August – Police Prosecutions, State of Queensland (Queensland Police Service) 2019, released under CC-BY-4.0 licence, accessed on 21 August 2019.
History of Queensland
History of law enforcement
Queensland Police Service |
279693 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type%20signature | Type signature | In computer science, a type signature or type annotation defines the inputs and outputs for a function, subroutine or method. A type signature includes the number, types and order of the arguments contained by a function. A type signature is typically used during overload resolution for choosing the correct definition of a function to be called among many overloaded forms.
Examples
C/C++
In C and C++, the type signature is declared by what is commonly known as a function prototype. In C/C++, a function declaration reflects its use; for example, a function pointer with the signature would be called as:
char c;
double d;
int retVal = (*fPtr)(c, d);
Erlang
In Erlang, type signatures may be optionally declared, as:
-spec(function_name(type1(), type2(), ...) -> out_type()).
For example:
-spec(is_even(number()) -> boolean()).}}
Haskell
A type signature in Haskell generally takes the following form:
functionName :: arg1Type -> arg2Type -> ... -> argNType
Notice that the type of the result can be regarded as everything past the first supplied argument. This is a consequence of currying, which is made possible by Haskell's support for first-class functions; this function requires two inputs where one argument supplied and the function is "curried" to produce a function for the argument not supplied. Thus calling , where , yields a new function that can be called to produce .
The actual type specifications can consist of an actual type, such as , or a general type variable that is used in parametric polymorphic functions, such as , or , or . So we can write something like:
Since Haskell supports higher-order functions, functions can be passed as arguments. This is written as:
This function takes in a function with type signature and returns data of type out.
Java
In the Java virtual machine, internal type signatures are used to identify methods and classes at the level of the virtual machine code.
Example: The method is represented in bytecode as .
The signature of the method looks like this:
public static void main(String[] args);
And in the disassembled bytecode, it takes the form of
The method signature for the method contains three modifiers:
indicates that the method can be called by any object.
indicates that the method is a class method.
indicates that the method has no return value.
Signature
A function signature consists of the function prototype. It specifies the general information about a function like the name, scope and parameters. Many programming languages use name mangling in order to pass along more semantic information from the compilers to the linkers. In addition to mangling, there is an excess of information in a function signature (stored internally to most compilers) which is not readily available, but may be accessed.
Understanding the notion of a function signature is an important concept for all computer science studies.
Modern object orientation techniques make use of interfaces, which are essentially templates made from function signatures.
C++ uses function overloading with various signatures.
The practice of multiple inheritance requires consideration of the function signatures to avoid unpredictable results.
Computer science theory, and the concept of polymorphism in particular, make much use of the concept of function signature.
In the C programming language signature is roughly equivalent to its prototype definition.
The term "signature" may carry other meanings in computer science:
File signatures can identify or verify the content of a file.
Database signatures can identify or verify the schema or a version of a database.
In the ML family of programming languages, "signature" is used as a keyword referring to a construct of the module system that plays the role of an interface.
Method signature
In computer programming, especially object-oriented programming, a method is commonly identified by its unique method signature, which usually includes the method name, and the number, types and order of its parameters. A method signature is the smallest type of a method.
Examples
C/C++
In C/C++, the method signature is the method name and the number and type of its parameters, but it is possible to have a last parameter that consists of an array of values:
int printf(const char*, ... );
Manipulation of these parameters can be done by using the routines in the standard library header .
C#
Similar to the syntax of C, method signatures in C# are composed of a name and the number and type of its parameters, where the last parameter may be an array of values:
void Add(out int sum, params int[] value);
[...]
Add(out sum, 3, 5, 7, 11, -1); // sum == 25
Java
In Java, a method signature is composed of a name and the number, type and order of its parameters. Return types and thrown exceptions are not considered to be a part of the method signature, nor are the names of parameters; they are ignored by the compiler for checking method uniqueness.
The method signatures help distinguish overloaded methods (methods with the same name) in a class. Return types are not included in overloading. Only method signatures should be used to distinguish overloaded methods.
For example, the following two methods have different signatures:
void doSomething(String[] x); // doSomething(String[])
void doSomething(String x); // doSomething(String)
The following two methods all have the same signatures:
int doSomething(int x); // doSomething(int)
void doSomething(int y) throws Exception; // doSomething(int)
Julia
In Julia, function signatures take the following form:
commission(sale::Int, rate::Float64)::Float64
The types in the arguments are used for the multiple dispatch. The return type is validated when the function returns a value, and a runtime exception is raised if the type of the value does not agree with the specified type.
Abstract types are allowed and is encouraged for implementing general behavior that is common to all subtypes. The above function can therefore be rewritten as follows. In this case, the function can accept any Integer and Real subtypes accordingly.
commission(sale::Integer, rate::Real)::Real
Types are completely optional in function arguments. When unspecified, it is equivalent to using the type Any, which is the super-type of all types. It is idiomatic to specify argument types but not return type.
Objective-C
In the Objective-C programming language, method signatures for an object are declared in the interface header file. For example,
- (id)initWithInt:(int)value;
defines a method that returns a general object (an ) and takes one integer argument. Objective-C only requires a type in a signature to be explicit when the type is not ; this signature is equivalent:
- initWithInt:(int)value;
Rust
In Rust, function signatures take the following form:
fn commission(sale: u32, rate: f64) -> f64;
See also
References
Type theory
Subroutines |
39658252 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute%20Home%20%26%20Office | Absolute Home & Office | Absolute Home & Office (originally known as CompuTrace, and LoJack for Laptops) is a proprietary laptop theft recovery software (laptop tracking software). The persistent security features are built into the firmware of devices. Absolute Home & Office has services of an investigations and recovery team who partners with law enforcement agencies to return laptops to their owners. Absolute Software licensed the name LoJack from the vehicle recovery service LoJack in 2005.
Analysis of Absolute Home & Office (LoJack) by Kaspersky Lab shows that in rare cases, the software was preactivated without user authorization. The software agent behaves like a rootkit, reinstalling a small installer agent into the Windows OS at boot time. This installer later downloads the full agent from Absolute's servers via the internet. This installer is vulnerable to certain local attacks, and attacks from hackers who can control network communications of the victim.
Functionality
Once installed, the Absolute Home & Office agent activates "absolute persistence" by making an initial call to the "Monitoring Center". The software may be updated by modules, downloaded from a command server. Subsequent contact occurs daily, checking to ensure the agent remains installed and provides detailed data such as location, user, software, and hardware.
If the device is stolen the owner first contacts the police to file a report, then contacts Absolute. The next time the protected device connects to the internet it silently switches to theft mode and accelerates Monitoring Center communication. The Investigations and Recovery team forensically mines the computer using key captures, registry and file scanning, geolocation, and other investigative techniques. The team works with local law enforcement to recover the protected device, and provides police with evidence to pursue criminal charges. In the event of theft, a user can log into their online account to remotely lock the computer or delete sensitive files to avoid identity theft.
Absolute Home & Office comes preinstalled in some Acer, Asus, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Toshiba, Dell, HP and Lenovo machines. Apple, unlike some other PC manufacturers, does not allow the software to be installed in the BIOS. Absolute Home & Office can be installed on Apple computers, but it will be stored on the hard drive instead of the BIOS. If the hard drive is replaced or reformatted, the Absolute Home & Office software will be lost.
The BIOS service is disabled by default and can be enabled by purchasing a license for Absolute Home & Office; upon being enabled, the BIOS will copy a downloader agent named rpcnetp.exe from the BIOS flash ROM to the System32 folder on Windows systems. On some Toshiba laptops, rpcnetp.exe is factory-preinstalled by Toshiba on the unit's hard drive. In turn, rpcnetp.exe will download the full agent software and install the rpcnet.exe windows service. From then on, rpcnet.exe will phone home to Absolute Software servers once a day, querying for a possible theft report, and transmitting the results of a system scan, IP address, user- and machine names and location data, which it obtains either by tapping the GPS data stream on machines equipped with GPS hardware, or by triangulating available WLAN access points in the vicinity, by providing WLAN IDs and signal strengths so Absolute Software servers can geolocate the device using the Mexens Technology data base. If Absolute receives a theft report, the service can be remotely commanded to phone home every 15 minutes, install additional 3rd vendor software, such as a key logger or a forensic package, make screenshots, etc.
Absolute Home & Office also supports Intel's AT-p anti theft protection scheme: If it is unable to phone home within a configurable time interval it will require a special BIOS password upon the next reboot. It can be configured to shut down the machine's power supply immediately in this case, to force a reboot.
Absolute Persistence Technology
The persistence module, installed as part of system BIOS/UEFI, detects when the Absolute Home & Office software has been removed. It ensures the software is automatically reinstalled even if the hard drive is replaced, or the firmware is flashed. Absolute Software partners with many original equipment manufacturers to embed this technology in the firmware of computers, netbooks, smartphones, and tablets by Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Motion, Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba.
Vulnerabilities
The Absolute Home & Office client has trojan and rootkit-like behaviour, but some of its modules have been whitelisted by several antivirus vendors. Earlier it was detected as TR/Hijack.Explor.1245 or W32/Agent.SW!tr.
At the Black Hat Briefings conference in 2009, researchers showed that the implementation of the Computrace/LoJack agent embedded in the BIOS has vulnerabilities and that this "available control of the anti-theft agent allows a highly dangerous form of BIOS-enhanced rootkit that can bypass all chipset or installation restrictions and reutilize many existing features offered in this kind of software." Absolute Software rejected the claims made in the research, stating that "the presence of the Computrace module in no way weakens the security of the BIOS". Another independent analyst confirmed the flaws, noted that a malware hijacking attack would be a "highly exotic one", and suggested that the larger concern was that savvy thieves could disable the phone home feature. Later, Core Security Technologies proved the researcher's finding by making publicly available several proofs of concept, videos, and utilities on its webpage.
Local and remote exploitation of first-stage CompuTrace agent, which is used to install the full version after activation or reinstallation of the operating system, was demonstrated at BlackHat USA 2014. This dropper agent is whitelisted by several antivirus vendors and can be used to set up some local attacks, for example to download and install software from different servers. ESET discovered a first attack in the wild with a rootkit called LoJax that infected vulnerable LoJack configurations.
References
External links
11 Security Resolutions for 2013 / PCWorld
How to Protect Your Laptop / PCWorld
Recover a Stolen Laptop with Anti-Theft Software / About.com
New last-minute gifts for business travelers / USA Today
CompuTrace at ThinkWiki
Millions of PCs Affected by Mysterious Computrace Backdoor / Threatpost, 2014-08-11
Laptops
Security software
Emergency management software |
50997289 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System%20Shock%20%282022%20video%20game%29 | System Shock (2022 video game) | System Shock is an upcoming action-adventure game developed by Nightdive Studios and published by Koch Media's publishing division Prime Matter. It is a remake of the 1994 video game of the same name, originally developed by Looking Glass Studios. The game is planned to have a simultaneous release on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2022.
Development
The original System Shock, released in 1994, was developed by Looking Glass Studios, which closed in 2000. The company assets, including the rights to System Shock, were acquired by Star Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Meadowbrook Insurance Group. In 2012, Nightdive Studios acquired the rights for System Shock 2 and produced a digitally distributable version updated for modern operating systems. Night Dive Studios subsequently went on to acquire the rights for System Shock and the franchise as a whole.
Two months after the release of System Shock: Enhanced Edition in September 2015, Night Dive Studios announced plans to develop a remake of System Shock for Windows and Xbox One using the Unity engine. Originally announced as System Shock Remastered, Night Dive Studios has opted to simply name the new game System Shock, because they consider the level of effort put into the title makes it more of a reboot of the franchise rather than a remastering of the original game. Veteran designer Chris Avellone and members of the Fallout: New Vegas development team have confirmed their involvement.
Night Dive Studios planned to fund the development of the game through a Kickstarter campaign that started on June 28, 2016, with a goal of . Alongside the Kickstarter campaign, the studio released a free demo featuring an early build of the first level of the game, exhibiting their efforts so far on the project and intended to "demonstrate [their] commitment and passion" to faithfully rebooting the game. The Kickstarter goal was met on July 9, 2016 with 19 days left in its campaign, and closed on July 28, 2016 with more than $1.35M in funding from about 21,600 backers. The additional funding was to be used towards macOS and Linux versions of the game, expanded areas, and support for the Razer Chroma. With the successful Kickstarter, Night Dive Studios anticipated a December 2017 release for the game.
During the Kickstarter period, Night Dive Studios saw that there was a considerable demand for a PlayStation 4 version of the title. They subsequently talked with Sony and were able to affirm that a PlayStation 4 version would be possible. The studio planned to release this version in early 2018. The addition of the PlayStation 4 port did not impact the Kickstarter funding request, as the studio believed it could complete this with the $900,000 sought. After breaking the mark on Kickstarter, ports for macOS and Linux were confirmed.
During the 2017 Game Developers Conference, Night Dive Studios announced they would move development from Unity to Unreal Engine 4, with director Jason Fader said "Unity is not a great engine to use if you want to make an FPS on console". Fader cited issues related to a combination of fidelity, cross-platform support, content pipelines and performance issues as the reason for the switch. Fader also clarified that they now considered the game a more "faithful reboot" than a remaster; the game's story, character, weapons, levels, and enemies remained as in the original game, but they were applying "modern design principles" to rework some of these and add in others to make the game more playable for current audiences. Fader offered one example in level design, calling the original System Shocks maps a "product of the time" which did not age well; while somewhat fixed to the level's layout, the team was able to open up some areas and remove unnecessary mazes to make the game more interesting for players. Fader offered that while the story remains beat-for-beat, the team had added Chris Avellone to change some of the dialog and to fix some of the plot holes from the original game.
In mid-February 2018, Night Dive announced that development of System Shock was put on hold. CEO Stephen Kick stated "I have put the team on a hiatus while we reassess our path so that we can return to our vision. We are taking a break, but not ending the project. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled." Kick explained that as the project had shifted from a remake to a reboot, they "strayed" from the core concepts of the original game, and found they needed a larger budget. Night Dive's director of business development Larry Kuperman said they had approached publishing partners to fund the expanded effort, but could not obtain this additional support. Kick opted to put the project on hold, reassigning the team to other projects in the interim. Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in March 2018, Kick and Kuperman explained that because of the feature creep, a newly assembled team had restarted the game's development, staying focused on the promises of what they would deliver during the Kickstarter, and that they were now looking towards a 2020 release. The refocusing of the game also helped them to engage with interested publishing partners who were more amenable to supporting them.
In May 2020, Nightdive released an alpha demo of the game via GOG and Steam, along with a developer's walkthrough and commentary to accompany the release. The demo featured a new build of the game from that of previously released demos; however, it still featured voiceover audio which Nightdive had yet to re-record, due delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following Chinese developer Tencent's acquisition of the rights to System Shock 3 from OtherSide Entertainment, Nightdive also clarified that Tencent had only acquired the rights to make sequels in the series; therefore not impacting the status of the remake.
In June 2020, when asked if Chris Avellone was still involved with the game after sexual misconduct allegations arose previously, CEO Stephen Kick revealed that Avellone hadn't been involved with the game since 2017 and that Nightdive had gone in a different direction with the game's writing after restarting development of the game in 2018.
With the release of an extended gameplay demo in July 2021, Nightdive stated that the game's release was now planned for later in 2021. By late 2021, Nightdive announced that the game's release was pushed back into 2022, but they had partnered with Koch Media's Prime Matter publishing group for the game's release.
References
External links
Upcoming video games scheduled for 2022
Adventure games
Crowdfunded video games
Cyberpunk video games
Kickstarter-funded video games
PlayStation 4 games
Single-player video games
System Shock
Video game remakes
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in the 2070s
Video games about virtual reality
Windows games
Linux games
MacOS games
Xbox One games
Unreal Engine games
Immersive sims |
4832729 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedeaux%20Field | Dedeaux Field | Dedeaux Field is a college baseball stadium in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on the west end of the campus of the University of Southern California. The home field of the USC Trojans of the Pac-12 Conference, it has a seating capacity of 2,500.
It opened in 1974, the year USC won its record fifth consecutive College World Series title, the sixth in seven years. It is named after longtime head coach Rod Dedeaux (1914–2006), who led the Trojans from 1942 until his retirement at age 72 in June 1986. The elevation of the playing field is about above sea level.
The previous venue was Bovard Field, which was about to the southeast. Bovard's home plate was located in today's E.F. Hutton Park and a large eucalyptus tree guarded the right field line.
Tournaments hosted
NCAA Regional Tournaments (7): 1974, 1975, 1978, 1991, 1999, 2001, 2002
NCAA Super Regional Series (1): 2001
PAC-8 Playoffs (2): 1974, 1977
PAC-10 Playoffs (2): 1995, 1996
USC record at Dedeaux Field (2004–2009)
2028 Summer Olympics
During the 2028 Summer Olympics, Dedeaux Field will be modified into a temporary aquatics venue which will host swimming, synchronized swimming and diving.
Gallery
See also
List of NCAA Division I baseball venues
References
External links
College baseball venues in the United States
USC Trojans baseball venues
Sports venues completed in 1974
Baseball venues in Los Angeles
Venues of the 2028 Summer Olympics
Olympic swimming venues
Olympic diving venues
Olympic synchronized swimming venues |
9103833 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webroot | Webroot | Webroot Inc. is an American privately-held cybersecurity software company that provides Internet security for consumers and businesses. The company was founded in Boulder, Colorado, US and is now headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, and has US operations in San Mateo and San Diego, and globally in Australia, Austria, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom.
History
Webroot was founded on 5 July 1997 when Steven Thomas and his girlfriend Boulderite Kristen Tally launched Webroot's first commercial product, a trace removal agent called Webroot Window Washer. Investors include venture capital firms such as Technology Crossover Ventures, Accel Partners and Mayfield.
In 2002, Webroot launched a spyware blocking and removal product called Webroot Spy Sweeper. The company introduced antivirus protection with the launch of Spy Sweeper with AntiVirus in 2006. In October 2007, Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware and Desktop Firewall was released with added firewall protection feature.
Webroot entered the enterprise market in 2004 with the launch of Webroot Spy Sweeper Enterprise, which combined Spy Sweeper with technology that enables IT administrators to deploy antispyware protection across an entire network.
In October 2008, Webroot launched its first consumer security suite, Webroot Internet Security Essentials, in the United States. The international release of the security suite followed in early 2009.
In August 2009, Webroot appointed a new president and CEO, former CEO of Wily Technology.
In May 2010 Webroot announced plans to open its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. In July 2010 Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was released, including antivirus and antispyware protection, firewall capabilities, online back-up, password management licensed from LastPass, protection against identity theft and credit card monitoring for US customers.
In September 2010 Webroot opened a regional office in Leidschendam, The Netherlands which is primarily aimed at distributing Webroot's enterprise security-as-a-service (SaaS) products to businesses.
Webroot Mobile Security for Android was launched on April 5, 2011 for smartphones and tablets, with a free basic version and a paid premium version. The app is designed to protect against viruses from apps, threats delivered via web browsing and against the threats created when mobile devices are lost. The SecureAnywhere products launched on October 4, 2011, and the mobile security offerings were expanded to include the iOS mobile operating system.
In October 2011 Webroot launched a new generation of their products, using Prevx cloud technology. This included three basic products for Windows (SecureAnywhere AntiVirus, Essentials and Complete 2012) and security for Android and iOS mobile devices. In February 2012 products for businesses were added.
In July 2014 Webroot announced its BrightCloud Security Services, a new portfolio of services for enterprise-class businesses, including integration for Next-Generation Firewalls and SIEMs.
In September 2017, Webroot appointed a new president and CEO, former CEO of Lancope Mike Potts.
On February 7, 2019 Carbonite, Inc. announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Webroot. On March 26, 2019, Carbonite closed its acquisition of Webroot, with a purchase price of $618.5 million in cash.
Acquisitions and partnerships
In November 2007, Webroot acquired UK-based Email Systems (EMS) and announced itself as a provider in the security software-as-a-service (SaaS) market.
In December 2009, Webroot announced a partnership with virtual private network software provider AnchorFree. A version without advertisements of AnchorFree's VPN software with protection via Webroot's antivirus and antispyware software was produced.
In March 2010, Webroot announced the acquisition of Swedish corporate Internet security company, Email Systems Scandinavia (ESS).
In July 2010, Webroot acquired San Diego, California-based web content classification and security services provider, BrightCloud, adding its web reputation and content classification technology to existing products.
In November 2010, Webroot acquired UK cloud-based anti-malware company, Prevx.
In July 2011 a partnership was struck with global distribution firm Tech Data, making Webroot products available to Tech Data's network of 125,000 channel partners in 100 countries around the world.
In July 2013, Webroot and RSA Security formed a partnership to enhance both firms' real-time phishing detection.
In September 2016 Webroot acquired the assets of CyberFlow Analytics, a company applying data science to network anomaly detection.
In February 2019 Webroot announced that it will be acquired by Carbonite. In March 2019, Carbonite confirmed the purchase.
In December 2019 Carbonite was acquired by OpenText.
Reviews
AV-Comparatives gave nine vendors, including Webroot, its highest award in its July 2012 Anti-Phishing Test, in which Webroot took 9th place among 18 products tested for efficacy in blocking phishing websites. In AV-Comparatives's Performance Test for October 2012, Webroot had the best PCMark score, having the lightest impact out of 20 products tested on a Windows 7 64-bit machine.
Webroot had the worst results out of 20 products tested by AV-Comparatives in the September 2012 File Detection Test of Malicious Software, both in terms of malware detection rates and false alarms. Webroot detected less than 80 percent of viral samples, much worse than the 94.4 percent rate of the second-lowest detecting product. Webroot inappropriately flagged 210 clean files, raising as many false positives as the other 19 products tested combined. According to AV-comparatives, the "results and misses have been confirmed with several tests and also by the vendor."
PC Magazine has awarded Webroot SecureAnywhere 19 times with Editor's Choice and Security Product of the Year, its highest award given to security and software programs. In PC Magazine's test for 2013, Webroot was found by PC Magazine staff to have the best score in malware blocking tests, malware removal tests, speed of scans, and installation speed. In the 2014 test, PCMag found "Webroot's detection rate of 89 percent and overall malware cleanup score of 6.6 points are both tops among products tested using this same malware collection."
Gartner listed Webroot in its Visionary Quadrant in its 2014 assessment of Endpoint Protection Platforms.
In 2014, PassMark Software, a software and hardware performance benchmarking company, benchmarked Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection and Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus using 13 performance metrics. In both tests, Webroot products were found to outperform competitors in a variety of metrics, including scan times, CPU usage, and others, earning the highest overall score in both tests.
During November 2016's evaluation of mobile security products for Android AV-TEST has given Webroot's SecureAnywhere Mobile product a "Protection Score" of 3.5 out of 6, placing it near the bottom of all 26 products evaluated in this test in terms of protection against malware. Both the "Detection of the latest Android malware in real-time" and "Detection of the latest Android malware discovered in the last 4 weeks" scores were below the "Industry Average" score.
In the October 2017 AV-Comparatives performed a "Head-to-Head Comparison" between products from VIPRE and Webroot, the Webroot SecureAnywhere product was only able to achieve 86.4% "Protection Rate", compared to VIPRE Cloud's 100% rate. The test was performed using a test set of 316 live malicious URLs found in the field.
During the January 2018 test of 84 various Android antimalware apps by AV-Comparatives, Webroot Security Premier has detected 99.7% of all antimalware samples, placing it below 30 other tested apps which showed better detection rates.
See also
AntiVirus
Comparison of antivirus software
Comparison of computer viruses
Software as a Service
References
External links
Computer security software companies
Software companies based in Colorado
Companies based in Broomfield, Colorado
Software companies of the United States
Content-control software
Antivirus software
Software companies established in 1997
American subsidiaries of foreign companies
2019 mergers and acquisitions |
17394241 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things%20a%20Computer%20Scientist%20Rarely%20Talks%20About | Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About | Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About (2001) is a book by Donald E. Knuth, published by CSLI Publications of Stanford, California. The book contains the annotated transcripts of six public lectures given by Donald E. Knuth at MIT on the subject of relations between religion and science (particularly computer science). Knuth gives credence to the concept of divinity.
Contents
Anne Foerst wrote a foreword for the book. The six chapters are lightly edited transcriptions of Knuth's lectures:
Lecture 1: Introduction
Lecture 2: Randomization and Religion
Lecture 3: Language Translation
Lecture 4: Aesthetics
Lecture 5: Glimpses of God
Lecture 6: God and Computer Science'''
Knuth added a final section entitled "Panel: Creativity, Spirituality, and Computer Science".
Excerpts from reviews
One mark of a good author is the ability to make a successful book out of an unpromising subject. Over the years, Donald E. Knuth has produced a slew of bestsellers on topics that might seem to have only limited appeal, most notably the arts of computer programming and mathematical typography. His latest book takes on a subject so challenging it has to hide behind a coy title: Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About (CSLI Publications, $35). What is this subject that dare not speak its name? Not sex, but religion. The book is based on a series of lectures on "interactions between faith and computer science." The main topic is Knuth's approach to Bible study through random sampling (which led to an earlier book as well, titled 3:16); there is also musing on the programmer's role as god of a created universe. It's a very unpromising subject, but Knuth is a very good author.
If you are a fan of 3:16 and want to know more about the statistical techniques Knuth employed, his aesthetic considerations, how he translated the 59 verses without knowing Hebrew or Greek, or what he learned in the process of this project—or if you simply want merely to spend time with a remarkable, playful intellect—you'll enjoy this book. If you want to know how computer science might help theological reflection, lecture six can launch you on your way to further, challenging study.
Despite many enjoyable passages, the book ultimately disappoints. While I can imagine that the lectures might have been wonderful to listen to, their verbatim transcription to the printed page does not always work well. A large fraction of the lectures centered around Knuth's study of selected verses from the Bible, but the written version comes across as repetitious, with many uninteresting details. Knuth's analysis of the verses is not deep and not particularly informed by a scientific sensibility. And too many of the questions in the question-and-answer sessions were superficial and could have been edited.
Further reading
The homepage of the book provides errata and further information.
An excerpt from the book is available at the publisher's website.
Notes
(hardcover), (paperback)
External links
Schedule of original lectures
Book website
Video of Donald Knuth's talk at Google, March 16, 2009 - On interactions between faith and science
2001 books
American non-fiction books
Books by Donald Knuth
Books about religion and science |
5999404 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph%20Nechvatal | Joseph Nechvatal | Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.
Life and work
Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago. He studied fine art and philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Cornell University and Columbia University. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy of Art and Technology at the Planetary Collegium at University of Wales, Newport and has taught art theory and art history at the School of Visual Arts. He has had many solo exhibitions, including one in Berlin
His work in the early 1980s chiefly consisted of postminimalist gray graphite drawings that were often photomechanically enlarged. Beginning in 1979 he became associated with the artist group Colab, organized the Public Arts International/Free Speech series, he was a member of Colab in the 1980s and helped established the non-profit group ABC No Rio. In 1983 he co-founded the avant-garde electronic art music audio project Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine. In 1984, Nechvatal began work on an opera called XS: The Opera Opus (1984-6) with the no wave musical composer Rhys Chatham.
He began using computers and robotics to make post-conceptual paintings in 1986 and later, in his signature work, began to employ self-created computer viruses. From 1991 to 1993, he was artist-in-residence at the Louis Pasteur Atelier in Arbois, France and at the Saline Royale/Ledoux Foundation's computer lab. There he worked on The Computer Virus Project, his first artistic experiment with computer viruses and computer virus animation. He exhibited computer-robotic paintings at Documenta 8 in 1987.
In 2002 he extended his experimentation into viral artificial life through a collaboration with the programmer Stephane Sikora of music2eye in a work called the Computer Virus Project II. Nechvatal cites influences such as John von Neumann, John Horton Conway, John Koza, Gustav Metzger and Marcel Duchamp.
Nechvatal has also created a noise music work called viral symphOny, a collaborative sound symphony created by using his computer virus software at the Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred University.
From 1999 to 2013, Nechvatal taught art theories of immersive virtual reality and the viractual at the School of Visual Arts in New York City (SVA). A book of his collected essays entitled Towards an Immersive Intelligence: Essays on the Work of Art in the Age of Computer Technology and Virtual Reality (1993–2006) was published by Edgewise Press in 2009. Also in 2009, his book Immersive Ideals / Critical Distances was published. In 2011, his book Immersion Into Noise was published by Open Humanities Press in conjunction with the University of Michigan Library's Scholarly Publishing Office.
Viractualism
Viractualism is an art theory concept developed by Nechvatal in 1999 from Ph.D. research Nechvatal conducted at the University of Wales College. There he developed his concept of the viractual, which strives to create an interface between the actual and the virtual.
Footnotes
Further reading
John Johnston, The Allure of Machinic Life: Cybernetics, Artificial Life, and the New AI, MIT Press, 2008, cover
Donald Kuspit, The Matrix of Sensations VI: Digital Artists and the New Creative Renaissance
Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito, The Edge of Art, Thames & Hudson Ltd, p. 213
Frank Popper, From Technological to Virtual Art, MIT Press, pp. 120–123
Johanna Drucker, Joseph Nechvatal : Critical Pleasure
Robert C. Morgan, Voluptuary: An algorithic hermaphornology, Tema Celeste Magazine, volume #93, p. 94
Bruce Wands, Art of the Digital Age, London: Thames & Hudson, p. 65
Robert C. Morgan, Laminations of the Soul, Editions Antoine Candau, 1990, pp. 23–30
Margot Lovejoy, Digital Currents: Art in the Electronic Age Routledge 2004
Joseph Nechvatal, Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux, Technonoetic Arts 3, no3. 2005
Joseph Nechvatal. Immersion Into Noise. Open Humanities Press in conjunction with the University of Michigan Library's Scholarly Publishing Office. Ann Arbor. 2011
Johanna Drucker, Joseph Nechvatal : Critical Pleasure, Redaktion Frank Berndt, 1996, pp. 10–13
Mario Costa, Phenomenology of New Tech Arts, Artmedia, Salerno, 2005, p. 6 & pp. 36 – 38
Dominique Moulon, L'art numerique: spectateur-acteuret vie artificielle, Les images numeriques #47-48, 2004, pp. 124–125
Christine Buci-Glucksmann, L'art à l'époque virtuel, in Frontières esthétiques de l'art, Arts 8, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004
Brandon Taylor, Collage, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2006, p. 221
Dominique Moulon, Conférence Report : Media Art in France, Un Point d'Actu, L'Art Numerique, pp. 124–125
Edmond Couchot, Des Images, du temps et des machines, édité Actes Sud, 2007, pp. 263–264
Fred Forest, Art et Internet, Editions Cercle D'Art / Imaginaire Mode d'Emploi, pp. 48 –51
Wayne Enstice & Melody Peters, Drawing: Space, Form, & Expression, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 312–313
Ellen K. Levy, Synthetic Lighting: Complex Simulations of Nature, Photography Quarterly (#88) 2004, pp. 7–9
Marie-Paule Nègre, Des artistes en leur monde, volume 2, la Gazette de l'Hotel Drout, 2008, pp. 82–83
Corrado Levi, È andata così: Cronaca e critica dell'arte 1970-2008, Joseph Nechvatal intervistato nel suo studio a New York (1985–86), pp. 130–135
Donald Kuspit, Del Atre Analogico al Arte Digital in Arte Digital Y Videoarte, Kuspit, D. ed., Consorcio del Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, pp. 33–34 & pp. 210 – 212
Robert C. Morgan, Nechvatal's Visionary Computer Virus, in Gruson, L. ed. 1993. Joseph Nechvatal: Computer Virus Project, Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans: Fondation Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, pp. 8–15
Sarah J. Rogers (ed), Body Mécanique: Artistic Explorations of Digital Realms, Columbus, Ohio, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University
Edward A. Shanken, Art and Electronic Media. London: Phaidon, 2009. , pp. 42, 285, 160
External links
Joseph Nechvatal's website
1951 births
Living people
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
21st-century male artists
American academics
American conceptual artists
American digital artists
American expatriates in France
American experimental musicians
Artists from Chicago
Artists from New York (state)
Cellular automatists
Experimental composers
Genetic programming
American installation artists
Mass media theorists
New media artists
American noise musicians
Postmodern artists
Robotic art
American sound artists
Male classical composers
20th-century American printmakers
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
American contemporary painters |
351227 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparency%20%28behavior%29 | Transparency (behavior) | Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability.
Transparency is practiced in companies, organizations, administrations, and communities. For example, a cashier making change after a point of sale transaction by offering a record of the items purchased (e.g., a receipt) as well as counting out the customer's change on the counter demonstrates one type of transparency.
The term transparency has a very different meaning in information security where it is used to describe security mechanisms that are intentionally in-detectable or hidden from view. Examples include hiding utilities and tools which the user does not need to know in order to do their job, like keeping the remote re-authentication operations of Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol hidden from the user.
Wages
In Norway and in Sweden, tax authorities annually release the "skatteliste", "taxeringskalendern", or "tax list"; official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every taxpayer.
Regulations in Hong Kong require banks to list their top earners – without naming them – by pay band.
In 2009, the Spanish government for the first time released information on how much each cabinet member is worth, but data on ordinary citizens is private.
Currently, elected officials have to disclose yearly their worth.
An unwritten norm requires that American politicians release their tax returns.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump refused to release them, breaking a 47 year old custom, but still got elected.
Management
Radical transparency is a management method where nearly all decision making is carried out publicly. All draft documents, all arguments for and against a proposal, all final decisions, and the decision making process itself are made public and remain publicly archived. This approach has grown in popularity with the rise of the Internet. Two examples of organizations utilizing this style are the Linux community and Indymedia.
Corporate transparency, a form of radical transparency, is the concept of removing all barriers to—and the facilitating of—free and easy public access to corporate information and the laws, rules, social connivance and processes that facilitate and protect those individuals and corporations that freely join, develop, and improve the process.
Non-governmental organizations
Accountability and transparency are of high relevance for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In view of their responsibilities to stakeholders, including donors, sponsors, programme beneficiaries, staff, states and the public, they are considered to be of even greater importance to them than to commercial undertakings. Yet these same values are often found to be lacking in NGOs.
The International NGO Accountability Charter, linked to the Global Reporting Initiative, documents the commitment of its members international NGOs to accountability and transparency, requiring them to submit an annual report, among others. Signed in 2006 by 11 NGOs active in the area of humanitarian rights, the INGO Accountability Charter has been referred to as the “first global accountability charter for the non-profit sector”. In 1997, the One World Trust created an NGO Charter, a code of conduct comprising commitment to accountability and transparency.
Media
Media transparency is the concept of determining how and why information is conveyed through various means.
If the media and the public knows everything that happens in all authorities and county administrations there will be a lot of questions, protests and suggestions coming from media and the public. People who are interested in a certain issue will try to influence the decisions. Transparency creates an everyday participation in the political processes by media and the public. One tool used to increase everyday participation in political processes is freedom of information legislation and requests. Modern democracy builds on such participation of the people and media.
There are, for anybody who is interested, many ways to influence the decisions at all levels in society.
Politics
The right and the means to examine the process of decision making is known as transparency.
In politics, transparency is used as a means of holding public officials accountable and fighting corruption. When a government's meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent. It is not clear however if this provides less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system for their own interests.
When military authorities classify their plans as secret, transparency is absent. This can be seen as either positive or negative; positive because it can increase national security, negative because it can lead to corruption and, in extreme cases, a military dictatorship.
While a liberal democracy can be a plutocracy, where decisions are made behind locked doors and the people have fewer possibilities to influence politics between the elections, a participative democracy is more closely connected to the will of the people. Participative democracy, built on transparency and everyday participation, has been used officially in northern Europe for decades. In the northern European country Sweden, public access to government documents became a law as early as 1766. It has officially been adopted as an ideal to strive for by the rest of EU, leading to measures like freedom of information laws and laws for lobby transparency.
To promote transparency in politics, Hans Peter Martin, Paul van Buitenen (Europa Transparant) and Ashley Mote decided to cooperate under the name Platform for Transparency (PfT) in 2005. Similar organizations that promotes transparency are Transparency International and the Sunlight Foundation.
A recent political movement to emerge in conjunction with the demands for transparency is the Pirate Party, a label for a number of political parties across different countries who advocate freedom of information, direct democracy, network neutrality, and the free sharing of knowledge.
Online culture
21st century culture affords a higher level of public transparency than ever before, and actually requires it in many cases. Modern technology and associated culture shifts have changed how government works (see WikiLeaks), what information people can find out about each other, and the ability of politicians to stay in office if they are involved in sex scandals. Due to the digital revolution, people no longer have a high level of control over what is public information, leading to a tension between the values of transparency and privacy.
Research
Scholarly research in any academic discipline may also be labeled as (partly) transparent (or open research) if some or all relevant aspects of the research are open in the sense of open source, open access and open data, thereby facilitating social recognition and accountability of the scholars who did the research and replication by others interested in the matters addressed by it.
Some mathematicians and scientists are critical of using closed source mathematical software such as Mathematica for mathematical proofs, because these do not provide transparency, and thus are not verifiable. Open-source software such as SageMath aims to solve this problem.
Technology
In the computer software world, open source software concerns the creation of software, to which access to the underlying source code is freely available. This permits use, study, and modification without restriction.
In computer security, the debate is ongoing as to the relative merits of the full disclosure of security vulnerabilities, versus a security-by-obscurity approach.
There is a different (perhaps almost opposite) sense of transparency in human-computer interaction, whereby a system after change adheres to its previous external interface as much as possible while changing its internal behaviour. That is, a change in a system is transparent to its users if the change is unnoticeable to them.
Sports
Sports has become a global business over the last century, and here, too, initiatives ranging from mandatory drug testing to the fighting of sports-related corruption are gaining ground based on the transparent activities in other domains.
Criticism
Sigmund Freud, following Friedrich Nietzsche ("On Truth and Lie in a Nonmoral Sense"), regularly argues that transparency is impossible because of the occluding function of the unconscious.
Among philosophical and literary works that have examined the idea of transparency are Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish or David Brin's The Transparent Society.
The German philosopher and media theorist Byung-Chul Han in his 2012 work Transparenzgesellschaft sees transparency as a cultural norm created by neoliberal market forces, which he understands as the insatiable drive toward voluntary disclosure bordering on the pornographic. According to Han, the dictates of transparency enforce a totalitarian system of openness at the expense of other social values such as shame, secrecy, and trust. He was criticized for his concepts, as they would suggest corrupt politics and for referring to the anti-democratic Carl Schmitt.
Anthropologists have long explored ethnographically the relation between revealed and concealed knowledges, and have increasingly taken up the topic in relation to accountability, transparency and conspiracy theories and practices today. Todd Sanders and Harry West for example suggest not only that realms of the revealed and concealed require each other, but also that transparency in practice produces the very opacities it claims to obviate.
Clare Birchall, Christina Gaarsten, Mikkel Flyverbom, and Mark Fenster among others, write in the vein of 'Critical Transparency Studies' which attempts to challenge particular orthodoxies concerning transparency.
Birchall, assessed in an article "whether the ascendance of transparency as an ideal limits political thinking, particularly for western socialists and radicals struggling to seize opportunities for change". She argues that the promotion of 'datapreneurial' activity through open data initiatives outsources and interrupts the political contract between governed and government. She is concerned that the dominant model of governmental data-driven transparency produces neoliberal subjectivities that reduce the possibility of politics as an arena of dissent between real alternatives. She suggests that the radical Left might want to work with and reinvent secrecy as an alternative to neoliberal transparency.
Researchers at University of Oxford and Warwick Business School found that transparency can also have significant unintended consequences in the field of medical care. Gerry McGivern and Michael D Fischer found 'media spectacles' and transparent regulation combined to create 'spectacular transparency' which some perverse effects on doctors' practice and increased defensive behaviour in doctors and their staff. Similarly, in a four-year organizational study, Fischer and Ferlie found that transparency in the context of a clinical risk management can act perversely to undermine ethical behavior, leading to organizational crisis and even collapse.
See also
Access to public information
Civic Openness In Negotiations (COIN)
Ethical banking
Lobbying
Market transparency
Open government
Open science
Open society
Public record
Transparency of media ownership in Europe
Whistleblower
Whitewash
References
Further reading
Michael Schudson, The Rise of the Right to Know: Politics and the Culture of Transparency, 1945-1973. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015.
Emmanuel Alloa & Dieter Thomä (eds.) Transparency, Society and Subjectivity. Critical Perspectives, Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan, 2018.
Humanities
Transparency
Free software
Public economics |
29140372 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Check%20Point%20GO | Check Point GO | Check Point GO is a USB drive that combines an encrypted USB flash drive with virtualization, VPN and computer security technologies to turn a PC into a secure corporate desktop. By plugging Check Point GO into the USB port of a Microsoft Windows OS-based PC or laptop, users can launch a secure virtual workspace that is segregated from the host PC. This allows users to securely access company files and applications from any remote location, including insecure host environments such as a hotel business center or Internet café.
Check Point GO uses hardware and software encryption to protect user credentials, documents, and other sensitive data, so that data cannot be compromised in transit or in the event the device is lost. The system uses an authentication process that enforces minimum levels of password strength, as well as certificates and security tokens for multifactor authentication for remote connectivity. The device interfaces with software on a corporate server to support company policies and security updates through security gateways.
History
Check Point GO (formerly Abra) was first introduced by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and SanDisk Corporation in March 2010 to address security and compliance issues for companies with remote employees. Workers have been increasingly demanding remote access to company applications and data. Personal equipment accessing the network can pose a risk to corporate networks, creating a potential avenue for corporate data loss or allowing unsecure connections.
The companies cite that the Check Point GO system provides a solution for companies that want to let their employees purchase and manage their own PCs and laptops, for those needing high security (including encryption) for computing devices outside the workplace, as well as contractors/vendors who require access to the company network while working on site.
Since its release, the product has won industry awards including "IT Product of 2010" by Computerworld and was named one of the “25 Hot Products to Watch” at the 2010 RSA Conference by CRN Magazine.
Checkpoint GO went end-of-sale 31-DEC-2013, with support ending 31-DEC-2018
Technology Architecture
When Check Point GO is inserted into the USB port of any PC, the user is presented with a login screen. Upon successful login, a new explorer.exe instance is started in the Check Point GO Secure Workspace. All subsequent processes are started as child processes of this new explorer.
Check Point GO uses the software installed on the host PC to run applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, but the user’s documents remain secure in the Check Point GO environment – a virtual workspace that runs parallel to the host environment. All file and registry input/output calls for the secure application inside Check Point GO are redirected to the flash drive.
All applications running on the Check Point GO desktop (including the new explorer) operate in a virtual file system and registry. The virtual files and registry data are instantly written to the flash drive and immediately encrypted.
Currently, Check Point GO does not work on all Windows workstations, due to incompatibility with enterprise client settings.
Specifications
Awards
It was distinguished with "The best international innovation" award at the 2010 Information Security Day (ITBN) conference in Hungary.
It Received the Computerworld Czech Republic's annual "IT Product of the Year" in 2010.
See also
Check Point VPN-1
Circuit-level gateway
Comparison of firewalls
Firewall
List of Linux router or firewall distributions
Packet
Sandbox (computer security)
Screened-subnet firewall
Unified threat management
Virtual firewall
References
Computer network security |
123443 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20squad | Death squad | A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases where they are formed by an insurgency, domestic or foreign governments actively participate in, support, or ignore the death squad's activities. Death squads are distinct from assassination due to their permanent organization and the larger number of victims (typically thousands or more) who may not be prominent individuals. Other violence, such as rape, torture, arson, or bombings may be carried out alongside murders. They may comprise a secret police force, paramilitary militia groups, government soldiers, policemen, or combinations thereof. They may also be organized as vigilantes. When death squads are not controlled by the state, they may consist of insurgent forces or organized crime, such as the ones used by cartels.
History
Although the term "death squad" did not rise to notoriety until the activities of such groups became widely known in Central and South America during the 1970s and 80s, death squads have been employed under different guises throughout history. The term was first used by the fascist Iron Guard in Romania. It officially installed Iron guard death squads in 1936 in order to kill political enemies. It was also used during the Battle of Algiers by Paul Aussaresses.
Cold War usage
In Latin America, death squads first appeared in Brazil where a group called Esquadrão da Morte (literally "Death Squad") emerged in the 1960s; they subsequently spread to Argentina and Chile in the 1970s, and they were later used in Central America during the 1980s. Argentina used extrajudicial killings as a way of crushing the liberal and communist opposition to the military junta during the 'Dirty War' of the 1970s. For example, Alianza Anticomunista Argentina was a far-right death squad mainly active during the "Dirty War". The Chilean military regime of 1973–1990 also committed such killings. See Operation Condor for examples.
During the Salvadoran civil war, death squads achieved notoriety on 24 March 1980, when a sniper assassinated Archbishop Óscar Romero as he said Mass inside a convent chapel. In December 1980, three American nuns, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Maura Clarke, and a lay worker, Jean Donovan, were gang raped and murdered by a military unit later found to have been acting on specific orders. Death squads were instrumental in killing hundreds of real and suspected Communists. Priests who were spreading liberation theology, such as Father Rutilio Grande, were often targeted as well. The murderers were found to have been soldiers of the Salvadoran military, which was receiving U.S. funding and military advisors during the Carter administration. These events prompted outrage in the U.S. and led to a temporary cutoff in military aid at the end of his presidency. Death Squad activity stretched well into the Reagan years (1981–1989) as well.
Honduras also had death squads active through the 1980s, the most notorious of which was the army unit Battalion 316. Hundreds of people, teachers, politicians, and union leaders were assassinated by government-backed forces. Battalion 316 received substantial training from the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
In Southeast Asia, extrajudicial killings were conducted by both sides during the Vietnam War.
After being caught dumping the bodies of his victims during the Tet Offensive in Saigon, Nguyễn Văn Lém, the commander of a Viet Cong unit tasked with murdering South Vietnamese police officers and their families, was extrajudicially executed on camera by Police General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan on 1 February 1968.
Recent use
, death squads have continued to be active in several locations, including Chechnya, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Colombia, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Philippines, among others.
By continent
Africa
Ivory Coast
Death squads are reportedly active in this country.
This has been condemned by the US but appears to be difficult to stop. Moreover, there is no proof as to whom is behind the killings.
In an interview with the Pan-African magazine "Jeune Afrique", Laurent Gbagbo accused one of the opposition leaders, Alassane Ouattara (ADO), to be the main organizer of the media frenzy around his wife's involvement in the killing squads. He also successfully sued and won, in French courts, in cases against the French newspapers that made the accusations.
Kenya
In December 2014, Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit officers confessed to Al-Jazeera that they were responsible for almost 500 of the extrajudicial killings. The murders reportedly totalled several hundred homicides every year. They included the assassination of Abubaker Shariff Ahmed "Makaburi", an Al-Shabaab associate from Kenya, who was among 21 Muslim radicals allegedly murdered by the Kenyan police since 2012. According to the agents, they resorted to the killing after the Kenyan police could not successfully prosecute terror suspects. In doing so, the officers indicated that they were acting on the direct orders of Kenya's National Security Council, which consisted of the Kenyan President, Deputy President, Chief of the Defence Forces, Inspector General of Police, National Security Intelligence Service Director, Cabinet Secretary of Interior, and Principal Secretary of Interior. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the National Security Council of Kenya members denied operating an extrajudicial assassination program. Additionally, the officers suggested that Western security agencies provided intelligence for the program, including the whereabouts and activities of government targets. They asserted that Britain supplied further logistics in the form of equipment and training. One Kenyan officer within the council's General Service Unit also indicated that Israeli instructors taught them how to kill. The head of the International Bar Association, Mark Ellis, cautioned that any such involvement by foreign nations would constitute a breach of international law. The United Kingdom and Israel denied participation in the Kenyan National Security Council's reported death squads, with the UK Foreign Office indicating that it had approached the Kenyan authorities over the charges.
South Africa
Beginning in the 1960s, the African National Congress (ANC) and its ally, the South African Communist Party (SACP), and the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), began a campaign to topple South Africa's National Party (NP)-controlled Apartheid Government. Both the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and South African security forces routinely engaged in bombings and targeted killings, both at home and abroad. Particularly notorious apartheid death squads were the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) and the South African Police's counter-insurgency unit C10, commanded by Colonel Eugene de Kock and based at the Vlakplaas farm west of Pretoria, itself also a center for torture of prisoners.
After the end of Apartheid, death squad violence conducted by both the National Party and the ANC was investigated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Uganda
From 1971 to 1979, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin set up death squads to murder enemies of the state.
North America
Dominican Republic
Rafael Trujillo's Dominican government employed a death squad, known as la 42 and led by Miguel Angel Paulino, that tooled around in a stylish red Packard called the Carro de la Muerte (Death Car). During the 12-year regime of Joaquín Balaguer, the Frente Democrático Anticomunista y Antiterrorista, most known as la Banda Colorá, continued the practices of la 42. He was also known for having the SIM to kill Haitians in the Parsley massacre.
Haiti
The Tonton Macoute was a paramilitary force created in 1959 by Haitian dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier that murdered 30,000 to 60,000 Haitians.
Mexico
In a way similar to the American Indian Wars, the early Mexican nation struggled against Apache raids. Between 1835 and 1837, only 15 years after the Mexican independence and in the midst of the Texan Revolution, the local governments of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua (that border with the U.S. states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona ) put a bounty on the Apache bands that were in the area. In the case of Chihuahua the bounty attracted "bounty hunters" from the United States, that were often Anglo Americans, runaway slaves and even from other Indian tribes, it was paid based on Apache scalps, 100 pesos per warrior, 50 pesos per woman, and 25 pesos per child. As historian Donald E. Worcester wrote: "The new policy attracted a diverse group of men, including Anglos, runaway slaves led by Seminole John Horse, and Indians — Kirker used Delawares and Shawnees; others, such as Terrazas, used Tarahumaras; and Seminole Chief Coacoochee led a band of his own people who had fled from Indian Territory.". During Benito Juarez regime and his comeback as president, he used a death squad to kill Maximilian I of Mexico, Tomás Mejía, and Miguel Miramón for treason and reforms Maximilian made and for his support to French emperor Napoleon III. One of the soldiers on the death squad named Aureliano Blanquet would then later sentence to death by death squad Francisco I. Madero 45 years later in 1912. Francisco was then later executed a few months later in 1913.
After the Mexican Revolution
For more than seven decades following the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican State was a one-party state ruled by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). During this era, death squad tactics were routinely used against suspected enemies of the state.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the PRI's founder, President Plutarco Elías Calles, used death squads against Mexico's Roman Catholic majority. Calles explained his reasons in a private telegram to the Mexican Ambassador to the French Third Republic, Alberto J. Pani. "...Catholic Church in Mexico is a political movement, and must be eliminated ... free of religious hypnotism which fools the people... within one year without the sacraments, the people will forget the faith..."
Calles and his adherents used the Mexican Army and police, as well as paramilitary forces like the Red Shirts, to abduct, torture, and execute priests, nuns, and actively religious laity. Mexican Catholics were also routinely hanged from telegraph poles along the railroad lines. Prominent victims of the Mexican State's campaign against Catholicism include the teenager Jose Sanchez del Rio, the Jesuit priest Father Miguel Pro, and the Christian Pacifist Anacleto González Flores. (see also Saints of the Cristero War).
In response, an armed revolt against the Mexican State, the Cristero War, began in 1927. Composed largely of peasant volunteers and commanded by retired General Enrique Gorostieta Velarde, the Cristeros were also responsible for atrocities. Among them were the assassination of former Mexican President Álvaro Obregón, train robberies, and violent attacks against rural teachers. The uprising largely ended after the Holy See and the Mexican State negotiated a compromise agreement. Refusing to lay down his arms despite offers of amnesty, General Gorostieta was killed in action by the Mexican Army in Jalisco on 2 June 1929. Following the cessation of hostilities, more than 5,000 Cristeros were summarily executed by Mexican security forces. The events of the Cristero War are depicted in the 2012 film For Greater Glory.
During the Cold War
During the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, death squads continued to be used against anti-PRI activists, both Marxists and social conservatives. One example of this is the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre, in which an anti-regime protest rally was attacked by security forces in Mexico City. After this event, paramilitary groups like "Los Halcones" (The Hawks) and the "Brigada blanca" (White brigade) were used to attack, hunt and exterminate political dissidents.
Allegations have been made by both journalists and American law enforcement of collusion between senior PRI statesmen and the Mexican drug cartels. It has even been alleged that, under PRI rule, no drug traffickers were ever successful without the permission of the Mexican State. If the same drug trafficker fell from favor, however, Mexican law enforcement would be ordered to move against their operation, as happened to Pablo Acosta Villarreal in 1987. Drug lords like Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Juan José Esparragoza Moreno would use the DFS as a death squad to kill DEA agents and PJF commanders who investigated or destroyed drug plantations in the 1970s and 1980s in Mexico. One example was the killing of Kiki Camarena who was killed in Guadalajara for his part in the Rancho Bufalo raid. The DFS also organized death squads to kill journalists including Manuel Buendía who was killed by orders of DFS chief José-Antonio Zorrilla.
Regime change and "Drug war tactics"
By the early 1990s, the PRI started to lose the grip on its absolute political power, however, its corruption became so pervasive that Juarez Cartel boss Amado Carrillo Fuentes was even able to purchase a window in Mexico's air defense system. During this period, his airplanes were permitted to smuggle narcotics into the United States without the interference of the Mexican Air Force. As a result, Carillo Fuentes became known as "The Lord of the Skies." During the 1990s drug cartels were on the rise in Mexico and groups like the Gulf Cartel would form death squads like Los Zetas to suppress, control, and uproot rival cartel factions.
The PRI also used death squad tactics against the Zapatista guerilla movement. In 1997, forty-five people were killed by a Mexican security forces in Chenalho, Chiapas.
In 2000, however, during an internal power struggle between former President Salinas and President Zedillo, the PRI was peacefully voted out from power, until 2013 when they partially regained their influence and power, only to lose again in 2018.
It is also alleged that, during the time they first lost the presidency, some of the most powerful PRI members were supporting and protecting drug cartels that they used as death squads against their criminal and political rivals, being this one of the real reasons the PAN party government accepted to start the Mexican drug war against the Cartels. However, it is also alleged that during this period of time the turmoil of war has been used by the parties in power to exterminate even more political dissidents, activists and their own rivals. An example of this is the case of the 2014 forced disappearance and assassination of 43 activist rural students from the Ayotzinapa Teachers' College, in the hands of police officers colluded with the "Guerreros Unidos" drug cartel. Six years later in 2020, it was confirmed that members from the Mexican Army base in town had worked with police and gang members to kidnap the students. The Sinaloa Cartel has been known for having enforcer death squads like Gente Nueva, Los Ántrax, and enforcers forming their own death squads. From 2009 to 2012,the Jalisco New Generation Cartel under the name Los Matazetas did massacres in the states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas with their intention to remove the rival Los Zetas Cartel. One example was the Boca del Rio massacre in 2011, were 35 corpses were found under a bridge in trucks covered with paper bags. Gente Nueva was accused of collaborating with the organization.
United States
During the California Gold Rush, the state government between 1850 and 1859 financed and organized militia units to hunt down and kill Native Americans in the state. Between 1850 and 1852 the state appropriated almost one million dollars for the activities of these militias, and between 1854 and 1859 the state appropriated another $500,000, almost half of which was reimbursed by the federal government. By one estimate, at least 4,500 Californian Indians were killed between 1849 and 1870. Contemporary historian Benjamin Madley has documented the numbers of Californian Indians killed between 1846 and 1873; he estimates that during this period at least 9,492 Californian Indians were killed by non-Indians. Most of the deaths took place in what he defined as more than 370 massacres (defined as the "intentional killing of five or more disarmed combatants or largely unarmed noncombatants, including women, children, and prisoners, whether in the context of a battle or otherwise"). Some scholars contend that the state financing of these militias, as well as the US government's role in other massacres in California, such as the Bloody Island and Yontoket Massacres, in which up to 400 or more natives were killed in each massacre, constitutes acts of genocide against the native people of California.
Beginning in the 1850s, pro-slavery Bushwhackers and anti-slavery Jayhawkers waged war against each other in the Kansas Territory. Due to the horrific atrocities committed by both sides against civilians, the territory was dubbed "Bleeding Kansas". After the American Civil War began, the fraternal bloodshed increased.
The most infamous atrocity which was committed in Kansas during the American Civil War was the Lawrence Massacre. A large force group of Bushwhackers who were led by William Clarke Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson attacked and burned down the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas in retaliation for the Jayhawkers' earlier destruction of Osceola, Missouri. The Bushwhackers shot down nearly 150 unarmed men and boys.
During Reconstruction, embittered Confederate veterans supported the Ku Klux Klan and similar vigilante organizations throughout the American South. The Klan and its counterparts terrorized and lynched African-Americans, northern carpetbaggers, and Southern "scalawags". This was often done with the unofficial support of the Democratic Party leadership. Historian Bruce B. Campbell has called the KKK, "one of the first proto-death squads". Campbell alleges that the difference between it and modern-day death-squads is the fact that the Ku Klux Klan was composed of members of a defeated regime rather than members of the ruling government. "Otherwise, in its murderous intent, its links to private elite interests, and its covert nature, it very closely resembles modern-day death squads."
President Ulysses S Grant pushed the 'Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871' legislation through Congress and called on the Army to help federal officials the arrest and break up of the Klan. 600 Klansmen were convicted and 65 men were sent to prison for as long as five years.
Human Rights Watch asserted in a 2019 report that the CIA was backing death squads in Afghanistan. The report alleges that CIA-supported Afghan forces committed "summary executions and other grave abuses without accountability" over the course of more than a dozen night raids that took place between 2017 and 2019. The death squads allegedly committed "extrajudicial killings of civilians, forced disappearances of detainees, and attacks on healthcare facilities that treat insurgents," according to Vice's reporting on the contents of the Human Rights Watch report. According to the same article, "The forces are recruited, equipped, trained, and deployed under the auspices of the CIA to target insurgents from the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS." The article also states these Afghan forces have the ability to call in US airstrikes, which have resulted in the deaths of civilians, including children, and have occurred in civilian areas, including at weddings, parks, and schools.
In June 2020, Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Austreberto "Art" Gonzalez filed a claim against the county, claiming that approximately twenty percent of the deputies operating in the county's Compton Station belonged to a secret death squad. Gonzales alleges that the group, named "The Executioners", carried out multiple extrajudicial killings over the years and that members followed initiation rituals, including being tattooed with skulls and Nazi imagery.
Central America
El Salvador
During the Salvadoran civil war, death squads (known in Spanish by the name of Escuadrón de la Muerte, "Squadron of Death") achieved notoriety when a sniper assassinated Archbishop Óscar Romero while he was performing Mass in March 1980. In December 1980, three American nuns and a lay worker were gangraped and murdered by a military unit later found to have been acting on specific orders. Death squads were instrumental in killing thousands of peasants and activists. Funding for the squads came primarily from right-wing Salvadoran businessmen and landowners. Because the death squads involved were found to have been soldiers of the Salvadoran military security forces, which were receiving U.S. arms, funding, training and advice during the Carter, Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, these events prompted some outrage in the U.S. Human rights activists criticized U.S. administrations for denying Salvadoran government links to the death squads. Veteran Human Rights Watch researcher Cynthia J. Arnson writes that "particularly during the years 1980–1983 when the killing was at its height (numbers of killings could reach as far as 35,000), assigning responsibility for the violence and human rights abuses was a product of the intense ideological polarization in the United States. The Reagan administration downplayed the scale of abuse as well as the involvement of state actors. Because of the level of denial, as well as the extent of U.S. involvement with the Salvadoran military and security forces, the U.S. role in El Salvador- what was known about death squads, when it was known, and what actions the United States did or did not take to curb their abuses- became an important part of El Salvador's death squad story." Some death squads, such as Sombra Negra, are still operating in El Salvador.
The Salvadoran Army's U.S.-trained Atlacatl Battalion was responsible for the El Mozote massacre where more than 800 civilians were murdered, over half of them children, the El Calabozo massacre, and the murders of six Jesuits in 1989.
Honduras
Honduras had death squads active through the 1980s, the most notorious of which was Battalion 3–16. Hundreds of people, teachers, politicians, and union bosses were assassinated by government-backed forces. Battalion 316 received substantial support and training from the United States Central Intelligence Agency. At least 19 members were School of the Americas graduates. Seven members, including Billy Joya, later played important roles in the administration of President Manuel Zelaya as of mid-2006. Following the 2009 coup d'état, former Battalion 3–16 member Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía became Director-General of Immigration and Billy Joya was de facto President Roberto Micheletti's security advisor. Another former Battalion 3–16 member, Napoleón Nassar Herrera, was high Commissioner of Police for the north-west region under Zelaya and under Micheletti, and also became a Secretary of Security spokesperson "for dialogue" under Micheletti. Zelaya claimed that Joya had reactivated the death squad, with dozens of government opponents having been murdered since the ascent of the Michiletti and Lobo governments.
Guatemala
Throughout the Guatemalan Civil War, both military and "civilian" governments utilized death squads as a counterinsurgency strategy. The use of "death squads" as a government tactic became particularly widespread after 1966. Throughout 1966 and the first three months of 1967, within the framework of what military commentators referred to as "el-contra terror", government forces killed an estimated 8,000 civilians accused of "subversive" activity. This marked a turning point in the history of the Guatemalan security apparatus, and brought about a new era in which mass murder of both real and suspected subversives by government "death squads" became a common occurrence in the country. A noted Guatemalan sociologist estimated the number of government killings between 1966 and 1974 at approximately 5,250 a year (for a total death toll of approximately 42,000 during the presidencies of Julio César Méndez Montenegro and Carlos Arana Osorio). Killings by both official and unofficial security forces would climax in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the presidencies of Fernando Romeo Lucas García and Efraín Ríos Montt, with over 18,000 documented killings in 1982 alone.
Greg Grandin claims that "Washington, of course, publicly denied its support for paramilitarism, but the practice of political disappearances took a great leap forward in Guatemala in 1966 with the birth of a death squad created, and directly supervised, by U.S. security advisors." An upsurge in rebel activity in Guatemala convinced the US to provide increased counterinsurgency assistance to Guatemala's security apparatus in the mid to late 1960s. Documents released in 1999 details how United States military and police advisers had encouraged and assisted Guatemalan military officials in the use of repressive techniques, including helping establish a "safe house" from within the presidential palace as a location to coordinate counter insurgency activities. In 1981, it was reported by Amnesty International that this same "safe house" was in use by Guatemalan security officials to coordinate counterinsurgency activities involving the use of the "death squads."
According to a victim's brother, Mirtala Linares "He wouldn't tell us anything; he claimed they hadn't captured [Sergio], that he knew nothing of his whereabouts – and that maybe my brother had gone as an illegal alien to the United States! That was how he answered us."
Nicaragua
Throughout the Ortega government, starting in 2006, but escalating with the 2018–2020 Nicaraguan protests, Sandinista government has employed death squads also known as "Turbas" or militia groups armed and aided by the National Police to attack pro-democracy protesters. The government's crackdown of lethal force was condemned by the international community, the Organization of American States, Human Rights Watch, and the local and international Catholic Church.
South America
Argentina
Amnesty International reports that "the security forces in Argentina first started using "death squads" in late 1973. One example was Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, a far-right death squad mainly active during the "Dirty War". By the time military rule ended in 1983 some 1,500 people had been killed directly by "death squads", and over 9,000 named people and many more undocumented victims had been "disappeared"—kidnapped and murdered secretly—according to the officially appointed National Commission on Disappeared People (CONADEP).
Brazil
The Esquadrão da Morte ("Death Squad" in Portuguese) was a paramilitary organization that emerged in the late 1960s in the context of the Brazilian Military Dictatorship. It was the first group to have received the name "Death Squad" in Latin America, but its actions resembled traditional vigilantism as most executions were not exclusively politically related. The greater share of the political executions during the 21 years of Military Dictatorship (1964–1985) were carried out by the Brazilian Armed Forces itself. The purpose of the original "Death Squad" was, with the consent of the military government, to persecute, torture and kill suspected criminals (marginais) regarded as dangerous to society. It began in the former State of Guanabara led by Detective Mariel Mariscot, one of the "Twelve Golden Men of Rio de Janeiro's Police", and from there it spread throughout Brazil in the 1970s. In general, its members were politicians, members of the judiciary, and police officials. As a rule, these groups were financed by members of the business community.
In the 1970s and 1980s, several other organizations were modeled after the 1960s Esquadrão da Morte. The most famous such organization is Scuderie Detetive Le Cocq (English: Shield of Detective Le Cocq), named after deceased Detective Milton Le Cocq. The group was particularly active in the Brazilian Southeastern States of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro, and remains active in the state of Espírito Santo. In the State of São Paulo, Death Squads and individual gunmen called justiceiros were pervasive and executions almost were exclusively the work of off-duty policemen. In 1983, a police officer nicknamed "Cabo Bruno" was convicted of murdering more than 50 victims.
The "Death Squads" active under the rule of the military dictatorship continue as a cultural legacy of the Brazilian police. In the 2000s, police officers remain linked with death squad-type executions. In 2003, roughly 2,000 extrajudicial murders occurred in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with Amnesty International claiming the numbers are likely far higher. Brazilian politician Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, was accused of having ties to death squads.
Chile
One of the most notorious murder gangs operated by the Chilean Army was the Caravan of Death, whose members travelled by helicopter throughout Chile between 30 September and 22 October 1973. During this foray, members of the squad ordered or personally carried out the execution of at least 75 individuals held in Army custody in these garrisons. According to the NGO Memoria y Justicia, the squad killed 26 in the South and 71 in the North, making a total of 97 victims. Augusto Pinochet was indicted in December 2002 in this case, but he died four years later without having been convicted. The trial, however, is on-going , other militaries and a former military chaplain having been indicted in this case.
On 28 November 2006, Víctor Montiglio, charged of this case, ordered Pinochet's house arrest According to the Chilean Government's own Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig) report, 2,279 people were killed in the operations of Pinochet's regime. In June 1999, judge Juan Guzmán Tapia ordered the arrest of five retired generals.
Colombia
The United States supported death squads in Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala during the 1980s. In 1993, Amnesty International reported that clandestine military units began covertly operating as death squads in 1978. According to the report, throughout the 1980s political killings rose to a peak of 3,500 in 1988, averaging some 1,500 victims per year since then, and "over 1,500 civilians are also believed to have "disappeared" since 1978." The AUC, formed in 1997, was the most prominent paramilitary group.
According to a 2014 report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Buenaventura, a port town in Colombia, "entire neighborhoods were dominated by powerful paramilitary successor groups" HRW reports that the groups "restrict residents' movements, recruit their children, extort businesses, and routinely engage in horrific acts of violence against anyone who defies their will." It is reported that scores of people have been "disappeared" from the town over the years. Bodies are dismembered before they are disposed of and residents have reported the existence of casas de pique, "chop-up houses" where people are slaughtered. Many residents have fled and are considered to have been "forcibly displaced": 22,028 residents fled in 2011, 15,191 in 2012, and 13,468 between January and October 2013.
In Colombia, the terms "death squads", "paramilitaries" or "self-defense groups" have been used interchangeably and otherwise, referring to either a single phenomenon, also known as paramilitarism, or to different but related aspects of the same. There are reports that Los Pepes, the death squad led by brothers Fidel and Carlos Castaño, had ties to some members of the Colombian National Police, especially the Search Bloc (Bloque de Búsqueda) unit.
A report from the country's public prosecutors office at the end of 2009 reported the number of 28,000 disappeared by paramilitary and guerrilla groups. only 300 corpses were identified and 600 in 2009. According to the prosecutor's office, it will take many more years before all the bodies recovered can be identified.
At least 40% of the national legislature are said to have ties to paramilitary groups. In August 2018, prosecutors in Colombia charged 13 Chiquita brands with supporting the right wing death squad that killed hundreds in the Urabá Antioquia region between 1996 and 2004. Salvatore Mancuso, a jailed paramilitary leader, has accused Del Monte, Dole and Chiquita of funding right wing death squads. Chiquita was fined $25 million after admitting they had paid $1.7 million to paramilitaries over six years; the reason for the payments remains a matter of dispute, with Chiquita claiming the money was routine extortion money paid to paramilitary groups to protect workers. Activists, on the other hand, insist that a portion of the money paid by Chiquita was used to finance political assassinations.
Peru
Peruvian government death squads carried out massacres against radicals and civilians in their fight against Shining Path and Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Venezuela
In its 2002 and 2003 world reports, Human Rights Watch reported the existence of death squads in several Venezuelan states, involving members of the local police, the DISIP and the National Guard. These groups were responsible for the extrajudicial killings of civilians and wanted or alleged criminals, including street criminals, looters and drug users.
In 2019, amid the Crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, the government of Nicolás Maduro was accused by a UN human rights report of using death squads to conduct thousands of extrajudicial executions. The report relayed a multitude of eyewitness accounts, describing the government's Special Action Forces (FAES) frequently arriving at homes in unmarked vehicles, executing male suspects on the spot, then planting drugs or weapons on the corpse to make it appear the victim died resisting arrest. According to the report, the executions were part of a campaign aimed at "neutralizing, repressing and criminalizing political opponents and people critical of the government". The Maduro government condemned the report as "openly biased".
Asia
Bangladesh
In contemporary times, the Bangladeshi "Rapid Action Battalion" has been criticized by rights groups for its use of extrajudicial killings. In addition, there have been many reports of torture in connection with the battalion's activities. Several battalion members have been accused of murder and obstruction of justice during the Narayanganj Seven murder. They've been known to kill civilian suspects for the explicit purpose of avoiding trials. They have also been accused of carrying out a campaign of forced disappearances.
Cambodia
The Khmer Rouge began employing death squads to purge Cambodia of non-communists after taking over the country in 1975. They rounded up their victims, questioned them and then took them out to killing fields.
India
The secret killings of Assam (1998–2001) was probably the darkest chapter in Assam's political history when relatives, friends, sympathisers of ULFA insurgents were systematically killed by unknown assailants. These extrajudicial murders happened in Assam between 1998 and 2001. These extrajudicial killings were conducted by the state government using SULFA members and the security forces in the name of counter-insurgency operations. The victims of these killings were relatives, friends and colleagues of ULFA militants. The most apparent justification for the whole exercise was that it was a tit-for-tat response to the ULFA-sponsored terrorism, specially the killings of their old comrades—the SULFAs.
Indonesia
In 1965–1966, with the backing of the United States government and its Western allies, the Indonesian military and right-wing paramilitary death squads massacred hundreds of thousands of leftists and those believed tied to the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) after a failed coup attempt which was blamed on the Communists. At least 400,000 to 500,000 people, perhaps as many as 3 million, were killed over a period of several months, with thousands more being interred in prisons and concentration camps under extremely inhumane conditions. The violence culminated in the fall of President Sukarno and the commencement of Suharto's thirty-year authoritarian reign.
Philippines
There are certain vigilante death squads that are active in the Philippines, especially in Davao City where local death squads roam around the city to hunt criminals.
After winning the Presidency in June 2016, Rodrigo Duterte had urged, "If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful." By March 2017, the death toll for the Philippine Drug War passed 8,000 people.
South Korea
News reports on the use of death squads in Korea originated around the middle of the 20th century such as the Jeju Massacre and Daejeon. There were also the multiple deaths that made the news in 1980 in Gwangju.
Thailand
During the Cold War, in the short period of democracy in Thailand (1973–1976), three right-wing paramilitary groups, Nawaphon, Red Gaurs, and Village Scouts were founded and supported by Internal Security Operations Command and Border Patrol Police to promote national unity, loyalty to Thai royal family, and anti-communism. They were also heavily funded and backed by the United States government, and were under the patronage of the royal family themselves. Among their ranks were former soldiers, veterans of the Vietnam War, former mercenaries in Laos, and violent vocational students.
These groups were first employed to counter protests of the pro-democracy and left-wing students movement, attacking them with firearms and grenades. When the ideological conflict escalated, they started assassinating labor and peasants union officials and progressive politicians, the most famous was Dr. Boonsanong Punyodyana, the general secretary of the Socialist Party of Thailand. The conflict reached its peak with the Thammasat University massacre in 1976, which the Royal Thai Armed Forces and Royal Thai Police, supported by the three aforementioned paramilitary groups, stormed the university and shot mostly unarmed student protesters indiscriminately, resulting in at least 46 deaths. A military coup was staged later in the same day. During the military rule, the paramilitary groups' popularity diminished.
In contemporary Thailand, many extrajudicial killings occurred during the 2003 anti-drug effort of Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra were attributed to government-sponsored death squads. Rumors still persist that there is collusion between the government, rogue military officers and radical right wing/anti-drugs death squads,
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Thailand: "The Corrupt Media Mogul v. The Crusading Journalist"
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Death Squad links. Drug war and more. Worldwide. Mostly U.S.-run or U.S.-aided terrorism. Millions killed over decades. Torture on an industrial scale. "Dirty wars," murder, corruption, destabilization, disinformation, subversion of democracy, etc.. Above
Thailand's anti-drug death squads | Cannabis Culture Magazine
Marihemp Network Gallery :: Thailand. 2500 extrajudicial drug-war killings of innocent people.
Thailand War on Drugs Turns Murderous, 600 Killed This Month -- Human Rights Groups Denounce Death Squads, Executions
Southeast Asia: Probe into Thai Drug War Killings Getting Underway | StoptheDrugWar.org
with both Muslim and Buddhist sectarian death squads still operating in the South of the country.
Ottoman Empire
During the Armenian genocide, the Special Organization functioned as a death squad.
Australia
Australia has a long history of the use of death squads dating back to the earliest days of European colonisation.
In December 1790 Governor Arthur Phillip ordered that "A party, consisting of two captains, two subalterns, and forty privates, with a proper number of non-commissioned officers from the garrison, with three days provisions, etc. are to be ready to march to-morrow morning at day-light, in order to bring in six of those natives who reside near the head of Botany Bay; or, if that should be found impracticable, to put that number to death." and "That we were to cut off and bring in the heads of the slain; for which purpose hatchets and bags would be furnished." Originally Phillip had settled on a dozen as an appropriate number. Tench wrote that "we were, if practicable, to bring away two natives as prisoners; and to put to death ten." Phillip's purpose for this mission, as described by Tench, was "to strike a decisive blow, in order, at once to convince them of our superiority and to infuse an universal terror..."
In May 1795, Governor Peterson ordered a "party of corps to be sent from Parramatta, with instructions to destroy as many as they could meet with of the wood tribe ('Be-dia-gal'); and, in hope of striking terror, to erect gibbets in different places, whereupon the bodies of all they might kill were to be hung." Seven or eight Indigenous people were thought to have been killed, although no bodies were hung on gibbets, and several captives were taken including "one man, (apparently a cripple) five women and some children." One woman and her baby had both been shot though not killed. The child subsequently died. Another pregnant woman delivered her baby son who also died. Gapps writes "The fact that women and children were shot and captured certainly suggests the action was an indiscriminate surprise assault on a campsite at night, with all the hallmarks of a massacre."
In December 1795 Collins recorded that another 'armed party' was sent out. "They promptly killed four men and one woman, badly wounded a child, and took four men prisoners." Gapps writes "Once more, the shooting of women and children suggests a surprise attack on a camp, ending in a massacre."
In early 1796 Governor Hunter gave settlers in the outlying City of HawkesburyHawkesbury settlement militia status. At this point the Hawkesbury was effectively beyond the reach of the New South Wales Corps who had limited manpower. Hunter was at pains to state that settlers were "not to wantonly fire at, or take the lives of natives, as such act would be considered a deliberate murder." Settlers who withdrew or kept back their assistance to the militia were to be "proceeded against as persons disobeying the rules and orders of the settlement."
In 1799 Lieutenant Thomas Hobby of the New South Wales Corps led a party of soldiers and settler against Aboriginal people in the Hawkesbury area on the understanding that his orders were to destroy Aboriginal people "wherever they were met with", with the exception of "native children who were domesticated among the settlers." Non 'domesticated' Aboriginal children were fair game.
In May 1801 Governor King went further issuing 'shoot on sight' orders. declaring that anyone in three districts around Sydney could fire at any "bodies of natives".
In Tasmania death squads took a number of forms. Private individuals, convicts and settlers formed vigilante squads. In 1827 Near Hadspen on the property of Thomas Beams, Aboriginal people surrounded his hut. In response to his firing at the Aboriginal people Beams' neighbours arrived on foot and horseback. A "war party" was organised and a search conducted. At 10 o'clock at night the glow of a fire was seen and the war party surrounded the Aboriginal encampment. At 3 am fourteen muskets opened fire, the camp was rushed and eleven Aboriginal people were killed. Only one escaped.
'Roving parties' were authorised by Governor Arthur. These parties were either military patrols made up of soldiers and convict police or civilian parties made up of convicts and led by men who provided their services in return for promises of grants of land. While they were mostly ineffective, or indeed counterproductive, they did kill Aboriginal people. In one such instance in 1829, a roving party led by John Batman, using Aboriginal trackers brought from the Sydney colony, came across a large Aboriginal camp of men, women and children at night. Their approach was disturbed by the camp dogs whereupon they opened fire and rushed the camp. They captured a woman and a child but the rest fled into the darkness. The next morning Batman's party found two badly wounded men and many blood trails. The wounded men informed them that ten others had been seriously wounded and were dead or dying and that two women had also been severely wounded and had crawled away. The wounded Aboriginal men were subsequently executed by Batman.
Military units carried out attacks upon sleeping Aboriginal groups. On 6 December 1828 elements of the 40th Regiment together with two constables, Danvers and Holmes, surrounded a group of Aboriginal people during the night at Tooms Lake. In a dawn attack they killed a number of Aboriginal people variously described as 'several' or ten or sixteen. The bodies were then placed in a pile and burned.
In the north-west of Tasmania a private corporation, the Van Diemen's Land Company, modelled on the British East India Company, what Adam Smith described as a "government of an exclusive company of merchants,... perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatever." became a law unto itself. The company's Chief Agent, Edward Curr, was also appointed the government magistrate, making him the sole arbiter of law for 200 kilometers in any direction. Curr described his belief that "a war of extermination" was underway, and later wrote that "My whole object was to kill them, and this because my full conviction was and is that the laws of nature and God and this country all conspired to render this my duty..."
In 1828, Curr sent four shepherds along with the captain of the cutter Fanny and its crew to carry out a massacre in response to the spearing of some sheep. A resident of Curr's homestead, Rosalie Hare, described in her journal "...while we remained at Circular Head there were several accounts of considerable amounts of Natives having been shot by them (the Company's men), they wishing to extirpate them entirely, if possible. The master of the Company's cutter Fanny, assisted by four shepherds and his crew, surprised a party and killed 12" This was quickly followed by the Cape Grim Massacre where Aboriginal people collecting shellfish on the beach at the base of a cliff were shot from the high ground by the company's servants. The company also employed booby traps such as spring loaded guns and steel jawed man traps, sometimes hidden in barrels of flour.
The culmination of these death squads was 'the Black Line', a 300 kilometre wide sweep which employed more than 2000 men over almost a two-month period from the 7th of October 1830 to the 26th of November. The strategy was designed as a battue to drive the remaining Aboriginal inhabitants into a cordon where they could be captured or killed. While Governor Arthur maintained that capture was the goal, those who participated and the press had no doubt that the only realistic recourse was to kill the remaining Aboriginal people. The former Attorney General wrote publicly that they were "about to enter upon a war of extermination, for such I apprehend is the intended object of the present operations." The serving Solicitor General concurred writing "If you cannot capture them...I say boldly and broadly, exterminate."
While the Black Line was an abject failure, manned by unmotivated conscript troops and convicts, hamstrung by incompetence, lack of supplies, bad weather and poor intelligence, ultimately, it failed because there simply was no enemy to kill. A year later, when George Augustus Robinson negotiated the final surrender of the eastern tribes and led them into Hobart Town all that remained was 19 men, nine women and one child. Within a few years they too would mostly be dead, killed by white man's diseases on their Flinders Island internment camp. The more than dozen tribes of the north west suffered a similar fate, having been virtually wiped out by the Van Diemen's Land Company by 1834, and of those tribes in the north east, by 1830 there were only 74 human beings left alive. Robinson wrote that "at every boat harbour along the whole line of the coast the bones of the murdered aborigines are strewed over the face of the earth and bleaching in the sun..." By 1835 the Aboriginal Peoples of Tasmania were virtually extinct. The extirpation of each tribe a completed genocide. Today, those Tasmanians who are of Aboriginal ancestry are almost exclusively the descendants of Aboriginal women and girls taken as slaves by sealers in Bass Strait.
As the frontier in New South Wales continued to expand the Crown sought to limit the unregulated spread of settlement. In 1929 the area of land that could be legally settled was expanded to nineteen counties stretching from the Bateman's Bay in the south to Taree in the north to Bathurst and Wellington in the west. Squatters simply ran their stock well beyond the settled counties. In 1836 Governor Bourke legalised this illegal fait accompli.by acknowledging squatter's rights to occupation if they paid ten pounds in annual rent. Skinner remarks that “The resulting Act (7 Wm. IV. No. 4) to restrain the unauthorized occupation of Crown Lands was equally a law to recognize and encourage legitimate grazing." Bourke mused that failing to take this land would be "a perverse rejection of the Bounty of Providence." This Bounty of Providence was, of course, Aboriginal land, and taking it necessitated violence.
Conflict came in the form of arbitrary killings, ad hoc death squads and the establishment of the Mounted Police and later the Native Police. At separation in 1859 the Native Police would become the Queensland Native Mounted Police, which would field death squads across the entire state for to following half century.
The Mounted Police were thought to have killed around 100 Aboriginal people in 1836 and another 65 in 1838. Richards writes that "...the Mounted Police exerted the Crown's monopoly over armed force on the frontier while maintaining the appearance of law. In other words, while described as a police force upholding the rule of law, the force actually resembled an army unit actively engaged with an enemy."
On 26 January 1838, on the newly expanded frontier, the military Mounted Police under Major James Nunn perpetrated a massacre of Aboriginal people south west of Moree at Waterloo Creek. This was the culmination of a two month long campaign to suppress Aboriginal resistance. At least fifty Aboriginal people were murdered. At the time the government funded missionary Lancelot Threlkeld published a report naming Nunn as a mass murdered responsible for the deaths of 200-300 Aboriginal people on the Gwydir and its tributaries.
This was followed on 10 June 1838 by the Myall Creek Massacre east of Moree, perpetrated by an ad hoc death squad composed of squatters and their stockmen. At least 28 Aboriginal people, women, children and the elderly, were shot, beheaded and dismembered before their bodies were burnt on a fire. The death squad then proceeded to another property near Inverell perpetrating a second massacre before returning to Myall Creek.
The Myall Creek Massacre became the only instance where white colonists were held accountable for mass murder. There were two trials. In the first an all white jury found them not guilty. Subsequently, seven of the original eleven defendants were re-tried on the charge of killing a child, found guilty and executed.
The Myall Creek Massacre trial was only made possible because the perpetrators had made a public resolution "to exterminate the whole race of blacks in that quarter" and some of their fellow settlers disagreed with the sentiment and informed the authorities.
In 1839 Governor Gipps, in an attempt to rein in atrocities being committed in the colony issued a strongly worded public proclamation pointing out the illegality of waging war against Aboriginal Peoples "As human beings partaking of our common nature -as the Aboriginal possessors of the soil from which the wealth of the country has been principally derived - and as subjects of the Queen, whose authority extends over every part of New Holland - the natives of the Colony have an equal right with the people of European origin to the protection and 'assistance of the law of England." ·
"To allow either to injure or oppress the other, or to permit the stronger to regard the weaker party as aliens with whom a war can exist, and against whom they may exercise belligerent rights, is not less inconsistent with the spirit of that Law, than it is at variance with the dictates of justice and humanity."
In response to the massacres and general lawlessness of the frontier Governor Gipps also introduced the Border Police Act "An Act further to restrain the unauthorised occupation of Crown Lands, and to provide the means of defraying the expense of the Border Police" and in 1841 a subsequent Act extended the force for another 5 years. While the Border Police, made up primarily of military convicts, proved relatively inconsequential for dealing with frontier violence, it laid the foundation for the establishment of the permanent Native Police in 1848.
In 1847/48 James Marks, a squatter whose son had been killed by Aboriginal people, possibly in response to Marks' "ruthless shooting of Aborigines" and the murder of an Aboriginal boy working for a neighbouring squatter, recruited white settlers to form a death squad. They were joined by two Constables, McGee and Hancock, on the orders of the Warialda Bench of Magistrates. Their killing spree centered on 'station blacks', Aboriginal people working for local squatters and the victims were almost exclusively women. The total number of victims is unknown but at least 47 were recorded to have been murdered.
Commissioner John Bligh wrote to the Colonial Secretary on 16 September 1848 stating that death squads were still carrying out murders. He wrote of theses fresh murders "It would seem that seven persons were concerned in these murders and the audacity of these people may be imagined from the circumstances of these attacks having taken place almost immediately on my leaving the Macintyre where I had been engaged for a fortnight in investigating the former murders at Mr Jonathan Young's and almost at the moment after my seizing one of the person's concerned in that business and issuing warrants for the arrest of the remainder.... These atrocious outrages appear to me to have been instigated partly by wanton brutality and desire of excitement and partly by a feeling of animosity against the Natives and those who employ them arising from the idea that the rate of wages is lowered by their unpaid services...(slavery)...From the statements of the Natives and the evidence now before me I cannot entertain a doubt of the guilt of the persons now in custody though I feel convinced that they will be regarded as martyrs by their fellows and that every effort will be used to protect them by false evidence from the consequences of their crime."
Despite a warrant being issued for Marks he was never arrested nor were any of the murderers successfully prosecuted. Frederick Walker wrote the Native Mounted Police was established because of Marks "an individual whose atrocities on the Macintyre first induced His Excellence to command me to raise the Native Police."
On 17 August 1848 Frederick 'Filibuster' Walker was duly appointed the first Commandant of the Native Police on the recommendation of William Charles Wentworth and Augustus Morris of the Legislative Council. Walker had been the manager of Morris' property, where he had proven himself by violently putting down Aboriginal people, and both had worked for Wentworth on the Murrumbidgee. It was on Morris' property, Callandoon, that Walker would initially establish the Mounted Police headquarters.
Copeland says that "his 'Callandoon Experiment' was a success for the squatters and a disaster for the local Bigambul people." By the time his 'experiment' was over only 100 Bigambul were left alive.
Walker's and the NMP's first engagement with Aboriginal people was on the Macintyre River. William Butler Tooth- who later was accused of slavery, "running an enforced black labour camp which compromised a number of inoffensive Manumbar natives" on his Widgee Widgee run- testified before the 1858 Select Committee "The blacks were so completely put down on that occasion and terrified at the power of the Police." Walker followed this up on the Severn River where he ambushed Aboriginal people and pursued them into thick scrub. A witness stated that "the number that they killed no one but their Commandant and themselves ever know." In June on the Condamine two further 'clashes' occurred. An unknown number of Aboriginal people were killed in the first engagement. Walker wrote that "they suffered so severely that they returned to their own country, a distance of eighty miles."
Near Carbucky on 1 July 1849, Walker and his troopers, together with squatters, surrounded and attacked local Aboriginal people. Walker wrote to the Colonial Secretary "I much regretted not having one hour more [of] daylight and I would have annihilated the lot,…" In this one engagement 100 Bigambul were killed.
Even at these early stages Walker's and the NMP's aggressive tactics provoked the Colonial Secretary to caution Walker "not to commit acts of aggressive warfare against the Aborigines and pointing out that the command of the Native Police Force had been entrusted to him for the maintenance of peace and not for the purpose of carrying war into the Aborigine's country.".
Walker, on a number of occasions, sought clarification of the legality of what he had been tasked to do. No such clarification was ever forthcoming. In 1839 Governor Gipps had insisted that all Aboriginal deaths resulting from clashes with Europeans must be subject to an inquiry. In 1850, the Colonial Secretary reiterated that Aboriginal deaths should be investigated, but now, by the officers commanding, the same officers who participated in the attacks. Attorney General Plunket refused to offer an opinion. Essentially, what happened in the field was to stay in the field.
When questioned by the Colonial Secretary about Marshall's shooting of Aboriginal people Walker responded that Marshall had only fired on them seven times in nine months and that these shooting had not been against one tribe in one area but against six different tribes, from 50 to 200 miles apart. These shootings may have been on a relatively small scale compared to other massacres but the numbers still add up to significant deaths and widespread terror. March 1850 on the Lower Condamine, 'killed a number'; July 1850, an Aboriginal man chased and killed; 8 August on the Severn, an Aboriginal man killed; April 1851, Marshall shot two men in the Mary River; Walker's patrol killed another near the Grafton Range; September 1851, two or three were killed; November, one shot; 2 October 1851, two shot, 7 October, two shot. These ones, twos and 'several' soon became dozens then hundreds then thousands.
By 1850/51 three troops of Native Mounted Police were in the Wide Bay area carrying out attacks on Aboriginal people at Widgee and Kilkivan with the participation of local squatters, Corfield, McTaggart and John Murray, who, in 1852, would become the fourth officer of the NMP, a career that would last 19 years and see Murray slaughter Aboriginal people across the state. Murray subsequently described the shooting in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald. He wrote that on 14 December, he participated in attacks led by Marshall and his troopers upon the Aboriginal owners of Widgee and Kilkivan. At the conclusion of the attacks, one lasting more than an hour, Murray stated that "the blacks suffered severely" and that they had been "taught a lesson which will show them their inferiority in war". The number of Aboriginal people killed is unknown.
Despite the Colonial Secretary's official remonstration against waging warfare, Christmas Eve 1851 saw the NMP field three troops under Walker, Marshall and Sgt Dolan together with squatters, storekeepers and the crew of the cutter Margaret and Mary, all sworn in as 'special constables' in a military style campaign against the Aboriginal Peoples of Fraser Island. The campaign lasted ten days and almost no details were released, Walker claimed that on the final assault he had stayed at camp because he was footsore. Local papers reported "...that the natives were driven into the sea, and kept there as long as daylight or life lasted..." and that subsequently the Aboriginal people of Fraser who had hitherto been friendly to shipwreck survivors had then become hostile.
It seems that the repeated missives from the Colonial Secretary had finally been heard. From this point on indiscretion on the part of his officers would invite the ire and sanction of Walker, but mass murder would not. To this end Walker introduced a rule- the first rule of the NMP- that no white man could accompany the NMP in the field unless they were sworn in as constables, and despite the Crown having enabled unsworn testimony to be accept in courts, it would not be until be until 1876 that the testimony of Aboriginal people would be admitted in law.
It is around this time that Frederick Walker and the NMP became victims of their own success. Walker, unlike many who would follow him, viewed the violence of the NMP as a means to an end, not an end in itself. As the genocidal slaughter on the Macintyre showed, Walker was completely comfortable waging war of aggression against the owners of the soil, but his war had a social and economic agenda.
As the frontier expanded and European pastoralists- and later miners- grabbed more and more land, Aboriginal Peoples were obviously going to resist. Walker, like a paternalistic slave owner, believed that resistance must be crushed swiftly and decisively but that once that was achieved Aboriginal peoples would then become a vitally important economic asset. Once the resistance was broken and Aboriginal People enslaved their free labour could provide a boon to pastoralists. To this end he repeatedly encouraged squatters to allow Aboriginal people onto their runs, something that many had refused to do before the presence of the NMP. He wrote of the success of this policy on the Macintyre, "a run which would not have fetched £100 in May, 1849, was disposed of in January, 1850, for £500, so much had property risen in value by the increased security of life and property."
One of the first beneficiaries of this strategy was Augustus Morris, Walker's friend, colleague and sponsor for the position of Commandant, who owned Callandoon station where the strategy had first been trialled. As a result of the success of the trial on Callandoon, Morris "used only Aboriginals as stockmen and Chinese as hut-keepers."
Unfortunately for Walker the success of his brutality on the Macintyre- and the brutality of Marks, the squatters and Europeans who felt displaced by free Aboriginal labour- had both raised the expectations of the squatters and the ire of the Colonial administration, Christians, and those favourably disposed towards Aboriginal Peoples. Cautions from the Colonial administration about ensuring that the activities of the NMP remained within the vague field of vision of the letter of the law now served as a brake upon wholesale slaughter, while the squatters demanded that the NMP be everywhere at once and then grew angry that Walker would not simply repeat the Macintyre solution in their district. The same squatters in the Wide Bay who had lauded his achievements in 1850 were condemning him and demanding the NMP be replaced by an outright military response in 1852.
While much is made of Walker's insobriety and financial irregularities (which were a product of his location beyond the metropolis and the incompetence of the Colonial administration as much as his own failings), his clashes with a local magistrates, disagreements with squatters, the small size of his force, rugged terrain and vast distances and conflicting expectations all contributed to his sacking. Turning up at the Board of Inquiry into his behaviour drunk as a skunk surrounded by a phalanx of armed NMP troopers probably didn't help, although the Board seemed to read the subtext as the inquiry was adjourned and never resumed.
Europe
Croatia
The Ustaše was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Movement (). Its members murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma as well as political dissidents in Yugoslavia during World War II.
France
The French military used death squads during the Algerian War (1954–1962).
Germany
Weimar Republic
Death squads first appeared in Germany following the end of the First World War and the overthrow of the House of Hohenzollern. In order to prevent a coup d'etat by Soviet-backed German Communists, the SPD-dominated government of the Weimar Republic declared a state of emergency and ordered the recruitment of war veterans into militias called the Freikorps. Although officially answering to Defense Minister Gustav Noske, the Freikorps tended to be drunken, trigger happy, and loyal only to their own commanders. However, they were instrumental in the defeat of the 1919 Spartacist Uprising and the annexation of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. The most famous victims of the Freikorps were the Communist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who were captured after the suppression of the Spartacist Uprising and shot without trial. After the Freikorps units turned against the Republic in the monarchist Kapp Putsch, many of the leaders were forced to flee abroad and the units were largely disbanded.
Some Freikorps veterans drifted into the ultra-nationalist Organisation Consul, which regarded the 1918 Armistice and the Versailles Treaty as treasonous and assassinated politicians who were associated with them. Among their victims were Matthias Erzberger and Walter Rathenau, both of whom were cabinet ministers in the Weimar regime.
In addition, the city of Munich remained a headquarters of Russian White émigré hit teams, which targeted those who were believed to have betrayed the Tsar. Their most infamous operation remains the 1922 attempt on the life of Russian Provisional Government statesman Pavel Miliukov in Berlin. When newspaper publisher Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov attempted to shield the intended victim, he was fatally shot by assassin Piotr Shabelsky-Bork.
During the same era, the Communist Party of Germany also operated its own assassination squads. Titled, the Rotfrontkämpferbund they carried out assassinations of carefully selected individuals from the Weimar regime as well as assassinations of members of rival political parties. The most infamous operations of Weimar-era Communist death squads remain the 1931 slayings of Berlin police Captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck. Those involved in the ambush either fled to the Soviet Union or were arrested and prosecuted. Among those to receive the death penalty was Max Matern, who was later glorified as a martyr by the East German State. The last surviving conspirator, former East German secret police head Erich Mielke, was belatedly tried and convicted for the murders in 1993. The evidence needed to successfully prosecute him had been found in his personal safe after German reunification.
Nazi Germany
Between 1933 and 1945, Germany was a one-party state ruled by the fascist Nazi Party and its leader, Adolf Hitler. During this period, the Nazis made extensive use of death squads and targeted killings.
In 1934, Hitler ordered the extrajudicial killings of Ernst Röhm and all members of the Sturmabteilung who remained loyal to him. Simultaneously, Hitler also ordered a mass purge of the German armed forces, targeting officers who, like General Kurt von Schleicher, had opposed his drive for absolute power. These massacres have gone down in history as, "The Night of the Long Knives."
Following the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the German military was followed by four travelling death squads called Einsatzgruppen to hunt down and kill Jews, Communists and other so-called undesirables in the occupied areas. This was the first of the massacres which comprised the Holocaust. Typically, the victims, who included women and children, were forcibly marched from their homes to open graves or ravines before being shot. Many others suffocated in specially designed poison trucks called gas vans. Between 1941 and 1944, the Einsatzgruppen killed some two million people, including about 1.3 million Jews, as well as tens of thousands of suspected political dissidents, most of the Polish upper class and intelligentsia, POWs, and uncounted numbers of Romany.
Another use of death squad tactics in Nazi Germany took place after the failure of the July 20th Plot, which had aimed to assassinate Hitler and dismantle the Nazi Party. More than 4,000 members and sympathizers of the German Resistance and their families were either killed out right or subjected to judicial murder by Judge Roland Freisler of the People's Court. Those whom Freisler sentenced to death were routinely hanged from piano wire nooses within hours of their trials.
These tactics ended only with the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
East Germany
Between the end of World War II and 1989, Germany was divided into the democratic and capitalist Federal Republic of Germany and the Communist German Democratic Republic, a one-party state under the Socialist Unity Party and its secret police, the Stasi. During these years, kangaroo courts and cavalier use of the death penalty were routinely used against suspected enemies of the State. In order to prevent East German citizens from defecting to the West, orders were issued to border guards to shoot suspected defectors on sight. During the 1980s, the Stasi carried out a mission to hunt down and assassinate West Germans who were suspected of smuggling East Germans.
On the orders of the Party leadership and Stasi chief Erich Mielke, the East German Government financed, armed, and trained, "urban guerrillas," from numerous countries. According to ex-Stasi Colonel Rainer Wiegand, ties to terrorist organizations were overseen by Markus Wolf and Department Three of the Stasi's foreign intelligence wing. Members of the West German Rote Armee Fraktion, the Chilean Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front, and the South African Umkhonto we Sizwe were brought to East Germany for training in the use of military hardware and, "the leadership role of the Party." Similar treatment was meted out to Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Abu Nidal, and Black September.
Other Stasi agents worked as military advisers to African Marxist guerrillas and the governments they later formed. They included the Namibian SWAPO and the Angolan MPLA during the South African Border War, the FRELIMO during the Mozambican War of Independence and civil war, and Robert Mugabe's ZANLA during the Rhodesian Bush War.
Colonel Wiegand revealed that Mielke and Wolf provided bodyguards from the Stasi's counter-terrorism division for Senior PLO terrorist Carlos the Jackal and Black September leader Abu Daoud during their visits to the GDR. Col. Wiegand had been sickened by the 1972 Munich massacre and was horrified that the GDR would treat the man who ordered it as an honored guest. When he protested, Wiegand was told that Abu Daoud was, "a friend of our country, a high-ranking political functionary," and that there was no proof that he was a terrorist.
During the 1980s, Wiegand secretly recruited a Libyan diplomat into spying on his colleagues. Wiegand's informant told him that the La Belle bombing and other terrorist attacks against western citizens were being planned at the Libyan Embassy in East Berlin. When Wiegand showed him a detailed report, Mielke informed the SED's Politburo, which ordered the Colonel to continue surveillance but not interfere with the plans of the Libyans.
Shortly before German Reunification, West Germany's Federal Constitutional Court indicted former Stasi chief Erich Mielke for collusion with two Red Army Faction terrorist attacks against U.S. military personnel. The first was the car bomb attack at Ramstein Air Base on 31 August 1981. The second was the attempted murder of United States Army General Frederick Kroesen at Heidelberg on 15 September 1981. The latter attack, which was carried out by RAF members Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar, involved firing an RPG-7 anti-tank rocket into the General's armored Mercedes. Due to reasons of senile dementia, Mielke was never placed on trial for either attack.
Federal Republic of Germany
Following German reunification, death squads linked to foreign intelligence services have continued to operate in Germany. The most infamous example of this remains the 1992 Mykonos restaurant assassinations, in which a group of anti-Islamist Iranians were fatally machine-gunned in a Greek restaurant in Berlin. A German court ultimately convicted the assassins and exposed the involvement of intelligence services of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The murder and subsequent trial has been publicized in the nonfiction bestseller The Assassins of the Turquois Palace by Roya Hakakian.
Hungary
For most of World War II, Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany. However, the Regency Council of Admiral Miklós Horthy refused to permit the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Nazi death camps.
Then, in October 1944, Horthy announced a cease-fire with the Allies and ordered the Hungarian Army to lay down their arms. In response, Nazi Germany launched Operation Panzerfaust, a covert operation which forced Horthy to abdicate in favour of the Fascist and militantly racist Arrow Cross Party, which was led by Ferenc Szálasi. This was followed by an Arrow Cross coup in Budapest on the same day. Szálasi was declared "Leader of the Nation" and prime minister of a "Government of National Unity".
Arrow Cross rule, despite lasting only three months, was brutal. Death squads killed as many as 38,000 Hungarians. Arrow Cross officers helped Adolf Eichmann re-activate the deportation proceedings from which the Jews of Budapest had previously been spared, sending some 80,000 Jews out of the city on slave labor details and many more straight to death camps. Many Jewish males of conscription age were already serving as slave labor for the Hungarian Army's Forced Labor Battalions. Most of them died, including many who were murdered outright after the end of the fighting as they were returning home. Quickly formed battalions raided the Yellow Star Houses and combed the streets, hunting down Jews claimed to be partisans and saboteurs since Jews attacked Arrow Cross squads at least six to eight times with gunfire. These approximately 200 Jews were taken to the bridges crossing the Danube, where they were shot and their bodies borne away by the waters of the river because many were attached to weights while they were handcuffed to each other in pairs.
Red Army troops reached the outskirts of the city in December 1944, and the Battle of Budapest began, although it has often been claimed that there is no proof that the Arrow Cross members and the Germans conspired to destroy the Budapest ghetto. Days before he fled the city, Arrow Cross Interior Minister Gabor Vájna commanded that streets and squares named after Jews be renamed.
As control of the city's institutions began to decay, the Arrow Cross trained their guns on the most helpless possible targets: patients in the beds of the city's two Jewish hospitals on Maros Street and Bethlen Square, and residents in the Jewish poorhouse on Alma Road. Arrow Cross members continually sought to raid the ghettos and Jewish concentration buildings; the majority of Budapest's Jews were saved only by a handful of Jewish leaders and foreign diplomats, most famously the Swedish Raoul Wallenberg, the Papal Nuncio Monsignor Angelo Rotta, Swiss Consul Carl Lutz and Francoist Spain's consul general, Giorgio Perlasca. Szálasi knew that the documents used by these diplomats to save Jews were invalid according to international law, but ordered that they be respected.
The Arrow Cross government effectively fell at the end of January 1945, when the Soviet Army took Pest and their enemies forces retreated across the Danube to Buda. Szálasi had escaped from Budapest on 11 December 1944, taking with him the Hungarian royal crown, while Arrow Cross members and German forces continued to fight a rear-guard action in the far west of Hungary until the end of the war in April 1945.
After the war, many of the Arrow Cross leaders were captured and tried for war crimes. Many were executed, including Ferenc Szálasi. Fr. András Kun, a Roman Catholic priest who commanded an Arrow Cross death squad while dressed in his cassock, was also convicted and hanged after the war. Fr. Kun's cassock remains on permanent display at the House of Terror in Budapest.
Ireland
Irish War of Independence
During the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Republican Army under Michael Collins made use of death squads and targeted killings. At the beginning of the conflict, Collins recruited a group of men from the IRA's Dublin Brigade, who were dubbed "The Twelve Apostles". At Collins' orders, the Twelve Apostles strategically assassinated members of Crown security forces, British intelligence spymasters, and moles within IRA ranks. Collins was assisted in this by IRA moles within Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Furthermore, several secretaries working for the British Army High Command in Dublin were also working as spies for Collins.
As British authority in Ireland began to disintegrate, Prime minister David Lloyd George declared a state of emergency. In order to defeat the IRA, Winston Churchill, the Secretary of State for War, suggested the recruitment of First World War veterans into paramilitary law enforcement. Lloyd George agreed to the proposal, and advertisements were filed in British newspapers. Groups of formerly enlisted men were formed into the Black and Tans, so called because of their mixture of British Army and police uniforms. Veterans who had held officers rank were formed into the Auxiliary Division, the members of which were higher paid and received better supplies. Members of both units, however, were despised by Irish civilians, against whom the "Tans" and "Auxies" routinely retaliated against for IRA raids and assassinations.
To make matters worse, it was also far from unheard of for the Regular army, the RIC, or the Dublin Metropolitan Police to use the same tactics. In many cases, mixed forces of army, policemen, and paramilitaries would abduct, torture, and summarily execute Irish civilians who were suspected of being connected with the IRA or IRA members. This further eroded support for British rule among the Irish populace.
On 20 March 1920, Tomás Mac Curtain, the nationalist Lord Mayor of Cork, was shot dead in front of his wife and son by a group of RIC officers with blackened faces.
Enraged, Collins ordered the Twelve Apostles to hunt down and assassinate every one of the RIC officers involved in Mac Curtain's murder. On 22 August 1920, RIC District Inspector Oswald Swanzy, who had ordered the assassination, was shot dead with Mac Curtain's revolver while leaving a Protestant church service in Lisburn, County Antrim. This sparked a "pogrom" against the Catholic residents of the town.
On Bloody Sunday, Collins' men set out to assassinate members of a British army intelligence group known as the Cairo Gang, killing or fatally wounding fifteen men, some of whom were unconnected to the Gang. In one incident, the IRA group was heard to scream, "May the Lord have mercy on your souls", before opening fire.
Collins later said of the incident,
My one intention was the destruction of the undesirables who continued to make miserable the lives of ordinary decent citizens. I have proof enough to assure myself of the atrocities which this gang of spies and informers have committed. If I had a second motive it was no more than a feeling such as I would have for a dangerous reptile. By their destruction the very air is made sweeter. For myself, my conscience is clear. There is no crime in detecting in wartime the spy and the informer. They have destroyed without trial. I have paid them back in their own coin.
That afternoon, British security forces opened fire into the crowd during a Gaelic football match at Croke Park, killing 14 and wounding 68 players and spectators.
The hostilities ended in 1921 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which guaranteed the independence of the Irish Free State.
Irish Civil War
After independence, Irish nationalist movement divided over the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which granted a partitioned Ireland Dominion status within the British Empire. Furthermore, all officials of the new Irish State were required to take an oath of allegiance to King George V.
As a result, the Irish Civil War was fought between those Irish nationalists who accepted the Treaty and those who considered it treasonous. Although fought between men who had recently served together against the British, the fighting was often without quarter and brutal atrocities were committed by both sides.
In IRA communications, the Irish State was referred to as,"The Imperial Gang", the "Murder Government", and as "a British-imposed Dáil". Therefore, Irish men and women who supported the Free State were regarded as traitors. At the orders of IRA Chief of Staff Liam Lynch, Anti-Treaty IRA began raising money for their cause via armed robbery of banks and post offices. On 30 November 1922, Liam Lynch issued what were dubbed the "orders of frightfulness", in which he ordered IRA members to assassinate members of the Irish Parliament, or Dáil Éireann, and Senators whenever possible. This General Order sanctioned the assassination of certain judges and newspaper editors. The IRA also launched a concerted arson campaign against the homes of members of the Dáil, or TDs. Among these attacks were the burning of the house of TD James McGarry, resulting in the death of his seven-year-old son and the murder of Free state minister Kevin O'Higgins elderly father and burning of his family home at Stradbally in early 1923.
After TD Sean Hales was assassinated, the Dáil began to treat the civil war as a state of emergency. They voted to retaliate by summarily executing four captured members of IRA Executive -- Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows, Richard Barrett and Joe McKelvey. After the motion passed, all four men were executed by firing squad on 8 December 1922. During the conflict, at least 73 other captured IRA men were treated in the same fashion—some following court martial, others without trial. There are no conclusive figures for the number of unofficial executions of captured IRA insurgents, but Republican officer Todd Andrews estimated 153. (see Executions during the Irish Civil War).
At the beginning of the Civil War, the Irish State formed a special counter-terrorism police, which was called the Criminal Investigation Department. Based in Dublin's Oriel House, the CID were despised by the Anti-Treaty IRA, which referred to them as "The Murder Gang". During the Battle of Dublin, the CID is known to have shot 25 Anti-Treaty militants, officially while, "resisting arrest." Ultimately, the Irish State disbanded CID upon the cessation of hostilities in 1923.
Despite the best efforts of the Anti-Treaty forces, both the Irish Army and the CID proved highly effective in both combat and intelligence work. One tactic involved placing IRA message couriers under surveillance, which routinely led the Irish security forces to senior members of the insurgency.
According to historian Tom Mahon, the Irish Civil War "effectively ended" on 10 April 1923, when the Irish Army tracked down and mortally wounded Liam Lynch during a skirmish in the Knockmealdown Mountains of County Tipperary. Twenty days later, Lynch's successor, Frank Aiken, gave the order to "Surrender and dump arms."
Russia
Russian Empire
The first organized use of death squad violence in Russia dates from the 16th century reign of Ivan the Terrible, the first Russian monarch to claim the title of Tsar. Named the Oprichniki, they wore quivers which contained brooms, symbolizing their mission to ferret the enemies of the Tsar. They dressed in black garb, which was similar to a Russian Orthodox monastic habit, and bore the insignia of a severed dog's head (to sniff out treason and the enemies of the Tsar) and a broom (to sweep them away). The dog's head was also symbolic of their "nipping at the heels of the Tsar's enemies." They were sometimes called the "Tsar's Dogs" on account of their loyalty to him. They also rode black horses in order to inspire a greater level of terror.
Their oath of allegiance was:
I swear to be true to the Lord, Grand Prince, and his realm, to the young Grand Princes, and to the Grand Princess, and not to maintain silence about any evil that I may know or have heard or may hear which is being contemplated against the Tsar, his realms, the young princes or the Tsaritsa. I swear also not to eat or drink with the zemshchina, and not to have anything in common with them. On this I kiss the cross.
Led by Malyuta Skuratov, the Oprichniki routinely tortured and executed whomever the Tsar suspected of treason, including boyars, merchants, clergymen, commoners, and even entire cities. The memoirs of Heinrich von Staden, provide a detailed description of both the Tsar's motivations and the inner workings of the Oprichniki.
The most famous victims of the Oprichniki remains Kyr Philip Kolychev, the Metropolitan bishop of Moscow. The Metropolitan gave a sermon in the Tsar's presence in which he rebuked Ivan for terrorizing and murdering large numbers of innocent people and their families. Enraged, Tsar Ivan convened a Church council which declared Metropolitan Philip defrocked and imprisoned in a monastery for delinquent clergy. Years later, Tsar Ivan sent an emissary demanding Metropolitan Philip's blessing on his plans for the Novgorod massacre. Metropolitan Philip said, "Only the good are blessed."
Enraged, Tsar Ivan sent Skuratov to personally strangle the Metropolitan in his monastic cell. Metropolitan Philip was subsequently glorified as a Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In later centuries, Russian Tsars would declare a state of emergency and use death squad tactics in order to suppress domestic uprisings like Pugachev's Rebellion and the Russian Revolution of 1905. During the latter, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia ordered the Imperial Russian Army to ally itself with the Black Hundreds, an ultra-nationalist paramilitary group. Those captured in arms against the Tsar's forces were tried by military tribunals before being hanged or shot. According to Simon Sebag Montefiore, being caught wearing similar clothing to Anti-Tsarist militias was often enough for court martial followed by execution. These tactics were continued by the anti-communist White Movement during the Russian Civil War (1917-1920).
Opponents of the House of Romanov also carried out targeted killings of those deemed as enemies of Socialism, which was referred to as individual terror. Among them were the People's Will, the Bolshevik Battle Squad, and the Combat Brigade of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Among the victims of Marxist death squads were Tsar Alexander II of Russia, the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, and the Georgian language poet and publisher Ilia Chavchavadze. These tactics were drastically accelerated following the October Revolution.
Soviet Union
Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the former Russian Empire spent 73 years as a one party state ruled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Especially between 1917 and 1953, the CPSU routinely ordered the abduction, torture, and execution of massive numbers of real and suspected anti-communists. Those with upper class origins were routinely targeted in this way during the early years of the Soviet Union.
Most of the repression was committed by the regular forces of the state, like the army and the police, but there were also many cases of clandestine and covert operations.
During the interwar period, the NKVD routinely targeted anti-Stalinists in the West for abduction or murder. Among them were the CPSU's former Commissar of War, Leon Trotsky, who was assassinated in Mexico City on 21 August 1940 by NKVD officer Ramon Mercador. Furthermore, former White Army Generals Alexander Kutepov and Evgeny Miller were abducted in Paris by the NKVD. Kutepov is alleged to have had a heart attack before he could be smuggled back to Moscow, and shot. General Miller was not so fortunate and died in Moscow's Lubianka Prison. Yevhen Konovalets, the founder of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, was blown to bits by NKVD officer Pavel Sudoplatov in Rotterdam on 23 May 1938.
In the post-war period, the Russian Orthodox Church collaborated with the Soviet State in a campaign to eliminate Eastern Rite Catholicism in the newly annexed regions of Soviet-ruled Ukraine. Priests and laity who refused to convert to Orthodoxy were either assassinated or deported to the GULAGs in Karaganda. On 27 October 1947, the NKVD staged a car accident in order to assassinate the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Bishop Theodore Romzha of Mukachevo. When the "accident" failed to kill the Bishop, the NKVD poisoned him in his hospital bed on 1 November 1947.
Even in the post-Stalin era, the Soviet secret police continued to assassinate anti-communists in the West. Two of the most notable victims were Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian nationalists who were assassinated by the KGB in Munich, West Germany. Both deaths were believed to be accidental until 1961, when their murderer, Bohdan Stashynsky, defected to the West with his wife and voluntarily surrendered to West German authorities.
Russian Federation
The Russian military has been accused of using death squads against Chechen insurgents. After defecting to the United States in October, 2000, Sergei Tretyakov, an SVR agent, accused the Government of the Russian Federation of following Soviet-era practices by routinely assassinating its critics abroad.
Spain
Prior to World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union fought a war by proxy during the Spanish Civil War. There were death squads used by both the Falangists and Republicans during this conflict. Prominent victims of the era's death squad violence include the poet Federico García Lorca, José Robles, and journalist Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. (see also Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War).
The Republican death squads were heavily staffed by members of Joseph Stalin's OGPU and targeted members of the Catholic clergy and the Spanish nobility for assassination (see Red Terror).
According to author Donald Rayfield,
Stalin, Yezhov, and Beria distrusted Soviet participants in the Spanish war. Military advisors like Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, journalists like Koltsov were open to infection by the heresies, especially Trotsky's, prevalent among the Republic's supporters. NKVD agents sent to Spain were therefore keener on abducting and murdering anti-Stalinists among Republican leaders and International Brigade commanders than on fighting Franco. The defeat of the Republic, in Stalin's eyes, was caused not by the NKVD's diversionary efforts, but by the treachery of the heretics.
John Dos Passos later wrote,
I have come to think, especially since my trip to Spain, that civil liberties must be protected at every stage. In Spain I am sure that the introduction of GPU methods by the Communists did as much harm as their tank men, pilots and experienced military men did good. The trouble with an all powerful secret police in the hands of fanatics, or of anybody, is that once it gets started there's no stopping it until it has corrupted the whole body politic.
The ranks of the Republican assassination squads included Erich Mielke, the future head of the East German Ministry of State Security. Walter Janka, a veteran of the Republican forces who remembers him described Mielke's career as follows,
While I was fighting at the front, shooting at the Fascists, Mielke served in the rear, shooting Trotskyites and Anarchists.
In the modern era, death squads, including the Batallón Vasco Español, Triple A, Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL) were illegally set up by officials within the Spanish government to fight ETA. They were active from 1975 until 1987, operating under Spanish Socialist Workers' Party cabinets from 1982.
United Kingdom
During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, accusations of collusion between the British state and Loyalist terror groups had been longstanding, with several army units implicated in accusations of collusion. The Military Reaction Force (MRF) was a covert intelligence-gathering unit of the British Army active in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a former member described it as a "legalised death squad". Another former MRF soldier said: "If you had a player who was a well-known shooter who carried out quite a lot of assassinations... then he had to be taken out. [They were] killers themselves, and they had no mercy for anybody."
During the 30 years of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) have also been accused of operating such squads. Suspected informers were dealt with by the IRA's Internal Security Unit, which carried out an investigation and interrogated the suspects. Following this a court martial would take place, with any death sentence needing to be ratified by the IRA Army Council.
Yugoslavia
The Srebrenica Massacre, also known as the Srebrenica Genocide, was the July 1995 killing of an estimated 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the ethnic cleansing of 1,000–2,000 refugees in the area of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić during the Bosnian War. In addition to the VRS, a paramilitary unit from Serbia known as the Scorpions participated in the massacre.
In Potočari, some of the executions were carried out at night under arc lights, and industrial bulldozers then pushed the bodies into mass graves. According to evidence collected from Bosniaks by French policeman Jean-René Ruez, some were buried alive; he also heard testimony describing Serb forces killing and torturing refugees at will, streets littered with corpses, people committing suicide to avoid having their noses, lips and ears chopped off, and adults being forced to watch the soldiers kill their children.
In 2004, in a unanimous ruling on the "Prosecutor v. Krstić" case, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) located in The Hague ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was genocide.
Middle East
Egypt
The Iron Guard of Egypt was a pro-palace political movement or a secret palace organization which assassinated Farouk of Egypt's enemies or a secret unit with a licence to kill, which was believed to personally take orders from Farouk. It was involved in several deadly incidents.
Iran
Under the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1941–1979) the SAVAK (Security and Intelligence Service) was founded. During the 1960s and 70s, it was accused of using death squads. After the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah, Amnesty International continued to complain of human rights abuses in Iran. Suspected foes of the Ayatollah Khomeini, were imprisoned, tortured, tried by kangaroo courts, and executed. The most famous victim of the era's death squad violence remains Amir-Abbas Hoveida, a Prime Minister of Iran under the Shah. However, the same treatment was also meted out to senior officers in the Iranian military. Other cases exist of Iranians opposed to the Islamic Republic who have been tracked down and murdered abroad. One of the most notorious examples of this remains the 1992 Mykonos restaurant assassinations in Berlin, Germany.
The Iranian government's victims include civilians who have been killed by "death squads" that operate under the control of government agents but these killing operations have been denied by the Iranian government. This was particularly the case during the 1990s when more than 80 writers, translators, poets, political activists, and ordinary citizens who had been critical of the government in some way, disappeared or were found murdered. In 1983 the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) gave one of the leaders of Iran Khomeini information on Communist KGB agents in Iran. This information was almost certainly used. Later, The Iranian regime occasionally used death squads throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. However, by the 2000s, it seems to have almost if not entirely ceased its operations. This partial Westernization of the country can be seen as paralleling similar events in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Northern Iraq beginning in the late 1990s.
Iraq
Iraq was formed by the British from three provinces of the Ottoman Empire following the empire's breakup after World War I. Its population is overwhelmingly Muslim but is divided into Shiites and Sunnis, with a Kurdish minority in the north. The new state leadership in the capital of Baghdad was formerly composed of, for the most part, the old Sunni Arab elite.
After Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the secular socialist Baathist leadership were replaced with a provisional and later constitutional government that included leadership roles for the Shia and Kurds. This paralleled the development of ethnic militias by the Shia, Sunni, and the Kurdish Peshmerga.
During the course of the Iraq War the country has increasingly become divided into three zones: a Kurdish ethnic zone to the north, a Sunni center and the Shia ethnic zone to the south.
While all three groups have operated death squads,
in the national capital of Baghdad some members of the now Shia police department and army formed unofficial, unsanctioned, but long tolerated death squads. They possibly have links to the Interior Ministry and are popularly known as the 'black crows'. These groups operated either by night or by day. They usually arrested people, then either tortured or killed them.
The victims of these attacks were predominantly young males who had probably been suspected of being members of the Sunni insurgency. Agitators such as Abdul Razaq al-Na'as, Dr. Abdullateef al-Mayah, and Dr. Wissam Al-Hashimi have also been killed. Women and children have also been arrested or killed. Some of these killings have also been simple robberies or other criminal activities.
A feature in a May 2005 issue of the magazine of The New York Times accused the U.S. military of modelling the "Wolf Brigade", the Iraqi interior ministry police commandos, on the death squads that were used in the 1980s to crush the Marxist insurgency in El Salvador.
In 2004, the US dispatched James Steele as an envoy and special training adviser to the Iraqi Special Police Commandos who were later accused of torture and death squad activities. Steele had served in El Salvador in the 1980s, where he helped train government units involved in human rights violations death squads in their war against the FMLNF.
Lebanon
Death squads were active during the civil war from 1975 to 1990. The number of people who disappeared during the conflict is put around 17,000. Groups like Hezbollah have used death squads and elite wings to terrorize opponents and ISIS members.
Saudi Arabia
Turkey
Grey Wolves (organization) was established by Colonel Alparslan Türkeş in the 1960s, it was the main nationalist force during the political violence in 1976–80 in Turkey. During this period, the organization became a "death squad" engaged in "street killings and gunbattles". According to authorities, 220 of its members carried out 694 murders of left-wing and liberal activists and intellectuals. Attacks on university students were commonplace. They killed hundreds of Alevis in the Maraş massacre of 1978 and are alleged to have been behind the Taksim Square massacre of 1977. The masterminds behind the attempt on Pope John Paul II's life in 1981 by Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca were not identified and the organization's role remains unclear.
Human rights groups
Many human rights organisations like Amnesty International are campaigning against extrajudicial punishment along with the UN.
See also
Arbitrary arrest and detention
Manhunt (military)
Midnight Man (TV serial)
Outlaw
Salvador Option
Assassination
Vigilante
Agencies
DIM of Venezuela
DINA of Chile
Einsatzgruppen of Nazi Germany
PIDE of Portugal
Securitate of the Socialist Republic of Romania
Secretaría de Inteligencia|SIDE of Argentina
Stasi of East Germany
SNI
SULFA
ZOMO of the Polish People's Republic
References
Sources
Further reading
Death squad: The anthropology of state terror Jeffrey Sluka (ed), University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
Death squads in global perspective: Murder with deniability Bruce Campbell and Arthur Brenner (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, 2003
The political economy of death squads: Toward a theory of the impact of state-sanctioned terror T David Mason and Dale A Krane, International Studies Quarterly (33: 2), 1989, pp. 175–198
Jallad: Death squads and state terror in South Asia Tasneem Khalil, Pluto Press, 2015
Secret killings of Assam: The Horror Tales from the Land of Red River and Blue Hills Mrinal Talukdar, Utpal Borpujari, Kaushik Deka, Nanda Talukdar Foundation, 2009
External links
Escadrons de la mort, l'école française (Death Squads, the French School – video in French, with Spanish subtitles)
Astonishing Discovery of Remains of Guatemalan Death Squad Diary Victims
Extrajudicial killings by type
Law enforcement units
National security
Political repression
Secret police
Counter-terrorism
Paramilitary organizations
Terrorism tactics
Human rights abuses
War crimes by type
Dirty wars
Politicides
Enforced disappearance
State-sponsored terrorism |
48946860 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy-supplying%20system%20calls | Entropy-supplying system calls | Entropy-supplying system calls are system calls in Unix-like operating system kernels through which processes can obtain entropic or random data. The first of these was getentropy, introduced to the OpenBSD operating system in release 5.6 (November 2014), as a refactoring of the sysctl(3) KERN_ARND approach used since 1997. Linux offers a very similar system call, getrandom, which was based on getentropy. It was first available in Linux 3.17, released in October 2014. In July 2015, Solaris introduced slightly modified versions of getentropy and getrandom. In August 2015, FreeBSD introduced the read_random system call for obtaining random data from the kernel.
These system calls allow processes to access quality random data without opening and reading from randomness pseudo-devices.
Microsoft Windows' CryptGenRandom and Apple iOS's SecRandom API are very similar. However, they are not implemented as system calls.
Motivation
Traditionally, Unix-like operating systems supply random data through two pseudo-devices: /dev/random and /dev/urandom. However, safely and reliably reading random data from these devices can be difficult and complicated. For example, an attacker could interfere with a process's access to the pseudo-devices by opening all available file descriptors, or through a similar form of resource exhaustion attack. The use of these devices also interferes with privilege revocation. Unprivileged processes are often denied the ability to open and read files and devices, and the randomness devices are not even visible to chrooted processes.
The difficulty of using randomness pseudo-devices often leads developers to use standard library functions instead. Some of these, such as the C programming language's rand(), POSIX's random(), and drand48(), are very unsafe when used for cryptography or similar applications, because these algorithms are actually deterministic, having been intentionally crippled to satisfy seed-reuse requirements through the interfaces srand(), srandom(), and srand48().
A significant difference exists between these calls: getentropy() guarantees that random numbers will be returned
immediately, without any blocking. It requires operating support which guarantees random data stream initialization at the earliest opportunity. To encourage other operating systems follow this model, getentropy() cannot indicate errors to the application. Other calls described here may return errors instead, or block indeterminately. Such blocking semantics have been implicated in significant problems.
As security becomes a more widespread priority in software development, quality randomness is used more often and in more contexts. Because of this, providing quality randomness is increasingly considered a core responsibility of the kernel. System calls are the traditional interface through which a process uses core kernel services, and kernels are therefore supporting accessing randomness through system calls.
Usage
Because it is faster and adds another layer of entropy mixing, it is usually suggested that processes use these syscalls' data through a userspace cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) rather than assigning the retrieved data directly to variables. For this purpose, OpenBSD's C standard library includes the function arc4random, which programs are expected to call when they need random data. Like getentropy, arc4random also may not block nor return an error.
This approach allows a program to fetch less entropy from the kernel without reducing the strength of its random data. The getentropy system call is designed based on this assumption, supplying no more than 256 bytes per call.
See also
Random number generation
References
External links
A system call for random numbers: getrandom(), LWN.net, 23 July 2014, by Jake Edge
System calls |
288526 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILife | ILife | iLife is a discontinued software suite for macOS and iOS developed by Apple Inc. It consists of various programs for media creation, organization, editing and publishing. At various times, it included: iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, iWeb, and GarageBand. Only iMovie and GarageBand remain and are now freely available on Apple's Mac App Store. iDVD and iWeb have been discontinued while iTunes and iPhoto have been succeeded by Music and Photos respectively.
iLife was preinstalled on new Mac computers and was previously also sold as a bundle on DVD. With the introduction of the Mac App Store, Apple discontinued the DVD bundle and turned to selling the apps separately. Photos, the app that superseded iPhoto, is now an essential part of macOS, while iMovie and GarageBand, although they ship pre-installed on any new Mac computer or iOS device, can be uninstalled if not needed. Updates for iLife apps purchased on the Mac App Store are available for free, while the pre-App Store model required buying the entire suite when a new version had been released.
Origins
iMovie has the longest legacy of the applications included with iLife. It was marketed by Apple as an easy-to-use video editing application that allowed novice users to quickly create professional-quality movies. The first version of the software was released in October 1999 and bundled with the iMac DV. On April 28, 2000, Apple began allowing users to download iMovie free of charge from its website. iMovie remained free until 2003, when it became part of the first iLife release, which was sold for $49. Apple continued to update and develop the existing iMovie software until the release of iLife '08 in 2007, when a new version, iMovie '08, was released. iMovie '08 was completely rewritten as a new application and introduced significant changes to the user interface.
iPhoto was the second application in iLife that began as a free application available for download from Apple's website. The first version of iPhoto was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo January 3, 2002, and released January 7, 2002. It was billed as being the "missing link" in photography. In addition to allowing users to import, organize, and perform basic edits on their photos, iPhoto also let users print photos in a variety of ways, including as a bound book. Subsequent versions of iPhoto have added a number of features, including automatic organization by events, faces (using facial recognition technology), and places. iPhoto also includes a full-screen editing mode and a feature called "Photocasting" (a way to share photos with others directly from within iPhoto).
iDVD was first announced on January 9, 2001. It was bundled with the Power Mac G4, the first Mac model with a SuperDrive that could read and write both CDs and DVDs. The first version of iDVD introduced a simple way to design customized DVDs with menus, backdrops, slideshows and home movies that could be played back on most DVD players. iDVD was never released as a download. Instead, it was bundled with the first version of iLife, released in 2003.
The remaining two applications in the iLife suite were first introduced as part of iLife '04 and iLife '06, respectively. Released in 2004, the first version of GarageBand was designed as an easy way for both beginner and advanced musicians to create and edit music on their computers. iWeb was introduced at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 10, 2006 and was promoted as a way for Mac users to create their own professionally designed websites without having to know or write HTML or any other code. The last version of iWeb was released with iLife '11.
On January 6, 2011, iLife '11 was made available to purchase on the Mac App Store. From October 22, 2013, iLife '13 was made available for free download on the Mac App Store.
After iPhoto was discontinued in 2015, newest versions of GarageBand and iMovie, the only remaining components of iLife suite, became distributed separately on the Mac App Store, making iLife suite itself discontinued.
Releases and history
Notes about specific releases:
iLife '06: This was the last release to include iTunes. It now comes with every Mac computer and account, as well as every Apple device (i.e. iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple TV).
iLife '08: This release included a completely reprogrammed iMovie with a new user interface which omitted some of the features of the previous version. In response to criticism, Apple released iMovie HD 6 as a free download to anyone who purchased this version of iLife.
iLife '09: With this release of iLife the free download of iMovie HD 6 was discontinued.
iLife '11: PowerPC Macs are not compatible with iLife '11. Although iLife '11 originally supported Snow Leopard, the latest updates to iPhoto 9 and iMovie 9 require Yosemite, and GarageBand requires Mavericks.
Current Components
iMovie
iMovie is a digital video editor. The process of film capture by a digital camera via FireWire is automated, with iMovie allowing users to split up their videos, add titles and special effects, and reorganize them into movies. It is also compatible with MPEG 4 cameras, AVCHD camcorders, HDV cameras, and Apple's iSight webcams. Photographs may also be used, and a soundtrack may be added using tracks from the user's iTunes music library. These can then be exported into a variety of viewable formats, including the .mov format used by Apple's QuickTime Player.
GarageBand
GarageBand is a music and podcast creation application that includes over 1,000 pre-recorded audio loops for use in projects. The program also supports software instruments and importation from real instruments, such as guitars and keyboards.
Discontinued Components
iPhoto
iPhoto was an application that allowed users to store, view, edit, and share their digital photos. Users could organize their photos in a number of ways. Events automatically grouped photos taken around the same time. Faces uses facial recognition to identify photos containing faces, which can then be tagged by users and sorted according to who is in the photo. Places takes advantage of geotagging technology. Many cameras today embed metadata into their digital photos containing information about the location where the photo was taken. Places allowed users to browse and see their photos on a map. iPhoto included tools to crop photos, reduce red-eye, add effects such as sepia and black and white, and to adjust the exposure, saturation, contrast and black and white balance of photos. In addition, users could have their photos printed, create books (hard bound copies of which can be ordered), calendars and greetings cards. As of April 8, 2015, Apple discontinued and removed iPhoto from the Mac App Store with the release of the new Photos app bundled with OS X Yosemite 10.10.3. As of 2017, iPhoto was unable to sync with iCloud but Photos can.
iDVD
iDVD, integrated with iMovie, allows the burning of movies onto a DVD and the user to customize their DVD with custom menus based on themes (many of which make use of the content of the movies) and custom chapter points. It contains the MPEG-2 encoder functionality needed to produce DVD-compatible content. Each new version added more menu themes. In iLife '09 and iLife '11, iDVD was not updated (with the exception of a few bug fixes). There is no support for Blu-ray disc burning in the current version of iDVD. As of July 20, 2011, Apple discontinued iDVD and it is neither included with new Apple computers nor for sale.
iWeb
iWeb, released at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 10, 2006, provided the ability to easily turn content from the other iLife applications into websites using Apple-designed templates with one-click uploading to Apple's MobileMe sharing service. iWeb also allowed users to create links to their own podcasts and photocasts from the webpage. iWeb was the latest addition to the iLife suite when it was discontinued in June 2011. As of July 20, 2011, Apple discontinued iWeb and it is no longer included with new Apple computers nor for sale.
MobileMe Web Gallery
MobileMe Web Gallery was a feature designed for easy photo sharing from directly within the iLife suite. It allowed users to create events or photo albums using the Web Gallery feature of their MobileMe account, and permitted visitors to a user's Gallery to view the photos. As of July 1, 2012 MobileMe and its Gallery was discontinued.
See also
iWork – Apple-exclusive productivity suite
MobileMe – a former online service integrated with some iLife features
Windows Live
List of Macintosh software
References
Apple Inc. software
Multimedia production software suites
Classic Mac OS software
ITunes
1999 software
Computer-related introductions in 1999 |
33234255 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana%20Software%20License%20Enforcement%20Act | Louisiana Software License Enforcement Act | The Louisiana Software License Enforcement Act refers to the Software License Enforcement Act (SLEA) adopted by the state of Louisiana. The bill was voted into law in September 1984 under Title 51 (Trade and Commerce) of the Louisiana Revised Statutes by the Louisiana State Legislature. Sponsored and mostly written by Vault Corporation, the SLEA defines the permissible terms and conditions of a software license agreement and the requirements for enforceability. The reverse engineering, decompiling or disassembling provision of the Louisiana SLEA was invalidated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruling in Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software, Ltd., 847 F.2d 255 (5th Cir. 1988).
Summary of act
The Louisiana SLEA consists of sections 1961-1966 of Title 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, which outlines and specifies: relevant definitions, requirements for enforceability, accepted licensing terms, proper display of licensing terms, and enforceability.
Under section 1963, a software license agreement can only be enforced if the following conditions are met:
The end user can clearly read a software license notice on the software packaging.
The software license notice indicates that by opening the package or using the software the end user accepts the terms of the enclosed license agreement.
The notice states that the software may be returned if the end user does not accept the license agreement.
Under section 1964, the terms of a software license agreement can enable the licensor to retain ownership of a licensed software copy. If retained, the agreement may also include the following limitations of the end user's ability:
To reproduce/replicate the licensed software copy.
To modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, and/or develop derivative works of the licensed software copy.
To further transfer, assign, rent, sell, or otherwise dispose of a licensed software copy.
In addition, the licensor may automatically terminate the software license agreement without notice if any provision of the agreement was breached by the licensee.
Road to becoming law
The Louisiana SLEA was first announced at Softcon in New Orleans by Louisiana Secretary of State James H. Brown during a press conference sponsored by Vault Corporation.
Vault Corporation's, a company that developed software protection systems (anti-piracy tools), Chairman Krag Brotby was attributed to saying, "[Vault] helped write most of the bill...and that the announcement was timed to coincide with Softcon coming to New Orleans." Brotby predicted that the law would provide a model for the other 49 states; Vault Corp. had invested $50,000 in an effort to push the bill.
The SLEA was introduced to the Louisiana State Legislature by State Senator William Atkins and Representative Al Ater. Supporters of the bill hoped it would encourage the growth of the software industry in Louisiana. It passed with minimal opposition in September 1984. Louisiana was the first state to adopt the SLEA, and the only state to adopt the bill as written by Vault Corporation. The bill was criticized for being, "a special-interest legislation designed to improve the economic position of software manufacturers without doing anything of substance to challenge software piracy," Jay BloomBecker.
Role in Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd.
The Louisiana SLEA was first examined in court when Vault Corporation sued Quaid Software Ltd. for copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and patent infringement. Vault argued that Quaid's actions in decompiling and disassembling PROLOK constituted a violation of the software license agreement. Therefore, by Louisiana's Software License Enforce Act, Quaid would be in violation of the Louisiana Uniform Trade Secret Act for trade secret misappropriation.
In Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software Ltd., 655 F.Supp. 750 (US District Court, E.D. Louisiana 1987), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that the SLEA was preempted by the Copyright Act, because, "Louisiana's License Act 'touched upon the area' of federal copyright law." Upon appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling. Thus, the Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1963:4 provision for reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling, was invalidated.
References
External links
Louisiana Revised Statutes
Software Enforcement Act - Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1961
Software Enforcement Act - Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1962
Software Enforcement Act - Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1963
Software Enforcement Act - Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1964
Software Enforcement Act - Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1965
Software Enforcement Act - Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:1966
Computing legislation
Louisiana statutes |
391352 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate-based%20encryption | Certificate-based encryption | Certificate-based encryption is a system in which a certificate authority uses ID-based cryptography to produce a certificate. This system gives the users both implicit and explicit certification, the certificate can be used as a conventional certificate (for signatures, etc.), but also implicitly for the purpose of encryption.
Example
A user Alice can doubly encrypt a message using another user's (Bob) public key and his (Bob's) identity.
This means that the user (Bob) cannot decrypt it without a currently valid certificate and also that the certificate authority cannot decrypt the message as they don't have the user's private key (i.e., there is no implicit escrow as with ID-based cryptography, as the double encryption means they cannot decrypt it solely with the information they have).Certificate is the trust between two parties.
Key revocation
Key revocation can be added to the system by requiring a new certificate to be issued as frequently as the level of security requires. Because the certificate is "public information", it does not need to be transmitted over a secret channel. The downside of this is the requirement for regular communication between users and the certificate authority, which means the certificate authority is more vulnerable to electronic attacks (such as denial-of-service attacks) and also that such attacks could effectively stop the system from working. This risk can be partially but not completely reduced by having a hierarchy of multiple certificate authorities.
Practical applications
The best example of practical use of certificate-based encryption is Content Scrambling System (CSS), which is used to encode DVD movies in such a way as to make them playable only in a part of the world where they are sold. However, the fact that the region decryption key is stored on the hardware level in the DVD players substantially weakens this form of protection.
See also
X.509
Certificate server
References
Craig Gentry, Certificate-Based Encryption and the Certificate Revocation Problem, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pp. 272 – 293, 2003 .
WhatsApp end-to-end data encryption
Public-key cryptography
Identity-based cryptography
Digital rights management systems |
41337449 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoFEM%20JosePH | MoFEM JosePH | MoFEM (Mesh Orientated Finite Element Method) is an open source finite element analysis code developed and maintained at the University of Glasgow. MoFEM is tailored for the solution of multi-physics problems with arbitrary levels of approximation, different levels of mesh refinement and optimised for high-performance computing. MoFEM is the blend of the Boost (C++ libraries) MultiIndex containers, MOAB (Mesh Oriented Database) and PETSc (Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computation). MoFEM is developed in C++ and it is open-source software under the GNU Lesser General Public License (GPL).
Motivation
Building a scientific simulation environment for finite element methods is a complicated task. The longest part of finite element code development is in dealing with technical problems related to software implementation, rather than resolving the underlying physics that the code is intended to tackle.
The demand for accurate solutions of increasingly complicated real-world problems means that the underlying data structures also become increasingly complicated. This is particularly evident with multi-physics, hp-adaptivity, and/or evolving geometries (e.g. crack propagation). Established commercial software is often limited in this respect, or can be relatively slow to adopt new innovations. Working around these problems has been the main motivation for the development of MoFEM, recognising that it is increasingly necessary for engineers, scientists and mathematicians to carry out calculations using several mesh refinements, different approximation orders, multiple degrees of freedom and/or different scales.
History
MoFEM evolved from YAFEMS (2008), a general and open source finite element code developed at the University of Glasgow.
In 2013 YAFEMS was re-written from scratch and named MoFEM. MoFEM was initiated by two projects. EPSRC founded a project for Providing Confidence in Durable Composites (DURACOMP) in a consortium of three institutions: University of Warwick, University of Glasgow, Newcastle University and several industrial partners. The second project was funded by IAA-EPSRC: Simulation of fracture in nuclear graphite: from academic setting to commercial application and EDF Energy.
Main features
Solves various linear and nonlinear problems from structural, thermal and fluid mechanics
Efficient parallel processing support based on domain decomposition and message passing paradigms.
Direct as well as iterative solvers are available. Interfaces to PETSc third party linear, nonlinear at time dependent solvers.
Adaptive mesh refinement base on edge based refinement algorithm
Supports hierarchical approximation basis for L2, H1, H-div and H-curl spaces
Calculate stress intensity factors and crack propagation based on configurational mechanics
Arbitrary Lagrangian Formulation with Mesh Smoothing Algorithms based on Volume-Length quality tetrahedral element measure with barrier
License
MoFEM is free, open source software, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation.
References
External links
MoFEM Bitbucket Repository
MOAB
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Finite element software
Scientific simulation software
Free computer-aided design software
Free software programmed in C++
Computational physics
Free science software
Finite element software for Linux
University of Glasgow |
3374228 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%20Help%20Viewer | Apple Help Viewer | Help Viewer is a WebKit based HTML viewer for macOS aimed at displaying help files and other documentation. It is found in . The default file extension is ".help". Help index files are generated with Help Indexer. macOS applications typically use Help Viewer to display their help content, rather than a custom system.
Help Viewer's implementation in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) found its way to Rob Griffiths' list of Leopard criticisms, because Apple changed the software from a standalone application with a standard window interface to one with a floating window that always appears in front of all other application windows, obscuring the interface for which one is seeking help (see image below).
Although one can close or minimize the Help Viewer window, it is difficult to consult the Help Viewer while simultaneously working with the application, short of changing the size of windows so both fit on the screen.
The Help Viewer window also does not work with the Exposé window management feature (Mission Control in OS X 10.7 or later). There is a workaround using the defaults command accessible in the Terminal.
Notes
MacOS
MacOS-only software made by Apple Inc.
Online help |
5544986 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingress%20router | Ingress router | An "ingress router" is a Label Switch Router that is a starting point (source) for a given Label Switched Path (LSP). An ingress router may be an egress router or an intermediate router for any other LSP(s). Hence the role of ingress and egress routers is LSP specific. Usually, the MPLS label is attached with an IP packet at the ingress router and removed at the egress router, whereas label swapping is performed on the intermediate routers. However, in special cases (such as LSP Hierarchy in RFC 4206, LSP Stitching and MPLS local protection) the ingress router could be pushing label in label stack of an already existing MPLS packet (instead of an IP packet). Note that, although the ingress router is the starting point of an LSP, it may or may not be the source of the under-lying IP packets.
MPLS networking |
48497479 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life%20Is%20Strange%202 | Life Is Strange 2 | Life Is Strange 2 is an episodic graphic adventure game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. Its five episodes were released between September 2018 and December 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One and later for macOS and Linux. The game is a mainline sequel in the Life Is Strange series, featuring the story of Sean and Daniel, two Hispanic American brothers as they travel along the US West Coast as fugitives from the police after the younger brother discovers his telekinetic abilities. In the game, which is played from a third-person perspective, Sean must make crucial decisions that will lead to different branches in the storyline, while serving as a surrogate parent for Daniel.
Following the unexpected success of the original game, development of the sequel started in 2016 after the team completed the retail edition of the first game. The primary creative team behind the original returned for the sequel. The team chose a road movie structure in contrast to the original game, and was inspired by films and novels like Into the Wild and Of Mice and Men. While the game features supernatural elements, the story is mostly grounded in reality, and the team used the opportunity to explore contemporary social issues such as racism, gun violence, and bigotry. The game was announced in 2017 and Dontnod released a free demo, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, in 2018 in order to introduce the new setting.
The game received generally positive reviews upon release. Critics praised the story, the relationship between Sean and Daniel, and the choice-based gameplay, while reception of the portrayed political themes was divergent. The sparse episodic release schedule and the dialogue were criticized. It received nominations for multiple year-end accolades. The series' next mainline game, Life Is Strange: True Colors, which was developed by Deck Nine, was released in September 2021 while Dontnod shifted its focus to develop their own intellectual properties.
Gameplay
Life Is Strange 2 is a graphic adventure game played from a third-person view. The player takes control of a teenager named Sean Diaz (Gonzalo Martin), who is on the run with his younger brother, Daniel (Roman Dean George), following a tragic incident. Throughout the game, the two brothers encounter various non-playable characters who interact with Sean via dialogue trees. Sean must make choices during crucial moments of the game, which lead to different branches in the storyline. Sean's actions and interactions with Daniel in particular affect Daniel's morality and the state of brotherhood between the two characters. For instance, encouraging Daniel to be rude will prompt him to swear more later in the game. Daniel will grow to resent Sean if his actions do not align with his advice, and he may no longer follow Sean's lead if he is not able to maintain an adequate level of brotherhood with Daniel. Staying morally sound and being a caring and trusting brother may not always be compatible with each other in the scenarios presented in the game. The game tracks how many players selected which option and lets the player compare their choices to the rest of the player base. While the main events of the story remain the same regardless of the player's decision, the game features several different endings.
Sean can interact with the environment and obtain objects, which can then be stored in Sean's backpack and used later. When Sean picks up an object, he will comment on them, providing players the backstory for each item and adding context to the world. Sean's backpack can also be decorated with souvenirs he collects in the world. As Sean and Daniel explore various locations, Sean can also enjoy moments of calmness at designated locations and sketch the environment around him.
Plot
In 2016, 16-year-old Sean Diaz lives with his 9-year-old brother Daniel and father Esteban (Amador Plascencia) in Seattle, after Sean's mother Karen (Jolene Andersen) left them following Daniel's birth. The day the game begins, Sean intervenes when their neighbor Brett (Robert Shearer) harasses Daniel, inadvertently injuring Brett as a police officer passes by. Esteban arrives at the scene and is shot and killed by the officer. A sudden explosion damages the environment, and Sean flees with Daniel before more police arrive. Now fugitives, Sean aims to take them to their father's Mexican hometown of Puerto Lobos. Near Mount Rainier, the brothers are recognized by the owner of a gas station, but escape with the help of travel blogger Brody Holloway (Bolen Walker). Brody arranges a motel room for the brothers, where Daniel learns of Esteban's death and becomes angry, revealing he has latent telekinetic abilities that were the cause of the explosion in Seattle.
The brothers then spend a month at an abandoned cabin, where Sean helps train Daniel's ability. After Daniel falls ill, Sean decides to take him to their maternal grandparents, Claire (Nancy Cronig) and Stephen Reynolds (John O'Connell), in nearby Beaver Creek, Oregon. At Beaver Creek, Claire and Stephen accept the brothers, despite resenting Karen's abandonment. Daniel also befriends Chris (Chandler Mantione), an imaginative boy that lives next door, after using his powers to save him from falling from his treehouse; Chris comes to think he has superpowers. Daniel coerces Sean into breaking into Karen's old room to learn more about her. The police soon arrive on word that Sean and Daniel have been sighted in public or traced by making a phone call. Claire, Stephen, and Chris then help the brothers to escape.
Sean and Daniel join freighthoppers Finn (Matthew Gallenstein) and Cassidy (Sarah J. Bartholomew) traveling to California, and the four secure paying jobs at a cannabis farm in Humboldt County, California for a cultivator named Merrill (Ben Jurand). Sean spends more time with their new friends, leaving Daniel frustrated with being unable to show his powers. One payday, Merrill discovers Daniel snooping around, resulting in Daniel revealing his powers to the others and Merrill refusing to pay the group. Finn secretly coerces or Sean accepts his plan for Daniel to use his powers to steal money from Merrill. The heist fails and Merrill threatens them with a shotgun. In a panic rage, Daniel destroys Merrill's house with his powers, knocking out everyone else and causing Sean's left eye to be impaled.
Sean wakes from a coma two months later under FBI custody. He finds a letter from Jacob (David Valdes), one of the farmworkers, which states Jacob found Daniel after the accident and took him to his hometown of Haven Point, Nevada. Sean escapes from custody and travels to Haven Point. There, he finds Daniel has been taken in by Lisbeth (Victoria Hansen), the leader of a religious cult who is presenting Daniel's powers as a divine gift to convert her followers. After an initial attempt to recover Daniel, Sean meets Karen, whom Jacob had also contacted for help. Sean and Karen begin to reconnect and establish a plan with Jacob to save him. They ultimately convince Daniel to come with them, but Karen may burn down the church in the process.
Sean and Daniel travel with Karen to the secluded community of Away, Arizona, where Sean makes the last arrangements to cross into Mexico. Sean befriends David Madsen (D.W. McCann), a former security officer from Arcadia Bay, Oregon, who suggests that Sean turn himself over to the authorities for a better outcome for him and Daniel. Authorities have tracked their location, but Karen allows her sons to escape by staying behind to be arrested. They arrive at the Mexico–United States barrier, which Daniel breaks open with his powers. Before they can cross, Daniel is wounded by a bullet from two vigilantes, and the group is soon captured by the local police. Daniel breaks Sean out of interrogation and the two flee to a Mexican port of entry, but find it blockaded by FBI and United States Border Patrol agents.
Sean must decide whether to surrender or attempt to cross the border, with the outcome depending on whether he raised Daniel with high or low societal morality through his past choices. If Sean chooses to surrender, he is either taken into custody while Daniel lives with Claire and Stephen before a reunion fifteen years later after Sean is released from prison, or he is killed when Daniel forces them to cross the border which causes Daniel to grow up in Puerto Lobos alone and become a career criminal. If Sean chooses to cross the border, he will cross into Mexico with help from Daniel, who then either surrenders to the FBI and lives with Claire and Stephen while Sean lives in Puerto Lobos either alone or with Cassidy or Finn, or stays with Sean in crossing the border where the brothers open a garage in Puerto Lobos like their father had and use Daniel's powers to become career criminals.
Development
Life Is Strange 2 was developed by French developer Dontnod Entertainment, which started the game's production after it shipped the retail edition of the first game in 2016. It was decided early that the sequel would feature a cast of new characters, with director Michel Koch likening the franchise to TV series such as True Detective or American Horror Story in 2015. The development team believed that the franchise was about common people that players can relate to, and stories that are grounded in reality and reflective of the player's own experience. By introducing new characters, the team can try something different and explore different themes. According to the team, the story of Max and Chloe (the protagonists of the first game) has already been completed. David, a returning character, makes a small appearance in Episode 5. The team included him in the sequel because he always survives the events of the first game and that through him, players can discover "little hints" regarding the fate of Max and Chloe. The team avoids giving too many details about their fates, as the first game does not have a canon ending and featuring them too heavily in the story may displease fans who are heavily invested in fan fiction. David's appearance helps connect the sequel to the first game without confusing new audiences.
Unlike the first game, which is set in one place, Life Is Strange 2 is structured like a road movie. The team did not want to develop a retread of the first game, and wanted the sequel to significantly deviate from the original's formula. The team was inspired by films and novels such as Into the Wild, Stand By Me, Of Mice and Men, and On the Road. Dontnod conducted field research on the West Coast of the United States, meeting people and taking pictures. The drifters (Finn and Cassidy) featured in the game were inspired by the photography of Mike Brodie, a freighthopper who took photos of the people he had encountered throughout his journey, and his book A Period of Juvenile Prosperity. In particular, his series of photos about a child who grew up on the road served as the foundation of the game's characters who become "outcasts living on the outskirts of society". The team hoped that through exploring their stories, they can show players that there are many ways for people to live their lives.
Writing the characters was a challenge for lead writer Jean Luc-Cano. Unlike the first game, which gives an ample amount of time for characters to develop, characters in the sequel have to be introduced quickly due to the road film structure. The players must decide if they should trust these characters within a short period of time. Like the first game, animal symbolism is featured heavily in this game, as the team believed that these animal symbols and metaphors help to "[bring] something visual for players". The story was first written in French by a team led by Cano, and the script was then passed to American writer Christian Divine who helped refine its tone and accuracy.
One of the game's main themes is education: Sean must be a role model for Daniel, who will learn from Sean and follow what he does. Ultimately, Daniel's actions and personality are tied to the player's decisions throughout the game. While Daniel's telekinetic powers are not the game's focus, its inclusion allows players to understand the consequences of their actions, such as how Daniel utilizes his powers is directly linked to how Sean nurtures him. The game's ending is reflective of what Daniel learns from Sean throughout the five episodes. The team did not create a perfect ending for the characters because such an ending is often non-existent in the real world. To ensure that the educational aspect of the game is genuine, the team read books and documents produced by psychologists and sociologists to gain more insight. The team also spent an extensive amount of time developing Daniel's artificial intelligence to ensure that he is "believable, sensible, and sometimes super-cute". The developers recognised that brotherly bonding is rarely perfect and relationships between siblings can be tense. Sean, as a teenager, wants to find people around him to develop his own life and does not want his younger brother around him. Throughout the game, players need to balance Sean's personal interests, like spending time with the new characters Sean meets, with caring for Daniel. The team spent a lot of time finding the right balance to ensure that the relationship between the two brothers are not obnoxious and that players do not grow to dislike Sean as the story progresses. Cano used his own personal experience interacting with his elder brother and daughter while developing the brotherhood relationship between Sean and Daniel, as well as the educational aspect of the game.
As the story is grounded in reality, the team explored various real-world social issues such as racism, alcoholism, gun violence, and bigotry. While the game takes place in the United States, director Raoul Barbet states that these problems are universal and their depictions in the game allow players to reflect on their own experiences. He adds that the team did not want to "gamify a difficult subject", and worked to ensure that characters evolve naturally throughout the story. Superpowers were included to add a sense of urgency. The team wanted the story to inspire players to "talk more to other people when they meet someone that's different from them". They also hoped that players would ultimately feel a sense of loss when the story concludes, as they would have related to the experiences of Sean and Daniel. The team worked to show that the world is a violent one, as they believed that brotherhood between the two protagonists can develop as they face various adversities together. Homelessness is also one of the game's main themes, and the team consulted various charity organisations to ensure that its portrayal was accurate. In November 2019, Square Enix collaborated with charity Centrepoint for their We Will Be Heard campaign about awareness of services for young homeless people.
The game also introduces various gameplay improvements. Players are no longer locked in a cutscene while interacting with people or objects, and Sean can now walk around while conversing with others. The game uses Unreal Engine 4 and has improved lip syncing and facial animation compared to the original. Jonathan Morali returned to compose the score for the sequel. The music contains both original and licensed tracks. Licensed tracks include, among others, songs from Phoenix, The Streets, Sufjan Stevens, and First Aid Kit.
Release
Dontnod announced that the studio was working on a new Life Is Strange game in May 2017 via a short video. Prior to the reveal of the game, Dontnod released The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit in June 2018, which serves as an introduction to the new scenario and features a character from the game named Chris. The game was officially unveiled on 20 August 2018 by Dontnod and publisher Square Enix. Similar to the first game, Life Is Strange 2 adopted an episodic release format. According to Dontnod, the game had a more complicated development due to its road film structure, as each episode features a new set of characters and new environments. They could not reuse assets created for earlier episodes, and had to organize auditions and castings for each episode. The episodes took longer to develop when compared to the first game, resulting in a more sparse release schedule, which the team believed may have affected players' investment in the story and the characters, possibly resulting in a more muted audience response when compared to the first game. Retail editions of the game were released in Europe on 3 December 2019 and in North America on 4 February 2020. Feral Interactive released all five episodes for macOS and Linux on 19 December 2019. On 18 September 2020, Episode 1: Roads was made free for all platforms.
Reception
Critical reception
The game received "generally positive reviews"—except for PC version, which was met with "mixed or average reviews"—according to review aggregator Metacritic. Its portrayal of Hispanic Americans and relation to racial issues in the US was debated.
The game's themes received generally positive reviews. In their complete season review, The Verge's Andrew Webster described the game as a powerful and compelling experience, and believed that it is a rare video game that tackles the realities of modern life. Webster described the game as a "powerful statement about American politics during a very tense time". Washington Posts Elise Favis lauded its incorporation of political themes for enriching the story and prompting players to empathize with the characters, adding that it brings "a nuance to the world and a reflection of the real lives of others in modern America". Caty McCarthy from USgamer described the game as an earnest attempt by Dontnod to explore contempoarily American social issues, but she was disappointed by its execution. She added that as the season progresses, the exploration of these issues becomes formulaic. Alistair Jones from PC Gamer believed that the game's focus on political and social issues compromised its central themes, such as family and brotherhood. Gita Jackson from Kotaku praised the game for being heartfelt, adding that in each episode, the game "pleads with you to care about the kinds of people you’d normally overlook". However, Joe Juba from Game Informer described the side characters as stereotypical, and remarked that some of the encounters were "contrived".
The game's story received generally positive reviews from critics. McCarthy remarked that the game is at its best when Daniel and Sean are bonding with each other. While she lamented that other side characters have limited roles, she was able to relate to the experiences of the two brothers and often eagerly anticipated where the story takes them. She further praised the choice-based gameplay for being "tangible", as Daniel's behaviors and actions are the embodiment of the choices Sean has made. Joshua Rivera, also from Kotaku, described the game as a "heartbreakingly accurate brotherhood simulator" due to the educational themes in the game. Ozzie Mejia from Shacknews described the education aspect of the game as its most captivating element. He praised how small choices contributed to the game's endings, and remarked that it was a significant improvement over the first game. Tom Phillips, writing for Eurogamer, also enjoyed guiding the two characters throughout the season, adding that each plot thread helps enhance and progress Daniel and Sean' relationship. According to Phillips, the game "marks a more intimate and accomplished return for a studio keen to tackle tough issues with honest characters". VentureBeats Dean Takahashi likewise applauded the character and the setting, calling them real and interesting, but remarked that Daniel has an annoying personality. Jones, however, believed that the road trip structure rendered most of the choices made within an episode meaningless, as Sean and Daniel will move on from a location and most characters would not be seen again. He was also critical of the main gameplay mechanic being effectively out of the player's hands.
Webster enjoyed the quiet scenes featured in the game and applauded Dontnod for finding a balance between drama and peaceful moments. He added that this pacing made the game "powerful without being exhausting". Dylan Burns from IGN agreed, adding that by slowing down the story to offer times that are more contemplative, the game manages to create beautiful and memorable moments. Takahashi, however, remarked that the slow moments can be so slow that they grind the game to a halt. Jackson noted that the dialogue was a marked improvement over the first game, though it still had the original's "almost embarrassing earnestness", while Meija praised the voice cast for making the most out of a script that can occasionally be "cheesy". Juba remarked the dialogue and the performance can be "stilted" at times, though it did not stop him from caring for Sean and Daniel. He further applauded Dontnod for successfully creating relatable characters. Jones believed that the sparse episodic release format was detrimental to the game's narrative pacing, remarking that much of the story happens off-screen, and it can be difficult for players to remain engaged.
Heather Wald of GamesRadar+ said Episode 1 was a "slow start", while having well-constructed moments do not "hang together particularly well". In response to Episode 2, GameStars Maurice Weber said the episode did not have enough momentum to delight him, while having dramatic story elements and difficult decisions in the right moments. Weber's view is that the game's biggest issue is its predecessor and that while at its best it comes close to its predecessor, the game doesn't consistent play in its class. Writing for Game Informer, Elise Favis said Episode 3 has an explosive conclusion but "painfully stereotypical" characters and poor pacing. GameSpots Jess McDonell said Episode 4 has exceptional character development, but the storyline feels cliche and the episode's villain "two-dimensional". JeuxVideo said the final episode is a strong one and while having at least as much contemplation as interactivity, swings between pure levity and the worst of humans.
Accolades
Future
In a 2019 interview, Dontnod Entertainment expressed interest in the future of the franchise while noting they would opt for new characters again, but explained that the rights belong to Square Enix and that decisions on the future of the franchise lay with them.
Dontnod has since shifted their focus to develop their own intellectual properties in recent years according to a 2021 article. The series' next mainline entry, Life Is Strange: True Colors, was developed by Life Is Strange: Before the Storm studio Deck Nine. The game removes the episodic format and was released in full in September 2021.
References
Notes
References
External links
2018 video games
Adventure games
Episodic video games
Interactive movie video games
LGBT-related video games
Life Is Strange
Linux games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation Network games
Single-player video games
Square Enix games
Unreal Engine games
Video game sequels
Video games developed in France
Video games scored by Jonathan Morali
Video games set in 2016
Video games set in Arizona
Video games set in California
Video games set in Mexico
Video games set in Nevada
Video games set in Oregon
Video games set in Seattle
Video games set in Washington (state)
Windows games
Xbox One games |
44695684 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman%20Go | Hitman Go | Hitman Go is a turn-based puzzle video game developed by Square Enix Montreal and published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. Announced in February 2014, the game was released for iOS in April 2014 and for Android in June 2014. Windows and Windows Phone versions were released the following year in April 2015. In February 2016, a "Definitive Edition" version was released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and on Linux and Windows via Steam. It is the first game developed by Square Enix Montreal, a studio founded in 2011. Development entered full production in 2013 and was completed by eleven people using the Unity game engine.
The player guides Agent 47, protagonist of the Hitman franchise, through a series of grid-based levels. Levels are composed of nodes and lines, and presented like a board game with characters modelled as miniature figures. Enemy characters can be dispatched by moving onto the node they occupy during a turn, similar to chess. As the player advances through levels, new enemy types and mechanics are introduced to increase the complexity of puzzle solutions.
Following its announcement, Hitman Go was met with some scepticism from critics. However, the game received a positive reception with praise for the art, aesthetics, simple gameplay mechanics, and translation of Hitman to a mobile device. It also received several nominations and awards from gaming publications and award organisations. A successor set within the Tomb Raider franchise, titled Lara Croft Go, was released in August 2015.
Gameplay
Hitman Go is a turn-based puzzle video game part of the Hitman video game series. In the game each level is set on a grid-based board composed of interconnected nodes and lines. Nodes are positions that the player or enemies can occupy and lines are used for moving between nodes during a turn. Players take control of the series' protagonist, Agent 47. Using touchscreen controls, during a turn the player swipes along a line in the direction they want Agent 47 to move. In the "Definitive Edition" on PC, swiping is replaced by a click, hold, and drag interaction with a mouse. Once the player completes a turn, all enemies on the board will simultaneously move. Each level has a main objective for completion, such as guiding Agent 47 to the end node or assassinating a specific target. The player can assassinate enemies by moving onto the target's node, and similarly the player can be killed by enemies that move onto the player's node.
Levels become more complex as the player progresses, introducing different mechanics and new types of enemies. Each enemy type is dressed in a unique colour, allowing the player to recognise their movement patterns. Some enemies remain static or rotate on a single node, while others will patrol the board along a specific route. Later stages may require the player to collect keys located on the board and unlock doors that block access to the level objective. Trapdoors connect one location on the board to another and allow the player to move between them during a turn. Some nodes contain potted plants, the player will not be detected while occupying these nodes. Coloured disguises can be found and equipped to let the player walk past an enemy type of that colour without being detected. There are throwable objects that are used to disrupt and change enemy behaviour patterns. Firearms can also be found on certain levels, they are used to shoot targets or obstacles from a distance.
Most levels have bonus objectives such as collecting a briefcase or finishing the level without killing anyone, completing these will reward the player with stars. Stars are used to unlock the next chapter of levels. The game launched with five different chapters, one of which was inspired by a level from Hitman: Blood Money. Post-launch, two additional chapters were added, one based upon a level from Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. The game features in-app purchases which provide hints to the puzzles or unlock level chapters immediately.
Development and release
Hitman Go was developed by Canadian video game studio Square Enix Montreal. It is the first game from the developer, which was founded in late 2011 by employees of existing Square Enix Europe studios. Upon establishment, the studio announced that their first project would be a new video game in the Hitman franchise. The studio's original aspiration was creating triple-A console games within the series and expanding to a team size of 150 people. After a year, while the team was still expanding, the console game was cancelled and the studio shifted its focus to mobile games. This transition led to around one third of the staff leaving the development team.
During the concept phase there were four people working on the Hitman Go. Initial prototypes were built on paper using printed out characters. The project was pitched and greenlit for production in mid 2013. Daniel Lutz served as creative director, and the team size peaked at eleven people throughout the remainder of the game's development. The studio looked at several different engines for building the game, but opted with Unity early on as it had a low barrier of entry, provided support for the main mobile platforms, and some members of the development team had previous experience creating projects in the game engine. An initial working prototype and a basic level editor were developed in a few days and after two weeks the first version of the game was presented to the remainder of the studio.
While designing Hitman Go, Lutz and his team considered some specific factors such as the game's price, gameplay time, the brand, the genre, the audience's expectation, production restraints, and the business model. Speaking about that game's genre, Lutz noted that the team could have developed an endless running game for Hitman. However, they thought that this style of game did not align with the series' values and would not be well received by its audience. Instead, they felt that translating Hitman into a board game was more appropriate as it gave players time to think and plan before executing moves. This fell in line with the idea of Hitman being a "thinking man’s game". Designers tested a feature that would let players lie in wait for targets, similar to the mainline Hitman games. This feature was cut from the final version for gameplay reasons as it allowed players to kill any target on the board and prevented the puzzles from working as intended. The artistic inspiration for the game was drawn from architectural models and dioramas. Characters were created in fixed poses without any limb animations, like chess pieces. Instead of creating detailed textures which requires additional memory, the artists chose to use colour swatches so that most characters shared materials. This method allowed them to use a variety of colours for characters without incurring many draw calls. The team chose not include dialogue, cutscenes, or a heavy narrative structure in the game, citing that people often play video games in short sessions on mobile devices.
Hitman Go was announced in February 2014. It was released for iOS on April 17, 2014, and Android on June 4, 2014. Microsoft Windows and Windows Phone versions were released on April 27, 2015. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015, virtual reality (VR) technology company Oculus VR showcased a version of Hitman Go for the Samsung Gear VR device. On December 5, 2015, at the PlayStation Experience, Hitman Go was announced for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita with a 2016 release date. This version was released on February 23, 2016, as the "Definitive Edition", which includes improved visuals and all additional content. The "Definitive Edition" was also released on Linux and Windows via the Steam storefront.
Reception
Hitman Go received "generally favorable" reviews from professional critics, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Several reviewers noted that they were sceptical about the idea of Hitman departing from its roots in third-person stealth action and taking form as a mobile puzzle game, but upon playing the game admitted that it was a pleasant and creative take on the franchise.
The game's visual presentation and board game aesthetic were widely praised. Joystiq editor, Anthony John Agnello thought the colouring and motif of Hitman Go was more appealing than the visual design employed in Hitman: Absolution. He highlighted the level selection screen and use of board game boxes in the menus as positives. Writing for Destructoid, Brittany Vincent also expressed approval of the clean menus and user interface icons, and thought that the game levels resembled dollhouses. Eurogamer and IGN writers compared the character design to miniature board game pieces. The simplicity of the gameplay mechanics and minimalistic approach were praised by Polygon reviewer Arthur Gies. He believed that Hitman Go brilliantly captured and expressed elements of the series through the use of a sophisticated board game. Joystiq reviewer, Agnello called Hitman Go an impressive debut title for Square Enix Montreal and said that the play style suited touch-based devices. Reviewers complimented the replay value and challenge found in completing the additional bonus objectives.
One aspect of the game's design that drew criticism was that limitations of the grid system had led to a lack of paths available to complete a level. While Gies of Polygon thought that the mechanics of distraction and murder had been interpreted well in the board game setup, he was disappointed that some levels could not be completed without killing non-target guards. Vincent of Destructoid also shared this opinion, disappointed that an element core to the Hitman series had been stripped away. Both Eurogamer and IGN writers thought that the in-app purchases were overpriced but remarked that they could be easily ignored when level solutions are so regularly shared on the Internet. Reviewing the "Definitive Edition", Phil Savage of PC Gamer stressed that the PC version failed to cover up its mobile roots. He found the click and drag mouse interaction to be less than ideal but still complimented the game's aesthetics and gameplay. GameSpot writer Mat Paget was left dismayed with the VR version of Hitman Go. He felt that the game failed to offer the escapism he expected from a virtual reality game. While he admitted the game itself was excellent, he dissuaded readers from purchasing the VR version remarking that it was not worth the hassle.
Hitman Go received two nominations—Best Visual Design, Best Mobile Game—at the 2014 Golden Joystiq Awards, and in 2015 the game was nominated in two categories—Debut Game, Mobile & Handheld—at the 11th British Academy Games Awards. GameSpot and IGN both listed Hitman Go as a nominee for Best Mobile Game of 2014 in their end of year lists. The game also received two awards in the Best Game Design and Best iOS Game categories at the 2014 Canadian Videogame Awards. At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards Hitman Go received a nomination for the category Game, Special Class.
Successors
At E3 2015, Square Enix Montreal announced Lara Croft Go, a successor to Hitman Go set within the Tomb Raider universe. It was released on August 27, 2015. In the game, players use touchscreen controls to move Lara Croft around a level composed of nodes and lines. While the core mechanics and design are similar to Hitman Go, the developers did not want Lara Croft Go to feel like a re-skin, so an emphasis has been placed on the puzzle-driven exploration and gameplay elements of the Tomb Raider brand. The following year, Square Enix Montreal announced a similar title Deus Ex Go, based on the Deus Ex series.
References
External links
2014 video games
Android (operating system) games
Go
IOS games
Linux games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation Vita games
Puzzle video games
Single-player video games
Square Enix games
Video games developed in Canada
Windows games
Windows Phone games
Oculus Rift games
Samsung Gear VR games |
6183190 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Ghost%20in%20the%20Shell%20characters | List of Ghost in the Shell characters | This is a list of fictional characters in the Ghost in the Shell media franchise created by Masamune Shirow.
Public Security Section 9 members
Section Chief Directors
Chief Daisuke Aramaki
Voiced by: Tamio Oki (Japanese, films), Osamu Saka (Japanese, Stand Alone Complex), Ikkyu Juku (Japanese; ARISE); William Frederick Knight (English; films, Stand Alone Complex TV series, Bandai Visual dub; 1997 game, 2004 game, 2005 game), Russell Roberts (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub), Rik Thomas (English; Stand Alone Complex, Animax Asia dub), John Swasey (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
Portrayed by: "Beat" Takeshi Kitano (2017 film)
is the Chief Executive Director of Public Security Section 9.
In Stand Alone Complex, Lt. Col. Aramaki is a strict chief, and is informally referred to by Section 9 agents as the "old ape" (most likely because in the original manga he was drawn with a face that appeared to be half monkey, half man). Even so, he is fiercely loyal to the members of Section 9, and often puts his own career on the line to ensure the survival of the rest of his team.
In 2nd GIG, Aramaki uses his political connections and no small amount of bargaining with the new prime minister to get Section 9 reinstated. He is shown to have a disconnected brother of similar age in the Dejima with the refugees, and in Solid State Society it is implied that he is the student of a once-feared military general, as well as that he was once married.
It is revealed in Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell that Aramaki, together with Togusa, are the only fully human members of Section 9 (aside from a cyberbrain).
In the Stand Alone Complex Visual Book released by Hobby Japan, Aramaki's hair was poked at for fun in one comic strip when Batou makes some comments about it. Aramaki lifts his hair to reveal metallic parts, possibly for his cyberbrain. This incident freaked Batou out.
Near the end of Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG, Aramaki's missing brother, , appears to Kuze and asks him what he intends to do with the refugees. He was last seen in the last episode helping the refugees evacuate to the Dejima bridge via small boats.
The Solid State Society film reveals that he was estranged from his mentor Colonel Tonoda whom he helped to put in prison (like his character does in the course of the original G.I.T.S manga) sometime before the SAC series began, and that he was actually married at one point.
Aramaki's physical appearance looks almost exactly like that of the character "Dusty the coffin maker" in the 1968 Spaghetti Western: If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death.
Lead Investigators
Major Motoko Kusanagi
Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese, ARISE); Mimi Woods (English; first film, 1997 game), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English; second film, Stand Alone Complex TV series, Bandai Visual dub; 2004 game, 2005 game, First Assault Online), Alison Matthews (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub), Andrea Kwan (English; Stand Alone Complex, Animax Asia dub), Elizabeth Maxwell (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
Portrayed by: Scarlett Johansson (2017 film)
is a cyborgnetic counter-cyberterrorist field commander in the employ of "Public Security Section 9", a fictional division of the real Japanese National Public Safety Commission, as the squad leader and lead investigator.
Batou
Voiced by: Akio Otsuka (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Kenichiro Matsuda (Japanese; ARISE); Richard Epcar (English; films, Stand Alone Complex TV Series, Bandai Visual dub; 1997 game, 2004 game, 2005 game, First Assault Online), David Kaye (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub), Russell Wait (English; Stand Alone Complex, Animax Asia dub), Christopher Sabat (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
Portrayed by: Pilou Asbæk (2017 film)
is the lead investigator and main male character in the Ghost in the Shell series. Recruited from the Rangers, Batou is the second best melee fighter in Section 9 and is the second-in-command under Major Motoko Kusanagi. In the movie adaptations of Shirow's manga, Batou is a direct representation of Mamoru Oshii's opinions, views, and feelings that are presented throughout the story.
Although not officially stated, he seems to jointly hold the position of 3rd in command with Ishikawa. He served in the military with Motoko and Ishikawa (under both of them), and has cybernetic eyes that are used by Rangers, improved strength from cybernetic arms, legs, and also contains other unlisted parts (these parts are not stated, but rather implied). He primarily does field work with Togusa, and takes point for the Major on serious occasions.
Batou keeps his private life away from work and his background are mostly unknown. He also gave his favorite Tachikoma an unapproved, non-synthetic oil until the Major caught him. In the first Stand Alone Complex series, the Laughing Man hacked into his eyes so that Batou could not see him. According with Tachikomatic Days of episode 21 (Season 1), he has a can of beer after his bath and he takes out his eyes before going to sleep. Batou is also a chain smoker. He also cares for a cloned basset hound named Gabriel, and Oshii himself possesses a female basset hound named Gabriel. Stand Alone Complex character designer Hajime Shimomura said that Batou's image was based on the Minotaur.
Batou often uses up his paycheck buying muscle training equipment for the upper body, which others find useless, considering his extensive number of cyborg parts (mainly torso and arms). In the first season of Stand Alone Complex, it is inferred that he uses it to remind himself of who he is, despite his cyberization, much like the watch the Major wears. In an interview on the DVD releases of Stand Alone Complex, Batou's Japanese voice actor theorized that Batou's use of exercise equipment was more for the purpose of exercising his mind and self-discipline rather than enhancing his body.
Togusa
Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Tarusuke Shingaki (Japanese, ARISE); Christopher Joyce (English; first film; 1997 game), Crispin Freeman (English; second film, Stand Alone Complex TV series, Bandai Visual dub; 2004 game, 2005 game), Trevor Devall (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub), Darren Pleavin (English; Stand Alone Complex, Animax Asia dub), Alex Organ (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
Portrayed by: Chin Han (2017 film)
is the lead investigator and second most prominently featured male character in the Ghost in the Shell manga and anime series. In Stand Alone Complex it is stated that he is the only "entirely human" member of Section 9 who has not undergone cybernetic replacement in some manner as he had been referred to as "natural". Togusa is openly suspicious and has reservations regarding technology; while Section 9 agents may respect Togusa's rejection of cybernetic enhancements, the rest of society views people like him as a Luddite. In the 1995 film it is claimed that this is precisely because of his lack of cybernetic enhancements that he was chosen for Kusanagi's team. In the manga, it is unclear as to what extent he has undergone cybernization, although in both anime films and television series he only has cybernetic memory upgrades and other small communication brain implants like all other members.
Togusa is also the only member of Section 9 to not have military experience, having only served as a civilian police officer in the past. To Section 9, Togusa is a reminder to them all of true humanity, because he is a normal person compared to the rest of Section 9. He has a family, and strong moral beliefs that visibly get in his way. He primarily does work with Batou, but also investigates on his own at times. Togusa often plays the role of the idealist in Ghost in the Shell, and could easily be said to be the least likely to win in an even fight against anyone else in Section 9.
Togusa is 27 years old and is in height. In Solid State Society, he is squad leader of the now expanded Section 9, after Kusanagi's departure and Batou's refusal of the position. It is also stated in Solid State Society that Togusa had finally undergone cyberization, the extent of which, however, is unknown. According to character designer Hajime Shimomura, he did the designs of Togusa based on him being the gentle lion. In addition, Shimomura mentions that he was hard to do since his appearance in the manga looks deformed.
Ishikawa
Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Shunsuke Sakuya (Japanese, ARISE); Michael Sorich (English, films), Michael McCarty (English; Stand Alone Complex, Bandai Visual dub; 2004 game, 2005 game), John Payne (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub), Brandon Potter (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
Portrayed by: Lasarus Ratuere (2017 film)
is the lead investigator, covert intelligence, information warfare and technology specialist in Public Security Section 9. Ishikawa is a master at recognizing data manipulation, along with being highly skilled at hacking in general. He has a low prosthetic percentage; his character dialogue (and his long recovery time from an injury) suggests that he is one of the least augmented members of Section 9. His appearance is characterized by a large beard and perpetually unkempt hair, and he is the oldest of Section 9's field operatives. Ishikawa is especially well known for his frequent, long-winded and often rather complicated expository speeches to the other characters, in order to inform them (and the show's audience) of new story developments.
He formerly served with Kusanagi and Batou in South America when they were with the Ground Self-Defense Forces in the Japanese UN contingent. He was one of the earliest members recruited to be in Section 9 and seems to know the Major and her dislikes quite well. He is shown as being in charge of a pachinko parlor called Parlor Ishikawa, and on occasion uses the cyberbrains of the old men who play there to complete particularly heavy data gathering (though it seems the men suffer no ill effects or are even aware of their situation, and are in fact 'paid' with wins at pachinko for use of their 'processor' time). Ishikawa is the most seemingly laid-back member of the unit.
Despite being a member of Section 9, Ishikawa appears to be relatively physically weak in comparison to the other members. He is almost never shown in combat (though in one episode he fires a shoulder-mounted cannon to disable a heavily armored vehicle) and takes a support role during most missions in which he is dispatched. When he is captured late in the first season, he is shown as being easily taken into custody by Umibozu commandos sent to arrest him. This is possibly due to the fact that he is one of the least cybernetically enhanced members (along with Togusa and Saito) and thus, would have been at a disadvantage had he physically resisted. Late into the second series, Ishikawa is wounded in a suicide bomb attack on Section 9's tilt wing aircraft. Following this he is seen hospitalized and wearing a bandage on his left arm, this lends credit to the theory that he has little external cyberization, especially when in contrast to Batou's quick recovery from wounds in the same episode.
As a point of humor, a bottle of what appears to be Chivas Regal is seen in his office in the closing animation of season 1, as well as a similar bottle appearing in the first Ghost in the Shell movie, though no indications are given that he is alcoholic. It is known that he smokes cigarettes and cigars on occasion, particularly in stressful circumstances.
In the 2017 film, he jokes that he got a prosthetic liver so he could drink without worry.
As stated in 2nd GiG episode 12, Ishikawa is a fan of American super hero comics.
Ishikawa also makes an appearance in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence to deliver important information to Batou.
According with Tachikomatic Days of episode 22 (Season 1), he has a glass of milk after his bath and he takes off his beard before going to sleep. This was meant to contrast with the previous episode (21), that stated that Batou has a beer after his bath and takes out his cybernetic eyeballs before going to sleep. Tachikomatic Days are not meant to be taken seriously .
Specialists
Saito
Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Takuro Nakakuni (Japanese, ARISE); Dave Wittenberg (English; films, Stand Alone Complex TV Series, Bandai Visual dub; 2004 game, 2005 game), Brian Drummond (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub), Marcus Stimac (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
Portrayed by: Yutaka Izumihara (2017 film)
is Section 9's tactical sniper specialist. Known to have been a mercenary in the South American campaign, Saito was recruited by the Major while they were on opposing sides. He can handle any automatic firearm with deadly accuracy and precision. Regarded as one of the least cyberized, Saito's left arm is cybernetic, allowing him to support and steady extremely large Anti-materiel rifles with superhuman skill. His left eye was replaced with the "Hawkeye", a prosthetic eye that interfaces with satellites to allow for shots of incredible accuracy. The Hawkeye, however, can be hacked, as it is in Episode 2 of SAC. It is impossible for Saito to escape hacking by going into autistic mode because he needs to maintain his Hawkeye's satellite uplink. Saito is also valued for his ability to think like enemy snipers; on two separate occasions his ability at determining sniping locations impacted Section 9's actions.
Character designer Hajime Shimomura had commented that Saito was not difficult to do, although he said he had drawing ideas based on someone who would wear "a bleached cotton cloth wrapped around his chest and wears a loincloth." Anime Vision.com has said that Saito's presence in the episode "Poker Face" is intriguing since he did not confirm if he really encountered Motoko Kusanagi during his mercenary days, keeping his past hidden from his fellow officers.
Borma
Voiced by: Taro Yamaguchi (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Kazuya Nakai (Japanese, ARISE); Dean Wein (English; Stand Alone Complex TV Series, Bandai Visual dub; 2004 game, 2005 game), Mark Gibbon (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub)
Portrayed by: Tawanda Manyimo (2017 film)
is Section 9's explosive weapons and bomb disposal specialist, providing rear support for the rest of the unit and handles heavy weaponry during assignments, as shown several times during 2nd GIG. He also works as the team's resident cyberviral warfare expert, often developing vaccines for viruses within minutes of their creation. Like many of the members of Section 9, Borma is part cyborg. Though he's "kind of the silent type," he also packs some of the most explosive weapons of the Section 9 team.
Borma is the jack of all trades who often handles the task of rear support. "He originally was basically "the backup", and meant to be carrying the large caliber heavy assault weapons. He carries a shotgun. It's a bigger gun, just like Batou", stated Tawanda Manyimo. In most assignments, he's the only member to carry heavy weaponry. He is usually teamed with either Saito for sniper team duties, Paz for general operations and Ishikawa for cyberweb research and viral warfare. Due to his various jobs behind the scenes, Borma's character receives the least attention of any member of Section 9.
Borma was in the JSDF as a demolitions expert, possibly hinting that he was either a combat engineer or a special forces operative. This character's name is often pronounced as its Japanese counterpart as Boma. Borma is the only Section 9 operative with similar height and enhanced strength to Batou. He also has optical implant eyes of a similar general design to Batou's, though his optics are a different color, indicating another model with different capabilities. Both his eyes and his baldness are his trademark features.
Ladriya
Portrayed by: Danusia Samal (2017 film)
Ladriya is an original character appearing exclusively in the 2017 film, and is the only member of the team not drawn specifically from any Ghost in the Shell source material. She is Section 9's advanced weapons specialist and is skilled in close quarters knife combat.
Samal regards Ladriya as "one of the more intuitive of the gang." "She's a bit feisty, she's a bit cheeky as well. But when it comes down to it I'm quite proud of the fact that she's quite ruthless when it's necessary", said Samal. Though Samal had to build the character from scratch, she said she drew some inspiration from one of the male Section 9 characters who didn't make it to the big screen (likely Paz) who is "a bit of a lady killer" in the manga. She used that to color in her version of the character, saying, "I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if Ladriya is a bit like the female equivalent of that? Like a tiny bit into blokes.'"
Field agents
Paz
Voiced by: Takashi Onozuka (Japanese; films, Stand Alone Complex), Yoji Ueda (Japanese, ARISE); Bob Buchholz (English; Stand Alone Complex TV series, Bandai Visual dub; 2004 game, 2005 game), John Murphy (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs; Ocean dub), Jason Douglas (English; ARISE, Funimation dub)
is an investigator and "deep-cover" infiltration specialist in Section 9. Before joining Public Security Section 9, Paz was rumored by various police circles to have been a gangster in several yakuza groups in Japan. Paz is the backup "jack-of-all-trades" for the field agents and is also a known chain smoker within the unit. Upon his first encounter with the Major, he remarked, "I never sleep with the same woman twice." His basis for such is later found to be that he does not want to pull others into the world he lives in. He uses a folding knife in combat.
In SAC 2nd GIG episode 13, Paz encounters an ex-lover scorned (Kaori Kawashima) who had adopted a body that was identical to his own down to the smallest detail. A knife fight ensues, and one "Paz" is stabbed through the eye and killed. It isn't made clear whether or not the victim was the real Paz or the impostor (Kaori), as they both have cuts across their torsos, and the surviving "Paz" says nothing. However, the torso wound of the deceased Paz appeared to be deeper, suggesting that the original survived. His name is often pronounced as its Japanese counterpart, Pazu in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series.
Azuma
Voiced by: Masahiro Ogata (Japanese); Erik Davies (English, Bandai Visual dub)
is one of Public Security Section 9's new recruits in S.A.C 2nd GIG. Azuma was recruited as one of the field operatives in Section 9 from JGSDF Intelligence. He was present at the shipyard battle in which fellow rookie Yano died and was pulled out of field duty prior to the Dejima confrontation. At the end of 2nd Gig it is implied that Azuma is now a full-fledged member of Section 9.
Azuma is featured prominently at the beginning of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society, supporting Togusa in an incident at the airport, as well as in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
Azuma also shows up in the manga Ghost in the Shell: Human-Error Processor 1.5 by Masamune Shirow as a source of comedy.
Yano
is one of Public Security Section 9's new recruits in 2nd GIG. Yano was recruited by Section 9 as a rookie and field operative. Yano was killed in the raid on Kuze's false location in the 2nd GIG episode "Chain Reaction", making him Section 9's first officer to be killed in the line of duty from hostile gunfire. Yano also appears briefly in the manga as a new recruit. In the manga he was killed by a Russian named Koil Krasnov, whom he was tailing as his first assignment.
Proto
Voiced by: Oki Sugiyama (Japanese); Richard Miro (English, Bandai Visual dub)
is one of Public Security Section 9's new recruits in 2nd GIG. Proto is Section 9's only (prototype) bioroid member and was also the Tachikoma's maintenance technician (before becoming one of the new recruits). During the Dejima crisis Proto played a key role in helping Aramaki rescue the Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki, who had been relieved of her duty and arrested under charges of treason.
Proto managed to gain access to the net, where he communicated with Section 9's Tachikoma units. Through them Proto was able to gain building blueprints and up-to-date information on Section 9's Dejima operation, as well as the location of the Prime Minister, before an attack barrier disabled him. Proto appears again in the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society movie, wearing the black uniform of Section 9 along with a sidearm, which suggests that he is now a field officer.
Maven
Voiced by: Cristina Valenzuela (English, First Assault Online)
Maven is an original character appearing only in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online. She is Section 9's resident expert on guerilla warfare and topography, stemming from her time in the jungles of South America. She first came to Chief Aramaki's attention during an operation in which she single-handedly held off an insurgent attack after her entire squad was killed. Since then, she has been working for Section 9, where she has proven both resourceful and deadly.
R&D combat specialist who proved herself to be a lethal operative during the conflicts in South America. She has a fiery temper and the skills to match. Maven worked with the Kodansu Corporation during WWIV where she served in R&D and field testing of technologies. She spearheaded the development of the therm-optic barrier to aid in the evacuation of refugees during the Bolivia Crisis. With the passing of Bill 196J, the Kodansu Corporation was effectively shut down and all its research and equipment was appropriated by the Japanese government. Following this, Maven found work with police forces in Fukuoka. She was later acquired by Section 9 to aid in the deployment of her past research projects. Though it is not known just how much of her body is cybernetic, it is suspected that she has experimental prosthetics from her time working for Kodansu.
AI Personnel
Think tanks
In the various editions of Ghost in the Shell, Section 9 utilizes different kinds of , or . All seem to act like children. In the original manga, the think tanks used by Section 9 are the . Unable to get the rights to use the original spider-tank design from the manga, Masamune Shirow created a new design for television, which he named the "Tachikoma". There are distinct differences between the two, most significantly in the 'eyes' and the vertically oriented abdomen. Still, the tanks are easily recognizable as descendants of the original Fuchikoma.
Voiced by: Sakiko Tamagawa (Japanese); Melissa Fahn, Rebecca Forstadt, Lara Jill Miller, Sandy Fox, Sherry Lynn, Julie Maddalena, Peggy O'Neal, Lia Sargent, and Michelle Ruff (English)
The are the think tanks utilized by Section 9 in the Stand Alone Complex series. In both the manga and television series, one spider-tank is preferred by Batou who uses a natural oil to lubricate its parts, and this usage of natural oil and its experiences with Batou begin to disseminate through the others, slowly causing the whole group of them to develop their AIs into separate identities, which Kusanagi begins to suspect are unique Ghosts. This leads to their decommissioning, although they all react to the Umibouzu assault on Section 9 and try to help, but their new hardware for civilian work prevents them from doing so. In the premiere of 2nd GIG, Batou is pleased to see that the Tachikoma have been recommissioned, but when one speaks with the original robotic voice he is disheartened until the Tachikoma breaks into laughter, revealing that they have retained their ghosts. At the end of 2nd GIG, when the American Empire is attempting to bomb Dejima, the Tachikoma finish saving the refugees' ghosts before uploading their own ghosts into the satellite that contains their AI to stop the final missile, resulting in their apparent death. In the final scene of 2nd GIG, Section 9 is seen using new think tanks known as , devoid of the individuality of their Tachikoma predecessors as well as an inferior AI. With the return of Kusanagi during Solid State Society, it is revealed that the Tachikoma's AIs were spared from destruction, with Kusanagi accompanied by the "ghosts" of two of them, now calling themselves and . Musashi, who has modified its digital self to be yellow in color, is Batou's preferred Tachikoma. In the novelization of the film, the other Tachikoma AIs have also given themselves names: , , , , , , and .
Voiced by:Miyuki Sawashiro
In the events of Ghost in the Shell: Arise, the burgeoning Section 9 uses a think tank known as the , short for .
Recurring characters
Activists and criminals
Project 2501
Voiced by: Kayumi Iemasa (Japanese, original voice), Yoshiko Sakakibara (Japanese, re-release); Tom Wyner (English; as "Abe Lasser")
The is the main antagonist of the original Ghost in the Shell manga as well as in the first film. Although it is first suspected of being a super hacker, capable of "ghost hacking", or taking control of a cyberized person's body without their knowledge, Section 9 later discovers that it is actually an advanced artificial intelligence program, known as Project 2501, created by Section 6, the Treaty Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When Project 2501 went rogue, Section 6 was able to trap it in a firewalled system, but it escaped after using a factory to produce a robot body that gets hit by a truck and taken in by Section 9. When the truth is revealed to Section 9, the "Puppet Master" demands asylum as a sentient creature, arguing that its self-preserving programming is no different from DNA. After a battle between Section 6 and Section 9, Major Motoko Kusanagi manages to link with the "Puppet Master" and converses with it, learning that it wishes to preserve itself and pass on its ideas as any biological creature would, but rather than make copies of itself with the same weaknesses and flaws, it wishes to merge with Kusanagi. Although she fears that she will lose her individuality, Project 2501 reminds her about identity and change and impermanence. Motoko finally agrees and the "Puppet Master" is merged with her ghost, just as Section 6 snipers destroy the robot shell and severely damage the Major's own prosthetic body.
Laughing Man
Voiced by: Koichi Yamadera (Japanese); Steve Blum (English, Stand Alone Complex TV series; Bandai Visual dub), Michael Adamthwaite (English; Stand Alone Complex OVAs, Ocean dub)
The , , is an anti-corporate terrorist hacker, who ultimately reveals to the Major that he had discovered that several micromachine manufacturing corporations, in association with the Japanese government, suppressed information on an inexpensive cure to a debilitating cyberization disease in order to profit from the more expensive micromachine treatment. He also had a fascination with J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, his own alias coming from Salinger's short story, "The Laughing Man". He is an expert hacker, able to hide his physical presence by editing himself out of video feeds and cybernetic eyes, concealing his identity by superimposing an animated logo over his face, and hijacking cybernetic brains altogether, all in real-time. The Complex story arc of Stand Alone Complex focuses on the Laughing Man case, and on a medical/governmental conspiracy tied into the fate of the Laughing Man.
The Laughing Man logo was designed by Paul Nicholson, a London-based designer for graphics and clothing company, Terratag. Nicholson was asked to read a short story by J.D. Salinger, "The Laughing Man," and to base the logo on that. The story centers around a boys' after school organization called the Commanche Club. The Commanche Club's Chief often brings the boys to Central Park for baseball games, and these games are the source of the baseball cap featured in the logo. The text given to Nicholson by Production I.G. read: "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes." The phrase is an excerpt from The Catcher in the Rye, also by Salinger. Nicholson said of the latter, "At first this text made no sense but now, having seen the whole series, I can understand the relevance to the character." Another reference taken directly from J. D. Salinger's short story "The Laughing Man" occurs in episode 11, titled "Portraits/In The Forest of the Imagoes". In this episode a child at a vocational aid center refers to a character named Chief who is going to visit, Chief is the name given by the children to The Laughing Man as well as the main character's childhood idol in the short story. The Laughing Man logo has been co-opted by pop culture in advocacy for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the loose hacktivist collective Anonymous (using the latter's motto "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.").
Individual Eleven
The is a fictional terrorist group that Public Security Section 9 deal with in Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. Their motives are to suppress the refugees into despair and show Japan that they do not belong.
The Individual Eleven bases their name and motive from the essay, "The Individual Eleven", which is actually a fake essay implanted with a computer virus that infects all who read it, and even infects Borma of Section 9, although through quick action, he shows no further signs of symptoms as a result. The virus remains dormant up until the user downloads all of the other ten essays by Patrick Sylvestre (a fictional political theorist), when it programs the person infected by it to commit suicide. However, the virus itself does not cause the members of the Individual Eleven to commit the acts of terror; it is their own political views which cause them to do so. Kuze is the only member to be unaffected by the Individual Eleven virus.
The eleventh essay supposedly refers to the events surrounding the May 15 Incident, which was one of several incidents that led to the rise of Japanese militarism. The virus only affects those who possess cyberbrains, and, in addition, it is suggested by Kazundo Goda that the virus affects only those individuals who were virgins prior to undergoing full cyberization.
The Individual Eleven logo was designed by TERRATAG. The logo shows three characters. From top to bottom, they stand for three different numbers (9, 10 and 11). At the same time, in as Kanji they mean , , and .
The logo is used as the mysterious mark of the terrorists in much the same way as a traditional Japanese family mark (kamon) or a samurai logo on their flag.
Hideo Kuze
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English, Bandai Visual dub), John Murphy (English; Stand Alone Complex OVA; Ocean dub)
Portrayed by: Michael Carmen Pitt (2017 film)
is an architect, a former SDF member, and a member of the Individual Eleven terrorist group whose formation was brought about by Kazundo Goda. He is the second primary adversary of Section 9, along with Goda, in 2nd GIG. Unlike the rest of the Individual Eleven members, Kuze does not commit suicide. Instead, he identifies with the grievances of the sizable refugee population in Japan, assuming leadership of a refugee resistance movement. It is later revealed Kuze and Motoko had known each other since childhood, and were involved in the same plane crash that forced them to transfer into prosthetic bodies to survive. They both became separated afterwards and Kuze joined the JSDF, where he became disillusioned with Japan's foreign and domestic policies and deserted, eventually resurfacing as the leader of the refugees.
When the JSDF attack Dejima, Kuze leads the defense of the city while at the same time ensuring the noncombatant refugees are evacuated. He assists Section 9 in averting the nuclear strike aimed at Dejima and is subsequently arrested. However, he is assassinated by American Empire agents in order to prevent him from becoming a new symbol for the refugees.
According to the interview with Takayuki Goto, Kuze is modeled after the half-Japanese and half-Taiwanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Kuze appears in the live action adaptation, portrayed by Michael Pitt, though this Kuze takes on aspects of the Puppet Master's characterization, including having a proficiency for hacking and a desire to fuse his psyche with that of the Major.
The Puppeteer (Solid State Society)
is the name of an entity responsible for controlling the remote body of Civil Servant . According to dialogue in Solid State Society, Tateaki Koshiki died mysteriously at home from illness, but that his remote was subsequently involved in the conspiracy that was uncovered during the course of the film. The existence of a hidden Puppeteer was therefore theorized to have been responsible for Tateaki Koshiki's actions following his demise.
After distinguishing himself, Tateaki Koshiki got reassigned to the Health-Welfare joint project headed by Ito Munei. He secretly built his own infrastructure into the project sometime during its development. This infrastructure abducted children at risk from their families and sheltered them with the , who would bequeath them their wealth upon death, before the children were finally brought to Munei's secret education facilities at the .
The Puppeteer's role was also in using his hub-cyberbrain to crystallize the rhizome of the Noble Rot Senior Citizens that utilized the Healthcare network to become the "Solid State Society".
Alternatively, it is suggested by Batou that The Puppeteer may have been the personification of the collective consciousness of the Noble Rot Senior Citizens. However, it is also heavily implied that the Puppeteer was a part of Motoko's subconscious, which began acting independently during her time diving the Net.
Government personnel
Yoko Kayabuki
Voiced by: Yoshiko Sakakibara (Japanese); Barbara Goodson (English, Bandai Visual dub)
is Japan's newly elected prime minister in Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG.
Kayabuki first appears in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG and is elected as Japan's first female prime minister. She reinstates Section 9 after a deal was made with Aramaki in the Stand Alone Complex, 2 years after the raid by Umibozu commandos on Section 9's headquarters. Politically, she was selected by the ruling party as an internal political movement to conservatism in the wake of the Laughing Man scandal that brought down the previous government. However, she was perceived as being politically weak - the Cabinet at this time was increasing in political power and becoming led by personality rather than by electoral responsibility. The undercurrent of secret manipulation by the Cabinet Intelligence Agency through the Individual Eleven / Refugee Crisis sought to make the Prime Minister a rubber stamping figurehead.
Kayabuki becomes a victim of the Individual Eleven and is involved with Section 9's investigation into the case. During the refugee crisis, she is arrested under charges of treason for requesting United Nations intervention in the crisis, though this action on the part of the Ruling Party chairman was not sanctioned by either party, or electorate - her escape from custody and the aid of Section 9 prevented this secret coup d'état from becoming a reality, and also then sent a clear signal to the American Empire that Japan prefers a Stand-alone status within the international community.
This demonstration of capability, and the calling in of favours owed at the height of the crisis increased her ability to control Japan in the wake thereof. She also demonstrated that she held clout from a military stand-point: The JASDF was her tool of choice for reminding the contending land and sea force commanders where Japan's true military prowess was to be found, from both a domestic and military stand-point. Kayabuki displayed great wisdom by selecting Daisuke Aramaki and Major Kusanagi as personal advisors that prevented potentially cataclysmic events during the beginning of her premiership.
She appears briefly in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society, where she remains Prime Minister, and Daisuke Aramaki's immediate superior.
In the 1st episode of the series Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, Kayabuki appears in portrait form on the wall of the Public Security Bureau, while Aramaki makes a telephone call to Togusa. She immediately precedes the new Prime Minister featuring in the series.
Kazundo Gōda
Voiced by: Ken Nishida (Japanese); John Snyder (English, Bandai Visual dub)
is head of a data manipulation division within the Cabinet Intelligence Service and is one of the primary adversaries of Section 9 during the second anime series 2nd GIG. His face was badly disfigured in an accident during his youth, but he chose not to have it reconstructed, reasoning that his scars would leave a greater impression on people. During the series, Motoko Kusanagi hacks into the Cabinet Intelligence Agency database to try to determine what Gōda's motives are. She learns that Gōda has given up dreams of power and instead works to facilitate the emergence of a hero for the masses in order to produce a conflict situation that will force a change in direction for Japan, a change that Gōda believes will return it to its glory days. To that end, Gōda masterminds the formation of the Individual Eleven terrorist group and the emergence of Hideo Kuze as the leader of alienated refugees.
It is later revealed that Gōda's true intentions are to instigate a conflict between the refugees and the Japanese government, which would convince Japan to sign a landmark security treaty with the American Empire. After his plans are foiled by Section 9, he attempts to seek asylum in the American Empire but is assassinated by Motoko under Kayabuki's orders.
Kubota
Voiced by: Taimei Suzuki (Japanese); Michael Forest (English, Bandai Visual dub)
is an army Intelligence Officer and former colleague of Aramaki. He often provides Aramaki with inside information.
He appears to be of the same JGSDF Academy Class as Chief Aramaki, and appears to have equivalent rank (Colonel), though he is also interested in advancing his career politically, often handing unpleasant tasks over to Section 9 in order to prevent blame for 'dirty business' being officially attached to his record of conduct.
Takakura
Voiced by: Yoshinori Muto (Japanese); Eddie Jones (English, Bandai Visual dub; first voice), William Bassett (English, Bandai Visual dub; second voice)
As the Chief Cabinet Secretary, is the main powerbroker within the Kayabuki government. He is in league with Kazundo Goda and helps to further the CIS's aims. During the Dejima conflict, Takakura attempts to stage a coup d'état to oust Kayabuki from power. With the help of Section 9, Kayabuki is able to thwart Takakura's plans and has him arrested.
Civilians
Ran and Kurutan
Kurutan voiced by: Yuko Sumitomo (Japanese); Amanda Winn-Lee (English, Bandai Visual dub)
Both Kurutan and Ran first appeared in Ghost in the Shell during a virtual threesome with Kusanagi. Kurutan is a bright-haired nurse featured in Stand Alone Complex, episode 8, where an organ trafficking case involved two of her patients. She calls in Kusanagi and Section 9 after the police investigation flounders. In episode 22, Kurutan acts a "witness" during Kusanagi's body-swapping procedure. Ran is dark-haired; during episode 5, Kusanagi was in Kurutan's apartment, borrowing her virtual reality equipment to review the "Laughing Man" case.
References
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell |
32113779 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebID | WebID | WebID is a method for internet services and members to know who they are communicating with. The WebID specifications define a set of editor's drafts to prepare the process of standardization for identity, identification and authentication on HTTP-based networks. WebID-based protocols (Solid OIDC, WebID-TLS, WebID-TLS+Delegation) offer a new way to log into internet services. Instead of using a password, for example, the member refers to another web address which can vouch for it. WebID is not a specific service or product.
Technically speaking, a WebID is an HTTP URI that denotes ("refers to" or "names") an agent on an HTTP based network such as the Web or an enterprise intranet. In line with linked data principles, when a WebID is de-referenced ("looked up"), it resolves to a profile document (a WebID-Profile) that describes its referent (what it denotes). This profile document consists of RDF model based structured data, originally constructed primarily using terms from the FOAF vocabulary, but now often including terms from other vocabularies.
Profile documents can be stored on the agent's own Web server, and access thereto may be partially or wholly constrained to specific agent identities via the use of access controls, to preserve the privacy of the profile document's subject.
Protocols
WebID-TLS
The WebID-TLS protocol (formerly known as FOAF+SSL) is a decentralized and secure authentication protocol built upon the profile information as well as the Transport Layer Security (TLS) client certificates available in virtually all modern web browsers. It was first presented for the W3C Workshop on the Future of Social Networking in 2009.
Unlike the usual SSL usage patterns, WebID-TLS does not require a dedicated Certificate Authority to perform the user authorization. Users can easily mint useful identities for themselves using any TLS certificate (even self-signed ones). Using TLS client certificates for Web site user authentication doesn't usually require that the user input a password, unlike many other single sign-on mechanisms, which can make WebID-TLS quite convenient. However, the client certificate selection dialogues in popular Web browsers are not yet as user-friendly as they might be, negating some of this convenience.
A web of trust based on WebID-TLS could be gradually constructed, connecting users and their activities on the World Wide Web, without formal key signing parties, making the identification harder for anyone (even the original issuing authority) to falsify.
WebID-OIDC
WebID-OIDC was an authentication delegation protocol used by Solid. It is based on decentralized OAuth2/OpenID Connect. It has been superseded by Solid OIDC
Solid OIDC
Solid OIDC is an authentication delegation protocol used by Solid. It is based on OAuth2/OpenID Connect.
WebID-TLS+Delegation
WebID-TLS+Delegation extends WebID-TLS through "On Behalf Of" headers and relationships, enabling one Agent to act with all permissions/privileges of another Agent.
See also
Authorization
IndieAuth
OpenID
OpenID Connect (OIDC)
WebFinger
References
External links
Social networking services
Semantic Web
Identity management initiative |
36920585 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20University%20of%20Texas%20at%20Brownsville%20College%20of%20Science%2C%20Mathematics%2C%20and%20Technology | The University of Texas at Brownsville College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology | The College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology (abbreviated as CSMT) was the science college of the former (1992-2015) University of Texas at Brownsville. It consisted of six academic departments. The six departments employ diverse faculty members - many of whom are leading experts in the fields - who have received funding from a variety of funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Education, and the Department of Defense, among others. The average active ongoing external funding is about 25-30 million dollars. In 2002 the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) research center was founded to help "develop excellence in research and education in areas related to gravitational wave astronomy."
CSMT had partnership agreements for scientific collaboration and students exchange with universities in Europe, Asia and Australia.As of 2012, the college hosted more than 1000 students enrolled in twenty-eight undergraduate and seven graduate programs. The programs offer a range of degree plans from certificates and associate degrees up to cooperative Ph.D. degrees with University of Texas at San Antonio. The college hosts annual national/international conferences and workshops in discrete geometry and gravitational waves among others. In 2012, CSMT initiated its own cohort program and student advisory council.
Departments
Department of Biological Sciences
The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas at Brownsville undertakes teaching, research, and community service. The department offers courses that cover a range of biological topics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Current research interests cover a broad range of taxonomic groups (e.g. all things aquatic) to a variety of ecosystems (e.g., coastal marine, subtropical, thorn scrub, and freshwater).
Bachelor's Degrees
Biology
Biology – 8th-12th Grade Teaching
Graduate Degrees
Master of Science in Biology
Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies concentration in Biology
Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences
The Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at the University of Texas at Brownsville undertakes teaching and research. Current research projects include wetland restoration at the Bahia Grande Unit of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, artificial reef monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico, and the impacts of the US-Mexico border fence. Students work with organic molecules, assembling them at the thicknesses of a single molecule as well as nanotechnology. The department has also looked into the recent swine flu epidemic, and work on furthered understanding of how indigenous medicinal plants used in the US-Mexico Border region may be used in the treatment of diabetes.
Bachelor's Degrees
Chemistry
Environmental Sciences
Chemistry – 8th-12th Grade Teaching
Environmental Sciences – 8th-12th Grade Teaching
Department of Computer and Information Sciences
The Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Texas at Brownsville undertakes teaching and research. The department offers undergraduate and postgraduate education. In 2010 CS program received ABET accreditation.
Certificates
Computer Information Technology
Computer Web Development
Associate Degrees
Computer Information Systems
Computer Science
Computer Web Development
Bachelor's Degrees
Computer Science
Computational Science
Computer Information System Technology
Computer Information System Technology Teaching
Graduate Degrees
Master of Science in Computer Science
Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies concentration in Computer Science
Department of Engineering
The department began in 1996 as Engineering Technology and became the Engineering Department in 2005. In 2010, the Engineering Physics program was accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Committee (EAC) of ABET. The Engineering Department strives to achieve the highest academic standards in research, teaching and service to the community.
Bachelor's Degrees
Engineering Physics - Bioengineering
Engineering Physics - Computer
Engineering Physics - Electrical
Engineering Physics - Mechanical
Department of Mathematics
The Department of Mathematics offers a Bachelor of Science degree as well as a Master of Science degree in Mathematics. The undergraduate curriculum prepares students for graduate studies, careers in applied mathematics, and teaching careers in mathematics. The graduate program provides students with knowledge in theoretical and applied mathematics as required by various disciplines in science and education.
Bachelor's Degrees
Mathematics
Mathematics – 4th-8th Grade Teaching
Mathematics – 8th- 12th Grade Teaching
Graduate Degree
Master of Science in Mathematics
Department of Physics & Astronomy
The Department has 17 full-time faculty members actively engaged in research in the areas of Biophysics, Nanotechnology, Experimental Physics, Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Relativistic Astrophysics and Physics Education. The department places special emphasis on the involvement of students, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, in research.
Bachelor's Degrees
Physics
Physics - Biophysics Specialization
Physics – 8th-12th Grade Teaching
Science – 4th-8th Grade Teaching
Graduate Degrees
Master of Science in Physics
Cooperative Ph.D. in Physics with University of Texas at San Antonio
CSMT Cohort Program
Starting in fall 2012, first-time freshman majoring in Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, or Engineering were eligible to join the CSMT Cohort Program. A cohort is a group of students who follow the same set schedule and progress through an accelerated program together. The program was created in order to create an interactive learning environment, facilitate networking opportunities, strengthen student relationships, and enhance the learning experience.
References
External links
University of Texas at Brownsville Home Page
College of Science Mathematics and Technology Home Page
CSMT Biology Department
CSMT Chemistry Department
CSMT Computer Science Department
CSMT Engineering Department
CSMT Math Department
CSMT Physics Department
CSMT Engineering Technology Department
University of Texas at Brownsville
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley schools, colleges, and departments |
52566058 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20College%20of%20Cyber%20Security | National College of Cyber Security | The College of National Security (also referred to as the National College of Cyber Security) was a proposed cyber security school for 16-19 year-olds, scheduled to open in September 2020 at Bletchley Park.
The initiative to create the school emerged from Qufaro, a not-for-profit organisation created by representatives of Raytheon, BT Security and the Institute of Information Security Professionals.
The college was to be located in Block G of Bletchley Park which was being renovated in 2017 with funding by the Bletchley Park Science and Innovation Centre. (Bletchley Park Trust has no involvement in the cyber security college.)
The opening of the college, originally planned for 2016, had been pushed back to 2020 as the application to open (as a college in the Department for Education's Free Schools program) had yet to be granted. However, in April 2020 Bletchley Park Capital Partners (a private company run by Tim Reynolds) announced plans to sell off the freehold to the site for commercial development. Offers of between £4m and £6m were reportedly being sought for the 3 acre plot, for which planning permission for employment purposes had been granted in 2005.
References
Higher education colleges in England |
3673806 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTEMS | RTEMS | Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems (RTEMS), formerly Real-Time Executive for Missile Systems, and then Real-Time Executive for Military Systems, is a real-time operating system (RTOS) designed for embedded systems. It is free and open-source software.
Development began in the late 1980s with early versions available via File Transfer Protocol (ftp) as early as 1993. OAR Corporation is currently managing the RTEMS project in cooperation with a steering committee which includes user representatives.
Design
RTEMS is designed for real-time, embedded systems and to support various open application programming interface (API) standards including Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) and µITRON. The API now known as the Classic RTEMS API was originally based on the Real-Time Executive Interface Definition (RTEID) specification. RTEMS includes a port of the FreeBSD Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP stack) and support for various file systems including Network File System (NFS) and File Allocation Table (FAT).
RTEMS provides extensive multi-processing and memory-management services, and even a System-database alongside many other facilities. It has extensive documentation.
Architectures
RTEMS has been ported to various target processor architectures:
ARM
Atmel AVR
Blackfin
Freescale, now NXP ColdFire
Texas Instruments – C3x/C4x DSPs
Intel – x86 architecture members 80386, Pentium, and above
LatticeMico32
68k
MIPS
Nios II
OpenRISC
PowerPC
Renesas – H8/300, M32C, M32R, SuperH
RISC-V RV32, RV64 using QEMU
SPARC – ERC32, LEON, V9
Uses
RTEMS is used in many application domains. The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) community includes multiple people who are active RTEMS submitters. RTEMS is also popular for space uses since it supports multiple microprocessors developed for use in space including SPARC, ERC32 and LEON, MIPS Mongoose-V, Coldfire, and PowerPC architectures, which are available in space hardened models. RTEMS is currently orbiting Mars as part of the Electra software radio on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter.
License
RTEMS is distributed under a modified GNU General Public License (GPL), allowing linking RTEMS objects with other files without needing the full executable to be covered by the GPL. This license is based on the GNAT Modified General Public License with the language modified to not be specific to the programming language Ada.
See also
LatticeMico32
Qi hardware
References
External links
Wiki
RTEMS Centre
Embedded operating systems
Real-time operating systems
ARM operating systems
MIPS operating systems
Computer-related introductions in 1993 |
33835593 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gephi | Gephi | Gephi is an open-source network analysis and visualization software package written in Java on the NetBeans platform.
History
Initially developed by students of the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC) in France, Gephi has been selected for the Google Summer of Code in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Its last version, 0.9.0 has been launched in December 2015, with updates in February 2016 (0.9.1) and September 2017 (0.9.2). Previous versions are 0.6.0 (2008), 0.7.0 (2010), 0.8.0 (2011), 0.8.1 (2012) and 0.8.2 (2013).
The Gephi Consortium, created in 2010, is a French non-profit corporation which supports development of future releases of Gephi. Members include SciencesPo, Linkfluence, WebAtlas, and Quid. Gephi is also supported by a large community of users, structured on a discussion group and a forum and producing numerous blogposts, papers and tutorials.
Applications
Gephi has been used in a number of research projects in academia, journalism and elsewhere, for instance in visualizing the global connectivity of New York Times content and examining Twitter network traffic during social unrest along with more traditional network analysis topics. Gephi is widely used within the digital humanities (in history, literature, political sciences, etc.), a community where many of its developers are involved.
Gephi inspired the LinkedIn InMaps and was used for the network visualizations for Truthy.
See also
Graph (discrete mathematics)
Graph drawing
Graph theory
Graph (data structure)
Social network analysis software
File formats
Dot language
GraphML
Graph Modelling Language
Related software
Cytoscape
Graph-tool
Graphviz
Tulip (software)
yEd
AllegroGraph
NetworkX
NodeXL
Pajek
NetMiner
References
External links
Gephi releases
Gephi wiki
2000 software
Network theory
Free application software
Graph drawing software
Free data visualization software |
9352739 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances%20Allen | Frances Allen | Frances Elizabeth Allen (August 4, 1932August 4, 2020) was an American computer scientist and pioneer in the field of optimizing compilers. Allen was the first woman to become an IBM Fellow and in 2006 became the first woman to win the Turing Award. Her achievements include seminal work in compilers, program optimization, and parallelization. She worked for IBM from 1957 to 2002 and subsequently was a Fellow Emerita.
Early life and education
Allen grew up on a farm in Peru, New York, near Lake Champlain, as the oldest of six children. Her father was a farmer, and her mother an elementary-school teacher. Her early elementary education took place in a one-room school house one mile away from her home, and she later attended a local high school.
She was graduated from The New York State College for Teachers (now part of the State University of New York at Albany, SUNY) with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1954 and began teaching school in Peru, New York. After two years, she enrolled at the University of Michigan and earned a Master of Science degree in mathematics in 1957.
Career and research
Deeply in debt with student loans, she joined IBM Research in Poughkeepsie, New York, as a programmer in 1957, where she taught incoming employees the basics of Fortran. She planned to return to teaching once her student loans had been paid, but ended up staying with IBM for her entire 45-year career. Allen was assigned to the Harvest project for code breaking with the National Security Agency in 1959 and worked on a programming language called Alpha. She managed the compiler-optimization team for both Harvest and the Stretch project. In 1962, she was transferred to Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where she contributed to the ACS-1 project and in the 1970s to PL/I. During these years, she worked with fellow researcher John Cocke to write a series of seminal papers on optimizing compilers, helping to improve the efficiency of machine code translated from high-level languages.
From 1970 to 1971 she spent a sabbatical at New York University and acted as adjunct professor for a few years afterward. Another sabbatical brought her to Stanford University in 1977.
From 1980 to 1995, Allen led IBM's work in the developing parallel computing area, and helped to develop software for the IBM Blue Gene project. Allen became the first female IBM Fellow in 1989. She retired from IBM in 2002, but remained affiliated with the corporation as a Fellow Emerita. In 2007, the IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Award was created in her honor. After retiring, she remained active in programs that encourage women and girls to seek careers in science and computing.
Her A. M. Turing Award citation reads:
Awards and honors
Allen was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 2000, she was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for her contributions to program optimization and compiling for parallel computers". She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1987, to the American Philosophical Society in 2001, and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2010. She was nominated a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994.
She received the IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award in 1997 and the Computer Pioneer Award of the IEEE Computer Society in 2004. In 1997, Allen was inducted into the Witi Hall of Fame. She won the 2002 Augusta Ada Lovelace Award from the Association for Women in Computing. In 2004, Allen was the winner of the ABIE Award for Technical Leadership from the Anita Borg Institute.
Allen was recognized for her work in high-performance computing with the 2006 Turing Award. She became the first woman recipient in the forty-year history of the award, which is considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for computing and is given by the Association for Computing Machinery. In interviews following the award she hoped it would give more "opportunities for women in science, computing, and engineering".
In 2009 she was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from McGill University for "pioneering contributions to the theory and practice of optimizing compiler techniques that laid the foundation for modern optimizing compilers and automatic parallel execution".
Publications
A list of her select publications includes:
Allen, Frances E., "Interprocedural data flow analysis", Proceedings of Information Processing 74, IFIP, Elsevier / North-Holland (1974), 398–402.
Allen, Frances E. and J. Cocke, "A program data flow analysis procedure", Communications of the ACM, Vol. 19, No. 3 (March 1976), 137–147.
Allen, Frances E. et al., "The Experimental Compiling System", IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol. 24, No. 6, (November 1980), 695–715.
Allen, Frances E., "The history of language processor technology at IBM", IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol. 25, No. 5 (September 1981), 535–548.
Personal life
In 1972, Allen married New York University computer science professor and collaborator Jacob T. Schwartz. They divorced in 1982.
Allen died on August 4, 2020, her 88th birthday, from complications with Alzheimer’s disease.
References
External links
Frances Allen: 2000 Fellow Awards Recipient via Computer History Museum
Fran Allen on Compilers and Parallel Computing Systems Notes from her 2008 Organick Memorial Lecture
1932 births
2020 deaths
American computer scientists
Programming language researchers
American women computer scientists
Turing Award laureates
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Fellow Members of the IEEE
IBM Fellows
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
IBM Research computer scientists
New York University faculty
People from Peru, New York
University at Albany, SUNY alumni
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
20th-century American scientists
21st-century American scientists
20th-century American women scientists
21st-century American women scientists
Scientists from New York (state) |
56186867 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel%20Rebel%20%28Homeland%29 | Rebel Rebel (Homeland) | "Rebel Rebel" is the second episode of the seventh season of the American television drama series Homeland, and the 74th episode overall. It premiered on Showtime on February 18, 2018.
Plot
Carrie (Claire Danes) sees an unknown woman (Sandrine Holt) enter Wellington's house while watching her surveillance camera feeds. Desperate to identify her, she posts a screen capture of the woman on the 4chan political board, asking if anyone can identify her. A hacker responds to the post, and lures Carrie into downloading a file which infects her laptop with ransomware. The hard drive is encrypted with a demand for a $5,000 payment in bitcoin.
Brett O’Keefe (Jake Weber), being harbored by the Elkins family, makes another broadcast where he accuses President Keane of being somehow involved in the death of General McClendon. Keane (Elizabeth Marvel) is concerned with the public perception as she agrees McClendon's death looks suspicious. Wellington (Linus Roache) convinces Keane to go forward with his proposal: release the 200 federal employees who were arrested, and appoint Saul (Mandy Patinkin) as National Security Advisor. Saul's first assignment from Wellington is to oversee the manhunt for O'Keefe's hideout.
Max (Maury Sterling) has no luck dealing with Carrie's laptop. While they talk about it, the hacker starts talking back to them, revealing he's been listening via the laptop's microphone. He then escalates the ransom to $10,000, then $20,000 to decrypt Carrie's hard drive. Max leaves and Carrie talks to the hacker who threatens to go public with proof of her spying on Wellington. Not having the money to pay the ransom, Carrie improvises and tries to seduce the hacker by doing a striptease on her webcam. After going along with his requests briefly, she insists on a face-to-face meeting. When they meet, Carrie hints at a sexual encounter, but when the hacker gets close she headbutts him and attacks him with an expandable baton concealed in her boot. After beating the hacker into submission, she forces him to unlock her laptop, reveals she is CIA and threatens to kill him if he tries anything with her again.
Production
The episode was directed by executive producer Lesli Linka Glatter and co-written by executive producers Patrick Harbinson and Chip Johannessen.
Reception
Reviews
The episode received an approval rating of 83% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews. The website's critical consensus is, "Carrie Mathieson squares off against a hacker in a seedy subplot that stretches credulity but is carried off with aplomb by Claire Danes."
There was some criticism regarding Carrie's main arc being of questionable import. Scott Von Doviak of The A.V. Club' gave the episode a "B-" grade, concluding about Carrie's arc "What follows is suspenseful enough as far as it goes, mainly because director Lesli Linka Glatter is a pro... but it’s hard to shake off the feeling that it’s all completely unnecessary". Entertainment Weekly's Shirley Li also rated the episode a B- and had a similar thesis: "it’s great to see Carrie back in action, and yes, she could use a W after all of that, but was all of that really necessary? Did that bring us any closer to this season’s endgame?".
Ratings
The original broadcast was watched by 1.12 million viewers.
References
External links
"Rebel Rebel" at Showtime
2018 American television episodes
Homeland (season 7) episodes |
3983341 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP%20Computer%20Science%20A | AP Computer Science A | Advanced Placement Computer Science A (also known as AP CompSci, AP CompSci A, APCS, APCSA, or AP Java) is an AP Computer Science course and examination offered by the College Board to high school students as an opportunity to earn college credit for a college-level computer science course. AP Computer Science A is meant to be the equivalent of a first-semester course in computer science. The AP exam currently tests students on their knowledge of Java.
AP Computer Science AB, which was equal to a full year, was discontinued following the May 2009 exam administration.
Course
AP Computer Science emphasizes object-oriented programming methodology with an emphasis on problem solving and algorithm development. It also includes the study of data structures and abstraction, but these topics were not covered to the extent that they were covered in AP Computer Science AB. The Microsoft-sponsored program Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) aims to increase the number of students taking AP Computer Science classes.
The units of the exam are as follows:
Case studies and labs
Historically, the AP exam used several programs in its free-response section to test students' knowledge of object-oriented programs without requiring them to develop an entire environment. These programs were called Case Studies.
Students such as Thadius Schultheis and Caspian Jolly Van Bodgraven helped revolutionize the program.
This practice was discontinued as of the 2014–15 school year and replaced with optional labs that teach concepts.
Case studies (discontinued)
Case studies were used in AP Computer Science curriculum starting in 1994.
Big Integer case study (1994-1999)
The Big Integer case study was in use prior to 2000. It was replaced by the Marine Biology case study.
Marine Biology case study (2000-2007)
The Marine Biology Case Study (MBCS) was a program written in C++ until 2003, then in Java, for use with the A and AB examinations. It served as an example of object-oriented programming (OOP) embedded in a more complicated design project than most students had worked with before.
The case study was designed to allow the College Board to quickly test a student's knowledge of object oriented programming ideas such as inheritance and encapsulation while requiring students to understand how objects such as "the environment", "the fish", and the simulation's control module interact with each other without having to develop the entire environment independently, which would be quite time-consuming. The case study also gives all students taking the AP Computer Science exams with a common experience from which to draw additional test questions.
On each of the exams, at least one free-response question was derived from the case study. There were also five multiple-choice questions that are derived from the case study.
This case study was discontinued from 2007, and was replaced by GridWorld.
GridWorld case study (2008-2014)
GridWorld is a computer program case study written in Java that was used with the AP Computer Science program from 2008 to 2014. It serves as an example of object-oriented programming (OOP). GridWorld succeeded the Marine Biology Simulation Case Study, which was used from 2000–2007. The GridWorld framework was designed and implemented by Cay Horstmann, based on the Marine Biology Simulation Case Study. The narrative was produced by Chris Nevison and Barbara Cloud Wells, Colgate University.
The GridWorld Case Study was used as a substitute for writing a single large program as a culminating project. Due to obvious time restraints during the exam, the GridWorld Case Study was provided by the College Board to students prior to the exam. Students were expected to be familiar with the classes and interfaces (and how they interact) before taking the exam. The case study was divided into five sections, the last of which was only tested on the AB exam. Roughly five multiple-choice questions in Section I were devoted to the GridWorld Case Study, and it was the topic of one free response question in Section II.
GridWorld has been discontinued and replaced with a set of labs for the 2014–2015 school year.
Actors
The GridWorld Case Study employs an Actor class to construct objects in the grid. The Actor class manages the object's color, direction, location, what the object does in the simulation, and how the object interacts with other objects.
Actors are broken down into the classes "Flower", "Rock", "Bug", and "Critter", which inherit the Actor class and often override certain methods (most notably the Act method). Flowers can't move, and when forced to Act, they become darker. Flowers are dropped by Bugs and eaten by Critters. Rocks are also immobile and aren't dropped or eaten. Bugs move directly ahead of themselves, unless blocked by a rock or another bug, in which case the Bug will make a 45 degree turn and try again. They drop flowers in every space they occupy, eat flowers that are directly on their space of grid, and are consumed by Critters. Critters move in a random direction to a space that isn't occupied by a Rock or other Critter and consume Flowers and Bugs.
Extensions
The Case Study also includes several extensions of the above classes. "BoxBug" extends "Bug" and moves in a box shape if its route is not blocked. "ChameleonCritter" extends "Critter" and does not eat other Actors, instead changing its color to match the color one of its neighbors. "Crab Critter" moves left or right and only eats Actors in front of it, but otherwise extends the "Critter" class.
Students often create their own extensions of the Actor class. Some common examples of student created extensions are Warden organisms and SimCity-like structures, in which objects of certain types create objects of other types based on their neighbors (much like Conway's Game of Life). Students have even created versions of the games Pac-Man, Fire Emblem, and Tetris.
Known issues
The version that is available at the College Board website, GridWorld 1.00, contains a bug (not to be confused with the Actor subclass Bug) that causes a SecurityException to be thrown when it is deployed as an applet. This was fixed in the "unofficial code" release on the GridWorld website. Also, after setting the environment to an invalid BoundedGrid, it will cause a NullPointerException.
Labs
Instead of the discontinued case studies, the College Board created three new labs that instructors are invited to use, but they are optional and are not tested on the exam. There are no question on the specific content of the labs on the AP exam, but there are questions that test the concepts developed in the labs. The three labs are:
The Magpie Lab
The Elevens Lab
The Picture Lab
Exam
History
The AP exam in Computer Science was first offered in 1984.
Before 1999, the AP exam tested students on their knowledge of Pascal. From 1999 to 2003, the exam tested students on their knowledge of C++ instead. Since 2003, the AP Computer Science exam has tested students on their knowledge of computer science through Java.
Format
The exam is composed of two sections, formerly consisting of the following times:
Section I: Multiple Choice [1 hour and 15 minutes for 40 multiple-choice questions]
Section II: Free-Response [1 hour and 45 minutes for 4 problems involving extended reasoning]
As of 2015, however, the Multiple Choice section was extended by 15 minutes while the Free-Response section was reduced by 15 minutes for the following:
Section I: Multiple Choice [1 hour and 30 minutes for 40 multiple-choice questions]
Section II: Free-Response [1 hour and 30 minutes for 4 problems involving extended reasoning]
Grade distributions
In the 2014 administration, 39,278 students took the exam. The mean score was a 2.96 with a standard deviation of 1.55. The grade distributions since 2003 were:
AP Computer Science AB
Course
The discontinued AP Computer Science AB course included all the topics of AP Computer Science A, as well as a more formal and a more in-depth study of algorithms, data structures, and data abstraction. For example, binary trees were studied in AP Computer Science AB but not in AP Computer Science A. The use of recursive data structures and dynamically allocated structures were fundamental to AP Computer Science AB. Due to low numbers of students taking the AP Computer Science AB exam, it was discontinued after the 2008–2009 year.
Grade distributions for AP Computer Science AB
The AP Computer Science AB Examination was discontinued as of May 2009. The grade distributions from 2003 to 2009 are shown below:
See also
Computer science
Glossary of computer science
References
External links
College Board: AP Computer Science A
Computer science education
Advanced Placement |
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